Sometimes we might come to a movie expecting one thing and then get perplexed when we get another. Expectations can throw you off.

Freedomland throws you off. It starts off straight forward, you can see where it’s going (you think), just a standard murder/action/kidnap/mystery thing. But the film is less aobut the act and more about the people around it: how this act happened and the personal and community repercussions of the death. Good movie, but awkward in the beginning, as in gaping plot holes. Edie Falco and Julianne Moore are especially good here.

Gorgeous, moving, and full of power,Tsotsi is full of moments where the story seems to leap off the screen. Yeah, it’s a little too neat and pat at times, but the performances, cinematography and direction easily overcame any negative points.

Got Early 21st Century Blues as an early birthday present. It’s mostly covers, which usually isn’t my thing, but it’s the Cowboy Junkies, so it’s good.

Except for the last track, where they cover “One” by U2. I don’t know what the hell it is about that song, but everyone seems to want to do some version of it, and now I’m just “Oned” out. I’ve never actually just rebelled from hearing Margo Timmins sing, but jeez, it sounded awful, in the sense that it wasn’t a song for them to do, but it was technically good. Just don’t make me listen to it.

Saw To Catch a Thief Saturday over at the Lucas. Love being in that theatre, especially up in the balcony with the detail and great lighting. Was thrown by the movie at first, it seemed so unsophisticated and fairly obvious with it’s script, but Hitchcock directed and I love the way he composes scenes. But the movie gradually picked up, especially once Brigitte Auber appeared on screen. Supposedly this was the movie that made Grace Kelly big and she is charming as the lead, but the character she played wasn’t very likable and she she seemed to heavily made up, almost like a china doll (look but don’t touch!) to really enjoy. Came out pleasantly pleased and enchanted with the film though, great fun and some of the dialogue and chemistry between Kelly and Cary Grant was great.

I would kill for like apple flavored things. Pastry, candy, etc, etc. So when browsing the breakfast ceral bar aisle and I saw these new Apple Strudel flavored Pop Tarts, I had to get my fix.

They taste very much like apple. Extemtely apple. It’s so perfectly apple it’s tastes like a diplomat’s smile: seems real and genuine but you he’s lying to you.

With the breakup of 16 Horsepower, I decided to pick up the this solo effort by Horsepower’s front man, David Eugene Edwards, called Woven Hand. Consider the Birds is the third CD from the Hand. I haven’t heard the other two CDDs yet.


It’s in the same neighborhood as 16 Horsepower, especially the later, more developed less raw sound, but it lacks a full richness that the group brought to the sound. Its stark sound isn’t bad, but it’s not memorable. 16 horsepower albums always had me listening to the damn things over and over, right from the get go. With Consider the Birds, the songs float though you like a warm wind, but it doesn’t linger.

Beautiful film! Had to pee real bad and didn’t want to go bathroom it was so good. Yeah, I could have paused it, but that would break the story flow. Not a big deal but I was really hooked. In a seemingly effortless manner, it drops it an unfamiliar but interesting world and like some geekd out anthropology grad student spending his summer digging through mud, you’re filled with exitable as you want to uncover the complete story of all these ugly pieces. The film gets a bit dark and the violence is appalling at times, but the cast of characters, setting and plot will keep you in.

Generally good, put a human face on the character, but overly long and contained a lot of cartoonish elements. It tried to pack a lot of plot and development into the story, but that just leaves it jerky and long. Gary Oldeman stands out as the future commissioner Gordon, and Morgan Freeman is always good. But I was expecting more based on how many people raved about it.