- 1971′s “The Last Picture Show” in an American masterpiece
by Sam Juliano
The musical countdown has reached the exact half-way point with Sunday’s posting of the South Pacific essay. The venture has proven a rousing success to this point, and appreciation must be expressed to those who have supported the project day in and day out with their superlative commentary and glowing support. The comment and hit totals have been mind-blowing. That miracle worker named “Dee Dee” continues to post sidebar updates with click poster you tubes to enhance the show.
Two major horror film ventures are slated for Exodus 8:2 and Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies over the coming weeks leading up to Halloween. Your crypt keepers will be Jaime Grijalba and Kevin Olson, and their frightful business will soon be posted on sidebar posters. As always these guys know their stuff, and we look forward to their upcoming projects.
Yankee and Phillie fans are surely excited at their teams’ prospect after opening round victories in the baseball playoffs. Weather-wise it feels and looks like Halloween, and temperatures in Manhattan dipped into the high 40′s.
A busy weekend redeemed a week that was spent writing essays for the musical countdown. Lucille and I saw three films in theatres (one a great American classic) and an off-Broadway play. It was a strong week quality-wise, especially.
The hero of Chad Beckim’s touching new play, After, performing at the Wild Project, is Monty (Alfredo Narciso) who isn’t a kid, but a quiet man in his mid-30s. He didn’t have a chance to learn the tricks of adulthood: Falsely accused of rape when he was a teenager, he spent 17 years in jail before being cleared by DNA evidence and released. As the cutain rises, Monty is back at home, living with his younger sister, Liz (Maria-Christina Oliveras), and he’s got a lot to catch up on. This often uproarious but still moving work is superlby directed by Stephen Brackett, who gives this explosive material a lighter touch and who emplys some creative and economical ideas for the staging. It’s the best ‘small venue’ work I’ve seen in Manhattan since Unnatural Acts many months back.
In movie theatres we saw:
50/50 **** 1/2 (Sunday afternoon) Edgewater multiplex
Take Shelter **** 1/2 (Sunday night) Angelika Film Center
The Last Picture Show 1971 ***** (Friday night) Film Forum
1971′s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is an American masterpiece and one of my personal favorite films of all-time. It’s my No. 1 film of the 1970′s. I have promoted this film for 40 years, seeing it for the first time as a teenager, and being overwhelmed by it’s powerful emotional drama, stunning black and white atmospherics, it’s brilliant performances by Ellen Burstyn, Cloris Leachman, Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms and Ben Johnson are master class, and Peter Bogdonovich’s direction is transcendent. A beautiful print again showcased a work that leaves you drained and breathless. I’d really love to do a full review at some point.
50/50 turns out to be a major surprise. Yes it has received largely spectacular reviews. But that won’t stop me from saying that it’s one of the best American films of the year. It handles the tenuous task of incorporating belly-laugh humor into the fabric of a serious health crisis, and of balancing the two elements as deftly as I’ve yet seen in a film. Pitch-perfect performances, observant writing, and the remarkable avoidance of saccharine resolutions this is that rarest of films that has you guffawing while moving you to tears. The use of medicinal marajuana in the story was a hoot too, and a scene involving a painting was classic. Terrific film, and a likely Top Ten finisher I would have to think.
TAKE SHELTER is powerful stuff. Just got in and I must say I liked it even more than 50/50. Mike Shannon gives an extraordinary performance. Will have more to say tomorrow.
Here’s what’s going on in the blogosphere this week, and a WitD staffer took on the task of updating the links!!!!!!!!!!!!! My lips are sealed!
At Darkness Into Light Dee Dee celebrates Lizabeth Scott’s 87th birthday: http://noirishcity.blogspot.com/2011/09/happy-birthday-to-actress-lizabeth.html
Jon Warner delves into the troubling Pontecorvo film “Kapo”, which Jacques Rivette famously despised, at Films Worth Watching: http://filmsworthwatching.blogspot.com/2011/09/kapo-1959-directed-by-gillo-pontecorvo.html
John Greco visits “Bad Day at Black Rock” and playfully notes that “Spencer Tracy can act better than most others with one arm tied behind his back!” on Twenty Four Frames: http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/bad-day-at-black-rock-1955-john-sturges/
Part 14 of his film round-up series has found Filmmaker Jeffrey Goodman in top form with capsule reviews on four gems of the cinema: “Poetry,” “Fitzcaraldo,” “Gattaca” and “Mr. & Mrs. Bridge” It’s over at The Last Lullaby: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2011/09/favorite-four-part-fourteen.html
Analyzing anger, Laurie Buchanan asks “How do you cool the flames?” at Speaking From The Heart: http://holessence.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/slow-burn/
R. D. Finch has penned a marvelous review of the popular 1948 Cary Grant feature “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” at The Movie Projector: http://themovieprojector.blogspot.com/2011/09/mr-blandings-build-his-dream-house-1948.html
Tony d’Ambra at FilmsNoir.net posts a moody frames gallery for the 1933 proto-noir “Private Detective 62″: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/film-noir-origins-private-detective-62-1933.html
On Mondo 70, Samuel Wilson astutely assesses the weaknesses of early Keaton short “Convict 13″, noting that “complacent acceptance of superficiality is a theme of the picture”: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2011/10/buster-keaton-in-convict-13-1920.html
Murderous Ink in Tokyo has penned a brilliant historical and political essay on two celebrated Kinoshita featues, “Army” and “Twenty-Four Eyes” at Vermillion and One Nights: http://vermillionandonenights.blogspot.com/2011/09/apron-as-weapon.html
Aided by word, image, and video, Sachin Gandhi of Scribbles and Ramblings investigates Claire Denis’ use of visuals and sound, including in “White Material” whose viewing at Venice Sachin declares “the best cinematic experience of my life”: http://likhna.blogspot.com/2011/09/claire-denis-x-5.html
Judy Geater continues her look at pre-Codes with with “Broken Lullaby” by Lubitsch, at Movie Classics: http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/broken-lullaby-ernst-lubitsch-1932/
Terrill Welch displays her Mayne Island artworks, going for a bargain, at Creativepotager: http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/first-salish-sea-sunday-savings/
Qalandar reviews the Hindi gangster flick “Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster” at Satyamshot: http://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/qalandar-reviews-saheb-biwi-aur-gangster-hindi-2011/
Shubhajit Leheri offers a capsule of Kubrick’s “bleak, austere and minimalist” “Paths of Glory,” which he contrasts with Kubricks other two antiwar films at Cinemascope: http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/2011/10/paths-of-glory-1957.html
Craig Kennedy takes a harder line than his co-hosts on “Straw Dogs” and “Moneyball” with his latest Living in Cinema podcast: http://livingincinema.com/2011/10/01/ye-olde-3-way-moviegasm-podcast-strawmoneydogballs/
Patricia looks back on “The Camel Dances” from Arnold Lobel’s beloved children’s book “Fables” on Patricia’s Wisdom: http://patriciaswisdom.com/2011/09/camel-pirouette/
Stephen Russell-Gebbett has penned a fecund takedown of Pixar’s “Toy Story 3″ at Checking on my Sausages: http://checkingonmysausages.blogspot.com/2011/09/toy-story-3.html
David Schleicher takes a stroll down “Boardwalk Empire”‘s season 2 premiere on The Schleicher Spin: http://theschleicherspin.com/2011/09/25/boardwalk-empire-21-season-two-premier/
At Exodus 8:2 Jaime Grijalba takes a ride in “The Phantom Carriage”, which was just released on the Criteiron Collection. This kicks off his “31 Days of Terror” series in which he watches a horror movie every day in honor of Halloween: http://exodus8-2.blogspot.com/2011/10/1-korkarlen-1921.html
Pat Perry has posted an excllent review on “Something Borrowed,” a ‘chick’ flick that’s worth something at Doodad Kind of Town: http://doodadkindoftown.blogspot.com/2011/09/on-home-screen-something-borrowed.html
Michael Harford has a new collage up and he shares the news at Coffee Messiah: http://coffeemessiah.blogspot.com/2011/10/to-power-of-n.html
Jason Bellamy has a fascinating review of “Catching Hell”, about the Chicago fan who dashed the Cubs’ World Series chances by reaching for a baseball in 2003, something he has never been able to live down. The review is called ”Ticket to the Dark Side” and has sparked a sterling discussion on The Cooler: http://coolercinema.blogspot.com/2011/09/ticket-to-dark-side-catching-hell.html
Marilyn Ferdinand reports from the Chicago International Film Festival to review a fascinating documentary on Yugoslavia’s Tito, “the number one film fan who ever lived”. It’s all at Ferdy-on-Films: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/?p=11660
Ed Howard has a link to this month’s Record Club discussion on the Manic Street Preachers, conducted by Wonders’ very own Jamie Uhler, at Only The Cinema. Keep the conversation going!: http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2011/09/record-club-5-manic-street-preachers.html
In a set of links, the Film Doctor explores a number of economic and political topics, from Google & Facebook as Big Brother, to the illusion behind the “creative industry” myth: http://filmdr.blogspot.com/2011/10/reactionary-links.html
At Movies Over Matter Jason Marshall names “The Apple” as one of his favorite “bad” movies: http://moviesovermatter.com/2011/09/17/hes-so-eager-to-believe-and-so-easily-deceived-like-a-baby-watching-magic-hes-so-gullible-its-tragic-the-apple-my-favorite-bad-movies/
James Hansen has written an outstanding essay in defense of “Drive” at Out One Film Journal: http://www.out1filmjournal.com/2011/09/shadowing-spotlight-nicolas-winding.html
At Radiator Heaven J.D. reviews ”A Scanner Darkly” which he considers the first accurate translation of Philip K. Dick from page to screen: http://rheaven.blogspot.com/2011/09/scanner-darkly.html
Srikanth (Just Another Film Buff) offers up a fascinating capsule on Wim Wenders’s “Pina” at The Seventh Art: http://theseventhart.info/2011/09/24/ellipsis-47/
Roderick Heath at This Island Rod has penned a towering essay on “Thor”: http://thisislandrod.blogspot.com/2011/09/thor-2011.html
TCM’s Greg Ferrara rescues rare clips of Christopher Lee telling ghost stories from a defunct CD-ROM on Cinema Styles: http://cinemastyles.blogspot.com/2011/10/christopher-lee-tells-stories-and-gives.html
At Cinema Viewfinder, Tony Dayoub kicks of New York Film Festival coverage with a thoughtful review of “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” Martin Scorsese’s latest music documentary: http://www.cinemaviewfinder.com/2011/10/nyff11-movie-review-george-harrison.html
Steven Morton talks about Bob Dylan’s “Ring them Bells,” which he notes is his favorite song at Petrified Fountain of Thought: http://petrifiedfountainofthought.blogspot.com/2011/09/ring-them-bells.html
Craig at The Man From Porlock analyzes the faults of Moneyball, and wonders why sports films keep raising the position of their “underdog” heroes: http://themanfromporlock.blogspot.com/2011/09/off-field-moneyball.html
Hokahey at Little Worlds marvels at the formal prowess of the Oregon Trail film “Meek’s Cutoff”, praising its “magnificent dissolves” and “real-time realism”: http://hokahey-littleworlds.blogspot.com/2011/10/oregon-trail-verite-meeks-cutoff-2011.html
At Not Just Movies Jake Cole discusses “The Blue Angel” and wonders why the Germans – kings of the silents – made such a strong transition into sound: http://armchairc.blogspot.com/2011/10/blue-angel-josef-von-sternberg-1930.html
Record Club #4 – The Dirty South” is leading the way at Elusive as Robert Denby, and proctor Troy Olson has quite a comment thread to show: http://troyolson.blogspot.com/2011/08/record-club-4-drive-by-truckers-dirty.html
Kevin J. Olson announces the return of his Italian Horror blog-a-thon at Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies: http://kolson-kevinsblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/italian-horror-blog-thon-returns.html
The saddest of times for Jeopardy Girl as she movingly relates at The Continuing Story of Jeopardy Girl. Wonders in the Dark extends it’s deepest condolences to our friend up north: http://jeopardygirl.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/gone/
Adam Zanzie continues his recap of the book “War Horse” on Icebox Movies in anticipation of the upcoming Spielberg film: http://iceboxmovies.blogspot.com/2011/09/war-horse-1982-chapters-6-10.html
Dave Van Poppel at Visions of Non-Fiction has posted a terrific review of the documentary “Project Nim”: http://visionsofnonfiction.blogspot.com/2011/08/project-nim.html
Andrew Wyatt defends the 80s monster movie “Q” at Gateway Cinephiles: http://gatewaycinephiles.com/2011/09/30/looklisten-q-at-the-wufs/
Actually, it’s on his blog, but the review is mine…
No harm though, thanks for the shout!
Hello Qalandar! Great to hear from you, and hope and anticipate all is well. Excellent work as always!
Sam thanks so much for making the time to mention Salish Sea Sunday Savings… it is over now of course but the second even will be Sunday Oct 16th. My movie watching has been sparse this week with all of the other creative activity flourishing. However, I know there is much to read here and look forward to seeing 50/50. On our list it goes! Have a fine week Sam!
Terrill—
The brilliant TAKE SHELTER which examined weather and ominous warnings, is the weekend frilm I am certain you will love, though 50/50 seems up your alley too. I am very happy to know the activity was brisk at the first session of the Salish Sea Sunday Savings, and I’ll be looking in on October 16. The paintings there are magnificent. I rarely look on anything as beautiful.
I wish you a great week too my very good friend!
To Sam and the WitD staffer, many thanks for the plug, much appreciated. You packed a lot into your weekend despite all your writing this week, Sam, and sounds as if you hit gold with all three of those films, as well as the stage play!
I also made it to both the theatre and the cinema on Saturday. First off, I went with my husband and saw a new musical at our local theatre in Ipswich, ‘Twentieth-Century Boy’, based on the life and music of Marc Bolan of T-Rex fame – it was a lot of fun and had the audience dancing by the end. Then in the evening I finally saw the new ‘Jane Eyre’ film at my local independent cinema – as you know, it has taken several months to cross the Atlantic. Anyway, Sam, I looked back at your review and left a comment there, but will repeat it here too:
I totally agree with you on the power of the cinematography and the score – the contrast between the dark, candlelit interiors and the windswept moors is wonderful. I also really like the flashback structure and Mia Wasikowska’s performance as Jane, but I don’t feel Fassbender is magnetic or tortured enough as Rochester and there isn’t enough conversation between them to build their relationship. It is so difficult to get this novel into a single film – such a lot has to be lost or just hinted at. So for me it isn’t the best version of this great novel, but I do still like it.
At home I’ve continued watching musicals – watched ‘South Pacific’ again, from my new R&H box set, to tie in with your review (I’ve commented there), and also saw Judy Garland in ‘The Harvey Girls’ on TV – that one is an enjoyable blend of Western and musical, and she has a couple of great songs in it.
Judy—
Thanks for alerting me to the comment you placed at the JANE EYRE review. Somehow I missed it. You size up the production there beautifully, and though I may have liked it even more overall (heck it actually contends for my #1 spot, with some great movies in the mix) but I’ll admit that Fassbender isn’t really the best choice for Rochester. Wasikowska is wonderful though, and she’s the vital cog. I must say I was so smitten by the music, the lighting and the wind-swept cinematography that I willed myself into believing this was a flawless gem. I even though Judy Dench was wonderful in her trademark portrayal. I hope to see it again on blu-ray very soon. Your capsule analysis can’t be questioned, methinks.
I know you’ve really been in a musical swing as of late, and I salute you for that! THE HARVEY GIRLS couldn’t quite make our countdown but it’s a fine one indeed. Saw your great response on SOUTH PACIFIC too!
Thanks many times over my great friend!
Thanks for the mention, Sam. I look forward to your review of Take Shelter, exactly my type of movie.
Film Doctor—–
I am thinking I may soon be treated to one of your more splendid analytical pieces. Thanks for stopping by my friend!
Thanks Sam for the mention. I like the look of some of those links. I didn’t know that MovieMan had begun his series.
This week I saw the latest film by a man who caused quite a stir on the French Riviera in May. A review may be forthcoming.
I hope all his well with the Juliani.
“the Juliani.”
LOL
Stephen—
Movie Man just recently launched his series, and of course it promises some great things! You have me in suspense with the identity of that film. I hope to come up with the answer in short order. Ha!
I love that well greeting! LOL! Al is well enough for sure, though there’s always the keeping on everybody to do their homework, clean the house, go to bed earlier and the like. Seems like one person in the family is always hogging up the PC most of the time, and is often not in the discipline equation.
Thanks as always my very good friend!
So the “updates” section got updated after all. Many thanks to the mysterious WitD staffer for doing the honours, and of course Sam too.
I’m aware of your love for The Last Picture Show. In fact your enthusiasm for it was very evident to me very recently in the comment that you posted for my review on A Decade under the Influence. So its great that you watched it again on the big screen. Its always a special feeling to revisit movies and books that one has been deeply fond of.
I managed to catch a few movies myself in the meantime: a Hindi movie belonging to the gangster genre from the late 80′s called Parinda (which literally means Pigeons, but here it refers rather to Free Birds) – its about the Mumbai (Bombay) underworld; Billy Wilder’s marvelous Stalag 17 – the movie went especially well with Rum & Coke
; and acclaimed Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-Woon’s debut feature – a delicious black comedy called The Quiet Family. Meanwhile I’ve also managed to get done with all the 5 seasons of Boston Legal.
Shubhajit—-
Yes, I was rescued at zero hour from one of our most talented and esteemed colleagues here at WitD.
Aye, I just placed that comment under your piece this week–that was very coincidental. Perhaps the fondest memory I have of THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is that I took my parents to see it at a time I was only 17. I had caught the movie bug when I was about 10 it wasn’t till around the time of THE LAST PICTURE SHOW that I began a serious obsession with current releases. That was the same year of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE another film I strongly promoted.
Rum and coke, eh? I’m sure that went quite well with STALOG 17!!! Ha! I’m never watched BOSTON LEGAL, but so many fans have checked in here on that one. Jee-Woon is a major voice as we know from his last few films, so seeing THE QUIET FAMILY (which I have not seen yet) is a wise time investment I would think. I’m sure PARINDA is also worth a look-see, as you contend.
Thanks for the terrific wrap my friend, and have a great week!
Well, 50/50 comes as no surpize to me when I saw that joseph Gordon Levitt was the star of the film.
In the last decade this kid has become one of the young actors to keep your eyes out for. Long removed from the bratty wise-cracking man kid from space on many a year of 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN, he has proven himself a fine actor and his performances have a kind of weight and believabily that not too many of the new generation of thespians can muster.
I will call you all to the attention of STOP LOSS. Say what you will about the film in total, but Gordon Levitt is simply superb as the hairtrigger personality in the film and his turn is both touching and frightening at the same time.
500 DAYS OF SUMMER is one of the best romantic comedy/coming of age films since ANNIE HALL and THE GRADUATE and Levitt has the early career vehicle that makes him a bonafied star in the making with his lovely turn as a young greeting card writer who feels the arrow of cupid and all it’s heartbreak for the very first time. His scenes with co-star Zoey DeChanel, as the girl of his dreams, have an honesty not seen too often in romance movies and it adds fire to the winning natuire of Levitts performance. You can feel his joy and, ultimately, his pain, in every scene he’s in.
MYSTERIOUS SKIN from whack-job director Gregg Araki is the type of role that wouold send most young actors running for the hills to hide from. However, Levitt embraces the male-hustler main character of the piece and embues the protagonist with dariing sense of risk and adventure. It’s a ballsy, gritty and erotically charged turn that won him kudos from viewers and critics alike and should be considered one of the best lead perfromances of the past ten years or so.
I’ll look forward to seeing what wonders he achieves in 50/50.
I love the work of Joseph Godon Levitt, and it thrills me to see an actor or actress emmerge and make good on the promise of their early career. I have a funny feeling we’ll be seeing alot more of this kid…
Dennis I agree with you about Levitt he has done some amazing work thus far and 500 Days of Summer and Mysterious Skin are impressive works indeed.
Dennis—
This is a fabulous defense for the work of Gordon-Levitt. Yes he was most impressive in MYSTERIOUS SKIN, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER and a prison drama where he played a compromised character, THE LOOKOUT. He was memorable too in BRICK. I would wager even money you will connect with 50/50, which by the way is playing in Edgewater.
Terrific comment my friend!
Sam,
Thanks again for the shout out and you sir had one amazing week with your viewing and the penning of your own essays for the countdown which stand as some of the best of them all. When I first saw THE LAST PICTURE SHOW was going to play at the Film Forum, and well aware of your love for this film, my first thought was “Sam will be there!” I hope to catch 50/50 sometime during the week.
At home I watched the following….
Lost in America (****) Albert Brooks droll but brilliant comedy about a married couple who give it all up and go looking for America “Easy Rider” for the Winnebago set.
Good Neighbors (***1/2) Idiosyncratic thriller with shades of the Coen Brothers dark humor and quirky characters. Suspense is not the intention since we know fairly early on who the identity of the murderer is. The focus is more on isolation and eccentricity of the three leads live in the same apartment building and share dark secrets.
Pay Day (****) this was Chaplin’s last short film. By this time he was just fulfilling his contract and wanted out in order to work as an independent in features. The film starts off with some great gags and amazing acrobatic brick throwing that has to be seen to be believed. Not top notch but a nice farewell to the short form.
Kansas City Confidential (***1/2) Three great heavies, Neville Brand, Lee Van Cleef and Jack Elam highlight this Phil Karlson down and dirty violent crime film. John Payne is set up to take the fall for a bank heist but after the cops let him go he pursues the three hoods along with their enigmatic boss with a vengeance.
The Innocents (****) extremely atmospheric ghost story based on Henry James “The Turn of a Screw.” Brilliant black and white photography and editing give this film an unsettling and eerie setting. Is the young inexperienced governess seeing the spirits of the former governess and her lover, or is she slowly descending into madness.
The Late Show (***1/2) what would happen to Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe if they ever lived long enough to get old. Well, we get a taste of what life would be like in the guise of Ira Welles (Art Carney); an old P.I. who investigates the death of his former partner with the help of a local Hollywood kook whose cat has been kidnapped. A 70′s tribute to the detective genre highlighted by a wonderful performance from Lily Tomlin.
JOHN-Add me to the list of fans for LOST IN AMERICA.
I saw the film when it first came out and fell in love with this limited release, in and out of the theatre in 2 weeks time gem. The brilliant thing about it is that the set up is conveyed within minutes of the opening credits and from there allows Brooks to pile on one great comical moment or reaction after the other.
I’ve felt Brooks is one of the most under-rated and least appreciated GENIUSES in modern comedy film-making (second only to Woody Allen, and just a step better than Mel Brookes)and his wit and sly humor are far more attainable because he’s more like the everyday, average asshole walking down the street.
The moment in the unemployment office as the agent breaks his balls about past wages and bonuses is a comic tour-de-force of Brooks famous facial reactions. I fondly remember LOST IN AMERICA as one of those very few and rare comedies that had me laughing out loud for most, if not all, of it’s running time. It’s a smart, realistic and telling little chuckler that casts a mirror on yuppie confidence and its eventual self implosion.
Julie Haggerty, as Brooks wife, Linda practically steals the show from Brooks (not an easy task) in her moments with him in the casino restaurant when he finds out she has a HUGE untapped gambling problem (“If you pick up a Kino card I’ll fucking kill you”), and I loved the moment when he finds her at the roulette table screaming the same number again and again and again and again (loved the aside to the elderly Chinese guy: “she really likes twenty-two”).
The comedy countdown is coming soon to WITD and you can be rest assured I will have LOST IN AMERICA within the top 25 on my ballot….
It’ nice to see that I’m not alone in my praise for this minor comic masterpiece…
Dennis – i am glad to hear you are on board with this film and I agree with you on your ranking of Albert “just a step better than Mel” and that is no insult to Mel who I love also. In addition to the scenes you mention I also love the scene in his boss’ office when he finds out he in not getting the promotion but instead a transfer to the New York office. His response, ” I can get a transfer at a bus stop!” Yep!, this one will be in my countdown too. MODERN ROMANCE AND REAL LIFE are terrific too.
Actually, the line in the office when he gets screwed out of his promotion that kills me even more: “And, by the way Brad, our hair-piece deal is off!”
At Hoover Dam:
Linda: “Boy, isn’t this view amazing?”
David: “Oh, yeah, sure, beautiful… You wanna jump first or shall I?”
and, of course, this moment, which cracks me the f*** up every time I see it…
(Art Frankel as the unemplyment agent is a perfect sparring partner to Brooks high tension neurosis…)
you couldn’t change your life with $100,000? – Love it!
And the Easy Rider, Easy Money thing. It just goes on. Wonderful stuff! This conversation makes me want to watch it again.
John—
Yes this was an ultra-busy week I must admit, and the preparation of the nightly essays has been demanding in every sense. But it’s been a glorious ride so far, and you Sir, are one of the project’s most esteemed writers! Yes, you knew I’d be jumping over THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, as I opted to attend the opening night.
I agree with you on PAYDAY, which I saw at the festival last summer. Very good,, but not first-rate in his canan. THE INNOCENTS would get the top ranking, but your points are more than fair enough. KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL is dead-on. I’m with you on GOOD NEIGHBORS, a little less so on THE LATE SHOW and COMING TO AMERICA.
As always superlative capsules and spectacular wrap my very good friend!
Hope you get to 50/50 this week.
SAM-
Are you confusing the films?
COMING TO AMERICA is that God awful Eddie Murphy, John Landis directed trash about a prince in Manhattan looking for a bride.
LOST IN AMERICA is the Albert Brooks film about the advertisement exec who ditches authority and decides to roam the country with his wife after liquidating his assets and buying a big winnebago.
COMING is total trash of the comedic kind.
LOST is one of the greatest comedies of the past 30 or so years.
Dennis, I think you’re confused.
COMING TO AMERICA is a hilarious 80′s romp full of rather funny sketches of black urban plight, second only to TRADING PLACES and perhaps the first BEVERLY HILLS COP in Eddie Murphy’s career. A man that used to be very, very funny (see RAW and/or DELIRIOUS).
LOST IN AMERICA is a rather limp film that begins with an interesting idea then predictably becomes just another ardent defender of status quo yuppie values. Since it does masquerade as something new, original, and challenging this decent is actually pretty disgusting on a number of levels.
Sam,
Glad to hear that you really liked 50/50, as I have high hopes for it and I do really like the two leads in the film. I like that kind of movie that can balance two extremes like that. Thanks as always for the kind mention. I continue to applaud all the efforts from all the writers and contributers and commenters to the countdown. It has truly been a wonderful experience seeing all the passion for the medium come out. Wonderful stuff as always.
My wife and I went out together to see Drive! Wow I loved the movie and I’m totally in agreement with you on its masterpiece status. I’m still working on my review hopefully to be published this week, but needless to say, I found major and key delineations from all those who’ve been comparing the film to that of Mann’s or Melville’s canon. I found that Drive does not take itself nearly as seriously as the traditional “cool” guy movies that they made. I think there is clearly an embracing of pulp melodrama, superhero pastiche, a beautiful and far more sensitive portrayal of the masculine archetype as well. Gosling is far more emotive and sensitive than Eastwood, McQueen or Delon were asked to be. I also think Refn embraces a certain unabashed cheese factor, somewhat like Tarantino. But it’s to GLORIOUS effect! When the film was over, I had a big grin on my face.
This week is The Music Man, Destry Rides Again and Dearden’s Victim. Have a great one!
Jon—
I just found a largely favorable review of 50/50 from one of the finest writers out there in our ranks, Jason Bellamy at THE COOLER:
http://coolercinema.blogspot.com/2011/10/positive-prognosis-5050.html
Jason is a very tough guy to please, so this excellently-penned piece is telling.
Yes, the musical countdown has exceeded all expectations with the remarkable comment total sustaining itself day after day. Of course you have been yourself a huge part of it, and I can’t thank you enough for all you have done. I know the kind of time and commitment that must be applied, and you have gone above and beyond in every sense. And I have noticed that some of the writers have trotted out their very best work, so it’s been inspiring for sure.
Fantastic discussion there on DRIVE Jon, and thrilled to hear that you and your wife dug it! Love teh point of Gosling being more “sensitive” and “emotive” than the other actors you mention especially, but you make a fascinating case there.
You have three terrific films lined up there, and THE MUSIC MAN is most appropriate now! Ha!
Thanks as always my excellent friend!
Sam, thanks so much for the wonderful mention!
I’m really excited to see TAKE SHELTER and am looking forward to it making its way to Louisiana. This week, I saw: MONEYBALL, Clement’s FORBIDDEN GAMES (a second viewing), Tsai Ming-liang’s THE RIVER, UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES, BLUE COLLAR, and BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST. I was extremely happy to see them all but would have to say the Rapaport documentary affected me the most. A Tribe Called Quest was truly one of the two or three soundtracks of my college years and revisiting their greatness brought back a flood of wonderful memories.
Here’s to another excellent week. Thanks so much, Sam, for all that you do!
Jeffrey—
If I were to place a wager I’d say you will definitely voice a strong positive response to TAKE SHELTER. As a director yourself, I can see you appreciating the work that Jeff Nichols did in building a sense of menace and urgency. It’s a great psychological study with a brilliant lead performance.
As it is I’m sorry to say I haven’t seen BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, but much appreciatiate hearing of your connection to the group back to your college years. I know well such affinities. Of that other very fine lot, I count myself as a very big admirer of FORBIDDEN GAMES and thought UNCLE BOONME among the this year’s best films. I liked MONEYBALL too, and have decent regard for THE RIVER. I don’t think I’ve seen BLUE COLLAR. You really had a great week here!
Anyway, thanks as always Jeffrey for the great submission and very kind words!
Sam – Perhaps we were twins separated at birth! Just like I make a point of reading “To Kill a Mockingbird” once a year, I also make a point of seeing one of my all-time favorite movies — The Last Picture Show — once a year. There aren’t sufficient accolades to do it justice. I was 14 years old the first time I saw it and fell head over heels in love with BOTH Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottoms. Oh me, oh my — what a great memory!
And you’ve got a mystical, magical blog-link updater, to boot! If I were any more impressed, they’d have to issue me a ticket!
Laurie—
It’s incredible that we share a number of mutual favorites, and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and THE LAST PICTURE SHOW are searing dramas that stay with you for a lifetime. I could well understand the feelings for Bottoms and Bridges. From this end there was a strong connection to Cybil Shepherd, but Ellen Burstyn was just emerging as real acting force and she had a very big scene in the film when she recalled Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson). In the lake scene Johnson had an electrifying monologue that no doubt influenced voters from awards group to give him the Best Supporting Actor prize.
Yes that mystery man from our ranks did quite a creative job on those links!
Thanks as always my great friend!
Can’t wait to see Take Shelter. Everybody’s praising Shannon’s performance, but the film is winning just as much fuss. I’m a bit spectical about 50/50 though. I value your opinion, and think Gordon-Levitt is a fine young actor, but that cancer subject matter could be dodgy. I’ll give it a shot. Nice that you got to see one of your all-time favorites, The Last Picture Show at the Film Forum.
Frank—-
TAKE SHELTER was a powerful tonic that reflected a lot of today’s problems. Slow to get off the mat, it’s a haunting and foreboding piece with some arresting sequences and an electrifying performance from Michael Shannon. The centerpiece from him was a late scene in a cafeteria. But for all kinds of reasons it’s an important film with an unsettling visual scheme.
Yes, I knew you’d remember my long devotion to THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.
As always many thanks my friend!
Hello Sam and everyone! Thus begins October and with that the horror madness of Halloween. Thanks a ton for featuring my month with such a force and clamour, I’m really grateful of being part of such an amazing community that it’s so involved with each other, and the mysterious updater shows how good are we with each other and how we want this site to become the best site on the internet regarding all of the audiovisual can imagine. thanks again!
You had a week of quality so it seems, the play was good, and the films were terrific, according to your rankings. I think I’ll wait a bit for 50/50 (what the underground voices say), and The Last Picture Show is one of those films that sound like a classic and can’t wait to see it. The musical countdown is great! GOOD WORK SAM!
My week, well, I had my last day at the internship on monday, on tuesday I presented a work and it went ok but not great, and I had classes on Saturday, and that is just a crime for anyone, I’d say. Back to the Future, a rerelease opened here, and I’d love to see it soon enough.
My week, movie wise:
- The 3 Rs (2011, David Lynch) **** Short commercial/film filled with disturbing imagery, usual to Lynch, is nice to see him do these little experiments and short films, even if it’s for a Viennale, and I’m guessing we won’t be seeing anymore Lynch films in a long long time, which is really a sad thing to say.
- Abduction (2011, John Singleton) **1/2 Not as bad as they want you to believe, but it’s very crappy in the acting department all the way through, but the first time is watchable due to a good pace and rythm of the action and the events that sucede one after the other, but still Lautner is not a good actor and I fear he’ll never be.
- Drive (2011, Nicolas Winding Refn) **** Maybe the hype was too much and I expected too much of it, but it’s not a masterpiece and I don’t think it’ll ever be one, but I don’t go the other way saying it’s bland or a bad film, I’ll say that is good, maybe great, and well worth seeing. The film goes on way too much time into silence, and I usually like silence in film, but this time I found that we needed some more, a protagonist that doesn’t talk isn’t sympathetic to the public. Some scenes are really good and I’ll agree that I saw much Mann in this, with shades (very little and almost non visible shades) of Lynch.
- The Fly (1958, Kurt Neumann) ****1/2 It played on Tv, I couldn’t escape it, it’s the second time I’ve seen this one and I still don’t know why is this so reviled some times, it has a great sense of suspense and great acting. It’s ok, the makeup is a bit ridiculous, but still it has a lot going for it, and I just love how eveything is french but they still talk in english.
- Home Stories (1990, Matthias Müller, Dirk Schaefer) **** Footage film, using different bits of american movies featuring women at their houses, scared, searching, they repeat the same actions. Quite an statement for a short film, it works for the most of its lenght.
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923, Wallace Worsley) **** This is the second one of my halloween madness! Check it at the site people!
- The Phantom Carriage (1921, Victor Sjöstrom) ****1/2 My first one at the halloween madness, check it out at the link up there!
- Light Is Calling (2004, Bill Morrison) **** The beauty of this film is uncomparable. I’ll just post it here so you can see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf9ah8IUVgw While great, the music may be too much at times in this short experimental film, but it helps building the atmosphere.
- Melancholia (2011, Lars von Trier) ****1/2 Wow. The best movie I’ve seen in this year. I’ll wait for tomorrow to talk about it, if you know what I mean.
- Outer Space (2000, Peter Tscherkassky) **** Thrilling and scary short experimental film that plays with the image and sound of “The Entity” to give a message on the state of film itself, american industries and women in general in their loneliness. Must be great at Cinemascope.
Well, that’s all Sam, thanks again and have a good week!
Jaime,
Glad to hear you liked Meloncholia. I have high hopes for it. I saw Drive too, but liked it more than you did. I only saw a little of Mann, more of Melville but it doesn’t take itself nearly as seriously as those directors do. Drive far more embraces melodrama and cheese like Tarantino. I found it to be a glorious emo-noir, more emotional than you are giving it credit for. That’s me though.
Jaime—
I have indeed seen your October horror madness presentation, and it has started off most impressively! I urge everyone to check out your daily updates! This is a true labor of love! That’s quite a mouthful you say there about the online community and the hands-on involevement of Wonders in the Dark. You have been a major part of this equation yourself. Yes, it was agood week for me, and yes, the most essential film of the lot is THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, one of my favorite films of all-time. It’s one I will officially campaign for you to see!!!
You had a good week at school, but yes Saturday classes are too much!
I have seen your wonderful posts of THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE and the silent THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, and applaud their inclusion in the lineup. The Sjostrom is one of the all-time greats and was just released on Criterion blu-ray. I also like the Vincent Price THE FLY and concur with your assessment.
You know my position on DRIVE, which is a visual tone poem that is often electrifying. I know you have stopped short of such high praise but like it well enough.
Thrilled to hear that great report on MELANCHOLIA, which opens in these parts in November. Beat film of the year, eh? Wow! I will look for your written assessment!.
I haven’t seen ABDUCTION nor HOME STORIES, but I hear you on both counts. The Singleton isn’t one to seek out. I will definitely take a look at the link for LIGHT IS CALLED. Did not see OUTER SPACE. Intriguing.
Thanks for the tremendous wrap and Best Wishes with you new labor of love my friend!
Sam, I’ve never seen Last Picture Show — it wasn’t my kind of movie when I was growing up — but I got Criterion’s BBS Story box set at the last Barnes & Noble sale so I should be looking at that soon, with your recommendation to prod me along. I have a review of Pasquale Squaltieri’s Fascists-vs-Mafia film Il Prefetto di Ferro (aka I Am the Law) up right now, and besides that I saw a library copy of Sion Sono’s Cold Fish. Perhaps I am jaded now, but while this film had its moments my overall impression was “So?” But maybe the director was constrained by the based-on-true-events aspect of the film. I’ve also been watching some B-movie oddities from Mill Creek Entertainment’s new Sci-Fi Invasion box set toward doing some October counter-programming on the blog. Not that Mill Creek discs aren’t often horrifying, but you’ll see what I mean.
Samuel—-
I can’t recommend any film from this period more strongly than THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, but of course it’s a personal favorite from my teen age years. I will be checking out that Squaltieri film review out this evening along with the one you peened on Keaton’s CONFICT 13 (a film I recently saw at the Film Forum) I’m curious as to what is on that Mill Creek science-fiction box set. Most telling take there on Sono’s COLD FISH, which I do believe is screening at the New York Film Festival.
Thanks as always my friend!
I think that Cold Fish may be the second greatest film Sono has ever made, and that’s below Love Exposure, which is a hell of an achievement, but still this movie missed my top 10 (or even top 5) of last year because I saw it “out of time”.
No way, COLD FISH is good, but STRANGE CIRCUS is the best horror film he’s ever done. Plus, NORIKU’S DINNER TABLE is also probably better then COLD FISH. Also, is reports are to be believed his new one, HIMIZU (sp?) is supposed to be a masterpiece as well.
I don’t know of any other film that Sam has praised as passionately since I know him as “The Last Picture Show”. Not even “Far From Heaven”.
Ha Peter!!! You are definitely getting the right vive here!
Thank you Sir!
The New York Film Festival began this weekend, and I kicked things off by seeing the 50th anniversary restoration of William Wyler’s “Ben Hur”. It’s one of those films I think that one takes for granted on television, even when shown in letterbox format– like all true epics, it needs to be seen on the big screen for all the detail to soak in. Obviously the chariot-race sequence is still the highlight, but everything that leads up to it is all impressive too, with special note to the set design that’s at once fetishistic in its recreation of the period and scale of Roman imperial reign, and at the same time evocative of a whole range of emotional undercurrents. True, as the film gets on and moves past the chariot scene, it gets really heavy-handed in the Jesus portions, which still rather stick out to me, even though they’re kinda the whole point of the film. What makes it work is how deep Heston and Wyler take Judah’s sorrow and cynicism up to the end– it has to work hard to earn its religious sentiment.
The next night, I saw the oft-talked about but seldom seen Nicholas Ray experiment “We Can’t Go Home Again”, an interesting effort to be sure, but one that’s wrapped up in a lot of the same problems that plenty of other stabs at counter-cultural filmmaking had from stalwarts like him. As a premier auteur of the studio-system, you forget just how much polish and professional craft celebrated films like “In a Lonely Place”, “Johnny Guitar”, “Rebel Without a Cause” or “Bigger Than Life” have until you see Ray attempt to make a film that more or less goes against all of that discipline for something that isn’t bound up by any aesthetic rules. The end result is fascinating, but also somewhat alienating– the best parts are where Ray projects multiple strands of film at once, allowing imagery and sequences to overlap and bleed into one another, and even employing early video manipulation and digitally synthisized music to render everything as abstract as possible. Weaker are the moments where he concentrates on the loose story of a group of students learning filmmaking from him on a SUNY Binghamton campus, mostly just recycling a lot of the same old hippies-are-good-and-cops-are-bad schtick of other efforts from the period (it’s a surprisingly sentimental, even nostalgic work). Still, even then Ray’s eye and personality shine through and make it entertaining, even if it does turn into something of a complete clusterfuck by the end (the evening’s biggest laugh is when, for some reason, Ray tries to hang himself in a barn and complains “I made ten goddamn Westerns and I still don’t know how to tie a noose!”). I can’t really say if I “enjoyed” the film or not, but it’s something I’ll probably check out again at Film Forum.
Just an fyi – “We Can’t Go Home Again” will be on TCM on Octoer 25th as part the all month tribute to Ray.
Bob—-
This is a brilliant estimation of BEN-HUR, a film I deeply love, and have always considered to be one of my personal favorite films of all-time. I once reviewed it here at WitD:
http://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/sam-says-ben-hur-is-a-deeply-moving-life-affirming-experience/
In any case, while I have seen it on the big screen (you rightly pose that way as the only way) I envy your experience as it was by all accounts the ultimate way to see it. I understand what you are saying about the religious sequences, but they were the most compelling in an intimate and emotional way. I just ordered my blu-ray box set of the film.
I have also heard much about this Ray screening and I applaud you for attending it.
Heck, all things considered you had the most spectacular week of everyone in the most celebrated venue of all. Fantastic!!!!
Thank you my friend for this stellar submission in every sense!
Sam, I haven’t seen ‘The Last Picture Show’ in so long I can’t even conjure up an image, only a line of dialogue — Ellen Burstyn telling someone to kiss her ass. And Shepherd’s WASP bitch (which she perfected in ‘The Heartbreak Kid’). I’ll have to watch this again.
Saw some great stuff over the weekend –
If one doesn’t already believe that America is a white trash nation, ‘Natural Born Killers’ will lay out the argument. Oliver Stone has assembled all the exhibitionist, vile, brutish and ravening human detritus of the American culture and made a brilliant collage that’s also a merciless satire. The film looks like it could have been directed by Swift in Yahoo Land (minus the Houyhnhnms): a Swift under the influence of twentieth century lysergic acid. Made under the aegis of a big, commercial Hollywood studio (Warner Brothers – Jack Warner must be circulating in his mausoleum), the effrontery of this film, both to its pop culture audience and to the entertainment conglomerate which financed and distributed it, is stunning. ‘Natural Born Killers’ is Stone’s hate valentine to America, and I think America deserves it.
If that sounds unduly harsh, the litany of transgressions against decency and reason in this country is lengthy: the entire field of Republican candidates running for that party’s nomination; the booing of a gay Marine at one of the GOP’s recent debates; the cheering of Texas governor Rick Perry for his high number of capital punishment executions in that state; the discombobulation of the Right over the presence of an African-American man in the Oval Office and the encoded racism embedded in that anger; anti-immigration sentiment; the assault on the middle class, the income gap and America’s rising plutocracy; the Iraq war; the continuation of militarism in Afghanistan long after Bin Laden’s demise; the hysteria of talk radio; the insane proliferation of guns (Ohio just passed a law allowing concealed weapons in bars. Guns and alcohol. Just brilliant. You can’t make this stuff up); our appalling taste in recent Presidents; the Obama birthers; the 9/11 truthers; reality TV (“Hillbilly Hand Fishing,’ anyone?); publicity whores (we all know Sarah Palin, but who the hell is Kim Kardashian?); philistinism (I recall in 1996 GOP Presidential candidate Bob Dole vilifying ‘Natural Born Killers’ without having seen it); Hollywood’s creative bankruptcy (a third version of ‘The Thing’? After Hawks [reputedly] and Carpenter? Really?); etc., etc. The list is long and sickening.
But enough. With ‘Natural Born Killers’ Stone has made a great satire, an artistically and historically important work, and the fact that the film discomfits many viewers (and non-viewers!!) is at least one proof of its power.
More masterworks: ‘Effi Briest,’ with its superficial resemblance to ‘Madame Bovary’ and its gorgeous B&W cinematography, is the second best Fassbinder I know after ‘Berlin Alexanderplatz’; Olmi’s ‘Il Posto’ and the dreariness of an Italian boy’s first (and maybe lifetime job). Perhaps the genesis of, or at least an influence on, Alexander Payne’s excellent, opposite end of the age spectrum, ‘About Schmidt,’ a film about the anxieties of retirement.
Not a masterpiece: Stone’s ‘W.’, probably because G.W. Bush is a nosepicker and a semi-literate dullard, devoid of the dark, Machiavellian side of ‘Tricky Dick’ Nixon.
OK, that’s the end of my venting for now, my friends.
I hear ya, Mark, but most of those offenses (well, except for Kim Kardashian admittedly and that’s not nothing) are more about the Republican Party than the United States as a whole, and while it’s their schtick to make themselves interchangable with “America” I never bought that line. Just my 2 cents.
MovieMan!!
In the Swiftian sense, we’re all Yahoos — me, you, Democrats, Republicans, the Americans, the French, Oliver Stone, even someone like Noam Chomsky. We’re all Yahoos because we’re all members of that flawed species, the Human Race.
“Natural Born Killers” is fine satire because it’s also self-satire. Watching the film I can hear Stone laughing at the lunacy of NBK, and then laughing at himself laughing at the lunacy of NBK. Mickey and Mallory are all of us, even those who might feel superior to the film’s cretinous characters.
Incidentally, I think Swift, overcome by his hatred of humanity, ended up mad. And ‘Natural Born Killers’ itself, with brakes screeching, stops just short of flunking the sanity test. Stone walks a fine, precarious line between the deranged and the logical, and manages to pull it off. Honestly, I don’t know how he did it. NBK’s a terrific, harrowing film, and sometimes you don’t know whether to laugh or throw up.
Yeah, agree with all here. Plus, you need to throw Stone in the mix too. He’s everything he seemingly used to loath, a man softened in age whose political anger has dissipated or become almost nonexistent. He feels the fight is no longer his (he’s wrong)… see WALL STREET 2, a topic that deserved and needed a fireball of anger and subversion and yet he produced in ode to getting married and having a kid to cure your ills. Grossly pathetic.
He wants a buck as bad as everyone else.
You’re Swiftian sense doesn’t jive with your initial diatribe. It’s either we’re good and have fallen immoral (your first post/rant) or we’re here because it’s our destiny as despicable beings (your second post here). You can argue either way, but can’t do both IMHO.
Stone, I think, has more or less given up on doing anything too hard hiting anymore in the realm of fiction filmmaking. His documentaries are interesting– maybe not as interesting as Spike Lee’s fare, but probably a bit more substantive. But really, Stone’s last essential piece of mainstream storytelling was… what… Nixon, maybe? I mean, he’s at least been on a downward slant since Any Given Sunday.
Yeah, I was really hesitant about posting that NBK comment; afraid Sam and everyone would think I was a seething misanthrope with a maggot brain.
I think Stone’s earlier films have the power to inflame people politically, whether it’s Vietnam in ‘Platoon,’ the ‘JFK’ conspiracy theories or the media culture of ‘NBK.’ So if I get a little overheated watching Stone’s brilliant massacre of a film (sometimes good art is oxymoronic, by including contradictory points of view; violence is aborrhent, but if it’s depicted well it’s fascinating to watch), I apologize.
If you follow Swift’s satire to its logical conclusion, the only solution to its anti-human virulence is either the annihilation of mankind, suicide or madness. Swift went the third route. If human life has any value, as I certainly think it does, one can admire Swift’s misanthropic fictional ravings, but must be repelled by his worldview (as I’m repulsed by Mickey’s lunatic rationalization of mass murder). But there is a dangerous, defective gene that infects everyone, whatever his or her level of intelligence or cultural and political acumen. The Nazis proved that; a man can love Mozart and still commit atrocities beyond imagination. And America still produces admirable public figures like Obama, Chomsky and even the late Wiiliam F. Buckley, Jr.
‘NBK’ shoves the pornography of violence and the benightedness of much of American culture (that white trash comment was a low blow, but I live in a small town in a Red state, not in NYC or Chicago or LA, and you would not believe the appalling, subhuman comments I hear almost every day — redneckism is too kind a word) under our noses and makes us watch and think about where this country is headed. There’s always hope, but leaning to the left, I think America is doomed unless it moves toward a more socially democratic system. Considering the geographical size of the U.S. and its over 300 million inhabitants, the transformation wouldn’t be easy — the Western European countries are smaller and far less populous — but it’s worth a shot. Otherwise, exploitation and corporatization and opportunist wars will continue to grow and plague the planet.
This does have a paradoxical downside, though; we movie lovers would then be deprived of Oliver Stone’s magnificent rants.
Oh Mark S, don’t apologize I share much of your misanthropy and feel a decent amount of it is warranted and easily understandable. Keep in mind I live in Chicago because I grew up in the country in Ohio (at least it was NE Ohio but still), as soon as I completed University I wanted some sort of cultural/progressive mecca, so I moved the first chance I got. I really just wanted to point out that your two arguments aren’t consistent (not that you were really siding with either one).
Stone and or Swift’s arguments (or anyone hoping to change America or mankind in the better) need to walk a fine line, one that sees the problems of a mass IN the individual, thus producing an argument that encompasses all or most of the ills but parses and speaks to each individual (something Nietzsche did beautifully, but yeah he went mad too). The outcome of society needs to be seen in the actions of every individual person. In the case of NBK it’s not that there is a deranged killer looking to lash out at the ills, no that’s to easy for a mass of people to say “that’s not me, he’s sick” and take no responsibility, what’s gross is the titillation the mass takes in the following of these figures on TV. Stone gets that and it’s largely why the film becomes so much about media (but then even his representation of media–Downey Jr.– is somewhat cartoonish). If that point or argument was relayed to the mass correctly there would be more then overwhelming support to change or adapt our media into something that better suits us.
Look at the Bin Laden ‘event’, meaning 9-11 and its aftermath (an ‘event’ that really hasn’t gotten anything close to an articulate rumination on from our filmmakers). 9-11 had precedents and Bin Laden has an easily seen timeline escalation of tit-for-tat terrorist exchanges between US Government and his terrorist group but 9-11 (and his hunt down and eventual execution) is portrayed as a vacuum/island event. Meaning culturally no one feels any connection or has to make any defense of their morals. If they did most would easily see both that what Bin Laden did is morally reprehensible but then so is, say, the US bombing of the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory and the deaths that followed because the shortage of needed pharmaceutical drugs in an essentially third world country (an event Bin Laden continuously cited as but one reason for his actions on 9-11). Most Americans are moral beings and would have seen BOTH events as horrific (which is correct) but they’re never given the possibility, or more accurately the responsibility to do so.
What the point of this rambling account was that it’s a disastrous chicken or egg circle then in America. Our masses are ignorant because our media doesn’t exist at nearly the competence level that a civilized modern intricate society needs, BUT our masses don’t seek any alternative media OR the media that IS functioning properly (or seek to create one that is). So the blame falls on whichever foot you want it to, and I guess could make one either be ‘Swiftian’ or just merely kind of self righteous (the split I speak of earlier).
Or, I suppose it could lead to the optimism of a Joe Strummer who after recording the Clash’s debut said, “I know a record can’t change the world, I don’t have those misconceptions but that doesn’t mean I won’t try” (or something like that). But, then again, the Joe Strummer’s of the world are few and far between unfortunately.
Wow Mark——
Your initial comment has really set off the most fascinating sub-thread on this week’s Diary. I always respond to you last or near-last, not because you are least important–quite the contrary–but because I need to ponder your heady submission. No I definitely don’t think you have a maggot brain for liking NATURAL BORN KILLERS (ha!) but I’ve always found that film problematic for obvious reasons. But I do like that ‘hate valentine to America from Stone’ proposition, and am well-aware of the satiric elements. And I do realize too that discomfort can often mean something has hit home in a big way. Liked the Swift thing and the brilliant political discussion that emanated from your superb original contentions. I have come to realize that PLATOON is not nearly the great film that I once thought I was when I was much younger, but it still has some powerful sequences.
I like “Effie Breast,” but can’t quite have it right behind BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ. I’d have some others there before it. (IN THE YEAR OF 13 MOONS, MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS, MARIA BRAUN, and a few others. I’m not one who thinks much of Stone’s W, but totally agree with you on ABOUT SCHMIDT.
Thanks as always my very good friend!
Bob, Nixon sounds about right – I got a real kick out of seeing W. for its real-time history (more or less) chutzpah but I’m not sure it would hold up on a reviewing. It might have been the zeitgeist carrying me along, rather than the film. From ’86 – ’95 he was just really on a roll, wasn’t he? Prolific as hell and one of the few to determinedly address contemporary society head-on (good to mention Lee, as he’s another example; though about 10 years apart in age I think of them as being the same generation of filmmakers). Now, I’m not sure how many of these films I’d call “great” but that’s ok, I’ll take “fascinating” any day of the week too.
OK, you got me, Jamie. I admit it. Almost every day I have some homicidal fantasy, but, like 99% of us, I’m able to suppress that urge. Thankfully.
Sam, I agree. ‘Platoon’ has diminished over the years (I still think ‘Hamburger Hill’ is the best of the Vietnam pictures), and ‘JFK’ is riddled with left-wing paranoia, but you can’t deny Stone’s pyrotechnics; the sheer braggadocio of his work through ‘Nixon’ is staggering. And with ‘NBK’ he melds technique and topic perfectly. I think ‘NBK,’ not ‘Schindler’s List,’ not ‘Pulp Fiction,’ not ‘Magnolia,’ is the best American film of the 1990′s. IMHO.
Also, I would add ‘Jail Bait’ to the list of Fassbinder’s triumphs.
Can’t wait to see TAKE SHELTER, and I’m glad to hear from you, Sam, it fits the bill I hope to fill. I’m a huge fan of Michael Shannon from his off-kilter turn in BOARDWALK EMPIRE as Agent Van Alden. Add Jessica Chastain and a great plot – looks like a winner to me!
David—
As I just said to Sachin (under you here) TAKE SHELTER is most impressive. Haunting and often arresting, the film has you thinking about it days later. Right on too what you say about Shannon and Chastain. I look forward to your response and possible review.
Thanks as always my friend.
Thanks for the mention Sam. I am glad to see you liked Take Shelter a film that I was going to see at CIFF but had to give my ticket away because I was exhausted by the opening weekend of the festival. I don’t have the stamina anymore to see 20-30 films in a theater in a week. I need to take a leaf out of your book for inspiration
I hope to see the film soon on a more leisurely schedule.
Sachin—
Yes I did indeed like TAKE SHELTER, and hope you get a chance to see it soon. I’ll admit it practically ended too soon, but it was a film of foreboding and eerie underpinnings that had you mesmerized. Shannon was remarkable. i know there is a tiny minority who will take issue with the film for one reason or another, and like every other film out there it’s not perfect, but it lives up to expectations. That you were maintaining that many movies in a theatre during any given week is incredible.
Thanks as always my friend!
Sam, you realise that I’m going to have to watch ‘The Last Picture Show’ again
due your passion for it! Ahh well, should be fun..
This I caught up with…
LOVE LETTERS (1946) – William Dieterle.
A man sends love letters to a chick for an army buddy, said chick loses her memory too after supposedly killing the army buddy who couldn’t handle the fact that she loved the man who wrote the letters, man who wrote those letters also loses his memory….
I’ve wanted to watch this for ages as I greatly admire ‘Portrait of Jennie’. This has some of the same themes in it and a similar ardour to it’s romanticism but the plot is one of the biggest pieces of novelettish codswallop in the Classical Hollywood era. Everyone seems to have memory issues (touches of ‘Random Harvest’ here) but the plot is so schematically predictable that it gives plotting and narrative thrust a bad name. And the opening five minutes of exposition is truly horrendously amateurish, anti-art, anti-craft if you will. Not surprisingly it was scripted by Ayn Rand, one of the dumbest philosophers in history, whose dim idealised ideas of the selfish super breed of men running the country – is the favourite read of Wall Street bankers.
GOUPI MAINS ROUGES* – Jacques Becker.
A young man is summoned from his supposedly successful Paris career to the countryside, where his long unseen family want to set him up with his cousin.
This is a 1943 film that’s more of a rural murder/where’s the money mystery. As a murder mystery it doesn’t really work at all – as we are led to believe it’s one character, when it turns out to be another (which is conveniant as it ties up loose ends). The money issue doesn’t have much traction either. What the film settles down to is the extended company of the eccentric provincial types that make up the clan, in the spirit of Capra’s ‘
‘You Can’t Take It With You’. It’s pleasant enough and directorial touches and good photography keep the tempo bubbling.
TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRIS (1954)*** – Jacques Becker.
A couple of ageing underworld crooks have pulled off a bullion robbery and plan on making it their swansong, but other thieves have different ideas.
A smooth and stylish gangster pic that revived Jean Gabin’s career. It’s consistently fascinating and in content had echoes of ‘Goodfellas’ – showing the good life and power of a criminal life, from the closing of cafes to outsiders, to the sexual favours and harassment of chorus girls, drug-taking, and a remarkable shift to a torturing chamber.
LES AMANTS DE MONTPARNASSE** – Jacques Becker.
The last year in the life of a struggling painter thinks he needs alcohol to spark the creative flames despite the costs to his relationship.
There was plenty to admire in this one, some of which is haunting. It was the film on which Max Ophuls had started work before he passed away, Gerard Philipe had already been diagnosed with cancer and was dying during the film and after his next film, Becker would be gone too. Scene for scene there are marvellous fascinations and heart-breaking moments with Philipe expressing the torment he has to go through for the creative art to an obnoxious American banker (one of the few false notes in the film), his hoping that there is a next world where he will meet his wife and probably one of the best death scenes films, with the point of view shot of the Dr blurring away and a subtle movement of the eyes as the life spirit ebbs out. The only other one I remember anywhere as good was Chris Reeves out of body death in ‘Somewhere in Time’.
12 Angry Men (1997)
A turd version of the classic.
There’s probably a case for different versions of classic plays but this isn’t it. After the TV play and the classic film, the only reason for this to exist is that it is in colour and might be more accessible to a tranch of the population that don’t watch anything made before they were born. I saw about thirty minutes of this and the camera blocking, the hand-held camera-work, the jitteryness in the court room messed up the tempo, the photography is unexceptional and the cast with some stalwart names in there are so off and mundane, it’s puzzling.
Senna (2011)***
The life of the Brazilian motor-racing champion.
For someone like myself who has no interest in such a boring “sport” – this turned out to be a riverting and illuminating documentary with seemingly no directorial stance, just hidden in the assemblage and the edits.
La Ronde (1964) – Roger Vadim
A remake of the Ophuls classic but without Anton Walbrook as the master of ceremonies, without the elegance, the beautiful black and white photography, the haunting music, a marvellous cast and the eroticism. Why of why? Just garish colour.
The Hangover
Four men head off to Vegas for a bachelor party.
My brother enjoyed this and it was a hit, so there may have been something to this comedy. Well, it certainly wasn’t laughter. For those it seems content to shock or surprise it’s way speedily. There’s one moment in it that raised a smile, with the stripper saying that she was going to retire now that she had married a Dr – running gag being that he’s a dentist that likes to use the Dr. label.
Twelfth Day* – Wendy Toye
A mid ’50s 20 minute absurd comic short that visualises the Christmas Carol ‘On the Twelfth Day of Christmas My true love brought me”…..and the sheer ecological disaster that enfolds the household of the beloved that receives partridges in a pear tree, lords a jumping, maids, ect, ect. Interesting rather than satisfying.
Bobby—-
This entire submission is simply unbelievable. It’s massive, but fully-loaded with your incomparable blend of no-holds-bared frankness, and a perceptive eye and excellent taste in cinema. Yes, I do hope and pray you will make a return visit to THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. That film has been on my mind all week since I saw it again on Friday. It has been a longtime affection with that one.
All your capsules are outstanding but the ones on LOVE LETTERS and the three Beckers raise the bar. I can certainly stand with you on your assessment of the Dieterle and both TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRIS and LES AMANTS DE MONTPARNASSE, but sorry to say I have not seen the third, GOUPI MAINS ROUGES. Still I am intrigued by the compasion to Capra’s YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU. Yeah, I’m no real fan of THE HANGOVER, but I am whispering to you now, as a few others in this house would have my head if they knew I was talking against this film! Ha!
I never bothered to watch Vadim’s remake of LA RONDE, but your capsule is offering me congratulations of sorts! Ha!
I have avoided this re-make of TWELVE ANGRY MEN like the plague–I adore the 1957 film much too dearly. I like your comment referring to it as a “turd version!” But you’re review is no surprise. I have heard a lot about SENNA and very much appreciate your assessment.
And what a telling jab at Ayn Rand here:
“Not surprisingly it was scripted by Ayn Rand, one of the dumbest philosophers in history, whose dim idealised ideas of the selfish super breed of men running the country – is the favourite read of Wall Street bankers.”
God, that is exactly the same view of her taken by the site’s commentator, Andrei Scala! Telling.
Spectacular submission, and an astounding run of movies seen my friend!
Ah, The Last Picture Show. What a great movie. It’s been a while since I saw it, but the scene where Cloris Leachman blows up always stands out in my mind as an incredibly powerful scene.
On the home front I’ve been trying to squeeze movies in whenever I can. Having to be responsible and earn money is really cutting in on my movie watching time, not to mention writing time. I did squeeze in the Italian miniseries The Best of Youth, which I liked quite a bit. That was probably the highlight of my week.
Jason—
Yes that scene is one of the most unforgettable in the film. Leachman starts to shake as she’s pouring coffee, and then explodes by throwing the pot against the wall and verbally assaulting Sonny. She tells him that he is the reason she can never get out of her nightgown anymore.
I know it’s been a tough stretch for you Jason. I feel bad about it, I want you to know that. I’m sure you’ll get more time to watch movies soon enough. I have seen THE BEST OF YOUTH, and at some point will discuss it will you on the proper thread. Have a great week my friend! Thank You!
Ah, don’t feel bad Sam. It’s called life. Things are slowly coming together so be happy for me! I do, however, appreciate your support and kind words. You’ve been a great friend through some rough times.
Those are very moving words there Jason. Thanks so much.
TAKE SHELTER SPOILER ALERT
Sam I went to see Take Shelter at the Angelika tonight. I found the ending of the picture to be extremely flawed with a copout twist that trivialized the rest of the picture (and threw it into shameless Shamalyan territory). I was surprised and dismayed that Nichols would use schizophrenia as a rather cheap plot device to incite audience sympathy, and then give us a ludicrous final image. I must admit to not reading any reviews on the film, and I’m probably not the only one to react negatively to the conclusion. Shannon and Chastain are incredible, and the scene in the storm cellar was especially powerful. In fact I felt that a certain action Shannon’s character takes (I won’t be specific as to not spoil it for others) in that setting would of been the better ending. It just seems that the movie builds a tender and moving look at mental illness and then takes an absurd final turn that gets all fantastic (making light of Shannon’s touching portrayal to an extent). The colossal misstep is akin to The Woman In The Window in some respects. I still can’t give Take Shelter less than ***1/2 to **** because of the supreme acting alone, but it is agonizing to see the movie reduced to the level of Signs or The Village.
Maurizio—
You are most assuredly not the only one to have found the ending of TAKE SHELTER as unsatisfactory, and while my summary judgement of the fiulm remains stronger than yours, I can agree I was disappointed when it ended. I wouldn’t however go as far as to bring Shamalyan’s name into this equation. Ha! I didn’t find the schizophrenia angle quite as dire, but I hear ya. Yes Shannon and Chastain were extraordinary and that storm cellar scene you speak of was almost spiritual in its stark intensity. You speak of the reviews, well it’s sitting at a spectacular 96% at RT. But as we know that means nothing in the large scheme.
I liked THE VILLAGE. Ha!
Anyway as always you are excellent my friend.
Well I would give it a shiny tomato as well if I were putting a review on RT. The acting alone is more than enough to praise the film. I just feel like the ending spoiled a possible top ten movie of the year for me.
Sam,
Last couple of weeks were hectic. I wasn’t able to check in to this site as often, and less time for writing anything. Apologies for not responding quick enough. You see, September/October is semiannual closing here in Japan, and it is the time I need to do many write-ups in the office, to attend the meeting I would rather not to, and getting many phone calls I regret picking up. And it was much messier this year.
I managed to see two extraordinary documentaries in last weeks, which I will discuss at my site very soon.
Thanks for the mention!
MI
My friend——-
You need not apologize at all, as I am always thrilled and grateful when you can get over here, which of course is always way more than I have been entitled too. I well understand this is a difficult time for you at the office and in general. I greatly look forward to the report on those two documentaries on VERMILION AND ONE NIGHTS.
I think you’ll be most interested to know that I am seeing two seminal Japanese films over the weekend at teh New York Film Festival. This afternoon it will be a rarity: SUN IN THE LAST DAY OF THE SHOGUNATE (Kawashima; 1957) and tomorrow, SUZAKI PARADISE RED LIGHT DISTRICT (Kawashima, 1956)
Thanks again my excellent friend, I’m sure we’ll talk soon.