I finished Fargo finally. It was a very dark movie. Overall I liked it but I’m in no hurry to see it again and I’m not sure that it’s a movie I would want on a mythical desert island.

Speaking of chippers, I rented one today from Home Depot. It was a complete disaster. Not only was chipping my pile of brush slow, the engine kept dying, and eventually the teeth of the thing got so meshed that I couldn’t restart it. (Thankfully I didn’t have to pay for the rental, since I only got about 1/20th of my project done before I gave up and returned the machine.)

Today’s experience leads me to believe that the chipper scene in Fargo was not realistic.

There were two bright spots in an otherwise dismal day. One, early yesterday morning someone surprised me with a pineapple scone. Secondly, I went and saw the movie, “Little Miss Sunshine“.

It was by far the best movie I’ve seen this year. A movie hasn’t made me this happy since I saw “Garden State”, “Lost in Translation” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” – my personal movie trifecta of the last few years.

It’s a fantastic cast — every actor seems to have a scene or two where their character totally steals the show and makes the movie.

If one was a total snob about indie movies, you could complain about how perfect and commercial the cinematography was or whether the characters are too indie-cliche or whether the VW bus bit was too cutesy, but quickly you’ll lapsed into the kind of rhapsodic ranting that the comic book guy from the Simpson’s excels at and all your friends will be rolling theirs eyes and waiting for you to be done talking about the movie that did it better, the one no one saw and no one cares about. Yes, I am talking about you, get over yourself.

I like Garrison Keillor and I like “A Prairie Home Companion”. This movie left me feeling …

Spoiler alert, stop reading now if you don’t want me to spoil the movie for you.

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The Norman Rockwell Code

Glory Road

The unfortunate truth of sports movies is that at some level they all seem to be derivative of the Bad News Bears. Bad News Bears or not I still enjoyed Glory Road. The movie tells the story of the 1966 Texas Western basketball team who won the NCAA championship. The story is about more than just a game, it is a story about race in America. You can read a bit more about the story behind the movie on the wikipedia entry on Don Haskins .

It’s a pretty good movie, it is predictable, but it told a great story without glossing over all the details. I give it three and a half stars out of five.

I’m so glad to not live in the “good old days” America depicted in this movie.

Saved!

by MGM (Video & DVD)

I watched Saved! last weekend. Having grown up in church it all seemed eerily familiar. I loved the movie even though it’s a dumbed down teenie-bopper movie and it’s plot is pretty thread bare. So why did I love the love the movie? It’s because this simple minded movie contains a great commentary on modern, evangelical Christianity, it explores the dichotomy between appearances and reality and most importantly the characters reminded me of the best and worst in myself.

Best of all, the movie really brought one simple message, what really matters in the end was people who act in love without reservations.

I was listening to the local classical music station and happened to hear the haunting song that is used in Ken Burn’s documentary, “The Civil War.” For some reason I needed to find out who wrote the song and when. I discovered that the song is called “Ashokan Farewell”. It was composed by Jay Ungar in 1982 and recorded in 1983 by “Fiddle Fever” on their album entitled “Waltz of the Wind“. There is a FAQ to go with the song that explains it’s origins. The song plays for 59+ minutes of the 11 hour documentary. It’s no wonder that song instantly calls up black & white images civil war dead strewn on battlefields for me.

King Kong (Collector’s Edition)

by Turner Home Ent

Since I signed up for netflix, I don’t go out to the movie theater as much. Given my love of the original King Kong and the fact that I’ve been bogged down in the Civil War in my netflix queue, I had to get out and see Peter Jackson’s "King Kong". 

Do not drink a big gulp soda before you go to this movie. With a running time for just over three hours you’ll never make it to the end. It’s a really long movie.

The movie has a lot of action once you make it through the first hour. At times I thought it was too much action — I got tired of one chase scene after another. The pre-historic creatures of Skull Island looked derivative of Jurassic Park. I suppose big dinosaurs just don’t thrill me the way they would have ten years ago. Seen one dinosaur, you’ve seen them all, yawn. Speaking of derivative, the natives of Skull Island seemed a little too much like the orcs from "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

I’m normally predisposed to like any movie with a reference to the Joseph Conrad’s book "Heart of Darkness" — but in this case I thought the reference to the book was obtrusive and a little heavy handed. I don’t like the narrator’s voice to be quite so evident. At the same time, if Mr. Jackson filmed a version of Heart of Darkness, I would be thrilled.

What did I like? I liked the 1930′s New York that was portrayed in the movie, complete with the gritty shanty town in Central Park. I liked the producer in the movie, played by Jack Black. He seemed a little like the Peter Jackson I’ve seen in interviews. I have to imagine that there were aspects to the movie that must have been a little autobiographical for Mr. Jackson.

The movie was pretty good entertainment, and cheap by the minute. It didn’t displace the 1933 Fay Wray version, but it’s better than the 1970′s version. It’s a fine action flick, but just don’t expect too much.

American IV: The Man Comes Around

by Johnny Cash

I saw "Walk the Line" the Johnny Cash bio a few nights ago. I haven’t seen the last few musician biopics so I don’t have a lot to compare this movie to, but I liked the movie quite a bit.

Reese Witherspoon tore up the stage as June Carter. I mean she could have a career in country music in the time it takes for you to shed a tear in your beer. Based on her portrayal of June Carter it was easy for me to see why Mr. Cash fell in love with her — I think the whole audience was in love with her by the end of the movie. I loved how the movie showed them dancing around each other for so many years. I loved the way she walked around his addiction then plunged right in to help him when it seemed he needed it most. I loved her smile.

Joaquin Phoenix was ok as Johnny Cash. He had the mannerisms but something was missing in the way he covered the music. Personally, I would have preferred that more of the music was gleamed from the original recordings.

I’m predisposed to like any movie with a tragically flawed hero, so take my recommendation with a grain of salt.  I give it four stars out of five. The worst thing about the movie is that it ends to soon. I wanted to see him as an old man with June Carter still at his side.

After seeing the movie, I had to get out my "American IV: The Man Comes Around" album. I love that album. Cash’s cover of Trent Reznor’s "Hurt" is haunting. The original Nine Inch Nails version is good, but Cash’s treatment, with it’s spare melody and emotional voice, is fantastic. Once you see Cash’s personal struggles with addiction on the big screen the song takes on even more life and meaning. The whole album is really good although I’m not fond of the duet on "Bridge Over Troubled Waters". It’s not that I dislike Fiona Apple; it’s just that she doesn’t add much to the song and their voices don’t seem to compliment each other at all.

I think I need to add a few more Johnny Cash albums to my Christmas wish list. I don’t think I’m alone in this. I went to Target to pick up some grocery tems on Saturday; the Cash section was all sold out.

The Civil War – A Film by Ken Burns

by Paramount Home Video

I’ve finally reached "The Civil War" in my Netflix queue.

 I love this documentary. I love the soft music and the shots panning the photographs. I love listening to the letters home — eloquent, poignant and full of emotion. I love the rich voices of the narrators. I even love the slow pacing of the movie.

The photographs haunt me. (As an aside, it’s Orwellian that the current administration seeks to control the phtographic images the public sees. This policy dishonors the dead and debases their sacrifice. You can learn more at Camera/Iraq or see photos at The Memory Hole.)