The Squid and the Whale

Uncomfortable. Divorce sucks. That last scene in Happiness happens twice. Jeff Daniels plays a creepy, nasty, pretentious dad. Billy Baldwin is funny. I wonder what Owen Kline's parents thought about his library shenanigans and booze habits.

Oh, shit! Here's his mom! And his dad!

The Brood

David Cronenberg likes slop, slime, and navigating the troublesome waters of sexualized body politics. The Brood likes experimental psychotherapy and deformed rage babies bludgeoning people to death with meat tenderizers and snowglobes. On the downside, you don't get Cronenberg's gross blood and sputum scenes until the finale, but on the plus you get genuine suspense and legitimate creepiness for the full ninety minutes.

The Highland Cinema loves the Crone but we weren't too hot on Rabid, his pre-Brood entry (aside from Marilyn Chambers...yowza!), so we didn't expect that much out of this one. But, hey, we were wrong. The Brood was great. My inner Joe Bob says it's "glop-tastic" with lots of parka-wearing dwarf assassins, chancre-ridden head cases, and plastic mallet fu. Highland Cinema nominations for supporting actor Robert Silverman as the cancer patient with the bad combover. Check it out.

Limbo

John Sayles is a favorite at the Highland Cinema. He's done a few boring ones in recent years, sure, but if there's one thing he always nails it's characters. The best writing in the business comes from this guy: everyone in Limbo and nearly everyone in the other Sayles flicks thus screened is real. They're naturally complex and naturally remarkable. Joe, Donna, and Noelle are disappointed, but we don't have to wallow in their self-pity. So charming and awkward is the burgeoning relationship between Joe and Donna, and so poignant is Donna's love for her daughter. Whatever inner turmoils and troubles they have are revealed at a pace that's appropriate and true to life, and we never have to sit through Oscar-baiting emotional breakdowns. Salut to John Sayles! He writes each movie three times.

David Strathairn is a great actor and I'm glad he got some recognition last year, but Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio steals the show. She has a real set of pipes.

Metallica -- St. Anger bonus DVD

Remember when Robert Trujillo was in that yellow pages commerical? That dude's a badass. He even played with Glenn Tipton! And replaced Bob Daisley! Wait, that last one wasn't cool at all.

Black Sabbath -- Never Say Die: Live in 1978

Tony Iommi has looked the same for 30 years! Ozzy sounds good, Geezer rocks, and Bill Ward looks like he's in Orange Goblin. Are you as shocked as I am? Last time I saw Ozzy he sounded like dying cats in an echo chamber. But the Iommi -- that's what he looked like last year. And that's what he sounded like.

Sabbath is f'n cool and and never stopped being HEA-VY (heavy) DU-TY (duty) rock and ro-ow-ow-ollllll. EVER!!!!!!

Except when they got Rick Wakeman to play keyboards.

Or when they did "Changes."

Get Rich or Die Tryin'

Get Rich or Die Tryin' was lame. Characters with whom you cannot empathize, wholly nonexistent redemption, and horribly marble-mouthed rhymes. Why is 50 Cent famous? I mean, he's awful, right? I don't get it. So much better to hear the cinematic 12 year old 50 spiel about "do[ing] it like dogs" than to hear adult 50 lazily intone about yellow tape and homicide cops. That kid was smokin'! And he didn't sound like he was asleep.

Still better than Mac and Me in spite of what they say.