Posts Tagged ‘Scott Malchus’

DVD Review: “An Audience of One”

audience_of_one_DVDAn Audience of One (2009, Indiepix)
Purchase this DVD from Amazon or from Indiepix

At age 40, Richard Gozawsky, a San Francisco Pentecostal pastor at one of those houses of worship where the members are encouraged to speak in tongues and prayers become shouting matches with the devil, saw his first movie ever. Soon thereafter he received a message from God: Richard was to form a production company and make the greatest, biggest motion picture of all time. It was to be called Gravity: In the Shadow of Joseph, and this cross between Star Wars and The Ten Commandments was going to change the world.

Sounds like the makings of a high concept, studio-budgeted comedy from the Bruce Almighty playbook, doesn’t it? Think again, my friends, because Gazowsky and his journey are the subject of An Audience of One, a documentary from director Michael Jacobs. The film, originally released in 2007 and the recipient of many festival awards, has come to DVD through Indiepix. If you’re tired of documentary filmmakers injecting their beliefs and themselves into their movies, or if you simply enjoy well-made, dramatic movies with humor and eccentric characters, then the nonjudgmental An Audience of One is a film you should see.

Jacob’s film opens as preproduction of Gravity is underway. The volunteer members of the church are making costumes, running the finances, and planning a company move from California to Alberobello, Italy, where they plan to shoot their movie. Having never directed a movie in his life and having never produced anything of this capacity before, Gazowsky is able to raise enough money to put the film into production. His “how hard can it be” attitude about film making and his undying faith that God will guide him have convinced people that he will make this movie. As spiritual leader of his entire production staff, no one questions his actions; no one thinks he’s going to fail. As for the professionals hired to light and work on the camera crew, well, a gig is a gig as long as you get paid, even if the director of the film is delusional. (more…)

TV on DVD: “New Tricks: Season One”

NewTricks_S1New Tricks: Season One (2009, BBC)
purchase from Amazon: DVD

Call it Cold Case for the retired crowd. The BBC’s mystery series New Tricks doesn’t break any new ground as far as procedural dramas go and the whodunit aspect may not have you on the end of your seat, but the series has an interesting premise and a charming cast of eccentrics that really clicks.

Amanda Redman (so great in Sexy Beast) plays Superintendent Sandra Pullman, an excessively competitive Scotland Yard detective whose career was on the upswing until an unfortunate dog-shooting incident during a hostage rescue. It wasn’t the dog that derailed her career, it was that the hostage leaped from a window and wound up in a body cast. The embarrassment to the police leads to a demotion, of sorts. Pullman is assigned to lead the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad, a new division made up of retired detectives.

The first person she approaches for her new team is Jack Halford (James Bolam) her old boss and mentor. A well respected member of the force before stepping down off, Jack is a widower still grieving over the death his beloved wife, Mary. He lives a lonely life in a big house where Mary is buried in the back yard. After long days Jack can be seen conversing with his dead wife, seeking her advice, needing her comfort. These scenes are touching, but Bolam doesn’t milk them for tears. In fact, some scenes are often humorous as he details the shenanigans of his new crime-fighting endeavor. (more…)

Basement Songs: The Temptations, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”

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One of my brother’s infamous parties was going on downstairs in the basement.  He didn’t have to return tobig chill Columbus for a couple weeks, so I guess he felt one more bash was justified before he left for college. In the past, I had sat upstairs and watched a video while the music thumped through the basement door, but this year was different. I was a freshman in high school and I knew some of the people downstairs. Furthermore, I was deemed old enough (not “cool enough,” mind you) to join the older kids in the basement.

I may have been the youngest person in the room, and I didn’t care. Sitting on the second-hand, musty green couch, located right next to the stereo, I stared as the few girls I knew  (just a year ahead of me) made out with guys two or three years older than them. I studied the techniques of concealing alcohol in plastic cups in case my parents decided to make an unexpected visit. Mostly, though, I just listened to music and got to play DJ. I was spinning The Big Chill soundtrack, that collection of ’60s hits that started the Hollywood trend of marketing movies to the sound of nostalgia and oldies. I hadn’t seen the movie yet; it wasn’t on my list of must-see videos — it didn’t have blood and guts or lowbrow humor. But I loved the songs compiled by writer/director Lawrence Kasdan. While I tapped my foot and did some dorky air drumming to Marvin Gaye and The Rascals, I felt the couch shift as someone sat down next to me. (more…)

DVD Review: “The Proposal”

proposalThe Proposal (2009, Touchstone)
purchase from Amazon: Deluxe DVD Edition | Blu-ray

Sandra Bullock is at the top of her game and Ryan Reynolds gives one of his best performances to date in the romantic comedy The Proposal. This funny, sweet and beautifully shot film is released today on DVD and Blue-Ray.

Reynolds plays Andrew, a degraded executive assistant at a publishing company working for bitch on heels, Margaret (Bullock). Although it’s a lowly job, Andrew understands that if he can survive his tenure with the reviled Margaret, he’ll eventually be promoted to book editor. As the film opens, Margaret has a huge dilemma: Through a visa violation she’s about to be deported back to her native Canada, and she’ll losing her job and reputation. In a moment of desperation, she lies to her bosses and U.S. Immigration that she and Andrew are actually engaged, thus meaning she can stay in the U.S. Andrew only goes along with her plan on the condition he gets his promotion. However, the government expects her to prove their engagement is real. To further perpetuate the scam, Margaret must accompany Andrew back to his home state of Alaska for his grandmother’s 90th birthday.  From there, Peter Chiarelli’s script becomes a fun fish out of water story as Margaret the ice queen’s heart slowly melts.

Once they arrive in Andrew’s small Alaskan hometown, Margaret quickly learns that Andrew isn’t the man she thought he was and gains new respect for him.  She gets to see the loving relationship he has with his mother, Grace (the always adorable Mary Steenburgen) and his rambunctious grandma (a riotous Betty White). Besides the tension created by Andrew and Margaret lying about their relationship, there is the strained relationship Andrew has with his father, Joe (an excellent Craig T. Nelson).  Joe looks at Andrew’s literary pursuits as a whim and is impatiently waiting for his son to return home and take over the family business empire. (more…)

Basement Songs: Shawn Colvin with Mary Chapin Carpenter, “One Cool Remove”

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Julie said she was waiting for me.Shawn Colvin Cover Girl

In 1994, outside the special effects warehouse where I worked, a cat had delivered a litter underneath a pile of lumber directly next to the open area where we used fiberglass chemicals. To save these babies from cancerous fumes they were moved to a safer location, but the mother never returned. A group of us divided up the kittens and when the runt, a squeaky fur ball with white fur and black and white gray patches one her back and legs, was the only one unclaimed, Julie and I adopted her. We named her Doodle.

The first night the two of us woke up periodically to feed Doodle from a syringe. She was so tiny that Julie could put her in the front pocket of her overalls. Over the next week or so she slept on the bed with us, or on my chest where she would knead my chest with her claws. When she was hungry she would “mew,” which was pathetic and sweet at the same time. This all took place in our first apartment, a one bedroom sweatbox located in North Hollywood. It was a big place, but the AC didn’t work, thus the summer days were almost unbearable from the hundred-plus degree heat in the San Fernando Valley. Couple that with the class bells from nearby North Hollywood High during the school year, and you can understand why the rent was pretty cheap. (more…)

TV on DVD: “It’s Always Sunny in Phladelphia Season 4″

ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhil_S4

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is the twisted spawn of Seinfeld. Much like NBC’s beloved sitcom, the show centers around four friends (three males and a female). In this case, they run a bar in Philly while carrying on their egocentric lives. Although the set up is similar to Jerry and company, the tone is more like Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm: The people are primarily out for themselves. The characters, Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Dee (Kaitlin Olson), Charlie (Charlie Day) and Mac (Rob McElhenney) are all close friends, but that doesn’t mean they’re above abusing each other and double crossing one another to get what they want. I used to watch the show regularly in its first two seasons but my viewing habits changed and I got tired of the conniving and abuse that the four characters threw at each other. Moreover, when Danny DeVito joined the cast as Frank, I didn’t feel like it clicked.

Watching the few episodes provided for me from the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 4 DVD box set, I wish I had stuck with it. The show had me doubled over in laughter and I couldn’t get the damn songs from “The Nightman Cometh” episode out of my head. In that particular episode, Charlie writes a musical and casts the gang in his play. “The Nightman Cometh” was so popular among the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fanbase that when a live production of the play within the show was performed live at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, the two performances sold out in 10 minutes. Not bad for a cult show that airs on FX. (more…)

DVD Review: “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”

wolverine-dvdI can understand why fans of the character Wolverine and his band of misunderstood mutants, the X-Men, were disappointed with this film. Sure, the movie has some kick-ass action sequences, but the story is just hodgepodge of scenes thrown together to get to the next big fight. I still can’t say that it’s is a complete waste of time, though, because I find Hugh Jackman (who portrays the titular character, also known as Logan) to be one of the most charismatic actors working today. However, I’m glad that I didn’t lay down eleven bucks to go see this in the theater because, like the rest of those fans I mentioned, I would have been disappointed and pissed off.

There were so many times during the film I almost shut it off out of frustration, but then director Gavin Hood and his team of technical wizards would throw another amazing sequence at me (Wolverine sailing through the air toward a helicopter, a battle atop a nuclear tower) that I would have to push my jaw closed. With an assortment of characters from the comic books showing up throughout the movie, it felt like Fox was trying to cram as many new characters into the movie to see which ones might stick and possibly branch them off into their own spin-off movies.

The film opens with a prologue showing Logan as a boy in 1800s Canada being raised by a nobleman. A tragic turn of events leads Logan to discover that he is a mutant, with bone claws that extend out of his hands and the ability to heal at an accelerated pace. He also learns that his strange friend, Victor, who has the same healing ability and nasty razor sharp nails, is actually his brother. The two of them run away with a mob chasing them and the credits roll over a montage of great battles that take place during the Civil War, World Wars I and II and the Vietnam War. We watch as the adult Victor (Liev Schreiber) and Logan (Jackman), both soldiers, fight in each of these conflicts and never age. With their mutant power of incredible healing, they can’t die, even when bullets go through them. (more…)

Basement Songs: Sting, “Englishman in New York”

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StingMatt and I had a plan. Fed up with the director of our high school fall play, we decided to play a practical joke on her. We were seniors; we thought we ruled the school. Even though we still had to worry about grades and the prospect of getting into college, we carried with us an air of invincibility. We thought we were kings.

October, 1987. The air was cooler; the days were shorter and the leaves dangled for life in shades of red and gold. When we weren’t studying for AP English, running cross country or out on the practice field with the marching band, we were rehearsing in the junior high auditorium on its sturdy old stage and hundreds of empty seats in front of us. Matt and I would typically carpool to rehearsals, generally in the Whomobile. To psyche ourselves up we’d blast the car stereo and sing at the top of our lungs. We’d listen to U2’s The Joshua Tree and Sting’s …Nothing Like the Sun. The latter album, with its chilly demeanor, intricate music and thoughtful lyrics, felt better suited for the autumn. My favorite song was “Straight to My Heart”; Matt liked Sting’s collaboration with Gil Evans, the cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing.”  We both loved “Englishman in New York.” Sting’s tribute to his friend, writer Quentin Crisp, has a whimsical tone, tinged with Sting’s typical melancholy and Branford Marsalis’s weeping saxophone. It will always remind me of my friendship with Matt and the evening we rewrote Agatha Christie. (more…)

TV on DVD: “Castle: The Complete First Season”

CastleCastle: The Complete First Season (2009, ABC Studios/Buena Vista)
purchase from Amazon: DVD

Castle, the ABC mystery series, proves one thing: Nathan Fillion is a star. He has charm, comic timing, and enough charisma to make him a wonderful leading man. The first season on the show is out on DVD (13 episodes in all) and the second season has just begun airing on the network. I hope Castle manages to hold its own against CSI: Miami and Jay Leno, because it’s a slick, fun show that deserves to be a big hit.

Fillion stars as Rick Castle, a best selling novelist in the vein of James Patterson (who makes an appearance as himself in the pilot episode). Castle’s latest novel kills off his long-running character, Derek Storm, leading his fans to ask “what next?’ Fate drops that answer in his lap when a killer begins mimicking the murders from Castle’s books. The confident author is brought in by the NYPD as a consultant on the case. Immediately he butts heads with the stunning Detective Bennett (Stana Katic) and bonds with the other homicide detectives in the squad room, Esposito and Ryan (Jon Huertas and Seamus Dever, respectively). As soon as the case is solved, Bennett believes she’s seen the last of him. Not so, say the TV gods. Castle is so well connected that he convinces the police commissioner to let him tag along with Beckett on all of her cases as research for a new novel he’s writing featuring a female detective (in truth he loves the thrill of it all). How long she’s assigned to have him shadow her depends on how soon he completes his book. In other words, indefinitely, which is fine as it allows Castle and Beckett to build enough sexual tension to remind you of the glory days of Moonlighting. (more…)

Basement Songs: Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger”

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Friday night, Julie took me aside to tell me the results of Jacob’s latest throat culture. Each time he goes toSurvivor an appointment with his CF doctor they shove a swab down his throat and test him for harmful bacteria. One bacteria they look for is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a particularly menacing bug for people with cystic fibrosis that can create havoc on a patient’s lungs. To combat it the antibiotic tobramycin, or TOBI, is added to the daily regiment of inhaled medicines a CF patient must undergo each morning and night. This latest test revealed that Jacob is culturing Pseudomonas aeruginosa and will be starting a daily regiment of TOBI. Although he only showed a small amount of the bacteria, the news is still unsettling, another reminder of how helpless we sometimes feel in combating CF.

Soon after Julie gave me the news, the elephant returned. The elephant is this pressure I feel on my chest that takes my breath away. The elephant is always accompanied with his friend, the snake, who winds its way through my stomach and causes unrest. Joining them this time, for a limited engagement, was the sloth, weighing down on my back, making slouching on the couch in front of the television or curling up in a ball the only things I wanted to do. (more…)