Last weekend, the ladyfriend, her friend from Sactown & I went to a party at her coworkers... and we had some pretty strong drinks & good times. Great cast of characters she works with... while there, in the background was my first movie up for review this episode...
That is "God Bless America" which is directed by Bobcat Goldthwait (also directed "World's Greatest Dad") and stars a host of character actors you probably don't know but would recognize. Anyway, it's about an average divorced Joe who loathes today's society... especially all the assholes & stupidity. You know what I'm talking about... and if you don't, you're part of the problem. Anyway, he is fired from his cubicle job because he bought flowers for a coworker when she was having a bad day... and she claimed sexual harassment & hostile work environment. Since there's really no defense for that, compounded with his ex-wife & daughter being certifiable c-words... he basically snaps & goes on a killing spree... but no the usual kind, just the stupid assholes who kinda deserve it. Along the way, he picks up a teenage girl who joins him on the escapade... and the craziness goes from there. The show is pretty much a witty violent retelling of "Bonnie & Clyde" with a new generational twist & social commentary that I personally loved. I highly recommend it. Let me put it this way... if you can get through the opening minute when he shoots the neighbor's baby with a shotgun like he's shooting skeet... then you should DEFINITELY watch this movie. If not, bless your heart.
Next up is "Oz the Great & Powerful" which I saw with Dizzy's friend. The story is a prequel of "The Wizard of Oz" and the story of how the Wizard (James Franco) went from being a horny sideshow magician in Kansas to the merry land of Oz... and eventually its ruler (spoiler alert). Along the way he meets three lovely sister witches (Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz & Michelle Williams) and gets tangled up in their sibling rivalry... befriends a flying monkey (Zach Braff) and basically that's all I'm going to tell you. It's directed by Sam Raimi ("Evil Dead" & "Spiderman") and is a great kids flick that's also fun for adults too. Go check it out... or wait for Netflix or something, your call.
Speaking of Netflix, I then found "Guns, Girls & Gambling" starring Christian Slater, Gary Oldman, Dane Cook, Chris Kattan & the superhot Helena Mattson ("Species III"). It's the story of some dude named John Smith (Slater) who travels to an Indian casino in the middle of nowhere, enters an Elvis impersonators contest... and then gets involved in a feud between the owners (Indians) and a local rancher tycoon (Cowboy) over a stolen mask from the casino while he was knocked out. Throw in some quick wits, physical humor & a basically awkward appearance by a completely unconvincing bombshell assassin (Mattson) and you've got a straight to DVD movie. Oh yeah, Gary Oldman was probably on set for two days because he's in the movie for about three minutes & has... maybe five lines. I'm guessing he did this movie while he was in town shooting "Dark Knight Rises" or something. Go ahead & pass... but if you likes "Smokin' Aces" and that kind of thing then you might enjoy this if you're just searching for something.
One check off that's been on my Instant Queue for a while is "Howl" starring yet again James Franco in a biopic about the legendary beat poet Allen Ginsberg and his publicized trial over his four-part poem Howl released in 1955. The main draw of this film is the method of how the story is told... the poem itself is basically an autobiography... so as they go through the poem in the trial & through the various "interviews" with the actors, it unfolds more & more about the life & times of Allen Ginsburg & his creative process in San Francisco during the 50's and so on. Subjects such as recognizing & embracing his homosexuality, how his encounters with Jack Keroueac and others influences his writing, his observations of humans & American life... all come out in the story. Also, as the poem is recited there's animation included to kind of show what the reader/listener is kind of interpretting from the work. It's actually quite well done. Not sold? How about Jon Hamm ("Mad Men") being his lawyer? That's what I thought. Go check it out. You're welcome.
Lastly, last night the ladyfriend & I went to Punch Line Comedy Club and watched Dana Gould (probably most famous as longtime writer for "The Simpsons"). The warmup acts of Kevin O'Shea & Phil Hanley were pretty good... but Dana blew them all away. He's kind of the stereotypical longtime comic... late forties, Jewish, divorced, kids, been in the game a while, lots of personal stories to draw material from... but yeah, expert in delivery as well. Really knows how to own a room, I highly recommend that you get to check him out if you get the chance.On that note, I'd also like to thank Live Nation for being a bunch of money grubbing dicks & adding on $20 per ticket in fees ("convenience" & delivery) to an otherwise $30 (plus two overly priced drinks) to the Jon Lovitz show next weekend... because instead of that... we went to see Dana Gould for half the price... and can still watch Jon Lovitz at his best THIS weekend in all 22 episodes of "The Critic" so thank you for allowing us to do that... and you're not convenient... you're a monopoly... enjoy future lawsuits.
On that note, this bitter old ('er than last week) man is going to bid you all a wonderful weekend & may you have great levity in celebrating the day of St Patrick. Deuces!!!
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