Movies

Movies

( 11:43 AM ) Dan Spalding
People we've brought to the Parkway for the very first time
We being my crew at Midnight Special house - Phaedra and Paul. And the Parkway is a great local $5 second run movie theatre that sells pizza and beer and has couches. Word.

Dawn Frasch and her boyfriend Sunny D (I forget his real name) came to see 13 with me and Paul. It was a fair movie, and afterwards Dawn and D came over to the crib and we chatted about huma medical experimentation for awhile. Those two are always welcome at our house.

Vanessa Lee from Seattle and NYC and soon-to-be-lawyer fame. We saw *Better Luck Tomorrow. It was fabu.

Leone who had a fabulous time with her housemates Sara and Allison seeing Best in Show. It was her first time at the Parkway, and a few months into recovering from her snowboarding-induced injury, it was also her first time anywhere outside the place she was housesitting. She was excited to be there; she was excited to be ANYWHERE that wasn't the California-king size bed that was her prison. And I was excited to be sitting next to her.

MiMi and Thanner - From San Diego. You can read about them in the Peach Pit section. They had a blast despite Score, perhaps the worst film ever commited to celluloid. Well, maybe not, but lord it wasn't good.

Julie - From NYC. Just moved to the Bay Area. Actually, I think she'd already skipped Moulin Rouge. Another movie much better than Score, the 'forsaken film we brought her to.

Sonja - From OAKLAND CALIFORNIA, also home to the Parkway. What gives? Actually, since the Parkway serves alcohol you have to be 21+ to go there (except for weekend matinees). So plenty of people grew up here, went to college, and have never been to P-town. And Sonja saw *Shrek and had a great time.

Alison Blickle - Also from the Bay Area. We saw Planet of the Apes with Carl, most recently from LA, who was in town helping organize the Boycott Taco Bell campaign.

Andy Horowitz - From my hometown of Fairfax County, Va ("Bigger than seven states!" "More developed than twenty subdivisions!") Andy was visiting for a week, and we indeed went to the Parkway for Monty Python and the Holy Grail and then went for coffee and cake at the Merritt Bakery to talk relationship stuff. And at the Parkway we ran into esteemed Obies Andrew Richardson, Brendan Cody, and more.

Gila - From Potomac, MD, and a great friend of Midnight Special. We saw the suspenseful Red Rock West, which was a lot of fun and as suspenseful as could be. PS Gila's lived here for the last two years while she was in grad school at Cal. What gives with not paying respect to Park-town?

Matthew - From San-D-Town, lived with MiMi and Thanner, and Midnight Special lived with all three when we were in San-D-Town for the BioJustice protests against corporate control of life itself. On a lighter note, Matthew is now in town working on a Know Your Rights comic book that's going to be awesome. And he cooks us delicio (de-lish-EE-yo) food daily.

Kevin - I was going to go to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back alone, but make a last ditch attempt to round up more folks at our downstairs neighbors'. Turns out Downstairs Neighbor Justin, his girlfriend Zita, and Kevin (special friend to non-Jay and Silent Bob attending Downstairs Neighbor Jacinta) were interested, and came along with about two minutes notice. AND it was Kevin's first time at the Parkway. And we all had a great time. According to Justin: "It was better than Schindler's List."

Antonia and Ari, both from the west bay (aka San Francisco aka weak island) came to see the Midnight Special benefit showing of The Warriors, an excellent terrible movie. Three stars for the flick, eight stars for Antonia and Ari to come all the way out to see the movie. And go to a party immediately afterward.
And our first film? Way of the Gun, which was admittedly ok (Dan), mediocre (Paul), or horrible (Phaedra). Didn't love it, but I'd like to think the protagonists' sperm-powered road trip through the US subconsciously inspired Thanner and David Ramses's plasma, sperm and wedding-crashing-powered road trip through the US. Details, and a list of all the movies I've seen at the Parkway, to follow.

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( 10:39 AM ) Dan Spalding
All the movies I've seen at the Parkway
In chronological order, with starred ones in the top 10%.
And a movie at the Parkway followed by dessert at the Merritt Bakery is still the best date in Oakland.

Way of the Gun
*Best in Show
Memento
*Snatch
Center of the World
-*Mummy Returns (first 20 minutes only, horrible, earns the coveted "negative star")
**Shrek
-*The Score (anywhere else I woulda asked for my money back)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (with 90 seconds of new footage!)
Planet of the Apes
Red Rock West
Made
Dust to Dust
Dead or Alive
***Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Duel to the Death
Mulholland Drive
The Warriors
Boom: The Sound of Eviction
The Devil's Backbone
In the Bedroom
Toxic Avenger IV: Citizen Toxie
*Royal Tanenbaums (twice in one week!)
The Man Who Wasn't There
Beautiful Mind
*Gosford Park
*Blade II
*Lord of the Rings
*Enter the Dragon
*Insomnia
Shaft
Undercover Brother
Spider Man
*About a Boy - And boy, did I come in with an anti-Hugh Grant bias. But despite the handicap, a good flick.
*Minority Report - The second time no less. Still a solid SF movie, with great moments and greek mythology references.
Bourne Identity I'm glad I didn't invite anyone to see this with me.
*Tadpole Great coming of age movie, starring the fabulous Bebe Newirth.
Austin Powers ]I[ Very middling.
Harold and Maude A fundraiser thrown by the kind folks at the Parkway.
City by the Sea The suprise twist? It's not as profoundly formulaic as it appears.
Signs My least favorite of the director's three (best: 6th Sense), but M. Night has a good cameo.
24 Hour Party People A winning "documentary" about the evolving music scene in Manchester & the man, label, and club behind it.
Outlaw Women A 50s flick 'bout a town in the wild west run by women.
Autofocus The movie I saw with Paul when we were both ditched by the alleged friends we were going to be hanging out with.
Jackass Every bit as gross and entertaining as you'd suspect. Favorite: Skaters blowing airhorns on golf courses and getting golfed at. Earns the secret star.
*The Ring Absolutely terrifying suspense flick with the bonus appearance of an archetypical Japanese ghost as the demon girl.
Old School Better than you'd think.
Frida Good, and not as centered on her relationship with Diego Garcia as I had feared.
*Better Luck Tomorrow The most Asian faces I've seen in one movie since Crouching Tiger.
The Might Wind Fair to middling.
Identity is a mystery. Identity is a secret. Identity is... not a very good movie, unfortunately.
X-Men 2 Starring Denzel Washington as the fiery Professor Malcolm X, was much better than its predecessor. 'Nuff Said.
28 Days Later A great modern zombie flick, despite what Paul and Peter, who are dumb, say.
The Usual Suspects A good flick, if the "suprise twist" at the end was a little predictable. Just call me Kaiser Spalding.
Station Agent Best movie ever. Just about.
Dirty Pretty Things I was hoping it would somehow be a doc about me, but I enjoyed the flick. Best immigration politics in film since The Professional.
13 I now understand the inner lives of thirteen year old girls. This middling movie was made marvelous but the company of Dawn and her bofo Sunny D.
Bubba Ho-Tep This was slow-paced and generally lousy.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail For the SECOND time at the Parkway, this was a benefit for our own Midnight Special Law Collective.
Elf Certainly better than expected.
Manchurian Candidate
Bourne Supremacy
Harold and Kumar With Alison and Amanda. I'm generally reserved with my praise, but this movie was fucking rad.
Harold and Kumar For the SECOND time, with Sam Larson and Rev.
Team America Awright. Good physical comedy. Saw it with Alison.
Shaun of the Dead Hi-larious. Saw it with Stacy (?).
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All the movies Dan Spalding's seen at the Parkway