Saturday, February 18, 2006

Bubble; Phenomena

Bubble is fascinating for so many reasons, so many of them not even having to do with the actual experience of watching the movie. Its unique distribution method, being released on DVD, on HD cable, and in theaters at the same time; its being in shot in HD, where depth of field no longer matters with everything in focus and what this means for us as viewers as David Denby really intelligently asked a couple weeks ago; its cast of nonactors; its being directed the unpiegonholeable Steven Soderbergh who is all over the map in what he directs, and yet, usually good somehow. So much stuff and then the actual film, which is brief, and really good. I had to tell Adele to stop crinkling the newspaper while I was watching it; that's how into this movie I was. It reminded me just vaguely of Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, anothe bleak tale of rural factory workers and murder, but of course, way more humanisitic and more likeable than that movie, and more nuanced.

After that, Adele and I watched Dario Argento's Phenomena, which I found much more enjoyable than the one of his I had seen before, Inferno. With this movie, I could see the appeal of him, but it's a total camp appeal. The goofy focus on the supernatural, the synth soundtrack, and the bad script make for an enjoyable movie, but my enjoyment does not mean I think highly of this movie, that I even really think much during this movie. I am just strung along for a couple of quick thrills and then the credits roll. But I am glad, I saw one of his better movies so that my opinion of him is now not solely based on Inferno, which actually I am liking more now in retrospect. The soundtracks to both stick in my head and sort of blend together. I don't know what that means.

But yes, another thrilling Friday night. A double feature, a frozen pizza, some Old Milwaukees, one cigarette, and chocolate. That is not sarcasm on my part, calling it thrilling. It was. I love watching movies in my living room. I am over going out, thinking it is what I need, only to come home feeling it wasn't what I needed, and feeling lamer for never succeeding in hitting on people. Like there's something I want to happen and I can think I can will that or that it will occur there and it probably has just as much chance of occuring here. Here watching movies, I can only be disappointed if the disc skips during a good scene.

PS - Did you all see Marky on the cover on that trashy free gay weekly that you sometimes use as masturbation fodder? That entertains me a lot. Other things that entertain me these days: Key Food, Bob Dylan's "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues", Spanish language soap operas starring a bunch of hot students in prep school uniforms, MySpace profiles of people underage, pizza, that weight loss flyer that someone always sticks beneath the plastic guarding the "real" ads on the subway, and the ad says a bunch of stuff, but the thing that entertains me and makes me smile with memories of a former roommate and a dated hit song of a silly electroclash band: "Look Good, Feel Good."

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