THE SECOND COMING IS HERE...

Check this out. I guess my doubts about God were wrong all along. It pays to be a patient Christian. I'm just wondering which one of the five will be "the one."

GRIMMER THAN GRIMM...

I thought I'd start with what I thought was the best movie of 2006. The The Academy will never agree with me, but fuck 'em. This a group that thought that Titanic was a great film. Ugh!

So the best movie is...El Laberinto del Fauno. (Pan's Labrynth to us americanos). I'll begin by saying that this is a Spanish movie. It is not American at all! Which is probably why it is so great. It is subtitled, so for all you fools who can't keep up, you might want to wait until it is on DVD. Be warned, if you wait you will miss out on seeing amazing scenery, beautiful sets, and incredible makeup on the big screen. A comment from Courtney on an earlier blog says it best, "I never wanted to blink..."

This is a fairytale. But it is not for children. As the title of this blog suggests, this film is brutal, gory, gruesome, and so in your face about it that you can't possibly look away. It tells of Ofelia, a young girl who moves to a country estate with her mother and her new father who is a Captain in post-war fascist Spain. She escapes the horrors of the real world through the title maze and discovers a whole new world that is somewhat terrifying, but very inviting. All the performances were well done, but the one who blew me away was Sergi Lopez. He plays one of the most maniacal figures in modern film with such grace and beauty (watch him and see.) He runs circles around the most evil antagonist.

In short, if you are a fan of fairytales like Ever After, you may want to stay away. This film is not for the squeemish. But for every other person who understands that the true purpose of those stories the Grimm Brothers collected was to scare the shit out of children so they would stay out ot the Black Forest, you will learn, as I did, that it is much safer in the woods than in the comfort of your home.

Thank you Guillermo del Toro for following your dream and taking us along.

AND THE WINNER IS...

With the awards season in full swing, I thought I'd recap this last year. To help me remember the films I've seen, I went to IMDb-the best damn movie site! I tell everyone about it. Check it out if you haven't. I have compiled a Top 10 list for 2006.

Here it is in no particular order:

• Pan's Labrynth
• The Prestige
• The Fountain
• The Descent
• Children of men
• V for Vendetta
• Inside Man
• Lady in the Water
• Babel
• Thank you for Smoking

O.K. I'll be honest. I haven't seen Babel yet, but I know it would be on the list if I had. And I'll also admit that "technically" Thank you for Smoking is a 2005 film, but it is so freakin' good that I wanted to tell everyone about it. But that will be a later blog.

In fact, in deciding to review movies, I thought I'd begin with one that is actually nearly three years old. I finally got to watch it and well...just keep reading.

On the surface, Saw looks like your typical gore fest. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy blood, guts, and goo if

1. It's done well, and
2. The flick isn't just gross for gross' sake.

In short, I want some meat on those bones!

Saw is not an example of #2. I used to work in a steakhouse that served a 32oz T-bone and a 64oz Porterhouse. This movie is the special 6 pound challenge we served! It grabbed me at the beginning, shackled me to the couch, and kept me there til the end. What I loved about this movie is that the characters had depth, the story moved constantly forward (even thru flashbacks and flashbacks of flashbacks), and the protagonist(s) weren't saints and the antagonist wasn't purely evil. In fact, if you ask me, Jigsaw was nothing more than a good samaritan in many ways. This idea blossomed in my head when Amanda (a drug addict and survivor of an ingenious trap) says simply "he helped me." I have yet to see 2 or 3, but so far Jigsaw has not murdered anyone and he rarely inflicts pain unless it is for self-preservation. What Jigsaw does is accuse people of taking life for granted and posing an interesting question-are you willing/able to take someone's life to save your own? With the level of self-absorption and importance in the world, I believe the # of people who would answer 'yes' in that situation is more terrifying than any movie.

WHAT A GREAT YEAR!!!

I watched two movies yesterday and realized that 2006 was an incredible year for good movies. No, not good-fucking amazing! I don't know if the film industry would agree. I haven't looked at the figures, but that is where the problem lies. The biz (yes, the same one I'm dying to get into) seems to think that great=$. Hence, the reason why we are suffering through so many remakes and sequels and bad movies made from bad tv. I got two words for ya: Miami Vice. WTF?! No, I believe that a film isn't good because it can make the do-re-mi. I like a great script, multi-dimensional characters, and beautiful cinematography. Maybe I won't make it in Hollywood, but after this past year I still have hope.

So I've decided to recap some of my favs from the previous year. It may take me some time. I know I saw some great ones, but I have to actually remember what the hell I saw last year. I would like to pass on some great titles to those of you hold the same standards in rating what is great on the silver screen.

Oh, yeah. The two movies I saw that I will be reviewing first are:

Children of Men

and

Pan's Labrynth

The reviews are on the way!

WHAT THE FLOCK?

I was sitting at an intersection yesterday and I became mesmerized by a group of pigeons flying overhead. They flew in a tight pattern making sharp turns and twists in the air. I don't think they were trying to find somewhere to land. When I returned to the intersection a few moments later, they were still flying around. I'm not sure what they were trying to do. All I know is that it looked like great fun. I've never seen pigeons in this way. To me, they are always annoying little birds that beg for food and shit on your car after you've just washed it.

I always enjoy witnessing something in a new way.