movies and blood pressure.

[raybear]

So I watched Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back on Saturday night. Boy, did it suck. Wait, let me rephrase that. I didn't like the movie. I will attempt to refrain from making pseudo-objective statements about his cinematic skill. Partly because I sorta like Kevin Smith. And I wanted to like the movie. But I was feeling a little burned by him, since Dogma sorta fell flat for me, and then the whole trashing Magnolia comments he was rumored to say. But if you click on that link and find out what ACTUALLY happened, he's not quite as mean-spirited as I thought. It also makes me less angry about the part in Jay and Silent Bob where he names a bulletin board poster as "magnoliafan". I thought this was yet another dig at P.T. Anderson, but it actually was a dig at bulletin board poster's who are fans of Magnolia. Wow, straight-forwardness. Apparently I wasn't expecting that.

So, anyway, yeah, I put J&SBSB in the same category as "Josie & the Pussycats", and I will paraphrase a critic who wrote about Josie & the Pussycats by saying: "It was either the smartest dumb movie I've ever seen, or the dumbest smart movie I've ever seen." And I will also agree with this person who says that they're both good directors with serious flaws and they should just make a movie together.

Yeah, I'm a big movie geek and I don't mind spending my time reading about movies and discussing them. That's why movies are beyond hobby, more then just pure entertainment or a pastime. That's pretty much how anything that's supposed to be "entertainment" is for me. I very rarely just passively enjoy experiences -- I get completely submerged, and I do research and get committed and involved. When I started watching tennis many years back, I couldn't just sit and watch the match for what it was -- I had to know the history of the players, their backstory, their style, etc. etc. because it added even more drama to each point. So sometimes I get very resistant to start showing an interest in a sport or music group or activity, because I know I can't just have a cursory involvement. I will instead just have a distant respect so that I won't get addicted.

I just noticed that someone listed "Raybear's cooking" as an LJ interest. I'm very flattered. And on that note, I'm going to do some minor research on culinary institutes and how they typical cooking school works. I think if the music production route doesn't work out, I'll go to cooking school next. Or hell, maybe I'll just do both.

Comments

Re: Kevin Smith.

[raybear.livejournal.com]

I thought Chasing Amy was horribly overrated and just okay when I saw it in the theater. But then I somehow managed to watch it 6 times through various gay events or discussion groups or classes, and the more I watched it, the better it became. I still think it's fairly overrated, but I do like it. I just will be content to never watch it again!

And yes I liked Magnolia A LOT. Sure it was flawed. But I'd rather see a really ambitious and innovative movie that achieves maybe 80%, rather than something boring and mundane that's techinically good.

Unless it's a Friday night, and then I want to watch things like Legally Blonde, Romy and Michelle, Romeo Must Die, Josie and the Pussycats, Bridget Jones Diary, etc. etc. Movies that aren't perfect by any means, but have some great shining moments that make me laugh out loud, or remember certain scenes years later....

I like Alan Cumming a lot too, though I think Parker Posey might have been my favorite in Josie.