oz, season 1

after watching a full season of this hbo series, i was fully aware of how violent and, for lack of a better term, “un-family-friendly” it is. i didn’t realize, however, that no rental shop in the city carries it other than four star, which is downtown. after finishing up the first season this past weekend, we were thwarted in our attempts to acquire more . that’s OK, because we moved on to six feet under, which is also good, but i’m looking forward to getting the second season from netflix this coming weekend.

napoleon dynamite

odd, but good. this movie is a throwback to / tribute of late 80s slacker movies, but has its own twists, and was quite frequently laugh-out-loud funny.

spiderman 2

decent, though hardly transcendant, even considering it within the confines of its genre — i guess we didn’t fawn over it as much as the critics did. perhaps it would have helped had we seen it on the big screen. lea thinks i have some sort of crush on kirsten dunst, but if that’s the case, it’s because of movies like eternal sunshine, not because of movies like this.

garden state

appreciated by critics and adored by fans, i knew ahead of time this movie would have some of the qualities that lead to a great cult film. i also knew that it has a top-notch soundtrack. another entry in the dramedy category, while this film is perhaps less focused than others, it has an energy and a style that are, at least, its own, and is a perfect film for all us post-adolescents in our mid twenties still teetering on the brink of the rest of our lives.

beloved

this is lea’s choice for my 2004 gift-reading-book (i had her read eggers’ heartbreaking work of staggering genius), which i was a bit late in finishing up. this book is a haunting tangle of memory and pain, of glimpses of happiness and and crushed lives. not the most uplifting thing, but quite good.

sideways

this, you may notice, is my first post in a long while. i have not posted for the simple fact that i am lazy. my apologies to any and all who had come to rely on me for some semblance of regular updates.

back to business — sideways is a dramedy of high calibre; a movie shockingly funny and touchingly serious. see it.

heathers

this was playing on tv, so we watched it. it starts out looking like it’s going to be a typical teen/high-school flick, then people start dying. it’s pretty funny, plus the overpowering 80s-look is always good for a laugh.