Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. —Henry Fielding

21 April 2004

Here comes the Bride

I just saw the best western made since Unforgiven.  And if you didn't like Unforgiven, I just saw the best western made since Shane.  It was entitled Kill Bill: Vol. 2.  Not as interesting as Vol. 1, and not nearly as satisfying, Vol. 2 is a film without a heart, which would be okay, but it seems as if it's trying to have one.  It doesn't, though, it only knows heart when the heart is exploding.  That's not to say it's not good... because I already said that's it's the best western since 1992, but it's a genre piece and nothing more.


Michael Madsen is wonderful, and Darryl Hannah has never looked more fabulous.  David Carradine is not sexy no matter how hard he tries to be, and Uma Thurman is pretty damn near close to fucking brilliant.  This is a tough, tough movie, that spits nails and winks at the audience.  It's a revenge film that kept me guessing until the very end... and it has a sublime ending.  So sublime that, finally, after all of that... it becomes a silent movie: the only way it can tell us the end is through a title page.


Tarantino knows what he's doing, there's no question about that.  But I don't think he feels very much, and as we know, I am all about feeling.  He is unquestionably a skilled writer and director, but I want to love the characters I watch.  I want to be emotionally affected (perhaps this is why I have such a love-hate relationship with Spielberg).


Vol. 2 is brilliantly shot, by the way, and if the cinematography doesn't get an Oscar nomination, the Academy ought to hang its golden head in shame.


The HOA meeting was still going on when I left at 9:40p!!!  There were 6 board members to begin with plus me, Debra from next door, Martha (my friend), Rosie and her husband (can he please shut up!), Galindo from downstairs, some guy from my floor who talks to me in the elevator, and some guy who I befriended at the last meeting.  Plus Erika Woo, who I fucking went to school with, who was in the fucking Bakkhai was there!  She lives in 124.  Who knew?  These are the only people who came to the meeting.  We decided on a new management company.  We fired our old management company.  We picked a contractor to paint the lobby and the stairwells.  We discussed paint colors.  We picked a contractor to lay new tile in the lobby.  We had a hearing on fines for some asshole who owns a condo on the first floor and rented it out to vandalizing motherfuckers.  The board put their foot down on his ass.  I was pleased.


Dean, the board president, was totally checking me out and almost blew a gasket when I left abruptly at 20 minutes to ten.  I felt good about it.


Steve is leaving for Europe tomorrow.  Life is great.


Now that I've seen the new Tarantino, I need to get out and see Young Adam with Ewan MacGregor.  It's supposed to be pretty hot stuff.


Oh, did everyone see the trailer to Hero with Jet Li before Vol. 2?  Let me tell you, that fucking movie looks so awesome!  I have always loved Zhang Yimou and his use of color.  You should check out Raise the Red Lantern, Shanghai Triad, and Ju Dou if you haven't seen them before.  They all are superb films.  Plus they all star the GORGEOUS Gong Li.  And it is about time that Hero was released in the States.  Miramax has had that thing on a shelf since late 2002!  I hope they don't cut it too much before they release it.

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