Quo Vadimus


Saturday, October 11, 2003

 

Fun Movie News. #029:

The fourth Evil Dead film.

posted by Linus | 7:44 PM


Friday, October 10, 2003

 

Telly Alert. #008:

The Office 2.0 (BBC America, premieres Sunday, October 12th, 9:00 p.m.)



UPDATE: It's like a bloody Dead Poet's Society.

UPDATE 2: Never mind the snipers.

posted by Linus | 6:49 AM


Thursday, October 09, 2003

 

IYI.

Sasha Frere-Jones and Meghan O'Rourke chat it up about The Fortress Of Solitude. I declared this the "book of the moment", but the moment passed and I stalled after about 30 pages. I really need to tear into this thing, especially with this "thin" DFW mathematics thing (excerpt) coming out next week.

posted by Linus | 7:06 AM


Wednesday, October 08, 2003

 

Dear Rex Reed, I hate you and I hate your ASS FACE.

Excerpt from Reed's "review" of the new Coen brothers film:

Just Intolerable

I took home nothing from the alleged comedy Intolerable Cruelty except a pounding headache. This dim-witted, mean-spirited and brain-dead calamity should surprise no one. It’s a labored farce written, produced and directed by the lucky, indestructible and only mildly talented Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel (I forget which one does which), who hit pay dirt with Fargo and have been digging unsuccessfully ever since to hit more. They finally hit rock-bottom with the abominable and grotesquely out-of-control O Brother, Where Art Thou?*, proving that whatever their strengths, comedy is not one of them. That doesn’t seem to deter these cool, misguided dudes (or the fools who back their projects with actual money, like Brian Grazer) for more than a few years at a time. According to the press notes, Intolerable Cruelty was eight years in the planning; it seems to have been completed in fewer than eight hours, including George Clooney’s latte breaks. How do these fakes do it? Who among us can know?

*Reed called OBWAT? one of the worst films ever made.

The rest, if you dare, is here, although it's basically just a plot summary and a claim that George Clooney "still can't act", and then a witty bit of wordplay in which he suggests that the title refers to the way the film treats its audience.

UPDATE: A different take on Clooney from The Village Voice's Michael Atkinson:

"Zeta-Jones is merely ravishing, but Clooney owns the film. Ordinarily best at sardonic, man's-man confidence, he strides through Intolerable Cruelty with fantastic screwball zest. To see Clooney tenderize, season, grill, and serve this ham hock of a role is to see an old-fashioned virtuoso in perpetual motion. His restless artillery of double-takes, baffled winces, fake smiles, stunned glares, tongue-on-teeth inspections, and zealous line readings might make up the ripest lead perf in a Hollywood film since Cary Grant's in Arsenic and Old Lace."

posted by Linus | 8:02 AM


Tuesday, October 07, 2003

 

Bacon: my thing.

I briefly reviewed these things back in June and they finally showed up on McSweeney's "Reviews of New Food" (today's update also includes Deep Fried Twinkie on a Stick):

McDonald's McGriddle (with "sausage")

Submitted by Brian Telpner

Oh how I wanted to hate this smug little breakfast sandwich.

Cobbled together from assorted bits of traditional breakfast fare—egg, cheese, and sausage (or bacon, if that's your thing), stacked between two syrup-infused pancake patties serving as the bun—I was prepared to renounce the McGriddle's dangerously totalitarian leanings, because I for one cherish the freedom to drench my pancakes in as much syrup as my heart desires and my pancreas can handle. Worse, the engineered-pancake gimmick was nothing more than a prefabricated gastronomic abomination, a culinary Frankenstein's monster that would wreak gassy and insufficiently-syruped havoc as it lurched angrily through the digestive system to a speedy and unpleasant end.

Boy was I wrong. The McGriddle is delicate in its greasiness, powerful in its sickly sweetness, and above all, profound in its yumminess. Leaving in its wake an aromatic protective film that lingers for many hours and survives multiple mouthwash garglings, it imparts a calmative effect upon the system that will smooth the rough edges off the heartiest of hangovers. Add hash browns and OJ, and you've loaded up on enough carbs and saturated fat and other dietary nastiness to induce a food stupor strong enough to floor a rhino. Such potency demands our respect. Mrs. Butterworth, I fear thy days are numbered.

posted by Linus | 8:07 AM

 

Fun with Roth. #014:

Accoring to the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, David Lee Roth will be one of the guest stars on the upcoming fifth season of The Sopranos. I assume that Roth will replace the Italy-bound Furio as Tony's top enforcer. QV sources reveal that actor James Gandolfini was not a fan of Roth's incorrigible on-set antics:

Roth: "Top Jimmy cooks, Top Jimmy swings! He's got the look. Top Jimmy, he's the king!"

Gandolfini: "F**kin' enough already, Dave. Jesus."

posted by Linus | 7:20 AM


Monday, October 06, 2003

 

60%.

Izzy. Slash. Adler!

posted by Linus | 5:22 PM

 

Strange things happen all the time.

posted by Linus | 9:37 AM

 

1970s ©

Mowing yards is hard; hanging out with Jack Black and a bunch of kids and putting the camera in the right place is not.

(.rtf )

posted by Linus | 7:38 AM


Sunday, October 05, 2003

 

Nice, Bob, but can you play Photoshop Tennis?


Hey, hey mama, move your feet.

posted by Linus | 12:37 PM

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