Movie Nights

Last week I went to see three movies in four days. I saw all of them at the Arclight in LA which is a gorgeous experience.  For those of you who haven't been, it's like a moviegoers movie theatre, with pre-assigned seating, no late walk-ins climbing over you during the opening credits, huge panoramic screens w/ great sound with welcoming decibles that will not make your ears bleed.  The Arclight is like sitting in a jacuzzi with a hundred other happy people who are too busy watching the giant screen to notice how much you're digging the bubbles.

I love it there & last week I gave them all my money.  Well, maybe not ALL my money but enough of it that I'm going to mostly eat water this week.  But boy oh boy was it worth it.  The first movie I saw was "Exit Through the Gift Shop."  This is the first flick by legendarily political & enigmatic British street artist Banksy.  I went to see the film because my boy Dan said he heard it was good, it apparently blew up the spot at Sundance this year &  the only other film playing at the time I randomly showed up to the theater (yes, I am impulsive like that) was "Death at a Funeral" which I am crazy nervous about watching because I loved the original & I don't want to be disappointed (yes, I am a weenie like that).

I walked into the film under the impression that it was a documentary about Banksy...it wasn't.  Banksy plays a crucial role in it, but he tells us in the first 2mins that the film is not actually about "him" and that rather it's about the guy who was making a film about him.  The artist made a movie about the guy making a movie about the artist. Fairly meta no?

The film is more than meta.  It's magical.  The way the movie unfolds is completely outside of expectation.  Unless you are already familiar with the last decade in the history of the street-art movement you really can't be prepared for the turns the story takes.  And because it's a documentary, you can't help but leave the theater filled with a visceral wonderment at just how much stranger this truth is than any fiction.

For me this is the basic genius of the film.  It is an artistic interpretation of how we interface with and interpret artistry and without explicitly asking, leaves you dwelling with the question "what is art?"  The "truth" in this film takes on quite different dimension depending on who is articulating it.  The film is also absolutely hilarious, patently insane & a rollicking good way to spend an hour and half.  I don't know if you all have heard of the film or read any reviews, but on the real if you are going to go see something this week, GO SEE THIS FLICK before it leaves the theaters.  It's worth it.

I am going to exercise tomorrow & if I can still move my fingers I will tell you about the other films I saw.  If not, expect to hear from me eventually about something entirely different.  And yes, I will post something "political" sooner than later.  It's getting way too hot in the kitchen, for me not to throw a few cooks on the grill...

Hasta pronto,

D.N.A

P.S. I know I have told you next to nothing about what actually happens in the movie.  Now go watch it & enjoy all the multiplicitous reasons why.

The Invention of Lying

Hello o' blogolicious ones. Forgive the long absence but I've been busy HyperTweeting away on a couple of other sites. A certain J Gramling has been sweating me about doing real blogging so fiiine. I am dusting off the old digital opinionator and will be sharing some thoughts on life, the universe et cetera. For the first destination in this literary excursion I'd like to talk cinema. Last week I went w/ a particularly excellent friend to see "The Invention of Lying". I went because it stars Ricky Gervais, the creator of the original British version of "The Office" and because Jennifer Garner made it sound super cool on Leno a few weeks ago. Mind you I had very little idea what it was about. I thought it was about a world where people have not developed the ability to lie, and all of a sudden one guy does. Turns out I was correct. Kudos to the people who made the trailer: Anyway the movie was great! There were a few elements of it that were a bit obvious (I saw the pizza box tablets coming a mile away), but it was still a sweet and heartfelt take on aspects of our human identities that we largely take for granted. The concepts of film, religion & advertising are particularly interesting in a world where people are only capable of saying what truly "is", with little to no room for interpretation. Dating is in a class all it's own (after seeing this flick, I'd like to give a major "thanks" to all the women who have lied to me over the years). Ultimately I loved the film because the chubby, middle-aged White guy makes out well in the end, and I can relate to that. I also dug the prism the film puts on the whole idea of creativity and it's impact on so many aspects of our lives. In some ways the truth becomes a canvass on which we paint our own interpretations of the world around us. When in doubt, let sleeping dogs lie on pizza boxes. D.N.A

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