The Down and Out of D.C. Metro Vs. Proper
It’s easy to say you grew up in Washington, D.C. It connotes you served time in a city that used to be rough, despite being the central hub of power for the United States. Maybe you lived in the posh Northwest, venturing every so often into Adams Morgan for a night of drunken debauchery and running from panhandlers to catch the last train at midnight. Maybe you were from Northeast, not as nice but filled with charm and proof you were probably working for the government. Or maybe you lived in Southeast/Southwest You probably didn’t, but let’s move on.
If you want to be sure the person you’re talking to grew up inside the 4×4 confines of actual D.C., there’s a simple thing to ask: “Proper or Metro?”
An Idiot’s Best of 2011
Boiling an entire year down into a numerical list is something akin to masturbation of the highest caliber. Think about it: hundreds of films released, and a majority of critics–depending on location–only consider those which played for a week in a dingy spot at the Laemmle 5 or Quad Cinema to be valid. Honorable Mentions:
Battle Royale
This 2000 adaptation of Koushun Takami’s novelistic ode to wrestling’s battles royal never saw a proper US release until this year at theCinefamily in Los Angeles. It’s amazing that a film with the cult status it has–inspiring two manga sequels, a (lacking) film follow-up, the entire plot of The Hunger Games–never got a seven-day run in New York, despite selling out at the New York Asian Film Festival when screened.
The Man From Nowhere
When we had Grady Hendrix come visit Grassroots Tavern, we asked him to describe the recent trend of Korean revenge films. His answer: “Karenge.” If that doesn’t sum up The Man from Nowhere, I’m not sure what else would. Though not nearly as dark as I Saw The Devil, from savage bon mots (“How many gold teeth do you have? I’m a pawn shop owner and I want to know which to rip from your mouth”) to bathroom knife fights and a bittersweet ending, this sums up exactly what the Karenge genre boils down to: you can take revenge and kill everyone, but ultimately it will kill you.
A Seperation
Not optional.
The Rest Of The Best 2011
Let’s make this short and sweet. Consider this an Idiot’s version of the Skandies if the Skandies had a brow lower than the common denominator.
You say Politico, I say Poly-tico…
For folks who don’t know the difference between Beltway Politics and Inner/Outer Loops, it really is an easy mistake. Especially if you’re supposed to be covering entertainment news with a political tint for a major national magazine known for its political coverage.
Waiting for the Dead of the World
If nothing says “post-apocalypse” better than an undead monkey’s uncle, then dagnabbit there’s something there to this whole zombies metaphor. Especially when it comes to the explosion of the theme in gaming over the last decade, from the sandbox comic-horror of the Dead Rising franchise to the survival-horror that evolved into Bruckheimer-horror of Resident Evil.
And then came the teaser for Dead Island:
So, why is The Last of Us so gosh-darn different?
Read the rest of this entry »
Outrage Squared
Doing it wrong, Magnolia style!
It was bound to happen. Takeshi Kitano’s latest trip back to the world of shark skin suits, lobbed pinkies and embracing other men the only way Yakuza know how (hint: a shank) opened in New York and Los Angeles last Friday. Well, except it didn’t in New York if you checked Google.
In a twist of inappropriate fate, if you live in New York and search for for Outrage you find this fun, no-star review of Outrage, the 2009 documentary by Kirby Dick about closeted conservative politicians and media personalities playing. Click the trailer link and you’re brought to Kitano’s film about aging Yakuza dealing with the loss of the “ideal” Yakuza.
Check in LA?
Doin' it right, Magnolia style!
Hoo ray! Don’t fret, even if you live in New York and assume you’re about to watch the doc, you can just rent/buy Outrage…er…no, the other Outrage…oh whatever. You can find them both as video-on-demand.
In Which The Muppets Have A Parents Guide
Found while browsing Reddit, like anything worth while. But I’d like to present this special selection of IMDB thanks to the users, who felt the need to craft a guide for parents to ensure their children’s Muppet experience isn’t like the bawdy pun-filled childhood they once experienced.
A Junket Question
Media junkets aren’t anything groundbreaking or new. Most of the time, they involve a very long table in one of the conferene rooms at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles or Waldorf Astoria in New York; and if they ever happened in Washington, DC I’m sure someone would spring for the Americana Motel in Crystal City.
Junket Questions, though, are another beast entirely. These are the best that the brightest from People, Teen People, Seventeen, Tiger Beat, TV Guide, and other illustrious print/online sites that cover media purely for the SEO dollars. They ask the hard hitting questions for their allotted 45-minute press conference or 25-minute roundtable interview with five other people and the selected talent.
What I’m Thankful For: The End of 2011 Edition
This. Only this.
Gumbel pretty much remains the only thing out of this entire year that makes me consistently smile and that I want to rematch, next to Bellflower and Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
So, go eat turkey and drink wine and sleep it off.
Long Live The Old Flesh: A Dangerous Method
Michael Fassbender feeling shame--an all too common issue this year.
The exact point when “body horror” became one of the defining critical tropes around David Cronenberg’s work is hard to place. Ok, it isn’t (Stereo, Crimes of the Future, Shivers etc) but it’s a welcome shift in A Dangerous Method that the horror is kept in a subdued tone compared to, say, if Carl Jung’s dreams were brought to life on screen.
Ok, maybe it isn’t that subdued. Paralleled by carriage rides, Method opens on a hysteric Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) being signed into Burghölzli hospital where she picques the interest of Dr. Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) into trying out the fabled “talking cure” of Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). Jung struggles between his dislike of the military (“I just look at cocks all day!”) to analyzing his dreams as he takes Sabina under his wing as an assistant while coaxing out the nature of her “humiliation.”
