The Darjeeling Limited: Sept 29, 2007

The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson's new quirk-love-music extravaganza of cinematic pleasure, opens on September 29 here in LA and I have to say, I'm pretty damn excited.

Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman play estranged brothers who travel to India on a spiritual journey and to remember what it is to be brothers again. There might also be something in their about scattering their dead father's ashes, but I'm not entirely sure.

I'm in love with the trailer. Hence, I am posting my first trailer! See below! How thrilling! You Tube and Blogger make it all so GD easy. You must watch the trailer now and tell me what you think. OK, well, read the rest of this post first.

Why am I such a sucker for Anderson's movies, with their pitch perfect use of music and their intoxicating color schemes, wicked cinematography...he's just so delicious, isn't he? I liken Anderson's movies to a colorful confection that proves so much more complex after you take a bite. Like it looks like some turquoise and fuschia marzipan but then you begin eating it and you realize that it's layers of cake and whipped cream laced with Madagascar vanilla; there's chocolate covered cherries with hints of cardomom. Chewy morsels of...is that turkish delight?? Your eyes and mouth are ablaze. You don't know whether to laugh or cry...and suddenly you are left with the most fulfilling of aftertastes. Ahhhh Anderson.

tee hee hee.

Oh and I'm certain I'm not the only one with a weakness for sibling stories...You Can Count on Me, Ma Saison Preferee...and the upcoming The Savages with Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman...which looks like it could be quite good or meh. We'll have to see.

What are your favourite 'sibling' movies? What am I forgetting??

OK, now go watch the trailer!

The Darjeeling Limited trailer

FEMALE-WIELDED CINEMATICS!

Get a pen and paper and see these female-directed movies. I haven't seen all these but I'm working on it!

Out in theatres NOW:

Waitress - the late Adrienne Shelley is not around to see her directorial debut find an audience and hold them close. It's a damn shame...we'll never get to see all the wonderful wacky pictures Shelley had in store for us. See it!

Talk To Me - This movie looks real good and it's getting great reviews! Kasi Lemmons directs Don Cheadle in this true tale of popular DC radio personality and civil rights activist Ralph "Petey" Greene. 80% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes guys! See it!

Broken English - Zoe Cassavetes wee film is getting mixed reviews but my friends really liked it...Parker Posey is supposedly getting better and better with age! Some say Zoe has inherited some of her Dad's unflinching honesty. Ya!

2 Days in Paris - I'm dying to see this Julie Delpy-helmed movie. It stars Delpy and the truly edible Adam Goldberg. 83% Fresh on RT!!!

**Update 08/21/07: Just saw 2 Days in Paris at the Sunset 5 in Hollywood...There is a lot of good stuff in this movie. Adam Goldberg is SO good. I love that Delpy has crafted a truly annoying, troubled girl in her Marion character. I laughed out loud several times. There are a bunch of problems but I still really liked it and I think Delpy's saying some interesting stuff about Americans & Parisians and her own personal connection to both. I also LOVE that Delpy has a regular woman's body! And her hair is always frizzy and she barely wears any make up in the film! It sounds so silly for me to point this out but it really is cool. I don't know how many films this gal's got in her but I was inspired and I laughed and I wanted to bang Goldberg and this is all a good thing. Recommended!

The 11th Hour - No, it's not a Canadian television series...it's the Leonardo Dicaprio-produced doc on the global environmental crisis we are in RIGHT. NOW. Co-directed by the I-assume-awesome Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Petersen.

And COMING SOON don't forget to catch these flicks too!

The Nanny Diaries - co-directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, the folks who brought us American Splendor, which I loved. OK, so TND isn't getting the best advance press...but hey if you loved the book...?

Deep Water - This documentary (about the disastrous round-the-world yacht race of 1968) may not sound like your cup of tea at first glance...But people, I must tell you the word is VERY GOOD. Supposed to be quite gripping! Co-Directed by Louise Osmond & Jerry Rothwell.

The Jane Austin Book Club - Written and Directed by Screenwriter Robin Swicord (Memoirs of a Geisha), this movie is about six Californians who start a club to discuss the works of Jane Austen, only to find their relationships -- both old and new -- begin to resemble 21st century versions of her novels. Stars the great great Emily Blunt, Maria Bello, Amy Brenneman and, unfortunately for us, Maggie Grace. What do you think?

Across the Universe - OK. Many people are really looking forward to Julie Taymor's latest flick which incorporates and is based around the music of The Beatles. Honestly, I'm super thrilled that Taymor EXISTS in the world and takes risks and is an auteur and very much her own artist...and YES, many people will ADORE and slide down a rainbow with joy upon seeing this movie. I hope they do! That being said the trailer for this film elicits the deepest of grumblings from my belly...and not the good kind of grumblings that say "ooohhh I'm hungry! Hungry for this movie!" The grumblings are more akin to way-expired dairy products and over-cooked romanticism churning and preparing themselves to blow out my ass. Of course this is all coming from someone who LOATHED Moulin Rouge. Across the Universe is already surrounded by controversy as studio head Joe Roth has gone and made his own cut of the movie and started running test screenings! This begs the question: will Taymor take her name off the film if his cut makes the...cut?

And finally....

Things We Lost In The Fire - one of my favourite filmmakers, Denmark's Susanne Bier (Brothers, Open Hearts) makes her Hollywood/English language film debut with TWLITF, starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro. I will see anything this woman makes but I have to say, I'm a bit uneasy with Berry's presence.

If you've never seen a Susanne Bier movie, treat yourself TONIGHT. Track her down...find Brodres(Brothers) or Open Hearts or last year's After The Wedding. She's an inspiration, a joy, a kick in the face, a brilliant, wondrous filmmaker.

And just because you've still got that pen and paper handy...have you seen these OUTSTANDING films which just so happen to be directed by women?

Europa, Europa - Agnieszka Holland (see ALL her films!)
An Angel at My Table - Jane Campion (one of my all time faves)
Walking and Talking - Nicole Holofcener (Her first film...so good!)
Vendredi Soir(Friday Night) - Clair Denis (This film is HOT)
Hysterical Blindness - Mira Nair (Uma and Juliette Lewis=awesome)
The Ballad of Jack & Rose - Rebecca Miller (Really moving)

Support Women in Film.
If you're a woman, write something and shoot it.
Let's tell our stories, bitches!
(just kidding, ladies)

love,

Tracy

The Secret Life of Words and My Hormones

The Secret Life of Words is the latest film by Spanish writer/director Isabel Coixet (My Life Without Me). I rented this and you can too. As per usual I won't say much...which is key because I didn't know much going in and that was extremely beneficial. I really like this movie. I am thinking about it a lot today, the day after watching it. People seem kind of split on it though...and I understand why. It's not easy. But it's also not breathtakingly perfect. It's has it's flaws. Rotten Tomatoes rating is 71% Fresh...the same percentage as Cold Mountain and Girl with a Pearl Earring (just to give you an idea)...but Secret's rating is based on a total of 34 reviews (US and Canadian). Pearl Earring (not a huge movie by any means) had 166 reviews counted by Rotten Tomatoes and 49 of them were rotten while 117 were raves. Of Secret's 34 reviews, 24 were glowing while 10 were pans. Not bad at all.

So Secret obviously had a very limited release (in fact it's still being released-- according to imdb.com the film was just released in New Zealand and it was filmed back in 2004!

Oh and one last bit of trivia for you...the film has over 2000 votes on imdb.com with an average user rating of 7.5 out of 10. This is quite impressive for a little film, I must say.

So why should you see this film? Well, it's staying with me and that's always a good sign. It is slow to start so be aware. You have to stick with it. Such wonderful performances. It really knocks you on your ass when everything comes out. It's important to hear these things now. Man's inhumanity to man, our loneliness, our inability to reach out, our deep deep sadness...it's universal and it should bring us together and not isolate us further.

Please seek out The Secret Life of Words...it's worthy of your attention. Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins are stellar and the lives of the supporting cast are key to the film as well....really nice.

Now....what about my hormones???

Oh man. It's fun being in my thirties. But I must say I think about sex ALOT now. It's funny. I think to myself...is this what being a man is like? Am I getting closer and closer to having a dick each and every day?

That's all.

Just went upstairs to tell my neighbor above me that if he could keep the intense banging down on my ceiling that would be great. He invited me in and wanted to know what he could do. I told him it was the heavy walking and when he got excited listening to music the banging with his feet on the floor (my ceiling) was a bit crazy-making. He seemed cool if a bit medicated...it came out that I was writing downstairs
"Oh, you're a writer. Do you like prose?"
"Um...well, that's not really my thing...I write plays and television stuff"
"Oh that's cool! I'm am actor!"
"Oh really?"
"Do you like Edgar Allen Poe?"
"Um...ya he's good. He's not my favorite..."
My neighbor stares at me. Just stares. His eyelids begin to drop a little over his eyes.
"I'm sure he's great though....OK, well thanks Kareem...I'll see you later"
As he saw me off, he told me I should get extra "cool" points today for coming up and talking to him about the noise...and that I should write about it in my journal. I sure hope that was a weed pipe I saw on my way out the door.

peace, darlins

Once the movie

I love this film. It's small, quiet, haunting, joyous. It is so full to bursting with love that it's almost hard to stand. Please see it. The music is gorgeous as is the acting. It has a 97% Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.com and out of all the reviews in the western world, three sad saps panned the movie...I feel bad for them and their cold cold hearts.

This gorgeous little film won the world cinema audience award at Sundance this year and is wowing people the world over. I don't like to talk too much about plot here but I will say that since I have not written boo on my blog since March you know I'm really feeling this movie. In fact, the night I saw it here in LA (at the Arclight) I wasn't really looking forward to spending $13 to see a fillum. But frugal old me was soon won over and forgot about money altogther. Wowsers, you say? Yep. Go see it now!

If you live in LA you can catch ONCE at the Sunset 5 or at the Landmark West LA.

If you live in Toronto you can catch it tonight at the Cumberland or as of tomorrow at the good old Carlton.