I was a busy bee today, if only I could say that busyness is equatable with watching stuff.
I went to Atlantic City today (or "AC" if those annoying "Ten Ways To Tell You're From New Jersey" emails that a-holes send incessantly) and saw two shows and a movie.
The movie? "Redacted" directed by Brian DePalma. A truly great film that has totally skipped any sort of standard theatrical release and gone straight to "In Room Entertainment". It is a film that is eerily similar to an earlier DePalma masterpiece "Casualties Of War" but is saved from being a rehash by a very unusual storytelling technique. Set in Iraq 2006, the plot unfolds using "found" footage (Like Blair Witch), so sometimes we are watching a soldier's video journal, sometimes survelliance camera footage, sometimes website footage, sometimes scenes from a French documentary. The less you know going in the better, but the film is shattering. Of course, if it were better known there would be an outcry by "Good Americans" labelling it "Liberal Propaganda". Since this film has been so successfully buried, I can only hope that outcry might occur, if only because that means the film has made some sort of dent, instead of the fourth film in a series about "fun" torture and murder (with the fifth and sixth installments already on the way). Brian DePalma is quietly the best director we have.
The first show? Zappa Plays Zappa (that is to say Dweezil Plays his father Frank's music). Good show. Tight music. I haven't decided if it is annoying or admirable that Dweezil more or less stayed away from Frank's "better known" music (since there are no true hits to speak of--no "Stairway" as it were). I am glad i saw it. I would go again. It could have been a shameless nod towards nostalgia but managed to avoid it, but still acting as a fitting tribute to one of Rock's Originals. I could have done with a few fewer guitar solos, though.
The second show? Sarah Silverman. Not bad, but not 100%. Sarah seemed...off. The a-holes yelling out shit from the audience also hurt (not her fault). I don't get people yelling out inane things at comedy shows. Comedians ALL have set comebacks to just about any heckle thrown their way, so hecklers sound even more stupid. Still, she was very funny, and most of the material was fresh.
Plus, I got my oil changed, one of the activities I hate most in the world for some reason (next to getting my haircut which is why I now shave my own head once a week--if I ever learn to change my own oil I will feel super-awesome).
Tomorrow, I continue my adventures on the paying side of the Proscenium Arch by seeing American gangster. Ridley Scott directing a crime movie with Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington. I think it has potential to say the least.
I went to Atlantic City today (or "AC" if those annoying "Ten Ways To Tell You're From New Jersey" emails that a-holes send incessantly) and saw two shows and a movie.
The movie? "Redacted" directed by Brian DePalma. A truly great film that has totally skipped any sort of standard theatrical release and gone straight to "In Room Entertainment". It is a film that is eerily similar to an earlier DePalma masterpiece "Casualties Of War" but is saved from being a rehash by a very unusual storytelling technique. Set in Iraq 2006, the plot unfolds using "found" footage (Like Blair Witch), so sometimes we are watching a soldier's video journal, sometimes survelliance camera footage, sometimes website footage, sometimes scenes from a French documentary. The less you know going in the better, but the film is shattering. Of course, if it were better known there would be an outcry by "Good Americans" labelling it "Liberal Propaganda". Since this film has been so successfully buried, I can only hope that outcry might occur, if only because that means the film has made some sort of dent, instead of the fourth film in a series about "fun" torture and murder (with the fifth and sixth installments already on the way). Brian DePalma is quietly the best director we have.
The first show? Zappa Plays Zappa (that is to say Dweezil Plays his father Frank's music). Good show. Tight music. I haven't decided if it is annoying or admirable that Dweezil more or less stayed away from Frank's "better known" music (since there are no true hits to speak of--no "Stairway" as it were). I am glad i saw it. I would go again. It could have been a shameless nod towards nostalgia but managed to avoid it, but still acting as a fitting tribute to one of Rock's Originals. I could have done with a few fewer guitar solos, though.
The second show? Sarah Silverman. Not bad, but not 100%. Sarah seemed...off. The a-holes yelling out shit from the audience also hurt (not her fault). I don't get people yelling out inane things at comedy shows. Comedians ALL have set comebacks to just about any heckle thrown their way, so hecklers sound even more stupid. Still, she was very funny, and most of the material was fresh.
Plus, I got my oil changed, one of the activities I hate most in the world for some reason (next to getting my haircut which is why I now shave my own head once a week--if I ever learn to change my own oil I will feel super-awesome).
Tomorrow, I continue my adventures on the paying side of the Proscenium Arch by seeing American gangster. Ridley Scott directing a crime movie with Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington. I think it has potential to say the least.