We should hang out sometime.
This is a quick response to Brandon. Like usual, we're mostly agreeing on this one.
I had just watched Sunset less than 12 hours before watching Midnight. I was (and remain) offended by its sensibilities. The audience is expected to smile and feel overwhelmingly happy that these two have united at last. The film ends with a shot of Delpy dancing and Hawke wolfishly grinning, suggesting that they're about to "black out the windows and have sex for three days" (or something like that, as it's described in Midnight). We are happy about this. Maybe, some in the audience, will reflect on the fact that we shouldn't be, but I fear that most of the peeps who like the first two films think of them as one great love story. There's this "romantic" notion of TRUE LOVE, all else be damned.
I think that you're right that Midnight does call much of this into question. Everything is more complicated and facing consequences is at the heart of the conflict of the film. Even so, the film never really seriously calls into question whether these two do or do not BELONG together. This is true love, all else be damned. We want these two to work things out. We don't want Hawke to leave his lover and reconcile with his ex-wife. It is only ever Jesse and Celine. And, of course, the film ends with another wolfish grin and we get to feel relieved that "love" has struggled through and won once again. It doesn't even matter what the characters want. What I'm trying to point out is that we, the audience, are only and always hoping for these two to succeed. The beauty of Midnight is that it goes out of its way to show to widen the scope of the story and explore how hard their romance is to maintain once it has become entangled in the lives of others.
As for your last paragraph, yeah, sure. I was only pointing out Jesse's words and how they are indicative of a mindset that is self-centered and not other-centered. It's one moment in the film in which Jesse admits that his problems right now are his social entanglements. Being bound to other people restricts his own life. He seeks to be free from these bonds and live with some sort of pure personal freedom. This is surely representative of many people in our general age group, trying to get by without any permanent bonds to anyone or anything. This is inhuman and harmful to one's self. I guess we could argue about this, but I'm not sure that we're really disagreeing.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Saturday, June 22, 2013
After Before
Before Sunrise. Before Sunset. Before Midnight.
I watched all three for the first time in less than 48 hours.
And I'm feeling too lazy to write much about any of them. But, here's a little bit...
I've always been a Linklater fan. These three Before films only solidify his reputation as an American Master for me. At his best, in these films, he is working on a continuation of the Rohmer Project, the documentation of a nebulous world of love and sexes and philosophies. In Before Midnight, I even felt a Cassavetes vibe. So, yes, high praise for Linklater from me if I'm describing his recent film as a Rohmer/Cassavetes mashup.
Still, I'm a little uneasy. Rohmer and Cassavetes never let their men off the hook easy. Selfishness and self-destruction and failures of nerve and failures of love are dissected and laid bare.
The best thing that I can say about Linklater is that he loves his characters in the same way that Rohmer and Cassavetes loved their characters. This shines through.
My problem with Linklater is that I think that Linklater might be too soft to do more than wink at the selfishness of Jesse (or Celine). He doesn't quite have it in him to portray them in a negative light. For all of the talk of perspectives, we are never given one crucial perspective, that of Jesse's ex-wife. For all of their fighting, the two of them are still the "soulmates" that we *know* belong together.
I call bullshit.
Jesse and Celine are big kids who have failed to grow up. They are self-centered. The key line in Midnight is when Jesse says that the best time in a person's life, the only time in anyone's life in which they are truly free, is the time between when they are away from their parents and before they have children. In other words, the time in one's life (often over-extended to a ridiculous degree in today's man-child environment) when one can be most selfish, free from any and all relationship cords, bonds, duties, responsibilities toward anyone other than self.
I ranted a bit to Ben and Jeff and Chris after the movie tonight. My main beef with Sunset and Midnight is the way in which the adulterous affair is portrayed. Brandon has agreed with me in the past that the offended spouses in these situation are often given short shrift. This is the case here. In Sunset, the wife is referred to as a frigid bitch that Jesse could not love. Jesse only partially owns up to this being his fault. Instead of loving his wife, he leaves her. Now, in Midnight, the offscreen bitch is described as an abusive alcoholic, an angry woman, and a bad mother. All of this serves to reinforce the audience's cultivated prejudice in favor of Jesse and Celine and against this terrible woman that stood in the way of their pure love and its continuation. It is also notable that Jesse and Celine's love is expressed by non-marriage. Contrary to Brandon's post, the movie does make a point of saying that the two have not married. Jesse, ever the man-child, does not want to be put in "institutional bonds put in place by someone else." It's clear enough that Jesse has problems. The thing about the film, though, is that Jesse's man-child charm wins the day. He talks his way through any objections (including dismissing a casual infidelity from the past with not much more than a wave of the hand and some smooth talk) and comes up with a nice little time traveler persona as a way to win his way back into a night of steamy sex. The audience is happy for him. I'm not so sure that we should be happy.
I watched all three for the first time in less than 48 hours.
And I'm feeling too lazy to write much about any of them. But, here's a little bit...
I've always been a Linklater fan. These three Before films only solidify his reputation as an American Master for me. At his best, in these films, he is working on a continuation of the Rohmer Project, the documentation of a nebulous world of love and sexes and philosophies. In Before Midnight, I even felt a Cassavetes vibe. So, yes, high praise for Linklater from me if I'm describing his recent film as a Rohmer/Cassavetes mashup.
Still, I'm a little uneasy. Rohmer and Cassavetes never let their men off the hook easy. Selfishness and self-destruction and failures of nerve and failures of love are dissected and laid bare.
The best thing that I can say about Linklater is that he loves his characters in the same way that Rohmer and Cassavetes loved their characters. This shines through.
My problem with Linklater is that I think that Linklater might be too soft to do more than wink at the selfishness of Jesse (or Celine). He doesn't quite have it in him to portray them in a negative light. For all of the talk of perspectives, we are never given one crucial perspective, that of Jesse's ex-wife. For all of their fighting, the two of them are still the "soulmates" that we *know* belong together.
I call bullshit.
Jesse and Celine are big kids who have failed to grow up. They are self-centered. The key line in Midnight is when Jesse says that the best time in a person's life, the only time in anyone's life in which they are truly free, is the time between when they are away from their parents and before they have children. In other words, the time in one's life (often over-extended to a ridiculous degree in today's man-child environment) when one can be most selfish, free from any and all relationship cords, bonds, duties, responsibilities toward anyone other than self.
I ranted a bit to Ben and Jeff and Chris after the movie tonight. My main beef with Sunset and Midnight is the way in which the adulterous affair is portrayed. Brandon has agreed with me in the past that the offended spouses in these situation are often given short shrift. This is the case here. In Sunset, the wife is referred to as a frigid bitch that Jesse could not love. Jesse only partially owns up to this being his fault. Instead of loving his wife, he leaves her. Now, in Midnight, the offscreen bitch is described as an abusive alcoholic, an angry woman, and a bad mother. All of this serves to reinforce the audience's cultivated prejudice in favor of Jesse and Celine and against this terrible woman that stood in the way of their pure love and its continuation. It is also notable that Jesse and Celine's love is expressed by non-marriage. Contrary to Brandon's post, the movie does make a point of saying that the two have not married. Jesse, ever the man-child, does not want to be put in "institutional bonds put in place by someone else." It's clear enough that Jesse has problems. The thing about the film, though, is that Jesse's man-child charm wins the day. He talks his way through any objections (including dismissing a casual infidelity from the past with not much more than a wave of the hand and some smooth talk) and comes up with a nice little time traveler persona as a way to win his way back into a night of steamy sex. The audience is happy for him. I'm not so sure that we should be happy.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Garlic is as good as ten movies...
Catching up....
Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers is a fantastic documentary. If you don't watch it because you love garlic, watch it for the young Herzog cameo.
To Be or Not to Be is a deserved classic. More than anything, I admire its bravery in brilliantly mocking Hitler near the height of his power. I've got to wonder if Adolf ever watched this one and what he thought about it.
I've gone over my thoughts on Sightseers in the previous two posts. It's definitely not for everyone. And I won't even go too far in defending it.
Androcles and the Lion was a stinker. It never finds its comic balance and has no real moral center despite all of its blathering on about proper ways to die. Its also overly long for such a slight story.
I wrote the following on Letterboxd about Like Someone In Love:
I agree with everything in Jeff's excellent review. All the same, I'm not as sure that it's as complex as Jeff thinks it is. Or, rather, it is visually complex in a very straightforward way. I don't feel like I need to return to it to get any more out of it. That might sound cocky or ignorant or both, but it's how I feel, yo.
Besides those few films, I've moved on to Parks & Rec Season 5 with Abby and have resumed watching Robin Hood with the girls (I couldn't find the discs and then there was a technical glitch that kept us watching for a while, but we're back at it now). Both shows, in their very different ways, continue to entertain.
Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers is a fantastic documentary. If you don't watch it because you love garlic, watch it for the young Herzog cameo.
To Be or Not to Be is a deserved classic. More than anything, I admire its bravery in brilliantly mocking Hitler near the height of his power. I've got to wonder if Adolf ever watched this one and what he thought about it.
I've gone over my thoughts on Sightseers in the previous two posts. It's definitely not for everyone. And I won't even go too far in defending it.
Androcles and the Lion was a stinker. It never finds its comic balance and has no real moral center despite all of its blathering on about proper ways to die. Its also overly long for such a slight story.
I wrote the following on Letterboxd about Like Someone In Love:
I agree with everything in Jeff's excellent review. All the same, I'm not as sure that it's as complex as Jeff thinks it is. Or, rather, it is visually complex in a very straightforward way. I don't feel like I need to return to it to get any more out of it. That might sound cocky or ignorant or both, but it's how I feel, yo.
Besides those few films, I've moved on to Parks & Rec Season 5 with Abby and have resumed watching Robin Hood with the girls (I couldn't find the discs and then there was a technical glitch that kept us watching for a while, but we're back at it now). Both shows, in their very different ways, continue to entertain.
Rough Rumbling - Response to Brando
Thanks, Brandon, for responding to my 2012 rant. I'll briefly respond back at ya below.
I agree with your assessment of The Comedy. I think that it's strength is also it's big flaw, like many of the other works that I listed; it is unwilling to fully commit to denouncing the empty lifestyle it depicts. Like so many gangster movies that inspire devotion from gangsters, I can see this becoming the rich hipster's manifesto movie instead of the eye-opening life-changing call to change that it could have been. I don't think it's necessarily Alverson's purpose to condemn. The Comedy is a character study and Alverson presents his deeply flawed character with love (without ever excusing vice), which is all that I can ask of a director. If this life isn't presented as negatively as I would have liked, well, the film also doesn't present it as anything more positive than it is.
You've seen Sightseers now. Based on our text conversation, I'd say that we're agreed on Wheatley's talent and his fruitful collaboration with his editor and DP. I think that the Sightseers script is much better than you give it credit for and I also think that almost all of the gags land. That could be chalked up to differences in our senses of humor or it could just be a result of the differing moods we were in when we watched it. I went in blind and was very gracious toward the film as it continued to surprise me. I think that you knew more about it going in and felt that the premise grew old quickly. I'm sure that we'll both be continuing to follow Wheatley's career.
We're agreed on Killing Them Softly. I need to get around to seeing Assassination.
Mostly agreed on Django.
I knew you were going to call me out on the Friedkin comment. I almost put a little disclaimer in there. Oh well. I've only seen The Exorcist and Killer Joe. I've been meaning to see The French Connection and Sorcerer for a long time. It hasn't happened yet. I have no interest in the rest of his filmography. Anyhow, I won't deny Friedkin's directing chops. But, from what I've seen and from what I've read about his other films and him, I'm not all that big of a fan of Friedkin. And even without all of that getting in the way, Killer Joe stands on its own as a "vile and disgusting" film. You're worried about The Comedy? I can only imagine how many KGB listeners have had Killer Joe parties.
I don't know about Seven Psychopaths. I want to see it the way you're seeing it. But, I don't.
Cosmopolis might be even better than I gave it credit for. I'm not sure that it amounts to all that much, though, and I know that I have little interest in watching it again.
Yeah, Lawless is a big ol' mess of a disappointment. I included it on this list over a couple of other movies because of the common thread of all of these films having directors worth watching even though I have problems with either the content or the delivery in all of their work. Hillcoat is more frustrating than all of the other directors above. I don't share your love for The Proposition. I haven't seen The Road. My impression of Hillcoat is that he can't quite deliver. He's worked up a certain style and atmosphere, but hasn't quite found the right balance in execution. The Proposition gets a feeling right, but is sloppy in the way its story develops and ties up at the end. Lawless is sloppy in both the feeling and story departments, meandering back and forth between a hard seriousness and a slapstick cheerfulness.
I do think that you were too kind to Dark Shadows in your initial response. I still respect Burton, but I haven't really cared strongly about any of his films since Big Fish (though I did like Alice more than any of you).
I can only interpret your silence on Here Comes the Boom as disgust that I've brought up this film once again for CR5FC's consideration. You're welcome. :)
Thanks again for the interaction. I'm still hoping that there are 2012 films out there waiting to convince me of how wrong I've been about the year.
I agree with your assessment of The Comedy. I think that it's strength is also it's big flaw, like many of the other works that I listed; it is unwilling to fully commit to denouncing the empty lifestyle it depicts. Like so many gangster movies that inspire devotion from gangsters, I can see this becoming the rich hipster's manifesto movie instead of the eye-opening life-changing call to change that it could have been. I don't think it's necessarily Alverson's purpose to condemn. The Comedy is a character study and Alverson presents his deeply flawed character with love (without ever excusing vice), which is all that I can ask of a director. If this life isn't presented as negatively as I would have liked, well, the film also doesn't present it as anything more positive than it is.
You've seen Sightseers now. Based on our text conversation, I'd say that we're agreed on Wheatley's talent and his fruitful collaboration with his editor and DP. I think that the Sightseers script is much better than you give it credit for and I also think that almost all of the gags land. That could be chalked up to differences in our senses of humor or it could just be a result of the differing moods we were in when we watched it. I went in blind and was very gracious toward the film as it continued to surprise me. I think that you knew more about it going in and felt that the premise grew old quickly. I'm sure that we'll both be continuing to follow Wheatley's career.
We're agreed on Killing Them Softly. I need to get around to seeing Assassination.
Mostly agreed on Django.
I knew you were going to call me out on the Friedkin comment. I almost put a little disclaimer in there. Oh well. I've only seen The Exorcist and Killer Joe. I've been meaning to see The French Connection and Sorcerer for a long time. It hasn't happened yet. I have no interest in the rest of his filmography. Anyhow, I won't deny Friedkin's directing chops. But, from what I've seen and from what I've read about his other films and him, I'm not all that big of a fan of Friedkin. And even without all of that getting in the way, Killer Joe stands on its own as a "vile and disgusting" film. You're worried about The Comedy? I can only imagine how many KGB listeners have had Killer Joe parties.
I don't know about Seven Psychopaths. I want to see it the way you're seeing it. But, I don't.
Cosmopolis might be even better than I gave it credit for. I'm not sure that it amounts to all that much, though, and I know that I have little interest in watching it again.
Yeah, Lawless is a big ol' mess of a disappointment. I included it on this list over a couple of other movies because of the common thread of all of these films having directors worth watching even though I have problems with either the content or the delivery in all of their work. Hillcoat is more frustrating than all of the other directors above. I don't share your love for The Proposition. I haven't seen The Road. My impression of Hillcoat is that he can't quite deliver. He's worked up a certain style and atmosphere, but hasn't quite found the right balance in execution. The Proposition gets a feeling right, but is sloppy in the way its story develops and ties up at the end. Lawless is sloppy in both the feeling and story departments, meandering back and forth between a hard seriousness and a slapstick cheerfulness.
I do think that you were too kind to Dark Shadows in your initial response. I still respect Burton, but I haven't really cared strongly about any of his films since Big Fish (though I did like Alice more than any of you).
I can only interpret your silence on Here Comes the Boom as disgust that I've brought up this film once again for CR5FC's consideration. You're welcome. :)
Thanks again for the interaction. I'm still hoping that there are 2012 films out there waiting to convince me of how wrong I've been about the year.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Not feeling this quiz
Brando's most recent quiz....
1. What film hit you at the right place and right time, pertaining to and illuminating things that were happening in your life the moment you saw it?
I don't know. Every film does this.
2. What would be your top 5 ranked Pixar films?
I've seen every Pixar film and can safely say that they have not made a dud yet. This list is plenty arbitrary. The top three could be swapped around. Toy Story has lost some of its power over me, but it remains an important historical film for me. It was the first film that I ever went to see three times at the cinema. That was 1995. The next time I would do that would be Julien-Donkey Boy in '99. Then, not again until There Will Be Blood in 2008. Then, Adventureland in 2009 (though this repeated viewing was due to a double showing while I was ushering at Cornell). Those are the four movies that I've seen three times at the cinema. But, I'm getting further away from the question. Here's the list:
1) WALL-E
2) Ratatouille
3) Brave
4) Toy Story
5) Toy Story 3
3. To reiterate Cheddar’s question…. What movie/movies had the biggest negative effect on you?
This is a good question. I think that you meant it as "which movies have emotionally wounded you?" but I'm taking it as "which movies have actually changed your life for the worse?" Maybe seeing Monty Python's Meaning of Life or so many Rodney Dangerfield films (Back to School, anyone?) too early in life shaped my humor in a negative direction. I'm sure that there have been films that have had me contemplating a life of crime and violence. I could probably come up with a good list of "negative effect" movies if I looked at a list of all the crap I watched from the 80s.
4. What seasons seem to inspire you to see and write about films the most and least?
I don't even know. It'd be interesting to look back over stats. Oh, wait; I did that once and no one cared.
I think I have a natural ebb and flow throughout the year in which I'll binge on films and then take a three week break without watching anything, then binge again. I do know that Breaking Bad inspires me to be a raving lunatic fanboy.
5. What are five movies that you love that you feel comfortable never seeing again?
This question is not for me. The movies that I love are, by definition, the ones that I want to see again. They're also the ones that have settled deepest in me, though, and that I don't always feel the need to see again soon because I feel like they're with me even though I'm watching other lesser movies.
6. What anticipated 2012 film/films are you feeling the most uneasy about expectation wise?
Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing. I have high hopes, but I get nervous over any contemporized Shakes adaptations.
7. Likewise, what former favorite actors are trudging down dangerous territory for you, also what actors have already strayed down the path to the point in which their name now means nothing? I’m realizing now that this is a mean sounding question.
Maybe my answer is meaner than your question. I've never really cared about actors as much as writers and directors. So, the career decisions of Nic Cage and Johnny Depp, for example, don't really bother me. I think that both are still enjoyable actors who are fun to watch. The problem I have with the movies they've been in have to do with writing and direction more than their performances. I can't think of a single actor who has "strayed down the path to the point in which their name now means nothing." These actors are just waiting for the right writers and directors. I like The Gos, but that doesn't mean I'll watch him in Crazy Stupid Anymovie. I like Bryan Cranston a lot, but only because of what Gilligan and the BB team have given to him and received from him. Cranston as cameo in Rock of Ages doesn't interest me. Cranston as director of Modern Family doesn't interest me. And so on. I'm basically a Bressonian actor as model kind of guy.
8. What is your take on a screenwriter’s impact on a film’s success, in other words how much of an auteurist are you?
The script is the most important part of a film, but it's still the director that takes the script and puts flesh on its bones. Ideally, the director has written the script or has worked closely with the person who has written the script.
9. What types of “provocative” cinematic trends/ideas still feel fresh, which seem to be losing their oomph in the modern age of self awareness?
I'm not sure what you had in mind here. Just shock cinema? Porno tricks? Those were old before they were new. Maybe ironically, I think that the "self awareness" (or interiority) of a Bergman or a Rohmer or a Tarkovsky (etc) is still fresh and provocative and their heirs continue to stand out in an age of mass spectacle.
10. What’s your favorite horror film of the 1990s (that isn’t SCREAM Cheddar!)?
Probably Misery. I haven't seen it in several years, but I'm pretty sure that it holds up.
1. What film hit you at the right place and right time, pertaining to and illuminating things that were happening in your life the moment you saw it?
I don't know. Every film does this.
2. What would be your top 5 ranked Pixar films?
I've seen every Pixar film and can safely say that they have not made a dud yet. This list is plenty arbitrary. The top three could be swapped around. Toy Story has lost some of its power over me, but it remains an important historical film for me. It was the first film that I ever went to see three times at the cinema. That was 1995. The next time I would do that would be Julien-Donkey Boy in '99. Then, not again until There Will Be Blood in 2008. Then, Adventureland in 2009 (though this repeated viewing was due to a double showing while I was ushering at Cornell). Those are the four movies that I've seen three times at the cinema. But, I'm getting further away from the question. Here's the list:
1) WALL-E
2) Ratatouille
3) Brave
4) Toy Story
5) Toy Story 3
3. To reiterate Cheddar’s question…. What movie/movies had the biggest negative effect on you?
This is a good question. I think that you meant it as "which movies have emotionally wounded you?" but I'm taking it as "which movies have actually changed your life for the worse?" Maybe seeing Monty Python's Meaning of Life or so many Rodney Dangerfield films (Back to School, anyone?) too early in life shaped my humor in a negative direction. I'm sure that there have been films that have had me contemplating a life of crime and violence. I could probably come up with a good list of "negative effect" movies if I looked at a list of all the crap I watched from the 80s.
4. What seasons seem to inspire you to see and write about films the most and least?
I don't even know. It'd be interesting to look back over stats. Oh, wait; I did that once and no one cared.
I think I have a natural ebb and flow throughout the year in which I'll binge on films and then take a three week break without watching anything, then binge again. I do know that Breaking Bad inspires me to be a raving lunatic fanboy.
5. What are five movies that you love that you feel comfortable never seeing again?
This question is not for me. The movies that I love are, by definition, the ones that I want to see again. They're also the ones that have settled deepest in me, though, and that I don't always feel the need to see again soon because I feel like they're with me even though I'm watching other lesser movies.
6. What anticipated 2012 film/films are you feeling the most uneasy about expectation wise?
Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing. I have high hopes, but I get nervous over any contemporized Shakes adaptations.
7. Likewise, what former favorite actors are trudging down dangerous territory for you, also what actors have already strayed down the path to the point in which their name now means nothing? I’m realizing now that this is a mean sounding question.
Maybe my answer is meaner than your question. I've never really cared about actors as much as writers and directors. So, the career decisions of Nic Cage and Johnny Depp, for example, don't really bother me. I think that both are still enjoyable actors who are fun to watch. The problem I have with the movies they've been in have to do with writing and direction more than their performances. I can't think of a single actor who has "strayed down the path to the point in which their name now means nothing." These actors are just waiting for the right writers and directors. I like The Gos, but that doesn't mean I'll watch him in Crazy Stupid Anymovie. I like Bryan Cranston a lot, but only because of what Gilligan and the BB team have given to him and received from him. Cranston as cameo in Rock of Ages doesn't interest me. Cranston as director of Modern Family doesn't interest me. And so on. I'm basically a Bressonian actor as model kind of guy.
8. What is your take on a screenwriter’s impact on a film’s success, in other words how much of an auteurist are you?
The script is the most important part of a film, but it's still the director that takes the script and puts flesh on its bones. Ideally, the director has written the script or has worked closely with the person who has written the script.
9. What types of “provocative” cinematic trends/ideas still feel fresh, which seem to be losing their oomph in the modern age of self awareness?
I'm not sure what you had in mind here. Just shock cinema? Porno tricks? Those were old before they were new. Maybe ironically, I think that the "self awareness" (or interiority) of a Bergman or a Rohmer or a Tarkovsky (etc) is still fresh and provocative and their heirs continue to stand out in an age of mass spectacle.
10. What’s your favorite horror film of the 1990s (that isn’t SCREAM Cheddar!)?
Probably Misery. I haven't seen it in several years, but I'm pretty sure that it holds up.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Dis-ease: The Perversity of 2012
2012 continues to defy me. 2010 gave us a few movies I consider masterpieces--True Grit, Meek's Cutoff, Cold Weather, Arrietty--and several other strong titles besides those. 2011, like 2010, was a strong year with more great films--I especially loved The Mill and the Cross, Take Shelter, and Damsels in Distress--and 2011 was also a year that I praised for its strong cheerful comedies. Notes of hope and expectation had emerged from the dreariness that was all too often the status quo.
2012, following 2011's lead, was also full of strong comedies. The unsettling difference between these and the ones that I highlighted from last year is that each of these comedies is perverse, unnerving, and generally burdened by the weight of its troubles.
I hope that Brandon doesn't think that I'm just engaging in some Armondian wankery here. I'm not going to compare/contrast films (though I could). I think that all of the films below are extremely well-crafted and very personal visions from these directors. At least the top few are worth struggling with even if I can't ultimately make my peace with them.
One doesn't need much more to prove auterism than look at this list below and see how obviously these specific films fall into the broader body of work of each of these directors.
This is not a Top Ten of 2012 List. I do hope to have one of those up before 2013 is over!! Inspired by my recent Sightseers viewing, the following is my:
Top Ten Respectably Repugnant Comedies of 2012 List.
2. Sightseers (Wheatley)
3. Killing Them Softly (Dominick)
4. Django Unchained (Tarantino)
5. Spring Breakers (Korine)
6. Killer Joe (Friedkin)
7. Seven Psychopaths (McDonagh)
8. Cosmopolis (Cronenberg)
9. Dark Shadows (Burton)
10. Here Comes the Boom (Coraci)
Alverson's The Comedy is far more confidentially directed than his excellent previous film, New Jerusalem. Though the content is vastly different, The Comedy follows New Jerusalem in its exploration of male friendship/interpersonal bonds in a world shorn of meaning and purpose. Jerusalem is quiet and holds out hope. The Comedy is a scathing bare-all denouncement of the vapidness of contemporary cultured leisure. It's successful in what it does because it never caters to its audience, existing as a film in that same space of entitlement ennui that its protagonist occupies. The Comedy serves as a documentary witness. It doesn't offer any way out.
Wheatley's Sightseers is nothing less than an ordinary romance gone awry. It's a solid relationship dramedy turned slapstick horror. It sits nicely as a companion piece to Kill List. Both are unsettling accounts of seemingly ordinary people participating in ordinary events. Except that none of it is ordinary and madness keeps bubbling up and breaking through, until the real and the unreal settle together and are indistinguishable. Horror becomes a way of explaining the world. The horrors of relationship anxieties are externalized. Sightseers ends with a gag, a feel-good shrug that maybe provided catharsis for anyone who has been in a damaging relationship.
I'm not sure how Dominick's Killing Them Softly fits in with his Assassination of Jesses James, but I'm sure it does (never afraid to toss out my uninformed film opinions). Softly is a not-so-subtle takedown of the myth of capitalist efficiency. It's also a deconstruction of gangster films and the Lone Gunman archetype. Softly is often crude and ugly with a nice sheer gloss, just like its subject matter. Softly indicts all of us who are complicit in this system at whatever level.
Tarantino's Django Unchained fits in nicely with his current program of historical revisionism. After tearing apart Nazi Germany in Basterds, Tarantino co-opts Germany's national myth, The Nibelungenlied, and re-purposes it as a story of black empowerment, an act of narrative taunting that is surely as offensive to the "master race" as anything in Basterds. Tarantino enjoys his revenge a bit too much and is too reliant on the worst of the 70s exploitation cinema that he has soaked into his bones. Django is, at its core, a "save the princess" tale, marred by Tarantino's excess.
Korine's Spring Breakers is an obvious continuation of the themes of his previous films. The real surprise this time is that now the MTV mainstream has become the freak in the spotlight. What privileged rich kids do with their free time turns out to be not so far from a semi-sanitized fantasy version of a trip Ol' Dirty could have given these kids for half the price and twice the grit. What's odd about this picture is that the second half fantasy sequence is less surreal than the "reality" of Spring Break. Korine, by the end, wants to have his Spring cake and eat it, too.
Friedkin's Killer Joe is at least as vile and disgusting as any of his other films. I admire Friedkin's craft, but have a hard time giving any sort of blessing to what is essentially a rape fantasy from beginning to end. Maybe it's all an ironic joke. If so, that only makes the whole thing more worthless and indefensible. What's the takeaway from this film? Stay in the city where you're safe from Redneck mayhem like the kind you find in Sidney, NY.
McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths has all of the vulgarity of In Bruges, but it doesn't quite have the same beating heart. There's something gone corrupt in McDonagh's vision; maybe cynicism has won out over sincerity. I find myself failing to remember much about this one. All flash and nothing to come back for.
Cronenberg's Cosmopolis is one of the better science fiction films of the last few years. Its humor is built around the loneliness unique to the connectedness of our current cultural/technological situation. The way it builds to its final showdown is a masterful display of epic non-suspense, which is maybe the right mood of the moment.
Hillcoat's Lawless builds on themes of masculinity and brotherhood that Hillcoat began to explore in The Proposition. There is a jaunty humor that keeps this thing afloat (what other word but jaunty to describe a gift bag of testicles?), making it easy to watch even as it overstays its welcome and undercuts what seriousness it did have by turning the whole into a good ol' boy's reminiscing. It waffles in what it wants to be.
Burton's Dark Shadows picks up on Burton's obsession with macabre melodrama. The humor here is that human behavior doesn't change much over the centuries. If anything, witches and vampires have a better society in which to engage in their specific predatory practices. Burton is clearly just having fun here, but it feels like he's laughing at someone else's expense. The goth kids have won and Dark Shadows is a major motion picture. The world has been turned upside down.
Coraci's Here Comes the Boom is centered squarely in his tween-boy fart-aesthetic. Add a giant pinch of wishful thinking and all is right with the world. While many of the above films diagnose ills and then either wink or throw their hands up in the air, Coraci's solution is to sprinkle Hollywood fairy dust over it all. Magical thinking will make all of us fat men into honorable UFC champions with the desirable foreign girl on our arm while the music of children resounds through the whole wide world. This dangerous lie may be worse than all of the despair and aimlessness evidenced above.
I don't know.
I can't help but feel that 2012 has been a sad and lost year in film.
I'd love to read/hear responses, either on blogs or via Boo or whatever.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Going in to work late today.
So, I decided to put up a new blog post instead of watching more YouTube kitten videos.
Kroll Show S01E01. Not funny. The humor relies heavily on crappy pop culture.
TV Club Update
The League S01E03-05. I'm officially sick of immature man-child storylines. The humor works on the same level as That 70s Show, focusing on a group of bros out to succeed at life without really trying. The barrage of sex jokes is mostly lame lowest common denominator crap. The focus on fantasy football is probably where the show is at its funniest and most endearing. The problem with the show then becomes overcoming how lame fantasy football is and how the jock-geeks that participate in it are usually just jerks who don't realize that they're playing Blood Bowl without the cool elf minis.
Maron S01E01. Meh. Mehron? I'll keep watching for a few episodes. The humor is self-deprecating and also very self-indulgent. I don't need to know anything at all about Groucho Marx or Bob Newhart or George Carlin to laugh at their jokes. I don't want to know so much about Marc Maron or his comedy creation, Marc Maron.
Rectify S01E01-03. I mostly like Rectify. It develops at a nice, slow pace. The story sprawls inward, if that makes any sense. It's not afraid to be a little odd (though never cute) while hitting all the right Sundance Indie human interest notes.
Parks & Recreation Seasons 3 and 4. The best comedy on TV right now. Season 3 is my favorite season so far. We'll probably start Season 5 soon.
The Vikings S01E01. The two impressive things in this pilot are Viking tech and Viking culture. Both are skillfully presented as the backdrop for a story of one man's rebellion against his Chieftan. This conflict isn't all that interesting in itself, but allows for wonderful moments that reveal more of the historical context.
Hannibal S01E01. America loves serial killers; the smarter and friendlier the better! Hannibal is a pretty standard police procedural with the twist that one of its (so far supporting) characters is a charming cannibal.
What about movies? Do any of us really watch movies anymore? I'd guess not, based on the extreme scarcity of new posts lately.
Here's a quick rundown of what I've seen in the past few weeks besides Mud and Pines.
The Hobbit ruins a great children's book by turning it into a mediocre action pic.
Oz: The Great and Powerful isn't good enough to sustain a third viewing (especially one without any children present).
Coming to America is charming in its way. I'd like it lots more if it wasn't as potty-mouthed as it is. Then again, that might be part of its charm. What do I know?
Shane is okay. I watched it with the girls and it was fun watching them get emotionally attached to the character, so I can see why this could be a favorite, especially if watched earlier in life.
Elevator to the Gallows is a better New Wave crime film than most of the New Wave crime films that followed it.
Punch-Drunk Love completely floored me this viewing. I hadn't seen it since its first release and I didn't really like it at the time. Now, I think it's one of the greatest romantic comedies of the past thirty years.
Road to Morocco is just silly fun. And Iron Man 3 is everything I was hoping for in a big, stupid summer action flick.
And that's it. I'm all caught up.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Brief Mud Post
Minor Spoilers below...
I wanted to love Mud. I still want to love Mud. But, I don't love Mud.
I merely like it. To be honest, I'm a little surprised by the 98% on Rotten Tomatoes that Jeff told me about. There are no dissenting voices? The film is on-the-nose often. The score/soundtrack bugged me, even when it was something I liked playing in the background. Instead of bombastic swelling, we get The Dirty Three, but it's there to serve the same purpose, right on point giving emotional cues. Not sure why it bugged me so much, but it did. Also, on-the-nose foreshadowing. Snakes? Yup, someone's gonna get bit. A gun? Yup, someone's gonna get shot.
Even the boat in the tree kind bugged me as too cute.
I do admire the film for its exploration of in/constancy in love in a world where everything has become unstable, especially love. Nichols is great at taking small stories and making them feel connected to a wider river of myths/stories/songs that we're all wading in. Also, the performances are mostly great (I'm not so sure about Reese Witherspoon).
I'll watch every film that Nichols makes. He's still one of my favorite living American filmmakers. I just didn't love Mud. :(
I'm willing to blame my response on the giant Italian hoagie from the Ithaca bakery. It's a few days later now and I'm still not sure if I've digested that beast completely.
I wanted to love Mud. I still want to love Mud. But, I don't love Mud.
I merely like it. To be honest, I'm a little surprised by the 98% on Rotten Tomatoes that Jeff told me about. There are no dissenting voices? The film is on-the-nose often. The score/soundtrack bugged me, even when it was something I liked playing in the background. Instead of bombastic swelling, we get The Dirty Three, but it's there to serve the same purpose, right on point giving emotional cues. Not sure why it bugged me so much, but it did. Also, on-the-nose foreshadowing. Snakes? Yup, someone's gonna get bit. A gun? Yup, someone's gonna get shot.
Even the boat in the tree kind bugged me as too cute.
I do admire the film for its exploration of in/constancy in love in a world where everything has become unstable, especially love. Nichols is great at taking small stories and making them feel connected to a wider river of myths/stories/songs that we're all wading in. Also, the performances are mostly great (I'm not so sure about Reese Witherspoon).
I'll watch every film that Nichols makes. He's still one of my favorite living American filmmakers. I just didn't love Mud. :(
I'm willing to blame my response on the giant Italian hoagie from the Ithaca bakery. It's a few days later now and I'm still not sure if I've digested that beast completely.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
The Meal Beyond the Pines
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PLACE BEYOND THE PINES. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN PINES. MAJOR SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
Jeff, thanks for getting the Pines talk rolling. Here's my contribution.
It was good to get out to the movies with Ben last week.
The best part of the night was probably eating a tasty sandwich at Panera while Ben distractedly stared at the actress from Compliance (or some girl who looked like her; I'm not sure) while we chatted.
I followed Ben's lead and tried the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich (I think that's what it was called) The sandwich was both light and satisfying, everything I'd hoped it to be. I got chips and a pickle on the side and a glass of teamonade (not an Arnie).
I was still hungry for something more once we had arrived at AMC. I ordered a medium popcorn which I ate throughout Pines' runtime.
The Place Beyond the Pines ended up being a lot like my evening's meal, satisfying at first, but ending on a false note of overindulgence that almost, but not quite, ruined the whole thing.
Like my eating that night, Pines is divided into three acts.
ACT I: Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich
Pines opens with a long over-the-shoulder handheld tracking shot that had me rolling my eyes and wanting to leave. The shot's payoff, though, as the camera hovers outside of the motorcycle cage, is quite nice. The entire shot does effectively communicate Luke's swagger and confidence, his caged emotions, and his reckless courting of danger. The next shot of Luke with the children opens up his character as a warm and likable rogue who could potentially enjoy domestication. Eva Mendes enters the shot and all we, the audience, want at that moment is for these two to spend the rest of their lives together.
Cianfrance is at his best when he is exploring the emotional space between people (often mirrored and modeled in the physical space). Like I told Brandon, Blue Valentine was good enough that Pines became a no-brainer to see without hesitation. Cianfrance (and his camera) poke and prod at Luke and Romina, almost dancelike as the two circle around and in and out and other characters come in between the two. The setup is tragic. It's hard not to care for Luke as he asserts his rights as a father and attempts to provide for "his" girl and his son. At the same time, it's hard to ignore that he is the rotten foreign element who has left without a word while another, better man stood up to care for a woman pregnant with another man's baby. There's no way this is going to end happily for all involved no matter how things shake out.
Blue Valentine had already established Cianfrance as someone who could handle intimate moments. The revelation of Pines is that Cianfrance is a very good action director. During the robbery scenes, my breathing tightened and I felt the thrill. The action is wild and unpredictable and just a little bit crazy. And fast. This is a credit to both the writing and the staging/cinematography.
Act 1, like that veggie sandwich, was delicious and satisfying, pretty much everything that I was hoping for from the film. It hit the spot. I probably could have stopped eating/watching right there and I would have been extremely satisfied. I would have been left wanting more in a good way, with the experience of something good lingering on in my senses, hungry for more, but content instead to reflect on what I had just had instead of moving on.
ACT II: Chips and a Pickle
Afraid that the sandwich couldn't stand alone, I complemented it with chips and a pickle. Cianfrance does the same with his movie. After a sprightly feast, Cianfrance gives us a side order or something much more mundane, a tired cop corruption story. The reason that this segment works at all is the same reason that the chips and pickle worked with the sandwich. I still had some sandwich left and the chips and pickle provided nice counter-flavors that played with the sandwich taste and reinforced the goodness of the sandwich. Act II plays with the same themes of Act I and develops them in parallel ways, drawing out what was implicit in Act I and allowing us to enjoy it all again as seen in a new light. Little pieces of Act 1 weave in and out of Act II and Act II only stands at all in its relation to Act I. On its own, it's really not satisfying at all. This would be a bad taste to end with. Instead of the taste of delicious sandwich, now I've got bits of greasy chips stuck between my teeth. I'm hungry for something else.
ACT III: Movie Theater Popcorn
I love popcorn. I eat it often. Real kernels air-popped, then drizzled with real butter and sprinkled with sea salt. It's one of my favorite things. Movie theater popcorn always sounds good, but it's a poor substitute for the real thing. Oil-popped and cooked with fake seasonings/flavors. A third act of Pines likewise seemed like a good idea, tying together the themes of the previous two acts in an examination of intergenerational transmission of privileges and pains. What seemed like a good idea plays out like fake popcorn, leaving one with nothing more than regrets and a light stomachache. All of the real flavors that have been built up previously (no matter how imperfectly in the second act) are now drowned out in one large monotonous bag o' corn. And Pines, at its worst, isn't just a mess. It's downright corny in its old-fashioned insistence on contrived connections and forced themes. Surprisingly, this is the film's strength at the end. It has gone this far. No going back. Since it's already gone so far, it finishes fully committed to itself and what it is and what it has become in 140 minutes. If it's not this year's indie darling, it just might be the best bloated Hollywood film we get this year. Folks, that's entertainment!
The best thing that I can say of the film is that I was fully engaged throughout it's long running time. Pines is a solid piece of entertainment. If, by the end, I had lost some of that blazing emotional connection established early on, I at least was still comforted by the embers that remained.
(How the heck did I get from a stupid, unwieldy food metaphor to a fire metaphor like this and where do I go from here? I think it's time to ride off into the sunset.)
The coda at the end in which the son rides free (I had a hard time imagining that he wasn't riding straight to the DMV and then to a garage for an inspection, but whatever) is as worn-out and cliched as many of the previous moments, but, like I said, Cianfrance is committed to the material, and I was more than happy to ride along.
In the end, movie theater popcorn is still popcorn and, what can I say? I like popcorn. If, at the end of the night, I was thinking more of that sandwich from earlier in the night and I had largely forgotten the chips and pickle, well, the popcorn hadn't ruined the memory of the sandwich at all and I'm having a hard time mustering up too many complaints about popcorn.
Jeff, thanks for getting the Pines talk rolling. Here's my contribution.
It was good to get out to the movies with Ben last week.
The best part of the night was probably eating a tasty sandwich at Panera while Ben distractedly stared at the actress from Compliance (or some girl who looked like her; I'm not sure) while we chatted.
I followed Ben's lead and tried the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich (I think that's what it was called) The sandwich was both light and satisfying, everything I'd hoped it to be. I got chips and a pickle on the side and a glass of teamonade (not an Arnie).
I was still hungry for something more once we had arrived at AMC. I ordered a medium popcorn which I ate throughout Pines' runtime.
The Place Beyond the Pines ended up being a lot like my evening's meal, satisfying at first, but ending on a false note of overindulgence that almost, but not quite, ruined the whole thing.
Like my eating that night, Pines is divided into three acts.
ACT I: Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich
Pines opens with a long over-the-shoulder handheld tracking shot that had me rolling my eyes and wanting to leave. The shot's payoff, though, as the camera hovers outside of the motorcycle cage, is quite nice. The entire shot does effectively communicate Luke's swagger and confidence, his caged emotions, and his reckless courting of danger. The next shot of Luke with the children opens up his character as a warm and likable rogue who could potentially enjoy domestication. Eva Mendes enters the shot and all we, the audience, want at that moment is for these two to spend the rest of their lives together.
Cianfrance is at his best when he is exploring the emotional space between people (often mirrored and modeled in the physical space). Like I told Brandon, Blue Valentine was good enough that Pines became a no-brainer to see without hesitation. Cianfrance (and his camera) poke and prod at Luke and Romina, almost dancelike as the two circle around and in and out and other characters come in between the two. The setup is tragic. It's hard not to care for Luke as he asserts his rights as a father and attempts to provide for "his" girl and his son. At the same time, it's hard to ignore that he is the rotten foreign element who has left without a word while another, better man stood up to care for a woman pregnant with another man's baby. There's no way this is going to end happily for all involved no matter how things shake out.
Blue Valentine had already established Cianfrance as someone who could handle intimate moments. The revelation of Pines is that Cianfrance is a very good action director. During the robbery scenes, my breathing tightened and I felt the thrill. The action is wild and unpredictable and just a little bit crazy. And fast. This is a credit to both the writing and the staging/cinematography.
Act 1, like that veggie sandwich, was delicious and satisfying, pretty much everything that I was hoping for from the film. It hit the spot. I probably could have stopped eating/watching right there and I would have been extremely satisfied. I would have been left wanting more in a good way, with the experience of something good lingering on in my senses, hungry for more, but content instead to reflect on what I had just had instead of moving on.
ACT II: Chips and a Pickle
Afraid that the sandwich couldn't stand alone, I complemented it with chips and a pickle. Cianfrance does the same with his movie. After a sprightly feast, Cianfrance gives us a side order or something much more mundane, a tired cop corruption story. The reason that this segment works at all is the same reason that the chips and pickle worked with the sandwich. I still had some sandwich left and the chips and pickle provided nice counter-flavors that played with the sandwich taste and reinforced the goodness of the sandwich. Act II plays with the same themes of Act I and develops them in parallel ways, drawing out what was implicit in Act I and allowing us to enjoy it all again as seen in a new light. Little pieces of Act 1 weave in and out of Act II and Act II only stands at all in its relation to Act I. On its own, it's really not satisfying at all. This would be a bad taste to end with. Instead of the taste of delicious sandwich, now I've got bits of greasy chips stuck between my teeth. I'm hungry for something else.
ACT III: Movie Theater Popcorn
I love popcorn. I eat it often. Real kernels air-popped, then drizzled with real butter and sprinkled with sea salt. It's one of my favorite things. Movie theater popcorn always sounds good, but it's a poor substitute for the real thing. Oil-popped and cooked with fake seasonings/flavors. A third act of Pines likewise seemed like a good idea, tying together the themes of the previous two acts in an examination of intergenerational transmission of privileges and pains. What seemed like a good idea plays out like fake popcorn, leaving one with nothing more than regrets and a light stomachache. All of the real flavors that have been built up previously (no matter how imperfectly in the second act) are now drowned out in one large monotonous bag o' corn. And Pines, at its worst, isn't just a mess. It's downright corny in its old-fashioned insistence on contrived connections and forced themes. Surprisingly, this is the film's strength at the end. It has gone this far. No going back. Since it's already gone so far, it finishes fully committed to itself and what it is and what it has become in 140 minutes. If it's not this year's indie darling, it just might be the best bloated Hollywood film we get this year. Folks, that's entertainment!
The best thing that I can say of the film is that I was fully engaged throughout it's long running time. Pines is a solid piece of entertainment. If, by the end, I had lost some of that blazing emotional connection established early on, I at least was still comforted by the embers that remained.
(How the heck did I get from a stupid, unwieldy food metaphor to a fire metaphor like this and where do I go from here? I think it's time to ride off into the sunset.)
The coda at the end in which the son rides free (I had a hard time imagining that he wasn't riding straight to the DMV and then to a garage for an inspection, but whatever) is as worn-out and cliched as many of the previous moments, but, like I said, Cianfrance is committed to the material, and I was more than happy to ride along.
In the end, movie theater popcorn is still popcorn and, what can I say? I like popcorn. If, at the end of the night, I was thinking more of that sandwich from earlier in the night and I had largely forgotten the chips and pickle, well, the popcorn hadn't ruined the memory of the sandwich at all and I'm having a hard time mustering up too many complaints about popcorn.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Quizzical Mornings
Brando, thanks for posting your new quiz. I needed a distraction this morning.
Here goes...
1. What are your top five Spielberg films (ranked)?
I'm guessing that you want films "directed by" rather than "produced by," but I'll give you both lists.
Top 5 Directed by Spielberg (based on how much I'd like to re-watch right now):
1. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
2. The Terminal
3. Catch Me if You Can
4. Jurassic Park
5. Minority Report
Top 5 Produced by Spielberg
1. True Grit
2. Band of Brothers
3. Back to the Future Part III
4. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
5. The Mask of Zorro
...and so many more. Spielberg is a great director. He's probably an even better executive producer. A special honorable mention goes to Animaniacs and Pinky & the Brain.
2. Have you ever been convinced by a member of Film Club to change your mind about a movie (tell us about it)?
Yeah, Brandon convinced me that Julien Donkey-Boy is much, much better than I was giving it credit for. ;-)
I can't remember if I've ever completely changed my mind. More often, it's a re-evaluation and re-appreciation for films that I only "kinda liked" that Film Clubbers convinced me I should care more about. For example, Brandon and Catch Me if You Can, Jason standing up for the Duplass brothers, Chris getting me worked up about The Simpsons, Ben championing Ink... wait, Ink sucked. Never mind.
3. What is your favorite sub-genre and why?
I don't know. Westerns with stagecoach drivers getting shot in them?
4. Do you enjoy violence in film and if so do you feel bad and if so why?
Yes. And I don't feel bad about it. I'd distinguish between righteous violence and unrighteousness violence, the artistic depiction of each and the sometimes muddy middle, but that's a long, long post that you're not tricking me into writing right now.
5. Tell us about a few of your strangest theater going experiences.
I have a weird memory of someone pulling a gun and storming out of the theater during a screening of Mo' Money, but that probably never happened. I've almost been in fistfights several times. I had underage kids kicked out of R-rated There Will Be Blood because they were making out loudly and giggling at the movie. I have lots of good memories of going to the movies with friends in high school. Ededi Hrupym still makes me laugh out loud. I fell asleep during the Normandy invasion opening of Saving Private Ryan and woke up near the end of the film feeling refreshed. I can't think of anything really strange.
6. Name 5 films that you have been eager to re-watch, perhaps even despite your tepid response some of them.
I don't know. I want to re-watch Cold Weather. I'd like to re-watch Do-Deca-Pentathlon with Abby. Maybe I'm slowly becoming a "mumblecore" man. Then again, I just re-watched Oz: Great and Powerful and I'd watch it again happily. Two more? I've been meaning to re-watch Terror in a Texas Town and Force of Evil and write "My Essentials" posts about them.
7. Name 5 films that you absolutely love or respect that you have no desire to see ever again (going against John’s Letterbox’d rating system).
Yeah, this question is not for me. There are films that I love, including Stalker, for example, that I can only watch when I'm in the right mood. I can't think of anything that I love that I would never want to watch again. Respect, though? In some sense, I respect Spring Breakers and The Comedy, but I'm totally happy never seeing either one ever again (though I have considered re-watching it to seriously interact with it. I am impressed by Alverson after seeing New Jerusalem and The Comedy).
8. What are five films that you really want to see for the first time?
How about my most anticipated 2013 list?
1) Computer Chess (d: Andrew Bujalski)
2) To the Wonder (d: Terence Malick)
3) Upstream Color (d: Shane Carruth)
4) Ain't Them Bodies Saints (d: David Lowery)
5) Much Ado About Nothing (d: Joss Whedon)
9. Name 5 surprising “classic” popular films that you have not seen.
Here are five that I'm embarrassed I still haven't seen.
1. Vertigo
2. Rio Bravo
3. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
4. Wild Strawberries
5. The Bride of Frankenstein
10. Who are your top five directors of all time (hahahaha)?
1. Tarkovsky
2. Rohmer
3. The Coens
4. Hitchcock
5. Malick
Here goes...
1. What are your top five Spielberg films (ranked)?
I'm guessing that you want films "directed by" rather than "produced by," but I'll give you both lists.
Top 5 Directed by Spielberg (based on how much I'd like to re-watch right now):
1. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
2. The Terminal
3. Catch Me if You Can
4. Jurassic Park
5. Minority Report
Top 5 Produced by Spielberg
1. True Grit
2. Band of Brothers
3. Back to the Future Part III
4. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
5. The Mask of Zorro
...and so many more. Spielberg is a great director. He's probably an even better executive producer. A special honorable mention goes to Animaniacs and Pinky & the Brain.
2. Have you ever been convinced by a member of Film Club to change your mind about a movie (tell us about it)?
Yeah, Brandon convinced me that Julien Donkey-Boy is much, much better than I was giving it credit for. ;-)
I can't remember if I've ever completely changed my mind. More often, it's a re-evaluation and re-appreciation for films that I only "kinda liked" that Film Clubbers convinced me I should care more about. For example, Brandon and Catch Me if You Can, Jason standing up for the Duplass brothers, Chris getting me worked up about The Simpsons, Ben championing Ink... wait, Ink sucked. Never mind.
3. What is your favorite sub-genre and why?
I don't know. Westerns with stagecoach drivers getting shot in them?
4. Do you enjoy violence in film and if so do you feel bad and if so why?
Yes. And I don't feel bad about it. I'd distinguish between righteous violence and unrighteousness violence, the artistic depiction of each and the sometimes muddy middle, but that's a long, long post that you're not tricking me into writing right now.
5. Tell us about a few of your strangest theater going experiences.
I have a weird memory of someone pulling a gun and storming out of the theater during a screening of Mo' Money, but that probably never happened. I've almost been in fistfights several times. I had underage kids kicked out of R-rated There Will Be Blood because they were making out loudly and giggling at the movie. I have lots of good memories of going to the movies with friends in high school. Ededi Hrupym still makes me laugh out loud. I fell asleep during the Normandy invasion opening of Saving Private Ryan and woke up near the end of the film feeling refreshed. I can't think of anything really strange.
6. Name 5 films that you have been eager to re-watch, perhaps even despite your tepid response some of them.
I don't know. I want to re-watch Cold Weather. I'd like to re-watch Do-Deca-Pentathlon with Abby. Maybe I'm slowly becoming a "mumblecore" man. Then again, I just re-watched Oz: Great and Powerful and I'd watch it again happily. Two more? I've been meaning to re-watch Terror in a Texas Town and Force of Evil and write "My Essentials" posts about them.
7. Name 5 films that you absolutely love or respect that you have no desire to see ever again (going against John’s Letterbox’d rating system).
Yeah, this question is not for me. There are films that I love, including Stalker, for example, that I can only watch when I'm in the right mood. I can't think of anything that I love that I would never want to watch again. Respect, though? In some sense, I respect Spring Breakers and The Comedy, but I'm totally happy never seeing either one ever again (though I have considered re-watching it to seriously interact with it. I am impressed by Alverson after seeing New Jerusalem and The Comedy).
8. What are five films that you really want to see for the first time?
How about my most anticipated 2013 list?
1) Computer Chess (d: Andrew Bujalski)
2) To the Wonder (d: Terence Malick)
3) Upstream Color (d: Shane Carruth)
4) Ain't Them Bodies Saints (d: David Lowery)
5) Much Ado About Nothing (d: Joss Whedon)
9. Name 5 surprising “classic” popular films that you have not seen.
Here are five that I'm embarrassed I still haven't seen.
1. Vertigo
2. Rio Bravo
3. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
4. Wild Strawberries
5. The Bride of Frankenstein
10. Who are your top five directors of all time (hahahaha)?
1. Tarkovsky
2. Rohmer
3. The Coens
4. Hitchcock
5. Malick
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Letterboxd Dump
I'm really far behind.
But, there's not all that much catching up to do because I haven't watched a movie in two weeks now, though I did watch half an hour of Distant Trumpet on Monday morning.
Abby and I finished Parks & Recreation Season 3. I'm afraid that S3 is when the show peaked and that it's all downhill from here. I hope not. Season 3 is really good.
I still haven't made up my mind about Tyrannosaur. I watched it again with the director's commentary on. I don't think it's a great film, but it's a very good one and I'll be following Paddy Considine from now on. That guy's got a lot of heart.
I should write about The Comedy but I won't. I think that it's at least as good as Spring Breakers, if not much better.
I also owe Ben a longer Wise Kids post. I don't care enough about it to put in the effort.
So, one big bleh and some repubbing of crappy Letterboxd content catches me up to the present.
Tyrannosaur 2011
★★★★½ Watched 02 Apr, 2013
I'm still digesting this one. The half-star (that i always try to avoid) marks my indecision as to whether I all-out love this one or if I'm going to let a few tics keep me from fully embracing it. I'm planning on watching it again soon.
Argo 2012
★★★ Watched 25 Mar, 2013 1
I forgot to log this one from last week. I liked it more than Brandon did.
The Comedy 2012
★★ Watched 26 Mar, 2013
Alverson achieves his purpose. It's too bad that this success means a movie that is painfully unfunny in its funny.
The Wise Kids 2011
★★ Watched 24 Mar, 2013 2
I guess I was expecting more. Everything about this film is shallow and right-on-the-nose. There are no characters to care about in this film, only preordained types used to represent ideas.
Spring Breakers 2013
★★ Watched 22 Mar, 2013 1
spring break forever = hell
1 like
Holy Motors 2012
★★ Watched 21 Mar, 2013 1
The emperor has no clothes.
1 like
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai 2011
★★★ Watched 19 Mar, 2013
Fun to watch. This would be a Hollywood blockbuster if a great English dub and a bold marketing campaign existed for it.
But, there's not all that much catching up to do because I haven't watched a movie in two weeks now, though I did watch half an hour of Distant Trumpet on Monday morning.
Abby and I finished Parks & Recreation Season 3. I'm afraid that S3 is when the show peaked and that it's all downhill from here. I hope not. Season 3 is really good.
I still haven't made up my mind about Tyrannosaur. I watched it again with the director's commentary on. I don't think it's a great film, but it's a very good one and I'll be following Paddy Considine from now on. That guy's got a lot of heart.
I should write about The Comedy but I won't. I think that it's at least as good as Spring Breakers, if not much better.
I also owe Ben a longer Wise Kids post. I don't care enough about it to put in the effort.
So, one big bleh and some repubbing of crappy Letterboxd content catches me up to the present.
Tyrannosaur 2011
★★★★½ Watched 02 Apr, 2013
I'm still digesting this one. The half-star (that i always try to avoid) marks my indecision as to whether I all-out love this one or if I'm going to let a few tics keep me from fully embracing it. I'm planning on watching it again soon.
Argo 2012
★★★ Watched 25 Mar, 2013 1
I forgot to log this one from last week. I liked it more than Brandon did.
The Comedy 2012
★★ Watched 26 Mar, 2013
Alverson achieves his purpose. It's too bad that this success means a movie that is painfully unfunny in its funny.
The Wise Kids 2011
★★ Watched 24 Mar, 2013 2
I guess I was expecting more. Everything about this film is shallow and right-on-the-nose. There are no characters to care about in this film, only preordained types used to represent ideas.
Spring Breakers 2013
★★ Watched 22 Mar, 2013 1
spring break forever = hell
1 like
Holy Motors 2012
★★ Watched 21 Mar, 2013 1
The emperor has no clothes.
1 like
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai 2011
★★★ Watched 19 Mar, 2013
Fun to watch. This would be a Hollywood blockbuster if a great English dub and a bold marketing campaign existed for it.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Spring Rambling
I wrote all of the following in bits and pieces throughout the morning. I tried to "vomit on the page" to get some thoughts out quickly before too much time passes.
------
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
-----
When a writer/director deliberately has a character quote the bible, my ears perk up and I take notice.
I have long insisted that Korine knows what he is doing. I do think that he is absolutely in control over the wild hedonistic mess that is Spring Breakers.
SB opens with a string of shots advertising the hedonistic pleasures promised to us before settling down into its narrative of four college girls who can't quite afford to achieve their dream of being wild and free on Spring Break, somewhere where no one knows them, everything looks different, and responsibilities have disappeared in the sun alongside everyone's clothes.
Faith (a deliberately on-the-nose name) is introduced as the conscience of the group, first seen (I think) attending some lame Christian pep talk happy circle. The leader of this event quotes "1 Corinthians 10:13," reminding the kids he's counseling that they can withstand temptations.
Faith falters. She does not heed this advice. She goes after the golden calf with her friends. Cf. Faith's "this is the most spiritual place I've ever been" to Aaron's "These are your gods who have brought you out of the house of Egypt." Korine can't be ignorant of the context of 1Corinthians 10. He is deliberately setting up Spring Break as rampant idolatry and ingratitude toward ordinary provisions.
I won't review all of the plot points of the film. We've all seen it. I'll run down the four primary characters, though, as a way of exploring the narrative.
Faith's friends commit a horrible act of violence to gain access to Spring Break. Faith compromises enough to reap the benefits of the evil. She is always flirting with and playing with evil, joining her friends in the mindless beach and drug hedonism, but also a little aloof and trying to spiritualize events in a syncretic way. This is a sad but accurate portrayal of much of the church today.
Brandon mentioned the race aspect of the character's choice to leave when she does, but I don't think that's entirely fair, especially since Gomez is the only one of the girls with a shade of non-white ethnicity. She withdraws when things get serious. Up until that point, she had been pretending (believing) that everything was great. Dabbling with evil is fun and trendy and gives a little thrill. When faced with a fuller commitment to evil, an active participation in a real environment of violence instead of a safe, controlled area of play violence, well, it's revealed that Faith was only flirting with evil and can't stomach the real thing.
The next to drop out is Cotty. I looked up the name because I figured Korine was continuing to wear his symbolism on his sleeve. The word is an adjective meaning "entangled." Cotty, more so than Faith, is entangled in the world of Spring Break. She knows what it means and participates in it fully. She is a full accomplice in the robbery that starts it all. She loves the pseudo-reality of bong hits and beer funnels and attention from all the boys in the room at once. She consents to the madness of Alien's lifestyle. It is only when she is physically wounded that she is violently disentangled from Spring Break. A severe mercy.
Here's where I guess the names either mean nothing or get deep weird. B'rit is the Hebrew word for covenant. It's also a nickname for someone named Britney (Spears, representative of this sort of "youth culture"). Candy is sweet, but too much of it rots your mouth and destroys your health. These two girls have made a full and complete covenant with Spring Break. Spring Break Forever. This is hell. This is the fullness of the Spring Break experience that those on the beach are just playing at. "On the floor, motherfuckers" becomes the core command to all others as the ego rises and autonomous self-realization is made complete.
Ah, but here's the rub. I've been describing this Perfection of Spring Break as hell, but Korine films it as the achievement of Perfect Platonic F'ing RealitieS SPRING BREAK Achieved! The humor and his winking at sins show that he is in awe of the achievement that these girls have made, carrying through so perfectly on their pure desires.
Brandon is right to note a change in tone between Julien Donkey-Boy and Spring Breakers. The depravities on display in JDB are disturbing and the way that they are presented highlights this. The depravities on display in SB is gloried in. Korine seems to be enjoying Spring Break as much as his youthful group of gal hedonists. He delights in each pound of flesh, each gyration, every flirtatious movement.
Back to 1 Corinthians, Paul writes that the negative events recorded in Israel's history serve as an example for the young church in Corinth. They are to flee idolatry. I almost thought that Korine was going here (which still would have been problematic), but he doesn't. Korine's detailing of Spring Break idolatry is not portrayed as something to avoid or flee from. Each of the girls, including the two who see things through to the end, are heard calling their mothers/grandmothers and reporting that they're coming home and going to focus on being good now. The irreality of Spring Break is almost urged as a necessary good, a sort of Amish Rumspringa-style rite of passage that allows one give in to base desires in order to return to a more appropriately-ordered social setting with a new appreciation and conscious appreciation. Experience becomes the crucible of reality. And I think that this is fundamentally wrong. Paul writes, "Flee from idolatry," not "Experiment with idolatry to test your limits."
We do not need to drink the rat poison to know it'll kill us.
In the car, I said that SB is a gangster film and has the same problems as so many gangster films. It makes the lifestyle appealing. It shows unfettered freedom from social responsibility. It may also show the negative consequences that come, but more often than not, this is completely insufficient to counter the overwhelming "freedom" portrayed through the living out of the gangster lifestyle.
I also continue to think that this is Korine's Tree of Life. This is Korine's all-encompassing world philosophy film. It can stand side by side with films like Tree of Life and Melancholia. In rejecting this film, I don't want to belittle Korine's achievement. This is a purest expression of the MTV Beach Party mentality, a mentality that may take different expressions in hipster circles and square circles, but is still very much a dominant narrative paradigm of our time and place.
------
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
-----
When a writer/director deliberately has a character quote the bible, my ears perk up and I take notice.
I have long insisted that Korine knows what he is doing. I do think that he is absolutely in control over the wild hedonistic mess that is Spring Breakers.
SB opens with a string of shots advertising the hedonistic pleasures promised to us before settling down into its narrative of four college girls who can't quite afford to achieve their dream of being wild and free on Spring Break, somewhere where no one knows them, everything looks different, and responsibilities have disappeared in the sun alongside everyone's clothes.
Faith (a deliberately on-the-nose name) is introduced as the conscience of the group, first seen (I think) attending some lame Christian pep talk happy circle. The leader of this event quotes "1 Corinthians 10:13," reminding the kids he's counseling that they can withstand temptations.
Faith falters. She does not heed this advice. She goes after the golden calf with her friends. Cf. Faith's "this is the most spiritual place I've ever been" to Aaron's "These are your gods who have brought you out of the house of Egypt." Korine can't be ignorant of the context of 1Corinthians 10. He is deliberately setting up Spring Break as rampant idolatry and ingratitude toward ordinary provisions.
I won't review all of the plot points of the film. We've all seen it. I'll run down the four primary characters, though, as a way of exploring the narrative.
Faith's friends commit a horrible act of violence to gain access to Spring Break. Faith compromises enough to reap the benefits of the evil. She is always flirting with and playing with evil, joining her friends in the mindless beach and drug hedonism, but also a little aloof and trying to spiritualize events in a syncretic way. This is a sad but accurate portrayal of much of the church today.
Brandon mentioned the race aspect of the character's choice to leave when she does, but I don't think that's entirely fair, especially since Gomez is the only one of the girls with a shade of non-white ethnicity. She withdraws when things get serious. Up until that point, she had been pretending (believing) that everything was great. Dabbling with evil is fun and trendy and gives a little thrill. When faced with a fuller commitment to evil, an active participation in a real environment of violence instead of a safe, controlled area of play violence, well, it's revealed that Faith was only flirting with evil and can't stomach the real thing.
The next to drop out is Cotty. I looked up the name because I figured Korine was continuing to wear his symbolism on his sleeve. The word is an adjective meaning "entangled." Cotty, more so than Faith, is entangled in the world of Spring Break. She knows what it means and participates in it fully. She is a full accomplice in the robbery that starts it all. She loves the pseudo-reality of bong hits and beer funnels and attention from all the boys in the room at once. She consents to the madness of Alien's lifestyle. It is only when she is physically wounded that she is violently disentangled from Spring Break. A severe mercy.
Here's where I guess the names either mean nothing or get deep weird. B'rit is the Hebrew word for covenant. It's also a nickname for someone named Britney (Spears, representative of this sort of "youth culture"). Candy is sweet, but too much of it rots your mouth and destroys your health. These two girls have made a full and complete covenant with Spring Break. Spring Break Forever. This is hell. This is the fullness of the Spring Break experience that those on the beach are just playing at. "On the floor, motherfuckers" becomes the core command to all others as the ego rises and autonomous self-realization is made complete.
Ah, but here's the rub. I've been describing this Perfection of Spring Break as hell, but Korine films it as the achievement of Perfect Platonic F'ing RealitieS SPRING BREAK Achieved! The humor and his winking at sins show that he is in awe of the achievement that these girls have made, carrying through so perfectly on their pure desires.
Brandon is right to note a change in tone between Julien Donkey-Boy and Spring Breakers. The depravities on display in JDB are disturbing and the way that they are presented highlights this. The depravities on display in SB is gloried in. Korine seems to be enjoying Spring Break as much as his youthful group of gal hedonists. He delights in each pound of flesh, each gyration, every flirtatious movement.
Back to 1 Corinthians, Paul writes that the negative events recorded in Israel's history serve as an example for the young church in Corinth. They are to flee idolatry. I almost thought that Korine was going here (which still would have been problematic), but he doesn't. Korine's detailing of Spring Break idolatry is not portrayed as something to avoid or flee from. Each of the girls, including the two who see things through to the end, are heard calling their mothers/grandmothers and reporting that they're coming home and going to focus on being good now. The irreality of Spring Break is almost urged as a necessary good, a sort of Amish Rumspringa-style rite of passage that allows one give in to base desires in order to return to a more appropriately-ordered social setting with a new appreciation and conscious appreciation. Experience becomes the crucible of reality. And I think that this is fundamentally wrong. Paul writes, "Flee from idolatry," not "Experiment with idolatry to test your limits."
We do not need to drink the rat poison to know it'll kill us.
In the car, I said that SB is a gangster film and has the same problems as so many gangster films. It makes the lifestyle appealing. It shows unfettered freedom from social responsibility. It may also show the negative consequences that come, but more often than not, this is completely insufficient to counter the overwhelming "freedom" portrayed through the living out of the gangster lifestyle.
I also continue to think that this is Korine's Tree of Life. This is Korine's all-encompassing world philosophy film. It can stand side by side with films like Tree of Life and Melancholia. In rejecting this film, I don't want to belittle Korine's achievement. This is a purest expression of the MTV Beach Party mentality, a mentality that may take different expressions in hipster circles and square circles, but is still very much a dominant narrative paradigm of our time and place.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Jeffy's Quiz
Trying not to spend too much time on this. You all can mock me as you will. Here are the answers that come quick.
1. Best use of Technicolor on film? (Best use of color, period, will work).
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is the movie I think of when I think of Technicolor. Technicolor was made for mythic melodrama.
2. What’s your favorite film score? Favorite film composer?
Score: Dead Man Walking
Composer: Ennio Morricone
3. What’s your favorite film from the year you were born?
Stalker.
4. Robert Mitchum or Dana Andrews?
Mitchum
5. (In terms of acting) Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby? David Bowie or Tom Waits?
Bing.
Waits.
6. What’s your favorite film with a woman’s name in the title?
I can't think of any off the top of my head so I'll go with the previously mentioned Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. It's right up there as a favorite anyways.
7. Who is your favorite foreign-language film director working today? Who is your favorite foreign-language film director of all time?
Today: Hayao Miyazaki
All-Time: Andrei Tarkovsky
8. If you could have written any screenplay, what would it be and why?
I have a really tough time answering questions like this. I'm not envious of others' success and have never seriously tried to write a screenplay. Trying to engage with the spirit of the question, though, I guess I'd say Adventureland. Because it's a screenplay that I admire and that I could have possibly written if I had ever worked at an amusement park. Which I never did.
9. Name the character from a film that scared you the most as a child. Name the film character, if any, that scares you the most now.
Child: Mombi from Return to Oz.
Now: Walter White
10. What’s the first R Rated film you remember seeing?
I can't remember. We had HBO and I watched all sorts of things at a young age that I shouldn't have been watching.
11. Name your favorite moment of vengeance in a film. And which film has portrayed the complexity of vengeance most accurately to you? (interpret that any way you’d like).
I've been thinking about Decision at Sundown since reading a review of it yesterday. That's my pick. I might watch it again soon and write about it.
12. It is okay to depict a positive story out of something as horrific and destructive as the Holocaust (e.g. SCHINDLER’S LIST). Agree or disagree with this statement.
I'm not sure what you mean here. Do you mean something like a musical comedy about the trials and tribulations of gas chamber maintenance and mass grave digging in outrageously rocky soil? Or do you mean something more mundane like Life is Beautiful or Inglourious Basterds or even Defiance or Valkyrie?
13. Which war film, if any, has had the greatest emotional impact on you?
Joyeux Noel. It is a very powerful film.
14. Name the top five *best looking* films you’ve ever seen.
I can't do this off of the top of my head. Sorry that I'm so lame.
15. Which film title would you use to describe yourself? Which film title would you use to describe each member of film club?
This is going to take way too much time to do right. I'll be sure to be entertained when I read everyone else's great ideas.
16. David Lynch or David Cronenberg?
Cronenberg.
17. Is there a book you would like to see currently made into a film? If so, by which director?
I've previously suggested that I'd like to see Linklater adapt Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. I'll go with that. I'd love to see Aaron Katz direct a series of Inspector Maigret adaptations.
18. What’s the most overrated film of the 90s?
I don't know. Dances With Wolves?
19. You are a guest programmer on Turner Classic Movies. You get to choose any four movies to play. What are they?
Terror in a Texas Town
Force of Evil
3:10 to Yuma
Passport to Pimlico
20. It’s Ark time. You are only allowed to save films from one country (excluding the United States). Which country and why?
France. Probably because I've seen more French films than any other country's films.
1. Best use of Technicolor on film? (Best use of color, period, will work).
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is the movie I think of when I think of Technicolor. Technicolor was made for mythic melodrama.
2. What’s your favorite film score? Favorite film composer?
Score: Dead Man Walking
Composer: Ennio Morricone
3. What’s your favorite film from the year you were born?
Stalker.
4. Robert Mitchum or Dana Andrews?
Mitchum
5. (In terms of acting) Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby? David Bowie or Tom Waits?
Bing.
Waits.
6. What’s your favorite film with a woman’s name in the title?
I can't think of any off the top of my head so I'll go with the previously mentioned Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. It's right up there as a favorite anyways.
7. Who is your favorite foreign-language film director working today? Who is your favorite foreign-language film director of all time?
Today: Hayao Miyazaki
All-Time: Andrei Tarkovsky
8. If you could have written any screenplay, what would it be and why?
I have a really tough time answering questions like this. I'm not envious of others' success and have never seriously tried to write a screenplay. Trying to engage with the spirit of the question, though, I guess I'd say Adventureland. Because it's a screenplay that I admire and that I could have possibly written if I had ever worked at an amusement park. Which I never did.
9. Name the character from a film that scared you the most as a child. Name the film character, if any, that scares you the most now.
Child: Mombi from Return to Oz.
Now: Walter White
10. What’s the first R Rated film you remember seeing?
I can't remember. We had HBO and I watched all sorts of things at a young age that I shouldn't have been watching.
11. Name your favorite moment of vengeance in a film. And which film has portrayed the complexity of vengeance most accurately to you? (interpret that any way you’d like).
I've been thinking about Decision at Sundown since reading a review of it yesterday. That's my pick. I might watch it again soon and write about it.
12. It is okay to depict a positive story out of something as horrific and destructive as the Holocaust (e.g. SCHINDLER’S LIST). Agree or disagree with this statement.
I'm not sure what you mean here. Do you mean something like a musical comedy about the trials and tribulations of gas chamber maintenance and mass grave digging in outrageously rocky soil? Or do you mean something more mundane like Life is Beautiful or Inglourious Basterds or even Defiance or Valkyrie?
13. Which war film, if any, has had the greatest emotional impact on you?
Joyeux Noel. It is a very powerful film.
14. Name the top five *best looking* films you’ve ever seen.
I can't do this off of the top of my head. Sorry that I'm so lame.
15. Which film title would you use to describe yourself? Which film title would you use to describe each member of film club?
This is going to take way too much time to do right. I'll be sure to be entertained when I read everyone else's great ideas.
16. David Lynch or David Cronenberg?
Cronenberg.
17. Is there a book you would like to see currently made into a film? If so, by which director?
I've previously suggested that I'd like to see Linklater adapt Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. I'll go with that. I'd love to see Aaron Katz direct a series of Inspector Maigret adaptations.
18. What’s the most overrated film of the 90s?
I don't know. Dances With Wolves?
19. You are a guest programmer on Turner Classic Movies. You get to choose any four movies to play. What are they?
Terror in a Texas Town
Force of Evil
3:10 to Yuma
Passport to Pimlico
20. It’s Ark time. You are only allowed to save films from one country (excluding the United States). Which country and why?
France. Probably because I've seen more French films than any other country's films.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Good viewing
I haven't been watching much, but I've been enjoying what I've been watching.
Hellfire is a genuine B western. Unlike so many B westerns, it is not interchangeable with dozens, if not hundreds, of other B westerns. The script is unique. Hellfire is the story of a gambler-turned-preacher looking to raise money to build a church. The best way to do this presents itself to him as catching the notorious Doll Brown and collecting the reward money for her capture. The interesting twist is that he's not willing to turn her in even after he's captured her. He's after her soul every bit as much as he's after the money. His goal is to convince her to turn herself in! What follows is plenty of action, a dose of screwball comedy, a burlesque song, and a nice bit of wild west preaching. All of this concludes in an ending which is as emotionally satisfying as it is sentimentally over-the-top. All of this is held together in the perfect performances of Bill Elliot and Marie Windsor. Good stuff indeed.
Sinister is worse than Brandon made it out to be. I can't even explain it. We get a shot of an 8mm film of girls hanging from a tree; cut to a shot of Hawke watching film; cut to film image; cut to Hawke writing in notebook; cut to film; cut to over-the-shoulder shot of notebook- Hawke writes, Why are girls in tree?; cut to film image; cut to close-up of writing in notebook. I know that I'm not remembering that sequence quite right, but that's about the moment when I shut off the movie. It was one stupid moment like that after another. Not to mention that Hawke's character is a complete idiot. Maybe he dies a grisly death at the end? I didn't stick around to find out.
Coffee and Cigarettes is fun to watch, but I don't feel satisfied after watching it. A little buzzed on caffeine and nicotine is all.
Oz: The Great and Powerful didn't quite awaken John Carter levels of Sense of Wonder in the kid-part of my brain. It still more than satisfied. I may be giving it extra points for being a part of a great day out with my girls. I expect that the rest of FC will skip this one, at least until DVD. I'll write more if anyone does watch it and wants to argue.
Station West is as tough as they come. It unravels a little too sloppily in the end. Up until that point, it's a tight knot of hard-boiled noir characters butting heads with one another, including a femme fatale who is, quite naturally, as dangerous as she is lovely.
In TV Club news, I'm done with Season 1 of Mad Men. It is a well-crafted show and I'll keep watching (I have Seasons 1-4 on DVD borrowed from my mother). I don't have much to say about it. I'm invested in Draper's story, I guess, but I don't much like him. The best moment is when the woman calls him out as a coward. I'd love to see Draper broken and repentant, but I don't think MM is ever going to go there. I'm guessing that he digs deeper into his Randian jerk-as-hero persona.
Hellfire is a genuine B western. Unlike so many B westerns, it is not interchangeable with dozens, if not hundreds, of other B westerns. The script is unique. Hellfire is the story of a gambler-turned-preacher looking to raise money to build a church. The best way to do this presents itself to him as catching the notorious Doll Brown and collecting the reward money for her capture. The interesting twist is that he's not willing to turn her in even after he's captured her. He's after her soul every bit as much as he's after the money. His goal is to convince her to turn herself in! What follows is plenty of action, a dose of screwball comedy, a burlesque song, and a nice bit of wild west preaching. All of this concludes in an ending which is as emotionally satisfying as it is sentimentally over-the-top. All of this is held together in the perfect performances of Bill Elliot and Marie Windsor. Good stuff indeed.
Sinister is worse than Brandon made it out to be. I can't even explain it. We get a shot of an 8mm film of girls hanging from a tree; cut to a shot of Hawke watching film; cut to film image; cut to Hawke writing in notebook; cut to film; cut to over-the-shoulder shot of notebook- Hawke writes, Why are girls in tree?; cut to film image; cut to close-up of writing in notebook. I know that I'm not remembering that sequence quite right, but that's about the moment when I shut off the movie. It was one stupid moment like that after another. Not to mention that Hawke's character is a complete idiot. Maybe he dies a grisly death at the end? I didn't stick around to find out.
Coffee and Cigarettes is fun to watch, but I don't feel satisfied after watching it. A little buzzed on caffeine and nicotine is all.
Oz: The Great and Powerful didn't quite awaken John Carter levels of Sense of Wonder in the kid-part of my brain. It still more than satisfied. I may be giving it extra points for being a part of a great day out with my girls. I expect that the rest of FC will skip this one, at least until DVD. I'll write more if anyone does watch it and wants to argue.
Station West is as tough as they come. It unravels a little too sloppily in the end. Up until that point, it's a tight knot of hard-boiled noir characters butting heads with one another, including a femme fatale who is, quite naturally, as dangerous as she is lovely.
In TV Club news, I'm done with Season 1 of Mad Men. It is a well-crafted show and I'll keep watching (I have Seasons 1-4 on DVD borrowed from my mother). I don't have much to say about it. I'm invested in Draper's story, I guess, but I don't much like him. The best moment is when the woman calls him out as a coward. I'd love to see Draper broken and repentant, but I don't think MM is ever going to go there. I'm guessing that he digs deeper into his Randian jerk-as-hero persona.
Top 5 Most Anticipated 2013
1) Computer Chess (d: Andrew Bujalski)
2) To the Wonder (d: Terence Malick)
3) Upstream Color (d: Shane Carruth)
4) Ain't Them Bodies Saints (d: David Lowery)
5) Much Ado About Nothing (d: Joss Whedon)
2) To the Wonder (d: Terence Malick)
3) Upstream Color (d: Shane Carruth)
4) Ain't Them Bodies Saints (d: David Lowery)
5) Much Ado About Nothing (d: Joss Whedon)
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Quizzical Response
Brandon, fun quiz. I'd do it again, but you won't be convincing me to spend any time on them. Wham bam thank you bran, I'm done. Loved the grading. I put up an angry comment on CR5FC-FB just to see if I could get away with kidding without winking.
I'm not super-excited about Spring Breakers. I am afraid I'll hate it. I still haven't seen Trash Humpers (I would have seen it if it had played anywhere local). I would defend Gummo, but I don't think it's great. Mister Lonely is seriously good and funny. Julien Donkey-Boy is one of my all-time favorites. They're obviously very different directors, but I feel toward Korine the same way that I feel toward PT Anderson: cautiously optimistic. Both are sure to rattle my eye sockets and give me that "oh wow" sucker punch to my core. Every film is an event and a challenge. There are other directors that I feel the same about. I guess my point is that Korine is a major player in cinema and he's representing the home (U.S.) team. I'll be rooting for him whatever he does even if he never makes anything close to JDB again.
Re: film era. It's an easy choice. The present is not only the present (though the present is good). The present is all of film past available to us. We could gripe about deep back catalog titles not being available. We should do that, but only after gratefully acknowledging what unprecedented access we have to the past. Not only access, but the ability to discuss and joke and form community through these blogs and FB and all. In the 50s, if I was a cinephile living in the the country outside of Binghamton, I wouldn't be watching all of the movies that I can now. Maybe I'd be watching Gunsmoke and a dozen other TV westerns. I wouldn't be arguing about an Austrian film with friends living miles away. So, it's not only the films, but film culture that has me picking now as the best "era".
I found that Richard Brody review linked to from a history site and not a film review site. I guess you got me there, but only on a technicality. I did recently get a subscription to the New Yorker so I will be reading Brody and Lane regularly now. My first issue arrived yesterday.
And I do love reading film criticism. I'm sure I'll return to it eventually.
I'd watch Malick's version of Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Quit pretending that that wouldn't be the coolest film event of any year.
I should join in on the love for Gabin. He can hold his own against Bogart any day.
I think that I've written in the past about why I dislike raunchy comedies. Do you really need me to spell it out for you?
I'd make a Westerns List.
I'm not super-excited about Spring Breakers. I am afraid I'll hate it. I still haven't seen Trash Humpers (I would have seen it if it had played anywhere local). I would defend Gummo, but I don't think it's great. Mister Lonely is seriously good and funny. Julien Donkey-Boy is one of my all-time favorites. They're obviously very different directors, but I feel toward Korine the same way that I feel toward PT Anderson: cautiously optimistic. Both are sure to rattle my eye sockets and give me that "oh wow" sucker punch to my core. Every film is an event and a challenge. There are other directors that I feel the same about. I guess my point is that Korine is a major player in cinema and he's representing the home (U.S.) team. I'll be rooting for him whatever he does even if he never makes anything close to JDB again.
Re: film era. It's an easy choice. The present is not only the present (though the present is good). The present is all of film past available to us. We could gripe about deep back catalog titles not being available. We should do that, but only after gratefully acknowledging what unprecedented access we have to the past. Not only access, but the ability to discuss and joke and form community through these blogs and FB and all. In the 50s, if I was a cinephile living in the the country outside of Binghamton, I wouldn't be watching all of the movies that I can now. Maybe I'd be watching Gunsmoke and a dozen other TV westerns. I wouldn't be arguing about an Austrian film with friends living miles away. So, it's not only the films, but film culture that has me picking now as the best "era".
I found that Richard Brody review linked to from a history site and not a film review site. I guess you got me there, but only on a technicality. I did recently get a subscription to the New Yorker so I will be reading Brody and Lane regularly now. My first issue arrived yesterday.
And I do love reading film criticism. I'm sure I'll return to it eventually.
I'd watch Malick's version of Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Quit pretending that that wouldn't be the coolest film event of any year.
I should join in on the love for Gabin. He can hold his own against Bogart any day.
I think that I've written in the past about why I dislike raunchy comedies. Do you really need me to spell it out for you?
I'd make a Westerns List.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Brando's Quiz
1. What is the most overrated film of the past 5 years and briefly explain why?
Everything by Nolan. I've made my feelings known already.
2. What are your favorite 3 favorite television shows currently running?
1. Breaking Bad
2. Parks & Recreation
3. The Colbert Report
Breaking Bad is the only TV show I'm current with. You all know I love this one. I've seen some recent episodes of P&R. Abby and I are currently working through the whole series. We're currently in the middle of Season 2. I find it to be consistently funny in its character-driven humor. I don't stay current with Colbert, but I do enjoy him from time to time. Watching him too much is a bit cultish and a bit bad for one's health, I think, in the same way that keeping up with the "real" news is. I respect his comedic chops, but I also sometimes weary of the never-ending mockery. I guess I'm really sick of so much out there being worthy of this level of satire. Even if so much deserves it, I think that the show's satire is not a good place to permanently reside.
3. Name one film and television show you are ashamed to admit to liking?
I'm not ashamed.
4. What do you look for in a film writer?
"But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances." -Aristotle
5. Name a great director (in your opinion) who also has enough problems to make you wonder why you hold him/her in such high regard.
Harmony Korine. I'm convinced that JDB is a Masterpiece. I'm not convinced that Korine is a Master.
6. What is your favorite film era and why do you think this era speaks so much to you?
Right now is my favorite film era. Because it's the era I'm in.
7. Name your favorite five working film critics.
I don't know. I stopped reading current film criticism last year. I wasn't keeping up with the films so I lost interest in the news and criticism. The guys (sorry, no gals) I'd turn to often in the past were:
David Hudson (the greatest aggregator on the webs)
Matt Zoller Seitz
Jim Emerson
Glenn Kenny
Roger Ebert
8. Name your five least favorite.
I can't think of any. Armond White's name springs to mind, but I don't think that's fair because he's fun to read and he is a good critic when he's not focused on being negative.
9. Name a few directors whom you have liked in the past that you are worried about and briefly explain why.
I can't think of any off of the top of my head. I'm sure there are plenty, but I'm drawing a blank and this quiz ceases to be an amusing diversion the moment I have to do research.
10. What actor and actress would make you watch an otherwise uninteresting film?
I watched Total Recall because of Bryan Cranston. It wasn't worth it.
11. What director would make you watch a film with an otherwise uninteresting plot and why?
I have many favorite directors that I'll watch anything they do. The Coens are the first to spring to mind.
12. What film did you feel the most intimidated to like despite some heavy reservations (be honest here)?
I feel like The Master has intimidated me into liking it. Not the buzz or the critical reception. The massive hulking thereness of such a rough beast. The film itself. It's intimidating.
13. What is your favorite documentary?
Probably Collision, the recent doc I watched about Wilson and Hitchens. Lake of Fire is the only documentary that has ever made me cry to the point that my whole body was in convulsions.
14. Billy Wilder or Preston Sturges?
Sturges without a second thought.
15. Jean Gabin or Humphrey Bogart?
Bogie.
16. Director you want to like more than you honestly do.
Scorsese. This isn't quite true. I like Scorsese a lot. I could listen to him talk about film all day long and into next week. It's his movies that I can't quite connect with.
17. 5 most anticipated films of 2013?
I'd have to look this up. Maybe I'll make a separate list soon.
18. What is your least favorite current sub-genre or film scene?
I hate the rise of raunchy comedies.
19. Name your 5 favorite unheralded modern day directors in a critical sense.
I don't know. I wish that Aaron Katz was getting billion dollar budgets.
20. What top 5 or 10 list would you most likely do in the near future if offered by a handsome member of Film Club?
I don't know. I'm burned out on movies at the moment. I haven't really been thinking about film much and I definitely haven't been obsessing enough to be in list mode. These things come in waves, though, and I'm sure I'll be dying to make any ol' list sometime in the future. I've watched a few good movies recently and I've got a post already written that I'll put up later today. Adrienne's Amour post got me fired up about that film. Maybe if you sat me in front of an Amour/Killer Joe double feature, I'd be inspired to make a Top Ten Intensely Disliked by Me Well-Crafted Movies Rant List. Speaking of that, you're missing a question that would have let me rant about how Ang Lee's Hulk movie.
Everything by Nolan. I've made my feelings known already.
2. What are your favorite 3 favorite television shows currently running?
1. Breaking Bad
2. Parks & Recreation
3. The Colbert Report
Breaking Bad is the only TV show I'm current with. You all know I love this one. I've seen some recent episodes of P&R. Abby and I are currently working through the whole series. We're currently in the middle of Season 2. I find it to be consistently funny in its character-driven humor. I don't stay current with Colbert, but I do enjoy him from time to time. Watching him too much is a bit cultish and a bit bad for one's health, I think, in the same way that keeping up with the "real" news is. I respect his comedic chops, but I also sometimes weary of the never-ending mockery. I guess I'm really sick of so much out there being worthy of this level of satire. Even if so much deserves it, I think that the show's satire is not a good place to permanently reside.
3. Name one film and television show you are ashamed to admit to liking?
I'm not ashamed.
4. What do you look for in a film writer?
"But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances." -Aristotle
5. Name a great director (in your opinion) who also has enough problems to make you wonder why you hold him/her in such high regard.
Harmony Korine. I'm convinced that JDB is a Masterpiece. I'm not convinced that Korine is a Master.
6. What is your favorite film era and why do you think this era speaks so much to you?
Right now is my favorite film era. Because it's the era I'm in.
7. Name your favorite five working film critics.
I don't know. I stopped reading current film criticism last year. I wasn't keeping up with the films so I lost interest in the news and criticism. The guys (sorry, no gals) I'd turn to often in the past were:
David Hudson (the greatest aggregator on the webs)
Matt Zoller Seitz
Jim Emerson
Glenn Kenny
Roger Ebert
8. Name your five least favorite.
I can't think of any. Armond White's name springs to mind, but I don't think that's fair because he's fun to read and he is a good critic when he's not focused on being negative.
9. Name a few directors whom you have liked in the past that you are worried about and briefly explain why.
I can't think of any off of the top of my head. I'm sure there are plenty, but I'm drawing a blank and this quiz ceases to be an amusing diversion the moment I have to do research.
10. What actor and actress would make you watch an otherwise uninteresting film?
I watched Total Recall because of Bryan Cranston. It wasn't worth it.
11. What director would make you watch a film with an otherwise uninteresting plot and why?
I have many favorite directors that I'll watch anything they do. The Coens are the first to spring to mind.
12. What film did you feel the most intimidated to like despite some heavy reservations (be honest here)?
I feel like The Master has intimidated me into liking it. Not the buzz or the critical reception. The massive hulking thereness of such a rough beast. The film itself. It's intimidating.
13. What is your favorite documentary?
Probably Collision, the recent doc I watched about Wilson and Hitchens. Lake of Fire is the only documentary that has ever made me cry to the point that my whole body was in convulsions.
14. Billy Wilder or Preston Sturges?
Sturges without a second thought.
15. Jean Gabin or Humphrey Bogart?
Bogie.
16. Director you want to like more than you honestly do.
Scorsese. This isn't quite true. I like Scorsese a lot. I could listen to him talk about film all day long and into next week. It's his movies that I can't quite connect with.
17. 5 most anticipated films of 2013?
I'd have to look this up. Maybe I'll make a separate list soon.
18. What is your least favorite current sub-genre or film scene?
I hate the rise of raunchy comedies.
19. Name your 5 favorite unheralded modern day directors in a critical sense.
I don't know. I wish that Aaron Katz was getting billion dollar budgets.
20. What top 5 or 10 list would you most likely do in the near future if offered by a handsome member of Film Club?
I don't know. I'm burned out on movies at the moment. I haven't really been thinking about film much and I definitely haven't been obsessing enough to be in list mode. These things come in waves, though, and I'm sure I'll be dying to make any ol' list sometime in the future. I've watched a few good movies recently and I've got a post already written that I'll put up later today. Adrienne's Amour post got me fired up about that film. Maybe if you sat me in front of an Amour/Killer Joe double feature, I'd be inspired to make a Top Ten Intensely Disliked by Me Well-Crafted Movies Rant List. Speaking of that, you're missing a question that would have let me rant about how Ang Lee's Hulk movie.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
That's Amour, eh?
Someone else has probably already beaten me to that title, but I thought of it now, so I'm using it just the same to show off how amazingly clever this post is going to be.
If Amour is bullshit, well, at least it's providing plenty of fertilizer for film club posts.
Adrienne wrote, "I don’t think Haneke is judging these two"
Haneke absolutely is judging these two.
Your sentence bugs me because it's guilty (see how I just judged you!) of associating judgment entirely with its negative connotation. Judgment, though, is a great thing. Judgment is something necessary to wisdom. And it's very possible to judge something, even "harshly," and come to the judgment that the something you have been evaluating is quite wonderful. For instance, I judge your "Amour is bullshit" post to be overall quite good even as I quibble with one sentence.
So, back to Haneke. He puts these two characters through a terrible trial. This is presented matter-of-factly. We see characters acting out this struggle in the way that they do and occasionally we get alternate perspectives (from the former student, from the daughter) that challenge the primary perspective. We are obviously drawn into the suffering. Haneke succeeds wonderfully at communicating the weight of suffering.
At the end of the trial, the husband puts a pillow over his wife's face and kills her. I view this as a moral failure (on the character's part; Haneke's failure comes later), though maybe an understandable one. Haneke views it as a beautiful release of tragic necessity. If Haneke had ended the film at the close of the pillow scene (or with the husband's death), then I would have agreed with you that Haneke has left the audience to judge. He is successful at this in other films. Here, he gets sentimental.
Haneke does not leave judgment (of the characters) in the audience's hands, but guides them by the hand through HIS judgment by filling out the ending with bird-brained symbolism and a straight portrayal of the murder/death as a freeing release for both husband and wife, both reconciled in happiness and wholeness in death, Haneke's cinematic heaven.
The pillow scene is what it is. It is the final 5-10 minutes or so after the pillow that really irk me.
Finally, no, your blog post counts as one post and not two. Next time, you'll have to split it up into Parts 1 and 2.
Jeffrey, where you at? Yo' boy Mikey Hankey needs your help.
Chris, I've run out of pillow jokes. Please, help.
Okay, I do have one more.
Me: Knock, Knock.
Brandon: Who's there?
Me: Pillow.
Brandon: Pillow who?
Me: Michael Haneke's Pillow all over your face.
Brandon: Hahahahaha
Me: [applying pillow to Brandon's face]
Brandon: Hahahammammfmmfmfmffff........
Me: Academy award, please.
Brandon: [silence]
That's the best I could come up with. See? I'm losing touch with what's funny with the kiddos. Maybe for my next post, I'll compose a song about seeing Jason's and Ben's boobs.
If Amour is bullshit, well, at least it's providing plenty of fertilizer for film club posts.
Adrienne wrote, "I don’t think Haneke is judging these two"
Haneke absolutely is judging these two.
Your sentence bugs me because it's guilty (see how I just judged you!) of associating judgment entirely with its negative connotation. Judgment, though, is a great thing. Judgment is something necessary to wisdom. And it's very possible to judge something, even "harshly," and come to the judgment that the something you have been evaluating is quite wonderful. For instance, I judge your "Amour is bullshit" post to be overall quite good even as I quibble with one sentence.
So, back to Haneke. He puts these two characters through a terrible trial. This is presented matter-of-factly. We see characters acting out this struggle in the way that they do and occasionally we get alternate perspectives (from the former student, from the daughter) that challenge the primary perspective. We are obviously drawn into the suffering. Haneke succeeds wonderfully at communicating the weight of suffering.
At the end of the trial, the husband puts a pillow over his wife's face and kills her. I view this as a moral failure (on the character's part; Haneke's failure comes later), though maybe an understandable one. Haneke views it as a beautiful release of tragic necessity. If Haneke had ended the film at the close of the pillow scene (or with the husband's death), then I would have agreed with you that Haneke has left the audience to judge. He is successful at this in other films. Here, he gets sentimental.
Haneke does not leave judgment (of the characters) in the audience's hands, but guides them by the hand through HIS judgment by filling out the ending with bird-brained symbolism and a straight portrayal of the murder/death as a freeing release for both husband and wife, both reconciled in happiness and wholeness in death, Haneke's cinematic heaven.
The pillow scene is what it is. It is the final 5-10 minutes or so after the pillow that really irk me.
Finally, no, your blog post counts as one post and not two. Next time, you'll have to split it up into Parts 1 and 2.
Jeffrey, where you at? Yo' boy Mikey Hankey needs your help.
Chris, I've run out of pillow jokes. Please, help.
Okay, I do have one more.
Me: Knock, Knock.
Brandon: Who's there?
Me: Pillow.
Brandon: Pillow who?
Me: Michael Haneke's Pillow all over your face.
Brandon: Hahahahaha
Me: [applying pillow to Brandon's face]
Brandon: Hahahammammfmmfmfmffff........
Me: Academy award, please.
Brandon: [silence]
That's the best I could come up with. See? I'm losing touch with what's funny with the kiddos. Maybe for my next post, I'll compose a song about seeing Jason's and Ben's boobs.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
My Essentials: 3:10 to Yuma
"There is a lonely train,
Called the 3:10 to Yuma.
The pounding of the wheels,
Is more like a mournful sigh."
Some movies are so perfect and so perfectly suited to a specific viewer that they're nearly impossible to write about.
I feel myself overwhelmed by 3:10 to Yuma. It is so easily watchable. That beautiful theme, sung by Frankie Laine over the opening credits, is a haunting little song. It recurs throughout the film. Sometimes, as a strand of the score. Sometimes, as a wistful whistle from the characters acting out a drama larger than themselves, the whistle an acknowledgment that all are caught up in stories and forces and functions that are far beyond their control. All of this to highlight and underscore that each moment is within our control as far as every choice we make matters.
"There's a legend and there's a rumour.
When you take the 3:10 to Yuma,
You can see the ghosts,
Of outlaws go riding by, (riding by)
In the sky (in the sky),
'Way up high."
This is a movie that one needs to submit to immediately. If the Lane song doesn't transport you into a realm of legends and rumours, then you're not in the right frame of mind to watch this movie. At the same time that the movie approaches tall tale territory, it is rooted in an insistently grim realism, the tale of a family farmer at the mercy of the elements. Everything he has worked for in his life could be lost because of something out of his control. Taking ahold of what one can control and seeing it through is one key theme of the film.
"The buzzards keep circling the train,
While below the cattle are thirsting for rain.
It's also true they say,
On the 3:10 to Yuma,
A man can meet his fate.
For fate travels everywhere."
The family farmer is given choices. He's given opportunities. And he acts on them regardless of the difficulty and the danger. This is a simple and a straightforward message, but it's one that inspires me every time.
"'Though you've got no reason to go there,
And there ain't a soul that you know there.
When the 3:10 to Yuma whistles its sad refrain.
Take that train (take that train)
Take that train."
http://youtu.be/nkXDLNRVMxY
Called the 3:10 to Yuma.
The pounding of the wheels,
Is more like a mournful sigh."
Some movies are so perfect and so perfectly suited to a specific viewer that they're nearly impossible to write about.
I feel myself overwhelmed by 3:10 to Yuma. It is so easily watchable. That beautiful theme, sung by Frankie Laine over the opening credits, is a haunting little song. It recurs throughout the film. Sometimes, as a strand of the score. Sometimes, as a wistful whistle from the characters acting out a drama larger than themselves, the whistle an acknowledgment that all are caught up in stories and forces and functions that are far beyond their control. All of this to highlight and underscore that each moment is within our control as far as every choice we make matters.
"There's a legend and there's a rumour.
When you take the 3:10 to Yuma,
You can see the ghosts,
Of outlaws go riding by, (riding by)
In the sky (in the sky),
'Way up high."
This is a movie that one needs to submit to immediately. If the Lane song doesn't transport you into a realm of legends and rumours, then you're not in the right frame of mind to watch this movie. At the same time that the movie approaches tall tale territory, it is rooted in an insistently grim realism, the tale of a family farmer at the mercy of the elements. Everything he has worked for in his life could be lost because of something out of his control. Taking ahold of what one can control and seeing it through is one key theme of the film.
"The buzzards keep circling the train,
While below the cattle are thirsting for rain.
It's also true they say,
On the 3:10 to Yuma,
A man can meet his fate.
For fate travels everywhere."
The family farmer is given choices. He's given opportunities. And he acts on them regardless of the difficulty and the danger. This is a simple and a straightforward message, but it's one that inspires me every time.
"'Though you've got no reason to go there,
And there ain't a soul that you know there.
When the 3:10 to Yuma whistles its sad refrain.
Take that train (take that train)
Take that train."
http://youtu.be/nkXDLNRVMxY
Six Star Salute
On Letterboxd, I wrote that Cosmopolis is Cronenberg's best film since Videodrome. To be clear, I'm no Cronenberg expert. What films of his I've seen have mostly been seen long ago. I have a love/hate relationship with Cronenberg. His films seem to me to be oppressively uncomfortable and unpleasant. I'd have to re-watch them all to explore whatever I mean and defend that nebulous feeling I'm having a hard time properly identifying. Regardless, Cosmopolis resonates as a prophetic commentary on present hopes/fears related to our media environment in the same way that Videodrome probed into hopes/fears related to the media environment of its time. I don't know.
Rebel Without a Cause is a smart film. It's a shame that the parents who needed to watch this film and repent of their loveless keeping up of appearances were probably the same ones that led crusades to keep this film out of their small towns.
Rebel Without a Cause is a smart film. It's a shame that the parents who needed to watch this film and repent of their loveless keeping up of appearances were probably the same ones that led crusades to keep this film out of their small towns.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Following Chris
I've added a few Oscar categories that Chris omitted. Otherwise, I'm just following his lead.
FILM
Best Film: John Carter
Best Director: Andrew Stanton, John Carter
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Best Actress: Greta Gerwig, Damsels in Distress
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Shannon, Premium Rush
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, The Master
Best Original Screenplay: Whit Stillman, Damsels in Distress
Best Adapted Screenplay: Andrew Stanton & Mark Andrews & Michael Chabon, John Carter
Best Original Score: Jonny Greenwood, The Master
Best Soundtrack: Moonrise Kingdom
Best Animated Feature: Brave
Best Foreign Film: Amour
Best Cinematography: Mihai Malaimare, Jr., The Master
Best Costume Design: Kasia Walicka Maimone, Moonrise Kingdom
Best Film Editing: Leslie Jones & Peter McNulty, The Master
Best Sound Editing: The Master
Best Sound Mixing: The Master
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Premium Rush
Best Original Song: “The Sambola! International Dance Craze” from Damsels in Distress
Best Production Design: Adam Stockhausen, Moonrise Kingdom
Best Visual Effects: LOOK! Effects, Moonrise Kingdom
TELEVISION
Best Drama Series: Breaking Bad
Best Comedy or Musical: Parks & Recreation
Best Miniseries or TV Movie: Sherlock
Actor, Drama Series: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Actress, Drama Series: Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
Actor, Comedy or Musical: Nick Offerman, Parks & Recreation
Actress, Comedy or Musical: Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Actor, Miniseries or TV Movie: Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Supporting Actor, series, miniseries, movie: Andrew Scott, Sherlock
Supporting Actress, series, miniseries, movie: Lena Headey, Game of Thrones (I'm just going with Chris here)
FILM
Best Film: John Carter
Best Director: Andrew Stanton, John Carter
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Best Actress: Greta Gerwig, Damsels in Distress
Best Supporting Actor: Michael Shannon, Premium Rush
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, The Master
Best Original Screenplay: Whit Stillman, Damsels in Distress
Best Adapted Screenplay: Andrew Stanton & Mark Andrews & Michael Chabon, John Carter
Best Original Score: Jonny Greenwood, The Master
Best Soundtrack: Moonrise Kingdom
Best Animated Feature: Brave
Best Foreign Film: Amour
Best Cinematography: Mihai Malaimare, Jr., The Master
Best Costume Design: Kasia Walicka Maimone, Moonrise Kingdom
Best Film Editing: Leslie Jones & Peter McNulty, The Master
Best Sound Editing: The Master
Best Sound Mixing: The Master
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Premium Rush
Best Original Song: “The Sambola! International Dance Craze” from Damsels in Distress
Best Production Design: Adam Stockhausen, Moonrise Kingdom
Best Visual Effects: LOOK! Effects, Moonrise Kingdom
TELEVISION
Best Drama Series: Breaking Bad
Best Comedy or Musical: Parks & Recreation
Best Miniseries or TV Movie: Sherlock
Actor, Drama Series: Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Actress, Drama Series: Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
Actor, Comedy or Musical: Nick Offerman, Parks & Recreation
Actress, Comedy or Musical: Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Actor, Miniseries or TV Movie: Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Supporting Actor, series, miniseries, movie: Andrew Scott, Sherlock
Supporting Actress, series, miniseries, movie: Lena Headey, Game of Thrones (I'm just going with Chris here)
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Quick List Response to Brandon's Recent Post
My Completely Objective and Totally Correct for Everyone Top Ten Best Picture Winners
1. On the Waterfront
2. No Country for Old Men
3. It Happened One Night
4. A Man for All Seasons
5. Braveheart
6. Unforgiven
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Casablanca
9. The Godfather
10. The Deer Hunter
Numbes 1-4 (maybe 5, too) are all 5-star films in my book and could get My Essentials posts written about them in the future. 6-10 are all solid pics that I respect, but don’t love. Overall, I’m not all that impressed looking over the history of Best Picture winners.
1. On the Waterfront
2. No Country for Old Men
3. It Happened One Night
4. A Man for All Seasons
5. Braveheart
6. Unforgiven
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Casablanca
9. The Godfather
10. The Deer Hunter
Numbes 1-4 (maybe 5, too) are all 5-star films in my book and could get My Essentials posts written about them in the future. 6-10 are all solid pics that I respect, but don’t love. Overall, I’m not all that impressed looking over the history of Best Picture winners.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
I'm still the winner, winner, winner.
Writing three sentences to beef up your post count is so lame.
Brandon is Psychopath #8
"but like you guys I found it funny and entertaining. I don’t know when or why but there was a point in which these two pivotal attributes got tossed aside in FC."
This is just silly, Brandon. How have these "two pivotal attributes" been "tossed aside"?
I'm the one who championed John Carter. I've been itching to re-watch it recently. It will rank high on my 2012 list. I'm the dude who ranked Rise of the Planet of the Apes higher than Tree of Life. I think that Do-Deca-Pentathlon is "funny and entertaining" enough to forgive some very annoying visual tics. Besides those, though, I also found Godard's 2 or 3 Things to be both funny and entertaining. I've also been itching to re-watch that one.
You're just annoyed that Jeff and I don't find 7 Psychopaths to be as funny and entertaining as you do. I thought it was fun. I never thought it was great fun. I never laughed riotously and didn't smile through the whole film like you did. I just didn't connect with the material like you did.
Unrelated, I really enjoyed watching the documentary Side by Side. It's a great survey of the different perspectives involved in the film vs. digital conversation. There is just enough technical detail balanced with the right amount of talking heads. It'd be a five-star film if it didn't have an annoying score. Lucas and Nolan are also both annoying, but this is balanced out by good content from Scorsese and Lynch and cinematographers whose names I can't remember. Finally, what the heck is Gerwig doing in this? I guess it's a young actor's perspective (from someone who started in an all digital environment), but her presence seemed odd amidst all of the directors/cinematographers.
This is just silly, Brandon. How have these "two pivotal attributes" been "tossed aside"?
I'm the one who championed John Carter. I've been itching to re-watch it recently. It will rank high on my 2012 list. I'm the dude who ranked Rise of the Planet of the Apes higher than Tree of Life. I think that Do-Deca-Pentathlon is "funny and entertaining" enough to forgive some very annoying visual tics. Besides those, though, I also found Godard's 2 or 3 Things to be both funny and entertaining. I've also been itching to re-watch that one.
You're just annoyed that Jeff and I don't find 7 Psychopaths to be as funny and entertaining as you do. I thought it was fun. I never thought it was great fun. I never laughed riotously and didn't smile through the whole film like you did. I just didn't connect with the material like you did.
Unrelated, I really enjoyed watching the documentary Side by Side. It's a great survey of the different perspectives involved in the film vs. digital conversation. There is just enough technical detail balanced with the right amount of talking heads. It'd be a five-star film if it didn't have an annoying score. Lucas and Nolan are also both annoying, but this is balanced out by good content from Scorsese and Lynch and cinematographers whose names I can't remember. Finally, what the heck is Gerwig doing in this? I guess it's a young actor's perspective (from someone who started in an all digital environment), but her presence seemed odd amidst all of the directors/cinematographers.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
NO SHOOTING
Jeff's posts today have spurred me into posting again. I can't let that brittle-boned woodyite outpost me!
February was the month I bought a Wii. I blame it on Mike getting me all excited about video games. I couldn't quite justify a PS3 purchase so I settled for the family-friendly option. Wii boxing also burns more calories than catching up on Criterion titles.
I've been on a contemporary streak so far this month. All 80s+ films.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off, like all of Hughes' high school films, highlights the best part of public schooling, the friendships that make such a hellish place tolerable. FBDO perfectly captures the dreamlike intensity of just hanging out with friends. It is an ode to the triumph of liberty and liberal self-education over against the dreariness of bells and hall passes.
The Hole has many trademark Dante-isms. What should have been an excellent Eerie, Indiana film plays out too often like an episode of Goosebumps. All of it resolves too tidily. For all of the well-crafted scares, there's little depth to a movie that's supposedly making us face the abyss in our own basements.
Sleepwalk with Me is an honest portrayal of a guy who chooses a career in comedy over a stable relationship. This is all well and good as long as Birgiblia's failures at connecting with a romantic partner aren't taken as normative. I don't think they're presented as such, but I do think that his story is a fair microcosm of a larger generational story being played out in the broader culture right now.
The Do-Deca-Pentathlon wins lots of points for being 2012's best film featuring an arm wrestling match. As Jeff knows, these gems are too few in number. The Duplass zooms that Brandon hates are worse here than in JWLAH. I hope you all can forgive the zooms and give this one a chance. I've slowly become a Duplass fan.
Like Jeff, I'm a Martin McDonagh fan. I saw one of his plays (Lonesome West) performed in Binghamton last year. Seven Psychopaths has all of the wild moral and verbal flourishes of a McDonagh script and McDonagh direction. The interweaving of meta-narrative conceits and semi-aware characters living out a story of their own making as they search for material for a proper script is all deftly handled. It's certainly a lot of fun to watch. I'm just not sure that it adds up to all that much in the end and I don't feel a burning need to re-watch it any time soon. I watched In Bruges three times in a row a few years ago. I was hoping to be enamored like that again, but it didn't happen. Also, in my imaginary Oscars world, Sam Rockwell has already won best supporting actor.
P.S. Brandon, I don't think there are any libertarians in CR5FC.
February was the month I bought a Wii. I blame it on Mike getting me all excited about video games. I couldn't quite justify a PS3 purchase so I settled for the family-friendly option. Wii boxing also burns more calories than catching up on Criterion titles.
I've been on a contemporary streak so far this month. All 80s+ films.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off, like all of Hughes' high school films, highlights the best part of public schooling, the friendships that make such a hellish place tolerable. FBDO perfectly captures the dreamlike intensity of just hanging out with friends. It is an ode to the triumph of liberty and liberal self-education over against the dreariness of bells and hall passes.
The Hole has many trademark Dante-isms. What should have been an excellent Eerie, Indiana film plays out too often like an episode of Goosebumps. All of it resolves too tidily. For all of the well-crafted scares, there's little depth to a movie that's supposedly making us face the abyss in our own basements.
Sleepwalk with Me is an honest portrayal of a guy who chooses a career in comedy over a stable relationship. This is all well and good as long as Birgiblia's failures at connecting with a romantic partner aren't taken as normative. I don't think they're presented as such, but I do think that his story is a fair microcosm of a larger generational story being played out in the broader culture right now.
The Do-Deca-Pentathlon wins lots of points for being 2012's best film featuring an arm wrestling match. As Jeff knows, these gems are too few in number. The Duplass zooms that Brandon hates are worse here than in JWLAH. I hope you all can forgive the zooms and give this one a chance. I've slowly become a Duplass fan.
Like Jeff, I'm a Martin McDonagh fan. I saw one of his plays (Lonesome West) performed in Binghamton last year. Seven Psychopaths has all of the wild moral and verbal flourishes of a McDonagh script and McDonagh direction. The interweaving of meta-narrative conceits and semi-aware characters living out a story of their own making as they search for material for a proper script is all deftly handled. It's certainly a lot of fun to watch. I'm just not sure that it adds up to all that much in the end and I don't feel a burning need to re-watch it any time soon. I watched In Bruges three times in a row a few years ago. I was hoping to be enamored like that again, but it didn't happen. Also, in my imaginary Oscars world, Sam Rockwell has already won best supporting actor.
P.S. Brandon, I don't think there are any libertarians in CR5FC.
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