Rent It! - Before Sunset

I mentioned the movie Before Sunset as the benchmark for sequels revisiting characters a decade later. Like Kevin Smith, Richard Linklater created two characters that he just had to revisit, and it's become one of my favorite films. The movie is the sequel to Before Sunrise released in 1995, in which two early-twentysomethings, Jessie, an American, played by Ethan Hawke, and Celine, a Frenchwoman, played by Julie Delpy, hop off a train together in Vienna and star in a how-to-have-a-daylong-Gen X affair. They promise to meet each other six months later, but refuse to exchange addresses, phone numbers, or even last names, in so they could just pick up where they left off and not get sucked into the mundanity that is a "relationship". See? Told ya it was totally Gen X.
The sequel opens nine years later, in a Paris bookstore, where Jessie is on the last stage of a book tour promoting his novel about that night in Vienna. Celine approaches him in the bookstore and we begin 80 mins of (almost) real time film. The movie is all conversation, but it's "conversation" in the same way that "The Blues Brothers" ended with a "car chase." Their talk goes from, curious, to flirtatious, to lamenting, to frustration all the while staying charming to one another, the way you're charming to someone who immediately gets you.

Their night together, at first almost dismissed, looms in the background of their speech and it starts to snowball and grow until it comes back to the forefront. It creates such a wonderful moment for the fans of the first movie, because you are immersed on what a landmark event that night in Vienna was to both of their lives, and now we get to witness the aftermath. It's a sequel that aggrandizes the original while in itself creates a work that is the rarest of the rare in movies: a sequel that demands another sequel. (And I don't mean like a trilogy assheads!)

There was a line I heard the other day and I'm going to butcher it, but it went something like this: The love you almost have, is the love that lasts forever. Well, this movie is about having another chance with that love you almost had. Here's the trailer:


P.S Don't think that I've gone soft just because I like movies like this. I'll bring it back raw next time, yo. 'Cause that's how I roll, suckas!

Tags: Rent It, Movies

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Rent It! Mr. Show

One of my million and one annoying (but endearing, right?) habits is that even in company of friends or in the middle of conversation, I will, for no apparent reason whatsoever, start laughing out of the blue. It's a problem and its rude and I've tried to explain myself to people, but I can't help it. For example, a few years ago I was in a museum with this absolutely lovely girl, who really should have had my complete attention at the time. As it was, my habit for zoning out with horrible timing combined with spontaneous laughter got the best of me once again.

We were looking at a painting by Edward Hopper. I don't remember what it was, but it wasn't Nighthawks, but since it's the work of his most people are familiar with my mind went there. Then, I went on a further tangent to the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"which is such an artistic horror show that it makes me angry just thinking about it. The third tangent went to comedian Jerry Minor's commentary on a Mr. Show DVD, who was doing a surreal impression of Billy Dee Williams at the time. For some reason he referenced "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and said he had a version of that painting that replaced Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean with Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, and Martin Luther King Jr. To be reminded of that sequence, especially in the context of a Billy Dee Williams impression was to much and I just started laughing. Of course, there was no way I could explain this so I just had to eat it and look strange. The point is that it's quite a common thing for me and in the last few years the final tangent that makes me break out in spontaneous laughter more often than not is Mr. Show.

Since wikipedia does such a fine job of summarizing the show here's wikipedia's entry on Mr. Show What I love about this series is that it slowly and subtly creates this absurd, bizarre alternate universe, which is just like ours but titled just slightly. The comedy is so anti-convention, mainstream mocking, and irreverent, that it feeds my inner-contrarian. The longer you stay in this universe the more accustomed you get to the humour. It's definitely vulgar at times and like anything else worthwhile, its often challenging. The sketches topics range from the banal ( "The Burgundy Loaf" restaurant who's chairs also function as toilets) to attacking of timeless institutions. Even though the series ended in 1998 it's observations are often foreshadowing such as the white soul duo 3 Times One Minus One and the particular clip I'm going to post here, dealing with blowing up the moon, which even in 1997 can accurately lampoon modern day attitudes.



All four seasons are available on DVD. They are also shown on Comedy Central, but watching it watered down with commercial breaks is almost as atrocious as "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"

Tags: Rent It, TV

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Pootie Tang! Rent it!

Okay on New Yacht Rock eve I decided to contribute to the YouTube Community. I'm sorta thankful that YouTube didn't exist when I was a kid. Otherwise there could be some truly heinous shit from my teenage years on the internet. I was like the Hundreds and hundreds of YouTubers who lipsynch to "Hollaback Girl" only worse. We wore bored as kids and I had access to a video camera and we made some really horrible music videos among other things. I would hate to have grown up know as "Wrestling on the Trampoline Kid" or "You made a really dumbass video to "Don't Worry Be Happy"" Boy.

What I upoaded was an old segment from The Chris Rock Show on HBO a few years back. It's Pootie Tang : The True Hollywood Story. I was a big Pootie Fan. I was actually one of 47 people who saw Pootie Tang the Movie in the theatres! We all still keep in touch and whip the shit out of bad guys with our belts once a year on St. Crispen's Day. Then we go tippy tow on the cappy tow. Rent this underrated gem or I'ma sine yo piddy on the runny kine. Sa Da Tay!

Tags: Rent it, Movies, TV, Pootie Tang

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Miami Vice -Season One DVD set- First Impressions

I love Borders and their easy to get 30% off coupons. So, there I was in Borders with two boxes of DVD's in my hand. In one hand was the History of Dusty Rhodes the "American Dream". In the other hand was Miami Vice Season One. The Dusty Rhodes box had a button you could push on the box to hear a Big Dust 30 second interview, or promo if you weeeellll. I hit that sucker four times in a row before I realized people were staring at me while I was...well who knows what I was doing. I could have been shaking around doing the Dusty walk down the aisle or cocking my bionic elbow. Shit like that happens when I get lost in nostalgia. Try to be around me anytime "My Sharona" comes on in a convenience store. Anyway, there was a sobering moment in Border's when I realized that I'm not twelve...then I kinda got embarrassed. So I did what anyone else would have done. I shoved the Dusty DVD compilation on the shelf, took the Miami Vice Season One set and briskly walked up to the counter.

So now I get 22 episodes of Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas! Now I watched Miami Vice when I was a kid, but I wasn't a geek for it. Plus, like everyone back then, I had that one friend who took Miami Vice waaaaaaay too seriously. When you have a friend like that, you DON'T want to be that friend. He's the one who talks you into an aquamarine Ghostbusters shirt rather than a black one. He's also the guy who keeps telling you to mousse your hair. So no, I didn't do the pastels and white suits with the pants tacked. Plus, I was like 12, dressing like that would have been really really dumb. Besides none of that would have gone with my red leather jacket with the 26 zippers...joking. So here is my last chance to see Crockett and Tubbs before they turn into these guys.

Now, I just got this over the weekend so I haven't seen the whole season, but I did make it through both sides of the first of three DVD's. Here are my early impressions:

First of all, I may not have realized it back then, but there is no cooler television character than Sonny Crockett. This guy RULES!!! His job is having Miami drug dealers believe that he is one of them. Now to put this in perspective, imagine you had to convince people in Texas that you were a cowboy, Californians that you were a movie produce, or New Yorkers to believe you were an asshole. You'd have to go pretty fucking far. So he gets the "life" handed to him on house money, including Ferarri Daytona, Cigarette boat, and all the Armani he needs. The first couple of episodes show him juggling reconciliation with his ex-wife, while he bangs away at Gina, the hot Latina cop. Oh yeah he also has a pet alligator named "Elvis" too.

The main thing is that makes Crockett so cool is that Tubbs is such an unintentional cheeseball dork. I hope they rewrite the part of Tubbs for the movie, because I don't think the trying, but failing to be hip, second fiddle is going to wear well with Jamie Foxx. I hate that fake ass Jamaican accent he speaks with when he's under cover, I hate his "hey mamma" look that he gives anyone who walks by in a swim suit. I especially hate the scene in the Pilot where he's sitting the foot of the stage lipsynching to "Somebody's Watching Me" to a stripper...who the hell does that?

My favorite thing so far about the show...the nightclub scenes!!! I can't put into words how awfully dated this is when you have scenes of people dancing in the clubs. It's just headbands and glitter...it's so filled with arms flailing...I can't do it, you just need to see it for yourselves.

Seeing Al Bundy from Married with Children play a possible rouge federal agent was one of the greatest things ever. One thing I loved about Miami Vice were the guest appearances. I just saw Dennis Farina play a bookie!!!

There is no one harder than my man, Lt. Castillo. I'm working on his deathstare, seriously you won't be able to look me in the eye without feeling two foot small when I'm done. I can't believe this is the same guy who taught all those cholos math. I might have to buy season two for the episode where it turns out he was a ninja.

Oh yeah, if you watch an episode and think it looks a lot like most of the cop shows now with their use of music and the pacing...you're right on, since every action drama in existence today is in some form derivative of what went on in Miami Vice. Whether, it's the use of music, the inventive camera angles, or the spare dialogue, this show technically led a revolution mofos.
Here's a sample:

Tags: Rent It, Miami Vice, TV

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Rize- Go Rent It

Okay I was ready to recap So You Think You can Dance? My heart wasn't in it though. Mainly it's because I finally got to see "Rize" the documentary by renowned artsy fartsy photographer David LaChappelle. It knocked me on my ass it was so good. It makes me what to slap everyone on the polished homoginized SYTYCD in the face.

The documentary is set in L.A. and it introduces the birth and evolution of Clowning, a style of party dance started by Tommy the Clown. Clowning then had an off-shoot into Krumping a term that's thrown around quite freely when describing current Hip-Hop dancing. Krumping evolved from Clowning into a more fierce aggressive style which lends to actual battle dancing. After introducing us to the two differents styles and camps the documentary culminatites in an event called Battle Zone which is where the Clowns go head to head against the Krumpers in the Great Western Forum.

The documentary does a wonderful job keeping the focus on the dancing. Sure the violence and poverty of urban L.A. is there, but it isn't going anywhere and there's no need to call attention to it. Rize doesn't ignore the harsh realities that the subjects of the film have to experience either, but its used as a stark contrast to the energy and kinetic nature of the film as a whole.

The drawing factor is the dancing and Rize shows some of the most amazing hip-hop dancing I've ever seen. The movements aggresseive and downright scary at times as the dancers are more akin to powder kegs than people.

Seriously, check it out. It was as eye-popening a documentary into the urban world as Hoop Dreams was 20 years ago...

Tags: Rent It, Movies

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