Month: May 2007

Home again, home again

On May 28, 2007

Home to Waco, that is. I realized over the last couple of weeks that I’ve been using “home” to mean whichever place (my parents’ house in St. Louis or my apartment in Waco) I’m not at. Which gets confusing. My apologies for that. In any case, I’m safely back in Texas, uneventful drive, except for the almost constant annoying rain. And the real frogdrowning rain for a few minutes in Oklahoma. Oklahoma has some weird weather, y’all.

But I just looked up what time my class is that starts tomorrow, and it’s from 11:20am to 12:50pm. The heck? Are they serving lunch in this class? That’s the weirdest-timed class I’ve ever seen. And I thought the normal-semester grad class time of 3:30-6:30 was sort of odd. They must have a some sort of sadist writing schedules. Ah well. The good side of that is that I thought it was at 9- or 10-something, and this means I get to sleep later.

In other news, I saw Waitress last night, as my last official activity in St. Louis, and I wasn’t disappointed at all. Quite a feat for my most-highly-anticipated indie film of the summer, right? It was warm, and witty, and perhaps a little cliched in one instance which I won’t tell you about, because it would spoil the denoument if I did, but the whole thing was so sweet-hearted that I couldn’t hardly fault it. I’ll write more when I get around to doing May’s recap (still working on April’s…I watched A LOT of movies in April), but I wanted to encourage anyone who likes sweet-tempered indie romances to see it while it’s in theatres. It does have an arguably problematic outlook on adultery for a while, but I think it ended it up okay…good for discussion, at the very least. In related news, the aspiring filmmakers on On the Lot ought to look to Waitress and films like it as examples–tonight’s set of short films (the ones I saw…I got home about halfway through) largely did themselves in through trying to be too clever. Just be real, folks. Be real. (How’s that for a cliche?)

Oh, and also, no Music Monday this week. I was going to do it tonight, but I’m just too tired. I also know I missed Trailer Thursday last week or two, but there’s not much coming out…Shrek 3 and Pirates 3, and you pretty much know whether or not you want to see those without even seeing a trailer. It’s a paradoxical fact that the more free time I have, the less I blog.

Summer TV

By Jandy

On May 25, 2007

In Television

So, American Idol is over (congratulations, Jordin!!), and so are almost all the other shows for the 2006-2007 season. (I have a season finale recap post ready to go up as soon as House airs…oh, and as soon as I actually watch the Lost finale.) What are we going to do over the summer? Well, now that I’ve been converted into a ~~mindless~~ ~~sheep~~ reality TV viewer, I’ll tell you what I’m going to be watching.

So You Think You Can Dance started up on Thursday to fill the performance show gap left by American Idol. I enjoyed this show last summer at least as much as I enjoyed American Idol, even if my level of obsession didn’t quite reach as high. This will be SYTYCD‘s third season, and after the first audition show, there are already two or three people to watch. Of course, I neglected to take notes so I can’t tell you who they are. Ah well. (And this is a good time to state that I will not be live-blogging SYTYCD like I did AI. I enjoyed doing that, but it ended up taking over the blog a lot more than I intended it to.) Anyway, getting to see all the different types of dancers take on different types of dance from ballroom to contemporary to hip-hop is incredibly fun, and I can’t wait for the competition to start. Although the auditions are also fun and tend to be not quite so mean-spirited as Idol‘s can be. So, yeah. Y’all should watch So You Think You Can Dance on Fox, Wednesdays at 7pm (results show Thursday at 8pm).

On the Lot is a new show seeking to find undiscovered filmmakers. It’s produced by big names Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg, and the two episodes that have aired so far are very encouraging. They chose some fifty filmmakers via a tape submission process last year, and right now judges Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia in Star Wars, also a fiction writer), Garry Marshall (writer-director of Pretty Woman and others), and Brett Ratner (director of X-Men and others) are narrowing the contestants down to eighteen, who will then make short films every week and be voted on or off the show by the American public. The first round of eliminations was the ability to pitch a film based around a given set-up, while the second one put the filmmakers in groups of three to make a 2 1/2 minute short in 24 hours. Impressively for Fox, they’ve put all the short films up at The Lot.com. (In fact, I just noticed they’ve also put up full episodes. Niiiice.) I haven’t watched all the films yet, but the three or four they showed during the episode were quite impressive. I’m really looking forward to see what these filmmakers do throughout the rest of the series, because it seems like a very talented group of people. This one is on Fox on Mondays and Tuesdays at 7pm.

Hell’s Kitchen…yeah, Becky has gotten me to promise to watch this, in exchange for her watching SYTYCD. ;) I’ve seen a few episodes before, but never gotten into it. Maybe this will be the year? It starts on June 4th, Mondays at 8pm, also on Fox.

Project Runway…whenever it starts. I think several people who read my blog already watch this, but I found myself inexplicably fascinated by the show. I’m not a fashion-type person, so I never thought I would like a reality show about competing wannabe fashion designers, but I happened to catch an episode when I was flipping channels one day last year, and was completely hooked. Addictive, these things are. (But don’t get me started on the use of the word “auf,” which makes no sense on a number of levels.)

So that’s my summer. Like I said, I’m not going to blog these while watching every week like I did American Idol, but I’ll probably throw some comments out there every now and then.

Trailer Watch Thursday Friday – Opening May 11, 2007

By Jandy

On May 11, 2007

In Film

I missed Thursday due to the internet acting up.

28 Weeks Later

This sequel to 28 Days Later is not actually directed by Danny Boyle, but it looks like the director he chose to take his place is keeping a similar feel. I really liked the atmospheric quality of the first one, and I actually didn’t mind the zombie elements as much as usual. I thought it lost itself when the military part came in, though, and it looks like this one is mostly military part. Still, my guess is that if you liked 28 Days Later, you will also like 28 Weeks Later, since it does look quite good. Best Bet

Georgia Rule

One review I read (~~I don’t remember which one, maybe on Cinematical~~; no, it was Anne Thompson on her Variety blog) indicated that this film straddles the line between mainstream and indie a little too precariously…that it would have better as an even smaller film. I can believe that from the trailer. Family ties-oriented mainstream films tend to get cloying and sentimentalized mighty quick, but I can feel a better film here underneath that tendency. Especially with Felicity Huffman, who goes a long way toward making me want to at least give it a chance. But probably on DVD rather than in theatres.

Delta Farce

Uh, negatory. On the good side, this trailer looks marginally more inventive than the one for Larry the Cable Guy’s last movie Health Inspector, but that is saying not a lot.

The Ex

I’m torn between my love for Zach Braff and Jason Bateman and a good bit of like for Amanda Peet and my intense sense of dread that this is going to a) suck and b) be rather offensive. Limited.

Home of the Brave

Eh. I tend to like war movies even though I think they tend to be manipulative. I was also reading something about Jessica Biel (who I often avoid) and her acting ability that encourages me to give her another chance…maybe this is the film to do it with. Beyond that, I’m neither enthused nor unenthused. I’m disenthused. I like that! I’m using it. Limited.

The Salon

Didn’t they already do this movie a few years ago, in the double-feature of Barbershop and Beauty Shop? Limited.

Blind Dating

Aw, this looks pretty cute. Possibly slightly inappropriate in places, but overall sweet. *adds to Netflix queue* Limited.

Day Night Day Night

You can’t tell the story from the trailer, but basically the girl has agreed to be a suicide bomber in Times Square. The film appears to be experimental in a way–newcomer Luisa Williams is the only credited cast member, and the story plays out almost completely through focusing on her face. I’m actually quite intrigued by this, but it certainly won’t be a film for all tastes. NY/LA. Best Offbeat Bet

March 2007 Reading/Watching Recap

By Jandy

On May 5, 2007

In Books and Reading, Film, Reviews

I’m getting further behind, aren’t I? *sigh* And wait until you see April’s recap, when I get that one written (hopefully I’ll be motivated to get it done during the break). After the jump, reactions to Joyeux Noel, Where the Truth Lies, The Lookout, All About My Mother, Langston Hughes’s autobiographies, Zora Neale Hurston’s first novel, The Eight by Katherine Neville, and more!

Trailer Watch – Opening May 3rd, 2007

By Jandy

On May 4, 2007

In Film

Trailers and commentary after the jump. There are a good many of them this week.