Gabrielle Sandow's Top Films (in no particular order)

20. Shawshank Redemption
19. Frida
18. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
17. Diving Bell and the Butterfly
16. Dirty Dancing
15. Young Frankenstein
14. Princess Bride
13. Chocolat
12. The Full Monty
11. Love Actually
10. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
9. American Beauty
8. Some Like it Hot
7. Willow
6. The Neverending Story
5. Catch Me if you Can
4. Bowfinger
3. Coming to America
2. 40 Year-Old Virgin
1. Ray

For the Love of Nature...Into the Wild

A gathering of friends for the love of nature: this was the purpose of Sunday's end-of-summer movie night that commenced at the Trolley Barn Park on Adams Avenue ... good eats, good company, and good scenery made the event a success. Water balloon toss, Capture the Frisbee, Apples to Apples, Bocce Ball, and the ever-so-classic frisbee were among the highlights of the day. Not to mention the crispy, homemade potato salad, freshly-glazed, cinnamon-sprinkled tortilla chips accompanied by delicious fruit salsa, a juicy mango exploding with flavor, and thirst-quenching H20. However, it was not the activities or the presence of Mother Nature that created such fun and childlike exuberance but the shared experience with others that truly encapsulated the happiness I felt in my flowy, nature-green gown. This brings me to the evening's movie selection....


Who I was before, I can not recall. . . I feel I am falling, I am falling, safely to the ground. Eddie Vedder’s powerful lyrics piece the scenes of Sean Penn’s film, Into the Wild, together, based on the novel by John Krakauer and a true story of a courageous young man, that creates a sense of fluidity in the protagonist’s voice, Christopher McCandless, as well as that of Mother Nature, the second major focal point in the film. Even in the opening, Eddie Vedder’s raw wailing and earthy guitar sound sets forth the tone of the film and the haunting, beautiful, and inspiring journey that is about to take place. The raw intensity of Vedder’s voice parallels the spontaneity and carnal bravery performed by the protagonist from the beginning through until the end of his journey to Alaska, almost as if Vedder speaks for Chris, otherwise known as Alexander Supertramp, the newfound pseudonym he adopts during his road trip. Supertramp is naive and wholly persistent on getting to Alaska, highly discontent with society: You think you have to want more than you need. . .Until you have it all, you won’t be free….

The entire premise of the movie, the quintessential point Chris is attempting, and hoping to make, is that happiness does not come from things, both material and monetary; it comes from the nature that surrounds us. To become free, we must abandon our laws and principles, and embrace land and sea, plants and animals. We must hunt for survival and utilize the tools we have learned through education, individuals, and prior life experience to achieve success, almost as if to begin again and recreate the world as it was meant to be. Vedder and McCandless, through song and actions, deem society as ultimately “lonely,” because it commends immaterial things as important as the values we, as a community, and as a nation, should uphold and breathe in and out daily. He challenges what America is and all it has created to be as Christopher happens to disagree with “Society” and through Vedder thinks I hope you’re not lonely without me. The poignant and disturbing scene that paints this distinct hierarchical and slanted society Chris resents so adamantly, is that of when Chris finds himself in Los Angeles after a long and fulfilling journey through the desert and roaring rapids. Though without money and any forms of identification thus far, Chris had felt like an equal with his surroundings, stripped of all bearings and free from any status or labels. Stepping into the blurry Los Angeles streets, Chris goes from fearless adventurer and vagabond to homeless and an outcast, coerced to seek shelter, to wait in line, to confront what he tried to leave behind. How thwarted that, in this different scenario, Chris is the lowest level of society. Where before he could sleep on Mother Nature’s solid ground with very few resources and money, he becomes ostracized in the midst of lights, smog, cars, and buildings: The concrete jungle was not home. This point, of course, was highlighted because Chris had been away from “the real world” for so long, he could no longer distinguish between the journey he was living and the American reality. (Please DO NOT read forward, if you haven’t seen the film or read the book. . . Details will be revealed.)

Of course, in the end, after spending months in isolation with only himself to converse with (mostly through his journals and books), Chris gradually descends into a world deprived of normalcy and the basic human need to connect with others. In addition to the absence of resources and a substantial food supply, Chris remains stuck on the lonely bus, slowly deteriorating. The crucial point where the audience and Chris sense his own downward spiral is his grand attempt to hunt and cook a moose towards the end of his Alaskan stay. In this scene, Chris uses the prior information told to him from someone he met along his journey to make sure to strip and cover the moose within a very brief span of time before the flies and maggots devour it. We see Chris, at the beginning of his stay in Alaska, evading any means to slay the animal, for he had other satiating resources at the time, but during his food shortage crisis, Chris reluctantly, with the instinct of survival, kills the animal and works rapidly to prepare it for cooking. Chris struggles to save the meat but does not succeed, snapping mentally from his failure, his personality unraveling. He and the emotive audience come to the realization that Chris cannot survive on his own. Though naive and stubborn, the audience roots for him to overcome the obstacles in his path, to get across the river, and get back home. It’s ironic that Chris tries to evade all the dangers that confront him, yet the natural dangers overcome his cautions- he attempts to cross the river before the winter comes, but the water is too fierce (heightened by his fear of water); he attempts to prepare the moose, but fails and becomes regretful of his kill; and, finally, he takes his field guide to the region’s edible plants only to find he mistakes the poisonous root for the edible one, ultimately leading to his starvation . . . and death.

The most touching and frustrating element throughout the film is Chris’ brief encounters and relationships with those individuals around him. Only upon the film’s closing does Chris realize that it’s his relationships with caring and sensitive individuals, those who teach him something about life and love, that are most valuable. Into the Wild paints these relationships so beautifully and with such delicate simplicity; they are well-written (some based on Christopher McCandless’ real meetings along his journey) and genuinely-acted, specifically by the occasionally fiery and down-to-earth Catherine Keener, the confident and comedic Vince Vaughn, who tones his typical farcical humor down to a relatable level, and the timeless Hal Holbrook, who plays Ron Franz, the paternal figure that meets Chris at the last leg of his travels prior to Alaska. Hal plays the role with such honesty and modesty, the audience hopes Chris says yes to his adoption request as they say goodbye. All of these characters, and acting performances, are so real and touching, aside from the unnecessary write-in- the young Joni Mitchell wannabe- who crushes on Chris with such lust (played by the always tortured and malnutritioned Kristin Stewart) and the voiceover narration of Jena Malone who plays Chris' highly observant, and ignored, younger sister (the combination of Malone's pretentious-sounding diction and the elevated, melodramatic writing stray from the realism and emotional connection the audience would have had naturally). Yet through the majority of the characters, the audience envelops the brief happiness in which Chris partakes with other human beings.

All of the aforementioned elements kept me engaged through the film’s entirety. I wanted to watch it again, and again, and again. I wanted to go on a million road trips (to add to my four thus far). I wanted to read the original novel and read about wild plants and animals- and travel to Alaska. I wanted to write a letter to Chris’ parents to see if they were okay (the moment Chris' father, Walt, played by William Hurt, falls to his knees in the middle of the street, brings me empathy beyond belief). I wanted to yell at Chris for his ignorance and shout, “Do not go to Alaska! You will not make it, you overidealistic, little snot!” I wanted to hug Chris for taking a chance and believing so stubbornly in nature’s purpose and beauty. I wanted to write a song for Eddie Vedder, commending him for capturing the music and lyrics to perfection. And mostly, I wanted to thank Sean Penn, and his D.P., for making such a beautiful, thought-provoking, and enlightening film. As Roger Ebert of the Chicago-Sun Times stated, "The movie is so good partly because it means so much, I think, to its writer-director.” Ultimately, the passion is what makes Into the Wild live and breathe and share a beautiful and compelling story of an honorable, and naive man. Yep, the pseudonym Supertramp, and Mr. Vedder’s lyrics pretty much sum it up:

Such is the way of the world
You can never know
Just where to put all your faith
And how will it grow
Gonna rise up
Burning black holes in dark memories
Gonna rise up
Turning mistakes into gold
Such is the passage of time
Too fast to fold
Suddenly swallowed by signs
Low and behold
Gonna rise up
Find my direction magnetically
Gonna rise up
Throw down my ace in the hole
- Eddie Vedder, © 2007.

- Kara Hayes

Leo Lombardo's Top Films

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Magnolia (1999)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
"Dekalog" (1989)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Airplane! (1980)
Atonement (2007)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Hamlet (1996)
Léon (1994)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
North by Northwest (1959)
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
The Last Emperor (1987)
Back to the Future (1985)
Mononoke-hime
Raging Bull (1980)

Harrison Myers' Top Films (in no particular order)

20. Alien
19. The Frighteners
18. Airplane!
17. Noises Off!
16. Clueless
15. Death Becomes Her
14. Perfect Blue
13. Boondock Saints
12. Veronica Guerin
11. Chocolat
10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
9. The Witches
8. Alice in Wonderland
7. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
6. Short Circuit
5. Not Another Teen Movie
4. Kill Bill
3. Austin Powers
2. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1. ???

"Three Comedies," Part III, or I'd rather scrub a toilet. . .

I know it's not a movie, but I couldn't help myself- I had to write about this total comedy!

Picture this glamorous scenario: Once upon a time there lived a wealthy castle owner named Jim who lived in the heart of Pacific Beach (PB), also known as the party area of San Diego. Jim becomes bored of his mundane and isolated lifestyle, so he decides to hire four long-legged, aspiring actresses as his assistants. Their main purpose as "Assistants"? To better the community and help others; this includes delivering food (and beer) to the homeless in San Diego and rescuing abandoned kittens and then naming them Prince. Now I can imagine, though touched by their good samaritan-like behavior, after awhile, you might think, there must be a conflict.....

Nope! No conflict. No plot. No introductions. This sure ain't no fairytale- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves had more depth and moved faster than this shitty show. Absolutely pointless hogwash, really.

Welcome to PB Reality (not Real-ty).

When I showed up to usher for this event to take place at Mission Valley's UltraStar Theaters, I was quite excited about seeing something new. You would think it had to be unique or enoyable; after all, the Hazard Center hosts the Latin Film Festival and the Teen Producers' Project of San Diego annually (films that provoke or have meaning). All I was told by Terri over the phone, the show's Talent Coordinator, was that they were screening a reality show taking place in San Diego (who I found out later in the evening was really the fifth assistant in a skanky black dress.... as she had been boozing before the "red carpet" event commenced. Of course, by the end of the evening, she was soused and forgot to pay her ushers. How professional she was...Of course, all of us ushers ended up forming a coalition and demanding payment from the castle owner himself).

I imagined your typical reality show: trashy and sassy, yet entertaining... What it ended up being was a piece of aimless, shoddy, sad, half-ass, and self-indulgent rubbish I would never -EVER- want to see a second time around. When I heard there was not going to be a second screening that evening, I couldn't help but grin ecstatically (instead PB Part Deux was now redirected to the millionaire's castle for the only people who truly found any meaning or enjoyment out of the empty program- all the people involved in the show.... who didn't want to leave the theater with the possibility that the show was a stink bomb. They also didn't want to acknowledge that the majority of feedback forms from the audience were negative, hence, "I'd rather scrub a toilet than watch the show.").

It's especially sad when people who are not even close to being famous, act as if they are Brangelina all of a sudden.... Duh! You have to actually have talent or do something to deserve fame...otherwise, you may get 15 minutes of delusional, make-believe pretend fame.

All right- I better delve into why the show was so catastrophic. First off, the show began with Coldplay's "If I ruled the world..." paired with images of the "assistants" posing to the camera, which made absolutely no sense. I have a sneaking suspicion Coldplay was not aware of their song being used as a catwalk number...as well as all the other contemporary artists the show borrowed from (Jamie Foxx, Rhianna, etc.). Normally, in a reality show, the "characters" are introduced with some sort of label: this one's the bitch, this one's the artist, this one's gay, etc. etc. However, the show skipped the introductions altogether. Who needs to explain how Jim earned his millions anyway (I had to look it up later; he actually invented safety goggles for spraypainting...which makes him less of an idiot than the show portrayed him to be)? or where the girls came from (this would perhaps validate their behavior and need for attention and physical affirmations?). The show, instead, took flight with a fight at the mansion during Jim's call-back "interviews" to cast the four assistants. One of the final four chosen, i.e. "bitch with attitude", and some dude involved in the show, who both spoke to the camera more than each other, were using insults they must have heard on another reality program (probably VH1's rehab show); Jim invited over all the top candidates and basically got plastered, all to create drama. I finally got the show's mission: to be a show about making a reality show (huh?). Only one of the girls got the spotlight in episode #1 (I had to watch three in a row!) and made out to be the bad girl with the dirty mouth... she kept it going until the audience started yawning and falling asleep (she could not attend the screening... shh! rumor has it, she got kicked off the show!). It dragged on and on... and on. Even PB's drama was worth snoozing for.

So, you get the gist of it. Imagine a 10 minute scene of four loud, obnoxious girls (all playing towards and looking at the camera... which breaks the fourth wall and defeats the purpose of a "reality" show) searching for their lost boss, Jim, at the Del Mar Fair: stupid conflict. stupid girls. stupid cameraman. stupid editor. wait- the cameraman was the editor. stupid title. stupid.

Reality shows are supposed to get us sucked in; they are supposed to be fast-paced and give you no time to look away; if the content is crap, they are at least supposed to distract you with brilliant effects and exceptional sound/music you can sing along with- not watch four hoes sing to you on camera (karaoke for the whole "Blame it" number). PB Reality couldn't even get the font to look good or centered. Nothing was consistent. There was too much head room and space when the cast spoke to the camera. The sound was choppy and the dialog didn't match the mouths moving. Each shot spanned about five to ten minutes long, usually involving drinking, extreme close-ups of breasts, falling over, eating, money being spent shamelessly (and then giving the homeless cans of beer), and dancing on a bus (my favorite extended scene).

So, let me end by saying, there's probably a reason reality shows aren't filmed in San Diego. Could it have to do with the laid back way of life? or the fact that most of the talented videographers or real wannabe actors/actresses are in Hollywood? or just that certain people just can't get their shit together and realize that even a reality show takes hard work and organization....? you can't make 10% of the show about helping the community (the British assistant, who was hired to be the "intelligent" one of the lot and say "We earned our right to party (by rescuing a kitten)." why do people always assume that a British accent correlates to a high intelligence level? Watch this show to prove otherwise. It's not a difficult job to rescue a cute ass kitten; I'm sure thousands of other people have rescued animals and not asked for praise or booze to glorify their overweening egoes... What about global warming, Prop 8, and other pressing issues?)

I'm rambling now; I'll never get it all out of my system. I will forever carry a bit of PB Real-ity with me and just know that anyone, even myself, could pretend to be famous, too. It's all a bit sad, really.

So, next time you're in the neighborhood of PB, stop by the castle... I'm sure Jim and his lady friends will be there, still watching their Reality onscreen.

-KH

Check it out: http://www.pbreality.com/new_site/index_home.php

Three "Comedies"- Part II

Round Two at the movies: "The Hangover" ... I actually went to the movies with the most minimal expectations. There have been a slew of comedies (many flops) with similar, lame titles: "Knocked Up", "The Hang Up", "Wedding Crashers", and now, "The Hangover". There seems to be so many movies in the past decade centered on the theme of three "bros" - all very different from one another- usually one who is whipped by his dominating spouse, one bad boy with the killer looks, and the funny one; sometimes they overlap. "Old School", "40 Year-Old Virgin", and most of these movies are entertaining yet formulaic....posing the question: "How many times can a storyline be exhausted?" However, what makes "The Hangover" worth watching is not the premise, but the well-crafted dialogue between actors and their comedic timing. The randomness of the film- absolutely ludicrous situations in which they seem to find themselves: Mike Tyson's tiger in their villa bathroom, a baby in a cabinet, a mising tooth, and a femenin, Asian mafiahead in the back of a stolen Police car's trunk- gets the laughter flowing. We know these situations are highly implausible, but Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and the odd-man-out, Jack Black-type Zach Galifianakis, form a dynamic trio and show a bit of their vulnerable side during a spontaneous journey. As an audience member, you did feel on the same page with the characters; whatever they knew, so did you.

It's interesting that most film comedies that are successful, financially and emotionally, are those with male leads. Let's face it, women and men are going to be drawn to the theater to see a male road trip movie. There's something in it for everyone: Women get to look at Bradley Cooper and drool as well as get further insight into the male psyche, and men get to reaffirm their male psyche in an insanely funny experience (this frequently includes a handful of partially naked and young women, either romantic lead or extra). "The First Wives' Club" doesn't really compare, does it?

Three "Comedies"- Part I

Saturday I found myself in a movie theatre (yes, odd nowadays) to see a double feature of the quality comedies released this summer: "Bruno", starring Sacha Baron Cohen, which depicts the life and embarrassing events of the famous, Dutch, Fashion Journalist, Bruno, and "The Hangover", another Vegas-set film about three buddies losing their friend, and groom-to-be, following the night of his bachelor party in Sin City. Granted, I did not set my expectations at a high level upon viewing the pair of films. Come on- it's rare that one sees a laugh-out-loud film with original material while completely devoid of vulgarity and drawn-out stereotypes, or a picture with sarcastic undertones and dry humor that leaves one with a wickedly delicious taste in their mouth. However, I only got through the first 30 minutes of "Bruno", upon which I was left with a somewhat sticky-icky taste in my mouth. Perhaps it was from viewing a bit of icky-make-me-sicky, larger-than-life sexual acts between Bruno and his homosexual lover. Now I know I'm not a prude when it comes to obscenities onscreen (I love a good "f" word and a good "f" on the big screen), but watching Bruno get his anus waxed and describing it aloud does not strike a pleasant chord. Yes, I should have been prepared, just like one needs to be when watching MTV's "Jackass" or even "The Real World"- You know you're going to get a bunch of hotties-with- artificial bodies having sex in the jacuzzi the first night and some awesome cat fights/brawls along the way. I just think Cohen could have been more creative with the project instead of resorting to overblown gay-dom and comedic porn. Well, that was 30 minutes worth..... I got up to Paula Abdul's interview where Bruno utilizes his Mexican workers as chairs because he hasn't any furniture in the house. Though oddly humorous, I had checked out at that point.

To Be Continued. . .