05.26.06

Dear Terry Zwigoff, WTF?!?

Posted in Art School Confidential, cinematic disasters, directors, reviews, screenplay, worst-of at 10:25 am by Ben

Crumb, Ghost World, Bad Santa — all solid Indy comedies, a pretty decent streak if you ask me, and, sure, every hot streak must come to end, but how can anyone end a hot streak with something as terrible as Art School Confidential?

It is relatively rare that I refer to film as downright terrible, usually that honor is reserved for the work Michael Bay, Brett Ratner or starring Julia Roberts, Terry Zwigoff should never have been mentioned in the list, yet there he is.

Basic Plot: Kid wants to be a great artist – kid goes to art school – wackiness ensues. This leaves a lot of room to work with but somehow Zwigoff and writer Daniel Clowes turn this film into jumbled mess of stereotypes, that you can't help but groan at. For the purpose of this review, I'm not going to go into too much detail, it doesn't deserve the attention. Suffice it to say I can't recommend this film to anyone, even on rental. Watch at your own risk.

Three Cheers for Three Burials

Posted in DVD, Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, best-of, directors, flicks, oscar picks, reviews, screenplay at 9:53 am by Ben

Three Burials

I'll keep this short because, by now, most movie fans have heard the word about Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, but I just got around to checking it out and I can't help myself — this is a damn good movie. I've been a fan of Guillermo Arriaga's scripts since Amores Perros, and still he seems to be unable to pen a bad screenplay and for a directorial debut, Tommy Lee Jones isn't too shabby either.

Out on DVD in the next two weeks, do not miss this flick!

01.16.06

Golden Brief

Posted in actors, actresses, awards, directors, flicks, personal note, screenplay at 10:16 pm by Ben

I just wanted to drop a brief line congratulating the Golden Globes on a rather respectable year. I normally don’t put much stock in the globes, but this time around I don’t have many complaints. For a complete run-down of the nominees and winners head here.