Remember

I may not always agree with the military machine, but I am ever thankful to those who gave their lives so that I might express my opinions here.

More, anon.
Prospero

Memorial Day = Summer Movie Season

Summer movies are usually big-budget actioners with top-name stars, written directed by seasoned veterans who know how to attract audiences. This year... not so much. I can count on one hand the movies I really want to see this summer, and none of them star Russell Crowe, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jake Gyllenhaal or Tom Cruise.

Last year, I looked forward to seeing District 9; Star Trek; Orphan; Drag Me to Hell; Up; Zombieland and a slew of promising indies and foreign films like Thirst; Dead Snow; I Sell the Dead and 500 Days of Summer. This year... well... I do want see a few movies.

Four things will make me want to see a movie: an amazing cast; an amazing director; an amazing screenwriter and an original concept. That really leaves very few movies that pique my interest this summer.

First up, is next weekend's Sci-Fi/Horror flick from Canadian director Vincenzo Natali (Cube), Splice, starring Adrian Brody (King Kong) and Sarah Polley (Dawn of the Dead). It's a cautionary tale about two geneticists who perform an illegal experiment combining human and animal DNA.

As with last year's Drag Me to Hell, about half my JTMF cast will be joining me on Friday to see what could be either an awesome take on the "Frankenstein" mythos, or a completely lame FX-laden monster movie. The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding.

Then there is Micmacs, from French Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie; City of Lost Children). Micmacs a steampunkish fantasy about a rag-tag group of tinkerers who try to take down a major weapons manufacturer. The trailer looks amazing, and if it's anything like Jeunet's other films, I know I'm going to love it.

June 18th brings us Josh Brolin as Jonah Hex, an Old West gunslinger with supernatural powers, based on the DC comic from John Albano and Tony Dezuniga. With a cast that reads like a "Who's Who" list (John Malkovich; Will Arnett; Aiden Quinn; Lance Reddick). Hex could well be the next Iron Man, if director Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who) gets it right. My only concern is the presence of the less-than-talented Megan Fox.

The next "Must See" on my list doesn't open until July 16th, but as with The Dark Knight, I suspect writer/director Christopher Nolan will have quite a birthday present in store for me with Inception:

Normally, I'm not a Dicaprio fan. I find his looks to be on the creepy side and his talent modest, at best. But the rest of the cast, which also includes Ellen Page; Michael Caine; Ken Watanabe; Marion Cotillard; Cillian Murphy; Tom Berenger; Lucas Haas and Dileep Rao are all amazing and with Nolan at the helm, I'll probably be loving this movie.

Finally, August 3th brings us Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, another movie based on a graphic novel (by Bryan lee O'Malley). Indie darling Michael Cera stars as the titular character, who must fight off a series of supernatural villains to win the love of the girl he loves. My excitement for this movie comes from director Edgar Wright, whose Shaun of the Dead is one of the best (and funniest) zombie movies ever made.

Of course, the presence of Brandon Routh and Chris Evans does nothing to impair my judgment on this one...

So, those are the movies which I am most looking forward to seeing this coming summer. How about you?

More, anon.
Prospero.

Ewwww! (with a Z)

That post title applies in so many ways, here. I was going to talk about directing again (and may still do so on Sunday), but then I came across the video below on Towleroad.

In it, Liza Minnelli talks to Joy Behar about her wedding to David Gest. First, they talk about all the celebrities in attendance. Then they talk a little about Michael Jackson. And finally they talk about the infamous kiss, in which Gest practically tongue-raped her.

The first 'Ewwwww' belongs to the kiss itself: Liza's eyes wide in terror as Gest so desperately tries to prove his heterosexuality; Gest wearing dark glasses to hide his repulsion at kissing a woman, pulling her close to him as she tries to push him away. The only worse kiss I can imagine was the one between Michael and Lisa-Marie on MTV (that spinning sound you heard came all the way from Memphis); yet another 'Ewwwww' moment.

The third 'Ewwwww' comes thanks to Liza's current face. She's had so much surgery, she looks like a parody of herself. In fact, I think she looks more like Mario Cantone* doing an impersonation of her, than like herself. Watch the video and see for yourselves:

Like so many celebrities who simply refuse to grow old gracefully, Liza has become a mockery of herself. Never a great beauty, she had a certain goofy charm in her youth, which lent itself perfectly to her Academy Award-winning performance as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. My father always said he thought she looked like a clown in that movie, but he was a Nazi wannabe, so what the hell did he know? He treated every minority like they were clowns. But I digress...

Sadly, Liza hasn't always had the best of luck when it comes to husbands. Mostly because, like her mother before her, she kept marrying gay men. First was Peter The Boy from Oz Allen, who went to Rio when his baby smiled at him. Then came Jack Haley, Jr. in an attempt to capture some of Mama's 'Dorothy' magic (do I detect a theme here?). Next was artist Mark Gero, whose only real claim to fame was marrying Liza. And finally, her infamous marriage to Gest, who claimed Minnelli beat him. If she did. I wouldn't blame her. She must have been on some heavy-duty meds when she accepted that proposal (and I apologize for the utter terror that clicking that last link may have inspired in you -- my last 'Ewwwww' of the night).

Among her more recent performances, Liza's guest shot as the 'Second Lucille' on "Arrested Development" was nothing short of brilliant (was anything associated with that show not?). And this all comes around to her current performance in the universally panned Sex and the City 2, performing Mario Cantone's* gay wedding and singing Beyonce's "Single Ladies" (I apologize for the poor quality, but this bootleg version is the only one I could find from the actual movie):

Hmmm... Maybe this should really have been a "Gayest Thing" post. In any event, I am saddened to see this once monumental talented reduced to a parody of herself. Like mother like daughter, I suppose.

More, anon.
Prospero

*Talk about 'Synchronicity.' Jung would be quite proud, I think.

The Gayest (and Least Talented) Things You'll See This Week

That's gay director Gregg Araki, who just won the first ever Queer Palm award at Cannes for his latest film Kaboom, which is apparently a Sci-Fi Comedy about sexual awakening. Of course, only Araki would make a Sci-Fi Comedy about sexual awakening. Araki, whose previous films include The Living End; Totally F**ked Up and the beautiful Mysterious Skin has never been one to shy away from controversial topics. In his first film as director, The Living End, a hustler and his new-found lover go on an anarchistic spree of violence and sexual terrorism. In Mysterious Skin, a young man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and a hustler explore their pasts, which happens to involve (among other things) alien abduction.

Kaboom stars Thomas Dekker ("Heroes;" A Nightmare on Elm Street) in lust with his surfer dude roommate (Andy Fischer-Price). There is no American release date, as yet, though I imagine an award at Cannes will change that, rather quickly. If you are unfamiliar with, but interested in seeing Araki's films, I suggest you do so one at a time, with plenty of time in-between to digest them. Some critics have described him as "The Queer David Lynch." And while there are certain surrealist moments in his films that may well evoke Lynch, Araki's personal stamp is all over ever one of his movies. Below is a clip from Kaboom:

Moving from Film to Television, here is yet another reason to love "Glee." For those not in the know, Kurt (Chis Colfer) is a gay high-schooler whose father (Mike O'Malley) is working very hard to accept his son's sexual orientation. Dad has moved his new girlfriend into their home. New girlfriend just happens to be the mother of Kurt's object of affection, football star Finn (Corey Monteith). When Finn is forced to live with Kurt, tension ensues, but Kurt's enlightened blue-collar dad steps in. I have yet to watch this week's Lady Gaga-centric episode (it's DVR'ed), but just seeing this scene was enough to make me cry (via):



Finally, as part of a post on Kindertrauma, blogger Uncle Lancifer included this clip with his review of the repulsive horror movie Human Centipede. It proves that not every member of a musical dynasty actually has talent. Please enjoy (?) Rebbie Jackson's "Centipede:"



I don't know what would be worse; sitting through a screening of Human Centipede or sitting through a Rebbie Jackson concert. Rebbie may actually be the only black woman without any sense of rhythm whatsoever.

More nonsense, anon.
Prospero

Another Night for Me

It's only Tuesday and it's already been that kind of week (you know what I'm talking about).

Rehearsals for Sordid Lives continue to be amazing (tonight's was particularly hilarious). The show opens in exactly one month - June 25th. My outrageously talented cast keep coming up with brilliant bits on their own, while instantly taking to my suggestions and improving upon them by making them uniquely theirs.

We will be shooting some rehearsal footage for the YouTube video this Thursday and recording our podcast. I'll hopefully be able to share those with you sometime next week.

Tonight, with nothing particularly interesting to say, I am off to work on my latest screenplay. I am stuck on Act II (Act I and Act III are rolling along, but finding the right way to transition between them has proven problematic, at best). Anyway - have a good Wednesday, everyone.

More, anon.
Prospero

Namaste

Well, the final episode of ABC's epic series "Lost" has aired and controversy still surrounds it. You must admit, there has never been anything like "Lost" in the annals or television history. Perhaps "Twin Peaks" or even "The X-Files" came close, but neither even approached the kind of mythology that J.J. Abrams, Carlton Cruse and Damon Lindelof managed to maintain for 114 episodes. The series presented audiences with puzzles, soapy drama, enigmas and, most importantly, characters we came to know and love over six tumultuous seasons. Frustrating, delightful, philosophical and entertaining are just a few of the adjectives that can be applied to "Lost." And in the end, that's exactly what the show's creators and writers set out to create.

SPOILER ALERT: If you are one of the few fans who has not seen the finale, do not read any further (though how you managed to avoid everything posted on line and reported on air, remains as mysterious as the statue of Tarawet, to me).

Last night saw the series' two and a half hour finale, in which some, if not all, of our questions were answered. At first, my reaction was one of disappointment. But the more I thought about it, the more I came to understand what the finale had to say, and the more I appreciated it. In the end (as the producers have always insisted), "Lost" was a love story. I'm not talking about romantic love, here - though there was certainly plenty of that. "Lost" was mostly about the love we find along the way; be it with our friends, families or those with whom we share a one-on-one intimacy. As the "sideways" characters became "enlightened," remembering their journeys on the island; so we also came to understand the importance of a shared experience. If nothing else, "Lost" fans have that in common.

Ever since Jack Shepherd opened his eyes in that bamboo grove, viewers have shared every every frustrating event; every joyous reunion; every puzzling relationship and every romantic moment shared by the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. We pondered about polar bears where they didn't belong; numbers with no apparent connection; electromagnetic fields; psychic visions; Egyptian symbols; smokey monsters; time travel; diamond thieves; fried chicken restaurants; mental hospitals; ghosts; philosophers; Alice in Wonderland; Spanish comic books; 16 MM instructional films; religion; immortality; slave ships; explosives; spinal surgery; power struggles; torture; tortured childhoods; manipulative parents; music; novels; sailing; piloting; siblings; history; philanthropy; art; romance and just about everything else that impacts the Human Condition. How many television programs can you name that touched on so many subjects (and more) in the way that "Lost" did. I'm guessing none.

Whether you hated the revelation that the 'sideways" world was actually purgatory and all that happened on the island was 'real,' or you felt cheated (as I initially did) by the end, all depends ultimately on your personal take. And even though we have been promised additional answers (like why Walt was so special) on the forthcoming Season Six DVD (decidedly unfair to those of us who don't want to - or can't afford to - spend the $50+ for the set), in the end, we have to accept what the writers wrought.

Like it, love it or hate it, the "Lost" finale was certainly in keeping with the series' premise and title. While many of its fans will remain lost as to the show's (and its creators) intentions, one cannot deny that "Lost" not only changed the face of episodic TV, but challenged its viewers to look beyond what was presented and to literally think "outside the box."

I suppose that in the end, we can only be grateful for the great ride the writers gave us, and the amazing characters the actors brought to life for us. Will "Lost" go down in history as teh greatest TV show ever? Well, that's for future historians to decide. For myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and I look forward to a show that can match it in both characters and story-telling. Until then, I simply say "Namaste."

More, anon.
Prospero

The "Lost" Goodbye

You know I don't usually blog until late at night. And you know I don't usually watch Prime Time TV in real time, but rather DVR my favorites to watch later. Well, today marks an exception, because tonight, dear readers, Uncle P will be watching the "Lost" series finale, aptly titled "The End." I have rehearsal almost every night next week and DVRing tonight's finale would mean not seeing it until Friday, and frankly, I can't wait that long, so I will be watching in real time, along with most of the country.

I don't know about you, but I've been watching from the very beginning; from that closeup on Jack's eye as he woke up in a bamboo grove after the crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815. I watched as the pilot got sucked out the cockpit by what now know is the Man in Black; I watched as the plane full of heroin-filled Madonnas crushed Boone; I watched as The Others kidnapped Walt; I watched Ben slither all over everyone in his efforts to control the castaways and save his own skin; I watched as Sawyer and Kate spent most of a season in the Dharma cages. I even hung on during the almost awful season 3, in which not much of anything happened (except the Nikki and Paolo debacle). And I cried like a baby when Jin and Sun drowned just two weeks ago. And loved almost every silly, mystifying, aggravating and bewildering moment with a certain glee.

Now, after 6 seasons, "Lost" is coming to a close. And we have lots of answers to its mysteries, already. We know what the smoke monster is; we know why Richard Alpert doesn't age; we know how the donkey wheel came to be; we know how Jacob and his unnamed twin came to the island, thousands of years ago. We don't know the significance of the numbers; who built the statue of Tarawet or how "Mother" came to be on the island, among dozens of other things. And I don't expect we'll get all the answers to the questions we have been asking since the beginning. And I'm okay with that. A big part of the show's appeal is is its mysteries, though unlike a mystery novel, where the detective gets to make a big announcement about 'whodunnit,' there will be no M. Poirrot or Miss Marple pontificating to a room full of suspects. There will only be whatever the producers and writers of "Lost" want us to know. And that will have to be enough.

Tomorrow night (like every entertainment blogger in America), I'll share my thoughts on the show.

More, anon.
Prospero