The Watercooler: 8/18/08
It’s late so I’ll spare you the story of the drunk guy form Michigan at the Arclight bar who tried to share the secret of The Secret with me (“I’m not gay but you have amazing, mystical green eyes.” Wah??!) and I’ll pass up the trailers to get right to the weekend’s movies.
LiC’s first rule of comedy: make me laugh. Thanks to Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise, Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder accomplishes its mission. The high concept conceit of an action movie gone bad isn’t remarkable, but it brings the funny and that’s enough. Is it sophisticated funny? No, and the satire isn’t as sharp as some would have you believe, but the laughs are at least consistent which is more than I can say about any of the other big comedies this summer. I’m not sure if I’ll review this one because reviewing comedies seems increasingly pointless (either you think it’s funny or you don’t and more than any other genre, comedy is subjective), but if I did I’d give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Meanwhile, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen’s rumination on the vagaries of the human heart, was a terrific surprise. My expectations were modest but it exceeded them. It’s not a deep film, but it’s beautiful, sexy, funny and always engaging. Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are the standout performers, but Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson were also very good. Rather than place it in Woody Allen’s canon like everyone else wants to do, I’m content to call it one of the more enjoyable movies of the summer.
That’s it from me. How about you?
Filed under: Watercooler
Tags: Ben Stiller, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Rebecca Hall, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen
I cannot wait to see both of those, especially VCB (which I apparently get on the 16th of January 09)
I merely caught up with stuff that opened ages ago in the US, namely “Up the Yangtze,” which was great, as was “XXY.” “Savage Grace” was a mess, and I liked “Happy-Go-Lucky” as well.
I saw a lesbian-themed film that I think opened in the US last year or something called “Itty Bitty Titty Committee,” with Melonie Diaz. It is showing as a part of a gay & lesbian film festival here next month, and is just one of the screeners I have received. None of the other films seem very interesting, but it’s all good. I really wish they had somehow managed to score Van Sant’s “Milk,” but that one seems off the festival track.
I watched two other docs this morning actually about the war and American policy and the rest of it, called “War Made Easy” and “The War on Democracy,” and I thought I had learnt my lesson. Politics can be so boring when the narrator, talking head or director or whatever sharing his opinions overpowers the story at hand. Like they are promoting their opinions, and do their damn near best to make sure they are heard. Didn’t like either of them, they told me nothing I don’t already know to a certain point. Bland and uninteresting.
Lord, Craig.
He told you that you have “amazing, mystical green eyes” ?
Sounds like a keeper.
Hardy har har.
I always knew you must have amazing, mystical green eyes, Craig ;-)
I went to a press screening of Son of Rambow on Friday, which I found to be flawed, but immensely likeable. It’s nothing revolutionary, but I had a lot of fun with it, and even a lump in my throat by the end.
This weekend, only one movie: the bf came over on Saturday night and we watched The Maltese Falcon, which he liked a lot. It brings me a question: he’s like most people, with a vague idea of old, b&w movies as being boring and/or serious and/or difficult. Now, after the Thin Man (first two films of the series), The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon, he’s getting used to the idea that they might be fun. But where do I go from here? I could go on in the detective vein (he likes movies where there’s a simple problem or question that’s solved/answered in the end), but I’d like to branch out a little. Hitchcock is of course an obvious route, but other ideas would be welcome.
Oh, and before you blame me for inflicting my hobbies/idiosyncrasies on him: I’m sore all over because I went jogging with him yesterday. And did sit-ups, push-ups, and other hellish exercises as an intermezzo, too. I must really like this guy…
Hegwig, where to go from here? I’d say stay on the same track and reinforce acquaintance with the familiar — Key Largo or To Have or Have Not. That way show the amazing variations that can result from the same stars and directors, at the same time planting awareness of the arc of major directors’ careers, as well.
Or shake things up with a bigger break from the genre, and jump to the next level of realism with something like The Sweet Smell of Success or The Bad and the Beautiful.
Pull out the Hitchcock and Welles cards when things start to feel too programmatic.
Save the big aces like Sunset Blvd, The Third Man, and Double Indemnity for further down the line when your guy starts to get cocky and comfortable, and acts like he knows what to expect.
Ease into The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing and then out of the blue, Reservoir Dogs.
Then tell him about your scheme to rob a jewelry store, stressing that it’s a foolproof plan. It’s the only way to find out if he really cares about you, right? See if he’ll take a bullet for you.
Friday: Run for the Sun, starring Richard Widmark and Jane Greer. Forgettable adventure film despite a couple of good performances. Time Limit, starring Richard Widmark and Richard Basehart, directed by Karl Malden. Good military investigation film with some interesting twists, even if it feels a bit familiar nowadays.
Saturday: My Darling Clementine, John Ford’s fictionalized account of Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, starring Henry Fonda as Earp. Better the second time around, looking past the mendacity of the story. The Long Ships, fun Vikings adventure film with Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier. The Notorious Landlady, a pleasant, diverting comedy with Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon and Fred Astaire.
Sunday: Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which I liked a good deal but could not love.
Ryan’s Daughter–this film just gets better and better. Excellently acted all around; beautiful direction by David Lean. Robert Mitchum’s terrific, as is the whole cast.
Some suggestions for winning Hedwig’s boyfriend over to the cause of black-and-white cinema:
Psycho
Notorious
The Grapes of Wrath
Casablanca
Out of the Past
The Killing
Paths of Glory
Dr. Strangelove
Raging Bull
Schindler’s List
Pi
Little Caesar
The Public Enemy
Scarface (1932)
His Girl Friday
Red River
M
Citizen Kane
Pickpocket
To Kill a Mockingbird
It Happened One Night
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Third Man
Drunken Angel (Japanese-language, yes, but sell it as a nifty crime drama by Kurosawa)
City Lights
The Gold Rush
The Great Dictator
Modern Times
The General
Brief Encounter
The Battle of Algiers
Manhattan
Stardust Memories
Zelig
Shadows and Fog
All About Eve
The Bank Dick
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Witness for the Prosecution
Double Indemnity
Sunset Boulevard
Ace in the Hole
Brief Encounter
Ed Wood
Young Frankenstein
The Seventh Seal (Knight vs. Death!)
College
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Cat People
The Mummy
King Kong
Dracula
Bride of Frankenstein
The Apartment
The Sweet Smell of Success
The Big Sleep
The Man Who Wasn’t There
Gilda
I, Vitteloni
Seconds
The Manchurian Candidate (Frankenheimer’s)
Okay, I’ve really got to go to bed. I’ve got a college test exam in eight hours. What am I still doing awake?!?
This is just one of those weeks, where I dread reporting in to The Watercooler, as I neither want to play contrarian cinema with Craig, nor want to be a stick in the eye. Did I say “eye?” I hated the Ben Stiller movie for a number of reasons, and found the Woody Allen to be a vacuous misfire. I will state my case in reviews over the coming week. So what of it? I am not a movie profit, as always I am only a single solitary opinion in the show—I will state my case forcefully, but in the end, it is just one opinion and that’s that. The two best films of the six I’ve seen since last weeks’s Watercooler are unquestionably the Anita O’Day documentary, which I’ve reviewed and the new Claude Chabrol movie, A GIRL CUT IN TWO. Here are what I’ve seen this week, with the firmed up ratings:
Red ** 1/2 (Monday night)
Transsiberian ** 1/2 (Wednesday night)
Anita O’Day: Life of a Jazz Singer **** (Friday night)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona ** 1/2 (Saturday afternoon)
Tropic Thunder * (Saturday afternoon)
A Girl Cut in Two *** 1/2 (Sunday night)
RED was implausible and an example of overkill (no pun intended!) despite a characteristically fine performance by the versatile Brian Cox; TRANSSIBERIAN was dreary and convoluted; ANITA O’DAY was insightful and entertaining; VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA was a further example of the Woodman’s late-career meltdown; TROPIC THUNDER was vile, reprehensible and all over the map, (and for me not at all funny, except for a few segments) and Chabrol’s A GIRL CUT IN TWO was flawed, but was still a showcase for Chabrol’s very special kind of cinema, with a few truly bravura sequences.
While I was seeing the Allen, my family saw STAR WARS, and the kids loved it! Go figure.
I’m with Craig, the green-eyed beauty, on Tropic Thunder. It made me laugh, not consistently (the Jack Black parts were utterly superfluous and I could have done without some of the gross-out gore), but often enough. Downey Jr and Cruise were great. RDJ never ceases to amaze me, and Cruise’s career really needed that move. There’s nothing like being unglamorous while making people laugh to generate goodwill. He surprised me, and I haven’t seen him play a character that funny before. It was also nice just to get out of the house again.
Watched In Bruges and really enjoyed it as well. What a weird little hybrid of genres it is. It was much more contemplative and poignant than I had anticipated, but it had plenty of laughs, too. Brendan Gleeson was terrific and Colin Farrell for the most part didn’t annoy me in this one. I always love Ralph Fiennes, so no complaints there, either.
Other than that, the only other movie I watched in the past week of recovery was Youth Without Youth, which I watched while totally high on my prescribed pain killers. It seemed awfully slow at the time, but then, so did my hand moving through the air, so what do I know. Very pretty. I never felt emotionally engaged with the characters despite the high (no pun intended) drama, but I probably didn’t see it under the best circumstances.
At any rate, glad to be back amongst ye all.
As a sort of postscript to VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, I would like to add that I have seen (like Alexander, Craig and others here) every single Woody Allen film a number of times (and own them all on original DVDs, again like many others I’m sure) and this one would rank slightly under the middle point. Only two Allen films of the later period, MATCH POINT and CELEBRITY are of the first-rank, the rest have exhibited that dearth of ideas and inspiration that have marked his early and mid-career works. I respect Alexander, who is a wonderful friend now, but I will playfully chide him on his comments of the other day that MATCH POINT loses on repeat viewing. I couldn’t disagree more, but, so what?
What are my favorite ten Woody Allen films ever?
(in no particular order)
Annie Hall
Manhattan
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Everyone Says I Love You
Stardust Memories
Broadway Danny Rose
Sleeper
Match Point
Bananas
The Purple Rose of Cairo
I also love a great deal of LOVE AND DEATH, EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, CELEBRITY, DECONSTRUCTING HARRY and others.
Anyone wanna play this game?
Wow, Ryan and Alexander, thanks for the input! I love the whole nefarious-plan-aspect of Ryan’s post, and I can tell Alexander got carried away listing all the films he loves…
I dunno how long the relationship is going to last, but you’ve both made me exited about all the beautiful movies he still has to discover (and quite a few I haven’t gotten around to myself, too).
Ok, on with the thesis presentation. This time tomorrow, ladies and gents, I will have a grade, and this time next week, I hope to be holding my diploma in hands :-D
I didn’t get out this weekend but did see “The Prestige” which stunned me with its greatness. Other than that (and a few viewings of already-seen films here and there), it was a “Guitar Hero” weekend for me all the way.
Hedwig, congrats on nearly being done and good luck on the grades. I’d suggest tossing in a Hitchcock or two in the short-term, just to whet the appetite but keep Citizen Kane on the back burner for a while. That one just brings too many expectations with it. It could backfire if he sees it before being fully won over. If he likes Bogey, give him a shot of Cagney (The Public Enemy or The 20th Century are my picks) and then follow that up with a good comedy. Comedies are always good to lighten the perspective some.
As for my weekend, I happened to sit down in front of a TV Fri night just moments before The Greatest Moment in Modern Olympics History (or so the hype tells me) and got a 24 hour case of Phelps fever. Thankfully, the banality of an Olympics marathon and the sheer egotism of Bolt brought me back to Earth and I was cured by midnight Sat.
Saw Encounters at the End of the World Sun afternoon. Curious that Man on Wire left me in the clouds, an emotional high point of the Summer, only to have the sly and irreverent Werner Herzog return me solidly to Earth with his sobering visit to Antarctica. While I very much enjoyed Herzog’s doc, I did find it equal parts exhilarating and depressing. Only Herzog is capable of tapping such contradictory emotions in a documentary.
Saw Tropic Thunder. Had a great time. I think I was just sooooooo thankful that there wasn’t a scruffy man-child with arrested development issues who has a 3rd act revelation where he ‘grows up’ during a schmaltzy music montage. Thank goodness. I’m still not sure who was the bigger revelation – Robert Downey Jr. or Tom Cruise. Cruise has made me love him again – could this be a career resurrection? I’m actually looking forward to Valkyrie now.
Also watched All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. I know Nick had good things to say, but I found it kind of ho-hum. It’s a slasher with pretensions, but at the end it’s still just a slasher. Also, I saw the Big Twist coming from a mile away, which kind of sapped whatever enjoyment I might have gotten from it. Oh well.
I’ll play, Sam.
Hmmm…
But I honestly don’t know if Craig’s a big Woody aficionado. We’ve been friends for quite a while and that isn’t the impression I have. There’s only myself and one other lovely gentleman that I know that posts at LiC.
But I’ll allow him to take the floor whenever he wants.
The only WOODY i haven’t seen is CASSANDRA’S DREAM.
VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA is in my Top 10. But seeing as I just saw it Friday night, it could certainly go higher or lower.
MY TOP 10 WOODY ALLEN FILMS (IN ORDER)
1. HUSBANDS & WIVES
2. PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM
3. MANHATTAN
4. INTERIORS
5. VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
6. ALICE
7. ANNIE HALL
8, HANNAH & HER SISTERS
9. CELEBRITY
10. SLEEPER
I also really dig:
EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU
DECONSTRUCTING HARRY
STARDUST MEMORIES (which I just bought)
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S SEX COMEDY
ZELIG
BROADWAY DANNY ROSE
TAKE THE MONEY & RUN
ANOTHER WOMAN
HOLLYWOOD ENDING
ANYTHING ELSE
Thanks for playing Miranda. Very nice listing there!
No worries Evan, I just liked the way the film was handled really, even if it wasn’t original really. And Amber Heard is rather, um, distracting.
I can’t play Sam’s game, I’m afraid, since I’ve only seen 7 of Woody movies. Still, of those:
I loved: Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and her Sisters
I liked: Match Point, Husbands and Wives, Everyone Says I Love You
Let’s Not Mention: Small Time Crooks
Craig, I didn’t realize you had green eyes. And mystical ones at that…
I never made it to the movie theater this weekend, so I did not see either of my long-awaited August movies, Vicky Christina Barcelona or Tropic Thunder. Hopefully next week. Glad to see the positive feedback on both of these from the other LiC readers.
However, I did see Volver on DVD, which I missed in the movies, and I revisited Gilda, An American in Paris, On the Town and Singing in the Rain. Except for the DVD and Gilda it was a Gene Kelly musical weekend for me. Not what I’d planned but nothing to complain about. :-)
And just to share:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzg_1XwzG08
Incidentally, the Onion A.V. Club just put out a great primer on the Woodster. I guess I’d better go work my way through it.
I loved VCB, but I think it’s nearly impossible to rank his filmography. I’ll try it this way….
Excellent: Annie Hall, Husbands and Wives, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, Bullets Over Broadway, Match Point, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Radio Days, Sweet and Lowdown, The Purple Rose of Cairo…
Very good: Broadway Danny Rose, Celebrity, Deconstructing Harry, Shadows and Fog, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, September, Interiors, Stardust Memories, Sleeper, Zelig, Play it Again, Sam (we have to count it even if he didn’t direct it)
A few others I’m not crazy about.
“Let’s not mention SMALL TIME CROOKS.”
Right on Hedwig, I concur with you fully on that one, as well as the ones you say are his greatest.
Ari, that is a masterful run-down, who could argue with that? I am personally not ahuge fan of SHADOWS AND FOG, but I know most are.
Thanks for engaging me, both of you. I will reciprocate as soon as you pose another listing. LOL!
Sorry to spoil the party Alison, but I liked neither of those, and actually hated TROPIC THUNDER.
I’ve got a pile ‘o non-blog related things to occupy my morning but I wanted to give a welcome back shout out to Jennybee. Me and the monkeys are glad you’re back.
I shall return in a few.
I still need to write a VCB review. I’ve warmed to it some. Still, I don’t buy the Vicky story whatsoever. She mentally dumps her fiance suddenly over some Chablis, a Spanish guitar, and an artist who’s a hunky version of Woody Allen? Yeah. OK. Whatever.
I think Shadows and Fog is for Woody Allen what The Man Who Wasn’t There is for the Coens. I find both to be haunting, funny terribly underrated movies.
Yeah…
Hope you’re recovering nicely, jenny.
I wish you the best Jenny Bee.
Fair enough Ari.
Fair enough, Nick. I can concede that point. :) I will say that it promises a bright future for the director, Jonathan Levine. I know a lot of people didn’t really like The Wackness, but you can’t deny that the guy has talent.
jennybee, I didn’t realize that you had been ill. Glad to hear that you’re doing better. Welcome back.
I second the fans of Zelig and Sweet and Lowdown. Love both of those movies. Sean Penn was great in the latter. Not two of his classics, like the wonderful Sleeper, Love and Death and Annie Hall of course but great nonetheless.
And I do love both Hannah and Her Sisters and Alice.
Excellent….it looks like my 4 star review of VCB will stir up some controversy for a change! (damnit I wish I wasn’t busy, I want to get into this NOW)
Just when I think I’m out, they suck me back in (rating Woody Allen’s films) NO! NOT AGAIN!!!
Whoa, where did this sudden love for Celebrity come from?
My favorites chronologically are Take the Money and Run, Sleepers, Love and Death, Annie Hall, Interiors, Manhattan, Stardust Memories, Zelig, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, Bullets Over Broadway, Deconstructing Harry, Sweet and Lowdown
Some I think well of: Radio Days, Another Woman, Shadows and Fog, Small Time Crooks, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (I’ll never understand the hate for this one, including by Allen himself).
I’m too weary to go through the rest of his filmography. Vicky Cristina Barcelona probably fits in with the latter grouping of films in my post, but I suppose I allowed my expectations to swell just a bit too much. It was a film that I thought could have been one of Allen’s best outings, but some elements just worked against it. As I said in my review (I won’t make a habit out of doing this, I’m just playing around with this hypertexting thing because it’s kind of fun), Allen really gets in his own way, which is very unfortunate.
Sam, you can make fun of me for Match Point but I’m not the one who doesn’t like Don’t Look Now. I win! I kid.
Hedwig, I did try to balance my list of black-and-whites for you with entertainment value most prominently in mind for your boyfriend. But I’m sure I did get carried away!
Ari, I agree with you about Shadows and Fog.
I’m glad you’re feeling better, Jennybee.
I don’t want to gut my review, but I’ll just say this for now… I’m looking at VCB in a vaccuum as though I’ve never seen another Woody Allen film and it’s perfectly lovely.
It’s lighter than air, but it’s a perfect summer movie and, being a movie for adults, it’s a relief from the kiddy stuff we’ve been choking on since Memorial Day.
It’s not complex but it’s sophisticated. It’s not deep or revelatory, but it’s not supposed to be.
***Spoiler*** And KB, the reason she mentally dumped her fiance (I can’t type or say that word without thinking of Raising Arizona) so easily was A) because the khaki wearing materialist tool was dead inside and she never should’ve married him in the first place and B) it’s a FANTASY. Who doesn’t want to run off to Barcelona and fall in love with a beautiful artist? Realistic? No, but it’s lovely to think about. ***end spoiler***
I’m still getting over seeing Craig’s mystical green eyes up close…ahem…
No movies to report. Wedding, LA, San Diego, friends. Hope to see VCB and Bottle Shock this week.
Sam, I’m not surprised that you were disappointed by Tropic Thunder, but I am surprised that you found it as bad as Step Brothers or PE. As I admitted, I was in a great mood when I saw it, and like Craig says, it’s hard to make any objective declarations about comedies (although here’s one – the production design was amazing). Still – it’s great that you’re honest about it, as we all are mature enough to agree to disagree around here.
Love The Prestige, Dorothy…need to rewatch…
Alexander, I bet you spontaneously made that B & W list off the top of your head. You’re not human.
Yes, Vicky’s efforts to dump her fiance, Doug, was one of the strokes (ah, how clever–it’s a film about painters, and… oh, never mind) that was very well-executed on Allen’s part. It made sense within the framework of the film. Doug was a guy who wanted to do things so he could tell his friends he had done them. He was shallow and boring. In other words, he was that Allen archetype, like a young Ian Holm in Another Woman, who in this case still has sex with his wife.
Daniel: You know me too well, ha.
Thanks much Dan, for your paragraph reference to me there, and I do admit that TT did boast an astonishing, expensive set design. I will give it that for sure. Of all of those comedies, PE is the best one for me, even if if it still was a mess.
Tre what you say Alexander–DON’T LOOK NOW has caused me grieve through the years with many.
I must read your review now–I am procrastinating! LOL! And I need to get to the Chabrol, which I now have downgraded to 3.
Well, for all the Doug bashing, I will say that he had one of the most genuinely touching moments in the entire film.
When Vicky comes home and she has her hand bandaged, and she lies to her husband about how it happened and proceeds to say, “It’s no big deal,” Doug looks her and says, “Yes it is! You could have been hurt. I love you.” Here he is, being honest and real and loving, and she’s lying to his face.
Just my 2 cents in defense of Doug.
Doug is a fine man. Decent, dependable, solid, probably would make a great dad, but utterly tone deaf to the simple pleasures and romance of life unless they appear on the pages of a Banana Republic catalogue. He’s realistic husband material, but this movie is about the fantasy and, I think, learning that ultimately the fantasy isn’t all that.
Nick, I think I’ll probably share your take on Mandy Lane and for all the same reasons. Speaking of Amber Heard and Melonie Diaz, there’s a movie I saw at LAFF in 2007 at the time it was called The Beautiful Ordinary but had been changed to Remember the Daze (ugh!) by the time it came out on DVD. Anyway, not a great movie at all, but Heard and Diaz and the rest of the cast were pretty good.
Also, thank you all for appreciating the irony of the best compliment I’ve gotten in months coming from a drunk dude at a bar.
Sounds like your reaction to Rambow was much the same as mine Hedwig. Not an amazing film, but charming and likeable. And don’t worry about bending the boyfriend to your will a little bit. I don’t understand relationships where people don’t at least experiment with the things the other person is interested in. What’s the point if you’re not going to expand your horizons a little bit? Right?
Good luck with school, by the way. I’m excited for you to have it all over and done with.
Alexander, I think MDC is one of my favorite westerns, but yeah, it’s best taken as an entertainment rather than some kind of biography.
(To be continued….)
Jennybee, I agree with you on In Bruges for the most part, though the hybrid didn’t completely come together for me. Also there were some dry patches in the middle….but I liked it. Farrell doesn’t annoy me like he does you and I was happy to see him do something comic. He and Gleason made a good laurel and hardy team. And yeah.The Ralphster. What else is there to add about him? I kind of wish he was in it more, but that would’ve changed the movie.
Also, as I said to you before, YWY didn’t make much more sense sober, trust me, but I still admired it. I like seeing an old director taking chances and mixing it up, even if he doesn’t succeed 100%
Ryan, you’re one sneaky bastard, you know that?
Sam, I think your cooling response to Girl Cut in Two is similar to my own reaction to Elegy. I liked it when I first saw it but as I’ve spent the last week avoiding writing about it, I’ve grown bored of it. I still like it a bit better than you, but It’s getting harder and harder for me to remember why.
Alison, I predict VCB will charm the hell out of you, if for no other reason than I know you like Javier Bardem. He’s impossible not to like in this movie too. Your enjoyment of of TT might begin and end with Robert Downey, but we’ll see about that one. Between the two obviously I recommend VCB more.
Joel, I liked Encounters a lot, but I found myself unable to decide what to say about it. It’s a hard movie to quantify after one viewing (for me anyway) and I wasn’t sure what Herzog was expecting me to take away from it. Having said that, it was enjoyable and oddly funny even when it was being depressing.
Ari, glad to see I have a VCB ally. Similar to My Blueberry Nights, when a movie puts me under its spell, it’s hard for me to understand why it doesn’t happen that way to everyone. Even more confusing with VCB because it goes down so smoothly and easily. I’m not surprised you appreciate the pleasures of The Man Who Wasn’t There.
Evan, I kind of liked The Wackness for what it was and I agree Levine is someone to watch.
DP and DG…I’m with you on The Prestige as well. I was a little surprised by many of the negative reactions to that movie, but then I’ve only seen it the one time.
Craig, you know me and my love for Javi too well.
And Robert Downey Jr.
See? I pay attention. I know how the readers roll.
In fact, you might want to bring some wetnaps with you to clean up the drool if you see VCB…I’m just saying.
That sexy in the movie, huh?
Well, I’m no expert on such matters, but it doesn’t take much imagination to see how these three fantastically gorgeous women fell for him. Of course he’s handsome and has the accent, but he was also pretty charming and he had the whole artist thing going on. Your results may vary, but I’m eager to hear what you think.
Craig, I’m not sure Herzog knew what he would take away from Encounters, let alone the viewers. The film is sort of all over the map.
It’s almost as though someone gave Herzog the cash and the travel accommodations to make Encounters and he went searching for a documentary rather than having a documentarian’s objective for Antarctica and searching for the cash and travel accommodations to accomplish the task.
Only Herzog couid get away with such a meandering effort and still make it rewarding to watch.
I feel a need to defend Small Time Crooks. It’s the first Allen film I ever saw at a time (I’m very young) when I was completely unfamiliar with his work (I rented it based on the ads, which made it look like a Jon Lovitz comedy), and even though it was no masterpiece, it was good enough that I felt compelled to begin seeking out Allen’s other work. I remember watching the film and being shocked to see extended 5-10 minute scenes where it was nothing but talking and slowly finding myself enjoying the concept of such a style. If viewed in a vaccuum, like how I saw it, it is actually quite pleasant.
118.7 out of 120!!!
Damn that one question where it could have been one of two options! Oh well.
alynch, I agree with you about Small Time Crooks. It’s a solid effort across the board with a showstopper comedic set-piece near the end that I will always think fondly of.
Behold Craig, his two emerald jewels radiantly shining upon the altar of his glorious countenance, paying compliments to the suave, sexy and scintillating Spaniard, Javier Bardem. His benevolence and humility is breathtaking.
Hedwig, it’s good to see that your bf cares enough about what’s important to you to check out some of the movies you love. You’ve certainly received some terrific recommendations for advancing his induction. Ryan is a devilishly sly one. My wife was already keen on movies when we met but just hadn’t seen that many great ones. I love introducing her to modern and past classics, and the post-viewing discussions they spark. Special congrats on the pending academic qualification Hedwig. It’s a very fine achievement. Now you can move on to the PhD.
Sam, it’s always great to receive an alternative take on a movie’s worth, don’t feel bad about swimming against the Watercooler tide. Which leads me to admit finding In Bruges a misfire, although it did contain good moments – particularly from Gleeson and Fiennes..
Craig, what a wonderfully poetic description of your green eyes. I’m only sorry that it wasn’t Rebecca Hall who said it to you.
Jennybee, glad you’re recovering but sorry there was any need to do so in the first place.
Dorothy, I love The Prestige too. I have a thing for films that function as carefully constructed puzzles, and the all round craft contributing to this one was top class.
Good luck with the test Alexander. Judging by your online film scholarship doing well should be a formality.
Wow Joel, your reaction to MoaW together with those of Craig and others has me so looking forward to a little gem I would otherwise have bypassed.
Great to know you had an enjoyably lively weekend with Gene Kelly, Alison.
We’re watching Mad Men and the BBC’s Brideshead Revisited on DVD. Both are superb achievements.
“Some suggestions for winning Hedwig’s boyfriend over to the cause of black-and-white cinema”
ahh, ok. See, this is what happens when I crash a party without a proper invitation, Hedwig. I thought the theme was “film noir” not “black & white.” No wonder everybody politely ignored me ;-)
Alexander’s lists are annoyingly comprehensive as always, but maybe I can add a title or two:
Hud
Lenny
La Haine
Paper Moon
Rumble Fish
Veronika Voss
Wings of Desire
The Last Picture Show
Madonna: Truth or Dare
Good Night, and Good Luck
The General (Boorman, 1998)
Not strictly black & white, but there’s Dziga Vertov’s early experimental film Kino Chornyi (Lens Cap, 1924), filmed entirely in black. But be sure to rent the fully restored 217-minute version, because the butchered 92-minute version is crap.
Now there’s a masterwork Ryan—THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, which I consider the greatest American film of the past 40 years–ha!
How wonderful it is to hear the voice of that most special man, sartre again, and he forgets no-one in his peerless cordiality and his concern for everyone. This is a man I must meet one day in my life–a real Prince.
Lens Cap…ahahahhaha
Ah, welcome back, sartre! So nice to hear from you. I agree with Sam, you are a Prince.
I’m thrilled to read about people’s reaction to “The Prestige.” Makes me feel like I’m not alone!
Craig, are you ABSOLUTELY positive that he was drunk…?
Yeah, I AM being a wise ass. But it’s such a gorgeous compliment IN SPITE OF THAT.
Are we the only green eyed people here? I’d be curious to know…
Ice bluehere.Dark Knight Blue
Hazel here.
I dated a girl in high school who had one green eye and one blue eye, and she could make a sound in her throat that sounded exactly like a kitten purring.
I know: unbelievable.
(the “I dated a girl in high school” part)
Prince? Of darkness maybe.
Hazel here, once described as being the color of artichoke soup.
Nah, my eyes aren’t the color of artichoke soup, sartre. I don’t think. Artichoke soup isn’t something I would go near.
In the vain of eye compliments I’ve been told that I have cat eyes.
I have eyelashes to kill for ;)
Ryan, are you sure that wasn’t David Bowie you dated?
Sounds purrfect Alison. I suspect you could batter someone to submission with those things Dorothy. Ice blue Ryan? No wonder you’ve chosen O’Toole’s Lawrence as your gravatar.
I’m late to this one, but here’s my Woody Allen rankings:
Great:
Annie Hall
Manhattan
Hannah and Her Sisters
Husbands and Wives
Very good:
Love and Death
Sleeper
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Sweet and Lowdown
Okay:
Bananas
Zelig
Broadway Danny Rose
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Radio Days
Bullets Over Broadway
Mixed:
What’s Up Tiger Lily
Shadows and Fog
Everyone Says I Love You
Deconstructing Harry
Small Time Crooks
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
Match Point
Scoop
Not great:
Mighty Aphrodite
Hollywood Ending
Melinda and Melinda
Cassandra’s Dream
Nadir:
Anything Else
Mine are light blue-grayish.
Also: I got an 8.5!!! (out of 10, with a 9 pretty much being the highest attainable grade)
So yeah, this grin? Not leaving my face. At least not today.
Congratulations, my girl!!!!!!!
Hedwig, I’m so proud of you. That’s fantastic.
Too bad you’re not over here. We could celebrate.
But I’m very happy that you did well.
My congratulations to you Hedwig on that stellar performance!!!
ROCK ON, HEDWIG! Awesome, that is amazing, but then we knew you’d blow their socks off.
They do wear socks over there, right? Well, you get my meaning anyway.
My eyes are brown or light green. Not sure how or why, but the color will shift from time to time. More often brown than green.
Congratulations Hedwig!
Joel, that’s hazel. :-)
Tomorrow’s discussion will be hair color…
I stand corrected, Alison. And just to get a leg up on tomorrow, my hair color is brown, not hazel. It changes color too, though not temporarily.
Awesome news, Hedwig!
We’re both grinning after yesterday (err, earlier today for you? time zones and all..)!!
Blue-green eyes, long wavy blond hair here. Of course, I’m a California native.
Outstanding work Hedwig. I had a feeling you’d stick the landing. You too Alexander, though I totally missed the last bit of your original comment where you mentioned your own exam.
Thanks for all the kind words!
And Alexander, congrats on that barely-human result :-D
Congratulations to you as well, Alexander. :-)
Thank you, Sartre, as always your words proved to be true.
Thanks to you, Hedwig and Alison. :-D
Why are you all taking so many tests? It’s August! Just kidding, I know academic schedules are year-round. Doesn’t seem right somehow, though…
Great for you both. Celebrate with your favorite movie!
I finally watched JUNO (very cute) and MONTE WALSH (very bittersweet) and DAY FOR NIGHT (very lovely).
Behind the curve and proud of it!
Yeah, I missed the congrats to Alexander as well. Nice job!
I’ll join the congratulatory chorus and say: well done, Alexander!
Sincerely, thank you all very much for the kind words. Aww. :-)
LiC cats are smarter than the average bear.
Almost forgot, dark brown hair and black eyebrows (Slavic genes prominent).
sartre, really? Which Slavic country specifically?
I’m of Russian and Ukranian descent myself. Very dark brown (almost black) hair. And curly. :-)
(shoulder length medium-brown hair)
One of these days I should put up a picture so you can all get a snoot full of what this humble blogger looks like on the outside.
That’s cool Alison. And from memory you have dark rather than fair complexion.
My ancestry is mostly Serb, with some Czech, Slovenian, Montenegrin, and German Jewish thrown in.
Our darker appearance offers up a point of contrast to Alexander and Ryan’s Hitler youth one :-)
Wow, that’s quite a mix. We’re both mutts, sartre.
Craig, be sure that the photo clearly shows off the mystical green eyes. :-)
EDIT: LOL, especially Ryan’s ice-blue eyes.