Weekend Forecast: 10/9/08
Wong Kar-Wai’s Ashes of Time Redux, opening in limited release
There isn’t much to get too excited about in the wide releases this weekend:
- Body of Lies. A Ridley Scott thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a CIA agent on the trail of a terrorist leader. He is guided from afar by CIA veteran Russell Crowe but with his life on the line he begins to question who he can really trust. Screenplay by William Monahan (The Departed). Well, there it is. I don’t know what else to say about it.
- City of Ember. From Monster House director Gil Kenan and The Night Before Christmas screenwriter Caroline Thompson comes this family fantasy adventure about two teens who must save their once gloriously lit city from going dark. Saorise Ronan, Bill Murray, Toby Jones, Martin Landau and Tim Robbins star. They hauled a bunch of journalists to last summer’s Comic Con in San Diego on a special City of Ember train. That was the first and last time I heard anything about this movie. Is that because I don’t have kids?
- The Express. In less than a month there is a very real chance the United States will have its first African-American president so I suppose this story of Ernie Davis, the first African-American recipient of college football’s Heisman Trophy, is just in time. Rob Brown (Finding Forrester) plays Ernie Davis and Dennis Quaid stars as coach Schwartzwalder. Sounds like faux-inspirational sports movie crap to me, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.
- Quarantine. It seems like not a week goes by without a crappy US remake of a foreign horror film. This week we have a remake of the Spanish film [REC] which takes place inside an apartment building that is sealed off from the outside world when one of the residents is discovered to have an unknown infection. Just rent the original.
If none of the above suit you, The Duchess is expanding into a theater near you:
- The Duchess. If you have any taste at all for English costume dramas, this one starring Keira Knightley turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would be. The story of a young woman who finds her marriage to the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes) to be a kind of prison is surprisingly powerful. It echoes Raise the Red Lantern a little bit, though it’s not as good as the Zhang Yimou film.
A strange but interesting mix fills out this weekend’s limited releases:
- Happy-Go-Lucky. Mike Leigh (Naked, Secrets and Lies) brings a lighter than usual approach to this story of an unfailingly optimistic schoolteacher named Poppy (Sally Hawkins). Her glowing worldview is challenged on all sides when her bicycle is stolen and she must take driving lessons from stern instructor Eddie Marsan.
- Ashes of Time Redux. Wong Kar-Wai reworks his only martial arts film. Dreamily photographed by Christopher Doyle in 1994, this little seen epic stars Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Brigitte Lin, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung and Tony Leung Kar-fai. The re-edit turned up at Cannes to good notices.
- Lola Montès. Max Ophüls’ restored 1955 CinemaScope classic is getting played on the big screen where it belongs. If you live in NY or LA, check it out.
- RocknRolla (Opened Wed. in NY, LA, Toronto. Wide 10/31). Guy Ritchie’s return to the milieu of London’s criminal underworld starring Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Idris Elba, Jeremy Piven and Chris Bridges has been getting some good reviews since it premiered at Toronto…and some bad ones. I don’t know. I’m not against it, but I’m not getting excited about it either.
- Billy: The Early Years. That’s Billy Graham for those of you keeping score at home. Might make a swell double feature with Religulous.
- Breakfast With Scot. If equality means everyone gets their own lame family comedies, here’s one for the gay community. A sportscaster (Tom Cavanagh) and his lawyer boyfriend (Ben Shenkman) have their blissful domestic lives turned upside down when they take temporary custody of Scot (Noah Bernett), an 11 year old who shows all the signs of growing into a flamboyantly gay young man himself. There are some positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, but Nick Plowman kind of hated it.
- Saving Marriage. If you want to see a good movie about gay people instead then try to find this moving documentary that puts a human face on the recent fight in Massachusetts to obtain equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Filmed on video, it will probably be just as good on TV and that’s just as well because it’s going to be hard to track down in theaters. According to the film’s website, Saving Marriage follows up its San Francisco opening with screenings the following week (10/17) in Los Angeles and Boston, the next week (10/24) in New York and then two weeks later (11/7) in Denver. Beyond that, I expect the doc will get heavy rotation on gay cable channel Here! which happens to be one of the film’s distributors. It’s too bad because I think it deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
- Call+Response. According to this documentary, there are more slaves today than at any point in human history. Call+Response mixes first hand accounts of 21st century slavery with performances from musical artists such as Moby, Matisyahu, Imogen Heap and others.
- Lower Learning. Can vice principal Jason Biggs save Barry Goldwater Elementary before the school board closes it down because of low test scores, drunken faculty and a corrupt principal? Do you care?
Opening in New York:
- Nights and Weekends. Greta Gerwig (co-writer and star of Hannah Takes the Stairs) and Joe Swanberg (co-writer and director of Hannah Takes the Stairs) reunite to co-write, co-direct and co-star in this story of a couple coping with a
Opening in Los Angeles:
- Good Dick. Filmed in part at LA’s Cinefile Video (next door to the Nuart Theater where the film is playing at this weekend), Good Dick is an unconventional romantic comedy about a video store employee (Jason Ritter) who pursues a relationship with a reluctant and reclusive porn renting female customer (writer/director Marianna Palka). Can we have a moratorium on indie films about video store employees please?
This week’s Weekend Forecast was brought to you by France Gall’s Laisse Tomber Les Filles. You may recognize the tune from April March’s English language cover Chick Habit used in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof. That’s all well and good, but this is the ginchy ’60s French version as written by Serge Gainsbourg:
Filed under: Weekend Forecast
Tags: Ashes of Time Redux, Ben Shenkman, Bill Murray, Billy: The Early Years, Body of Lies, Breakfast With Scot, Brigitte Lin, Call+Response, Caroline Thompson, Chris Bridges, Christopher Doyle, City of Ember, Dennis Quaid, Eddie Marsan, France Gall, Gerard Butler, Gil Kenan, Good Dick, Greta Gerwig, Guy Ritchie, Happy-Go-Lucky, Idris Elba, Jacky Cheung, Jason Biggs, Jason Ritter, Jeremy Piven, Joe Swanberg, Keira Knightley, Laisse Tomber Les Filles, Leonardo DiCaprio, Leslie Cheung, Lola Montes, Lower Learning, Maggie Cheung, Marianna Palka, Martin Landau, Max Ophuls, Nights and Weekends, Noah Bernett, Quarantine, Ralph Fiennes, Ridley Scott, Rob Brown, RocknRolla, Russell Crowe, Sally Hawkins, Saorise Ronan, Saving Marriage, Serge Gainsbourg, Thandie Newton, The Duchess, The Express, Tim Robbins, Toby Jones, Tom Cavanagh, Tom Wilkinson, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Tony Leung Kar-fai, William Monahan, Wong Kar Wai
Related Posts: - Weekend Forecast: 8/3/07
- Weekend Forecast: 7/27/07
- Weekend Forecast: 6/20/08
- Weekend Forecast: 11/20/08
- Weekend Forecast: 11/25/08
There indeed really isn’t much to get excited about, wide or not.
I found BODY OF LIES and THE EXPRESS to both be less than enthusiasm-generating… The former barely registers despite its technical competence and pedigree, while the latter is a fine achievement but ultimately just another race-relations-as-sports-movie product from Hollywood.
QUARANTINE is bound to be bad, but I enjoy the nostalgia of watching crappy horror with hoards of noisy teenagers–yeah, I’m pretty much the only one–because that was the staple of the multiplex I worked at in high school… I’m ready for you, shakicam!
CITY OF EMBER, on the other hand, looks far more promising given I loved MONSTER HOUSE, but Ebert’s hot-of-the-presses review renews my initial skepticism…
I sure do wish BILLY: THE EARLY YEARS were playing in California; the trailer makes me die laughing every time I see it. Maybe this thing will do a solid per-screen in the Bible Belt and see a few sites out West? Nah… Looks like I’ll have to see FIREPROOF for some good ‘ol Evangelical cheese if I want it…
Can’t wait to see ASHES OF TIME given I, like you Craig, saw so much in MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS, which was *gasp* my first Wong Kar-Wai film. The trailer looks fantastic. Although my enthusiasm may partially be enhanced by the fact that the movie offers me the chance to go to the ImaginAsian Center, which rivals any ArcLight or Landmark auditorium as far as comfort and presentation go, crappy area or not. (I walked the mile-and-a-half there from my apartment for TRANSSIBERIAN… not a smart idea.)
And I’m sad I missed the Aero pre-screening of HAPPY GO-LUCKY tonight, but I’m sure I’ll catch up with it next week, hopefully after a W. screening on Tuesday. Hawkins sure does have some buzz to live up to.
Not to mention, I still have the LiC-praised TROUBLE THE WATER to catch up with when I’m in San Diego this weekend, which is just opening down there — perfect given I missed it during its (uber-short) LA-run.
Perhaps not as bad a weekend as it could’ve been after all…
I missed the Body of Lies screening, but it opens later this month or earlier next month, so I’ll see it then. I’ve heard some yays, and some nays on it, so I’m not too sure what to expect.
Ashes of Time Redux, Saving Marriage, City of Ember would all be on my list, also The Duchess and RocknRolla. I may still see that before it goes wide in the States.
I am still hot to trot on RACHEL and BALLAST, both of which I failed to negotiate last week, so I’ll be turning my attention to those two. I know Craig liked both a lot and may be reviewing them.
I can second Danny B.’s thoughts on Body of Lies. You’ve seen it before if you’ve seen any of the similarly themed movies that have come out in the last 18 months. It tries harder than the others but doesn’t get any further. I found it interesting to learn that the book was only published last spring. I thought it was a few years old. It must have been adapted and thrown into production while Ignatius was still on his book tour. Anyway, my review will be up tomorrow.
I’ve either not been paying attention or completely missed mention of this movie in previous weeks, but has anyone seen Beauty in Trouble? I’ve been looking forward to it and we get it this week.
A Godard retrospective begins today at the arthouse Pierre mentioned on Monday. I’m hoping to see Contempt, Breathless, and Band of Outsiders - all for the first time, within the next 10 days.
Saturday I’ll be seeing a preview screening of Happy Go Lucky as part of the month-long Leigh retrospective at the Walker Art Center.
Hey, my friend Mitch was a PA in Good Dick! Wonder if he knows. Do you know what theater it’s playing at, Craig?
I’ve been excited about Call + Response since I heard about it, and I thought it was a pretty cool marketing strategy - 1,000 people had to go online and request it to come to their city for each screening. We get it next week. Somehow I don’t think 1,000 people acted, but oh well.
A moderate lineup this week overall if you ask me. Good warm-up for the better months to come.
Oh, just one last plug - you can still join the Getafilm fantasy movie league until tomorrow! Get a leg up on Craig - he picked Blindness, the sucker! Actually he picked Chihuahua, too, though. Nice work. Click on my name to play.
Not much opening here this weekend. Still want to see Appaloosa and hoping to revisit Burn After Reading.
As for the list, I’ve heard some good things about Body of Lies, but it sounds like a decent thriller and not much more.
Ashes of Time Redux and Happy-Go-Lucky are both on my short list and I’d love to Lola Montes in a theater. Trouble the Water opens next weekend here and I’m looking forward to that.
The Portland Art Museum is doing a retrospective of David Lean right now and I’m hoping to squeeze in Brief Encounter and Oliver Twist this weekend, but I’ll be out of town too so both are going to be hard.
Godard is one of my favourite filmmakers of all time, so enjoy it Danny!
Appaloosa opens here, so I’m hoping to catch it sometime within the next week.
The only other “wide” releases are Hellboy 2 and Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I’ve seen H2 already, and I can probably list a number of self-mutilating things I can rather do than see BHC. :)
In addition, the art house cinemas are showing a festival film, the Princess of Nebraska. Can anyone here recommend this? It looks intriguing.
Thanks, Nick. If I can do it, it will be one tiny, tiny step in closing the gap between myself and anyone who’s ever taken a film class. And people like you, who are just insanely knowledgeable.
It’s been nearly two months since I first saw HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, but I finally posted my review here: http://fromthefrontrow.blogspot.com/2008/10/review-happy-go-lucky.html
I think it may surprise some people given my initial reaction to it.
SAVING MARRIAGE is playing on campus here in November as part of our queer film series, so it’s not getting completely ignored, and I’ll get to see it soon.
I skipped the CITY OF EMBER press screening, it just doesn’t interest me at all.
BILLY: THE EARLY YEARS was directed by Robby Benson, aka the voice of the Beast in Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, which is weird because he lives near me and used to be a professor in the department of theatre at my school…but he left the year before I arrived. I didn’t really expect this kind of thing from him.
PRINCE OF NEBRASKA is actually getting online distribution in the States, but I think Craig liked it at AFI Fest last year.
I’ve been trying to see A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS, its well-received companion piece, for weeks, but the plan hasn’t materialized. Only got about a week to do it.
Danny B. Thanks for the heads up on ImaginAsian. I haven’t been down there, but Ashes of Times sounds like a fantastic excuse to break the ice. I have a soft spot for the tattered Sunset 5, but it’s no place to see a Wong Kar-Wai film.
I missed Princess and A Thousand Years at AFI last year, but I caught up with the latter a few weeks back and gave it a 3.5 star review. I hope you can fit it into your schedule.
Daniel G. Blindness will be the least of my troubles when Twilight stiffs. I’ve been predicting for a while that it was going to be huge, but I’ll bet I’m wrong. Also Good Dick is playing The Nuart right next door to the video store used in the film.
Sam, a Ballast review is forthcoming…Rachel I’m not sure.
Nick, it sounds like you didn’t miss much with BoL. I wanted to be excited about it all along, but it just never completely grabbed me. I’ll probably still work it in over the weekend though.
Matthew, I’m glad to hear you warmed up to HGL a little bit, not because I’ve seen it and have an opinion, but from what I heard about it I want to like it…despite what the cynics say. I’m something of a cynic myself and I liked to be reminded from time to time to snap out of it. I hope HGL does that. We’ll see.
Also, I believe Nick has been holding out on us with his own HGL review…
Michael. It looks like I enjoyed Appaloosa more than just about anyone around here…actually I take that back Jeffmcm said he enjoyed it too I think…anyway, as I’ve said I wasn’t in love with it, but on balance I found more to like than not. I hope it works for you.
Joel, I’m glad to see Trouble the Water is still making its way around the country. After a lot of initial attention it’s been flying under the radar. It’s been a pretty good year for docs and that’s one of the good ones in my opinion.
Craig, it looks like DANNY B. is a real find. Nice to see someone around here who knows what he’s talking about.
I guess I’ll have to say Danny G. and Danny B. now just to differentiate.
No more “Danny” at LiC. Have to get more specific.
Danny G., I’m enormously envious of you. I love BRIGITTE and I’d kill to see CONTEMPT on screen. You lucky duck. I have, however, seen BREATHLESS.
I’m surprised that you picked Chihuahua for the GETAFILM league, Craig. Considering that you’re a cat person.
We’ve had THE DUCHESS for weeks on end. You told me to go, Monsieur Kennedy.
I imagine I will….
aggg…my comment got swallowed. Friggin’ server…
Anyway, Michael W and Danny B are two interesting new faces at LiC and I’m glad to have them. I hope they stick around.
As for Chihuahua…it was a purely economic decision based on my belief it would make more than it cost me to buy it.
And yeah, I think you should check out the Duchess. I don’t think it will be an Atonement level knock out for you (though the other Atonement fan Sam Juliano liked it quite a bit), but I think the cast alone is worth at least a matinee price all by themselves.
Miranda…I’m still not seeing my comments pop up on your site…any idea what’s going on?
Shrugs. I guess it just would have been cool reviewing 3 movies opening this weekend in the US ahead of the curve for once, but I shall settle for 2.
I most definitely have been holding out on Craig, but my GLOWING HGL review shall be up sometime tonight. Absolutely loved that movie with almost every fibre of my being.
Just joined the moguls, Daniel. We’ll see if I’m any better at making fantasy money than I am at real money. Chances are, I’ll be on fantasy food stamps by year’s end.
Danny B., I don’t suppose Arkansas is too convenient for you, but here we have the Billy Graham doc in spades. Religulous, of course, is no where to be found (wonder if our Sen. Mark Pryor had anything to do with that?).
Somehow, I think I’m not going to be catching Billy: The Early Years this weekend, despite its availability.
We will have the four widest releases. Not too excited about any of them. I want City of Ember to be good, but I’m wary of the lack of early reviews and will wait to see how they turn out. The Bill Murray campaign-style promo made me laugh, though.
Would have to drive 80 minutes to see The Duchess, and I’m just not excited enough about it to spend the time and gas money, though I do want to see it.
Daniel, don’t feel bad. You’re way ahead of me just planning to attend those Godard screenings. I’m green to most of European cinema in the 60’s. I keep meaning to dive head first into all of it…but it’s a might bit overwhelming. Between keeping up on new releases and discovering the works of particular directors/actors I respect and appreciate, I’ve had little time to dig more deeply into the works of such prolific folks as Godard.
If a good retro were to roll into town, I’d definitely take that on.
Joel: Get thee to the Lean retrospective! You have my instructions, haha.
Daniel G.: Get thee to the Godard retrospective! Those are all very much worth seeing!
Daniel B.: You have a splendid road ahead of you with regards to Wong Kar-Wai!
I love abecedarians of great filmmakers, as they allow me to vicariously relive my experiences.
Everyone: Get thee to the Ashes of Time: Redux screenings if you can!
Everyone: Given the rare opportunity to see a film a couple evenings before it officially comes out (the details, I’m sure, are less sexy than everyone else’s similar experiences) I can say that Body of Lies was pretty darned awful. I’d rather have my nonsensical godlike American anti-terrorist capabilities to either be completely ludicrous and kind of fleetingly fun, as in Eagle Eye, or if you’re going to try to make some kind of socio-political statement for which Monaghan and Scott barely exert any effort, trim the absurdities of an entirely rote spy/action movie. What a waste.
Of course, people can simply ignore my advice on the above matters. :-)
I wish Lola Montes was coming to my vicinity.
Finally seeing Appaloosa a little later today…
One word to solve your dilemma and everyone else’s, Joel: offseason. No new releases from Oscar night through a predetermined spring date. I’ll campaign for this until it happens!
Hmm, a fellow Daniel. I feel like Stewie in the FG episode where he meets his unborn brother. Combined we’ll be an unstoppable power at LiC!
Glad you got in under the wire, jb. This is an interesting upcoming lineup so I’m excited to see what will bank and what will tank, not that I ever otherwise pay attention to box office numbers. And just in case any of you dear friends have decided not to play, please think nothing of it. This is a really silly game and no one should feel obliged to jump in if they aren’t dying to do so!
Alexander, I didn’t want to spoil the mood here by saying anything more about BoL earlier, but um, yeah…
I’m all over Ashes of Time and Lola Montes Alexander. Those and Happy Go Lucky are my top 3
I’m literally shuddering as I write this. A co-worker of mine just came up to me and asked if I like M. Night movies. She knows I’m a movie guy, just doesn’t know to what sick extent.
Laughingly, I said no. Something didn’t seem right with her reaction. I asked her if she had just seen The Happening, and she burst into unbridled, enthusiastic praise. I was speechless for about a minute before diplomatically explaining to her that she was talking about what has roundly been considered the worst movie of the year - number one with a bullet. She couldn’t believe it, said she loves all of his movies because they have a message.
At this point you really have to be careful how you act, so I just bit my tongue.
Then she closed our conversation by tossing in “10,000 BC is my favorite movie the year. I seriously watch it like every day.”
Hey, I think I’ve worked with her, too! Actually, change the genders, and that’s my first husband. He thought Battlefield Earth should have won the Oscar. “Good-ass acting and it really makes you think!” I believe was his quote.
I cringe in sympathy, Daniel. These people, they’re everywhere. They look like us and work with us, but they are so not us.
Wow, Daniel, you work with Sarah Palin?
hahaha JB, was that your grounds for divorce?
I know some smart people who have horrible taste in movies. The truth is, most people just don’t take them that seriously. I just try to avoid conversations about movies like 300 because there’s nothing to be gained from them. I just smile and wave.
Those last lines of yours almost sound like they’re from a Shyamalan movie, jb…
Who knows what movies she see, joel. Who knows what movies ANYbody sees in Alaska.
Does anybody know what’s happening in NY? I’m looking for someone to explain to me like a two year old if I should be worried that the stock market has basically crashed. I don’t own stock in any company, so what does this mean for me?
If you don’t own stock or mutual funds or if you plan on hanging on to the ones you have for several years, technically the daily ups and downs of the market don’t mean a damn thing.
If you plan on retiring in the next couple of years and all your money is in the stock market, you’re not very smart and you should just send me all your money.
In the big picture though, we have to ask WHY the market is dropping despite every attempt by the government to stop it. Is it just fear and emotion or are there really problems with our economic fundamentals that will end up biting all of us on the ass?
My limited short term take is that as long as I keep my job (seems pretty solid for now) and inflation doesn’t go crazy, I’ll be ok.
Does that come close to answering your question?
Also, I’m not a financial expert nor do I play one on TV.
Is it a crash, a series of crashes, or just a major correction? I’m missing my Wall St to Main St translation guide.
At the very least, probably means the Democrats will sweep the elections.
until it bottoms out, I think it’s one big crash
“Investments?” “Stocks?”
What are they?
Wow, Daniel, it sounds like if your co-worker is at all representative, if you play your cards right you could be ruling your company with an iron fist very soon.
I like how Jeff takes the glass-is-half-full approach
Jennybee– don’t worry; you’re really not missing anything as far as RELIGULOUS is concerned. While–I hope–intended to be slightly hyperbolic, Maher’s argument is still pretty cartoonish. The movie is funny during Maher’s interaction with his most ludicrous subjects, but the central argument is bogus. And I say that as a purely agnostic individual who couldn’t be more careless about the guy tearing religion to shreds, even if I’m politically conservative (shh… I guess that’s forbidden around LiC, but I spend most of my time at a university so I’m used to it).
Joel– not sure Sarah Palin would identify with the global-warming message in THE HAPPENING, but I’m sure she has her own mood-ring that might metaphorically come as a great emotional help if the world was ending.
Alexander– good to know I’m not the only one who thought EAGLE EYE was smarter than BODY OF LIES; we seem to be in the vast minority. Nonetheless, that the movie is barely-rotten on RT is something of a testament to its mediocrity given that so many critics would do anything they could to write a good review for Scott.
And for the AFI-Festers, just got back from the press screening of IT’S A GOOD DAY TO BE BLACK AND SEXY and despite the Sundance-buzz and Magnolia-acquisition, the thing seems Showtime-bound. Skip it.
Danny, don’t you know Sarah doesn’t believe nature is behind Global Warming? Al Gore made up Global Warming with the liberal media. It’s a man-made phenomanomism, ya know.
So you see, in The Happening, nature isn’t killing mankind. It’s the liberals, led by Al Gore. And Barack Obama. Cause Obama is secretly a terrorist, and he’s turned the plants against us. With his insider ways. He’s inside the plants, he’s such an insider. That’s right, the terrorist plants are Barack Obama. And he’s rearing his ugly head over our land masses with the plants and his liberalist ways and ya know, that’s something we need to stop because it must be stopped, his head-rearing and the plants, ya know.
If only there were a maverick with a maverick team that could stop the plants. The Obama liberalist plants. Darn those plants.
Man, I would actually have paid to see that movie… it’s really too bad Shyamalan’s “meditation” on environmental crisis didn’t include a pea-plant with an animated Obama head on it screaming at the survivalist child-murderer. Damn that guy for clinging to religion and guns.
Scratch that… sounds a little like MEET DAVE for some reason.
Maybe Reverend Wright could’ve played the evil grass that attacks hoards of people. But remember: if there’s only a small group of you, you’ll be safe from any mention of eugenics. It’s the big groups that the grass doesn’t like.
Yes, Daniel B., I enjoyed Eagle Eye fairly well. Body of Lies should have had the word “Dead” before the rest of the title, because it was truly mephitic.
2004 was my first chance to ever vote, and I proudly wrote in the wonderful ticket of Jefferson-Madison. This year, perhaps Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck would be more appropriate.
Back to movies: Daniel G., we have all been there (I suspect). Well, not with The Happening, thank God, but with other movies of questionable merit. However, I always attempt to err on the side of tolerance and communication. In situations such as the one you describe, I would usually suggest the lady in question (a 1940 movie directed by Charles Vidor and starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford, six years before Gilda, which saw the three reunited) see Day of the Triffids and a bunch of old Twilight Zone episodes (the original Rod Serling series). Or you could just throw up your hands and not cast pearls before swine, speaking figuratively of course.
I’m glad to hear you’re all over Lola Montes and Ashes of Time, Craig. As has been established countless times, you da man!
To Daniel G.’s question…
It is a bear market at this time, and that is an understatement. The major trend and supertrend cycles are down. Rallies will periodically occur–however, a rally from Dow 8000 or 8500 to 9500 or 9700 would merely manufacture a great selling opportunity. At this juncture, any hypothetical rally will only invite another hypothetical selling occurrence (a kind of non-commensal self-producing and -sustaining cycle).
The Dow-Jones Industrials yield approximately 3.77% (dividend yield), which is considerably below the historic mean: the U.S. is undeniably entering a painful slow-growth environment. Dividend growth will crawl, and be quite low–perhaps even negative–as some firms run into deficits. Consequently, yields will continually increase, going higher so that stocks can return a solidly decent return for the risk involved.
A 3.77% yield is very low. Historically, a 5% or 6% dividend yield on the Dow is not the least bit atypical. A yield of, say, 5% or 6% equate to a healthy Dow Industrial Average of somewhere in the ballpark of 5300-6400, significantly lower than the 8500.
In the long-term, the current crisis perpetuated by the federal government will involve a dramatic shorning of wealth for the American middle class. The preposterous level of debt of the American government, consumers and corporations is so vast it is truly impossible to pay back. The paramount avenue to be utilized will be fiat currency devaluation. The aggregate wealth of the middle class is today substantial, their actual but political options are laughably limited (McCain and Obama seem truly delusional and/or wholly unknowledgeable about much of anything relating to this mess–Republicrats, Democans, the majority of each side is abed with the Wall Street and banking power structure, any chance of genuine “reform” is kind of a joke). Middle class wealth will have to be reduced: currency devaluation is the preferred method, but some form of heavy taxation will be introduced, well after the election, of course. Meanwhile, 401k’s are being ravaged.
Temporarily, a widespread asset deflation and currency crisis will rock the economy, papered over (no pun intended) by drastic inflationary measures. Real estate values will drop to below 1998 levels in inflation-adjusted terms, since bubbles naturally conclude below where they began.
Fascinatingly, Arthur Burns, who was head of the Federal Reserve under Nixon, later told a local reporter in West Germany (where he served as ambassador for Reagan from 1981 to 1985), when asked, essentially, “How could you do what you did?” (i.e., utilize such obviously inflationary measures from his Fed chairmanship from 1970 to 1978) “Didn’t you know better, as an economist?” I believe the reporter asked Burns. Burns replied that the Fed chairman must do what the president wants–otherwise the institution would “lose its independence.” Truly Orwellian.
Extraordinary post there Alexander, but very scary and deeply depressing. Orwellian indeed.
Yikes.
Im glad I didn’t read that before going to sleep Alexander
It ain’t a pretty picture.
True banking and market reform can’t occur without proper regulation, but real regulation and reform from Congress likely won’t occur until we get lobbyists and special interests out of Washington and enact real campaign finance reform.
Congress has been systematically gutting the Depression-era regulation that kept the economy on a fairly consistent path for decades. Because of the energy crisis and the dismal effects of the Vietnam War, the Carter administration began deregulation but it increased exponentially during the Reagan administration, with the final nails put into the coffin during the Clinton administration, specifically Clinton’s second term.
All of this has been aggravated by the current administration, wholly bent on massive deficit spending and encouraging the populace to increase their personal credit burden with no concern for the long-term effects. Telling Americans to buy more to help the economy is like telling an alcoholic to drink more so that they can forget they’re an alcoholic.
As a nation, we’ve been happily digging this hole for a long time. It may take a while to construct a ladder tall enough to see the surface again, let alone get the country up the ladder and back to the light.
To temporarily put this depression aside (and Joel as usual provided us with another excellent and eloquent wake-up call), I go back to the subject of this thread, and in retrospect would like to exprss the sense of urgency that must be afforded the remastered print of LOLA MONTES. This Max Ophuls masterpiece, which is one of the greatest films of all times, deserves a trip to the cinema during it’s present run which launched today. It leaves all the other films combined in the dust, and here is the way it was meant to be seen.
I know Alexander has pointed this out previously and Craig happily posed it in the text of the thread.
Ten points to Alexander for use of the word “mephitic” and another ten for his lucid and disturbing analysis of the financial crisis.
But minus six points for being so much smarter than me, not only about film, but apparently about economics, too.
I tell you, that man ain’t natural. ; )
Economy Shmeconomy!
“I met her in a club down in old Soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca-cola,
C-o-l-a, Cola.
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance.
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said Lola,
L-o-l-a, Lola. Lo-lo-lo-lo Lola (Montes).”
I believe I’ve hinted at this before, but Sam, I really think you’re devaluing the word ‘eloquent’ through overuse. Not to knock at Joel who knows what he’s writing about, but it becomes like the boy crying wolf.
Finally saw Rachel and I thought it was actually better than the reviews. My favorite fiction film of the year so far.
I thought the crisis was fascinating to watch, especially since it didn’t look like I or anyone around me would be affected… but then my sister, who put all her savings with an Icelandic bank, could lose all of it. It seems now that the government will vouch for it after all, but still.
Still, some of the things are just too crazy to be really scary, because they seem to unreal. Like the fact that a country (that would be Iceland) is basically bankrupt. Or that the national debt in the U.S. is now 10^13 dollars.
OK Jeff, I will make you a firm promise to use either “facund” or “articulate” in my next post, whether I taut Joel, Alexander, Craig or even you.
Craig that was a glorious incantation of the Kinks there!!! Right on!!!
K. Bowen: I will be seeing RACHEL at 7:00 P. M. tonite. Along with Craig’s favorable appraisal, yours intensifies th eexcitement.
and besides, isn’t “eloquence” a pre-requisite to posting at this site?
Craig sent me a rule book months ago (titled, “Being Eloquent at LIC”) stressing that anyone who fails to be consistantly eloquent will have their ass kicked off the site. My using the word for the writing of others here is a wise investment for the prospects of their future as bloggers.
Hahahah Sam, I’ve never said any such thing.
Both Craig and K. Bowen are right on with RACHEL GETTING MARRIED.
Terrific, terrific film!