9/21
The House Bunny (2008, Fred Wolf, 35mm) - 8.5
Anna Faris gets kicked out of the Playboy mansion and is homeless, so she becomes the House Mother at a struggling sorority house for nerdy girls. Anna Faris is really fucking great in it, and I thought Emma Stone was really good, too. The rest of the cast is mostly not that great, and a lot of the jokes are sorta terrible (though some are awesome, Faris' demon voice being a major highlight). It's also sort of poorly directed, and probably had potential to be way more amazing, but what I loved about it was its convoluted message. About halfway through, the movie pretty blatantly supports the idea that it is more important to be pretty and dumb in order to attract boys than it is to be yourself. I was kinda hoping they would just go with this all the way through, but they end up making a half-hearted attempt to reconcile it by showing that you should make a compromise. Still be yourself, but also be conscious of other people's perception of you. Reasonable enough, but it doesn't really present it very convincingly.
Poster: Aside from a couple of grammatical issues, there's something I really like about it. Emma Stone looks 12. 8.
9/22
Living (short, 1971, Frans Zwartjes, download) - 7
Frans Zwartjes and his wife Trix wander around their new house. The camerawork is really impressive, and I loved the score. I've read a bit about the haunting mood or sexual tension that the film sets, and I didn't really feel any of that, but it's pretty watchable through it's brief running time.
9/23
Pentimento (1979, Frans Zwartjes, download) - 7.5
Some scientists are performing weird sexual experiments on women? I don't know. I can't really say what it's about, or why I liked it, but like Living, it's just very watchable. I guess what I liked, too, was that for an experimental film, it had a very rare quality where it didn't make me feel bad for not understanding it.
10/26
Sorbet 3 (short, 1968, Frans Zwartjes, download) - 7
A man in drag reaches for some sorbet and then eats it. I liked the editing.
Visual Training (short, 1969, Frans Zwartjes, download) - 8
A man eats some food and then he also rubs it on a naked woman while another naked woman stands by and everybody looks really pissed off. It's kinda great.
Bedsitters (short, 1973, Frans Zwartjes, download) - 5
Some people creep around a house. Sorta like Living, but a lot different, and with snazzier sunglasses. And not as good.
9/23
Oh Dem Watermelons (1965, Robert Nelson, download) - 4
Some shitty song plays over an experimental satire of racism, and there's one good part with people being chased up a hill by a watermelon. It's sort of amazing in how much it encapsulates an era (San Francisco in the 60's), but it's mostly just annoying.
Some other shorts I watched, but forgot to write down when
Dance Floor Dale (short, 2008, Eric Wareheim, internet) - 9
Awesome dance video with amazing dancing and surreal animated porn.
Boy and Bicycle (short, 1965, Ridley Scott, youtube) - 2
Student film with Ridley's brother Tony riding a bike around. IMDb lists it as 27 minutes, but whatever is on youtube is only like 3 minutes, which is plenty. I wouldn't have gotten through the whole thing even if it were available.
October Top 15
1. The Muppets Take Manhattan
2. Stagefright
3. Mad Love (1935)
4. Brainscan
5. The Midnight Meat Train
6. Nightmare
7. Dance Floor Dale
8. Creepshow 2
9. Religulous
10. Beverly Hills Chihuahua
11. The Big Gundown
12. Basic Instinct
13. Pickup On South Street
14. God Told Me To
15. Saw V
Worst
Boy and Bicycle (though I may have only seen about 1/10 of it)
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