Here's the list:
Sid & Nancy: Wow. I thought I was a punk fan until I saw this movie, which is when I realized what it means to be THE #1 PUNK FAN OF THE WORLD. Nancy officially takes the cake... and it is a scary, ugly, smacked-out cake that has been smashed through a window and against some bloody, sweaty faces on its way out. This movie is interesting because it really deconstructs the fantasy of punk rock we have today: the glamour of the raw power that the punk movement embodies for kids now. I have fond memories of rocking out in beat up cars to the Clash and Husker Du with high school friends (not that this doesn't still happen), and throwing myself around at parties to the Sex Pistols, the Distillers, Black Flag, the Stooges, Minor Threat... ok, "teen fun," we get it. But the side of the Pistols that's portrayed here, and the terrifying spiral of Sid & Nancy into oblivious, boring-yet-manic heroin abuse is just ugly and not fun at all. And I feel that it's important for the viewer to see the limit, the pain and psychosis that can stem from the total refusal of structure when compounded with fame and drugs. Sid Vicious was really fucking cool -- he was somebody... and he and Nancy clung to each other when their world made no sense. But that world completely lost its balance in the clutches of the heroin, and they both ended up dead because of it. (Look at me, talking like I know something about heroin! To be clear, I only know what I saw in this movie. And it's a movie.)
Soul Power: SOOULLLLL POOOWWWWEEEEERRRRR!!! Seriously, see this movie. It is too cool. I can't even.... just see it.
Amelie: Just as great as I remembered it. It's one of the movies I count as a favorite, but like the Royal Tanenbaums, still don't own.
The Princess and the Frog: Really, Disney? You spent all this PR and advertising $$ on billing Tiana as the first African-American Disney Princess, and managed to work in references to important cultural movements like the Harlem Renaissance and New Orleans jazz, and then she spends all but the first and last 5 minutes of the film AS A FROG. Go figure. Still, it was enjoyable to see a cartoon alligator playing the trumpet.
The Departed: aka, White Male Cops Fight White Male Mafia. And Each Other. In Boston. (Also there's an intrigue with Vera Farminga, but I can't remember ever hearing her character's name?) I actually like this movie because it's one of the few well-made cop/corruption flicks where there's extreme moral ambiguity. Nice cinematography, referential to Hitchcock and Coppola, great cast (and LEO). It's never going to be on my favorites list but I can appreciate what Scorcese is doing in this one. Except for the final camera shot of the film -- back me up on this, people. It is not in any way necessary, funny, or relevant. It is a bad joke.
Dear John: it was on Starz. I was feeling sleepy / Channing Tatum.
The Ugly Truth: ...I reiterate, do your parents have Starz? / Gerard Butler. Hello.
High Fidelity: Maddi and I watched this movie together and trash-talked it the entire time (typical behavior) for being super sexist. I love this movie! How did it take me until the double-digits of viewing to realize that Rob Gordon is not a lovable dope but in fact an INSUFFERABLE ASS? How, you say? I think that, my friends, is dominant culture at its best. (Dominant culture in America: stealing your innate sense of self-worth since 1492!) Ok, not to be unnecessarily harsh: I still love this movie, even though it's sending me some terrible messages about relationships, appropriate reactions to not getting your way, and snobbery. I love the actors, the cameos, the music, and I have the lines memorized. I still associate this movie with things I find to be essentially, unquestionably cool: record stores, the subway, Lisa Bonet, short bangs, DJs, making out while listening to rock music. This movie introduced me to Jack Black, for goodness sake! I bothered to see Year One because of this movie! And yet. Just like a lot of things I like, I can see the issues at hand here. Damn you, Rob Gordon, and damn me for being in love with you. STILL.
I leave you with this.
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