A little TGITDNMAR, a little news...

Headed for a long weekend in Dallas on Friday to spend some time with some friends. Will return Monday to Phoenix and to Blogland on Tuesday (most likely) with overdue reviews of Happy-Go-Lucky and Role Models. In the meantime, enjoy this brief TGITDNMAR, made even briefer by the scheduling gods, as all other comers are terrified of...

Quantum of Solace - I complained about this overhyped latest installment to the Bond series some months back. I still don't get it. This looks just as dumb as any other action film, just with more brooding and/or pouting. Waah.

I'm not trying to seriously hate on it, but I guess I just dislike the disproportionate amount of love it's getting (and Casino Royale got). It's still a popcorn flick, people, and I still don't care who is singing the theme song (though "Live and Let Die" turned out to be a song for the ages, so it's got that going for it).
Fletch's Chance of Viewing (in the theater): 007%...as if I could resist.

That's it! Only other release is limited, and that's Slumdog Millionaire, which has an even worse title than Quantum. But it's Danny Boyle, so I'm sure I'll be seeing it in time.

If you are indeed a Bond fan, or just a fan of good writing, click on this:


Have a good weekend, folks.

And then...

The 12 Movies Meme

Friggin' Piper. With his fancy blog-a-thons and memes. Now guess what he's gone and done? He tagged me with a meme. And even crazier? I've accepted the tagging - he should be honored - I've avoided memes for over 18 months (though, really, there's not much difference between a meme and a blog-a-thon, and it's not like I'm scared of those).

Anyway, this one, as you might have figured from the title, is called The 12 Movies Meme. The idea, from the clown's mouth himself, was pulled from a post he read over at Strange Culture that asks if YOU could pick 12 movies to run at the New Beverly Cinema (or really any theater), which ones would they be?

"Your 12 movies should be like a good mixed tape. Strong at first, brought down a little right after, then up again, solid in the middle with a big finish.

So here are the Meme rules:

1) Choose 12 Films to be featured. They could be random selections or part of a greater theme. Whatever you want.

2) Explain why you chose the films.

3) Link back to Lazy Eye Theatre so I can have hundreds of links and I can take those links and spread them all out on the bed and then roll around in them.

4) The people selected then have to turn around and select 5 more people."

Sounds easy enough, right? I've decided to turn mine into the "Vices Film Festival."

Night One - Smoking Sunday (starting slow)
















Night Two - Mary Jane Monday (a gateway to even better films)

















Night Three - Acid Tuesday (the long trip)

















Night Four - no films scheduled. Time to recuperate.

Night Five - Cocaine Thursday (getting psyched for the weekend)

















Night Six - Gambling Friday (Viva Las Vegas!)
















Night Seven - Sexy Sunday (the final release)
















Now, some of these (Smoke, Casino, etc) may seem like obvious choices - and they are - but the group of twelve also makes up a healthy chunk of my favorite films. It just so happens that they fit into these perfect compartments. Lucky me and my vice-loving movies. As for the selection of Go for Sexy Sunday - yes, it does have sex in it, but more importantly, it really ties the week together, featuring just about all of the vices contained on the previous days.

Time for the fun part - tagging others (note: I'm only tagging people that I think might be interested in this to begin with, and I only get five):

Nick at R2D2
Mike at Big Mike's Movie Blog
Ms. Go at DC Girl @ the Movies
Wayne at Reel Whore
Nayana at The Center Seat

And then...

PSA: A film you need to see

My friend Daniel recently wrote a post about a theater in his native Minneapolis that had been showing In Bruges up until very recently. He was amazed, that in this day and age where hundreds of new releases hit theaters each year, that a film so seemingly small could stay in one place for 19+ weeks. As you can see in the post comments, it was a sentiment that was shared by many folks across the United States, with readers chiming in to let him know how long the film had been playing in their neck of the woods, and of other films with abundantly long theatrical stays.

It was then, with a heavy heart, that I was reminded of a movie that enjoyed an all-too brief run in theaters this year: the stoner comedy Strange Wilderness. Featuring an all-star cast (Steve Zahn, Jonah Hill, Justin Long, etc.), the zany comedy managed a scant take of less than seven million dollars, all in a run of little more than a month. All this for a major motion picture released by Paramount Pictures - what has the world come to?

I can not be clear enough: Strange Wilderness is a film that must be seen by everyone. Crossing into genres comedies previously were afraid to breach and featuring performances unseen in modern cinema, Wilderness is an epic in humorocity that will go down in the annals of comedic cinematic lore along with Airplane! and Caddyshack. No golden cows are spared, no viewer left unslayed.

The good news in all this is that, although you missed your chance to get Strange on the big screen (where it ideally would be seen), it's not too late to taste the exquisite pleasures of Zahn, Hill and company - Wilderness hit DVD shelves on May 20th. Though, if your patient, I'm sure that the movie gods will see to it that this fine film lives on in the form of cult showings a la The Rocky Horror Picture Show, sporadically finding a home in theaters for decades to come.

Here's my original review. In case you forgot, the rating looked kinda like this:

Fletch's Film Rating:

"You're the best...around!"


Note: this post was a part of Lazy Eye Theatre's Bizarro Blog-a-thon. Whatever you do, don't click on the link or the picture.

And then...