be the story

A Writers’ Rant by Harlan Ellison

Thanks to C. E. Dorsett for putting me onto this YouTube video, a rant about how professional writers deserve to be paid.

Hee! I so miss Harlan Ellison’s rants. Back in the day, when the SciFi channel actually had programming worth watching, he did a segment on a half-hour SF news show. I watched it regularly. He disgusted my brother. Me too, actually. But I loved it, and I miss it. Ellison’s recommendation put me onto Stanislaw Lem, another of the best science-fiction writers who ever lived.

Okay. Enough reminiscing and fawning, as though I actually like the guy. On to the video: (Read more…)

March of the Penguins… Again

The Discovery Channel has been advertising the “Oscar winning” film The March of the Penguins. The documentary has also won numerous other awards… Proof, by the way, that awards indicate nothing as to whether a movie is actually worth seeing. And just in case you think I might have been sucking on sour grapes, I have some very good reasons why March of the Penguins is mediocre.

Basically, it doesn’t actually tell a story. It tries, yes. But really it just shows us penguins. Lots and lots of penguins. And we’re supposed to be sad that some of them die. (Read more…)

I’m Reed Fish Top-10 Review

(I originally posted this review of I’m Reed Fish at Gilmore-ism.com.)

Alexis Bledel’s latest film I’m Reed Fish, also starring Jay Baruchel as the title character Reed Fish, actually came out on DVD on September 4. Netflix even sent me a copy, which I enjoyed immensely. But Amazon still has the I’m Reed Fish DVD scheduled for release this coming week, on Tuesday. Whatever.

In any case, if you haven’t seen this yet, I think it’s well worth watching. (As if you cared about my opinion.) You may have to watch it twice to catch all the nuances. But if you keep in mind that it’s not a romance story, you’ll probably enjoy it more the first time.

I’m Reed Fish is about a radio personality, Reed Fish, in the back-woods hamlet of Mud Meadows. Now, Mud Meadows has been compared to Stars Hollow. But Stars Hollow is much too urban to make the comparison work. Mud Meadows is more reminiscent of Cicely, Alaska. But Reed is no Chris Stevens. No, Reed Fish is going through an acute crisis of self-identity. He’s always done what everyone else expected him to, has always been who everyone else expected him to be. This film is about whether he’ll be able to break that mold and be the person he actually is.

As I said, I really enjoyed the film. And if you haven’t seen it yet, get a copy, or rent it from Netflix.com. In fact, you can watch the movie on-line using Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” feature, which is included with your Netflix membership.

Therefore, to commemorate the I’m Reed Fish DVD release, on whatever date you celebrate it, here’s the official Gilmore-ism.com top-10 list of best things about I’m Reed Fish: (Read more…)

Kickin It Old Skool Bottom-10 Review

I rented Kickin It Old Skool, because it co-stars Aris Alvarado of Gilmore Girls fame, and I’m a huge Gilmore Girls fan. But I clearly could have done better. Maybe by watching grass grow instead of watching this movie.

Kickin It Old Skool is the comedic story of one Justin Schumacher (Jamie Kennedy), who as a boy hits his head in a breakdancing accident and ends up in a coma. After 20 years, he wakes up to find that his parents kept him alive by mortgaging their house to the hilt, and now the bank is threatening to foreclose. He also discovers his childhood sweetheart Jennifer (Maria Menounos) is engaged to his arch-enemy. He must get his old breakdancing group together again, now all in their thirties, and win a TV dance contest with a $100,000 prize, in order to save his parents’ home and to get the girl back from the villain.

And yes, it really is as stupid as it sounds. Frankly, this film is too juvenile to be enjoyed by an adult, but has too much adult content to be suitable for a kid. However, I have labored through this film, not just once, but twice, so that you won’t have to bear it even one time. And so that you can still appreciate the full depth of its shallowness, I’ve compiled a top-10 list… er… I mean, bottom-10 list of the 10 worst aspects of this movie. (Read more…)

The Lake House Top-10 Review

The Lake House is definitely one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s marketed as a romance, but if I could make up any genre in which to place this film, I’d call it Romantic Sci-Fi, which I think is the best genre ever. I’m a big fan of intelligent romance–or any story that explores the complexities of relationships. And I also love science-fiction. Combining the two is something that’s not done nearly enough.

The story is based on the Y2K Korean film Siworae (a.k.a. Il Mare), which by the way is correctly categorized on IMDb as “Romance, Sci-Fi.” The Lake House is the story of two people whose destinies were bound together even before they met. Dr. Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) has been living at the lake house. Now, in February 2006, she take a position at Chicago City Hospital and moves to a city apartment. She leaves a letter in the lake house’s mailbox, asking the next tenant to forward her mail.

The problem is, the “next tenant” is Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves), who bought the lake house before she even moved in, back in February 2004. Anything Kate puts into the mailbox is delivered 2 years earlier, and anything Alex mails, Kate finds there in 2006. The two pen pals begin exchanging letters, and a relationship blossoms. (Read more…)

Featured at Carnival of Cinema XIII

Well, not so much “featured” as “listed first,” which is a form of being featured. My recent post “If You Think Sylvia Plath Was Crazy, Think Again” was the review listed first in Carnival of Cinema Epiosde XIII: Planet of the Bloggers. There are also some other interesting pieces in the Carnival of Cinema. So if you haven’t checked it out, it may be worth a minute.

-TimK

If You Think Sylvia Plath Was Crazy, Think Again

If you’ve seen the movie Sylvia and you still don’t understand it, this may help. And if you haven’t seen the movie Sylvia, this will definitely help.

The Gilmore Girls Fanatic recently mentioned how much she is enjoying learning about Sylvia Plath, one of the most mentioned cultural figures on Gilmore Girls. I almost heard the Fanatic say she was ashamed to admire a giant so disturbed. But I imagined it.

Then writer Charles Deemer, at The Writing Life, asked, “Why do so many writers commit suicide?” There’s a long list, including Ernest Hemingway, Anne Sexton, Virginia Woolf, and of course Sylvia Plath. It almost makes one think of writing as a dangerous occupation.

And then I fall head over heels for Sylvia, a film that may have generated more complaints than understanding.

(Read more…)

Spotlight: The Notebook (the movie) (Review)

Review of The Notebook, directed by Nick Cassavetes, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks.

An elderly woman (Gena Rowlands) stands, looking out of the nursing home window. An elderly man (James Garner) visits her. She doesn’t know him, but he clearly considers her an old friend. He reads to her a story from a small notebook, a story about young Noah (Ryan Gosling) and his one true love Allie (Rachel McAdams). They fell madly in love one summer. But she comes from a rich family, and her mother doesn’t want her marrying below her class. Allie gets not even one of Noah’s letters. She falls in love with and gets engaged to a handsome busnessman, with her parents’ full support.

(Read more…)

Spotlight: Smilla’s Sense of Snow (the movie) (Review)

A review of Smilla’s Sense of Snow, the movie.

I first encountered this underappreciated sci-fi mystery flick when Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave it two thumbs up in 1997. Smilla’s Sense of Snow stars Julia Ormond and Gabriel Byrne and is based on the novel by Peter Høeg of the same name. And of course, now we can see it on DVD.

(Read more…)

What’s So Great About the X-Men? (Astonishing X-Men Review)

My first exposure to the X-Men was on a Saturday. I was watching the movies, directed by Bryan Singer, both X-Men and X2 in a mini-marathon. Sometime in the middle of the first film, I remember leaping from my seat in a fit of upset over the way our heroes were being treated. Now, reading the Astonishing X-Men comics reminds me of all those same feelings.

(Read more…)