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The Dilemma -Advance Screening
After all the brouhaha concerning whether Vince Vaughn’s character could say whether a car was or was not “ghey” (spelled the way the Internet intended) the movie is finally here to say once and for all if a vehicle is capable of having a sexual preference. Yes, I know, these are probably the same radicals who think that censoring Huck Finn of its nasty n-words was a good idea. It isn’t and it’s a form of censorship and good for Ron Howard for keeping the joke in tact. In fact, I may even buy a ticket just for pushing aside those who think he should have excised it from the film.
For those of you true Americans who believe in free speech and live in the metro Phoenix area and would like to see The Dilemma this coming Tuesday the 11th at Harkins Tempe Marketplace at 7:00 p.m. drop me a line at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and I’ll hook it up. Support your God given right to use “ghey” in any appropriate, comedic context.
About the film:
Since college, confirmed bachelor Ronny (Vaughn) and happily married Nick (James) have been through thick and thin. Now partners in an auto design firm, the two pals are vying to land a dream project that would launch their company. With Ronny’s girlfriend, Beth (Connelly), and Nick’s wife, Geneva (Ryder), by their sides, they’re unbeatable. But Ronny’s world is turned upside down when he inadvertently sees Geneva out with another man and makes it his mission to get answers. As the amateur investigation dissolves his world into comic mayhem, he learns that Nick has a few secrets of his own. Now, with the clock ticking and pressure mounting on the biggest presentation of their careers, Ronny must decide how and when he will reveal the truth to his best friend.
BLACK SWAN – Giveway
Having seen the film a couple of times already, I am convinced that Black Swan from Darren Aronofsky is perhaps one of the best films of 2010, if not the best film from last year.
A mix of the bizarre, the fantastical, the utterly intense film was something I could not help but feel compelled to tell more people about who may be on the fence about whether they should check it out while it’s still in the theaters. I implore you to do so and, thanks to some special friends, I also have some posters to give away.
Now, while I certainly have some small posters of the movie’s stunning one-sheet that any number of you cube dwellers can hang in your sullen looking work spaces while ignorant co-workers tell you how their equally dumb mother-in-law saw it and thought it was weird. To that I say there is no accounting for idiocy in this country but there is something to be said about me also having FULL SIZED one-sheets to toss out there if you’re so inclined to want one.
All you jackals have to do is send me a note at Christopher_Stipp@yahoo.com and I’ll take ten or so people and make their week with one of these bad boys. Believe me, they’re spectacular and, if you’re lucky, someone will make a derogatory comment about the film. A barometer for intelligence, I say, and thus saving you the aggravation of trying to get them to see Black Swan. Point them in the direction of Yogi Bear, they’ll love it more.
HOWL – Blu-ray Review
Such a good film.
James Franco delivers such an effective and evocative performance as the wily social provocateur, Allen Ginsberg. Detailing Ginsberg as a man who had no other intention in life than to express that which he could not contain in his mind, writing poetry that shook a lily-white public to the point of getting the law involved. No other film in 2010 examined the nature of art and its necessary place in our lives than Howl did.
In depicting Ginsberg’s obscenity trial as a result of the poem that labels this film filmmakers Jeffrey Friedman , Rob Epstein capture the true zeitgeist of the time and showed the American public for what they were when it came to words on a page, words that were spoken aloud. It’s no surprise that the puritanical social forces that kept men like Ginsberg safely away from the virgin eyes and ears of a youth population that didn’t know better must have been great and this film fantastically shows the power of what thoughts and concepts are capable of.
Largely ignored by the ticket buying public months ago the film has now made its way to Blu-ray and DVD and I could not recommend this movie more if you have an appreciation for the beat poets and what it was that they ignited many decades ago. You’ll find a new appreciation for the things that men like Ginsberg and many others who were labeled “obscene” had to do in order for parents to now decry Huck Finn as “obscene.” The more things change…
About the film:
James Franco stars as the young Allen Ginsberg – poet, counter-culture adventurer and chronicler of the Beat Generation. In his famously confessional, leave-nothing-out style, Ginsberg recounts the road trips, love affairs and search for personal liberation that led to the most timeless and electrifying work of his career, the poem HOWL. Meanwhile, in a San Francisco courtroom, HOWL is on trial. Prosecutor Ralph McIntosh (Strathairn) sets out to prove that the book should be banned, while suave defense attorney Jake Ehrlich (Hamm) argues fervently for freedom of speech and creative expression. The proceedings veer from the comically absurd to the passionate as a host of unusual witnesses (Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker, Treat Williams, Alesssandro Nivola) pit generation against generation and art against fear in front of conservative Judge Clayton Horn (Bob Balaban).
HOWL is simultaneously a portrait of a renegade artist breaking down barriers to find love and redemption and an imaginative ride through a prophetic masterpiece that rocked a generation and was heard around the world.
DVD Features:
James Franco in conversation with directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman – an all new feature length audio commentary.
Holy! Holy! Holy! The Making of Howl – featuring directors Epstein and Friedman and stars James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, Treat Williams, Bob Balaban, poet Anne Waldman, and others.
Directors’ research tapes – original interviews with Ginsberg’s friends and collaborators Eric Drooker, Peter Orlovsky, Tuli Kupferberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Steven Taylor.
Allen Ginsberg reads Howl – never before seen footage from a performance in 1995 at the Knitting Factory in New York.
James Franco reads Howl audio feature.
Exclusive to Blu-Ray Release:
Allen Ginsberg reads Sunflower Sutra and Pull My Daisy – never before seen footage from a performance in 1995 at the Knitting Factory in New York.
Q&A with directors Epstein and Friedman moderated by John Cameron Mitchell (director of HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH and RABBIT HOLE) at the Provincetown Film Festival.
PAPER MAN – DVD Review
Sometimes you just want a movie to be a quiet character study of a couple of people.
I don’t know why this film struck a chord the way it did, certainly seeing Ryan Reynolds in tights and suicide blonde hair was certainly unique, but this film about a writer, his wife, and a babysitter who doesn’t babysit anyone had something to say about the nature of growing up even if you’re well into adulthood.
Jeff Daniels plays a suffering failed writer trying to overcome obstacles to write yet something else that is likely to not be very good if the past is any indication, his wife (Lisa Kudrow) being a source of support as she recommends them go to a small town to help him along, and Emma Stone turns up as a babysitter who sits a childless Daniels as the two of them strike up an interesting friendship based on shared fears and dreams for what awaits them when it’s time to stop playing the imaginary worlds they’ve created for themselves.
Both Daniels and Stone turn in fabulous performances as this film feels more like a two person play than it does a film. There is an intimacy the two create for themselves as this movie takes turns letting the two of them explore these fractured, yet redeemable, individuals.
It”s certainly not one of those gems that was lost in the crowd last year, as the movie has some pacing issues, but it is like finding a dollar bill on the ground: you’ll pick it up and be richer for doing so. Not by leaps and bounds, but in the secondary market where you could now see this for that dollar I can’t imagine a movie more worthy of your money.
About the film:
Paper Man is an inspirational comedic drama about an unlikely friendship between Richard (Jeff Daniels), a failed middle-aged novelist who has never quite grown up and Abby (Emma Stone), a 17-year-old girl whose role in a family tragedy years earlier has stolen away her youth. Both are unsure, both are afraid to take firm steps forward, and both are looking for that special friend-that connection-to help guide them into the future. Since his childhood, Richard has mostly relied on the imaginary one that resides in his head-a costumed superhero known as Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds).
At the urging of his wife Claire (Lisa Kudrow), Richard has moved to a Long Island beach community for the winter season in order to overcome his writer’s block. There, Richard meets Abby and hires her as a weekly babysitter, even though he has no children. Their tenuous, new friendship is sparked by Richard’s awe over Abby’s homemade soup and Abby’s enjoyment of Richard’s writing and his attempts at Origami. As the season progresses and the warm, quirky friendship between Richard and Abby grows, the two begin to share with each other their dreams and life hardships. With the coming of spring, Richard and Abby discover there comes a time to let go of the imaginary friends of the past and to embrace the future as a new beginning-just as one would embrace a new and unique friendship.
Comments: 1 Comment
One Response to “Trailer Park: THE DILEMMA Screening, PAPER MAN, HOWL”Leave a Reply |
January 8th, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Stipperoo –
I agree with you. Black Swan is one of the five best films of the year and certainly the most provocative and smart one to be released in 2010. It’s INCONCIEVABLE (ala Princess Bride)that it would be dared missed on any 10 best list. But Bill Goodykoontz of Arizona Republic fame actually dismissed it. Aronofsky’s film will not cater to the narrow or simple mind. It is not for mass consumption. Unfortunately, that endangers this beautiful piece of work to possibly fall under the oversight category. Natalie Portman owns the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Actress. Mila Kunis should also get recognized and once again Vincent Cassel turns in a cool and convincing performance as well. But none of it would be possible without the brilliance of Darren Aronofsky. He has brought to the screen a unique blend of Hitchcock and “The Red Shoes” with a smoldering sexual appetite.