Deadwood Seasons 1-3

Just finished watching the last episode last night, then found out HBO has cancelled the fourth season(!), though creator David Milch is working on financing it.

This is a great show, a western set in a gold camp rife with prostitution, corruption, and nobility. The acting, direction and writing are top notch - especially the writing! It verges on the Shakespearean - with a double helping of curse words to boot. Engaging stories and characters, this is highly recommended.

And for a taste - Deadwood Swearing:

Idiocracy

Another Mike Judge satirical comedy.

The future is rulez by dumb peoples!

Cryogenically frozen for 500 years, a pair of modern day citizens end up being the smartest people in the world, and have to quickly learn their way around a civilization that has devolved to the point where water is only used in toilets and sports, violence and sex are pretty much all anyone cares about.

Mongolian Ping Pong

Charming film set in Mongolia, following the discovery, confusion and wonder that a ping pong ball brings to a trio of young friends. Filling their childhood with excitement, jealousy and danger, the ping pong ball, "China's national ball", comes to symbolize both a collision of cultures and an awakening for these children of the steppes.

Blade Runner - The Director's Cut

Watched this with a couple of buddies, all fans, who have never seen the director's cut, and haven't watched the movie recently.

Still a great film, with awesome special fx for 1982. I'd like to watch the studio version again soon, to see how different it is to my viewing experience. I remember liking both versions, mostly because I like voice-overs, which the director's cut doesn't include. Though I like the director's cut's less uplifting ending better.

Dick Tracy

Warren Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, and more. A colorful, fantastical take on the comic, I had to watch this movie again. I haven't seen it since it came out in the theater in 1990(!). I remember being impressed, especially with Vittorio Storaro's cinematography. And the colors are still amazing.

I enjoyed watching it again, though it struck me as even more violent the second time around.

Here's a clip of Pacino as Big Boy.

30 Days, Season 1

Morgan Spurlock, of Super Size Me fame, continues the momentum with this series that asks participants (including Morgan and his fiance in the first episode) to live a certain kind of life for 30 days. From minimum wage to homosexuality, Islam to binge drinking, this series is interesting, provocative, amusing and enlightening. Walk for awhile in someone's shoes to really know their life? Try living it for 30 days. Recommended.

Thieves Like Us

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

M*A*S*H

I Am A Sex Addict

Written, directed and starring Caveh Zahedi, this strange documentary follows his travails around relationships and sex. It's very funny and moving stuff, an intense peek into someone else's psyche and intimate experiences.

Recommended for all grownups. Unless you're hung up on prudish, puritanical morals. Then you probably won't enjoy it - though you should at least sit through it. Maybe you'll learn something.

Children Of Men

Beautifully shot and directed (Alfonso Cuaron) movie about a world where no human gives birth anymore. Of course that means that everything tips over into a totalitarian, fascistic, violent world.

Dark, depressing, and at the end, strangely hopeful.

My favorite scene: When the crying of a baby causes all the fighting to stop - at least temporarily.

Afro Samurai

Samuel L. Jackson and Ron Perlman play the voices of the two main characters, warriors battling over magical headbands in a tale of bloody revenge that ultimately leads to some sort of godhood, but no redemption.

Great animation, and with music by The RZA, this epic anime is worth checking out.

Kicking & Screaming

Will Ferrell. Non-engaging story of a father coaching his son's soccer team against his father's soccer team.

There are some funny moments - I especially liked Ferrell's character's growing addiction to coffee - but this movie was way too predictable and mundane.

Bravo to Mika!

Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC refused to "lead" with a Paris Hilton story - and her co-anchors are totally unsupportive.

At least she had the courage to work against the Infotainment industry that's eating journalism from the inside out and at the same time helping to bury the public's heads even further in the sand. She should get an award of some kind.

Rome, The Complete First Season

Another great series from HBO. Rome at the time of Ceaser's assent to power, wonderfully recreated with interesting, sympathetic characters and insights into the strangely familiar society of a struggling republic empire.

Bad Guy

Ki-duk Kim, South Korea, 2001.

Inscrutably depressing. I wanted to like it, but was lost several times.