We are the Sprocket Holes vol. 39

Across the Universe - 5/10: blech. I liked the "She's so Heavy" scene in the army recruitment center, as well as Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite, and of course the always gorgeous Salma Hayek in a red and black nurses uniform making o-faces while cooing the melody of "Happiness is a Warm Gun", but everything else either left me indifferent (the romantic story and the sub-plot involving a mediocre Janis Joplin impersator named "Sadie") or grated on my nerves like salted-cheese-grater tattoo removal (the wretchedly self-absorbed lesbian character of Prudence doing a version of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" that was so long it might equate only to waterboarding in terms of torture, and fucking Bono being all Bono on "I Am the Walrus"). The self-important romanticism of the 60s has gotta fucking end already. i feel like i've been hearing this drivel my whole miserable life. Nothing changed. Children are still being fed into meat grinders, people are still chasing materialistic gains, and liberal collegians are still only taking up causes so they have third-world problems to call their own. No one is helping, and every decade that proceeded proved how useless all the slogans and protests really were. I like Taymor, and she has a great eye for visuals, but this was basically Rent with trustfund hippies instead of oblivious arthouse failures. at least in Rent you had comfort in knowing the douche-crew of that play were going to die a painful AIDS related death. If only 'Nam and cops were as reliable.

the Wizard of Gore (2008) - 7.5/10: "Sit dowwnnn....BITCH" is the best catchphrase ever. about 10 times better than i thought it would be. Crispin Glover is of course awesome, Bijou Phillips is inhalable, and the plot was actually pretty intriguing. The style which it was filmed was also very effective in its disorientation...you actually feel what you're watching. not sure if this example makes sense, but it's sort of like if Andrey Iskanov directed an episode of Tales from the Crypt.