Mom & Pop Culture

men should not be able to review penelope cruz's breasts, er, I mean, movies

I had to go into the city last night for a seminar at Women Make Movies, so my film partners and I decided to blow off our work, and go in early and spend the day seeing some good flicks.

First, we saw Volver.  My first reaction:  WTF?

studio 60 -- the show i love to hate

Many Sorkin-lovers will defend Studio 60 as brilliant (as if people walking in circles spouting lame dialogue about product placement is interesting) and tell me to shut-up and stop watching if I hate it so.

But I can't.  And I finally figured out why. The show is DELICIOUSLY BAD AND OVER-HYPED -- in a Showgirls sort of way. What I mean is -- everyone involved actually performs this super-serious, hyper-earnest, pseudo-intellectual, pretentious crapfest as if they are reciting Shakespeare -- without pausing to recognize its crappiness. 

And honestly --  I can't wait to tune in each week and see just how bad it will be.

female documentary directors make strong showing among academy award contenders

The shortlist for Academy Award contending feature-length documentary films has been announced.  According to the Hollywood Reporter:

This year's list does illustrate the current prominence of female filmmakers in the docu field. The 15 films that made the cut represent the work of 20 directors -- five of the films were co-directed by two-person teams -- and of those 20 filmmakers, 15 are women.

what i'm watching

This is a pop culture blog, so I should probably comment a little bit about pop culture.

I love this time of year for many reasons. But besides the kids going back to school, I love that the serious art films hit the cinemas and the Fall TV season begins.  TV has started with a trickle, which is kind of nice because I can check out some stuff I wouldn't necessarily watch (like "Men in Trees" and "Til' Death") while waiting for my must-see powerhouses like Grey's Anatomy, Lost, My Name is Earl, ER, Scrubs.

great minds think alike

Two years ago, at PitchXchange I pitched a show to MTV in which teams of independent filmmakers are given weekly tasks such as producing a commercial, a music video, or a short film.  The groups would then be judged on the finished products at a screening, with teams being eliminated each week until one team survived and thus was crowned the winner. The winning team getting a "contract" of some sort in the industry.  I put this pitch together rather quickly and didn't have all the details worked out but that was the jist.

Now, I hear that the brilliant Mr. Spielberg is going to be producing a very similar reality show with with reality guru Mark Burnett in which teams of aspriring filmmakers compete.  Spielberg's show, "On the Lot" is expected to be ready in Summer 2007. I repeat -- great minds think alike.

friends with money

Last Thursday, I attended a special screening of Friends with Money.  According to the Monmouth County Arts Council, our audience was the first to see the film since it premiered in Sundance.

I was excited to see this film because it is directed by one of my favorite directors, Nicole Holofcener (although I cannot pronounce her last name).  She's directed some of my favorite TV shows, like Six Feet Under and Sex and the City, and also made two fantastic indie films, Walking and Talking and Lovely and Amazing. 

bad news/good news

Bad News is that George Clooney isn't truly a blogger.
Good News is that the post credited to him did make him sound like a pompous Dbag.

Bad News is that I am sick as freaking dog.
Good News is that I don't have Strep.  The test came back negative.
Better News is that I've lost 4 pounds this week.  Having no appetite is awesome.

do we need movie theaters?

I found it interesting, that last night at the Oscar they kept making pleas to America to "see movies the way they were intended on the BIG SCREEN."  What they fail to understand is that theater-going is just not enjoyable for most of us.

A film purist myself, a year ago I would have said that movie can only truly be enjoyed on the big screen. I truly felt that movies should be seen in darkened, quiet theaters where one can get lost in the magic of the movies. However, in the last year, a lot has changed.

a sober oscars

It's 10:15 p.m. here on the East Coast and I'm quickly losing interest in the Oscar telecast.  They really lost me when Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep came out for the Robert Altman award and they rambled on incoherently.  I literally did not comprehend a word they said.

I wasn't planning on blogging during this event, but it's really the only way to make the time go by.  How can the entertainment center of the world put on such a non-entertaining event?  All those entertainers under one roof, and it's a snoozefest.

looking for the best film of the year

I've seen a lot of good films this year -- many Oscar-nominated films (Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Squid and the Whale, Crash). But none of these films has left me feeling breathless. They've all been good, well-executed in every way. They just haven't reached into my brain or heart at all.

I've been searching for that film -- the one that leaves me delightfully euphoric -- the one that makes me jealous (why couldn't I have made this film?) and yet profoundly moved.  I've been looking for the type of movie that makes me fall in love witht the writer, director, and actors for giving me such a gift.

I think I may have discovered that film of 2005-- Millions.