Saturday, June 4
Movie - "The Fighter" (2010) - Second viewing. It seems tighter and more focused than I remember from the first time, and the seven sisters (surprisingly) seem less cartoonish than I first thought. Being braced for Christian Bale's big, cuckoo clock performance helped me appreciate what Wahlberg is doing. His Micky Ward is doe-eyed and sheepish on the level of Elisha Cook, Jr., I now realize.
-- Also: On first viewing, I completely missed director David O. Russell's cameo, as a TV watching prisoner who really seems to be enjoying Dicky's ill-fated HBO documentary appearance.
Podcast - "KCRW's The Treatment" - Todd Phillips
Podcast - "American Film Institute: David Cronenberg/'The Fly'" - This interview unfortunately largely concerns an operatic version of the "The Fly," rather than the 1986 film (which remains the most chaotic and hilarious theatrical screening I ever attended). The one detail that really stands out -- in the years before he made "The Fly," Cronenberg was working on a failed version of "Total Recall" to star a then-at-his-peak William Hurt. I actually really like the Schwarzenegger/Verhoeven version, but man I would've loved to see the Cronenberg/Hurt take.
Friday, June 3
Movie - "X-Men: First Class" (2011) - Occasionally fun, but (like most X-Men movies) too crowded with heroes, too devoted to scenes involving laser beams and sonic booms. The film gets a big boost from its period setting, its Cold War context, and Jennifer Lawrence (who is like a big, tall, sexy glass of cold milk). January Jones looks great, too ... but her character and her portrayal are ultimately ridiculous -- how is it possible for an actress to wear literally nothing but lingerie start-to-finish, yet still seem shy and disconnected? The best parts involve the always fine Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy (surprisingly spry here, despite constantly being required to touch his index finger to his temple) as they engage in intrigue and mutant recruitment.
Podcast - "Doug Loves Movies" - Kevin Pollak, Ali Nejad, Samm Levine
Podcast - "Desert Island Discs" - Randy Newman
Podcast - "Sound Opinions" - Mike Watt, "Double Nickels on the Dime"
Podcast - "All Songs Considered" - Brian Eno plays DJ
Wednesday and Thursday, June 1 and 2
Nothing but work.
Tuesday, May 31
Movie - "The Loss of Nameless Things" (2006) - Solid documentary about a fascinating subject -- playwright Oakley Hall III.
Part Sam Shepard, part Orson Welles, part Jim Morrison-minus-the-bullshit, he was writing and staging daring (reportedly amazing) plays with his own theater company in upstate New York during the 1970s, until a devastating head injury reorganized his face and scrambled his mind (an interview subject paraphrases a doctor's claim the accident essentially lobotomized him). What happens when a talented and charismatic figure, touched by apparent genius, is suddenly struck down and loses all but everything ... yet doesn't die?
Podcast - "WTF with Marc Maron" - Dan Harmon
Saturday/Sunday, May 28/29
TV - "Game of Thrones" - Season 1, Episode 7 - "You Win or You Die"
Movie - "No Strings Attached" (2011) - This movie might've been infinitely better if they'd cast, say, Mila Kunis instead of Portman and ... maybe Justin Timberlake instead of Kutcher. If only .... Not without merits, specifically Kevin Kline as an aging lothario. The story completely throws Lake Bell's likeable-if-unlikely character right out the window at the end.
Movie - "All Good Things" (2010) - Murder. Money. Mayhem. Surprisingly dull.
Podcast - "Desert Island Discs" - James Ellroy
Podcast - "Desert Island Discs" - Stephen King
Podcast - "Desert Island Discs" - Roger Waters
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