SNL: The Best of Dan Aykroyd
An excellent reminder of the genius of Dan Aykroyd, whose sketches hold up better than many of his SNL contemporaries of 35 years ago: Irwin Mainway and his dangerous Halloween costumes (Invisible Pedestrian); Fred Garvin, the nerdy male prostitute serving the entire Quad Cities area; pitch man for the Bass-O-Matic 76; and the list goes on.
Goodbye Solo
Director Ramin Bahrani's critically acclaimed film about Solo, a Senegalese cab driver in Winston-Salem, N.C., who takes it upon himself to prevent an old man from committing suicide. A great, great movie that lets you take a peek into modern immigrant culture in America, far away from the big cities. Plus, Red West, a key figure in Elvis' "Memphis Mafia," plays the old man.
The Messenger
A tough-to-watch drama about two soldiers assigned to the casualty notification unit. Amazing movie with great performances by Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster, but I'm glad it's no longer on the queue.
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
I'm ashamed to say I didn't know very much about Hunter Thompson, this documentary rectifies that. Features interviews with Jimmy Carter and Jimmy Buffett, not to mention readings by Johnny Depp.
Shanghai Kiss
Based on the poster that features a big picture of Hayden Panettiere, I thought this was going to be horrible. It wasn't. In fact, she's barely in it, and the movie is pretty interesting.
Despite what the poster implies, the film is actually about a Chinese-American actor in Los Angeles, suffering in his career due to Asian stereotypes in the industry. He does have a weird, unhealthy relationship with a teen girl (Panettiere) who obsesses over him. When his grandmother dies and leaves him her home in Shanghai, he visits China for a view days just to sell off the place and make some cash. Instead, he meets a nice Chinese girl and finds himself longing to reconnect with his ancestry.
According to Wikipedia, this went straight to DVD. It's better than that.
16 titles still remain...
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