Cinema Palooza!!

Ah, the joys of hotel life. Since finding an apartment went rather smooth in GA, I turned my attention to other pursuits the last couple of days. Namely, renting movies in my hotel room and even venturing to the theater once I signed my lease. And naturally after a day of travel today, that included a 7 AM wake up call, a car ride back to Columbia, SC and then a 2 hour flight delay, I turned my attention to my neglected Netflixes that had been waiting for me to return. Here's my assessment of what I've watched over the last 48 hours or so.

Night #1 in hotel - National Treasure

Where else could I have seen this hunk of shit without being completely ashamed and embarrassed? I'm in a shitty hotel in Georgia on a Thursday night digesting my Waffle House dinner and looking for some mindless entertainment...enter Nic Cage in a horrible hair piece to brighten up my night. Now the problems with this film are too far to name, but let's look at sheer geography for starters. There's a critical chase sequence that takes place in my fair city of Philadelphia and the characters are all over the fucking place like the Reading Terminal Market is in Old City and the Liberty Bell is near City Hall. Come on now. My work place was even featured prominently in the movie when Nic and his band of treasure hunters need to change garb. Again, I hate to knit pick, but if you are featuring Urban Outfitters in Philly in a movie, why not actually film the scene in the Philly UO instead of the one in whatever city this movie was really filmed in. What is even more disturbing is that the movie was filmed in Philly, just not that scene at Urban Outfitters??? Wait a second, I'm trying to make sense of what these filmmakers were doing when in fact the movie centers around a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence that leads to buried treasure. Forgive me. This is Disney drivel that is trying way to hard to be Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Post Lease Signing - Crash

Possibly the best drama I've seen in 2005. Very strong script revolving around racism in all it's many forms, with a very talented cast. The guy who wrote Million Dollar Baby is behind this directing his own script with some on screen and off screen help from Don Cheadle (slowly becoming a powerful Hollywood player) as an actor/executive producer. Matt Dillon gives a very understated performance as a racist cop who is caring for his elderly father. Sandra Bullock plays against type as a WASPy bigot married to Los Angeles DA Brendan Fraser (who didn't annoy me at all....shocking!). But the strongest performances come from the faces you may not recognize in this one. The Hispanic locksmith, the Persian shop owner, the TV director and his wife...this is a great ensemble piece in the tradition of Altman's Short Cuts. The script is drenched in authenticity without becoming overly preachy. All the characters flaws are on display, and redemption comes for some, but not for others. A real winner of a movie.

Night in hotel #2 - Assault on Precinct 13

I've an Ethan Hawke fan, as I've probably mentioned in the past, but even good actors take what is referred to as a paycheck picture in the movie business. This mess is a remake of a movie, apparently. I can't seem to figure out what was so great about it that it screamed to be remade, but oh well, it was better than National Fucking Treasure. Larry Fishburn plays a mob guy who teams up with some crooked cops....wait a second, who fucking cares? This movie was shit. Drea D'Matteo from Sopranos I'm convinced is a tranny, and Maria Bello who has a pretty busted body (see The Cooler) loves to flaunt her tiny breasts to ad nauseum in this movie. The action was yadda, yadda, paint by numbers....and Ethan looked bored as hell.

Tonight - Netflix presents Overnight

Really good documentary about the writer/director of the cult favorite Boondock Saints and his rise (not quite) and fall in Hollywood. The back story on this guy is incredible, Harvey Weinstein fronts him 300K, allows him direct his own script, buys him a bar and even helps the guy's band get signed to a record contract and then it all goes horribly wrong. This should be shown in every film class in the country so that these egomaniacal pricks about the roll out to Hollywood can see what they really look like. The dude is a 100% asshole with a GOD complex and it's riveting to see how many guys he has under his power. He's preaching the word of fame, money, the future....it's nuts....and eventually things break down. My only complaint is that no one really stood up to him, or at least it wasn't captured on film anyway, the way that you want it to happen. Very engrossing look at the evil side of Hollywood.