They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, What Time Is It There?, The Wedding Banquet, & Slither

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is a movie that gets referenced quite a bit, and is pretty famous, although it's extremely depressing. It's about a large group of people who enter a dance marathon in 1932, and the evil people who run it and manipulate those desperate people involved. Jane Fonda, Susannah York, Gig Young, Bruce Dern, and Al "Grandpa Munster" Lewis were all quite good, but the film itself was just an extreme downer.

What Time Is It There? is the first film in what is currently a trilogy by Tsai Ming-Liang, with The Skywalk Is Gone as the second film, about a watch salesman, his mom who's still in love with her dead husband, and the woman who buys his watch and then goes to Paris. But it has Jean-Pierre Léaud as himself and constantly references The 400 Blows, so I can't entirely say the movie is worthless. It's like his other films, and I think may even have a scene set in the same theater from Goodbye, Dragon Inn, with lots of very long shots, very little dialogue, and some slightly strange sexual aspects. This one has less focus on a water shortage than the later two films, but it has the star pissing into not only a water bottle but also a plastic bag. I don't know. I didn't know there was going to be pissing. Or the two main characters not sharing more than about five minutes on screen together.

The Wedding Banquet is Ang Lee's second film, another one about interracial relationships and family issues. And apparently it was a strange coincidence to go with the previous film as a Taiwan filmini festival. It works very well, considering the cliché of a gay couple has to hide their relationship from his traditional parents plot, but it's the acting of the parents and Wei-Wei, story, and nuances that make the film far more than that plot description would suggest. It's a little depressing for me, but that's again my interest in watching good films always tends to lead to watching movies that reminds me of sad things from my past. Sigh. The film itself made me laugh many times, and it was heartwarming, along with positive portrayals of both gays and interracial relationships, both of which I support immensely. Especially if you want the world to look like a better place.

Slither is far smarter than a low budget horror film deserves to be. It's really frickin' funny, and it has a pretty interesting cast, with Nathan "Captain Tightpants" Fillion, Michael Rooker, Gregg "Mitchum Huntsburger" Henry, Rob Zombie, and Jenna Fischer. And James Gunn directed it, who is Sean Gunn's brother (from Gilmore Girls along with my favorite first season episode of Angel, She), and um, responsible for writing and directing a bunch of Troma films, and writing both Scooby Doo films and the Dawn of the Dead remake. But the best thing about the film, besides the zombie/alien aspects of it, is the cursing, which is very well done (and I need to know where all the Ginese come from...). As is the special effects and gore. And you have karaoke The Crying Game, which means I will enjoy it, and you know that Air Supply is hilarious.