Monday, May 4, 2009

YES, NO, MAYBE

YES: Frida
A movie about the life of artist Frida Kahlo. I knew it'd be good. Mexican culture in the roaring 20's and impassioned/angry artists! Oh, and beautiful Salma Hayek. Also helps I love her surreal and haunting art (Frida Kahlos) and am inspired by Diego Riveras murals and ideals (Her husband). This movie is done really well, it's actually sort of trippy and a tad experimental. Frida Kahlo had a very hard life but was still this vibrant full of energy artist, a very strong woman despite intense heart break and debilitating excruciating medical conditions. Does not disappoint, check it out!



NO: The Doors Movie
Ok right off the bat, let me say that I love the music of The Doors very much. The organs, the voice, the far outness. It's good music, honestly. So I rented this movie thinking their story would be as epic as some of those songs (Riders on a Storm, high changed my life in college). Turns out it wasn't. I will say the acting was fine, even though seeing Meg Ryan as a drug using hippie groupie was odd. Thing is, The Doors were just bomb musicians who were into mind expanding (therefore their music was expansive and interesting and future sounding). That's sort of the bottom line. Jim Morrision was not a prophet or special or a god. He was a depressed guy in his 20's who wrote down the shit he saw on his acid trips, mixed them with the words and thoughts of great writers and put it all to music, to awesome music. Jim Morrison was destructive and tortured, he cared really ONLY about himself, not the music, like his band mates. The movies best parts came when it showcased the turmoil and excitement of those times, the changes in society. The 70's were rough because thats about the time that "drug culture" went from the potentially positive and exploratory nature worshiping wonder of weed, shrooms and acid to the mind numbing, addiction jail of chemical man made drugs like cocaine, heroin, and pills. The people that missed the switch were the ones who died young or who are hanging out in San Francisco hassling you for money. That's where Jim Morrison would have been had he lived long enough...




MAYBE: Angels and Demons Movie
The Davinci Code movie BLEW and that super sucked because we had all liked the book right? Well Angels and Demons is the better, more exciting book of the two written by Dan Brown with a cooler, historically pungent, and sorta creepy story. Hopefully it will fare better.

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