Earlier this week I rented two movies...well actually I rented four, but only two seem worth commenting on, (as one was a B-Horror straight to dvd featuring Dawson- you know the one with the creek- and the other was an Oscar nominated movie about white people being bitchy at each other and being self absorbed- although I hear that the city of Buffalo is mentioned in it!  Of course I have only heard it, I returned the movie unwatched.)  and those movies were 27 Dresses and Tyler Perry's- Daddy's Girls.

Katherine Heigl doesn't seem to want to stretch much in her acting ability.  She seems content to produce bargain bin romantic schlock.  Her vapid and unlikeable characters seem to culminate in her portrayal of an Uber-Maid of Honor who is really good at extraordinarily pointless functions, which thankfully for her survival also seems to have translated itself into her career as a personal assistant to a conscientious but clueless and did I mention handsome, boss.  Turns out she is also incredibly bitchy.  She is always on the defensive and when she isn't she seems to be exhasperated about something.  Throw in an irresponsible but sexy little sister and whoa hoa hoa let the hilarity ensue.  And it does not.  She has to be her sister's maid of honor after her sister has deceived the man the she loves- her boss- into getting married.  In the meantime a cynical but adorable and intrepid reporter has fallen for Katherine.  Although he finds her absurd and mocks her...he still loves that quirky dame and just as he suspected from the get-go, she is pretty enough to put up with.  She prances around in a bride's maid dress montage complete with multiple costume changes while peppy crap music plays.  But then there is betrayal, a misunderstanding....just when you think that the world is at its breaking point- a light. In the penultament reel the wedding is stopped in the knick of time, love is declared and situations are beginning to show evidence of potential resolution.  Cut to a year later and Yay!! Everybody is happy, life has worked out perfectly the bride's maid is FINALLY getting married and what's this...she has 27 bride's maids.  Hey, that's clever.  And then the movie ended.  I don't think I will spoil it for anyone, its a pretty standard formula.  I think they did one before there were talkies.  I prefer to look at it that way- rather than assuming it's because people with power and influence know that we are all retarded and are trying to get us to buy something...a coke, a magazine a party line...or something else.  Or, it's a movie for kids in which case the insidiousness of the powers that be still applies. 

The second movie was Daddy's Girls.  After watching Why Did I Get Married and loving it I thought I would enjoy his other dramatic film.  Man, was I right.  I was swept up in this movie to the point of talking to the television.  This movie made me go insane with its unending waves of tension and release culminating in a explosion of satisfaction.  I liked this movie so much I rolled over went to sleep and then watched the movie again when I woke up...that is to say I watched it twice...and enjoyed it both times.

I'm a girl, I like to listen to music with lyrics that I can relate to.  When I listen to a folsky song by a lady singer I think...Yeah, I know that feeling  or  That reminds me of an experience that I had.   I once listened to Fleetwood Mac's Landslide and wept because it seemed so pertinent.  Of course I was mighty drunk at the time.  At any rate, everynow and thenI crave a movie that has the same effect.  Walking and Talking was just such a movie.  In a snapshot its about two best friends.  One is getting married and the other is very much single with a cat. 

Much like Katherine Keaner's character I was struck with mixed feelings about a best friend's upcoming marriage.  It wasn't that I was jealous of her, or that I had doubts that the man she was marrying was a good man.  It was more like...as Keaner says "Did you ever stop to think how I feel?"  Sharing such intimate friendships allows for the delusion that this is how it will always be.  This is happiness- you and me and we will grow old together.  Then shock and horror he shows up and he becomes her friend.  Things change.  The couple may have their own issues- but from the vantage point of the lady with the cat- no one is suffering nearly as much as she is!  In the end thend, however life goes on and come to find out we manage to adapt to it.

Director Holofcener has a good eye for drama that wouldn't be all that dramatic unless it were happening to believable and relatable characters.  And Liev Schreiber just sweetens the pot.  I suppose now there can be no doubt of my girliness. 

Some time has passed since I last wrote a review, and I have watched quite a few movie since then.  Movies like Snakes on a Plane, School of Rock, How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog, Wonderland, Scout, Mother, The Departed, Naked Lunch( which I will always associate with a Simpsons' quote "I can think of two things wrong with that title"), The Red House, Wild Starberries, Real Life, The Science of Sleep, Kicking a Screaming, The Grudge 2, Lonesome Jim, Marie Antoinette and The Prestige.  Some were quite good (The Departed, The Science of Sleep), some were surprisingly good (Snakes on a Plane, The Prestige).  Some were not that good (Marie Antoinette) and the rest were at best mediocre.  Movies that I had anticipated like Wild Strawberries might warrant more time and thought, but frankly did not inspire me to write anything.  Sometimes, as much as you enjoy something the thrill is gone and while I love to eat- everything started tasting a bit like oatmeal.

However whether it is just the desire to get back on the horse here, or that I was actually inspired- I am going to write about Breasts: A Documentary.  This is the counterbalance to that Private Dicks documentary I review a few blogs back.  I have to say I enjoyed this one more.  For me it recalled a time when I was surrounded by female friends and the conversations oftened turned to frank discussions of our bodies and our sexuality.  I went to an all woman's college and would not trade the experience for the world.  Any woman who claims not to value thefriendship of other woman is not to be trusted.  For me there is something spiritual about the companionship of other women, and it is something that I miss terribly as I live now feeling cut off from that experience.  While I adore my male housemate there are many levels on which we can never relate.  To watch a documentary where women bared their breasts and spoke honestly about their experiences with them was refreshing.  I only wish that it had gone on longer, or that they had ventured to delve a bit deeper.  I began longing to tell my own stories about my breasts- like how they miraculously emerged as if over night- much to my grandmother's shock (as she remarked loudly about it for what seemed like an entire summer).  I longed to share how because I have been generously endowed I feel at times that they are obscene, often feeling  awkward and ashamed because of them.  How upon seeing a man without a shirt for the first time I was disappointed, he looked so incomplete.  Then there was the time I was walking down the street wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a young man on a bicycle swerved toward me and grabbed the left one exclaiming "Damn, Girl".  I felt at once revolted and flattered...then revolted that I might be flattered by that.  In the end it makes for a humorous story that never ceases to make me desire a 5 hour shower.

At any rate- hooray for breasts.  It was wonderful to see real women and not the bizarro media inspired women that flood our perceptions of reality.  This is definately a documentary for women,  these are not all sexy ladies, some are quite old, others obese and a few quite small- but they are all very real and made me feel nostalgic for those good old days in the dorm when without the judgement of men we were all unabashedly ourselves.

I'm not exactly sure why this movie is so incredibly popular.  I suppose it has something to do with it being so simple, but simple in a village idiot kind of way.  Cher is a widowed bookkeeper who is betrothed to a dopey Danny Aiello.  She is tasked with healing the rift between her fiancé and his estranged brother- played by Nicholas Cage who plays the role as though it may be his last chance at acting.  Naturally Cage and Cher fall passionately in love.  In the meantime her father is having an affair.

The movie shambles on like a club footed mad man until it climaxes in the kitchen of Cher's family where everything comes together rather conveniently when Danny Aiello cuts off the engagement immediately before Cher is able to tell him that she is in love with his brother and shortly after her father agrees to stop seeing his new girlfriend.  In the end they are all a big happy stereotypical Italian American family.

I did not think I was a fan of Albert Brooks movies, but after enjoying Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World I reconsidered my original opinions.  Mother was a sweet movie about a man who moves back in with his mother in order to discover the source of his writers block and his troubles with women.  Brooks' sense of humor is densely dry and sarcastic, which I appreciate immensely as I was raised in a family with a similar sense of humor. 

After watching Daisies by Vera Chytilova which is a surreal feminist film, I decided I would very much like to see more of her work.  Fruit of Paradise does not have the same euphoric feel as Daisies.  After Daisies I felt energized, where Fruit of Paradise left me feeling heavy and tired.  It is based around the Adam and Eve story.  The stark contrast may be attributed to the suppression following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.  Eva seeks knowledge finding instead of wisdom absurdity and alienation.  She is unable to attain the innocence she once knew.  It is a film of frustration which speaks to the coming dark clouds besetting Czechoslovakia.

Max tells the story of Max Rothman, an art dealer and his relationship with Adolph Hitler immediately following World War I.  Both were soldiers and Max sees potential in the artistic talents of Adolph.  Hoping to encourage his passion he takes him under his wing.  It is a fascinating story…especially for someone like myself who finds anything about art in Germany during the Weimar Republic enthralling.  I was also impressed that this was Menno Meyjes directorial debut.  The film is so engaging that although there is no doubt how the story evolves I found myself hoping against hope that Hitler would throw his passion into art rather than into the Nazi party.  John Cusack did a magnificent job as the lead, and more impressively in order help in the financing of this controversial film took no salary.

Just to clarify- this movie was sent to me by mistake.  I never had any intention of watching this movie.  I would be just as happy to go through life ignorant of the contents of  The Pacifier.

This is a Disney movie...a statement which should speak volumes in and of itself.  Basically the father of an absurd number of children is killed (which no one seems to care about as it would most likely bring down the mood of the movie) and Vin Diesel's mission is to watch them while their mother goes to Zurich for some reason.  Oh the comic mishaps and misadventures, but of course in the end he and the kids learn to work together and love each other.  He even gets to direct a production of The Sound of Music...which is no less perposterous than the rest of the movie, after all the thrilling climax involved Diesel doing the "Peter Panda" dance in order to make his way through a top secret, booby trapped corridor (which just happens to be located under a suburban home) containing so high falutin' gadget desperately sought after by the North Koreans.

I don't believe that this was a very good career move for Vin Diesel...but I am hard pressed to recall any movie that has been a good career move for him.  At any rate I do find it amusing that he is evidentally my doppelganger...

Eraserhead was David Lynch's first movie.  It took him about 6 years to finish it, which is only a year or two longer than its taken me to get around to watching it.  It seems that anyone who had already seen it was not willing to subject themselves to a second viewing.  After watching it I understand.  While it is a remarkably well directed film it is oppressive and disturbing.  David Lynch refuses to explain the meanings of the film, leaving it to the viewer to draw their own conclusion.  To begin to truly establish informed opinions you may have to watch this movie several times, and if you can manage this I commend you.  

For months it has set upon the shelf taunting me.  Every time I visited Blockbuster I lingered for a moment before it debating.  "I know this movie will be terrible"  yet I was sickeningly drawn to it.  So when it became evident that I had very nearly exhausted my choices and as I stood in the store with Just Friends and Failure to launch in my hands I concluded that I would have to save Failure to Launch to satisfy future desperation.  Perhaps I could blame the looming horror of Valentines Day for my desire to watch insipid romantic comedies.  Regardless of my excuses I found myself scarfing down sesame chicken and staring mindlessly at this movie, which sees appropriate for such a mindless movie.

I wasn't going to watch this movie, but much like Just Friends it sat there taunting me and since I had already committed to one bad movie, why not make it a marathon?  Click was predictable and just what you might expect from an Adam Sandler project.  I found myself crying several times, which only attests to my susceptibility to be emotionally manipulated.  But rest assured that in spite of all the tear jerking all ends well when Scrooge wakes up to find that he has not missed Christmas and still has a chance to make amends.  Oh wait, wrong movie…oh well, it still applies.

One Sunday while working as the security supervisor at a DC museum I took a phone call.  The person on the other end requested a security escort for a VIP.  Since I was in charge that day I volunteered my services.  I met the car out front and welcomed and escorted Val Kilmer to the museum.  He was there to see the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit.  As we walked up the stairwell where the Calders were hanging he enthusiastically told me about a project he was working on called Pollack.  We stopped briefly on the steps and he pointed to my Venus of Willendorf necklace and told me "I love your necklace".  We proceeded to the O'Keeffe exhibit where he proceeded to make out with his assistant/girlfriend in what the guards referred to as "The make out" room because of its dim lights. 

Ok, now that I got that off my chest I can go on.  The Salton Sea was a decent movie, very noiry.  Val Kilmer is absolutely dreamy in it.  Hmmm, it would seem that I have very little to say about this film.  Oh well, I guess I'll just take any opportunity to tell the story about meeting Val Kilmer.

After watching Happy Endings my roommate and I endeavored to come u with alternate titles.  Movie that sucked up nearly 2 hours of my Life was popular, but Movie with no convincing dialogue was definitely the fan favorite.  That is not to say it was a horrible movie, it did fall under the category of pastiche, which is possibly my favorite type of film (aside from documentary).  Still, there was something lacking here.  The director Don Roos employed an irritating method of narration wherein the screen splits in half to offer up some written quips and plot exposition.  I had to rewind several times to make sure that I had read, and read correctly what was being said.  In one of the earliest bits of such narration is the statement that no one dies, this is more or less a comedy.  This statement might lead you to believe that you are watching a film not entirely devoid of wit and relate ability.  This was not necessarily the case.  I did enjoy Lisa Kudrow, but I think that has more to do with her stint on Friends which makes her somewhat of a comfort actress.  She is kind of like macaroni and cheese in that way.  I found Maggie Gillenhal to be remarkably irritating.  As if it was not difficult enough to have to stare at her pudsley face throughout the movie, her role was poorly acted.  Now, if you are wondering if perhaps you should check out this movie I will offer one more piece of information.  It contains Tom Arnolds first on screen sex scene.  Do with that what you will.

While talking to my sister we somehow stumbled onto the topic of Dumbo, I believe it had something to do with the lack of a magic feather.  At any rate she suggested that I watch it again and perhaps review it.  So meine Lieblingschwester, this is for you…

Dumbo is a short and very sweet feature length Disney film.  It is only 64 minutes long and RKO who produced it for Disney begged him to cut more time off and make it a short, add more to it to make it longer or release it as a B picture.  Disney refused and it was released as an A picture at its original length.  It has never gone out of print and managed to bring in more than Pinocchio and Fantasia combined.  During the production of Dumbo there was a cartoonist strike and the scene where the clowns prance off singing about asking the boss for more money is a parody of those striking workers.  It is also the first film where Disney employed some voiceover actors who would become Disney regulars.  The voice of the Elephant Matriarch was Verna Felton (also known for being the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, and the Good Fairy-Flora in Sleeping Beauty), Sterling Holloway the voice of the Stork (also known for being the voices of Winnie the Pooh, the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, and Kaa from The Junglebook) and Cliff Edwards as Jim Crow, who is better known for being the voice of Jiminy Cricket.  Watercolors were used rather than gouache and oil paints for the backgrounds which helped to keep the costs down, the same technique used in the making of Snow White and more recently in Lilo and Stitch.  At its release Dumbo enjoyed public acclaim, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song ("Baby of Mine") and won Best Animation Design at Cannes in 1947.  It was so popular that it was scheduled to appear on the cover of Time, were it not for the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Any criticism of Dumbo centers around the racial stereotyping of the Crows.  While the Crows are undeniably black characters it is questionable if they are indeed negative stereotypes.  The only crow to be given a name was Jim, and he is not ever referred to in the film as Jim, rather this was the name given him during production for convenience sake, and it just stuck, making it more an issue of a poor choice amongst the animators and not of the film.  The crows are not witless step and fetch it characters, but rather the catalyst for Dumbo's liberation.  They listen to Timothy's speech and are immediately converted and it can be argued that while representing marginalized members of society are more understanding of Dumbo's dilemma.

Of course I would be remiss to not mention the Pink Elephant scene.  This Fantasia-esque break in the film is at once nightmarish and humorous.  The use of pink elephants to denote drunkeness and may be traced back at least as far as Jack London's autobiographical "John Barleycorn" published in 1913 where he writes that Barleycorn "is the man whom we all know, stupid, unimaginative, whose brain is bitten numbly by numb maggots; who walks generously with wide-spread, tentative legs, falls frequently in the gutter, and who sees, in the extremity of his ecstasy, blue mice and pink elephants. He is the type that gives rise to the jokes in the funny papers."  The term crept into the American vernacular and was fittingly a slang term for LSD.  For me as a child it served as a warning against alcohol consumption, for fear of having that nightmare vision myself!

In the end Dumbo is a delightful little movie with a worthwhile inspirational message.  Unlike most Disney movies (especially those with Princesses) I would not hesitate to share it with the children in my life.

Private Dicks: Men Exposed

I have not seen that many penises since I was in college.  Surely, I jest, but seriously this was a vaguely interesting documentary wherein men were asked to frankly discuss their John Thomas.  I rented this because I had also ordered a documentary where women discuss their breasts, I thought it would all cosmically balance out if I got both movies.  There were no great revelations in this movie, nothing any man wouldn't share if you were to ask.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

This was a terrible movie.  It was as though the makers reviewed all of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies and said- "The third one- now that's the best one, I will use that as my inspiration"  I'm not sure that everyone here has spent anytime thinking about or critiquing the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, so for those who have not- the third one was a piece of crap.  I don't tend to shy away from gore, but for some reason the violence in this movie was just too much.  Perhaps it was because it was so prolonged, and tasteless.  I found myself longing for the original, and even said aloud "Dog will hunt" as once again Leatherface ran out the door in pursuit of the girl.  Finishing the movie was a struggle.  I actually stopped it and watched something else, but then when I realized that there were only about 5 to 10 minutes left I bit the bullet and watched the end.  And I can say that the movies only redeeming quality comes at the very end with a brief John Laroquette voice over, which once again only served to make me nostalgic for the good old days when innovation and creative direction were employed rather than uber-gore and a plot line that has been used in 5 other movies on the same subject.

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra

I have nothing but good things to say about this movie.  Written and directed by Larry Blamire, it pays homage to those terrible B movies of the 50's.  The acting is delightfully terrible, the plot is absurd.  I found myself laughing out loud and continuing to quote the movie after it was over.  I would even go so far as to say that I would like to add this movie to my own collection.

Magnolia

Magnolia was a pretty good movie- much like Short Cuts and the like.  It is a bit overacted, I guess to enhance the drama.  It had some very poignant moments and some that you could just shrug off.  In the end in rains frogs.  Hey- life's kinda weird, isn't it?

Freddie Got Fingered

Somewhere out there is a kid who has never heard of Tom Green, never watched the Tom Green Show, and didn't follow his romance with Drew Barrymore or his struggle with testicular cancer.  Actually come to think of it I bet there are quite a few people who have no idea who he is.  I'm not sure those people should watch Freddy Got Fingered.  My friend who would deny that he suggested this movie claims it is an art film.  Tom Green did write and direct it.  There is something wonderful about a movie that has a singular vision, it's almost as though you can smell the stink of compromise on most Hollywood movies.  This movie was crude, obnoxious and seemed as though it might never end (in what was nearly the last scene Tom Green and Rip Torn return from Pakistan to crowds holding up signs saying "Welcome Back" and "When the Fuck will this movie end?") I couldn't help but enjoy it, but I will deny ever suggesting it.

Take the Lead

Is it wrong that I enjoyed this movie?  It was rented on a lark; I even told the clerk that I was renting it for someone else.  Then almost against my will I found myself on the edge of my seat giddy with anticipation.  It's especially nice because it is based on a true story…I'm guessing- loosely based, but there is a documentary about the actual Pierre Dulaine in the special features.   I just wish that Antonio Banderas would teach me to dance.

Who Killed the Electric Car

It's sad to think that an alternative to the combustion engine exists and that GM would recall every single one of these electric cars and systematically destroy them.  Could big oil, car companies and our current administration be more evil?  This documentary was well researched and successfully drove the point home although they may have done so more succinctly.  It will make you angry, it may even make you cry, but in the end it leaves you with a sense of hope.  The technology is out there, what seems to be missing is the willingness to use it.

After enjoying Short Cuts I thought that maybe I needed to give Robert Altman a second chance.  Oh, man.  If I was hoping to prove to myself that robert Altman was not as bad as I thought- this was the wrong movie to do it with.  I found it tedious and the music unforgivably bad.  Do you think he could have gotten maybe just one decent singer?  I felt the length of this movie.  After one hour I began to wonder if I should just turn it off.  I did not, I made it through another hour and a half (to its end).  Throughout the movie I kept thinking, its really a shame that all of the characters in this movie did not die in the freeway pile up early on in this movie.  Thankfully at least one of the characters was gunned down at the very end of the movie.  If only the shooting had occured earlier and claimed more than just that one annoying character.

It seems like I should have enjoyed this movie, it is after all pastiche and I do enjoy that kind of movie, but it just rubbed me the wrong way.  Perhaps it was because it felt bereft of any soul or human compassion.  Perhaps because it painted an ugly view of humanity, rather than one of connectivity.  None of these characters connected on any significant level as is perhaps most evident in the scene after Lily Tomlin sleeps with "Tom" who although he has desperately pursued her and performed a love song he wrote for her (appropriately repeating the phrase "I'm easy" as he manages to sleep with most of the female characters) he calls and lines up another date before she is out the door.

I'm afraid this movie has reconfirmed my feelings about Robert Altman.  I am definately in the "I hate him" camp.  Perhaps Short Cuts was a fluke, perhaps I was feeling more generous when I watched it.  Its pretty bad when one movie makes you begin to doubt your feelings about another.

"If the Divine Master Plan is perfection, Maybe next I'll give Judas a try."

Tori Amos lyric from "Spark" on the From the Choirgirl Hotel album

I never really cared much for Church, which did not bode well for me as a minister's daughter.  What I did appreciate was Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell.  My sister and I would play those records and sing along with religious fervor.  It was because of Jesus Christ Superstar that I began to appreciate Judas.  To me he was evidence that Christianity wasn't necessarily easy, and I viewed his actions as a necessary sacrifice.  I did not see him as a villain, but rather as an integral part of a terrible and wonderful story.  This was all long before The Gospel of Judas came into the public eye.

My father collected an extensive library throughout his education, a library which included such books as The Laughing Savior and the The Nag Hammadi Library.  Gnostiscm was an oft discussed topic in my household growing up.  Long before The DaVinci Code I was familiar with the existence and ideas of the Gnostic Codexes.  So when National Geographic came out with a documentary on the Gospel of Judas I was giddy with enthusiasm to see it.  Of course the documentary leaves a bit to be desired and I still feel as though my need to understand the Gospel and its significance has yet to be satisfied.

The Gospel paints a very different version of the betrayal of Christ.  Christ shared with Judas the secrets of heaven and Judas' betrayal of Christ was viewed as positive, as it was (as I had always suspected) necessary and  a fulfillment of Christ's wishes.  Christ needed to be freed from his physical body, and Judas was chosen to be the catalyst for this unenviable task, as he was the most trusted disciple.

The documentary takes us through the finding of the Gospel, to its theft, retrieval, storage in a bank security deposit box, purchase, restoration and translation.  The dramatizations border on the laughable.  I suppose the documentary works as a jumping off point, but to really understand and appreciate the Gospel of Judas I'm afraid I will have to read the book.

Tom Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead will always hold a special place in my heart.  First of off it is the first movie where I found a mistake in the filming.  In the scene where Tony Todd is struggling with one of the Zombies in the back doorway you can see the camera man in the reflection.  And second I once met Tony Todd when I had to check his coat when he visited the museum where I worked.  Tony Todd is perhaps best known as Candyman.  I was sitting in the coat check reading a book.  I sensed that someone was standing in front of me so I looked up, and up, and up.  He is quite a tall fellow.  I did not immediately recognize him, but I did feel just a little terrified.  Slowly it dawned on me.  It's the Candyman.  Of course rather than a full length fur coat with a bloodied sleeve, where a hook would have replaced his hand it was a Tommy Hilfiger jacket.  As soon as he walked away  I jumped up to see if anyone else had recognized him.  I looked toward the admissions area where a co-worker was quietly chanting "Candyman, Candyman, Candyman…"

At any rate, Night of the Living Dead is a decent remake- naturally not on par with the classic, but still having its merits.  Barbara is a far more tolerable character in the remake- becoming the heroine rather than the screaming useless coward she was in the first.  It's not a great film, but it is a good one.

"Their coming to get you Baaa-bera"

After I rented Look Both Ways I hesitated to watch it.  For some reason I was expecting something along the lines of Funny Ha Ha- you know one of those tedious independent movies where nothing happens the acting is on par with that of a porno and in the end you are lift feeling cheated out of a decent experience.  I was so wrong.  This movie is on par with 13 Conversations About One Thing or Me You and Everyone We Know (and all of these movies are directed by women).  Look Both Ways is an unpretentious and beautiful (though certainly not visually spectacular) Australian movie.  The main idea is that shit happens.  The tagline is appropriately "Disaster is everywhere".  However amidst the disaster we find human endurance and a glimmer of hope and joy.  At its climax, after a sweltering hot weekend fraught with disaster it begins to rain and in this rain comes the realization that although we are powerless against the forces of nature we can find solace in the fact that we are all alone in this together.

In order to get a handle on the movie Short Cuts I endeavored to read other's reactions to it.  More than once I read the movie was "pastiche".  Immediately I wondered…what does that mean.  So I looked it up.  One definition left a bit to be desired: "employing a generally light-hearted tongue-in-cheek imitation of another's style; although jocular, it is usually respectful", since Short Cuts did not summon the same feeling or share the same intent as do Weird Al songs or even more pertainatly a Quentin Tarantino film (like his homage to Blaxpoitation in Jackie Brown) I looked further.  "A work is called pastiche if it was cobbled together in imitation of several original works" while this definition comes closer this movie is still not really an immitation of anything else…other than perhaps life, but not necessarily anyone elses art.  "A pastiche mass is a mass where the constituent movements are from different Mass settings".  This definition seemed more fitting, although it actually pertains to musical ensembles.  In this way I suppose this film could be considerred a symphony of sorts, assembling parts- seemingly unrelated- to make a whole.  I suppose the definition of pastiche as a hodge podge with the exclusion of the respectful parody part will have to suffice.

I am not generally a fan of Robert Altman, but this was a good movie.  After 3 hours I did not feel anxious to see it end.  It was more like hearing the real life drama of people you may or may not know.  Somehow this manages to be more fascinating than suffering through the poorly plotted out saga of a superhero (Superman Returns) or the raving antics of a wealthy madman (The Aviator).  Short Cuts is kind of like the granddaddy of my favorite type of movie (13 Conversations About One Thing, Look Both Ways, Me, You and Everyone We Know and Crash) the movies that examine the day to day dramas of real people, emphasizing the connection of all people related or not.

I do not feel that it is necessarily the responsibility of a film maker to lay down an exacting scientific explanation of the workings of the Universe- even when it is the intent of a film maker to lay down the exacting scientific explanation of the Universe.  I have never read a book of Quantum Physics, although I have nodded and smiled my way through a good many conversations in which it was mentioned.  So I would never presume to say what was right or wrong about this movie…after all isn't that the point of infinite possibility?  What I found most fascinating about this film was- first their take on religion.  I don't claim to be a spiritual person.  When it comes to matters of faith I m kind of like the Philistine in the art gallery "I know what I like"  and I like the idea of connectivity and oneness.  I like hearing that there is no good, there is no bad- that we are all god.  That is of great comfort to me, that thought helps me through the day- and whether it's J.D. Salinger saying it "There isn't anyone anywhere that isn't Seymour's Fat Lady.  Don't you know that yet?  And don't you know—listen to me now—don't you know who that Fat Lady really is?...Ah, buddy.  It's Christ Himself.  Christ Himself, buddy." (Franny and Zooey), Ramtha (who is featured prominently in this movie) or that crazy guy I used to work with ("Do you believe in God, Gregory?" to which he replied "I believe I am God") It will always release endorphins that make my nose tingle and my shoulders shiver.

Of course I also read several very critical reviews of the movie.  There seems to be a double standard in the "Hey you got your religion in my science.  You got your science in my religion." experience.  It would seem that some Christians take issue with the idea of a spirituality obtained through a scientific notion, yet it is entirely acceptable for them to view science through a Christian lens- take creationism (please). Obviously not everyone is prepared for the idea of infinite possibilities.

The other item from the movie which manipulated that sad lump in my head briefly- was the idea of love.  Never have I heard a more dismal yet agreeable explanation of love.  The idea that you really do not love a person, but rather the anticipation of that chemical response they inspire.  I suppose if you are in "Love" with Joe Schmoe you may take issue with that idea.  After all he is a great guy- he is like no other and he completes you.  But viewing romance as an outsider it is much easier to accept that you are already complete, and Joe just gets your rocks off…just as Charlie might do if you met him first.  But then I am admittedly skeptical about romance.

All I can say is that anything that makes me think feels like it is good.  So I would say that I enjoyed this experience, and while it may not be for all it might be worth a try.