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WHAT'S COOKING at Sundance
Well, Father Geek here with WHAT'S COOKING. That's the opening film of SUNDANCE this year and our reporter Max the "world's premier gourmet" was there to taste the delights of the evening and report them back to you.So here's Max's delious little serving...
What’s Cooking? wants to be a funny-sad ode to America’s cultural
diversity, set in Los Angeles at Thanksgiving. It traces the triumphs and
travails of three families as they struggle to forget their prejudices,
confront their demons, and make a really good holiday meal. Unfortunately,
the movie’s noble intentions are blunted by its heavy-handed politics,
occasional stereotyping, and tendency to manipulate. It remains an
entertaining and (at points) affecting movie, but one with a slightly bitter
aftertaste.
We meet a large Vietnamese clan trying to strike a balance between their
traditional ways and the encroaching values of fast-food America (the
hard-working matriarch cooks two Thanksgiving meals: Vietnamese food for the
adults, Kentucky Fried for the children). We meet a black family whose
Thanksgiving is overshadowed by the absence of their estranged son. There
is
a family of Mexican-Americans trying to deal with the aftermath of divorce,
and a pair of Jewish parents adjusting to their daughter’s homosexuality -
whi
le concealing it from the other relatives. Each of these stories unfolds
more or less separately, but, as in Playing by Heart (an enjoyable enough
movie that should have been a play), we discover that they may not be as
isolated as they appear. Each of the storylines yields some genuinely
amusing moments, and some genuinely touching ones; since each also has its
share of clumsiness and preachiness, it’s hard to pick a favorite.
Stand-out
performances (I’ll name the best from each family) include Alfre Woodard,
believable and lightly comic as a woman trying to hold her life and family
together; Mercedes Ruehl as a divorced mother who holds on doggedly to her
playfulness and youth; Maury Chaykin as a father who has difficulty
expressing his emotions but shares a heartfelt bond with the family dog; and
a young actor whose name I can’t find anywhere, but who brings grace and
charm to that perennially awkward situation: meeting the girlfriend’s folks.
Before the premiere screening, director Gurinder Chadha spoke about how
personal the movie is for her. Perhaps too personal: the movie’s
preoccupation with the infidelity of men (I counted references to at least
four straying husbands) and its contempt for any kind of conservatism
(political or otherwise) suggest that, despite its determinedly multi-ethnic
point of view, What’s Cooking? has no intention of being evenhanded.
Ironically, given the movie’s view of traditions as something that must
evolve or be supplanted, Chadha has crafted a comedy-drama that often draws
extensively on Hollywood convention (someone had to burn their turkey).
Watching What’s Cooking, I was moved to laughter, satisfaction, sympathy,
and
horror. But I never quite escaped the impression that my intelligence was
being insulted.
MAX...the World's Premier Gourmet
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Good Sundance report, but it doesn't address the movie I'm really interested in: DUCK!: THE COLUMBINE STORY. I heard a rumor about this being reported on New York local news, along with a clip and a poster. Could this possibly be true? Is this the new GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED or AMIN: THE RISE AND FALL? Anybody have info on this (disgustingly tasteless) project?
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Great review, Max. Sounds like an interesting film, but not a really great one. Perhaps a good one to rent. As for Angus, if you're trying to make a joke that's pretty sick and perverse of you.
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I've heard a few tidbits here and there on Kevin Spacey's latest, but I haven't seen any in-depth reviews yet on this site. has anyone up there seen it?
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this sounds like an interesting ride, and let me say how refreashing it was for someone to notice a movie that is lacking in prtorying conservatives as human beings, or a lack of those ideas at all
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Hey, Mr. Soul, I was NOT making some "sick joke." In fact, since I posted an hour ago, someone has already sent me a link to the DUCK! news story. Here it is:
http://www.foxnews.com/fn99/science/0120/t_rt_0120_73.sml
So what say we try to get our facts straight before casting aspersions, pally! -
Let me be the first to say this movie is terrible. I saw a test screening in NYC a few months ago, and it is easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen.
To be fair, I never read the novel on which it's based. But then again I never read The Godfather or Schindler's List. I am in no way shape or form trying to compare those movies to this piece of crap. I'm just trying to point out how you don't necessarily have to have read the source material to enjoy an adaptation.
I wrote a review for American Psycho a few months ago, but Mr. Knowles chose not to post it. His perrogative.
I remember that I kinda liked the first couple of minutes. I remember the first couple of scenes dealt with what a self absorbed asshole Christian Bale's character was, showing him in the shower (using a voiceover), talking about about the different soaps and moisturizers he uses, doing crunches, etc.
Then the movie just fell apart. I can see why Leonardo DiCaprio dropped out of this film. Whoever wrote the screenplay will probably never get work again.It's that bad.
The acting is just as bad, if not worse ( with the exception of Willem Dafoe who plays a detective). I've never seen or heard of Christian Bale before, I now know why. This guy makes Keanu Reeves look like Marlon Brando. Chloe Sevigny (who I like)phoned in her performance, as a shy secretary.
Even the look of the movie sucked. It's supposed to be set in NYC (but it looks an awful lot like Canada.) In all fairness though, what I saw was a work print transferred to video, via some editing computer. (I think that's what they said before the movie started.)
One of the few bright spots was the sex scene (which is causing all the controversy).
Lions Gate is smart to try and get some publicity out of that, cuz they know the movie itself is shit. I've seen better movies on Cinemax.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.
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Jan 21, 2000 6:17:56 PM CST
Paul Schrader's Forever Mine was entirely ignored at Toronto...w
by lickerish
What's Cooking? - ooo uh uh uhhu all these issues...Pisseus Christ!!!give me a break...Oh how quaint..a burrogh of ethnicity waxing earnest on an American Holiday... Insulting to the intellect is that someone yet again wants to illuminate the plight of the homosexual...sure they are victims of ignorance...others And their own...A Compleat Gay: the two girls/guys who went home with a hunting partner the end of a no-luck evening at the clubs and for lack of any effort...slept with each other...and out of pure sloth made it a habit...
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Another crappy indie film that the Janet Maslin's of the world will go ga ga over since it trashes conservatives or anyone who wont bend over and take it up the ass for liberalism...I'm can see the trailer now: "Janet Maslin of the New York Times says: "Whats cooking" is a muticultural triumph that touches our deepest emotions. One of the best flims of the year..." I can hear gender feminists squeling in delight right now..."Ohhhhh FINALLY a woman centered flim....
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gonna suck heres why....They are trying to make this movie appeal to chicks...Truth of the matter is if they wanted to make the daring flim thatr the flim makers claimed they would have kept the VERY HARD MISOGONYIST ANGLE....But instead they toned it down...Proably trying to get the date crowd..
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Sorry, Angus. But I'm sure you can see why I thought that. As a joke, that would be pretty sick. Now then, a movie about Columbine? We don't need this. Even as a documentary. The media already drilled everyone with the subject when it happend. They already got their interviews from the family members, from the friends...let's leave it alone. The pain's still deep.
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The name of the young actor, whom is mentioned in the stand-out performances portion of the review, is Will Yun Lee. He is fairly young and extremely talented. I saw him in a play at the Blue Sphere Alliance in Los Angeles and he was great. Defintiely a person to keep an eye out for.
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I was at the world premiere and sitting in a audience of 2500, the movie nailed all the right emotions and the audience loved it! This movie reminded me of me of a mini version of Short Cuts! At first, we meet the families and our involvement and curiosity with each of them develops into a mirror of ourselves, GURINDR CHADAHA did a amazing job of making each family come to grips with the tensions and anxiety's of Thanksgiving Nightmare! This is the movie Home for the Holiday's wished it was! I smell indie hit...crossover to the mainstream, WHY?? Because the movie was funny, extremely funny! Kyra Sedgewick and Juliana (hottie ) Margulies play a honest lesbian couple faced with the Jewish Parents from Hell! The director made them being gay, honest and far far away from being stereotyped...Alfrie Woodward was awesome in her role also, all around this has been the most enjoyable film I have seen at Sundance so far and the most potential to be a hit!!! By the way, the way they shot the food was so Damn Delicious, I found out the guy who shot "EAT MAN< DRINK WOMAN" did the cinematography!!!
By the way, American Pyscho sucked and the premiere party afterwards was like a frat party at a ski resort!!!
Going to see Groove tonight and Pyscho Beach Party!!! This year the screenings are alot harder to get into...gee I wonder why????? -
Actually the cut I saw was very misogynistic.
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