Konsum: Screeners
November 14th, 2007
Squinting past giant “PROPERTY OF” watermarks one screener at a time in the annual quest to catch up with potentially award-worthy releases.
Waitress
It’s awful what happened to Adrienne Shelly but hasn’t the statue of limitations on uncritically praising her last movie expired by now? Even Marcy was much too kind. Adrienne Shelly, 2007. *
The Namesake
Generic-soapy family saga did nothing for this here immigrant, but Marcy was pleased. Directed by Mira Nair and based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. Mira Nair, 2006. **
Great World of Sound
Inventive indie with hilarious & heartbreaking use of reality elements. We have a guest review by Jessica Pallington. Craig Zobel, 2007. ***
Talk To Me
Don Cheadle’s truth-talking DJ Petey Greene is one of the most ebullient characters on screen this year, and his duds are to kill for. Too slick and biopicky by half, though. Marcy dug it. Kasi Lemmons, 2007. ***
Bonus Viral Video
Neal Pollack’s The Landlord. “Do you understand what comedy is?”
AlternaTube
January 26th, 2007
“America’s Greatest Living Writer” Neal Pollack is on the road promoting his hipster parenting memoir Alternadad. I caught Neal last week at Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction; here’s the entire reading–poo, vaporizers, bhotman and all–cut into four bite-size chunks for your enjoyment.
Part 1: Prologue and Amsterdam
Part 2: Blog Posts
Part 3: Q&A
Part 4: The Silver Surfer
[tags]neal pollack, alternadad, books, readings, nyc, mo pitkins, video, youtube, poo, parenting, fathers, drugs, amsterdam, diapers, marijuana, muckfilm[/tags]
In the Flesh
October 18th, 2006
It was one of those downtown nights that go a long way toward justifying the absurd rent we pay: as part of an epic lineup, Marcy read at Rachel Kramer Bussel’s In the Flesh series at Happy Ending. There were Victorian choose-your-own-sex adventure novelists, Stephen Elliott, Mo Beasley’s UrbanErotika poet’s posse, and somebody simply known as the Pussy Miner.
My favorite reader I’m not married to was Jami Attenberg, whose story “Catch and Release” you can read at Nerve.com. Also seen eating cupcakes in the dark red recesses of Happy Ending: Lisa, Nichelle, Jolene, and Dan Alford. Here’s a little video of Marcy, which I hope you enjoy–I had to throw pornographic magazines at interfering paparazzi to get it. I’m not proud of this, but it’s true.
Later, we crashed the second open bar of the week, some kind of movie party for a shoot down the block, there was champagne and rumors of Hollywood stars. Night of the Hunter played on a wall and Jami introduced us to Indochina-bound John, Alternadad Neal Pollack, and the MacArthur-winning mastermind behind Diner Dash.
We got a ride home from Christen Clifford, who had read a piece about getting locked out of her apartment with a breastfeeding baby in one hand and a vibrator in the other. And here’s the last name I’ll drop in this post: on our way out, Marcy ran into Helen Hunt and handed her a copy of Twins. It was a decidedly Shortbus kind of night–sane and permeable.
[tags]nyc, reading, marcy, jurgen, books, sex, happyending, erotica, robert mitchum, helen hunt, rachel kramer bussel, cupcakes, stephen elliott, neal pollack, jami attenberg, christen clifford, breastfeeding, poetry, vibrators, youtube, video, paparazzi, namedropping, partycrashing, chinatown, linkfest, mo beasley, muckfilm[/tags]
