All posts tagged: movies / tv

Review: Spring Breakers (2012)

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Damn. So I just watched Spring Breakers and I was honestly expecting some version of ‘Disney Grows Up’ Bubblegum Movie with a Morality Lesson at the end. Now I wonder where the hell I got that idea. What I got was a highly stylized, gritty, glamorous, pornographic violence fantasy set an unlikely soundtrack. So I looked up the writer/director. Harmony Korine of Kids fame. Ok, I get it now. The universe has once again aligned. Now I expected to really not like the movie, so imagine my surprise when I did. The movie makes me sad, and I’m happy it makes me sad. The so-called glamour of collage kids gone wild is degrading to both women and men. Alcohol consumed with tubes, bikinis coming off, coke snorted off naked bodies. Beer bottles masquerading as penises and the girls can’t get enough. And that’s just the first minute or so. I am a HUGE sucker for unexpected contrast in films so that’s the main reason this movie appealed to me, even more so than the story, …

All-time favorite TV shows

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I’m a creature of habit when it comes to entertainment so starting a new TV show is kind of a big deal. I also stick with shows way too long, even after they have ceased to entertain me and I only watch out of loyalty to the characters. Occasionally the creativity picks back up but most of the time I guess I’m just wasting my time. (Although I vaguely remember something about reading bad books is better practice for writers than reading good books, and since being a screenwriter is my end game I’m hoping it works the same way with TV and movies. But I doubt it!) I’m also going to admit that I choose TV shows based on the level of attachment I have to an actor or show creator. What this usually means is that I will watch anything with any member of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumni. Read my love story with Buffy here. Sometimes this turns out to be a mistake (re: How I Met Your Mother. WHY WON’T IT …

If this was happiness

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Rita Hayworth was the most beautiful woman in the world. She said the happiest time of her life was with her second husband, Orson Welles. She was so proud he picked her; at the time he was the wizard of Hollywood, everyone wanted a piece of him and he wanted her. He’d seen a picture of her in Life magazine, a picture of her sitting on her bed in a satin slip, and he said, “That’s the girl, I’m gonna marry her.” And he did, and it was the happiest time of her life. The shyest girl in all of Hollywood who never wanted the title “The Love Goddess.” She worked so hard for him; reading the literature he gave her, took a stand on current politics, his, of course. Everything to keep up with his restlessness and nationally declared genius. He left her. Twice. Then her beloved husband later said, reflecting back on their time together, “If this was happiness, imagine what the rest of her life had been!” In The Lady from Shanghai, …

2012 in movies.

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It’s awards season and as usual I have a lot of feelings. I think it’s a pretty common observation that TV shows are currently in a “golden age” of entertainment, and movies have become “too safe” and there is the seemingly never-ending stream of remakes. On TV great stories are being adapted (Game of Thrones, Dexter), original and edgy stories being created and used as social commentary (Breaking Bad, Newsroom) and some shows are just plain fun, sexy and dirty (Californication, Girls). I’ve definitely had that impression for a while and few movies are able to really thrill me and make me long for the movie theater. I have a few actors that I am still willing to sit through anything for and I will see their movies without questions. I love actors that just sparkle on the screen, who the camera loves in a way that make them seem out of this world beautiful. The classical actresses all had that; Audrey Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Elizabeth Taylor. Watching them is like …