Short Movie Reviews (2 New &1 Old)

1. Little Miss Sunshine
I saw it a few weeks ago. I don't know if it made laugh or cry more. But I very much enjoyed it. The perfomances were great, Greg Kinnear has been one of my favorites since As Good As It Gets. It seems he either picks very good roles or has the ability of making what most actors take as two dimensional charachters and making full blooded three dimensional people. He does so in this role playing the go-getter dad. Alan Arkin, as the grandfather who shoots up heroin was dead on, I really want to see more movies with him in it. Steve Carrell was really great casting, I was curious how he would play a suicidal gay professor, but he carried the performance with just right balance of piercing comedy and tragic pathos. The little girl in the movie is great and the son (who is a bit of a look alike with Eliott Smith) does a great job as an angsty teen. There's a running gag of the van breaking down that somehow doesn't get old. Anyway, go check it out.

2. Snakes on the Plane
Yes, I went to see this movie. I had fun in the theatre and talked through out the whole thing. I actually wanted to see more snakes. There's no point in reviewing the title speaks for itself.

3. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
This movie has the distinction of making Dorothy Parker seem like an annoying, boring, drunk hag. While in truth she was a witty, interesting drunk wit. The director seems to admire Robert Altman's style of directing - with people talking over each other and music playing over dialogue. However, unlike Robert Altman who most of the time gets away with this style because he executes it so well (see Gosford Park), Alan Rudolph's effort falls right on its face. Half the time one cannot hear what the characters are saying, the other half you don't know what they are referring to. Instead of showing us the wit of the Algonquin Round Table, he presents it to us without context. And don't get me started on the way Jennifer Jason Leigh speaks as Mrs. Parker, absolutely dreadful.Skip this film, especially if you are a Dorothy Parker fan.

Too Mannish

I
can see why Felicity Hoffman got that transvestite role, natural looks and all.

If you had to live with....

Mice or roaches what would you pick? I would definetely go with roaches. Mice are too disgusting to consider. The give me the shivers. BTW I'm typing from an apartment with a black mouse running around. Yay for me.

Too Fun Not To Link

via EiNY

Toilet Etiquette

Why one should never directly sit down on a public toilet seat.

A woman who became stuck to a toilet seat in a shopping mall restroom was treated at a local hospital after paramedics used fingernail polish remover to free her, officials said.

Obviously, this women never got the very important "cooties" lecture from her mother. (Or the more important lecture about cement.)

Trouble With Math

So first it was 57 people killed in Qana which turned out to be 28 people. (Still being perpetuated by people in the media like in this article.) Now the Prime Minister of Lebanon claims Israel killed 40 people which turns into a casuality of one person (As Ace's notes might be a civilian, might not be.) I think an appology is in order, but I also think I should win the lottery. In other words ain't going to happen.

Why I Love Haifa

Jewish, Muslim, Christian Israelis living side by side. Both in good times and bad.

via Israellycool

The "Impartial" Press

Wow, they must think people really hate Israel to put such shody piece of photoshop crap as a photo of Beirut. I hope a few people get fired over this.

How Long For The Editorials Of Outrage?

I give a day to never.

Dreams

I keep having bad dreams. Last night I dreamt I was with my sister and mother in Haifa. My mother was driving backwards to our friends house. My sister and I kept yelling at her to stop driving in reverse. Finally I was so mad I jumped out of the car and started running to where I thought we were headed. Instead of finding my way, I saw open fields and green, black, red jets wheezing over my head. There was panic and sense of complete entrapment.
Here's the thing, the dream I had wasn't entirely about the war in Israel - it was mainly about my life - but Israel is so deep within in me that it becomes the darn analogy for my life. I've been so frustrated about the coverage of the war - it has become impossible to watch news around me - I just scream at the television. The constant bias and the lack of mention of all that Israelis are sacrificing is stupefying. via PD Berger

Karol, wrote a beautiful post a few days ago, and these words specifically stood out -

If Israel ceases to exist then as a people the Jews have failed. We have come this far, where not everybody is trying to kill us at all time. The security of Israel is just the last step. We don't want war, we never did. The words above "Ose shalom..." mean "make peace". We want to. But they kidnap our soldiers and kill our teenagers. They do it on purpose. We can't survive this way. And for Jews, it's always been about survival. If you've never had to think about not only your own survival but also the survival of your entire people, consider yourself lucky. If you have, remember that there are people fighting for all of us--and that they fight because there are others that want to kill all of us. Even us lucky ones dancing to Hebrew songs on a hot New York summer nigh

That's the point, survival, the reason why I and so many other Jews are emotionally involved in every conflict Israel gets into. Because there is a threat of not surviving. A lot of my Jewish Americans friends don't support Israel or are lukewarm about Israel's right to exist - I can only say the reason for this is that they never felt what's it's like to be an outsider - to know you are hated or even just a simply disliked for being Jewish, heck half Israelis I know don't know anti-Semitism if it it bit them on their ass.
I care about Israel and will go on caring no matter how many people tell me I'm "brainwashed." And maybe one day my dreams will stop being nightmares and Israel will be a strong and secure state.

Sweepstakes

Here's a random thought. Does anyone actually win those promotional sweepstakes on candy bars and soda cans? When I was a little kid, poor and on welfare, I used to dream of striking it rich. Each time I bought a packet of M&M's or a Snickers bar it was like I was kid in the Willa Wanka movie, except I wanted hard cold cash not a ticket to a Candy Factory. Anyway, short story shorter - I never won. Instead of getting millions of dollars, I gained thirty pounds. However, with the realization of great disappointment of false advertisement I still form time to time feel the lure of the bogus promises.

Guess it's time to get a job?!

Millions Roses

Recently I was heading to Brighton Beach with a fellow Russian and two Americans. The topic turned to favorite music, Misha (the other Russian) remarked he liked Alla Pugacheva. She's like Russian version of Madonna minus the yoga and sex. She has been the biggest female pop star since 1970's. Anyway, thanks to YouTube I was able to find one of my favorite songs by the diva and share it with the Americans who might not be in the know. (This song, Millions Roses, will always remind me of my sister's wedding, even though it was never performerd at the actual event we (okay me) made our Sicilian hairdresser listen to it over and over. )



P.S. My Mom definetely rocked the same kind of perm in the eighties. :)