Damn, I only have time to watch movies on weekends part 17: bright lights, big city, same old reviews
Submitted by AJDaGreat on Sat, 12/20/2008 - 11:27
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- 1. In Bruges (2008)
- I figured if this movie that I thought had been all but forgotten could pull off three Golden Globes Comedy nominations, it might be worth a look. Indeed, while I still resent the Globes refusing to nominate any of the strong purely comedic films that came out this year (Role Models; Forgetting Sarah Marshall; Pineapple Express; Zack and Miri which I haven't seen; Tropic Thunder which I didn't even particularly like, but it's the principle of the thing!), In Bruges is a true delight. Its effortlessness makes comedy look easy, which is the mark of truly talented filmmakers; it takes us through a variety of wacky situations (as well as many more serious ones) but never feels too broad or awkward. I'll be keeping my eye on Martin McDonagh, as he's made a film that makes us think anyone can make a great comedy (and they can't). The dramatic and thriller elements work well here too, creating a very effective, solid film. I somehow doubt it'll win the Best Comedy Globe, but it should.
- 2. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Seasons 1 & 2 (2005-2006)
- What a great segue from the last review, because here is a comedy that feels like it's trying way too hard. This is a pretty good show, but damn if things don't get a bit tiresome here, as every episode seems to have been written following this basic formula: (1) Think of a word that has some controversy behind it; (2) write an episode title based around that word; (3) come up with a way that that episode title can involve the characters trying to get either rich or laid based on some shameful practices; (4) commence non-stop bickering. I'm exaggerating a bit, but not by much, as it's not hard to picture the controversial word in the first ten episode titles: Racist, Abortion, Underage Drinking, Cancer, Gun, Dead, Molested, Crippled, Jihad, Welfare.
- Yes, I am aware that "Underage Drinking" is more than one word, and "Dead" isn't particularly controversial. To make up for that, you can insert the word "Homosexuality" in the "Racist" episode and the phrase "Crack Addiction" into the "Welfare" episode.
- Don't get me wrong, I am all in favor of humor that pushes the envelope, but I feel like all of this is sort of clumsily constructed, often goes for shock value rather than actual humor, and thinks its constant bickering is funnier than it actually is. Again, though, there is some enjoyment to be had.
- Like this attempt at a campaign commercial:
- Dennis: I think you might be dyslexic.
- Charlie: Read the script once.
- Dennis: Okay, you want me to read the script?
- Charlie: Yes.
- Dennis: All right.
- Charlie: And... action.
- Dennis: I'll read the words you wrote. "Hello, fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power good. Thank you. Thank you. If you vote me, I'm hot..." What? "Taxes, they'll be lower... son. The democratic vote for me is right thing to do, Philadelphia, so do."
- 3. The Office: Season 1 (2005)
- Definitely not as much fun as later seasons of The Office when the characters and situations were more fully developed, but still a reasonably entertaining show. They were still trying to find their own voice here as different from the British TV show, and the moments that are too much like the original show stick out like sore thumbs. These moments are more common in the Pilot, but then episodes like The Alliance are great and could easily hang out with later seasons' episodes. As usual with Office DVDs, the extras are top-notch and feature great commentaries and deleted scenes.
- (In a diversity game, Pam is trying to get Dwight to correctly guess that he has been labeled as "Asian.")
- Pam: Okay, I like your food.
- Dwight: Uh, Outback Steakhouse. I'm Australian, mate!
- Michael: Pam, come on! "I like your food?" No, come on... stir the pot. Stir the melting pot, Pam! Let's do it, let's get ugly, let's get real.
- Pam: Okay, if I have to do this, based on stereotypes that are totally untrue, that i do not agree with, you would maybe not be a very good driver.
- Dwight: Aw man, am I a woman?!
Seeing as all distributors save their best work for the end of the year, there were a number of movies I've been meaning to see. Because I was free all day, I decided to see three movies in theaters today. Needless to say, my day was productive.
- 4. Rachel Getting Married (2008)
- Just when you think the "dysfunctional family comedy/drama" was worn out, we get a film like this to make the genre feel original again. This film's strengths include characters that just look and feel very real, much more so than most of these films; an excellent script; and Jonathan Demme's marvelous direction, wherein the camera has a personality all its own, going where it wants to go and digging itself into these people's lives. The film's questions about these characters are also really interesting, and in many ways it's about the feeling that everyone is thinking and talking about you; how in some ways you're right, and in other ways, you're a paranoid narcissist, and it's difficult to tell which is which. I found the last half-hour or so a bit disappointing, however. I was hoping for Debra Winger's character to be better developed, for her climactic scene with Anne Hathaway to reveal more, but I can accept the subtle hints at their dynamic instead. What I can't accept is how neatly the film wraps up Rachel and Kym's constant fighting, probably in pursuit of a happy ending. Where this stuff should've been more explored we instead get endless scenes of wedding dancing, which to be fair were more interesting than they had any right to be, partially because I loved how Rachel's husband's family culture was handled. That, I think, added another interesting layer to the film.
- 5. Gran Torino (2008)
- Also known as, Grumpiest Old Man
- At one point in this film, Clint tells this joke: "A Mexican, a Jew, and a colored guy walk into a bar. The bartender says, 'Get the fuck out of here!'" This joke is actually rather indicative of the film itself. It's simplistic, nonsensical, and is really just a poor excuse for a racial slur that people will laugh at anyway. I think Gran Torino may go down in history as the movie when Clint Eastwood went off the deep end. I am utterly baffled by the hordes of reviewers who can't stop praising this film, as to me it felt like a sea of tired stereotypes and terrible acting. From the very first scene when a girl walks into his wife's funeral with a bellybutton ring and Clint grunts emphatically, I knew the film would be a mess, with Eastwood squinting, scowling, and yes, grunting his way through life like Frankenclint, in a way that seems like he's playing a parody of himself. If you think Clint Eastwood growling crotchety and racist remarks sounds funny (and to be fair, it sometimes is), then the movie will make you laugh. However, the film's drama is conventional at best, totally clumsy at worst, and the other actors in the film are pretty uniformly awful, partially because they're all playing the stereotype of the young whippersnappers. A guy at my office made the argument that the film is more interesting in the overall context of what it means for Clint Eastwood's life than as a movie in and of itself. Which may be true, but that's an essay for a different day. As a movie, this is pretty weak.
- 6. The Wrestler (2008)
- In the wrong hands, The Wrestler could've turned into a fairly hokey melodrama, so we're lucky this ended up in Darren Aronofsky's hands. An odd choice for him to direct such a conventionally structured, character-driven film after previously focusing on mind-blowing works like Requiem for a Dream. I'm not complaining, though, as he really made me care about these characters. Surely Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei helped, as they give two remarkably strong performances for which they are getting deserved acclaim; the undersung Evan Rachel Wood is similarly terrific. As they say, God is in the details, and some of the most captivating scenes in this film are watching the ways that the wrestlers are all buddy-buddy when they plan the outcomes of their fights, as well as the humor of the simple scenes when Randy is working at the deli. It's the sort of film that ultimately just works, far better than it ought to, and it may be the most emotionally affecting movie I've seen in 2008.
As a side note
- I always notice eerie similarities whenever I see movies in rapid succession, and all three of the last three movies contained a scene in which the main character looks through a box of photos and newspaper clippings about a harrowing event from their backstory. You know, just like how everyone who has some traumatic event in their past obsessively collects mementos related to it. Could we please finally excise this cliche scene from the cinematic dictionary?
- 7. Ikiru (1952) (watched again)
- I mainly watched this because I wanted to try listening to a film's entire commentary track, and I heard this one was top-notch. I'm coming to realize that there are two ways to create an interesting commentary track: (1) assemble a large group of funny people and hope that their riffing will be entertaining; or (2) pick one extremely knowledgeable person and have them prepare detailed notes. Most commentaries don't bother to do either. Since this is a Criterion DVD, this commentary track is an example of #2, and it is indeed terrific. The commentary is full of Japanese history to better contextualize the film for a Western viewer, comments on Kurosawa's life and work, and analysis of various shots. Rewatching the film reassured me that Ikiru is indeed a masterpiece, and the commentary only helped me appreciate it better.
- 8. Robin Williams: Live on Broadway (2002)
- Robin Williams is a comedian like few other. Some comedians try to take you through talks of observational humor, whereas others (like Mitch Hedberg or Demetri Martin) assemble long strings of bizarrely witty remarks. Williams aims somewhere in the middle; his comments are bizarre yet based in observation, and if some of the observations are old and tired, he throws everything at you with such mind-blowingly rapid speed you don't even have time to let that fact sink in. This DVD is a document of Robin Williams, the force of nature. He rambles with insanely manic energy all the way through to the end, overflowing with sweat, such that you think he is about to go into cardiac arrest at any moment. It's not the most inventive stand-up comedy I've ever seen, nor the funniest, but just watching this madman rant is truly a sight to behold.
- 9. Viridiana (1961)
- This movie caused quite a stir when it was first released, and it's easy to see why. The film is basically about a nun gradually learning to forsake Christianity, with the images creating a full-on blending of the sacred and the profane. I continue to love Bunuel's style, and after seeing him skewer the upper-middle-classes so often, it was great to see him taking on a different institution. The result is a profoundly entertaining film.
- Incidentally, this is the last film from They Shoot Pictures, Don't They's top 100 list that I hadn't seen. I think it is all too appropriate that that quest ended with an implied threesome.
- 10. Frost/Nixon (2008)
- One of the most intense battles of the seventies wasn't fought in Vietnam, or any other war for that matter. It took place on national television. Indeed, Frost/Nixon does a great job of creating an atmosphere of verbal war with these interviews, and I think the movie works as well as it does because you can clearly see how everyone has a different agenda, and the pursuit of these goals creates dramatic conflict at its finest. However, much of the set-up in the film plays as kind of flat, especially when we focus on David Frost, who isn't the most interesting character. Though I loved Michael Sheen in The Queen, here I easily preferred watching Sam Rockwell or Kevin Bacon (neither of whom I knew would actually be in this movie, but both of whom were awesome). What's more, I think the film's best moments were taken directly from the actual Watergate interview, and some of them were spoiled by the trailer. Nonetheless, this is still an interesting film much of the time, and that's partially because of Frank Langella as Richard Nixon. He plays the well-rounded character extraordinarily well, and I think what's great about the script is that it manages to humanize Nixon without making him too much of a sympathetic character, because after all, he is Richard fucking Nixon. The last thirty minutes or so are brilliant, when he delve deepest into Nixon's mind, but I just wish things had really come to life a little earlier.
- 11. Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series (1999-2000)
- I had heard such astoundingly glowing comments about Freaks and Geeks that I decided to pick up the DVDs, and watching the first few episodes made me think I had wasted a good deal of money. What I saw at first was the same old cliche stories about peer pressure and bullying that you see in every high school film and TV show made in the past 40 years. What's more, the introduction in the DVD booklet tries to make this comment about how daring it is to focus on humanizing these people instead of the popular crowd, as if no TV show has ever depicted high school life from the perspective of the outcast. Additionally, the show is certainly not above stereotyping these groups in an unrealistic fashion (for example, none of the geeks I knew in high school were as comically naive about sex as Sam and Bill in Tests and Breasts).
- I have a bullying sidebar later, but I actually did grow to like this show quite a bit so I want to get on to that. The show certainly takes it sweet time finding its footing, but I would say that the seventh episode (Carded and Discarded) was the time when I really started enjoying the show. I feel like by that time, and even more so later on, the drama became less broad, the humor became more spot-on, and the show just generally clicked more. Certainly a show canceled before its time, but I feel like they had a decent amount of time to create interesting character exploration for everyone involved. Indeed, later episodes finally reveal to me what everyone has been raving about, as they really do manage to be poignant as well as delightfully funny. Certainly an uneven show though, but rewarding for those who stick with it. I will say, however, that the acting from the kids is pretty mediocre throughout, ranging on bad high school acting a good portion of the time. The Weir parents are easily the best actors in the cast. After that I'd probably say Martin Starr; his deadpans are generally priceless.
- Two sidebars. First is the Seth Rogen sidebar. I am a big Seth Rogen fan, but I will say that that fact had little to no effect on my enjoyment of this show, and would not recommend anyone watch this for Seth Rogen. The man is given so little do throughout the show. For the first 11 episodes here, he's usually little more than a prop, occasionally chiming in with a sarcastic one-liner. He manages to pull out a small subplot in The Garage Door. Only in the second-to-last episode (The Little Things) is he really given something interesting to do. It happens to be the best episode of the show IMHO, so perhaps the show could've been better if it utilized Rogen more.
- Now, the bullying sidebar. I gotta tell you, the bullying of the geeks that occurs mainly in the first few episodes really feels foreign to me. I may have had an uncommon experience at my high school, which was a sheltered private school, but I really feel like pretty much all bullying stopped after lower school and certainly after middle school. Not that everyone got along all the time, it's just that the overt bullying got replaced by mutual avoidance, backstabbing, and making jokes that had insidious truth behind them. I guess what I find unrealistic is that someone would go so far out of their way, and devote so much time and energy, to making someone else's life miserable. I feel like most people at my school were too self-obsessed, or too busy trying to get drunk and laid, to devote that sort of effort to bullying. So every high school movie that has this level of bullying in it has always rang false to me. But if it can be in this TV show that everyone seems to praise as realistic, what do you guys think? Am I just lucky to have missed out on all the bullying that actually does occur? Was it more common in Michigan in the 1980s than it is in Baltimore today? I really am curious to know if I'm the odd man out when it comes to bullying.
- 12. The Quiet Man (1952)
- Lovingly directed by John Ford, who clearly communicates his affection and fascination with the sweeping vistas of Ireland, The Quiet Man is a rare non-Western from Mr. Ford. The subject matter is also a bit lighter than some of Ford's other work, and I think that actually makes the film work better than it otherwise would; I feel like some of Ford's movies contain awkward attempts at humor that don't play well with the death, trauma, and mortal peril going on all around them. Basically the film is a romantic comedy/drama about the cultural differences between America, where marital customs are treated lightly and violence is treated more seriously, and Ireland, which is quite the opposite (at least when it comes to the culture of the rip-roaring donnybrook). I wish Maureen O'Hara had played a more consistent character - she seems to oscillate wildly between being pissed off and being completely unfazed by her situation - and John Wayne's borderline abuse of her made me a little uncomfortable, but this is still a very strong entry in Ford's canon.
- In case you were wondering, I have now watched all top 100 English-language films from the list at filmsite.org, which is a wonderful site if you haven't seen it.
- 13. Chinatown (1974) (watched again)
- Many people say that Chinatown is a film out of the glory days of film-noir in the 30s and 40s, but I don't think that's actually true. I think it is more interesting to think of when Chinatown was actually made: the 70s, at the tail end of the Vietnam War and right after Watergate, when the country was losing its faith in its government. So here is a film about a private-eye tussling not with the seedy scumbags from the underbelly of the city, working under the shadowy cover of night; but of full-scale institutional corruption, with powerful men creating massive fraud right under everyone's noses. They commit their crimes in broad daylight, and that's how this film is shot: in glorious cinematography that uses color to breathtaking effect. All other elements of the film are nearly flawless as well: the story is spellbinding, the dialogue is sharp, the acting is terrific, and Polanski's filmmaking is, like I said, a masterpiece. My rewatch has confirmed that this is one of the greatest films ever made.
- 14. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
- Many critics have reacted to this film by saying that the film's premise is emotionally distancing. Hell, Roger Ebert wrote what is surely one of the worst reviews of his career, where he reacts against the premise of a man aging backwards and doesn't really have any criticism beyond that. I found this reaction strange, as the film is composed of moments and episodes that play as emotionally sound. Yes, I knew Benjamin was aging backwards throughout, but in each individual scene, that may be less important than one might think. Hardly any time is devoted to Benjamin covering up his disease, which is very wise, and aside from one big one, very few decisions are made on the basis of his unique means of aging.
- The film is made in the tradition of the grandest epics, sending our characters all over the world and back, with the filmmaking as breathtakingly majestic as it gets. Ultimately, though, as I feel in many epics, I wished the characters had a bit more depth and that they were developed with more nuance. We're reading Benjamin's diary throughout the film, so we should be in his head more, and yet I don't really feel like we got a good sense of what makes him tick (backwards). Add to that the fact that the film goes for some sentimental moments that play as sort of flat, and what you've got is a movie that is more style than substance.
- But what a style! This film easily has the most enchanting romance scenes of the year, along with riveting adventure sequences and excellent use of some old-timey film footage. The acting is terrific across the board, with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett shining as brightly as relative unknowns like Taraji P. Henson, Rampai Mohadi, and Dakota Fanning's little sister Elle. The make-up, of course, is incredibly well-done and easily deserving of an Oscar, and the art direction is stunning all-around. Still, this could've been a real masterpiece, and it's not.
- 15. Cinema Paradiso (1988) (watched again)
- I've had this DVD for a while, and for a while I struggled with whether to rewatch the original cut, which I had watched and loved many years ago, or to watch the director's cut, a good 51 minutes longer. I had heard that the director's cut shed light on the resolution of the romance in the film but had also heard mixed reviews as to whether this actually made the film better, and suspected I would probably be in the camp that thought the original version was superior. Anyway, it seemed like most of the director's cut's added scenes seemed concentrated in one area, so I eventually decided to watch the original cut and then try to watch the deleted parts of the director's cut.
- I tried to get the best feel possible for how the director's cut worked, and while I expected the scenes to totally change the focus of the film to the relationship, they honestly didn't for me. What's done was already done; the scenes basically tell us some things that we already suspect, although the way that this plays out is clever. Surprisingly, in my opinion these scenes have the biggest effect not on Elena but on Alfredo, and it's an extremely negative effect. I really didn't like what the scenes did to re-examine Alfredo's character, and the explanation offered is extremely unsatisfying. All in all, I'm glad these scenes were excised from the film, although they were interesting to watch.
- As for the original cut, it's still a joy to watch. I had remembered some of the film's drama and sweetness but actually forgotten how tremendously entertaining the film is. I've never worked a projector, but a big part of me can definitely identify with this loving portrait of a boy raised by the cinema. Some may find it sentimental, but I think every drop of sentiment works because of the sheer talent and beauty of the film. And the ending, of course, is perfection.
- 16. Wings of Desire (1987) (watched again)
- I feel like it's only fairly recently that I began to fully appreciate uniquely poetic directorial visions such as this one that eschew traditional narrative structures. However, when I first saw Wings of Desire before I began to really embrace such films, I was utterly captivated by it, and I remain so to this day. It's truly a gorgeous, compelling work of art, a showcase of oddly enchanting monologues set against a loving visual tribute to the city of Berlin as well as a touching love story about the advantages and disadvantages of mortality. I can't explain it today any better than I could explain it five years ago. All I know is that it hooks me in and doesn't let go.
- By the way, check out this DVD for some of the most bizarrely incongruous deleted scenes I've ever witnessed. Did you know this lyrical masterpiece was originally supposed to end with a pie fight?
- 17. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) (watched again)
- Somewhere in between the classic John Ford Westerns, which created epic battles of good and evil as skillfully as anyone has ever done it, and the modern Westerns which deflate these traditional notions of morality and Western heroism such as Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969, a year after the film I'm reviewing) and Eastwood's Unforgiven, Sergio Leone had five years where he made four of the best Westerns ever put on celluloid. Unlike Ford and Peckinpah, Leone may be a little harder to categorize, but I think he may deserve a lot of the credit for establishing the ideas that we normally give Peckinpah credit for. Leone doesn't redefine the notion of film violence the way Peckinpah did, but he certainly refuses to glamorize it; for all the time he spends setting up his shootouts, all acts of violence in Leone's movies are quick and brutal. He romanticizes every aspect of the Old West except the violence, creating breathtaking visuals from everything from the sweeping desert landscapes to the intense close-ups where you can see every hair follicle on Charles Bronson's face.
- Additionally, unlike Ford's Westerns where the villains are either this unknown foreign evil like the Indians or some redneck asshole who may stand to make a profit from his misdeeds but really is just committing them because he's an asshole, Leone paints a picture of the the Old West battling itself, with fairly amoral heroes fighting against villains who embody corrupt bastardizations of the American dream. Basically the good guys are greedy, but the bad guys are greedier. That's a pretty disturbing notion to anyone who ascribes to John Ford values.
- All this would be a lot of film school masturbation if not for the skill in Leone's work. Just watch Once Upon a Time in the West. I don't know how the guy does it, but every shot is fascinating. Even when nothing's happening, it's fascinating. What's more, the man is a master storyteller; just because he's deflating our traditional notions of Westerns doesn't mean we can't have the same grand, epic, entertaining tales of the Western's classic era. Leone has a knack for both grand excess and efficient economy of filmmaking, and this comes through in the way that even with an epic like this where it would be easy to lose sight of the little details, things like the dialogue are still very clever. This is not only one of Leone's best films, but also one of the very best films ever made, and yet, I'm not sure whether I prefer this one or The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Clearly another rewatch is in store for me.
- 17. Twentieth Century (1934)
- Ah, I long for the days when even the lesser comedies were as good as this one. It's not the best screwball comedy I've ever seen, but even a weaker screwball is pretty damn great, and it certainly helps to be directed by Howard Hawks, who is up there in the triumvirate of screwball comedy brilliance along with Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges. John Barrymore is fantastic as the hammy, egotistical director, the great Carole Lombard shines both early on as the timid ingenue as well as later when she becomes more stuck-up, and the movie flies by at a rapid pace to the point where I could barely believe it was over when it ended. This satire of those pompous, eccentric theater types has been done many times before, but rarely this well.
- 18. Last Year at Marienbad (1961) (watched again)
- This film is surely one of the more dense, impenetrable films I've ever seen (to the point where some critics panned it as so pretentious to seem more like a parody of art house films than an art house film in and of itself). That also explains why my (admittedly cursory) efforts to find a Grand Unified Theory for this film have been largely fruitless. What I could find was people who could cite you lists of ideas in the film and lists of philosophical concepts referenced by it, but no one who could really find meaning in it. Of course, the filmmakers have said there is no meaning in it, but I think that's just their absurdist sensibilities shining through, to make us think we are constructing meaning for art that has no inherent meaning.
- Indeed, I do think the film has a basically absurdist philosophy behind it. That definitely plays into the game of Nim that is played throughout (I still love how the hotel guests propose solutions for the game that get more and more complex and preposterous, trying to impose a rational system behind the game when the only possible pattern is that the same guy always wins), but also the main plot of the movie where current reality flows into memory which flows into fantasy seems to follow the same principles. In a way, the film is saying that this is how memory, and thereby our consciousness, is constructed: by a haphazard conglomeration of our current state, a series of disjoint images, and perhaps a healthy sense of fantasy to the whole affair. Isn't that what really does happen in our perception of something important in our lives? Our memory of the event becomes fuzzy, altered by our perception of the present; in addition, we fantasize different possibilities and scenarios and maybe alter our memory through rose-colored glasses as well.
- I think the film is a masterfully constructed recreation of the absurd way that memory works and how we ultimately somehow find meaning in it. Much has been discussed of the people who are simply standing around as window dressing, but isn't that how our memory works as well? The people tangential to the main event become mere images, not real people with real lives but just photographs representing some sense of action around us?
- Surely the end result is certainly not for everyone, but I was mesmerized when I first saw it and I remain just as mesmerized today. Resnais is up there with the great auteurs, in my opinion. Still, I do think I prefer Hiroshima Mon Amour.
- 19. Ivan the Terrible, Part Two (1958)
- I saw Part One years ago, found it boring, and wanted to check out Part Two to see if my opinion on this series has changed. It hasn't. I really cannot understand the people who call this a masterpiece. The problem is that Sergei Eisenstein is essentially a silent film director, so he has created a movie full of the sort of expressionistic sets, costumes, gestures, and facial expressions that work when that is all you have to convey meaning. That expressionism that works so well in, say, The Passion of Joan of Arc, just results in a talkie that is bombastic and stilted, creating a film that is so over-the-top that it's impossible to get into. The worst part is that the film is very talky, providing quite a showcase for all the overblown acting. Maybe if Eisenstein had cut down on the dialogue and trusted his images a bit more, the film could've been better. Eisenstein ain't no slouch, after all, and does manage to create some compelling images in here, particularly in the rare occasions when the actors finally shut the hell up. Most of the film, though, is completely wooden and incredibly boring.
- 20. Paper Moon (1973)
- Peter Bogdanovich likes to echo an earlier, simpler time in his films, both in style and in setting. Paper Moon is a terrific callback to the style of 1930s Depression-era movies, but honestly what I liked about this movie had more to do with the story and characters. I love how unlike pretty much every con movie ever made, the film doesn't center around just one elaborate con and then have a plot twist where someone else is being conned; it rather plays out as a fairly realistic depiction of what a con artist's life would probably be like. I also love how the film makes Tatum O'Neal's character a real wiseass, who smokes and swears and rarely smiles or does anything intentionally cute. She's cute anyway, but very rarely because she breaks from her desire to engage in a sophisticated con game in order to do anything maudlin. Indeed, the movie is sweet and heartwarming with the characters hardly ever being so, which to me is really quite a feat. Surely much of that credit goes to the marvelous performances, especially the great chemistry between Ryan and Tatum O'Neal. But wow, the fact that Tatum was considered a Best Supporting Actress in this just proves that a child will never win a lead acting Oscar, because not only is Addie the protagonist of this story, but Tatum also has more screen time than anyone else in the film. She may be small, but her role isn't.
- 21. Sans Soleil (1983)
- A woman narrates a series of letters written to her by a world traveler over a filmed documentary of his travels. This is actually much more fascinating that you might expect, largely because the letters are full of substantive and introspective comments. It's sort of like Koyaanisqatsi if you replace the Philip Glass music with intriguing thoughts on the nature of image and memory compared to reality. I can't say that this held my attention the entire time, but for the most part it was pretty damn interesting.
- 22. The Big Heat (1953)
- A tough crime thriller directed by the brilliant Fritz Lang. Not quite as visionary as some of his earlier work (and how could it be?), but still puts Lang's talents to good use in constructing this excellent film-noir story. I will admit the scenes of Bannion's family felt a little caricature-y to me, with his wife and daughter playing fairly underwritten characters, but the movie makes up for it whenever we get back to the web of deceit and intrigue. Excellent criminal characters, great film-noir dialogue, and a top-notch crime story all around.
- 23. eXistenZ (1999)
- I was up for a mindfuck and figured David Cronenberg was my man. The film has similar ideas and motifs as Videodrome in its exploration of a medium that gruesomely blends fantasy and reality, complete with grotesque special effects. Ultimately eXistenZ is a little more overt with its themes and a little easier to follow on the surface as well, creating a more accessible film. I really liked both approaches but might actually like eXistenZ better, partially because I found the fully immersive adventure game more compelling than a channel of violent pornography. To be fair, that may just be because I used to be, and to some degree still am, obsessed with point-and-click adventure games. Anyway, this is certainly not a perfect film, but it is very inventive and ought to be better received. I wonder if it would be if it weren't so frickin' gross. Any movie that involves multiple reptiles being eaten might be bound to be put off some viewers.
- 24. The Reader (2008)
- The film starts us off by really rushing into the courtship with some quick scenes that turn out pretty clumsy, and I was all set to hate this movie. The film then picks up with some genuinely intriguing romance scenes and top-notch courtroom drama, making for a film that was definitely better than I was expecting given its weak reception. There are certain aspects of Kate Winslet's character that go unexplored and end up being really pivotal to the film, and I wish the film had taken us inside her head a little bit more, but overall it's a pretty good movie. Winslet is brilliant as usual and deserved her Golden Globe. Viola Davis may have been stunning in Doubt, but Winslet sustains amazing acting over about five times as much screen time, so I give her the nod.
- 25. Revolutionary Road (2008)
- In 1999, Sam Mendes explored suburban angst in a clever, inventive way, and in 2008, he explored it in the most un-inventive way possible. Okay, it's maybe not totally bankrupt of good ideas (I'll get to that in a sec), but if the trailer made you think the film was totally plotless and covered basically the same ground as any 1950s melodrama, you're not far off. It does showcase a considerable amount of talent for the same old tale of the everyman and the everywoman, but that's not saying enough.
- Still, I didn't hate it. It has great acting, as I expected. The cinematography is wonderful, as after all, Roger Deakins's momma don't raise no fools. What I did really love about the film, though, was the Michael Shannon character, the institutionalized son of the realtor, and the only character willing (due to his mental problems) to point out the bullshit and hypocrisy of the facades that the other characters are displaying. In many ways the film is about the images we project to the world in our perfect 1950s suburbia, which is hardly original, but having a character who's not in a mental state to understand that is a pretty interesting concept IMHO. Of course, he's only in two scenes. Again, I didn't hate it, but of all the overrated Oscar contenders I've seen this season, this might be the most overrated one of them all.
- 26. À Nous la Liberté (1931)
- A highly enjoyable French farce/musical that is more amusing than laugh-out-loud funny, but the inspired anarchy of the entire affair certainly put a smile on my face. Known as the film whose producers sued Charlie Chaplin for apparently plagiarizing some scenes for Modern Times, A Nous la Liberte may have had a scene or two cribbed by Chaplin, but it certainly borrows just as much from Chaplin's earlier work. Not only that, but It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World rips off a scene from this movie even more obviously. But nevermind that. The only other Rene Clair film I've seen is Entr'acte, and I must say I do quite enjoy Clair's particular brand of lunacy. Especially nice to see a non-American musical film, which I think is fairly rare. I'll have to check out Le Million.
- 27. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
- For much of this film, I was thinking, "It's a shame this film was released when it was. In a different time, perhaps sometime when things are finally calm in the Middle East, this could play as just a personal, humanistic story about a man trying to come to grips with his traumatic memories (or lack thereof), detached from the political connotations it will surely take on today." Towards the very end, though, it veers off into another direction, becoming much less about Ari Folman and much more about showcasing images depicting the horrors of the particular incident. The sequence is indeed harrowing, but it feels like what the film was previously exploring is sort of left unresolved, making for a disappointing conclusion to the film.
- In every other way, however, this film is awesome, especially the breathtaking animation and the highly inventive decision to animate a documentary. It works very well, since much of the film is about describing events that are conveyed much more powerfully through animation than they would have been through archive footage, and it also gives the film an otherworldly feeling that perfectly complements the film's themes of the surrealism of the memories of wartime. I just wish it had held together better at the end.
- 28. Entr'acte (1924) (watched again)
- This Rene Clair short came on the A Nous La Liberte DVD, and I found it a mind-boggling good time the first time I watched it, so I decided to give it a rewatch. An early experimental surreal film, that plays with the early conventions of filmmaking to constantly defy audiences' expectations. Most importantly, though, it's very entertaining in an extremely bizarre sort of way.
- 29. Miller's Crossing (1990) (watched again)
- The Coen Brothers have made many movies where they wear their influences on their sleeves, but never before or since have they made a movie so obviously inspired by classic filmmaking yet so simultaneously, well, inspired. It borrows character types from pulpy gangster flicks and a twisty film-noir plot while adding more depth to each and creating a visual style that is all Coens. The end result is a film that is fascinating both stylistically and substantively; it is an effective deconstruction of the symbols of those old movies (particularly that hat) while also examining the soul behind that macho exterior that these characters must present to the world. I'd say more, but I'm afraid that this review is far too pretentious, so I'll also add that on top of these things, the dialogue is very witty, the twists and turns of the plot are tremendously entertaining, and the performances (especially the great Jon Polito, whose sheer vim is in a world of its own) are a ton of fun. Underrated by many, partially because it has been overrated by some, Miller's Crossing is easily the Coens' best film and also one of the best films of the 1990s.
- 30. Tom Jones (1963)
- In the history of the Academy Awards, few choices are as strange as this one. It's probably one of the weaker films to win Best Picture, yet at the same time it is rarely included when lists are made of Oscar's biggest mistakes. That may be because it was a fairly weak year for nominees (great foreign films of the year such as 8 1/2 weren't nominated, nor were some superior American films like The Great Escape, Charade, and Hud), but it may also be because it's not the means by which the Academy traditionally overrates films: it's funny. And it's not even an intellectual comedy like Shakespeare in Love, it's downright silly, full of over-the-top, manic humor. This is actually fairly well done for a good deal of the film; other times it just comes across as kinda dippy, but in general I was glad to see the film have a sense of energy, even in this type of film. Maybe the fact that the film is a British period piece confused the Academy into thinking it was a Best Picture even with all this wacky energy. Or maybe it was just a fluke.
- 31. Curse of the Demon (1957)
- I can admire the filmmaking of most horror films I see, but it's a rare horror film that I actually really enjoy, and Curse of the Demon is a rare exception. I think what sets it apart is a terrific "marked for death" premise that was genuinely chilling, a main character who engages in an interesting exploration of the psychology of fear and superstition, and fantastically weird direction by the great Jacques Tourneur. I think the film may play its hand a little too early by showing us the demon at the very beginning of the film, but nevermind that.
- 32. North by Northwest (1959) (watched for... I think the fourth time)
- Based on my success with Ikiru, I decided to try listening to another commentary track that I had heard was good, this time with screenwriter Ernest Lehman. It was not nearly as good as Ikiru, so I'm thinking that maybe film scholars just tend to have more to say than anyone actually involved with movies. Still, while the commentary did have some of those inane comments people say to fill time ("And then Martin Landau comes in..."), there are a few good stories in here, and if the stories are sporadic, that just means more time to enjoy this masterpiece.
- One thing I did get out of this commentary track is how the screenplay was constructed out of a lot of assorted ideas Hitchcock tossed out. If it's one of the most perfectly constructed suspense films ever, that may be because it's basically a Greatest Hits of Alfred Hitchcock's Brain, with Hitchcock's brilliant direction and Lehman's terrific script tying everything together so that it feels like a cohesive whole.
- Also, isn't it funny when a rewatch of a film causes you to think of it in a whole new light? I honestly had never paid much attention to the taxicab exchange in the beginning of the film, but this time I watched the film more from a perspective of Roger Thornhill the advertising executive who whitewashes deceit by calling it "expedient exaggeration." It added a whole new layer to the film for me.
- Anyway, this rewatch confirmed how much I love this film, Hitchcock's best work and just one of the best, most suspenseful, most enjoyable, and I would even say most romantic films ever made.
- 33. American History X (1998)
- I honestly saw this film in large part based on its high ranking on the IMDB top 250. The list is often maligned, and justly in some ways, but I think it's actually a pretty interesting list, partially because I place value in the wisdom of crowds. It is obviously the most populist canon that one can come up with, and what the top 250 is great for is filtering the critics' film canon by what the common moviegoer will like. For example, The Searchers is generally a more acclaimed Western than The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly among distinguished critics, but when it comes to the populist opinion, the people have spoken: the Leone film ranks higher.
- The thing is, though, when it comes to recent films, the IMDB is more prone to the whims of moviegoers' gut reactions. Without the filter of a film canon giving them some guidance as to what to like, the populism runs free, canonizing The Shawshank Redemption as the greatest film ever made and praising some thoroughly mediocre recent films onto the list.
- Which brings us to American History X, a movie that is basically three films in one: achingly simplistic morality play complete with shock-value violence, overwrought melodrama, and moody character piece. As you can probably tell, I only enjoyed the latter section of the film's smorgasbord, the interesting character moments that we get, such as the specific way that a sympathetic minority character can enter into Derek's life and the scenes simply dealing with his changed outlook after getting out of prison. I was not a fan of the grossly simplified and cliche moralizing, the hokey ending, or the film's many contrivances, such as the Magical Black Man Mr. Sweeney who manages to show up everywhere every time he is needed. The end result is not a terrible film, but it's certainly an argument against the wisdom of crowds. Better luck next time, IMDB 250.
- 34. Key Largo (1948)
- If someone was trying to recapture the magic of Bacall and Bogart's previous pairings, this is sort of an odd way to do it. Both actors feel more restrained and subtle here than they do in most of their other films, and their chemistry is sort of kept at a lower level as well, allowing more room for Edward G. Robinson and the terrific Claire Trevor to chew the scenery a bit more. At the same time, the film can't help but recall Casablanca, especially in Bogart's lines about looking out for no one but himself. In any case, this tense, suspenseful drama is different from what I was expecting but certainly still works, if certainly not as well as Casablanca.
- 35. Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale (2007)
- I always loved this show for its darkly satirical awkward humor, but even I was caught a little off guard when I watched such a scathing, cynical series finale, one that is perhaps even more dramatic than it is funny. Don't get me wrong, this show is still often hilarious, but especially in the second half, the laughs become few and far between, in favor of a pointed examination of a set of characters whose lives have taken quite a downturn from where they hoped to end up, and while the ending provides some solace, it's outweighed by all that's come before it. I for one had mixed feelings about all this; while I applaud Ricky Gervais for taking the show in new, risky directions, I think I prefer when the show is trying to be funny than when it is trying to be depressing, and some of the scenes lay it on pretty thick. Still, a very good ending to an excellent show.
- 36. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
- Man, is there anything Howard Keel can do besides play a brawny, macho, singing, dancing, self-obsessed lunkhead who learns over the course of a musical to respect women? Nevermind; I think the story arc of this particular incarnation of Keel's character may be more compelling than in the film adaptations of Kiss Me Kate and Annie Get Your Gun anyway. Who would've known that writing a musical for the screen would work better than sucking all the life out of a Broadway show in order to translate it to the cinema? [AJ sheepishly raises hand] It's pure, silly fun, and the fact that it's largely based on the Rape of the Sabine Women gives it a certain sense of irreverence. Its satire of the way male/female relationships worked in that era is comical, its characters are lovable goofs, the musical numbers are terrifically put together by the great Stanley Donen, and it also manages to throw together some genuinely poignant moments. It might not be Singin' in the Rain, but it is great fun!
- 37. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
- So many modern Westerns try to deflate our illusions of the Old West. This film tells the story of a character who has been thusly disillusioned. And what better way to tell the story than by having the film focus on Jesse James, one of the most storied men ever to rob a train. Brad Pitt is excellent in the role, but this movie really belongs to Casey Affleck - or rather, to Casey Affleck and Roger Deakins, who has made the film look absolutely dazzling. Critics' main complaints about this film is that it is long and slow, and it is long and slow, but it is also mesmerizing the whole way through. Affleck's Robert Ford is one of the more interesting characters in any Western, though; his foibles, his accomplishment, and his downward spiral make for a really fascinating film. It bogs down a bit in the middle, but the last 40 minutes or so are so brilliant it's hard to complain.
- 38. The Cameraman (1928)
- Known as the film when Buster Keaton signed on with MGM, and like my favorite old-timey comedians the Marx Brothers, I fear that MGM hasn't served Keaton well. The film is certainly still very good (and better than I've heard Keaton's later MGM films turned out to be), but where Keaton's earlier films are manic and often uproarious, this film is more amusingly cute throughout, with the only truly inspired comic moments coming in the swimming pool sequences. Nonetheless, The Cameraman is still a charming film, if not the best of Mr. Keaton.
- 39. Southland Tales (2006)
- I guess this is what happens when you take Richard Kelly to his unflattering extremes. Everything I don't like about Donnie Darko (the broadly-drawn caricature-y characters going through a convoluted sci-fi plot about the end of the world, which is actually just an excuse for overt, ham-handed social satire) is magnified one hundredfold here. Many have complained that the film is hard to follow, but I honestly didn't have too much trouble following the plot events. What is impossible to follow about the film is the characters' motivations; it's completely a mystery why anyone does the stupid things they do throughout the movie, which creates an epic with lots of smoke and mirrors but without any weight, just featuring a bunch of B- and C-list celebrities farting around without rhyme or reason. Astoundingly, it means a film with so many ambitious ideas and so much, dare I say, originality, just turns out boring because of how pointless it is. I do like the fact that Kelly was able to assemble such a wide array of celebrities known for starring in stupid comedy or eye candy for this satire of American culture, but all these weak performers certainly don't help this train wreck. There were three things I liked about this film: (1) the delayed mirror, (2) the music video to the Killers song, and (3) Bai Ling, who is very sexy. That's about it.
- By the way, a friend wanted me to watch this so I could let her know my opinion on the film's ending. For my actual opinion, I'd like to quote one of my favorite lines written on Listology, a line that has stuck in my head ever since I read it on Cosgrove's list here: "this... represents an acclaimed indie artist demonstrating that he truly has no idea how to delineate the line between clever faux-inanity and pure, uncut genuine inanity." If that doesn't perfectly sum up the end of Southland Tales, I don't know what does.
- 40. Let the Right One In (2008)
- Wow, this must be one of the most complex relationships ever put on film, as well as one of the most difficult films to classify. A horror film where the monster has scenes that echo the romance in WALL-E, a sweet preteen romance film where both characters are eager to kill. I love the way that the film pulls no punches in being totally sweet and endearing and also pulls no punches in showing Eli committing horribly gruesome acts of violence. Tomas Alfredson's visuals and pacing are very deliberate, creating a carefully constructed movie that really feels like watching a work of art, albeit one that has some missteps when not focusing on the two main kids. For the most part, though, the end result is a film that cheerfully and twistedly toys with your emotions in delightfully inventive ways.
- 41. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
- I'm still completely blindsided at how remarkably well this film captivated me. A story about a woman helping her friend get an illegal abortion, acted with subtle, understated emotion and lengthy medium shots that, in refusing a close-up, keep the viewer at somewhat of a distance. It sounds like it should be dry, and yet it's surprisingly fascinating, easily one of the best films of its year. The narrative techniques that might have been alienating actually drew me in, preventing the material from becoming overwrought and making me think about what wasn't being said and whether the medium shots represented the pro-life policy of 1980s Romania, given that both refused to acknowledge women's emotions on an intimately personal level. Most importantly, though, is that the film is not overtly political, nor overtly melodramatic, nor overtly moral, nor overtly anything. It's just a woman who wants an abortion.
- 42. My Kid Could Paint That (2007)
- An interesting documentary that sort of bisects itself into two parts. The first half is about the phenomenal artistic talents of 4-year-old Marla Olmstead, who paints abstract art with the best of them, raising questions about what art really is. Abstract art is supposed to evoke real thoughts and emotions, but if Marla is clearly just painting based on her own whimsical desires and creating masterpieces, does that make them lesser art even if some people think they evoke real feeling? I had thought about such things before, but I had never had these thoughts so clearly demonstrated in real life.
- The first part is then seemingly undermined by the second part which proposes that maybe someone else is painting these paintings to get rich off the gimmick of having a 4-year-old be a masterful painter. It then becomes a mystery as to who the real artist is: Marla, or someone else? What clues support each hypothesis? Interestingly, if Marla did indeed do the paintings, the second part is actually an expansion on the first part, showing the extent to which people have refused to accept that such masterworks could have been created by a child.
- Either way, this is a pretty interesting real-life story that makes for a fine documentary. It's not really a movie that has surprises or dazzling filmmaking in store, but it made me interested enough to do some outside research on Marla, so I think it did its job.
- 43. Pather Panchali (1955) (watched again)
- I decided it was time to give the Apu trilogy another try, and rewatching this first film, I realize it is a better film than I had previously thought. It is a simple, unassuming, cute film that has a few strong emotional moments in it, elevated to massive acclaim on the basis that the Apu trilogy is the only non-Bollywood films that most Western critics have seen or heard of. It's not the most poignant story about childhood ever made despite what some may say, but it's a good movie with a solid place in film history.
- 44. Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
- Wow, this film makes me wonder if I misjudged the other three-hour Visconti film I've seen, The Leopard. One thing I do know is that Rocco and His Brothers is pretty damn heart-wrenching. In its tale of a mother and her sons moving to Milan, it simultaneously creates an ensemble of well-developed (albeit larger-than-life) individuals and also comments on the shifting Italian society at large. It is about the big emotions of these little people, and while I am normally put off by this type of melodrama, Rocco and His Brothers is one of the few melodramas that totally works. I must say, as engaging as all five men in this film are, it is the women who really blew me away. The mother and especially Nadia are such brilliant, well-acted characters, managing to steal the eponymous film from Rocco and his brothers. All the characters are fascinating, though, in this terrifically powerful film.
- 45. Aparajito (1956)
- Apu is a little wiser, a little more world-wearied, but the unpolished filmmaking depicting a life of poverty remains the same. This film isn't as esteemed as Pather Panchali, but I may have actually liked it better. Maybe it's the fact that I've been at this age more recently and could identify a little more. Or maybe it's the fact that more things happen in this movie, which seems to be a turn-off for some critics. I don't know, I kinda like it when things happen in movies. Call me an ignoramus. Anyway, I'll be sure to check out The World of Apu sometime soon.
- 46. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
- Speaking of me liking movies about things happening...
- I'm actually of two minds regarding this movie. It's clearly a film with some interesting, provocative ideas, in regard to both filmmaking and the world at large. On the other hand, it's a film about a woman doing chores for three and a half hours, occasionally briefly showing the woman prostituting herself. The film must be about a woman doing chores, because that is part of its vision and the artistic point it is making. It also should probably be three and a half hours, to demonstrate the unflinching commitment the film has to following this woman's routine activities. But that doesn't change the fact that it's about a woman doing chores for three and a half hours. The film could be half as long and you wouldn't miss a thing. Any scene could be cut out or cut in half. Granted, though, considering the subject matter, the movie is more interesting to watch than one might expect. I liked seeing certain subtle touches in the movie: the specific framing; the way Jeanne deals with her coffee tasting weird; the few interesting moments in the conversations she has with her son; the way the nude scene goes on so long that it just becomes awkward; and even the subtle ways that her routine is different on the different days. But those things notwithstanding, let me reiterate: A woman. Doing chores. Three and a half hours. I was doing fine for the first hour or so, but it was pretty disheartening to check my watch after about 1h15m and realize I wasn't even halfway done yet.
- Yet again, wouldn't the impact of the artistic vision be lessened if it wasn't as long? It reminds me of Andy Warhol's film Empire, an eight-hour long single shot of the Empire State Building. An artistic notion that must be absurdly long, but it makes for an unwatchable film. I guess I should feel lucky; at least Jeanne Dielman wasn't doing chores for eight hours. But I feel like it's absurd to try to rate these films amongst, you know, real movies. How do you compare this movie to, say, Airplane? One is bursting with artistic ideas yet forsakes all narrative structures and as a result is slow as molasses, the other does nothing artistically interesting but is infinitely more watchable. Which is the better film?
- 47. Oldboy (2003)
- Oldboy is a tremendously well-made film that is rightfully considered one of the best thrillers of the decade. I previously attempted to watch this but missed a large chunk of it due to circumstances beyond my control; in rewatching it, I rediscovered certain images and scenes that had been burned into my memory ever since. The film is bursting with life, energy, and originality, and the haunting ending works just as well as the action scenes, which are tense and exciting in framing that is tightly composed rather than frenetic. There are times in the middle when the film seems a little bogged down with repeating its complex reoccurring motifs, but this is a small complaint to lodge against a film that is both incredibly entertaining and emotionally harrowing.
- 48. Landscape in the Mist (1988)
- I decided it was time for me to discover Mr. Angelopoulos's work, and since Traveling Players is still tragically not available on DVD, I decided to check out this film, which is also the first Greek film I've ever seen. Landscape in the Mist is often amazing, but it's uneven; it's weakest when it's very overtly quoting Fellini (seriously, it gets kinda distracting) or in a contrived moment or two. However, there's a lengthy shot around the middle of the film that has to be one of the best shots ever put on celluloid: a brilliant composition that perfectly and subtly harnesses the emotion of the moment. Much of the rest of the film is terrific as well, a melancholy, moody character piece that crafts a bleak yet sympathetic portrait of humanity through exquisite visuals. Some may find this slow, but its gentle power stayed with me throughout the film, and I almost wanted to watch it again immediately afterwards. But seriously, Theo. If I wanted to watch a Fellini movie, I would've popped in 8 1/2.
Author Comments:
The title refers to the fact that I have moved to Manhattan.
Comments are always welcome, always have been, and always will be.
heyrocker or Jim, do spoiler tags not work anymore?
I think your Marienbad review basically says what I think of it, as well as what other people have said about it, but I have a particular fondness for your phrasing. I want to hear from you: What the hell is up with the scene where the people cast shadows but the trees do not?
Very glad you hated Gran Torino. Awful.
Heh. Thank you, sir. As for that scene, to me the trees as well as the rest of the scenery in the garden seem like a perfectly constructed frame, setting a stage for the people and their shadows. If the trees cast shadows, the shot would seem less perfectly symmetrical, echoing the way that people remember the past without any of the faults and imperfections that were actually there. Obviously the man cares more about preserving the flawless symmetry of the garden than about what the other guests were doing.
Gran Torino was such a disappointment. What a stupid movie. I'm glad the awards buzz seems to be dying down on it and that the top ten lists are ranking it relatively low, although I'll be a monkey's uncle if it's actually better than Doubt.
By the way, in case you were wondering, yes, I did see both Kate Winslet movies in a single day, and yes, that night I did watch Kate Winslet win two Golden Globes for the two movies I had watched earlier that day. I think I can say that Sunday, January 11th, 2009 is by far the largest amount of Kate Winslet exposure I've ever experienced in a single day.
To be fair, that might not be true if I had seen Titanic.
AJ, I wanted to thank you for your great review of Freaks & Geeks. In regards to the bullying aspect, I can say that it was definitely like that in 1980. And not just in Michigan, but where I was at in rural northern California as well, when I was just starting junior high. And it was the same in Illinois a couple of years later, going into high school. In fact, the show feels about 90-95% true to my experience from the time, which is one reason I love the show as much as I do. Times do change, and so do students, so hopefully it's gotten much better since then. But yes, I was picked on in 1980, and probably did my own little bit of bullying, but it did occur.
Ever seen the movie My Bodyguard from 1980? That was about as bad as it usually got (the bullying, that is, not the film itself).
Thank you for weighing in on this. I've always thought that most movies and TV shows involving high school bullying rang false, so I've been really curious to hear other people's experiences since seeing the pilot episode of this acclaimed, supposedly uber-realistic show. I talked to a fellow Freaks and Geeks fan who agreed with me about her high school but felt like there was more bullying at other schools, yet couldn't cite any specific examples. It's very interesting to hear that it may be a generational thing. Like I say in my review, though, I'm not convinced that things have actually gotten better since then, but rather that high-schoolers are more self-obsessed and/or focused on getting drunk and laid.
And no, I haven't see My Bodyguard, but it sounds pretty ridiculous. :-)
As always, I love these reviews. I find it very intriguing that although I haven't seen The Reader or Revolutionary Road, my expectations seem to be inversely related to your reactions. Hmmm...
Guess I'll have to see them both.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I had low expectations for both of them but felt like maybe I should see them. The Reader pleasantly surprised me, I thought it was a good yarn.
I think you might like Revolutionary Road more than I did. I do hope that if you get more out of seeing everyman argue with everywoman and be really angsty for two hours, you'll be so kind as to enlighten me.
Thank you!
I'm trying to make it over to see The Reader, but I've had no luck so far.
That description of Revolutionary Road scares me...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Sorry, that's a generalization... it's not as dreary as you might think. If I had wanted to, I could've written a more analytical review about how no one can accept when this couple tries to do something just slightly against the norm in that age; how it's about what we reveal to others, what we want to hear, and what we choose to hear; or mentioned that some scenes towards the end really are quite powerful. I still didn't think it was all that good a film.
Hope you enjoy the Winslet films though!