So Long, Sweet Summer
There's already a slight chill in the evening air. The sun is setting earlier. I'm craving hot cocoa and pumpkin pie. Fall is definitely in the air. And along with it, the promise of new scripted programming! This fall, it looks as if the CW will definitely be my stomping ground, with Gossip Girl on Monday, 90210 on Tuesdays, and America's Next Top Model on Wednesdays.OMFG!! Are you guys READY for the second season of Gossip Girl? I know I am! I really cannot wait for the second season to begin. Some have said that the first season failed to go out with a bang, but I'm really banking on the second starting with one. Perhaps I should lower my expectations, though, so as to not be disappointed. However, it's difficult to shush my excitement after a looong summer spent wondering about Chuck and Blair. And really, the whole "Serena killed someone but not really" plot line failed to deliver, but the Chuck and Blair saga really was a great way to end the first season--as was Serena hanging out with whats his face instead of Dan. Oh, relationships!!
I'm equally as excited about the 90210 remake, though I'm not going to go in to that with my expectations too high. I'm fairly certain that it won't measure up to the original, and I'm also fairly certain that it won't measure up to Gossip Girl, but I'm guessing it'll be entertaining enough. The build
up has been great, though, and I've yet to see a commercial that gives away anything about the actual show, so that just makes me want it all the more...I've always looked forward to fall. The new school year was exciting, the fall clothing lines were always my favorites, the Berenstain Bear books I liked most take place in fall, the beautiful colors of the changing leaves...For me, fall is really the season for television, and summer has been the season of movies. Last week, I was able to catch one just before it left its brief time at my local arthouse theater: Baghead.
************SPOILER ALERT*****************************
While the film received mixed reviews (at best), I really did enjoy it. I was sort of hoping that, despite the trailers, it would end up being Adam Sandler with a bag on his head saying "hey, look at me! I'm crazy baghead. I got a damn bag for a head. Now give me some candy!" It wasn't--but it was still quite good
Baghead told the story of four friends struggling in L.A.'s film industry who decide to take matters into their own hands, head up to Big Bear to stay at a "cabin" in the woods and shoot their own film. The cabin was really a ridiculously nice vacation home (at least by my standards) and the film was mostly a cover for some booty. The friends start out writing a relationship movie, but after one has a scary dream, they switch genres to horror, and things progress from there. Of course, the movie becomes "real," until we find out that the real killer is just another film maker, utilizing a more authentic (and lower budget) approach to film making. Though the twist is somewhat predictable, I really did like every step of this charming character piece which (in a very different way than Funny Games which I also recently saw) commented on the horror film.
The friends decide to shoot a horror film, and the line between reality and imagination is quickly blurred. It seems as if the dreamed killer was not a dream at all, and he's coming to get them! But then, in the end, it turns out that we were all fooled (they were playing FUNNY GAMES with us!) and none of it was real after all. I would definitely recommend this, and, though I can't make any final statements yet, I think it's worked its way into my top five movies of the year. Overall, I have to give it a Cast of Frasier rating.
This entry was posted by Brigitte, on
Wednesday, August 20, 2008.
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I liked Baghead. I don't know exactly what it was, but something kept me from loving it. The opening at the film festival was hilarious, the characters were great, but it had a kind of raw obnoxiousness that kept it from really mixing genres. It was really good at being a relationship study, but kinda failed when it came to trying to convince me it was becoming a horror movie. Oh well, still much better than most movies.
yes, i know what you mean...it wasn't my favorite movie, but i did like it a lot. enough to give it my highest rating (which i give out freely, cause i just love life and love and the arts so much, you know?) but seriously, i think the obnoxiousness played nicely into the theme of obnoxiousness...if that makes sense. these movies are all obnoxious, and these people are obnoxious. and i actually think that it mixed the genres pretty well, despite what most critics are saying, and the places where it felt forced and strange, i thought, also played into the "this is still just part of a crappy low budget movie we're being made to look at as if it were art" idea.
I thought Puppy Playtime was your highest rating! Baghead I liked too mainly because of the funny ha-ha parts and the generally believable characters.
***SPOILER***
The "boo-we-scared-you, you-probably-pooped-your-pants" parts weren't nearly as effective thinking back about them, but only because of the Scooby Doo-like ending. While I was in my theater seat, I thought they were pretty effective.
***NO SPOILER***
oh yeah, puppy playtime IS my highest rating...so cast of frasier is totally appropriate. i forgot about that. i should keep better track of my rating system...so, i guess i gave baghead 4 stars. seems fair.
Did you photoshop those leaves in your "fall" picture? They look totally fake.
Mmmmmmmm....pumpkin pie! OH! Mmmmmm....pumpkin pie lattes at Starbucks!!!!!
oh, yeah!! pumpkin pie lattes!! i love fall!
And I love giant coffee corporations with overpriced but incredibly delicious products!
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