"Talk to Me," "Simpsons," "Zorro in Hell," "Bourne Ultimatum"

A summary of my entertainment the last week:

Last Friday I saw "Talk to Me," a movie about Washington, DC ex-con-turned-DJ Petey Greene, played by Don Cheadle. I wasn't familiar with Greene, since he was an icon in DC before I was born, but I enjoyed learning about his story. I thought it was smart that the film focused on his relationship with his manager-producer Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a clean-cut guy who functioned better in a white world better than Petey did, but was less rebelliious and less able to relate to the black community and tell it like it was. Both of them played off each other and inspired each other in a way that really made sense.

Last Saturday I saw "The Simpsons Movie." I laughed throughout and I felt like the story was a great idea -- it's uses the premise of the show and takes it to its next logical step and about as far as it can go. Homer, the stand-in for the all-American bumbling dad, is typically a screw-up, but this time his screwing-up leads to an environmental problem of epic proportions. It also literalizes the idea of Springfield's insular nature by literally putting Springfield in a bubble and addressing whether the all-American family even likes living there. There feels like there's a lot of meaning there for the popular culture philosophers to chew on.

This past Thursday I saw "Zorro in Hell," the latest show from Culture Clash, a long-running L.A. theater troupe and L.A. The show was a comedy about a playwright who goes to an old hotel to research the origins of the Zorro legend and comes across various crazy characters. A lot of broad comedy -- the first act ended with the protagonist getting sodomized by a grizzly bear -- and a lot of the lines would end with a joke that involved a contemporary L.A. or pop culuture reference, such as Lindsay Lohan or the mayor's recent sex scandal. It reminded me of a college comedy group with a bit of Actors Gang-like agitprop thrown in relating to images of Latinos, Governor Schwarzenegger and other issues. Neither the comedy nor the story were exactly my cup of tea but the audience was laughing the whole time. I feel like there's no New York equivalent -- perhaps something like "Forbidden Broadway" or the Chicago City Limits, (neither of which I've seen), but with a bit more theater street cred. I feel like in New York there's no way something this silly and this  meandering would be able to get staged in a theater of 500 seats.

And finally, last night I saw "The Bourne Ultimatum," which was incredibly exciting while it was happenign but I'm sure I'll forget everything about it a week from now. All I remember about "The Bourne Supremacy" is Matt Damon running through a plaza in Berlin, and I think that's because I saw it in the trailers over and over.

Comments

[Alex]

Kathi--it is fun! And yes we know we are blessed! Enjoy your snow day!We are not used to ttarermeupes like we're having--it was 21 this morning :O that's cold for PortlandKim I am so glad you laughed! Usually you tell me I made you cry. I'm so glad I could balance it out :)~C--My mom cracked up when I read her your comment. She was so tickled that you understood what she was trying to say!