Shadowboxer

Besides Little Miss Sunshine, I went to another advanced film screening last week as well. It was a press showing of Shadowboxer in a small private professional theater with large comfy chairs, which my friend and I soon made ghetto by sneaking Subway sandwiches into it.

Shadowboxer stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Helen Mirren (Calendar Girls) and Stephen Dorff. I didn’t write a review of the film the next day like I usually do because the film was so F’d up, but in a good way. I still keep thinking of the many disturbing scenes and relationships that the story portrays and I am still not sure how to go about describing it. In essence it’s part Pulp Fiction, film noir and an independent art film.  The story centers on Rose, a female assassin (Mirren), diagnosed with terminal cancer who decides to carry out one final killing assisted by lover, fellow assassin and also stepson, Mickey (Cuba). I had stated that the relationships were disturbing. Anyway, their job becomes complicated when their hit turns out to be for a pregnant woman (Vanessa Ferlito) about to give birth, who also happens to be the wife of a dangerous Philadelphia murderer and criminal. 

Despite the very graphic sexual and violent scenes in the film, there are many artistic shots and religious symbolism throughout. Also, the gritty scenes are oddly juxtaposed to French classical compositions making the film even more complicated. I was continually being shocked and feeling uncomfortable, yet I walked away liking the film for these same reasons. The plot also progressed well and made up for its harsh beginnings. The film also marks the directorial debut of Lee Daniels, the producer of the Academy Award-nominated Monster’s Ball and The Woodsmen, which helps explain the film’s frank and harsh scenes. 

I found it especially nice seeing Cuba really acting again instead of playing dumb and crazy in Snow Dogs and Rat Race and Helen Mirren is as classy as ever despite the harsh role. Macy Gray also stars as one of the supporting characters and plays the part of a drunken street girl all to well and may I add, her voice is so annoying. I mean, I like her music but have you heard her talk? Geez.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt (the boy from 3^rd Rock from the Sun) stars as well and plays a corrupt doctor dating his nurse played by actress Mo’Nique, whose messed up relationship and characters I enjoyed.

Shadowboxer opens in limited release on July 21.

Little Miss Sunshine

Last night my friend Cindy and I went to an advanced screening of Little Miss Sunshine, which stars 40 Year Old Virgin's Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette. The independent film recently did well at Sundance and is about a professor (Carell) who recently committed suicide and is now in the care of his sister (Collette) and living with her wacky family. As a group they begrudgingly and frantically travel in an old VW van from New Mexico to California to enter their little daughter Olive in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Along the way there are several mishaps that force the family to become closer and reveal their neurosis and love for one another. It's cute and had me laughing several times. Although it started a little slow and odd the film gradually built as their trip went along. I literally felt like I was in the back seat with them.

It's also well acted, especially by the teenage son Dwayne (Paul Dano) who has taken a vow of silence and only writes on a steno pad to communicate. Alan Arkin plays the heroin smoking, sex maniac, but loving grandfather. Carrell as one of the main leads plays a serious role in this film, but because he is able to play the character so straight and dryly it comes off funny in a lot of scenes without being in your face. I use the term "straight" not in the sexual sense since his character is actually gay. Being a comic he easily could have turned the role into a flamboyant mess, but instead the fact that he's gay is only an underlying character trait. Overall I enjoyed it more than the many enjoyable independent films that I saw at Tribeca recently. Speaking of which, The Groomsmen comes to theaters soon too, but I'd say see Little Miss Sunshine first, it's better. Here's a tidbit, the movie actually took five years to make, mostly due to financial reasons.

Little Miss Sunshine opens July 26th.

Newsweek: A Busload of Losers, But Little Miss Sunshine is an Absolute Winner

Can I touch your hair?
I’ve been wanting to share my recent crazy cab ride from the airport story with ya'll. I had landed at JFK airport from Cali at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday and immediately raced with my carryon to the taxi line outside, when a guy in a suit asked if I needed a taxi. I said yes, but wisely asked the price first. It was the same as the yellow cabs and he had a sedan, so I thought “why not?” He quickly took my bag and put it in his trunk then told me to sit in the front. I was like “the front?” and he nodded and left to see if he could get another passenger. I was annoyed sitting there, it was late and I had work the next day and now the yellow cabs were zooming pass me on their way to Manhattan and the boroughs with their single passengers riding comfortably in the back. The driver finally returned just when I was getting ready to pop the trunk and leave. We finally pulled away with Indian techno music blaring. The music was fun, but it was really loud, especially when I wanted to sleep.

Tony--that’s the driver’s name--didn’t match his music though with his blueish eyes and minimal accent, but while I was forced to hear his life story I learned that he came here by himself from New Delhi at the age of 16 1/2 without knowing any English. He was nice, but super talkative and chummy. I do like talking to cab drivers and they usually like confiding in me but at least then I have a front seat/back seat barrier. So Tony starts asking me personal questions, it started off simple finding out we both are Sagittarius, thus loyal and outgoing people. Then he asked how old I was and he was surprised saying I looked barely 18, not that it seemed to deter him any since he next asked if I was single and went on to tell me about how his last girl was after his money. As a result, he is going back to India for five months this summer to find a wife and save up for a Benz. Honestly, I can go on and on and tell you a lot more about Tony here from that 20 minute ride, but the most memorable part was during a blissful lag in conversation when he turned to me and asked, "Can I touch your hair?"

Yup, you read me correctly. Here I was trapped in the front seat, Bollywood techno music blaring, Tony chattering on about his love life and him reaching out to touch my hair. I was only a block away and didn’t know what to say. I was like "um ok." Yes, I know. So he tugs on the end of my hair and goes "wow, so silky," then goes on to say how everyone is so different in this world. True that. Finally my apartment was in view but he still managed to give me his card to call if I needed a ride again or if I’m no longer single. Yeah, I’ll do that *rolls eyes* What a welcome back to New York, huh?

Moral of the story don't sit in the front seat of a taxi and wait in line at the taxi stand.

News: Bad Breath Detector

Travels with Tara
So we did the cross country trip across the US in 6 days and it was really wonderful and worthwhile. We visited 13 states, saw 6 baseball stadiums plus one national monument and presidential library. Take a look at our route (yes, I'm a dork and made this map in Paint Shop Pro):



Day One:

Left New York City's the meat packing district around 2ish and sat on the West Side Highway and in the Holland Tunnel for an hour. Drove through New Jersey past Newark and into Pennsylvania stopping in Pittsburgh for dinner outside the PNC stadium as a game was being played. Then headed on to Cleveland Ohio to rest for the night.

Day Two:

Hit up a farmers market in Cleveland and had breakfast and traveled to Chicago, where we stayed the night at my cousin's awesome high rise with a great view of Lake Michigan and downtown skyline. He kindly cooked us Seafood Fra Diavolo for dinner, which was so good and spicey, my white pants seemed to want to try it even :(

Day Three:

Drove from Chicago, IL to St. Louis, MO and rode up the famous arch in a very tiny capsule. It's America's tallest national monument by the way and in the museum part we caught an interesting documentary film on Lewis and Clark. Here we had our fanciest meal during the trip at Dierdorf & Hart's steakhouse, yum. We then drove to Arkansas for the night.

Day Four:

Briefly went though Memphis, TN in the morning then to Little Rock where we visited President Clinton's Library--wow what an amazing man. Then we drove all the way past Dallas to Odessa, Texas and spotted a rainbow along the way.

Day Five:

Got up very early and headed to El Paso to celebrate 4th of July.

Day Six:

Left El Paso and traveled through New Mexico and Arizona. Stopped in Phoenix for dinner with friends and arrived in Los Angeles around 2 a.m.

Baseball stadiums visited:
Pittsburgh Pirates, PNC
Cleavland Indians, Jacobs Field
Chicago White Sox, U.S. Cellular Field
St. Louis Cardinals, Busch Stadium
Texas Rangers, Ameriquest Field
Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field


LA high points:
Roller bladed from Santa Monica to Marina Del Rey
Sipped a martini at The Abbey
Relaxed on the beach and got a tan
Meeting new people
Checked out 3rd Street Promenade and much more
Here is the view from only a block away of where I stayed in Venice Beach *sigh*

The Ultimate Road Trip
So I've been seeing someone special for almost five months now. I know, I didn't write about it sooner, what can I say? I'm sneaky like that. In my defense though he's been mentioned in my blog, just not directly, you probably assumed I went to that trip to Philly with Stef or some other girlfriend. Here's the catch though, because of course there has to be one, he's moving to Los Angeles this week (I know, everyone seems to be moving lately). His company is going to make him partner, but only if he's on the other coast. At least he's lived there before so he has friends out there and he's rented a place right near the beach in Venice.

I'm going to miss him and have been dreading his move date for months now. I'm taking the holiday week off and driving with him cross country to his new hood though.

We leave this afternoon in a Sebring Convertible, hitting Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago (seeing my cousin), St. Louis and heading down to El Paso again for 4th of July and then up to LA plus all the places along the way. Yes, it's ambitious, but we hope to be in LA by Thursday the 6th and I'm flying back on Sunday the 9th and will be back to work on the 10th.

I am excited for the trip despite the bittersweet circumstances. Although, I do fear I might get killed along the way for talking too much, which could easily happen--me talking a lot I mean, not him killing me.

Even though I hate when people compare me to Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City since her character annoys me at times, especially the desperation part, yet I'm actually going to make a SATC reference to my life. I feel like when Mr. Big leaves for California and although Carrie wants to join him she says she loves New York too much and I also worry if I do go If I'd be lost and lonely like her when she went to Paris, *sigh* time will tell--I'm the Queen of wishful thinking.

Anyway, happy thoughts, I will be recording parts of my trip and keeping you updated on the trek when ever I can. There's a phone blogging feature with my blog host, I just have to figure it out, not sure if it will post photos that I take too, but we'll see. I'm sure we'll pass Internet cafes and stuff too though.

On a happy note: I'm doing a trip that I've always wanted to take and am seeing the nation plus having an adventure.

Sad note: My friend is moving to California.