tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76927962024-03-07T09:04:15.763-05:00The Trashcan Fire ChatRub your hands together. It's cold outside. This blog will keep you warm.JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-55282166264798656122009-11-13T15:07:00.002-05:002009-11-13T15:09:28.212-05:00Benny & The MetsAs a die-hard Met Fan, Benny Agbayani's Game 3 game-winning home-run versus the SF Giants in the 2000 NLDS is one of my favorite in-person baseball memories. News comes now that he's retiring. Be well, Benny and best of luck.
JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-76759107712412279702009-11-13T11:48:00.003-05:002009-11-13T15:22:44.705-05:00Return Of Ninja CatPersonal Emasculating Fact of the Day: I love cute animal videos. A personal favorite, Ninja Cat, returns below. Like any great sequel, the budget and storyline have been taken up a few notches.
JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1168612443561435192007-01-12T09:32:00.000-05:002007-01-12T12:08:19.413-05:00Are You Talkin' To Me? A Review of ALPHA DOGThere’s an interesting irony in Nick Cassavetes’s by turns engrossing and frustrating film, ALPHA DOG, about spoiled L.A. white-bread twenty-somethings turned wannabe-gangsters. Based on a true story (not pointed out in the film due to ongoing legal proceedings) about the 1999 kidnapping of an innocent 15-year-old teenager and sad aftermath over a $1200 debt his older half-brother owed, the filmJollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1167408765205939982006-12-29T11:11:00.000-05:002006-12-29T11:14:00.803-05:00A 'Tween The Holidays & The New Year Gift: A Review of CHILDREN OF MENWith your overflowing belly still digesting holiday yum-yums, your credit card still bruised and sore from its seasonal pounding and just before you bury your self-improvement lies in a boozy New Year’s resolution, let this writer sneak one final cinematic gift into your now achingly empty stocking: skip the seasonal trappings of lavish yet stale, redundant Oscar-baiting musicals, free yourself JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1166810218484900162006-12-22T12:53:00.000-05:002006-12-22T12:57:58.066-05:00Behind Closed Doors: A review of THE GOOD SHEPHERDIs it a coincidence that the main character of Robert DeNiro’s THE GOOD SHEPHERD, Edward Wilson (played by Matt Damon), and the current president of the United States both come from privileged White-Anglo Protestant backgrounds; both attended Yale where they were members of the secretive Skull & Bones fraternity; and had successful careers in service of this country due in part to the cronyism ofJollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1128117554397080682005-09-30T17:58:00.000-04:002005-09-30T18:03:24.380-04:00THE WAR WITHIN - A Movie ReviewUpon reflection of seeing the internal struggles and conflicts of a would-be Islamic fundamentalist intent on blowing up Grand Central Station in Joseph Costelo's THE WAR WITHIN, two thoughts pop into mind: one, that we have arrived at a comfortable enough distance in time from the incalculable tragedy of the terrorist attacks of September 11th for them to be directly sourced within popular JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1116103341299798172005-05-14T16:41:00.000-04:002005-05-14T16:43:05.796-04:00KICKING & SCREAMING: A ReviewIf Will Ferrell quit the business tomorrow, his place within the hipster pop culture pantheon would be secure. With roles like OLD SCHOOL’S Frank The Tank and his better Saturday Night Live bits, Ferrell has made his mark playing the “man-child:” a character whose faux cool exterior hides a fragile (and funny) tyke inside who gives in to fits of spontaneous, vocally high-pitched and emotionally JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1110513690125054592005-03-10T23:00:00.000-05:002005-03-10T23:01:30.130-05:00IN MY COUNTRY: A Film ReviewShould a film get a critical pass because it is about a highly important social topic? In a recent review I wrote on HOTEL RWANDA, I emphatically said “yes.” Well, that little personal rule is about to meet its enemy, stinging exception. Director John Boorman’s (DELIVERANCE, EXCALIBUR, TAILOR OF PANAMA) heart is in the right place, setting his latest film, IN MY COUNTRY, amidst South Africa’s JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1110345686857596102005-03-09T00:09:00.000-05:002005-03-09T00:21:26.860-05:00Gun To Your Head: Read My HOSTAGE Review“Typecasting” is as dirty a word to Hollywood actors as “it” is to the Knights of Nee. Why else is Robert Davi cast a villain in all of his movies? But typecasting is not always a bad thing. Often it provides the nectar of comfortable familiarity to soothe the expectations of an eager audience. Higher-up on that scale, type can cast a perpetual shiny veneer of iconography to a select group ofJollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1109446140084930192005-02-26T14:27:00.000-05:002005-02-26T14:31:06.143-05:00From Hell: A Review of CONSTANTINEFor a film about the mighty eternal forces of good and evil doing battle on Earth’s (or contemporary LA’s) soil, Francis Lawrence’s CONSTANTINE never really makes you feel as much is at stake. Perhaps it’s my fault. While I consider myself an intelligent enough person, I will admit to feeling perplexed in contemplating the fuzzy storylines that coarse through the film’s 121 minutes. Maybe in JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1109220732756890612005-02-23T23:50:00.000-05:002005-02-26T14:30:18.986-05:00Your Movie Dude's Diary: A Review of DIARY OF A MAD, BLACK WOMANFebruary 25th, 2005Dear Diary,Wow! Been awhile since I last wrote, things have been real busy. Remember my neighbor, Mrs. Neugeborn from 4H, and her little Yorkshire Terrier, Buttercup, who would leave me little smelly “treats” outside my door? Well, consider that bitch’s wagon fixed. I slipped a Grade 9 cyanide pill into one of her doggie treats. That Grade 9 stuff does more than just kill. JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1109134844546026302005-02-22T23:24:00.000-05:002005-02-23T00:01:50.623-05:00You Can Exhale Now: Your Movie Dude's Official Oscar PredictionsPssst. You. You in an Oscar pool? Yeah? You wanna win? Good, good. Come closer. Now, read below.Editor's note:These are Your Movie Dude's predictions, not who he wanted to win. If it was up to him Paul Giamatti would win Best Actor and Finding Neverland wouldn't sniff an award except Best Gilded Crap. This is an especially tough year, as their is no clear-cut runaway TITANIC, RETURN OF THEJollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1108094578562977852005-02-10T22:52:00.000-05:002005-02-10T23:05:27.690-05:00"Lost" and "The Office:" Perfect Together?If you watched the February 9th episode of the TV series "Lost," and had your razor sharp pop-culture ears tuned in, you may have caught a quick reference to the hit BBC show, "The Office." In his flashback, Charlie, the lovable - but drug addled - bassist from the fictional rock band Driveshaft (You are everybody!), gets taken home by a pretty 22 year-old English girl, Lucy. When Charlie asks JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1108015109412168382005-02-10T01:56:00.000-05:002005-02-10T01:01:26.223-05:00Hitch: A Movie ReviewIf we’ve learned anything of the “Queer-Eye”-ified world of reality television, it’s that the common man is dirty, poorly dressed and couldn’t make a peanut-butter sandwich if you spotted him the bread. Taking a swift glance around my own dank dwelling, well, perhaps they’re right. How can one secure true love if one’s unmentionables are dangling precipitously from one’s lamp? In the JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1107838684673945462005-02-07T23:45:00.000-05:002005-02-07T23:58:04.673-05:00Movie References In Commercials: Keep Those Ears OpenI saw a Mastercard commercial tonight that features a young man awkardly calling a girl he had just met and leaving a message on her answering machine...only to call a few more times when he gets cut off by said answering machine. Sound familiar? If it does, than you'll know what I mean when I say that you and me and the bottle makes three tonight. If it doesn't, then you probably weren't betweenJollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1107321772453354682005-02-02T01:16:00.000-05:002005-02-02T13:51:38.253-05:00Hide And Seek: A Movie ReviewDo you like games? I like games, and I know one, too. It’s called HIDE AND SEEK. You know it? Good.
Ready? Go….
Ten Mississippi: HIDE AND SEEK stars Robert DeNiro as David Callaway, a widowed, passing-middle-aged psychologist whose passing-middle-aged wife Allison (Amy Irving) kills herself in a bathtub at 2:06am, five minutes into the movie.
Nine Mississippi: Dakota Fanning stars as JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1107119725094281852005-01-30T16:13:00.000-05:002005-01-30T17:00:42.813-05:00Deep Cut DVD, Vol. II: Cries And Whispers (1972)With the dawning era of unending queues on popular DVD Rental sites, unlimited virtual shelf-space and DVR technology, the forgotten and forlorn films of the past are receiving renewed attention. In response Your Movie Dude offers a new series, Deep Cut DVD, of brief reviews of some of those gems currently available for your visual consumption on shiny disc. These tidbits are meant for the JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1106866451746829782005-01-27T17:52:00.000-05:002005-01-27T17:56:10.946-05:00Hotel Rwanda: A Film ReviewOnce in awhile, a film will come down the pike whose subject matter is so vital as to almost render the cinematic trivialities of “good” or “bad” unimportant. In fact, a tribute should be made to the filmmakers for merely getting it made period and thus bringing its topic into expanded consciousness and conversation. Terry George’s Hotel Rwanda deserves your consideration for that category. For JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1105982457529673272005-01-17T13:01:00.000-05:002005-01-21T14:24:21.253-05:00Deep Cut DVD, Vol. I: The Night Of The Hunter (1955)With the dawning era of unending queues on popular DVD Rental sites, unlimited virtual shelf-space and DVR technology, the forgotten and forlorn films of the past are receiving renewed attention. In response comes a new series, called Deep Cut DVD, of brief reviews of some of those gems currently all available for your visual consumption on shiny disc. These tidbits are meant for the uninitiated,JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1105590776791843062005-01-12T23:26:00.000-05:002005-01-18T00:39:48.770-05:00Your Movie Dude's Epic, Huge Top Ten Movies Of The Year 2004 List ThingyWasn’t it only yesterday that lists were used solely for the purposes of food shopping or as something Santa checked twice? A simpler time when breezy summer days passed to the static sounds of the counted-down top 500 rock songs of all-time on the radio; the only real list that mattered? Drift away, for a moment, into the welcoming grasp of childhood nostalgic tranquilities past, before I rudelyJollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1105070013654180772005-01-06T22:48:00.000-05:002005-01-06T23:00:59.773-05:00The Assassination Of Richard Nixon: A ReviewFew real-life personalities have received as much cinematic attention over the past quarter century then former president Richard Milhous Nixon. His political career, likeness and exploits have formed the foundation for films in such divergent genres as the biopic (Oliver Stone’s Nixon); the political thriller (Alan J. Pakula’s All The Presiden't Men) and satire (Andrew Fleming’s Dick). Niels JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1104463104081896502004-12-30T22:15:00.000-05:002004-12-30T22:18:24.080-05:00Darkness: Notes From Two Hours in the DarkJaume Balaguero’s Darkness, from a screenplay by Balaguero, Fernando De Filipe and Miguel Tejada-Flores, finally arrives on American shores a full two years after it debuted in Europe. Despite being made by a Spanish crew and filmmakers and shot entirely in Spain, this is an American film with English-speaking actors, much like Alejandro Almenabar’s The Others. Also like that film, Darkness is a JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1103829052142721662004-12-23T14:08:00.000-05:002004-12-23T14:10:52.143-05:00The Sea Inside: A ReviewTraveling in Dublin a few years ago, I found, to my shock, that the hip, young, urban locals drank Budweiser as if it was a premium import, much as Guinness is treated here stateside. This tiny oddity dogged me walking into Alejandro Almenabar’s The Sea Inside. Do we, as an American audience, too easily give a critical pass to foreign film? Is there a subconscious given that tells us anything JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1103568413230434012004-12-20T13:45:00.000-05:002004-12-20T16:07:28.950-05:00Pop Culture Apocalypse: The Ipod ArmyThey're cute and they're everywhere, spreading like the fat-faced mid-80's Cabbage Patch Kid craze. They count a Vertigo-inducing, hip-swileving Bono among their denizens, a group whose size knows not the boudaries of race, age or class. I am talking, of course, about the getting-to-be iconic white ear buds of the Ipod; I am talking about the Ipod Army of the Ipod Nation. They are everywhere.
JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7692796.post-1103050594841884322004-12-14T13:41:00.000-05:002004-12-14T17:58:16.500-05:00The Life Aquatic: Come Aboard, We're Expecting YouThere’s a telling scene early in Wes Anderson’s at-times brilliant "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou," where Zissou (Bill Murray), an aging, fading oceanographic documentary filmmaker divulges that he never knows what’s going to happen on his seafaring adventures, he just films it – a sentiment clearly meant for "Aquatic" itself. For the resolution of the main plotlines - Zissou and his crew's JollyG15http://www.blogger.com/profile/10530125087376959151noreply@blogger.com3