Starz Film Fest: Being Michael Madsen & Jump!

In finishing the round of movies we caught at the Starz Denver Film Festival we saw Being Michael Madsen and Jump!. BMM is a mockumentary about a paparazzi photographer who accuses Madsen of murdering an actress and Madsen subsequently hiring a documentary film crew to follow the Paparazzi photographer. The other film was Jump! about competitive jump roping.

BMM was a pretty funny movie, some of the acting was a bit stilted and there were quite a few floating heads, but all in all it was an entertaining watch. Most entertaining was the Q&A where the director talked about how much he hates documentaries. It made the movie all that more enjoyable.

Jump! follows the same formula as Mad Hot Ballroom and Spellbound, but with competitive jump roping. This is a feel good movie that would be fun to watch with the family, and a good way to introduce the kids to documentaries, but it wasn't anything earth shattering.

Thanksgiving was great, I made my Sweet Potato Chipotle Soup, Roasted Brussels Sprouts w/ Caramelized Onions and Alana made smashed red potatoes with chili peppers and dry jack cheese (a recipe from Bon Appetit). We also had a Tofurky. It was all very delicious.

Here's the Brussels Sprouts Recipe, I know Brussels Sprouts are usually nasty, but these are really good, seriously:

~15 Brussels Sprouts sliced in 1/2 lengthwise
1 vidalia onion
2 T olive oil (for roasting brussels sprouts)
1 T butter + 1 T oil (for caramelizing onions)
1 T brown sugar
1 carrot sliced
salt & pepper

Heat an oven to 375 degrees. Toss Brussels Sprouts and Carrots in oil, salt and pepper. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray and pour sprouts and carrots onto it. Roast for 30-45 min. (Depending on how brown you want them.)

While Brussels Sprouts are roasting, Melt butter and combine with oil in a pan w/ a decent surface area over medium heat. After the onions start to soften and release their juices stir in the brown sugar. Leave onions in pan stirring occasionally until caramelized. Pull Brussels Sprouts when finished, salt again and combine in pan w/ onions once they are finished.

Starz Film Fest: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead & Forfeit

I saw Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead on Tuesday. For the most part this was a terrific movie - Phillip Seymour Hoffman is one of the great actors of our time. The story is a dark caper gone awry tragedy depress fest that is riveting until it becomes a blunt object beating you over the head with one horrific situation after another. Barring that it is a great work by Lumet.

Tonight we saw Forfeit by Andrew Shea. I wasn't sure what to expect going into this, the ballots I saw coming out yesterday mostly gave it 4's and 5's out of 5, but there were some 2's thrown in there as well. I gave this one a 5. This dark comedic thriller had the perfect blend of clever dialogue, a serpentine story line, good acting, and dark religious psychosis. Yes. Andrew Shea was humble during the Q&A session, and almost seemed in denial and dismissive about the praise he was being given from those in the audience. There is no US distribution yet, but hopefully there will be. Look for this one in a video store near you.

Vintage

Classic Star Wars toy commercial. The best is when the kid yells "RAAAHR!"

Recipe for Pumpkin Ravioli w/ Cremini Mushrooms tomorrow. Also, I'll have a full review of Sydney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Short review - good if you want to: see another fine Philip Seymour Hoffman performance, see Marisa Tomei's boobs, and be depressed.

Starz Film Fest: Juncture

I caught Juncture last night at the Starz/Denver Film Fest. James Seale seemed very proud and confident in his work when introducing the film and when he was doing the Q&A. I guess you have to stand by your product no matter what.

The plot was a simple person taking revenge on society affair, this time it was Anna (Kristine Blackport) an executive director of a children's foundation who is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. In her final days Anna turns into child victim vigilante and sets out to get rid of child molesters, abusers, drunk drivers, and the like. Had I gone into this thinking of it more as a B movie and if I had the ability to overlook Blackport's shoddy acting this would have been more entertaining. However, it had the feel of a souped up tv production from high school and it never really left that state for me.

I'm curious about the selection of Blackport, especially since 6,000 actresses applied for the role. I guess they can't all be winners. On the plus side, the film was made almost entirely in Denver and featured local actors. Anne's brain freeze scenes where she sees the ghosts of her victims were also well directed, even if they were contrived. I tore the 2 on the ballot for this one - and that was a 2 of 5.

Hopefully I'll get into Sydney Lumet's new movie Before the Devil Knows You're Dead tonight. Also on the docket this week: Being Michael Madsen, Jump!, and Forfeit.

KONE!!!

I was watching Next Iron Chef and this ad came on - Seriously!? Is this actually happening?! This is either the best, or worst thing ever, there's no middle ground on this.

JESU in the mile high

We went and saw Jesu play tonight - Yakuza opened. Yakuza was sweet, they play a hybrid of metal/jazz/rock/experimental. Basically what it comes down to is that they play either really sludgy metal or really fast stuff and the singer plays the saxophone when he's not singing. I liked it. It was interesting how the sax actually fit and lent a melody to a style of music that otherwise tends to lose me in its meandering tendencies.

Jesu played a great set, it's amazing how much sound those guys get out of just a few instruments. They weren't necessarily the most entertaining, and the stage banter literally consisted of 3 thank you's and a "we're Jesu", but I guess that's brooding for you. They were really loud, really tight, and their music really builds. jesu makes me sleepy, but not in a bored way, so I wouldn't recommend seeing them sans caffeine. All in all a good show.

Prior to "showing it" I whipped up some cannelinni beans with our dinner, here's the recipe:

1 can Cannelinni/Great Northern Beans Rinsed and Drained
1 T butter
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 of an onion finely chopped
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
1/4 c vegetable stock
Salt & Pepper

Heat oil over medium heat, add butter and melt. Saute onions and garlic until they start getting soft. Stir in beans. Cook for 1-2 min. until they start to heat up. Add stock, salt, pepper, and parsley. Turn heat up slightly to bring stock to a simmer and then let it reduce until the beans are nice and soft and most of the liquid is absorbed. This will also thicken the sauce. Season it if it needs it (this depends on how salty your stock is).