TV
8/3
Charm School with Ricki Lake Season 3 (2009, Mark Cronin & Cris Abrego, VH1) - 7.5
This time, Charm School brought together girls from both Rock of Love Bus and Real Chance of Love with initially obnoxious results. The first episode was really painful. The RoLB girls were bitchy and boring, and the RCoL girls did little more than scream at Bubbles constantly, even though she was fucking great, and obviously going to be the only real reason to watch the show. But after Ricki Lake kicked off Ki Ki, and then So Hood and Farrah quit, everything settled down and it got a lot better. There were still some pretty unbearable episodes, particularly the one about Bay Bay Bay and how fucking proud she was of herself for being fully charmed. Ricki had given her like one fucking compliment on being generous or something, and she took it to mean that she was now the most charming and amazing person who had ever lived, and ended up quitting the show because she didn’t need it anymore. What turned out to be the worst part about this is that Ricki apparently ended up confused about the purpose of the show, and ended up kicking off Bubbles for becoming too charming too quickly, and kept around Ashley, because she still had a long way to go, even though Ashley had not shown any sign of improvement whatsoever, and clearly was never going to change. At least Risky ended up winning, I think she deserved it. And there were some really great episodes, too. The one with the psychiatrist who made them all open up and cry was amazing, and I felt very emotional just watching.
BOOKS
8/19
Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film by Jimmy McDonough - 4.0
Biography about Russ Meyer, who was a genius filmmaker, but apparently a terrible person. I don’t think I really like biographies, anyway, but this one was especially tough to get through, as I just hated Meyer more and more as I read about his vicious tirades, pointless feuds, and his bizarre form of confused misogyny. At first, I hated the writing of the book as well, as it seemed like the author was trying to match the fast-paced, overblown style of Meyer’s films, which was not fucking working, but he eventually toned that way down, and also very smartly quoted John Waters at every opportunity he could.
8/31
Wetlands by Charlotte Roche - 8.0
A girl with hemorrhoids goes to the hospital because she needs an operation on her asshole, which she’s obsessed with, and she’s also obsessed with her pussy, and with bacteria, and she goes into a lot of detail about all of these things, and it’s really graphic and gross, but also charming.
MOVIES
8/22
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (Rewatch, 1988, James Signorelli, 35mm, Bridge) - 8.0
TV horror host Elvira inherits a house and a “recipe book” from an aunt she didn’t know she had, and it turns out the aunt was a witch, and the recipe book is full of spells and power, and her evil uncle is trying to get at it, and she befriends a movie theater owner and a bunch of teenagers, while the rest of the town spurns her. Some pretty dumb humor, but it mostly works, and Elvira is awesome.
8/23
Ice Castles (1978, Donald Wrye, 35mm, Yerba Buena) - 9.0
Lynn-Holly Johnson is a rising star in the ice skating world, until an accident leaves her blind, but as the tagline says on a different poster than the one I'm using, this is “a girl who refused to forget she was once a champion”, so with the help of her dad and Robby Benson, she keeps trying. It’s very emotional, and very fucking good.
The Bad News Bears (Rewatch, 1976, Michael Ritchie, 35mm, Yerba Buena) - 9.0
Walter Mathau is a drunk who has to manage a misfit little league team who are all terrible players, so he enlists Tatum O’Neal and the delinquent Jackie Earle Haley to help the team out, and in the process of coaching the kids, he sort of learns to be a better person. I had seen this fairly recently, and was a little uncomfortable with how fucking mean Mathau gets toward the end of the movie, but knowing that it was coming made it a lot easier to take in and appreciate. I also found the movie a little funnier this time. Great fucking film.
The Cheerleaders (Rewatch, 1973, Paul Glickler, 35mm, Yerba Buena) - 10.0
Stephanie Fondue is a 16 year old virgin whose boyfriend won’t have sex with her, so she joins the cheerleaders, and ends up having lots of close encounters with sex, but for various reasons, it never ends up working out (until the end, anyway). It’s a sleazy movie, but also incredibly joyful and light-hearted and fun. Stephanie Fondue is unbelievably fucking adorable, and amazing to watch. It’s a shame she wasn’t interested in continuing her acting career. According to the director (who, much to my surprise and delight, was in attendance at this screening), she is now running a nightclub in Canada.
8/27
Halloween II (2009, Rob Zombie, 35mm, Van Ness) - 8.0
A year after Michael Myers is presumably killed (though his body is never found), he comes back to kill some people, and to reconnect with his sister Laurie. I didn’t really get that into the story, mostly because I just don’t like the Laurie character very much, but the kills are brutal and awesome. The previous film is one of the most vicious and mean-spirited movies I’ve ever seen, and this one doesn’t quite reach that same level of making you feel dirty for watching it. But something along those lines that I really loved was how Myers would kill absolutely anyone. There’s no backwards moralism here (i.e. teens have sex then get killed for it.) If you’re an asshole, Myers will kill you. If you’re friendly and make any attempt to be helpful, Myers will kill you. Myers is also without his mask for a good portion of the movie, and aside from the weirdness of him looking exactly like Rob Zombie, I actually found this interesting and kinda liked that touch.
8/30
The Dirty Dozen (1967, Robert Aldrich, TCM) - 9.0
Lee Marvin, a Major in the military, is recruited to train a dozen convicted murderers and rapists, and lead them in a mission to assassinate a bunch of Nazi officers. Great story, and a tense finale, and the cast is fucking awesome, especially Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, and Telly Savalas.
August Top 6
1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Spirited Away
3. The Dirty Dozen
4. Ice Castles
5. Moon
6. Junior High School
Bottom 2
1. Top Secret!
2. The Ugly Truth
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