Curse of the Golden Flower wasn’t exactly what I expected, but Gong Li chewed up the scenery and the whole movie is shot like the Peony Pavilion scenes from House of Flying Daggers–lots of primary and pastel colors, and rich, complex textures overlaid on other rich, complex textures. It’s set almost entirely in a palace made from brightly colored glass lit from within. The whole movie looks like it’s made of candy, and for that reason alone I want to eat it. It’s more a triumph of style than substance, a celebration of pattern, repetition, and symmetry that kind of reminds me of In the Mood for Love or 2046, only more so.
Rocky Balboa was better than I expected. The direction is no more than workmanlike, but I think Sylvester Stallone probably doesn’t get as much credit as a writer as he deserves. His stories are simple, but he manages a pretty good job of keeping them compelling and memorable. It was a good movie.
Pan’s Labyrinth was damned good. Kind of a crazy mix of a fairy tale fantasy story and a real world horror story with the same themes and plot points playing out in both.
Both movies I’ve seen at the draft house in the last week or two had trailers for The Host, a Korean funny/scary monster movie I’m going to go see the night it opens, and The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai, which the drafthouse describes as “not your everyday existentialist-surrealist-action-comedy-porno.” You know I gotta go see that tomorrow night, with a tagline like that.
Did you know that Dr. Ruth is a trained sniper and wounded war vet? I am not making this up.
If you haven’t seen this Spiders on Drugs video, you should have. It could save your life, man. Your life.
This guy can draw a perfect circle instantly freehand.
Chad Vader is awesome. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not.
Lambert’s, in the Schneider building next to city hall–damn good. Have the sausage po’ boy. Have the the pulled pork cuban. Do not have the brisket frito pie with the goat cheese. Really. Unless you like goat cheese. Which I don’t. What was I thinking?
