Damages

I am writing this because of my anger over the lack of Emmys won by FX's Damages over the weekend. I'm very happy for both Mad Men and Breaking Bad, because they're both great shows, but Damages really deserved it. I think that the show if often overlooked, and put on a lower level than AMC's shows, even though it fully deserves to be included with them. I've recently re-watched the entire series, and I have a few things to commend them for. First, it is quite amazing that throughout the entire series, there was not one string person. At their core, every character is weak or pathetic in some way or another. Glenn Close plays Patty Hewes is a woman so emotionally damaged and paranoid that she destroys everyone who tries to get close to her, and pushes away any who are already close to her. Tate Donovan plays her sycophantic lap-dog Tom Shayes, so afraid of being on his own that he goes along with anything Patty says. And, of course, Rose Byrne plays Ellen Parsons, Patty's protege (at the beginning) who then turns into her enemy. And, of course, the show has had a revolving door of great cast members, such as Martin Short, Ted Danson, William Hurt, and Tim Olyphant. What I'm trying to say is, Damages should have won it all.

Greenberg

Noah Baumbach's latest film came and went with little fanfare. I didn't even know it was out on DVD until Amazon told me so. The lack of talk about it worried me that it wouldn't be very good, and the reviews on Amazon didn't help either. Most of them cried about the "lack of storyline", and the fact that "nothing happened" in it. Either way, I ordered it (used, for a very low price). When it came in the mail, I popped it into the DVD player and began watching. All in all, it took me four sittings over three days to finish the movie. Generally this would indicate that I did not like it, but that's not the case. I just think that there's only so much mundane life that can be handled at one time. Either way, Greenberg is a fine, understated film. Beyond Greenberg (Ben Stiller)'s quirk of being recently released from an insane asylum, the film is simply a look into everyday life. It is relatively similar to a Bukowski novel in that way. Of course, there are some exaggerations (see: Stiller explicitly going down on Greta Gerwig, as she spouts of awkward nothings), but for the most part this is real life. We all, as Greenberg does, wish to just do nothing with our lives for some amount of time. We all have those people who we run into that we were once extremely close to, but are now distant memories. We all have that one friend who, no matter how different we have become from each other, will continue supporting you for as long as you can imagine. This really isn't very romantic, as it seems on the surface. It's more of a flirt with romance, smothered by life in general. There's nothing more I really feel is necessary to say. Yes, the performances are great, and yes, Baumbach's direction saves it from becoming boring. I am unable to either recommend it or tell you to stay away from it. I suggest you watch it and figure it out for yourself.

Chapter 27

I've been extremely intrigued by this movie for the past few months, since I saw it in a store. I did a bit of a double-take, seeing Jared Leto looking like that was a bit of a shock. It shows that he was obviously extremely dedicated to the role. I love that there are very few actors in the film other than Leto himself. It lets you really see Mark Chapman for what he was, and get a glimpse into his mind. There is one great line where he talks about why he doesn't like movies, how all of the actors are phony and they think they're so good. The funny thing about that is that as he was saying it I forgot that I was watching a movie and that he was actually an actor. That's how convincing he was. Towards the end it all built up to, obviously, the assassination of John Lennon. I just researched Chapman on Wikipedia, as I was interested in his mental state. It seems that he was prone to obsession, evidenced by his infatuation with The Catcher In The Rye and The Beatles. However, although Chapman loved the Beatles, he seemed to be very angry with Lennon. He was most angered by Lennon's statements of being "bigger than Jesus", bad-mouthing his time with the Beatles, and his dismissal of God on the Plastic Ono Band record. Chapman also admitted to hearing voices at the time, and suspects that he was suffering from schizophrenia. Some have called him a sociopath, but I don't think that is the case. Sociopaths suffer from a complete lack of feeling, of emotion. They are prone to high-risk activities, because the adrenaline rush from doing things like skydiving, high-stakes stock trading, and murder are the only things that can make them feel alive. However, it appears to me that Chapman had too much feeling. Anger towards Lennon, his father, phonies; and love towards his idea of Holden Caulfield, and the Beatles. As far as actual performances go, Leto was quite impressive, Lindsay Lohan was mediocre at best, and Judah Friedlander was very convincing as the photographer who was present when Chapman first met Lennon. I would definitely suggest it, but if you're looking for a solid storyline, stay away. If a psychological portrait of a killer sounds interesting, check it out.

Thirteen

Thirteen... I don't know where to start. I guess I should first go over the storyline. There is Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), a pubescent girl from a lower-middle-class household who is just starting high school. Then there is Evie (Nikki Reed) who is more developed, sexual, and seemingly mature. Evie decides to take Tracy under her wing, which leads to sex, drugs, piercings, etc. However, it turns out that Evie is probably less mature in the end. I first saw Thirteen a year or two after it was released, when I was in high school. At the time it moved me deeply, most likely since at that time I was also experimenting with drugs and sex. But when I watched it a few days ago there were very few redeeming qualities. Sure, I could relate to some of the adolescent experimentation, but that's about it. I had a similar experience when I watched The Good Girl a few months ago. When I first saw it years ago, I think I related to the anxiety and depression of Jake Gyllenhaal's character, but when I rewatched it the only thing I liked was John C. Reilly.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7g3g7e2A1Y

Sex Scenes and Travel

On Sunday I went down to New York to finish up shooting on a short film I've been working on called The Second Circle Of Sad Hell. First, I'd like to say that New York, in my mind, is the first circle of sad hell. I took the train from New Haven to Grand Central, and as soon as I got off the train my heart rate spiked as hundreds and thousands of people all hustled and bustled around me. I was overcome by a feeling of paralysis, a sort of claustrophobia that I had not felt since the last time I had been in the city. I finally managed to convince my body to move, and I hopped on the 4 train to Union Square, and then the L to Brooklyn. BK is much more easygoing than Manhattan, at least in the sense that I can actually breathe in Brooklyn. It's a little more hip and a little less densely populated, and I'm able to relax a bit and smoke a Camel there.
So once I got off the L, I was met by a crew member working on the film, who led me to the apartment where we were going to film. It was raining and by the time we got there I was soaked. We walked in the door, and I instantly took off my wet shoes and socks and changed my shirt. I was greeted by the director, Casey Modderno, and I was introduced to the girl I would be doing my scene with. Her name was Naomi, and she was half-Vietnamese with striking features. Now is probably the best time to note that the scene we were filming was a sex scene. I had never met this woman before, and in about two hours we were going to have to act like we had known each other for years and were in love. It was a daunting idea.
I got to check out the set for a few minutes before going into make-up. There was a green-screen, a few huge lights, and then the camera, monitor, microphone, and an assortment of cables, among other things. It's always amazing for me to see how a location can be transformed from an average apartment into a movie set in a matter of hours. It was extremely dark inside, of course, since all the windows had to be covered up so that they could control the lighting on set. Then I was whisked away into make-up.
It always takes a long time to do make-up on me, since I have quite a few tattoos that generally need to be covered up. Since this was a sex scene, we had to cover up as many of them as we could as well as we could. Ari, Casey's girlfriend, took on this momentous task. The last time we filmed for this, it took hours and hours to get everything to look just right. This time, she obviously had a better grasp on my skin tone and the materials she had available to her. We got it done in a comparatively short time, and we were ready to shoot. I also must say that Ari is an amazing person to have on set, and just about everything she says it hilarious, which helps out a lot when you're nervous about the scene you're about to do.
As I walked on set in only my underwear my heart raced, and I began cracking bad jokes to somehow offset my anxiety. After some minor tweaking of the camera and lights, we were ready to shoot. Casey gave us some quick directions and then the camera rolled. As I looked into Naomi's eyes and at her body, I thrusted into her and kissed her lips, then neck, than breasts, and Casey said "Cut".
He pointed out to me that I was holding back, and that I looked like I was uncomfortable and that Naomi and I did not know each other. I felt embarrassed for a short time, and then became determined to get it done. From that point on, everything is a blur. I remember putting a sock over my genitalia for the full-body shots, Casey getting some great shots of random body parts, and I remember making a joke that made everybody uncomfortable, but that's about it. Then, as soon as it started it was over. Casey extended an invitation to stay at his apartment for the night but unfortunately I had to get back to New Haven for work in the morning.
It was certainly an unforgettable experience.

A Scanner Darkly

Damn, I have really been coming around to Keanu Reeves lately. As I said in my reaction to Thumbsucker, he definitely has a knack for picking roles that fit him. A Scanner Darkly is no exception. Before I get too far into it, I'd like to say that the animation of this film is extremely psychedelic. The scenes where Reeves is speaking to his supervisor Frank in their scramble suits, it looks like an acid overdose. Which fits perfectly into the storyline. Essentially, the world is overrun with a highly addictive chemical called Substance D, and Reeves plays both an undercover agent and an addict. Robert Downey, Jr. plays a spectacularly paranoid mad-scientist-like addict, and Woody Harrelson is also quite good, but we don't see nearly enough of him in the movie. Winona Rider is alright, but I think that the part could have been done much better by another actress. The twists at the end are rather mind-blowing; quite a gripping climax. I'd also like to add that I have not read the book, but I hear it is one of the most accurate book-to-film adaptations, which is very commendable.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXpGaOqb2Z8

Thumbsucker

First off, Thumbsucker is (in my opinion) an awful yet intriguing name for a film. It has been in my Netflix queue for about a year, but every time it came up as the next film to be sent out to me, I would think to myself "I really don't feel like watching a movie called Thumbsucker" and I would then replace it with another movie with a better name. However, in the end it was the title that made me watch it. I guess I was just in a thumbsucking kind of mood. Before I say anything else, I'd like to point out that Keanu Reeves has a certain knack for picking roles that work for him. I think he realizes that he doesn't have the talents of somebody like Sean Penn (although I do have my issues with him, too), so Reeves carefully chooses roles that he thinks he he can pull of well. He did it in this film, and he plays a hippie orthodontist very well. Lou Pucci is the standout actor in the movie, playing a 17-year-old who still sucks his thumb. The rest of the film shows how this affects his life, and how trying to stop affects it even more. My biggest problem with the film is that it falls victim to the Sundance syndrome. By that I mean that it is yet another movie about how hard it is to grow up. However I do commend Thumbsucker for showing that parents have as hard a time growing up as their children do. Vince Vaugn, the debate teacher, has a surprisingly fleshed-out role, showing the subtle desperation in loneliness. In the end, though, I feel that Thumbsucker's biggest pitfall is that it is less than the sum of its parts.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_swH4fv1Io

Spun

I just finished watching Spun, by Jonas Akerlund, and I was blown away. He used all of the tricks that he learned making music videos and applied them to a feature-length film with a great cast. The quick cuts and Aronofsky-esque footage of things like the car being put into park and the tiny meth crystals flying up a rolled-up dollar bill into a character's nose make the film all the more unique. The movie is both dark and humorous, led by the neurotic Jason Schwartzman as Ross. It is a mesmerizing look into the life of a group of drug addicts over the course of a few days. While Schwartzman takes the lead, the true center of the film is meth. Everything revolves around it, around the idea of it more than the drug itself, I think. Drugs aside, the young Patrick Fugit steals the show. He plays a young, pimpled, metal-head, meth-addicted kid caught up in the middle of something he's either too young or too high to understand. The late Brittany Murphy has moments of brilliance, but overall I think that she is the weakest link in the film. Mickey Rourke owns his role as a meth-cooking cowboy. Spun is one of the best drug films I have ever seen, and it has earned its place in my collection, right between Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Blow.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrWD1kVi0ME

Capote

Capote was an alright film that was turned into a good film thanks to an amazing actor. Phillip Seymour Hoffman took Truman Capote and made him his own. Despite the odd voice and mannerisms, there was not a single time that I thought of him as an actor. As I watched the movie, I thought of him only as Capote. Hoffman aside, there is nothing wrong with the movie. However, there is also nothing necessarily great about it, either. Capote's relationship with the murderer Perry is intriguing, and the contrast between Capote as he is working and as he is socializing is interesting as well. There is a chance that Capote's life was just a bit too boring to be turned into an absorbing film, but there are many other biopics out there about people whose lives were comparatively much more boring than Capote's, yet they came out much better. All in all, it is certainly worth a watch, but you should rent it instead of buy it.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVbNqCsp9IA