Recently in Film Category

We saw the 8 p.m. showing of Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited at Cobble Hill. When we exited the theater there was a verrrrrry long line waiting to get into the 10 p.m. showing. If a survey of the entire U.S. were to be conducted, I predict that Cobble Hill would come out as the most friendly Wes Anderson neighborhood in the country. I won't actually review the movie because I Like Tomatoes has done it for me:

... this was essentially three men carring [sic] their customized Louis Vuitton luggage across the desert, while leaving a pregnant wife at home and objectifying an Indian stewardess, I still have to give it a 6.

The three-day Bushwick Film Festival weekend event takes place at 3rd Ward, Chez Bushwick and Bushwick Starr. Click on the image to blow up the schedule. I can't say I've heard of any of these films--go to the festival's website for descriptions of each of them--but the combo of art, drinks and music is almost always a good one!

If you like to have your food and watch it to, then you may need travel one borough up to Queens this weekend (and perhaps next weekend) for the NYC Film and Food Festival. The concept is simple, while you watch films such as "Asparagus," "American Beer" and "Living on the Wedge" (about cheese), you'll also be nibbling and imbibing the matching treats. It all happens at Water Taxi Beach, which means there's a heavy emphasis on burgers, brats and beer. Check out the complete schedule and note that while the films are free, the food is not.

So not all of us are going to be in Spain this holiday weekend, or the Hamptons, or, hell, even Jones Beach. But that's no reason to hang at the pity party. Any New Yorker knows these are the best kinds of weekends, cause with all the vacation-home set out of town, the rest of us can actually get into things.  So without further adieu, my top 5 list of things to do this weekend, not all Brooklyn-related.

1) Eat at wd50. A friend has a reservation, and I'm so tagging along.
2) See Paprika, the coolest-sounding movie ever in the history of cool-sounding movies.
3) Take Crafty's recommendation for BargeMusic and get myself some classical edumacation.
4) Check out the new waterfront park in Williamsburg, laugh at ironic "Baywatch"-style bikinis.
5) Follow it up by watching the tips of asymmetrical haircuts get accidentally dunked in BBQ sauce.

I watched Jesus Camp last night, rapt with attention. Although I didn't grow up Pentecostal (tongues was considered "of the devil"in my church), I certainly grew up with the same principals and basic teachings and attended many a Christian day and overnight camp. I find it interesting that a lot of the criticism of the adults in the film revolves around the war-paint song and dance. It seems to me that's more a product of middle America (camo as day-wear) than these people's differing beliefs. See, a lot of the more  "mainline" Christians apparently don't want to admit it in their criticism of this movie, but the Bible is very clear that the ultimate sacrifice one can make for God is to give one's life (the perfect example being Jesus himself). I remember singing songs about "being more than conquerers," being called "warriors for God" and doing "Bible drills." I think the warfare theme is as common in the Bible as it is in the pulpit. The Bible also talks about love and forgiveness, but there is no doubt in the doctrine that the war is against sin, and that all Christians are engaged in it on a day-to-day basis. There might be some legitimate reasons many Christians don't want to identify with the adults in this movie (mine would be that constantly manipulation kids' emotions is unfair to them and will eventually backfire), but Becky Fischer isn't really so far off doctrinally from many evangelicals, only in visible application of said doctrine.

What seems to scare people about Christians is their insistence that they are always right. This is, in my opinion, Christianity's biggest weakness. Being right is a slippery slope. It's one thing to think you worship the right God (seems a prerequisite to me if you're to have a religion or belief), and from there it naturally follows that you would be right about how to worship your God (in this scenario, already we have splintering, but that is probably to some extent healthy), but then it quickly becomes what one should and shouldn't eat, drink, watch, wear, think, do, be, how to raise your children, cut your hair, etc. Suddenly you are unable to experience and enjoy life but in the narrowest of religious confines. And that, I think, is why I no longer go to church. I spent so long watching and observing people who could only enjoy life in the narrowest of ways that I finally said enough is enough. They were for the most part sincerely nice, good people, but they had focused their world so small, they were blind to everything else. In the church I went to as a child, this was the goal. You are to steel yourself against the world and its enchantments and keep all focus on God, but that version of God seemed very small in day-to-day practice.

Children are naturally curious, the more you stop them from exploring, the more they will reach out to the wrong things (and often because the conservative Christian ones are so naive and isolated,they will make monumental mistakes in comparison to their non-religious counterparts from stable homes), or be so racked with guilt that they are paralyzed with fear. Eventually, though, we all grow up.

This weather has me feeling a little gloomy (as does the postponement of ballfield chow), but what better way to kick a funk than a movie by the pluckiest of plucky Golden Age actors: Barbara Stanwyck. She's pretty much my favorite actress of all time--tough, smart, down-to-earth, and funny as hell. Now until May 6th, BAM is doing a retrospective of some of her best flicks. If I had to choose two favorites, I'd go with the gangster's moll vs. uppity professors comedy, Ball of Fire (Saturday), and her last movie, the Night Walker (Sun, May 6), a so-bad-its-great William Castle quickie about a woman haunted by her dead husband.

I once heard that the oil spill beneath Greenpoint is bigger than the fabled Exxon Valdex environmental disaster in Alaska. At the time, that information gave me pause, and it's always flitted in the back of head whenever someone mentions moving to Greenpoint or nearby Williamsburg. So, I'm excited to see that the hipsters over at VICE and VBS.tv are exposing the area and all of its toxicity in a new film, Toxic Apple: The Story of the Williamsburg Greenpoint Corridor.

In their own MySpace words.

But what VBS didn’t realize was that under all of this development, this rush for space and cool places, was an environment heavily damaged by 200 years of industrial excesses. And not only our office mates, but an ever younger and expanding population was tripping along blissfully unaware of the residual toxicity of a place becoming increasingly known solely for sleek modern condos, booming art galleries, great bars and restaurants.

Join VBS’ Derrick Beckles as he tours the high and low points of Brooklyn’s boom: Williamsburg’s Radiac, the faded glory of Newtown Creek, brownfields and superfund sites, shady developers building on unhealthy ground at every turn plus the surreal majesty of Greenpoint’s sewage treatment and garbage transfer stations plus the largest environmental disaster in the history of New York City, the Greenpoint Oil Spill.

The film will debut April 9 on VBS.tv and most likely show in a series of six to eight segments.

Some cool stuff going on this weekend: Southpaw is in the middle of a fest celebrating power pop, a vague musical genre that's always caused me a bit of confusion. Wikipedia says key players include the Raspberries, Cheap Trick, Weezer, Nick Lowe and Big Star. Those band sound nothing alike to me, but I guess that means you count on some serious diversity at the Southpaw shows. Over at Union Hall on Monday Night are the Long Winters (pictured), a melodic, strummy band from Seattle that I always thought was pretty underrated. On the flick front, BAM's hosting Creatively Speaking, a film series representing artists of color, which includes Bling: A Planet Rock, about the intersection of hip hop and the diamond trade in Africa, and a cool-ass-sounding sci-fi movie directed by Greg Tate, one of my favorite music journalists.

I thought I'd heard that restaurant/movie theater/music space Monkeytown was closing soon, but based on the bustle of activity on its website, it doesn't sound like it's going anywhere soon. Tonight, you can watch the original Dirty Dancing side by side with its Bollywood remake. Why anyone would want to do this, especially while eating, is a little beyond me--just chalk this post up to Monkeytown cheerleading and a groggy Saturday morning brain. For an event that sounds truly fun, and not it an "irony rocks!" kind of way, try Sunday at Studio B, where there's a DJ Battle between Klash (featuring Flosstradamus ) vs. XXX. I don't know much about those crews, but I do know that the host, MC SpankRock, put out one of my favorite albums of last year.

It's all about BAM this weekend. So much stuff going on it's hard to figure out what to go to. On Friday, there's a dance piece set to Steve Reich music, and the Susan Sontag-inspired theater piece The End of Cinematics sounds interesting, but granted that's coming from someone who only has to pay $4 with a TheaterMania membership (definitely worth it if you like theater at all). But I'm not sure I can resist going to see Tod Browning's Freaks, one of the creepiest movies ever made, on the big screen. I've only seen it on video, but even then, this revenge thriller--starring actual pinheads and other circus sideshow folks--deeply freaked me out.  It's all the more shocking when you realize it was made in 1932. Saturday is Lost Highway, one of the few David Lynch movies I haven't seen. I either love his movies, or want to walk out of them. Any fans of this one out there?