The Watercooler: 4/14/08
It’s late Sunday/early Monday as I write this and I’m tired, so let’s get to it.
First up: the Russian film Alexandra from Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark). Sort of an anti-war film that gets a lot of mileage out of the incongruity created by a weary but dignified old woman pottering around among soldiers doing battle in Chechnya. Who she is never explained (though it seems pretty clear she’s intended to symbolize mother Russia), but she’s continually deferred to and essentially given the run of the place. Much as I’d love to pretend I fully grasped this one, I’m afraid it largely escaped me. It was interesting though not completely satisfying, at least on first viewing.
The Visitor meanwhile is a pretty great human story about a man (Richard Jenkins) whose staid life is shaken up by a pair of illegal immigrants, but it’s unfortunately hampered by the filmmaker’s inability to trust the audience to get the message without being repeated hit over the head with it. There were several moments of political heavy-handedness and message making that weren’t welcome or required. It’s a testament to the story and the cast that it still manages to work. It’s just too bad it was a few simple cuts short of being great rather than good.
Last and least was George Clooney’s Leatherheads. There were seven people in the movie theater before the movie started, three of them were ushers and two of them left when they realized they weren’t in the auditorium playing The Ruins.
Clooney and the gang were likeable enough, but it never seemed to get out of low gear. Not bad, but I suspect it will be forgotten by the time I get around to writing a review of it.
Of all the trailers I saw, two were memorable; one for being awful and one for being good. Zombie Strippers starring ex-porn star Jenna Jameson looked absolutely abysmal…the kind of thing I would’ve rented in high school because the title was funny. On the other hand, the French spy spoof OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies might be pretty great. It looked like it was straight out of the 1960s and infinitely cooler than the Austin Powers movies.
Oh yeah, I saw the trailer for Baby Mama again…still aggressively unfunny. And that, as they say, is that.
Filed under: Miscellaneous
Related Posts: - The Watercooler: 2/11/08
- The Watercooler: 6/30/08
- The Watercooler: 6/9/08
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- Review: Eastern Promises (2007) *** 1/2
I can tell you for a fact that Zombie Strippers is pretty awful, and on multiple levels. It’s a rare filmmaker who manages to take a schlocky concept and make it obnoxiously pretentious, resulting in a kind of double jeopardy situation.
But it’s getting a theatrical release for exactly the reasons you mentioned - perfect marketing hooks.
Well, Craig, I must say I don’t agree with you at all as far as the Sokurov goes. Only one film this year trumps it (narrowly) and that is Rivette’s THE DUTCHESS………but THE BAND’S VISIT is right up there. But this film is admittedly not for all tastes and I do have a close friend who has impeccable taste who agrees with you, so it’s all individual perceptions. For me ALEXANDRA was a contemplative, haunting and powerful treatise on a number of serious issues, as I stated in my review, and the runner to the Rivette as the best film of 2008.
THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON was a major disappointment, I am saddened to report. The film was static, charmless and contrary to what some have inexplicably claimed, fully devoid of emotion. It is nowhere in a league with it’s 1956 French model, Lamorisee’s magnificent THE RED BALLOON (which by the way is coming out this month in what is sure to be a beautiful Criterion DVD) and it’s thrusts at metaphisics falls flat. Even the closing song was a failure, and Juliette Bonoche was rather forgettable.
The commercial film 21 is exactly what you’d expect: junk. A guilty pleasure? perhaps but not mine, I’m afraid to say.
Congratulations Craig on yet another awesome review (MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS) I plan to see it very soon.
Speaking of The Red Balloon, I just saw the original this weekend for the first time. The ending was magnificent but I must say it was pretty slow otherwise. Netflix has it on a DVD coupled with White Mane, which I liked a lot more. Good movies all around, though.
Russian Ark is a great movie that I don’t think I’ve ever been able to watch all at once, despite it being intended for exactly that. It’s remarkably interesting but also painfully slow at times. I didn’t know the director had a new movie out. I’m hoping it comes around Boston because I’d definitely like to check out some more of his work.
I also saw Ils (Them) last night which was enjoyable. It was a well crafted horror/suspense movie that knew exactly how to scare. Good stuff.
Also, I just found out a local theater will be playing Rape Of Europa from Tuesday to Thursday this week, so I’m definitely going to head over there to catch it. I’ve heard very good things about it and it’s right up my alley. Hope it doesn’t disappoint.
I need to disagree with you about Baby Mama, Craig. Rarely, Amy Poehler plays such stupid roles and it looks like this is one of them. It might end up being a decent enough movie, though, that my wife will probably want to see, and hopefully my theater gets it so I won’t have to pay for it.
As I stated the original 26 minute French THE RED BALLOON is one of the most glorious masterpieces of world cinema, and a darling of film professors. It’s use of color, Paris locations and a gorgeous score have propelled it rightfully to iconic status throughout the world. It is also a symbolic story of renewal and ressurection told with simple profundity. Endless viewings have not diminished it’s power and appeal.
Also, I didn’t mention in my previous post that I am a huge fan of the Taiwanese director of THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON. This film was a rare mis-step.
Cool, I want to see Alexandra.
I saw Starter for 10 and God Grew Tired of Us. Kinda slow weekend for films.
Well, I was sick all weekend, so no new movies for me. Instead I watched the original Star Wars Trilogy again on TV (Episodes IV through VI). It was interrupted with a million commercials unfortunately and some of it was edited; hopefully some theater here will do a festival of some sort and show these on the big screen again, uncut.
Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back, is still my favorite of all of them. It was when I saw it in the theater as a kid and it will always be. Even if it did end with Han Solo being frozen.
Wow, Flight of the Red Balloon is no good, Sam? I was curious, but since you’re knowledgeable about the original I should trust your judgment. Glad I skipped Leatherheads, Craig, though if I would have gone it would have been under the same circumstances as you. OSS 117 is playing at the festival here in two weeks, and I am mightily looking forward to it, trailer unseen.
Look forward to your thoughts on God Grew Tired of Us, Nick. I wish it would have played to a bigger U.S. audience.
Sounds like you found the perfect cure, Alison. I’ll never tire of the originals, and I even find it hard to rank those three. I always loved the Speeder race and the desert battle in Jedi, but I realize the story depends on Empire, and you can’t deny Yoda’s charm.
I saw Smart People and was underwhelmed. Page and Haden Church are not featured nearly enough, and the film stalls badly when Quaid and Parker are supposed to be figuring out their romance. The writing is quite tired throughout.
Planet B-Boy will succeed in a niche market. If you’re at all interested by the trailer, you’ll be pleased by the full version. It falters a little when trying to talk about Korean family psychology, but it’s a pretty incredible feast for the eyes when the dancing is on display.
I saw The Apartment for the second time and really understood that it must have been seen as incredibly bold and subversive upon its release. Infidelity and suicide - not the idyllic America we know of the 50’s. Classic, classic film.
I also saw The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly as I’ll miss its Wed. night UA anniversary screening. Another gem, and I found myself chuckling at how much both TWBB and NCFOM were influenced by it. A seminal masterpiece.
Hope you feel better Alison.
Justin, you said you were going to disagree about Baby Mama but it sounds like you’re kinda agreeing with him (?), especially the part abut not wanting to pay for it. Did you mistype something or did I misread something?
As for me, we watched There Will Be Blood Friday night on DVD, which is an excellent transfer for DVD even if the SE isn’t much to write home about. I would love to see better supplements on a disc for a movie of this magnitude, but we’re getting just small stuff here. Good stuff I guess, just not much of it.
Anyway, the movie was excellent once again. It grows on me more and more with each subsequent viewing and I’m spacing them out so that I don’t take any of it for granted.
I also watched (most of) the documentary Lake of Fire, about the abortion issue, from director Tony Kaye. Kaye shot much of the footage and interviews during the Clinton administration but only released this last year. The documentary gives little insight into the history of abortion or the battle that has raged publicly around the topic for the last 50 years in American national politics. Instead he focuses on legal, medical, and scholarly experts almost entirely from the political left, along with a lot of the kooks on the extreme right. At 2 hours and 30 minutes, this is a long and often repetitive documentary.
I would have appreciated if Kaye had found saner voices to focus on for the anti-abortion side of the debate. As the film progresses, those voices become more shrill and more terrifying and while I don’t doubt that the Christian right has it’s share of psychopaths, sociopaths, and murderers fighting against abortion in America, surely there must be a couple of folks who don’t come across as completely nutzoid asshats? It became a bit overwhelming, to the extent that it seemed Kaye was doing his level best to demonize the right for their stance on abortion.
Clearly it’s a subject that brings a heated, passionate response from its supporters and detractors. Kaye had an opportunity to explain the various procedures used over the years, as those procedures have become the focus of most current anti-choice legislation. He could also have focused on the history of the political movements within both parties for and against abortion. One of his interviewees just barely touches on this, then he moves on.
As it was, I turned off the documentary after 2 hours and never finished it. That’s right, I turned it off. I got tired of listening to the crazy people ranting and hearing the same defenses for a woman’s right to choose being offered over and over again. Politically I’m pro-choice, but I have a lot of issues with abortion as a medical procedure. I was hoping the film would be a better juxtaposition of the two opposing views, but mostly it was a condemnation of the right and a defense of the left. I’ve already made my decision about where I stand on that, but it would have been nice to have an opportunity to be better educated on the pertinent details.
Since there was nothing truly new in any of this and much of the footage is 8-12 years old, it didn’t feel entirely relevant to me. I was somewhat disappointed by it all.
Jeff. I’m not surprised and I also won’t be surprised when this film does well for its target market. Still can’t wait for Midnight Meat Train though…
Sam, I think this might’ve been a rare instance where I would’ve appreciated the movie if I’d had some idea of what to expect. I didn’t read your excellent review (or anyone else’s) until after I’d seen the movie and I’d never seen Russian Ark or Sokurov’s other films. Sometimes vague and contemplative works on me, other times it doesn’t. I should’ve added how excellent the actress was.
I rewatched Red Balloon and White Mane a couple of years ago and they’re still really beautiful. Red Balloon was kind of a trip because I don’t think I’d seen it since grade school and it brought back a lot of memories.
Nick, it was a pretty slow weekend here too…hence Leatherheads. Squeezing it in as a third movie last night was probably a mistake. I’m exhausted this morning.
Two bad about Smart People, Daniel. I had a suspicion but hoped that the cast would raise it a couple of notches. Sounds like not quite enough for you. Ah well. They can’t all be winners.
Joel, Lake of Fire sounds kind of unbearable. It sounds like it basically sings to the choir and what’s really the point of that?
I hope you’re feeling better Alison. Anyway, it was a nice excuse to revisit some great movies. IV is my favorite too, though I didn’t like it that much when I was a kid. It was so dark and kind of depressing. I had to grow into it.
Leatherheads is very difficult to judge, because it has parts that are daring and effective. But there is that problem of never entirely getting out of the low gear.
Lake of Fire started out really interesting but then slowly lost me until the second hour where half of it seemed redundant, half of it was just crazy people. I’m not surprised it got a lot of positive reviews, I suppose, I just felt it had little new information to offer.
Aw, thanks, Sam and Craig.
I’m still planning to see Aleksandra, and given all the great feedback on The Visitor I’ll certainly be making it my business to see that also.
Had a movie-less weekend. For me, Russian Ark was sleep-inducing and I never finished it. I could admire its technical brilliance and creative ambition but it felt like something I lacked sufficient knowledge of Russian political and artistic history to appreciate. That said the references I was able to pick up on made the experience no more engaging.
I saw Priceless on Friday and loved it to bits, much like Craig. I think I’m going to see it again sometime this week. Tautou makes every frame of her presence work, and Pierre Salvadori’s direction was almost always exquisite yet understated. It may be heresy but I think this is actually a lot better than Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which has always been my biggest pick for an overrated and not terribly satisfying film from Blake Edwards. This is now one of my favorite ‘08 films, along with The Band’s Visit, and, a little below them, In Bruges. (If 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is counted as an ‘08 film, then that is way up there as well, obviously.) I definitely have to see Aleksandra, though.
Otherwise, I just saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford on Blu-Ray again. I’m was already convinced that this film was the best thing Ridley Scott has done in a long time (he produced it), but now I was even more amazed by how superb it was. It deserved a much better fate than Warner Bros. gave it. Again, I was startled by how tremendous Brad Pitt was as Jesse James, a psychopathic killer with charisma to spare and a kind of ghostly, morbid presence wherever he goes. Casey Affleck, again, you really can’t say enough about, as he makes a total loser into one of the most dynamic characterizations in American cinema in a long time. Sam Rockwell, I was even more impressed by this go around than before, as the conflicted Charlie Ford. Andrew Dominik’s direction and Roger Deakins’ cinematography (which, I’m certain more than ever, should have won him his long-awaited Oscar) are simply awesome.
What struck me more than anything else in some ways about The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is that, despite its Western setting, it truly plays like a paranoid gangster film all the way, with ominous dialogue exchanges leading to taking someone out for a ride; where one’s best friend could kill you at the drop of a hat because he can’t trust you anymore. The moodiness of this film is better appreciated post-first viewing, and the cinematography, again, just gets better and better.
Even James Carville’s performance was markedly better this time around and less distracting!
Go with the heresy, I hate Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and find Audrey Hepburn’s “charm” in that picture to be nearly unbearable.
Speaking of sacred horses, I’m also right with you in the “Platoon is overrated” camp Alexander. Dafoe played Jesus twice, but its the Scorsese picture that’s worth re-watching.
Heh, heh, Chuck, I certainly agree with you on both counts. Great minds and all that.
OSS 117 looks like it was made just for me.
Just watched the first 5 minutes on youtube. There’s a lotta clips.
Talk about your Saul Bass-esque title scenes!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m4rKB5Rohh8
Christian. It’s playing Saturday afternoon at the COL*COA festival at the DGA and it opens in a few weeks at Nuart. We should go to one or the other.
“Dafoe played Jesus twice, but its the Scorsese picture that’s worth re-watching.” ahahha…thank god I’m not the only one who doesn’t care for Platoon.
Alexander, really glad you liked Priceless. Probably a little too light and airy to appeal to everyone, but as you know I thought it was entertaining all around.
Wow, looks like Chuck and Craig are in agreement with me about Platoon. Here I was thinking I was the only one. :-)
As soon as I have a proper amount of time, Craig, I’m going to write more about Priceless in your review thread. Hopefully that will be later on today and not sometime in May. :-)
The weather has taken a sweet turn around here so I feel like smiling. :-)
Sartre: I must completely agree with you on RUSSIAN ARK. It was torture to sit through, yet ironically it is the only Sokurov film I didn’t love, and yet it is his most popular with most. Go figure!
Daniel: It did ache me to render that personal judgement on FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON, especially since I love the director and adore the original 1956 short film. But as much as I found it flubbed the metaphysical angle and was a gigantic bore, I remind you that I am just one person. The film has many admirers as I’m sure you know.
Craig: I am confident you will think differently on subsequent viewings. I know it is not for all tastes and I dare say I have a film friends who would sign my death warrant if I recommended it to them. But I am still haunted by ALEXANDRA.
Alexander, glad to hear your second viewing of Jesse James went so well. I was monkeying with my setup on the HD TV this weekend and as a quick test, I rewatched The Assassination of Jesse James trailer, which I still have saved on the PS3. Wow, I’d just watched this one last week and I was instantly interested in watching it again.
I’m itching to own this one so I can watch it again and (hopefully) initiate a couple new converts. Beautiful movie…and that score is haunting. Your comments about it being like a gangster flick are interesting and the fact that you mention Ridley Scott only underscores how forgettable American Gangster actually is (although I doubt you intended it that way).
I still can’t believe this sat on a shelf for two years.
JJ together with TWbB were my clear favorites of 2007. Even watching the trailer (one version more than others) leaves me moved by the melancholy beauty of the film.
“…and the fact that you mention Ridley Scott only underscores how forgettable American Gangster actually is (although I doubt you intended it that way)”
Well, in a way I did because I think Dominik’s film explores an entire farrago of subtextual as well as formal riches in a way that no Ridley Scott film since Blade Runner has.
sartre, I agree that the melancholy of The Assassination of Jesse James… can be appreciated just by viewing the trailer, which I continually did before the film was released (including many months before it was delayed an entire year–you’re right, joel, it’s amazing that it was delayed for a whole year–thankfully the studio pretty much gave up on cutting it from 160 minutes, though they sure halfheartedly released it).
In any event, I think there’s little doubt The Assassination of Jesse James… is destined to become, first, a cult classic, perhaps, and then an unconditional definitive classic.
Alison, please get well soon.
I watched one of my favorites, Bullitt, this weekend and I think I made a true believer out of my roommate. He hates practically anything pre-1990, but ended up burning the DVD to his computer.
The car chase is just as thrilling as it was the first time I saw the film probably 10 years ago. It’s nothing but the cars, the shotgun, and the road. The only thing that really bugs me about the film is Jacqueline Bisset as the girlfriend. I understand being unbalanced by the sight of a murder victim, but her scene on the side of the road rings false and melodramatic.
I also saw Michael Clayton and I don’t understand what all the hubbub’s about. It’s an above average legal thriller, but it doesn’t compare the great ’70s paranoid thrillers that everyone invokes in their reviews. It’s basically John Grisham with more tension, better direction, and solid acting. It’s not bad, but it’s not Best Picture material either. All that said, I especially liked Tilda Swinton here. I can’t argue against her win, though my favorite of the year is still Kelly Macdonald.
W.J., I agree with you about Michael Clayton. I did enjoy it. It was certainly an above-average film with solid performances all around, but I didn’t understand all of the Oscar attention it got either. In my opinion there were much better films, including The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (since it missed in the foreign category, though this one is a real stretch) - these are three films that were of top-notch quality and they really had something to say. For various reasons, they just weren’t Oscar pictures.
Ditto on Kelly MacDonald. She was excellent and very underrated.
“farrago of subtextual”
Alexander, you’re the anti-Ebert. Hey, I love it. The plain speaking bums lack nuance :-)
Our thoughts are with the moribund Alison.
“In any event, I think there’s little doubt The Assassination of Jesse James… is destined to become, first, a cult classic, perhaps, and then an unconditional definitive classic.”
WELL SAID, Alexander. It was my 2nd best after NC last year. I loved your observations about it earlier as well.
I am ALL over your Oscar blurbs re:MC, Alison and W.J. I’ll admit I liked it even less than either of you, but while I’ll let those who enjoy it have their fun, I won’t let them tell me it should have won BP under any circumstance.
…and thank God it didn’t, Daniel.
Thanks, sartre and Alexander. :-)
And so say all of us!
Hope you feel better VERY soon, Alison. I wasn’t feeling so fab on Friday either so I wasn’t able to see Leatherheads. Craig would likely say that that was a good thing. But we’re not getting much of anything in cinemas that’s terribly interesting these days. Not in my city, at any rate.
I’m completely with you on the Stars Wars flicks. With very few exceptions, I’m allergic to horror and sci fi. But Kubrick’s 2001 and SW just hit me where I live. I own IV and V. I think they’re both grand.
Whenever I reminisce about Empire (which is my favourite as well), I think of three things automatically. When Harrison Ford is led away to be frozen, Carrie Fisher calls out, “I love you!” and he answers, “I KNOW.” Kills me every time. Then there’s that great centrepiece that anchors the whole series and supposedly set moviegoers right back on their heels 28 years ago: the light sabre duel between Luke and Darth Vader - and the final reveal.
I had older cousins tell me that back in the day, traumatized kids (mostly under 10) emerged from theatres by the thousands, crying and screaming, ” Darth Vader is NOT Luke Skywalker’s father! He’s not! HE’S NOT!!!!”
Ahhh, children. If you only knew….
Danny, I WORSHIP The Apartment. As you say, it must’ve been pretty ground breaking back then. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more effective, moving blend of comedy and tragedy in one film. Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine are both extraordinary. (Even more so because they’re portraying simple, down to earth, real individuals. That’s harder to do than a lot of people think.)
One of my favourite moments is when Fran realizes that C.C. loves her. Likely she had been in love with him for a very long time and it was either subconscious or she wasn’t aware of his feelings. She’s sitting at that New Year’s Eve blow out with Fred MacMurray - that cold, selfish user that she thought the sun rose and set on. She’s bored out of her mind and slowly coming to a point where she can see that this is not what she wants - and it never really was.
But she perks up when Mr. Jerk tells her that C.C. quit his executive job and told him that he could never bring anyone to his apartment again - ESPECIALLY HER. Her lovely face becomes flooded with light and it’s like a switch has been flipped. You can see that she understands WHY immediately.
“Oh, really?…Why, the nerve…”
“What did you say, Fran?”
“I’d spell it out for you. But I can’t spell. I guess that’s just the way it crumbles…cookie wise.”
The minute his back is turned she’s off. Straight for her ultimate destiny. LOVE THAT.
Incidentally, I loathe Platoon and have from the hot August night that I wasted watching at an ex’s place. But at least we were on the same page about it.
But what’s with the Breakfast At Tiffany’s hate? Chuck, you’re such a sweetheart. I’m…uh, mildly disappointed.
Unlike joel, I have yet to purchase TWBB on DVD. That’s a couple days off. But it’s coming. Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead is being released as well this week and I want to grab that too while I’m out and about.
If only I could get through the backlog of DVDs that I have yet to watch. I’ll have to sit down and look at them soon…
Great study of that scene, Miranda. The characters (not just the actors, but also them) really make that film. Sheldrake is the kind of prick that I don’t think we have as many of these days, CEO-wise. I have faith that people like him and Eliot Spitzer are taken down quickly, but maybe I’m giving too much credit to corporate America, with which I have no experience. No offense to those of you work on the 19th floor.
C.C. is such a fantastic (and relatable) character because he is, as you infer, flawed. He’s not the goody two-shoes, heroic, perfect man. He’s the whiny pushover who takes an opportunity to get ahead when he sees it. His greatest trait is that he doesn’t respect authority - he undermines it. I love that.
And Fran. Well, I’ll speak for myself, but is there a more maddening experience than watching your crush wasting her time with the wrong guy, especially when you’ve spelled it all for her? Any guy can relate to C.C.’s plight. Or, I should say, any guy who is more like C.C. than he is like Sheldrake. You Sheldrakes are always on the other side as the wrong guy.
Aha, sartre, thank you for your very welcome and appreciated endorsement. ;-)
And thanks, Daniel, for your very kind comments about my thoughts on Jesse James (that title wears me down, now I’m all the way down to just “Jesse James”).
The analsysis of The Apartment by you, Daniel and Miranda Wilding is wonderful. You can’t go wrong with Billy Wilder and The Apartment is in my opinion his most bittersweet and emotionally vulnerable and sincere film. It’s also, as Miranda notes, a perfect blend of humor and pathos.
Jesse James is astonishing. The fact that a good portion of critics panned it/were cool to it still shocks me. It’s rare that you come across a film-loving Net poster who doesn’t love it.
I think MIchael Clayton takes the John Grisham movie and raises it to a level of magnificent social commentary. The film is a lot like There WIll Be Blood, I think. Whereas TWBB suggests that capitalism attracts anti-social personalitiees to provide the strength to get things done, Clayton suggests that it stems from moral weakness common to us all.
Great discussion, I agree that The Apartment is probably WIlder’s most perfect movie, where his trademark cynicism is modulated and softened by a genuine, if muted, optimism and romance.
I’m a lot less keen on Breakfast at Tiffany’s, sorry to say. Hepburn’s charming but she’s too determinedly ‘kooky’ for my tastes, Mickey Rooney’s yellowface is distasteful, and I just can’t get into it. I’ll take Roman Holiday as the great Audrey movie.
I agree, Jeff, that Audrey Hepburn is just too ‘kooky’ for me to get involved with her character in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. And the yellowface Mickey Rooney stuff is offensive as well as incredibly unfunny.
The Apartment is definitely the culmination of Wilder’s cynicism, and he reaches a certain maturity with that film as he allows the hard facade of his own to crack a bit with a wonderful love story, much like Sabrina (where the woman has to choose Mr. Right between the two brothers, Bogart and Holden).
K. Bowen, naturally I agree about Jesse James. I’m always puzzled by the negative reviews of that film. That 3:10 to Yuma was across-the-board better reviewed strikes me as a painful comment on film criticism, even if it’s almost inevitable that such an artistically rich and challenging work as Jesse James is likely to receive both tremendous and cool reviews while Yuma largely received the same kind of “it’s good” reviews (which it more or less deserved, I thought).
K. Bowen, I also agree about Michael Clayton. I defended it to others here in the winter. There is a lot of excellent nonpretentious but fascinating symbolism in that film–it’s little like a Pakula film made into a morality play without any of the clunky, condescending nonsense of Haggis. It didn’t deserve to win Best Picture but it’s a lot better than the “smart Grisham movie” label it has been given, just because it’s a thriller involving lawyers (toss that and the staple of the corrupt corporation aside and there is practically no similarity between it and Grisham). I do think it isn’t as strong on the second viewing, though, and as a thriller it’s not altogether as well-rounded as it should ideally be but it’s a good, sound effort nevertheless.
I actually enjoyed Michael Clayton a little more on the second viewing, I think because my expectations were more accurate to what the movie was delivering. I’m not saying my appreciation of it has grown, but I was fighting against the early critical response to it, which I seem to recall being a bit effusive.
As for 3:10 to Yuma versus Assassination of Jesse James, well there’s really no comparison but I think both were thrown into the critical blender. On Yuma, I think critics didn’t expect much of it and were surprised that it was fun popcorn with some decent acting. It’s pure genre entertainment and often the critics seem to laud any movie of that ilk that rises above the extremely low bar set by the studios.
Assassination of Jesse James on the other hand had negative hype due to the studio’s mistreatment of it. It’s also doesn’t fit neatly into the classic Western or revisionist mold. I also think it benefits from multiple viewings. My general impression was that critics misread the evocative visuals as pretentious and things were downhill from there.
The odd thing is that I think Into the Wild is a far more challenging film in terms of being misread as pretentious, yet critics and audiences ate that one up. I suppose Assassination of Jesse James was a might bit too dour and dark for the critics and audiences (?).
zombie strippers….. will be showing…at…the angelika. ‘indie’ cinema is alive and well. ;)
ok but the question is will zombie strippers be better than the teeth movie ?????
hey craig,do you remember way when when you published the list of films that would be coming this year and i was bit under whelmed. and said it was still early and some surprises would occur….
i don’t think anything beats my surprise of jenna jameson film heading towards the angelika…..
why most people think the angelika is mostly just ultra arty/difficult films circa 2008/is beyond me…..
and now i’m reading on livingcinema this film isn’t even goona be trashy fun. guess i’ll go anyway.hey there could be some real strippers in attendance……
Hey, glimmer! You’re back! :-)
In defense of films such as Teeth I’d like to point out that many of the original versions of Asian horror movies remade here were actually great. And very artistic. I give you, for example, Ju-on, remade as the much lesser The Grudge. Of course, there were no strippers in the film…
well hello alison !!!!! it’s nice to be remembred..but i wasn’t expecting such enthusiasm from someone with movie blog loyality status. :)
actually alison male castration via ‘teeth’ probably beats strippers….unless the strippers seating next to me/of course…
and wait i want to say it first…
all zombie strippers needs is a cameo from movie industry’s fave ex-stripper turned screenwritere and it would be all thundercats are go ;)
so alison how copies of diving bell have you pre ordered ????
Glimmer, I think Teeth will be far superior to Zombie Strippers. But I won’t know for sure because I’m not going to see Zombie Strippers.
The dolls in Lars and the Real Girl are more life like than Jenna Jameson and they’re probably better actors too.
:)
Glad to have you back Glimmer, by the way. The place wasn’t the same without you.
glimmer, just 1 is enough. :-)
Hey, remember, Craig, Pierre de Plume was campaigning for an Oscar nom for the Real Girl. ;-)
You’re right Alison…and deservedly so.
*puzzled*
I thought Jenna looked pretty good the last time I saw her…
Again, I can tell you from experience, Teeth is a substantially better movie than Zombie Strippers. In fact, it’s kind of puzzling that Zombie Strippers can’t even live up to the trashy pleasures promised by its own title.
I guess Jenna just isn’t my type Miranda. I’m weird, I know.
More puzzling to me Jeff is that it’s playing at the Nuart. What’s up with that?
It’s more than it deserves, that’s for sure. Hopefully it’s some quid pro quo with the distributor with some other, better movie.
Her face is indeed kind of surgeried up in the movie.
Finally catching up with this thread (back in the netherlands now), and well, I know it’s a bit late for it, but I just want to nod my head in agreement to everything that’s been said here about the Assassination of the Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (well, except that I actually really enjoy typing out that title, still).
I do really hope, though, that somewhere along the way a definitive director’s cut of it comes out. The version that’s available now fell to me like it was only one step away from true greatness, and that felt a little frustrating. The pacing wasn’t always right, and the epilogue was either too long or way too short.
Oh, and the Appartment rules. I’m not so down on Breakfast at Tiffany’s as you all seem to be, but yeah, Mickey Rooney was just dreadful, and I never really feel like watching it a second time. I’m curious about Priceless now though.
Better late than never Hedwig. Welcome back from Norway. If I had my way Hedwig, the Watercooler would never die until the next one came along.
I missed all the fun too for the most part. I was here but too busy to play along.
For what it’s worth, I think The Apartment is my favorite Billy Wilder film…though I have to admit Some Like it Hot is catching up to it….and well goddamnit I can’t throw Double Indemnity under the bus like that.
Ok ok…Double Indemnity #1, Apartment #2, Hot #3, Sunset Blvd. #4….well, I don’t know, I’ll have to think on it some more.
Anyway, I love Shirley MacLean and I love her most of all in The Apartment.