Curtain Call: Sweeney Todd

 

Sweeney Todd 9/10

Months ago Cam and I went to see this at A Noise Within. I really like this place after being here a couple times. I knew the basic story or at least I thought I did. I knew people being made into food was a part of the story. This is about a guy that returns to London and has revenge and murder on his mind. He is there with this young guy that is super excited about London. Todd is there to get back at some people for the murder of his wife and find his daughter. One day he meets this baker who makes gross sounding dishes and after he kills someone she realizes that dumping the body would be a waste of perfectly good meat and start a successful people pie business.

Curtain Call: Twilight Los Angeles 1992

Twilight Los Angeles, 1992 10/10

"Nearly thirty years after the Los Angeles uprising following the Rodney King verdict, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 returns home to the Mark Taper Forum to be reimagined with an ensemble cast for a new generation of audiences. A powerful piece of living record and one of the most important works in the history of the Taper, Twilight is a stunning and seminal play that explores the devastating human impact of the five days of uprising following the Rodney King verdict. From nine months of over 300 interviews conducted during the year following the uprising, playwright and scholar Anna Deavere Smith crafted a play that goes directly to the heart of the issues of race and class."

Curtain Call: Oklahoma!

Oklahoma! DNF/10

Full disclosure: me and Cam left during intermission. She had tickets to the play Oklahoma and I didn't know anything about the story. She did. We got there early and chowed down on some good Lemonade and headed over. Had great seats in the balcony pretty much dead center as you can see from the photos. I will point out some good about the show. The seats were comfy. The lady singers were incredible and too good to be in this. Also the unintentional humor that was riddled throughout this uneven show. There were parts where the audience didn't know if they were supposed to laugh, clap, or whatever. I was one of them. So after some weird ass experimental footage was shown on a large screen and the lights came up Cam started laughing. Not a “this is fun!” laugh, but a “What the fuck am I watching?!” laugh. I asked if she wanted to leave, she didn't want me to leave if I wanted to see the rest of the show. I said I was totally cool with bouncing so we did and headed to Jack In The Box.

The Review: Three Bad Christmas Movies

For the last few years me and Cam have watched some bad Christmas movies. A couple nights ago she called me about some that were on Hoopla. Mind you, we fast forwarded through a lot of these but still managed to follow the plots. The main thing these films had in common were almost no relation to Christmas, bad lighting, sound, and clothing. After talking to L. about these I decided that I would not be giving these a rating...but if I did they would all be 0's. Enjoy!

The Review: I'll Be Homeless For Christmas (2013)

I'll Be Homeless For Christmas HAHAHA/10

I just watched the best movie ever made and by the best I mean the worst and by the worst I mean the most hilarious. I'll Be Homeless For Christmas is one of the most thought provoking movies I have seen in my life. So many questions were asked! By the way, I do not watch holiday films. Cam does. We got off the phone and she called me up an hour later to discuss this gem of a movie and like the best friend that I am I made sure we watched the whole damn thing. By the time we were halfway in I knew we had to finish because it got funnier as it went on. And by funnier I mean more confusing. Here is the plot as written online for my own personal version of The Room.

A Concert Rant

Last night Cam and I went to see Florence + The Machine with Kamasi Washington as the opening act at The Hollywood Bowl. Great show. I'd seen Florence once before and she was great and Kamasi has made a new fan out of me. Both groups were full of all kinds of energy, gave 100%, and entertained the hell out of me. What made the night not as fun were the fan at the show. Yeah. I know it sounds weird but let me explain my problem with fans of some musicians and why there are some shows I actively do not attend because I know what their fans are like.

By far the worst fans I've experienced are the ones of Meshell Ndegeocello. Loud, obnoxious, and super inconsiderate of people around them and even the artist herself. Example. She explained that she suffers from photophobia. No, its not a fear of lights. It is sensitivity to them (and also why Bono wears shades all the time). So while she was saying this guess what happened? “We love you Meshell!” followed by cameras flashing in her face. Plus all the screaming during silent parts to get attention. Basically, the way most fans act at shows is never acceptable to me in any setting.

Theater Whore: Fences

Fences 10/10

Yesterday after watching two shitty films in a row I was talking to Camille and told her that I needed to cleanse myself cinematically. Later, even though she is not feeling well, she asked if I wanted to go see Fences at The Arclight. The answer or course is hell's yes. I am glad that I knew nothing about this movie other than the two main stars and that there was a play about it. Other than that I had no attachments or anything to base it off of. I like that. Its hard to describe this movie without spoiling a bunch of it or even making it sound super interesting based on the premise because there ain't no explosions of nothing. Its just an incredibly well acted movie with a small cast.

Theater Whore: Nocturnal Animals

Nocturnal Animals 1/10

A couple of nights ago Cam asked if I wanted to see a movie. Of course I wanted to so we went to the Arclight and imagine my shock when I saw how packed the theater was when we were choosing seats. All of the seats are good so we got them and I have to say my body was not ready for this shit fest that we were about to experience. Nocturnal Animals will go down as one of the worse movies I have ever seen in a theater next to Tomb Raider and Mr. Bean. The only thing that made it tolerable was trying not to laugh at things that should have been artistic and Cam's reaction to the most random things that made her crack up with laughter.

Theater Whore: Midnight Special

Midnight Special 9/10

Tonight Cam and I went to check out the movie Midnight Special. All I knew about this movie from the trailer was that Michael Shannon was in it and some kids eyes glowed. That's it. We headed to the Arclight in Hollywood because the sometimes at Sundance were wonky. I'm not going to spoil too much about this movie because the less you know the better.

Theater Whore: City of Gold

City Of Gold 9/10

Camille and I went to the Sundance Cinema and checked out this documentary called City of Gold. Just like when we usually see movies at her suggestion I don't ask what its about or anything. This documentary is about a food critic named Jonathon Gold and his story of living in Los Angeles and the food he enjoys and his writing process. I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did and I liked it for multiple reasons. Watching all the damned good food was nice. Listening to how respected this normal looking guy and how his readers and family relate to him was good as well. Its so weird to think that a guy writing about food could have such an effect on people.

The Review: Staying Alive & Hairspray

Last night Cam and I did a double feature with Chipotle for dinner, beer, and cookies for dessert because we're grown ass people and can do things like that. It had been a long time since we had and we watched two movies she loved and I had never seen. The first was Staying Alive. I had seen Saturday Night Fever for the first time three years ago and the only thing I knew about this movie was the weird ass outfit he wore for some reason. This is six years after the previous film and was written, produced, and directed by Sylvester Stallone. What?! I had no idea. When I say I got into movies blind I mean it.

John Travolta is back as Tony Manero. He is in Manhattan now and lives in what looks like an open door jail while having a bunch of jobs at once. He is a dance instructor which they show for a moment and a waiter where woman that look like The Misfits hit on him. He has a fuck buddy named Jackie that puts up with copious amounts of his bullshit. If I thought he was a dick in the first film he has evolved into an asshole into the second. He ends up on a Broadway show where she is and meeting this other chick that is very toothy named Laura.

Theater Whore: Boyhood

Boyhood 0/10

I was just telling Cam earlier today that I've only given a 0 to two films. Absent and Vampire Academy. Absent because I refuse to believe that that was a movie and VA for personal reasons. Boyhood has now joined that list. Why? Because it is bullshit. I am pissed that anyone said that this was a great movie. Gimmick? Sure. I'll give it that. But this is not even close to being a good movie. This movie meant nothing.

This is about a family and what happens between them over the span of 12 years. There's a boy who is not very interesting. An annoying daughter that isn't interesting. A father that is not around that may be but isn't on screen long enough. And a mother that has terrible taste in men. There is your main cast that you have to deal with for the next almost three hours.