It’s been awhile since I’ve posted any substantial updates, but I’ve been taking it easy the past week and a half or so. I’m hoping to post new reviews sometime next week, as the remainder of this week is shot preparing for Nolan’s upcoming wedding. Old friends coming back into town, watching The Matrix: Reloaded on opening night, trying on kilts… who knew weddings were this crazy? And it’s not even mine!
I just got the new Sufjan Stevens disc in the mail, and it’s been in pretty constant rotation ever since. I loved Enjoy My Rabbit but Michigan eschews much of the electronic madness of the previous album, opting for more gentle, orchestral folk/pop. Real good stuff.
Now that Hero has thoroughly blown me away, I’ve been going back to check out Zhang Yimou’s other films. I watched The Road Home last night, and can’t wait to watch it again. Not One Less is also in the queue, and a bunch of movies should be arriving from HKFlix later this week (including The Returner). Good thing my Memorial Day movie marathon is just weeks away!
Last night, Nolan and I tried to watch Scotland, PA. What a waste of time. It’s essentially a retelling of Macbeth set in the small Pennsylvania town in the 1970s, with a major plot point being the invention of the drive-thru window at fast food restaurants. It had everything… completely inane dialog about absolutely nothing, some of the most annoying acting I’ve seen in a long time, and tons of black humor that was anything but. I hate these smug, indie films that wear Sundance on their sleeve for everyone to see, almost as much as I hate attempts to make the Bard “hip” and “modern” (or in this case, “retro”). I normally make it a point to never turn off movies, but I gladly made an exception in this case.