Quill & Claw/Pen & Paw

It's hard to review this film, due to the personal nature of it's presentation. I was deeply effected by the events of what happened at Columbine High School so many years ago. The wounds go deep. It almost effects me a bit more then the issues related 9/11 and the current fallout. I say this as a precaution for you the reader--my bias I cannot explain for privacy reasons, but it will most certainly be evident in this review, I'm sure. I saw this movie for a variety of reasons. I like art movies, that much we have established. I like gay and lesbian issues and this had two, a minor plot element and a gay director. And of course, for more personal levels that I choose not to explain. The title is borne of the concept of an elephant being in the room and no one is talking about it. It's EXACTLY how I felt about the Columbine massacre. Acts of violence are sad, wholly evil entities that devour more than they kill, meaning we might see the immediate piles of blood, ...

I have to tell you a wee secret. One of my top ten all time movies is Adventures of Baron Munchausen . It was a stinkie piece of work, but I loved it. It had grandeur and a theme I could relate to. I became a vicious watcher of the director's work, Terry Gilliam (he's the only American involved with the ever quotable Monty Python comedy troupe from Britain), and his brand of imagery. I loved Time Bandits and really thought the 12 Monkeys had one of the key performances of Brad Pitt's career. But each film suffered from a horrible plague if you ever read the trades. Mr. Gilliam tended to excess. My beloved Baron film was 10 million over budget before principal photography had even begun. He was being despised by Hollywood, sadly, because of the business he was running, not by the quality of his work. So when I read the story of Lost in LaMacha , I knew I had to pay it a visit. Call it the summer of documentaries, my friends, because that is what this i...

I have to admit to I rarely go see comedies in the theatre. For me, they are the provence of stage work, where the laughter helps the performance and enhances the interactions. I've noticed over the years that I rarely attend movies that could be defined as 'comedy.' I'll go see if I'm with a group who insists or it's mixed with another genre, like a musical comedy, but rarely upon it's own. Okay, yes, I'll go see Disney cartoons...those could be thought of as comedies, I suppose. So I rent movies, like this one, Stuck on You , by the Farrelly Brothers. I gotta give it to the Farrelly Brothers. They have an amazing ability to protray people with exceptional circumstances in a manner that is humanizing as it is humorous. I mean it. Really. I noticed it here and in There's Something About Mary . People with special needs are shown as they are, warts and all, but are surrounded by an entourage that truly is the scum of the Earth--making them s...

I love watching these art movies this summer! It's just one nice surprise after the next. Damn. I spoke too soon. Then, Chuck and Buck arrived in the queue. I am still wondering why on Earth this movie is made. I kept thinking of that reason for pop art, Andy Warhol, who, in his own way, said that art is pretty much anything. A can of soup. A movie of a person sleeping all night. I could only wish this movie had as much reason for existing. I've not a clue what I watched. I rented it on a recommendation from Entertainment Weekly's reviews. I tended to agree with them. It's good to see I've developed my own mind apart from their critics. There is no amount of acting, writing, directing or spectacle that makes this movie worth watching. It's an interesting premise that might have looked good on paper but the finished product does not do a thing. It's the tale of two childhood friends that briefly reconnect after years of growing apart....

Okay, I give up. I'm moving to Asia, I'm thinking. Combine these last two movies ( Fleeing By Night and this one, Taboo ) and what my research suggests, I can think it might be  a better place for people of my persuasion. This latest movie, Taboo , plays directly into that. It is a gbl film that isn't afraid of itself and doesn't reduce itself by having stereotypes or swishes for a less sophisticated audience. In it, a young, handsome man and excellent swordsman joins a local militia in support of the shogunate. He is incredibly beautiful in comparison to his more hardcore brethren in the army. He begins an affair with another soldier and soon the men begin to argue who shall have a date with him. The jealousy runs unabated and becomes a concern for the commanders. Where the movie works is in that the homosexuality is treated as a part of life. Texts I have read (most notably  Male Colours  by Gary Leupp, Comrade Loves of the Samurai by Ihara Saikaku, a...

I still have problems sleeping. Here I am, enjoying my summer vacation and still, it takes me forever to unwind at night. I'm a night person, I know that. Look at me now. I'm here writing while my beloved is snoozing away. But even after I finish my nightly writing, I still lie there at night and worry.   About work. About what's going to happen with the next elections. What's going on with my friends. Sleep doesn't come quickly.   Even my meditation (not this daily writing, but the actual sitting down and letting go) has been interupted. My mind wanders and cannot focus this summer. Last summer? Not a problem. I sat everyday without incident. This year? Nada.   What am I so worried about? I feel fine, damn good, if you were to ask me. Been exercising everyday and finally doing some creative writing. I have time to cook and clean. Walk the dog. Even lost a few pounds.   I can honestly say I am well.   Then bed time comes. I lie there everynight and st...

I have this good friend, someone I have every trust in the world with--except on one topic. We have wholly different tastes in movies. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. We still go see movies on occasion together.   Besides, when did Siskel and Ebert agree?   But one thing was for sure, when those two agreed, it most have something pretty good, eh? Something worth buying a ticket for.   So when my colleague suggested this Chinese film, I was figuring it wouldn't be something I liked.   It started simply, a tale about an arranged marriage. A young cellist, living in America, comes back to China to meet his fiance. Through the meeting he sees a performance of an outstanding opera singer and becomes smitten. The fiance recognizes thi growing love between the two men and steps back. The actor, however, is in a liason with a wealthy patron. Rumors fly. The young man returns to America broken hearted and alone, but maintains contact with his ...

Ahhhhh, the beauty that is True Crime. Really, the province of yellow rags and celebrity gossip, I have to admit to this guilty pleasure. It all started with the book, The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. Couldn't put it down. Proof that truth can really be more exciting than fiction.   And I was a fan. I found I really did have an affinity for the serial killer. Not to say I wanted to act out their deeds or promote them to some kind of anti-establishment t-shirt. No, I used them for fuel, really, for my own creative writings. There's nothing like scaring the bejabbers out of yourself with such horrific prose, analyzing  it in your head for a few days and then spitting it back out as a tale.   It was such a path that lead me to the tale of Dahmer. Trust me, it wasn't like I hadn't already heard about the guy. I even had read two books about him. One, the piece by his father was actually very well written.   Dahmer's story is interesting in that he is ...

Wow. What can I say? For once, a queer movie where the gayness was not a detriment, not a foible. No one ends up dead because they are gay. No one is self-loathing because they like men. In fact, one character improves himself by his own acceptance. There are no drag queens or bars or men who swish into very shot. And this was made in 1986? Back when Reagan was doing his best to deny that gay people existed? Impressive. My Beautiful Laundrette is an interesting, rare piece of indie filmmaking. It's the starting point for Stephen Frears, who later create the great Dangerous Laisons and Daniel Day-Lewis prior to his Oscar turn in My Left Foot. As for Day-Lewis, he's reduced to a secondary role, which is interesting. The dude is so intense with his energy, you watch him instead of the leads. You can see the future. And you can see it in every film since. Maybe it's because he's Irish. They aren't exactly known as a subtle people. But the film does lack a...

Sheese. Talk about taking the wind out of your sails. I wanted to write some really scathing stuff here about this movie, but it's kinda hard to write scathing stuff about scathing stuff. This movie is very, very sharp. And I liked it and not because I have issues with our president. I look at it from a movie point of view, this is powerful stuff and fluff. I added the fluff part, because, it seems (according to the Time magazine article I read) some of the information is incorrect. But lets look the great speakers of the world. They aren't truly great on their message alone, but on the presentation of that message. Martin Luther King's importance was carried farther by his sheer force of personality on the pulpit. But then again, so was Hitler's. The message was murder, but the presentation must have been mesmerizing. Michael Moore is no MLK or Hitler. But his message is so different than other filmmakers out there today. I never realized that docs could ...

I saw your eyes light up on that title, didn't you. Mine did too. I mean, please, I used to exercise regularly with a boxing coach--so when I saw this title on a roster in the Advocate magazine, yeah, my eyebrows went up. A boxing and queer title. My prayers had been answered. Now I didn't have to be a closet boxing fan anymore. My mistake. Lock the closet shut. The movie hasn't arrive yet. This movie sucks. I thought the last movie didn't have humor? This, I'm not sure how, has NEGATIVE humor. It's so busy trying to be dramatic, it actually sucks humor from you as you watch it. There is not a single smile, gaffuw or giggle in it's hour and a half. The story is based on a play, and I have to say, you can tell which parts it was based on...it's the only point in the mess that makes sense for a moments. The rest, as the director/writer tries to fill in the backstory, is well, long and boring. Give us some credit! Let us put the pieces...

I'm confused, did I spell that right? That says something about how the movie is infused in my memory, doesn't it? First, a bit of history...I was raised in an ethnic family. We were every bit of Italian, Jewish, Irish and Catholic, and totally New York. We all understood the jokes of Woody Allen; the Nanny was not as offensive to our little collective whole. When My Big Fat Greek Wedding opened to mixed reviews, I gave it moderate interest. Everyone said it played on unfair stereotypes. Then the phone calls started. Everyone would ask ME, explicitly, if I had seen it. Apparently, the movie sounded like what I had described at various water coolers. When my best friend, sans a review, merely stated, "I'm taking you to go see it," three days before my own impending nuptials, I had to figure that there was something going on. I loved it. My partner and I giggled continously at the parallels in my life to the movie's. The mother's hairstyle. ...

What can I say? There's a great scene in Scream 2 where the characters get into a debate over when a sequel is better than it's original and how. I remember it well because my friends and I afterwards had the same conversation. Godfather 2 . Toy Story 2 . Addams Family Values . And now Spiderman 2 . I've always had a problem with comic books being translated into movies. Being a professed comic book lover, I know the backstory of how the character was created. I know that Bruce Wayne's parents died. I know that Peter Parker got his powers from a spider bite. But the poor, unenlightened public is clueless. Heck, they put Bush in office, and he doesn't have any power. So the filmmakers have to weed out the details and there goes the storyline. I have to suffer for everyone else's sake as they learn what I already knew. Is that fair to me? NO! Still, there is hope in the sequel and here it is. THis movie doesn't have to worry about the bac...

We all pretty much know that the Star Wars movies, these past two--are pretty much sucky, don't we? I mean, when did politics enter the storyline? What exactly is the purpose of JarJar outside of another cool toy tie-in? It's because we have to put Lucas' kids through college and Willow flopped at the box office. The only reason I bring it up is because of the star, Hayden Christensen. He is the star and backbone of this movie. Hayden turned a sucky series of films into all the more suckiness. He whined alot. I have it on DVD if you want to see it. He looked good on camera, but I can't remember him doing anything more then whining thoughout the entire Attack of the Clones. He made my head hurt. I rented this movie because I'm a writer. I loved All the President's Men . Julia . The Front Page . His Gal Friday . It's a subgenre, and it's fun to have it at my beck-n-call. So when I read about his title in Time mag, I wanted to pay it a vi...

I already told you that I have a passion for martial arts movies. I've also already taken the time to explain that I have a thing for literature. Now I'll mention that I've already seen this movie. Better. Elsewhere. But that is not to say it's a bad movie, per se. Just that, well, I can't help thinking a person can do better elsewhere. Surely, a parent could enjoy reading the actual Jules Verne novel and then go see it with their kids and then discuss the differences from both, but, well, you know parents these days. At least the ones I work with. That would take, I dunno, energy from whatever else they are doing. You see, a crazy inventor (aren't they all like that?) gets a French assistant played by Jackie Chan. There! Did you see it? You just predicted that there would be kung fu, didn't you? Anywho, they make this wager that they can go around the world in 80 days. Since the setting is the turn of the century and that the technolog...