Movie: Bernie (2011)

Both parental units said Bernie was good, so the day after Thanksgiving we all plopped our overstuff butts on the couch and they pulled it up On Demand (They have cable!).

Bernie, stars Jack Black as Bernard Tiede, an assistant funeral director and eventually, close friend of the meanest lady in a small Texas town. He ends up killing the mean lady and spending a lot of her money doing good deeds and helping out townsfolk. Of course he gets caught and then there's a trial. This movie is based on a true story. You should read about it.

The movie was great and had a semi-documentary style, with interviews of townspeople and local politicians spliced with flashbacks into the story. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to take Jack Black seriously, but even though some of his scenes were drama-light and on the precipice of comical, he never took it over that edge and I credit Black's skill as well as the director for creating the light and happy feeling that didn't stumble into full-frontal humor or darkness. FYI: Jack Black can really sing, man! 

After last year's heart-wrenchingly awful movie Boyhood, I was surprised to learn Bernie was directed by the Texas-loving, Richard Linklater, who also did one of my favorites, Dazed and Confused. Bernie also stars Matthew McConaughey as the district attorney who prosecutes Bernie and Shirley MacLaine as the mean lady.

I thought Bernie was highly entertaining, well done, and I wouldn't mind watching it again, so I give it three stars ***.  

Here's some fun from the movie:

TV: The Leftovers, Season 2 (2015)

I'm done with the Leftovers. I think I might have said this once during the first season, but three episodes into the second season and it is confirmed that I don't want to know what happened, what is happening and what will happen on that show. Episode 3 confirmed it when it ended with the line: “Who wants a hug?”

From what I have understood so far, The Leftovers is a show about what is happening in the life of the main characters since The Departure, or, when 2% of the world's population just disappeared all at the same time. The first season kept you guessing: Is there something supernatural at play or is this all hoax and hoopla? The characters were interesting and that mystery wasn't too bad. But, so far, this second season has really struck the same note as Lost, Flash Forward, and all those other “shows that have no end” as my bestie puts it, so well.

So, I did some light internet research to figure out if there were any “shows that have no end” that I liked (Google search: Shows like Lost) and came up with these:

Twin Peaks- I watched this entire series, but I was 10-11 years old when this was on and it was what my parents were watching, so, I just watched it. FYI: My parents love “shows that have no end” to this day. The latest program I was appalled they followed was The Dome.

Carnivale- Oh! I knew there was supernaturalness going on in this show. There was no question about that. I'm just upset they never got to finish it. Why did you pull the plug, HBO? It's like they hired a Fox representative the week they were planning the third season.

V- V? I was going through the list of Lost replacements and someone recommended V. I disagree. That show has an ending. A damn good one and a theme sequence that shows a horse vs. a space ship!

Okay. I think that's it of the Lost replacements aka “shows that have no end” that I agree with.

As far as The Leftovers, Season 2, it gets one star*. Yay! The first one star* post! It gets one star* because, unlike real leftovers, I don't want to finish it. Happy belated Thanksgiving, by the way.

Movie: Beasts of No Nation (2015)

Idris Elba plays a supporting role next to the AMAZING, Abraham Attah. Attah's acting made this feel like a documentary. Like you were a fly-on-the-wall of this boy’s life. If he isn’t nominated for any awards, that is a sure sign this year will be another Oscar crock.

The story: A boy named Agu sees his family torn apart during a civil war and he flees into the arms of an army of child soldiers, led by an exploitative adult comandant in an effort to aid the rebel side take over the country.

There were some interesting visual effects in this movie. I’m particularly interested in talking to the director about the scenes where flashlight and spotlights were used. I thought they can somehow all be tied together. And also the use of coloring, literally painting a scene and setting the tone. 

I might need some more time to digest this, but as of now, I give this movie four stars ****.

I want to see it, again. I thought the acting, everyone’s performance, was amazing and I’m so intrigued by this film’s feel, as well as, look. 

Filler: Week of November 9, 2015

I recently learned that PBS abridges the Masterpiece Theatre shows from the original UK versions. I'm determined to re-watch as much as I can and reclaim what has been stolen from me. It's like finding out in adulthood that you were adopted. "How were you able to keep this from me so long, PBS?! How and why?!" Crackhead-like sobs.

I spent most of Thursday sick in bed and watching a day-long Blue Bloods marathon on Ion. I've been leaning more towards crime shows the past couple of weeks, capitalizing on Ion's multi-hour blocks of Criminal Minds, Law & Order: SVU, and, of course, Blue Bloods. I need to take advantage of the Heroes Network. I think I saw that Homicide: Life On the Streets is on there, and I used to really like that show. It felt like Oz, but on the other side of the bars.

One morning before work, I caught this show, The Great Fire, about the fire that destroyed a whole lot of London during King Edward II's reign. I thought it was just a onesie, and I turned it off after the fire started, because, well, we can all figure out what happened next. But it turns out this is a miniseries and I caught episode 2 this week. Seems like I have something else to watch! Yay!

I also checked out a series I'd never heard of from the library (shameless plug!) called Dancing on the Edge. A BBC offering, that never aired in The States, starring Chewitel Ejiofor. My word! I watched episode 1 for my Sunday morning Masterpiece block and was enthralled. Glad I checked out the whole set!

Back to the screen...

Movie: Memphis (2014)

I just finished writing a post about another film, Stop the Pounding Heart, and it reminded me of this this movie, Memphis, that in a similar way to the former, had me upset with the filmmaker after watching it.

It's been a while since I watched the whole movie, so I just used YouTube to jog my memory. What I recall about Memphis is that nothing happened. There was a whole bunch of jumping into stories, possibly-interesting characters popping up everywhere, and the main character walking around looking lost and full of himself at the same time. The most stupid thing about the story was the beautiful girl who seemed to have her wits about her making herself available to this dude.

This is another two star ** because I hope to never see it, again, and the only reason I made myself revisit it was because I was trying to remember the funny part I played over the phone for my bestie:

“There’s no glory in bars and there’s no glory in talking for an extended period of time.
There’s no glory.
You find glory alone, by yourself, with nobody around.
Nobody can hear you.
That’s were the glory is found.
You don’t find glory in a woman’s pussy and, if you’re gay, you won’t find glory with a dick up your ass.
You’ll find glory by yourself. Alone. No sex.
I fucked the dirt one time and I came in the fucking dirt. That was glorious to me.
I was walking up from the porn shop and I had this ad, this American Apparel ad I pulled my pants down and I layed down in the dirt and I fucked the dirt.
I came in the dirt because the dirt was soft and warm and that was glorious to me because now I know if I get desperate enough I can go out and fuck the dirt.”

If, for some reason, you're interesting in watching this, I found the full movie on YouTube HERE. The above soliloquy is at 44:21.

I checked the DVD out from the library.

Movie: Stop the Pounding Heart (2015)

I am not a filmmaker nor a film school student. I say this because I think that this is one of those films this is made by a filmmaker who makes films that other filmmakers will enjoy. I watched it, but I didn't enjoy it.

I would not describe what happens in Stop the Pounding Heart as a story, but for the purpose of this post, I'll just call it that. The "story" in this movie is that of a teenage girl living with her very religious family on a goat farm in rural Texas. There's also a sub "story" of a teenage boy who lives nearby, who is practicing to be a bull rider. Supposedly, the girl was into the boy, but it would have been a stretch for me to get that out of the film if I hadn't have read the box description.

I gave this two stars ** because I could, at least, tolerate watching the whole thing through, but I'll be damned if I ever watch it again. This would have made a better short film, in fact, just watch the trailer. 

So, that music you hear in the trailer? It is the only music in the whole film and it plays for approximately 40 seconds out of a 100 minute movie. And that cross burning? Yeah. There's no explanation for that. Just a cross burning. Click HERE to watch the whole scene.  I will say that I wish that more super-religious people were as rational as the mom character.

I checked this DVD out from the library.