Repo Man is about Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton (and some other guys) stealing cars. It's also about aliens. And people who rob convenience stores. And it's also about nothing.
I really enjoyed it but man am I having a hard time thinking of anything to say about it. It's meandering and silly and I liked it a lot.
My favorite thing about it was the fact that all the crazy stuff that happens in the movie sort of just happens around Otto (Emilio Estevez's character) and he goes along with it all, but he never seems all that involved. He just goes with whatever is going on around him.
I also enjoyed spotting a very tiny Michael Nesmith on a TV screen in one scene.
And I enjoyed the bits that have since been referenced and sampled by The Aquabats.
A whole lot of things in the movie just cracked me up, it's a fun movie. It's almost like a Some Shit That Happened movie but I can't quite put it into that category because, for one thing, I actually enjoyed it and, for another, it had an element of the fantastic in it that Some Shit That Happened movies sorely lack.
End of line.
-Sally
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Thursday, August 29, 2013
I've lost my enthusiasm
I haven't been writing many reviews lately for two reasons:
1) I barely watch movies anymore
2) a very long-winded reason; see explanation below
Like most blogs, mine exists on the internet, which means anybody in the world can access it at any time. So people can wander in and out and they're not all going to agree with me. The whole reason I started this blog was because I never agreed with movie reviews so I figured I should just start writing my own.
A few months ago someone posted a comment on an review I wrote about two years ago of a particularly pandering and insulting movie that I really, really hated. They took offense at my review and essentially called me an asshole and I responded by essentially telling them to fuck off. I believe we were both in the right.
I will say right now that I probably used way too many curse words in that review (especially since it was for a "family" movie). I haven't read it since I wrote it but I seem to recall feeling remarkably angry at the movie and I tend to curse when I'm angry.
And that's the thing about these reviews: what I write is mainly my emotional response. If I hate something, boy howdy you will know it. If I love it, I have a very hard time writing about it because love is too strong and intangible to put into words. If I don't love or hate it, the review will be pretty boring. I try to write reviews as soon after I watch the movie as possible because I want the emotion to be fresh.
Sometimes that's good and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes I try to say something nice even when I have nothing nice to say (Paranormal Activity); sometimes I say something nice only to have the emotion change later and I grow to have nothing nice to say (The Hunger Games); sometimes I never have anything nice to say and fill a review with profanity and anger (a whole bunch of things).
But that one comment on that one two-year-old review really got under my skin. It made me feel like I'm an absolute bully who abuses people for no good reason.
It made me not want to write movie reviews anymore.
It made me not want to write anything anymore.
It made me want to delete all my blogs forever.
So I haven't been watching movies and I haven't been writing much.
And I really am sorry if I upset anyone but sometimes I just irrationally hate stuff.
Because I'm human.
End of line.
-Sally
1) I barely watch movies anymore
2) a very long-winded reason; see explanation below
Like most blogs, mine exists on the internet, which means anybody in the world can access it at any time. So people can wander in and out and they're not all going to agree with me. The whole reason I started this blog was because I never agreed with movie reviews so I figured I should just start writing my own.
A few months ago someone posted a comment on an review I wrote about two years ago of a particularly pandering and insulting movie that I really, really hated. They took offense at my review and essentially called me an asshole and I responded by essentially telling them to fuck off. I believe we were both in the right.
I will say right now that I probably used way too many curse words in that review (especially since it was for a "family" movie). I haven't read it since I wrote it but I seem to recall feeling remarkably angry at the movie and I tend to curse when I'm angry.
And that's the thing about these reviews: what I write is mainly my emotional response. If I hate something, boy howdy you will know it. If I love it, I have a very hard time writing about it because love is too strong and intangible to put into words. If I don't love or hate it, the review will be pretty boring. I try to write reviews as soon after I watch the movie as possible because I want the emotion to be fresh.
Sometimes that's good and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes I try to say something nice even when I have nothing nice to say (Paranormal Activity); sometimes I say something nice only to have the emotion change later and I grow to have nothing nice to say (The Hunger Games); sometimes I never have anything nice to say and fill a review with profanity and anger (a whole bunch of things).
But that one comment on that one two-year-old review really got under my skin. It made me feel like I'm an absolute bully who abuses people for no good reason.
It made me not want to write movie reviews anymore.
It made me not want to write anything anymore.
It made me want to delete all my blogs forever.
So I haven't been watching movies and I haven't been writing much.
And I really am sorry if I upset anyone but sometimes I just irrationally hate stuff.
Because I'm human.
End of line.
-Sally
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
1408
I think the most interesting thing about 1408 is the fact that I watched it on Monday afternoon and
didn't think much of it but it kept me up with a good case of the jibblies on Tuesday night.
The movie's about a guy who investigates supposedly haunted places and then writes books about how it's all a bunch of hooey. He gets a postcard one day telling him to avoid room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York (which he would have had a much easier time doing if you hadn't sent the postcard, dingus; it's easy to avoid what you don't know exists) so he immediately checks in, even though Samuel L. Jackson really doesn't want him to.
Everything that happens after that follows intense nightmare non-logic. There's a guy with a hammer, the lead character has a bunch of flashbacks, people turn to dust, John Cusack crawls around in the air ducts, there's a flood, walls crack, et cetera.
It's rad. There's something to be said for a movie that barely has a narrative flow but is chock full of crazy shit going on and, most importantly, keeps me interested the whole time.
One thing happens at the end that didn't quite pass my suspension of disbelief's standards, but considering all the wackiness that made it past without question, I'd still say the movie wins.
This movie was also the first time in my life I ever understood why so many of my friends have had crushes on John Cusack.
End of line.
-Sally
didn't think much of it but it kept me up with a good case of the jibblies on Tuesday night.
The movie's about a guy who investigates supposedly haunted places and then writes books about how it's all a bunch of hooey. He gets a postcard one day telling him to avoid room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York (which he would have had a much easier time doing if you hadn't sent the postcard, dingus; it's easy to avoid what you don't know exists) so he immediately checks in, even though Samuel L. Jackson really doesn't want him to.
Everything that happens after that follows intense nightmare non-logic. There's a guy with a hammer, the lead character has a bunch of flashbacks, people turn to dust, John Cusack crawls around in the air ducts, there's a flood, walls crack, et cetera.
It's rad. There's something to be said for a movie that barely has a narrative flow but is chock full of crazy shit going on and, most importantly, keeps me interested the whole time.
One thing happens at the end that didn't quite pass my suspension of disbelief's standards, but considering all the wackiness that made it past without question, I'd still say the movie wins.
This movie was also the first time in my life I ever understood why so many of my friends have had crushes on John Cusack.
End of line.
-Sally
Constantine
John Constantine can see scary demon shit and has been using this ability to try to keep the world demon-free, in the hopes that it'll redeem him from a vague Something Terrible he did when he was younger. Rachel Weisz's sister Rachel Weisz jumped off a building a couple days ago and needs Constantine to help her sister's soul get to Heaven.
Tilda Swinton and Peter Stormare are badasses who aren't in the movie enough. Occasioncally Shia LaBeouf (is that how that's spelled?) and Djimon Hounsou show up, too.
Constantine is dark, fiery, CGI-filled, Keanu Reeves-y fun-filled goodtimes. The plot exists and I think I followed it but we all know the plot is not why I tuned in. I tuned in for the dark, CGI fire explosion nonsense and Tilda Swinton being a badass.
I liked Constantine. Don't know if I'll watch it again but I wouldn't object if someone put it on. It's fun. I like fun.
End of line.
-Sally
Tilda Swinton and Peter Stormare are badasses who aren't in the movie enough. Occasioncally Shia LaBeouf (is that how that's spelled?) and Djimon Hounsou show up, too.
Constantine is dark, fiery, CGI-filled, Keanu Reeves-y fun-filled goodtimes. The plot exists and I think I followed it but we all know the plot is not why I tuned in. I tuned in for the dark, CGI fire explosion nonsense and Tilda Swinton being a badass.
I liked Constantine. Don't know if I'll watch it again but I wouldn't object if someone put it on. It's fun. I like fun.
End of line.
-Sally
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Elevator
Some big, fancy company is having a big, fancy party and nine people have boarded an elevator in the big, fancy building to get there. One of the passengers is particularly loudmouthed and mean, which makes the boss's equally mean granddaughter press the emergency stop button.
Then it turns out the stuck elevator is not so easy to get unstuck. And one of the passengers has a bomb.
Yippee.
I watched Elevator 'cause the premise sounded interesting to me; as I've said before, I love "bunch of people locked in a small space" thrillers but this one didn't work for me. I don't know if it was because it was grounded in reality or because I thought (strangely, coming from me) that it was unnecessarily gory or what, but I just wasn't a fan.
There wasn't really anything wrong with it, I just didn't like it. Oh well.
End of line.
-Sally
Then it turns out the stuck elevator is not so easy to get unstuck. And one of the passengers has a bomb.
Yippee.
I watched Elevator 'cause the premise sounded interesting to me; as I've said before, I love "bunch of people locked in a small space" thrillers but this one didn't work for me. I don't know if it was because it was grounded in reality or because I thought (strangely, coming from me) that it was unnecessarily gory or what, but I just wasn't a fan.
There wasn't really anything wrong with it, I just didn't like it. Oh well.
End of line.
-Sally
Monday, July 29, 2013
Punk Rock Holocaust 2
There are two glaring problems with Punk Rock Holocaust 2.
The first is one I expected and had come to terms with before I even put the DVD into the player: there is a severe lack of Aquabats through most of the movie.
The second problem is the movie's misguided attempt to have a plot.
While all of Punk Rock Holocaust 2's script is stupid (product placement abounds!), parts of the movie are very funny, the violent scenes are incredibly entertaining and I enjoyed the live concert footage sprinkled throughout the movie. It was made to promote the Warped Tour, after all, so the live music (and, sadly, the product placement) is necessary. Even when I wasn't particularly enjoying a band's music, it's always fun to see people performing.
The Headless Executioner running around, pulling off people's heads, wearing victims's heads and killing even more people was lots of fun. Those scenes were also much fewer and further between than the cover art (and even the name of the movie) would lead one to believe.
It seemed most of the movie's running time was devoted to two female reporters, one doing in-studio interviews with a man insisting that devil worship is involved with the massacre and one wandering around the tour trying to uncover the truth behind the Punk Rock Holocaust, and almost all the fun of the movie came to a screeching halt whenever the story turned to one of the reporter women.
Some funny scenes emerged from the woman wandering around at the tour (her encounter with a girl and her new boyfriend horse was pretty funny) but for the most part it was boring. Every time a dialogue scene began all I could think about was either "I wish they'd get back to killing people" or "I should just give up and watch that Aquabats part again."
So basically Punk Rock Holocaust 2 is a movie that made me not interested in sticking with it 'til the end because there was too much story and not enough slaughter (and because the people I tuned in to see were the first victims). I did make it all the way through and can say with absolute certainty they have not piqued my interest in any of the other Punk Rock Holocaust movies.
It would have been much more entertaining as ninety seconds of plot exposition followed by ninety minutes of punk music and wacky decapitations.
End of line.
-Sally
The first is one I expected and had come to terms with before I even put the DVD into the player: there is a severe lack of Aquabats through most of the movie.
The second problem is the movie's misguided attempt to have a plot.
While all of Punk Rock Holocaust 2's script is stupid (product placement abounds!), parts of the movie are very funny, the violent scenes are incredibly entertaining and I enjoyed the live concert footage sprinkled throughout the movie. It was made to promote the Warped Tour, after all, so the live music (and, sadly, the product placement) is necessary. Even when I wasn't particularly enjoying a band's music, it's always fun to see people performing.
The Headless Executioner running around, pulling off people's heads, wearing victims's heads and killing even more people was lots of fun. Those scenes were also much fewer and further between than the cover art (and even the name of the movie) would lead one to believe.
It seemed most of the movie's running time was devoted to two female reporters, one doing in-studio interviews with a man insisting that devil worship is involved with the massacre and one wandering around the tour trying to uncover the truth behind the Punk Rock Holocaust, and almost all the fun of the movie came to a screeching halt whenever the story turned to one of the reporter women.
Some funny scenes emerged from the woman wandering around at the tour (her encounter with a girl and her new boyfriend horse was pretty funny) but for the most part it was boring. Every time a dialogue scene began all I could think about was either "I wish they'd get back to killing people" or "I should just give up and watch that Aquabats part again."
So basically Punk Rock Holocaust 2 is a movie that made me not interested in sticking with it 'til the end because there was too much story and not enough slaughter (and because the people I tuned in to see were the first victims). I did make it all the way through and can say with absolute certainty they have not piqued my interest in any of the other Punk Rock Holocaust movies.
It would have been much more entertaining as ninety seconds of plot exposition followed by ninety minutes of punk music and wacky decapitations.
End of line.
-Sally
Sunday, July 21, 2013
The Aquabats at the San Diego House Of Blues, Thursday July 18, 2013
My home has become awash in Aquabats Fever over the past several months, thanks to my decision to introduce my niece to The Aquabats! Super Show!. Usually when I'm obsessed with something, nobody really listens to me but Mokey took it and ran with it and now we're all crazy about them. Thanks a lot, me! (Or something like that?)
(Fun side note: my brother, who first introduced me to The Aquabats back when I was in high school, was the last one in the house to grow to enjoy the TV show.)
So it was only natural that I would spare no expense in getting to see The Aquabats in concert when I found out they were playing in San Diego. The show was tied to Comic Con, which is something I haven't been to in five years and have no intention of going back anytime soon (too crowded and expensive) but I have friends who live in San Diego who have an air mattress they let me sleep on and, since they were going to Con, let me ride into downtown with them the day of the show.
I shan't bore you with what I spent most of the day doing (short version: walking around) and skip straight to the good bits.
The Aquabats opened with Fashion Zombies, enhanced by some pretty sweet classic horror movie clips playing on a screen behind them and my brain shut down and went into Fangirly Concertgoer Mode, where I turn into a screaming, cheering, dopey smiling, bouncing fangirl nutball. I usually have this terrible need to always be in control of my actions and my brain, to always have some semblance of decorum in pretty much every situation. The only time that shuts off and I revert entirely to instinct is when I'm at a concert, I'm in the front row and a band I love is playing loud, awesome music directly in front of me.
And if that band is The Aquabats and The MC Bat Commander is standing on the barricade and stepping on my stuff, so much the better.
My memories of the show come in fits and starts; I remember bits and pieces of the evening but not what order they go in, just that they happened and they were wonderful. A few standout moments:
- Jimmy popping a bubble with his mind
- The MC Bat Commander trying on an audience member's Warriors vest
- throwing plastic balls at a wizard who came onstage to jeer The Aquabats
- blowing a kiss to Crash and him blowing one back to me
- the Commander making up a song called I'm So Sleepy I'm Gonna Go To Sleep
- Warren Fitzgerald of The Vandals coming out to sing I Have A Date
- Jimmy saying "purple is a fruit" and then smiling at me when I cheered
- Eaglebones and Chainsaw having a guitar duel that quickly devolved into playing each other's guitars
- the title card from Rad popping up on the screen behind them during Super Rad and the weird pink dragon that "flew" across the stage during Luck Dragon Lady
- The MC Bat Commander periodically opening bottles of water to fling onto the overheating front rows of the audience (and subsequently fogging my glasses but what are you gonna do)
- Jimmy mumbling his way through Robot Dreams, even with the lyrics in front of him
I tried my best when I got back to Shelby's that night to write down all the songs they played but I'm certain I missed some. If I had any complaint about the show it would be that they didn't play much of their older, ska-ier stuff.
If I had a second complaint about the show it would be that The MC Bat Commander did not do a backflip.
But those complaints are so miniscule that they may as well not even exist.
Remember when I saw Local H and was completely blown away by them, so in love with the concert that I couldn't believe I hadn't been listening to them all along? I had a similar feeling during this Aquabats concert but for reasons on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
That Local H show was small, intimate and consisted of two blow-you-away talented musicians on stage, performing for an audience. Then Scott Lucas duct taped a microphone to his face and jumped into the audience and I had a "where have you been all my life?" mental reboot. It was small and magical and chaotic.
The Aquabats show was much larger and not nearly as intimate, size-of-venue-and-audience-wise, but it was just as magical and chaotic (possibly even moreso), and they made up for the lack of intimacy by the guys in the band doing their best to interact with the audience, providing us with plastic balls to throw at the wizard, doing their best to banter with and talk to the crowd, and in the out-and-out chaos that was Pool Party.
You see, the show was all-ages and The Aquabats pulled onstage as many of their little homies as they possibly could (as well as a bunch of kids from backstage). Then they re-brought out their special guests, Chainsaw, Rick-the-guy-on-the-bike and Warren Fitzgerald, as well as opening act DJ Lance Rock. Then the song started, beach balls and inflatable sharks and plastic balls started bouncing around the audience, along with pool floaties and two giant Rover balloons. Then the confetti came. And there were plenty of smoke-filled bubbles floating out over the crowd and the stage all night, so those were there, too. And midway through the song I realized that I have been to concerts where the band interacts with the audience, I have been to They Might Be Giants and Gogol Bordello shows that feel like parties (and in the case of TMBG, have included confetti), I've been to punk shows where things have gotten crazy or out of hand.
But I have never been to a show that felt anything near like the family friendly punk rock party insanity that The Aquabats invoked during Pool Party.
After the show I drank pretty much an entire bottle of water in one gulp, bought some stuff from the merch table and went outside to wait for the band to come out. Which they did and, being the super awesome and friendly guys that they are, they hung around to talk to people, sign things (in my case, an Up All Night trucker cap) and take pictures with the fans.
So I got to meet Crash:
and I inadvertently said something that I think made him feel old and I still feel bad about that and cringe at myself a little bit when I think about it.
Then I got to meet Ricky:
and I guess Ricky Fitness is my camera's favorite Aquabat because it was so excited to take a picture of him that it fainted out of my hand and smashed on the ground and broke its lens and I had to get the rest of the pictures on my phone's lousy camera. (Ricky tried to make me feel better by telling me he'd had, like, three of those cameras and the lenses broke on all of them.)
Then I got to meet Jimmy:
and it turns out he was the one person in the band who froze my brain more than any other. I wanted to talk to him but just couldn't make words form.
Then I got to meet the Commander:
who turned out to be the easiest member of the band to talk to, which surprised me because I assumed he'd be the one I'd be the most starstruck by. But he was so friendly that I managed to chat with him like he was just some guy. (Which, in a way, he is...)
Then I got to meet Chainsaw:
with his remarkably dashing beard.
And I thought I had missed Eaglebones but it turns out he was just standing a bit away from everyone else, so I not only got to meet him:
but I also got to see him say goodnight to Jimmy and as I was leaving he handled it very well when I momentarily forgot how handshakes work.
(Also, before Jimmy said goodnight to his bandmate he tried to talk to me about the trucker caps and how they looked just like the ones on the show but my brain froze again and I don't recall if I actually said anything to him in reply. I know I opened my mouth to offer to give him one, realized that was silly and then shut my mouth again; I certainly do hope I said something.)
It was an amazing show, a fantastic night and words can't begin to express how much fun I had and how much I want to go to another one.
They may have beaten Local H for Best Concert Of 2013.
End of line.
-Sally
(Fun side note: my brother, who first introduced me to The Aquabats back when I was in high school, was the last one in the house to grow to enjoy the TV show.)
So it was only natural that I would spare no expense in getting to see The Aquabats in concert when I found out they were playing in San Diego. The show was tied to Comic Con, which is something I haven't been to in five years and have no intention of going back anytime soon (too crowded and expensive) but I have friends who live in San Diego who have an air mattress they let me sleep on and, since they were going to Con, let me ride into downtown with them the day of the show.
I shan't bore you with what I spent most of the day doing (short version: walking around) and skip straight to the good bits.
The Aquabats opened with Fashion Zombies, enhanced by some pretty sweet classic horror movie clips playing on a screen behind them and my brain shut down and went into Fangirly Concertgoer Mode, where I turn into a screaming, cheering, dopey smiling, bouncing fangirl nutball. I usually have this terrible need to always be in control of my actions and my brain, to always have some semblance of decorum in pretty much every situation. The only time that shuts off and I revert entirely to instinct is when I'm at a concert, I'm in the front row and a band I love is playing loud, awesome music directly in front of me.
And if that band is The Aquabats and The MC Bat Commander is standing on the barricade and stepping on my stuff, so much the better.
My memories of the show come in fits and starts; I remember bits and pieces of the evening but not what order they go in, just that they happened and they were wonderful. A few standout moments:
- Jimmy popping a bubble with his mind
- The MC Bat Commander trying on an audience member's Warriors vest
- throwing plastic balls at a wizard who came onstage to jeer The Aquabats
- blowing a kiss to Crash and him blowing one back to me
- the Commander making up a song called I'm So Sleepy I'm Gonna Go To Sleep
- Warren Fitzgerald of The Vandals coming out to sing I Have A Date
- Jimmy saying "purple is a fruit" and then smiling at me when I cheered
- Eaglebones and Chainsaw having a guitar duel that quickly devolved into playing each other's guitars
- the title card from Rad popping up on the screen behind them during Super Rad and the weird pink dragon that "flew" across the stage during Luck Dragon Lady
- The MC Bat Commander periodically opening bottles of water to fling onto the overheating front rows of the audience (and subsequently fogging my glasses but what are you gonna do)
- Jimmy mumbling his way through Robot Dreams, even with the lyrics in front of him
I tried my best when I got back to Shelby's that night to write down all the songs they played but I'm certain I missed some. If I had any complaint about the show it would be that they didn't play much of their older, ska-ier stuff.
If I had a second complaint about the show it would be that The MC Bat Commander did not do a backflip.
But those complaints are so miniscule that they may as well not even exist.
Remember when I saw Local H and was completely blown away by them, so in love with the concert that I couldn't believe I hadn't been listening to them all along? I had a similar feeling during this Aquabats concert but for reasons on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
That Local H show was small, intimate and consisted of two blow-you-away talented musicians on stage, performing for an audience. Then Scott Lucas duct taped a microphone to his face and jumped into the audience and I had a "where have you been all my life?" mental reboot. It was small and magical and chaotic.
The Aquabats show was much larger and not nearly as intimate, size-of-venue-and-audience-wise, but it was just as magical and chaotic (possibly even moreso), and they made up for the lack of intimacy by the guys in the band doing their best to interact with the audience, providing us with plastic balls to throw at the wizard, doing their best to banter with and talk to the crowd, and in the out-and-out chaos that was Pool Party.
You see, the show was all-ages and The Aquabats pulled onstage as many of their little homies as they possibly could (as well as a bunch of kids from backstage). Then they re-brought out their special guests, Chainsaw, Rick-the-guy-on-the-bike and Warren Fitzgerald, as well as opening act DJ Lance Rock. Then the song started, beach balls and inflatable sharks and plastic balls started bouncing around the audience, along with pool floaties and two giant Rover balloons. Then the confetti came. And there were plenty of smoke-filled bubbles floating out over the crowd and the stage all night, so those were there, too. And midway through the song I realized that I have been to concerts where the band interacts with the audience, I have been to They Might Be Giants and Gogol Bordello shows that feel like parties (and in the case of TMBG, have included confetti), I've been to punk shows where things have gotten crazy or out of hand.
But I have never been to a show that felt anything near like the family friendly punk rock party insanity that The Aquabats invoked during Pool Party.
After the show I drank pretty much an entire bottle of water in one gulp, bought some stuff from the merch table and went outside to wait for the band to come out. Which they did and, being the super awesome and friendly guys that they are, they hung around to talk to people, sign things (in my case, an Up All Night trucker cap) and take pictures with the fans.
So I got to meet Crash:
Then I got to meet Ricky:
Then I got to meet Jimmy:
Then I got to meet the Commander:
Then I got to meet Chainsaw:
And I thought I had missed Eaglebones but it turns out he was just standing a bit away from everyone else, so I not only got to meet him:
(Also, before Jimmy said goodnight to his bandmate he tried to talk to me about the trucker caps and how they looked just like the ones on the show but my brain froze again and I don't recall if I actually said anything to him in reply. I know I opened my mouth to offer to give him one, realized that was silly and then shut my mouth again; I certainly do hope I said something.)
It was an amazing show, a fantastic night and words can't begin to express how much fun I had and how much I want to go to another one.
They may have beaten Local H for Best Concert Of 2013.
End of line.
-Sally
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