Brian Bentley

“Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny”
Run time: 1:33

I’m going to go ahead and get this reference out of the way – “Destiny” is this generation’s “Tommy”….only because I can’t think of any other musicals right off hand except for South Park the Movie.

Written over the course of 6 years by stars Jack Black and Kyle Gass, this movie has the marks of stoner movie all over it. I like The D. I think they’re funny, but this movie is going to gross more on DVD than it will at the box office. What started out as a tongue in cheek satanic acoustic duo on HBO has spawned 2 albums, put Jack Black on the map and gave his the chance to do movies, and proved Kyle Gass is a guitar genius.

I thought it was funny and I appreciated the humor in the music. I thought the casting of The D’s child counterparts was dead on hilarious, but you have to be a fan of The D to enjoy “The Pick”.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

This week I decided to take a late flight to LA so I could spend more time at home with my driver and the pups. It proved to be only a so-so idea as there was a gate and terminal change before we were to board, but I got into LA around 12:15 and was in bed by 1:20. It would have been sooner had I known that the lock on Page’s door was so finicky. I spent a good 10 minutes outside his condo fiddling with the key and swearing…a lot.

Page told me before I got there that he would be up at 4:30 Sunday to finishing getting ready to go back to South Africa. I assumed he did all that no troubles because I didn’t hear a peep. So much for that as I later found out his trip was riddled with troubles. Apparently, he had no ticket to South Africa waiting for him, once he purchased it himself and got to Washington DC he lost his ticket from Johannesburg and much yelling and screaming ensued. What’s brutal is that he flies back to the States to promote his new audiobook in two weeks, then has to fly back to South Africa to finish his current film project. Oofah.

Sunday brought class #5 and more encouraging signs. The class is really starting to gel and Josh is such a phenomenal teacher. There are some really funny mofos in my class and I sometimes find myself just standing there watching them enjoying their work, then I realize I’m in the scene with them. Level 1 has 3 classes left then Level 2 starts January 14, and yes, I am already signed up for Level 2. I was having some doubts about going forward with this due to the travel and some self-doubt/frustration until I had a discussion with my driver last week on the way to the airport combined with the last 2 classes just blowing me away. So I’m going to ride this wave and see where it carries me.

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“Casino Royale”
Run time: 2:24

When Daniel Craig was named the new James Bond, everyone lined up to pee on his parade. I wasn’t as skeptical after seeing him in “Layer Cake”, but I was eager to see what he did with the role.

“Casino Royale” is the “Batman Begins” of Bond films. The one that takes the origin of the character and updates it with the times without going against or disturbing the cannon.

It’s all there, the opening credits complete with song and title specific graphics (diamonds, spades, clubs and hearts), the action, the car chases, and most importantly….the Bond girls.

Craig’s performance is stoic, but strong, with the requisite charm for being Bond, and the movie had a couple of false finishes which was kind of frustrating because it felt like 3 movies in one towards the end. The movie delivers on action and Craig is jacked, and locked in for 2 more movies.

If you can, check out some of Daniel Craig’s previous work and then enjoy “Casino Royale”.

Rating: 005 out of 007

I had been wondering if I was going to get into a groove with the travel and with my class at The Second City, and I can comfortably and emphatically say that I am settling in nicely with the whole routine.

I decided to fly out Saturday afternoon so that would allow me to spend some time with my driver and the pups so things would be semi-normal and give us some weekend time to hang out. After walking the dogs, my driver took me to Chipotle for lunch (our Pre-SC Saturday lunch ritual) and then we headed off to my 2:50 flight.

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As a kid, boys at least, we learn to pee by “sinking the toilet paper” or “hitting the cheerio”. Is it weird that cheerios are also the same food parents give their infant children? Anyway, I remember being toliet trained and at no point during that was I taught to spit before using the bathroom. Doesn’t matter if it’s standing up or sitting down, every guy launches a loog before he goes. I guess the term should be salivo (a saliva salvo). I’m not sure what the purpose of spitting beforehand is, but we do it.

What we do not do, however, is make eye contact or speak to anyone when in a public restroom. EVER. If you ever walk into a restroom and you happen to make eye contact with another male, you immediately look to the left or right, sometimes straight up, but NEVER LOOK DOWN. That’s highway rest stop behavior and sends the wrong message.

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“Stranger Than Fiction”
Run time: 1:57

An IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life, from his work, to his love-interest, to his death.

They say there are only 7 stories that you can write about, but I don’t remember seeing this premise in the handbook. Will Ferrell is IRS auditor Harold Grick, and his performance is not the normal performance we’ve come acustomed to. He’s sad, sardonic, lonely and empty. Until one day he begins to hear a woman’s voice narrating his life. Emma Thompson is the narrator who is writing her latest novel “Death and Taxes”, but what neither of them know is every keystroke on her typewriter dictates Harold’s life.

This movie is getting good reviews for good reason. The movie’s pace is nice and the opening titles set a very nice tone for the rest of the movie. Dustin Hoffman is wonderful as an Engligh Literature professor helping Harold narrow down the list of possible author’s that could be narrating his life.

This is a good moive and very smart. Check it out.

Rating 4 out of 5

I’m not exactly sure what’s so charming about it, or if there is an actual charm I am to recieve for my charm bracelet, but week #3 is in the books. It’s really tough to try and make a 37 hour trip exciting when out of that time 6 of those hours were spent traveling, 2 spent in a layover in Albuquerque, 8 spent sleeping, 1 spent working out, and 3 spent in my Second City class. I stayed with my friend Page again and we spent Saturday evening hanging out and talking about some of his business ventures and then went out to eat.

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“Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
Run time: 1:22

There’s permonace art and then there’s the social experiment that is “Borat”. The creation of UK comedian (and observing Jew) Sasha Baron Cohen, Borat is a naive television reporter from Kazakhstan who says what most people only think, but it works because he’s foreign and everything comes from him with such youthful exuberance it’s easy to think he’s mixed up, not on the attack. The trick to Borat is that his subjects become so comfortable with him that before they know it, they’ve either agreed with his rheoric or corrected him with their own latent bigotry or racism.

The movie is a series of real-life situations loosely based on the premise that Borat is driving cross country, primarily through the south as luck would have it, to Malibu to meet his true love, Pamela Anderson. The amazing part is the film man on the street segments are completely improvised and done in one take with Cohen in character the entire time (he even maintained this appraoch for all of the movie’s promotional appearance).

I cannot say enough good things about this movie, but I have to try and temper my review so I don’t completely regurgitate it sharing the wit and genius of Cohen. It’s offensive, anti-semetic, at times vulgar, and complete genius. I’m amazed this movie was reduced from 2,000 to 800 for it’s opening weekend and still managed to do $26 million. As Borat would say “High fi-eeve” out of five.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Sunday in L.A. I had a friend ask me with my travel and the time change over the weekend, could I be stuck somewhere in time. I laughed it off and wondered if he misplaced his helmet, but then I actually thought about it today.

If I lose 2 hours going to L.A., then “fall back” another hour Saturday night, only to gain 2 hours flying back to Dallas Sunday night, am I one hour behind everyone else here in Dallas? Is my body now on Mountain time instead of Central? Does that mean I’m really one hour ahead of everyone else in L.A.? Where did that hour go? Am I trapped “Somewhere in Time” just like Christopher Reeve?

The irony of this is going to come Sunday when I miss my 4:40 pm Southwest flight out of LAX. Then it has gone from being a funny anecdote to just sad, sad irony.