We're having a party, and we're happy to invite you.

Every morning driving to work, I either get angry or depressed. This morning anger won. I'm better now, sort of.

Last night I watched About Last Night... on (*gasp!*) VHS. This is a damn good movie, I don't care what people say. FWIW, Roger Ebert agrees with me. Some of the dialog moments are right out of Mamet's play, and I love the way Mamet writes dialog. The movie, however, does not really follow the play all that much, it just borrows from it. It's my favorite relationship movie because it doesn't cast either party as being all that good or all that bad. I identify with everyone, even the best friends who are part of the story. It seems real. There are struggles and big things and little things and fights and make-ups and everything that there really is. Demi Moore and Rob Lowe are from from my list of favorite actors, but they're both great in this film. Edited to add: The bad 80's music (that's redundant) I could have done without.

Unrelated: There's a new mockumentary movie coming from Christopher Guest, along the lines of Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. It looks SO good. It's about a bunch of folk singers getting together for a memorial concert after their mentor dies. So there are all these aging folk stars. The three guys from Spinal Tap are all together in a folk band, and there are lots of other groups, too. It basically has everyone from Best in Show in a completely different movie. I really am looking forward to it. It's called A Mighty Wind and it's sceduled for a mid-April release.

Movie Reviews, part 1: Nicholas Nickleby, The Way Home, Apatation (revisited)

Nicholas Nickleby - I've never read the novel, if you're wondeirng. This movie was. It just was. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad. It just was. A simple little two-hour diversion where every thing good is very good and everything bad is very bad. Predictible, not overly memorable. Acting was fine, but not great (with the expection of Jim Broadbent's very good role as an evil schoolmaster). I guess the movie can be recommended, as it's a fine enough little distraction from the workaday things in life, but I don't see any reason to run out and see it right now. It'll make a fine rental down the road, and there are better limited-run movies to see. Joey gives Nicholas Nickleby a weak three stars out of four, but recommends you see some other limited release films (About Schmidt, Adaptation) before spending the money on this one.

The Way Home - A Korean film about a bratty little kid who is forced to go live with his mute grandmother out in the Korean boondocks. Sweet enough movie about winning over his love, of course, reminding me of Kikujiro or to a lesser degree Central Station. The ending was particularly sweet to the point of glurge. Again, a fine little sweet film, but nothing overly special. Feel good flick to the n-th. Joey gives The Way Home two-and-a-half stars out of four but recommends renting it in the future when you want a feel-good film.

Adaptation - I already reviewed this one here. I easily stand by the four-star rating; this is one of my favorite movies of the year, for sure. It's brilliant writing, even more brilliant the second time around. If this doesn't win a screenplay award, then there is no justice. Four stars.

Movie Reviews, part 2: Morvern Callar, City of God, The Isle

Morvern Callar - A Scottish film about a girl whose boyfriend commits suicide and sparks her to discover herself and yada yada yada. This is one of those movies that doesn't have a polt, per se, and those are always hard for me to sort out in my head. As I think about it more, and read more about it*, I'll probably like it more, but my first impression is less spectacular. Joey gives Morvern Callar two stars out of four.

City of God (Cidade de Deus) - A Brazillain film with flash and flair that really works well. It's about hoodlums and drug gangs in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. It starts near the end and then goes back to tell the story of how it got to that point. It does a great job of dropping hints of foreshadowing and kept me always waiting for what's next. Simultaneously frightening, funny, heartbreaking, and ruthless. Wonderful movie. Joey gives City of God four stars out of four and recommends it highly to everyone (at least to everyone not afraid of subtitles.

The Isle - Freaky little Korean pic about a girl who runs these little fishing floats on a lake. It was "adults only" so I was expecting some sweet Asian porn goodness, and instead I got a picture about a crazy chick, her crazy secret boyfriend, and the abuse of frogs, fish, and vaginas. Do yourself a favor and don't see this movie unless you're really really looking for something different. Not that it was all bad, but I think I lost something in the translation. Again, consultations iwth ebert and his buddies is in order. Joey gives The Isle two stars out of four and hopes to erase some of the images from his brain. Scrub scrub scrub.

On an unrelated topic: I don't understand why people provide the phonetical pronounciation of a movie in an Asian language. What I'm saying is, if I talking about The Postman as "Il Postino", then that makes sense because Italian and English share the same alphabet pretty much (and in this case it also avoids confusion with that crappy Costner movie). Even if were talking missing accents and umlats and other marks, people know what we're talking about. But why refer to Spirited Away as "Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi"... well that seems silly to me since it's just phonetics. Maybe it serves a useful purpose and I'm just hard-headed.

*I like to read reviews of people who liked movies that left me cold. Like Solaris, Morvern Callar, The Isle. I find that a more scholarly perspective on things can make me see things I didn't see before. I am not ashamed to say that from time to time, they even change my opinion of the film. I suppose reading literary criticisms can do the same thing for a novel.