Meebo testing

testing stickam

Top 5 westerns

Unforgiven
Once Upon a Time in the West
Heaven's Gate
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

When I Came Home

There's a lot over coverage in the media right now over how VA hospitals are failing to adequately serve veterans returning from Iraq. When I Came Home is a documentary about this issue, but I think it inadvertently brings up another issue. It's the story a young man who is promised a better life by a large, faceless institution--the military in this case--and that institution falls short on its promise. But this film inadvertently brings up that most of these troops are not in Iraq for ideas of "love of country," but for a package of benefits promised them in army recruiting offices.

Stuck in my head

Six months after Telluride, these are the films still stuck in my mind: The amazing dance hall scene of Grémillion's Maldonne. The patient humor of Dodsworth. The final shot of Julia Loktev's Day Night Day Night. And teenagers sitting in a circle at a community center trying and failing to articulate feelings in Civic Life.

Bruce Abernathy

I love Bruce and he loves spout.com.

PS

Click here to go to Spout. Hands down, it's a better way to find films because you'll find them in community.

Paul@spout

By the way, I work at spout.com, and online community for people who love film.

This blog is a testing vehicle for some of the tools we're developing at Spout. Check it out.

paul

Schwinnfender on Buffalo '66

I was just talking with some friends about the coming of age genre. You'll know you're watching a coming of age film when in the first 10 minutes there's one of the following:

a) A funeral
b) A road trip
c) A graduation
d) All of the above

Garden State is probably the most recent example of a popular coming of age film. However, dozens flood the festival circuit each year. For a recent graduate of film school, it's the most accessible story in their life experience. The mid-twenties are all about coming of age. Like taking the job you're parents didn't want for you or finding out how shallow that guy or girl was you dated in high school. We all have to come of age and, although on the individual level it’s a life revelation, a lot of us come of age in much the same way. So a lot of mediocre films each year are built on a road trip, a funeral, running into the old girlfriend, what have you. They roll through film festivals and are quickly forgotten. But every few years a really great coming of age film pops up and reminds us how great these stories can be.

Buffalo '66 is one such film. Immediately, you know you're watching something different when Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo), rather than a graduating, is released from prison. The first thing he does is call his best friend, a mentally handicapped guy he calls "Goon." It quickly becomes apparent that this 25 year old is emotionally still about fourteen and finishing his prison term is the only graduation he's ever experienced. He was geek in school. In an attempt to please his parents—two of the most stone cold child rearers ever—he placed a bet he couldn't afford to lose on his mom's favorite thing in the world, The Buffalo Bills. When the Bills lose, he pays back his debt to the bookie by taking the blame for someone else's crime. He spends his high school and college years in prison, calling his parents every once in a while to tell them he's on assignment for the CIA.

When he’s released from prison after ten years, the first thing he does is head back to impress his parents (Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara). He kidnaps Christina Ricci from a dance class and forces her to come to dinner with his family. What she realizes is that this ex convict is really more lost little boy than hardened criminal, so she plays along with his intimidation. What follows is a story of true coming of age: a young man deciding to follow a path of anger for the hand he’s been dealt, or accepting the affection of the only person offering it to him. I won’t speak any more of what happens, but the film is chock full of little details that roll out far less contrived but just as funny as any Wes Anderson film.

the adventures of Curt and Katie Mulder

the adventures of Curt and Katie Mulder

Kate Mulder. A fascinating girl with a subtle undercurrent on self-conciousness. If you find this Kate, email me and let me know you read what I posted about you.

Paul

more on how we become: basket case

more on how we become: basket case

Ah. The Brits can't help but dominate everything we Americans say in some way.

more on how we become

more on how we become

I'm playing with the Blog this! feature. How do you like this feature anyway?