The Watercooler: The New ‘New World’
There isn’t much to speak of in this vacation edition of the LiC Watercooler, but I did catch up with the new extended cut of Terrence Malick’s The New World on Blu-ray. Clocking in at 37 minutes longer than the previous cut, in some ways it feels like a different movie. It’s more literal and direct and concrete than the original at the expense of a little bit of the mystery. It’s still a great movie that I like more and more every time I see it and it looks fantastic on Blu-ray, but I think I might like the shorter version a bit better.
In other news, be sure to check out Jennifer “Jennybee” Boulden’s terrific guest review of That Evening Sun over at Awards Daily. Comments she’s made about the movie in the past have piqued our interest and we look forward to checking it out for ourselves in early October.
Filed under: Watercooler
Awwwwww, thanks for the plug, Craig! I’m a big fan of that film; it’s really stayed with me.
Thanks to being laid up with the flu this weekend—so passé, I know—I managed to see six films that were new to me, five of which were good enough to compensate for how bad the sixth one was, if it even counts as a film (it doesn’t).
First, watched My Winnipeg. I’d never seen a Guy Madden film. Now I have. It takes a while to get into his weird rhythms and what he’s doing, but ultimately the poetry of the language drew me in. That and the sporadic bits of humor and sometimes profound insight. It’s not a film that 95% of people would appreciate, and yet I can see why it has a 95% rating at RottenTomatoes. It certainly was interesting, and did what the best art does, made me think about life askew for a while, from a new direction. It isn’t the direction I would have chosen for my own work, but that’s a good thing. It’s a richer life when we experience such diversity of artistic vision. If everyone interpreted life the same way, there’d be no reason for to create art.
The next morning started off with Mildred Pierce. Had never seen it or read the book. It was great. My husband hadn’t wanted to watch it with me because he thought it was a melodramatic feminine weepie, and thus made other plans. He regretted it when he saw it was a Curtiz film and got a gander at the production values. Anyway, Crawford was great in it. I can’t begrudge her the win. And I certainly understand why Kate Winslet would want the part. There were a few parts in it that really didn’t hold up well—SPOILER—the death of a child gets glossed over like a fender bender??—END SPOILER. Overall, though? Great stuff.
Next was Joan Crawford in the mode I was more used to her in, as the scrupleless other woman in The Women. This one was a teeny bit disappointing to me. Much to admire about it. I suspect it was partly my mood and reasons unrelated to the film’s actual merits. It was pretty enteraining. A little shrill with all the women and by the end of it I would have given up seeing chick flicks for a year if I could have seen just one glimpse of a man. It was interesting seeing Rosalind Russell in her first comedic role and Norma Shearer’s line about growing nails—Jungle Red—got a big laugh from me.
Saturday night we watched The Limey. I’ve never seen a Soderbergh I didn’t like, and this one pleased me as much as I expected. Lots of great lines.
Looking on the DVR for something genre, I ended up appeasing the husband by agreeing to give the SciFi Channel Original Movie (first red flag) Riverworld a try. He’d enjoyed the books, was curious about the adaptation. We had low expectations, and the film succeeded in failing to achieve them in almost any respect. Kinda fun to watch something so sucky.
Sunday morning we tried to watch Pather Panchali, but our DVD wouldn’t play, so we ended up watching When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. Terrific Japanese film, stunning. As far as great stories about women trapped in prostitution-related professions go, it’s probably my favorite. Engaging, emotionally true, and socially astute. Really awesome. I think it was my favorite of the bunch.
I had one of the best movie weeks quality-wise of the year, with both a rare five-star film and a four-and-a-half star documentary in the mix. I saw:
Bright Star ***** (Sunday afternoon; Tenafly Multiplex)
Coco Avant Chanel *** 1/2 (Saturday night; Chelsea Cinemas)
In Search of Beethoven **** 1/2 (Friday night; Cinema Village)
On Wednesday I escorted the entire family to see the beloved classic The Wizard of Oz (1939) at a local multiplex, and while we were all thrilled to see the film on a big screen we were less than satisfied with the pedestrian HD presentation. I wrote a short post on the experience on Thursday morning.
Jane Campion’s Bright Star was a sumptuous, intelligently written and acted period piece about a brief love affair between John Keats and Fanny Brawne, before his untimely death at the extremely young age of 25 of tuberculosis. The film is passionate, sensory and poetic, the latter quality befitting the life of the English language’s second-greatest poet ever behind Shakespeare.
The team that made the very fine In Search of Mozart in 2007, have made an even better film on Beethoven, with th esimilarly titled In Search of Beethoven. Piecing together talking heads, paintings, re-enactments, letters, diaries, and most of all a generous sampling of some of Western music’s most sublime musical compositions, this is a Beethoven lover’s dream, but even for the novice an educational and engrossing doc that neither insults it’s viewers nor bogs them down in off-putting musical technicalities.
Ace film composer Alexander Desplat had a field day once again with his ravishing score for Coco Avant Chanel, a film that could have been deeper, but is still a reasonably solid piece of entertainment thanks to Desplat, Audrey Tautou and some lovely costumes and cinematography. Some of the material here seems rather simplified. Get that Desplat score CD!
In the theatre, caught Jennifer’s Body, which is awful, and The Informant!, which plays like one of Soderbergh’s most personal movies. (I liked it.)
On DVD, I caught Sugar, which I liked, but why do all of these neo-neoreal movies about the white man screwing everyone over have to be so deadly earnest and good for you? I’m waiting for a prankster to get a hold of this genre.
On the old movie front, I rewatched The Hustler, Lang’s Man Hunt for the first time (largely loved it), and the Roy Scheider/Ann Margaret/Elmore Leonard 52 Pick-Up, which is kinda blah.
Nothing much to report as I saw no new movies either this weekend but I’m exceptionally glad to hear that Sam enjoyed Bright Star so much, Chuck enjoyed The Informant!, and Jenny Bee enjoyed The Limey (one of my favorite films). I still need to see much of Joan Crawford’s work and Mildred Pierce is one I’m saving for the “right weekend.”
I was equally tantalized by Malick’s extended cut of The New World but also a little bit disappointed in that the film feels somewhat more straight-forward to me in this iteration and less nebulous. I have to admit though that Malick’s new edit did leave me with the strongest emotional reaction to the film I’ve had in four viewings, but I’m not sure if that was the edit itself or my growing appreciation for this film’s charms. Either way, it left me very anxious to see The Tree of Life (and wondering if The Thin Red Line will ever get the Blu-ray treatment it so richly deserves).
I don’t have much to offer other than I caught the last 30 minutes of Carrie over the weekend (I’m addicted to that film) and my first viewing of The New World — a sumptuously presented film that nevertheless hits the marks and had me mesmerized. I can only imagine what the Blu Ray extended version might be.
Jenny — Mildred Pierce is one of the best “gay” films of all time. I mean, Joan Crawford, film noir all rolled up into one melodramatic cheese ball!
“I’m exceptionally glad to hear that Sam enjoyed Bright Star so much,”
Joel, thank you! You did love the film yourself, no?
Jenny’s review at Awards Daily is simply one of the greatest I’ve seen posted on line. It’s a descriptive stunner!
Great to hear about the blu-ray appearance of THE NEW WORLD. Just purchased a new HD 50 inch plasma (LG) over the weekend, so a blu-ray player is now finally imminent.
Bright Star and Flame & Citron both opened here and I’m really looking forward to seeing each, Sam, so I’m just glad to hear some more positive reports for either.
I’m delighted to see the love for “Bright Star,” Sam! I also loved it. I won’t lie, it took me a while to digest it, but I just finished writing about it, and the more I did, the more I liked the finish product. It’s a different type of film, but Campion succeeds admirably. I would love to see it get some accolades, if anything because of the moxy it took to make a film about a poet. Campion remains one of the best filmmakers working today.
I saw “World’s Greatest Dad” a few days ago and wasn’t terribly impressed although I’ll admit I laughed at certain bits. Still, the hype was a bit undeserved, methinks.
Other than that, I’ve been enjoying my “Mad Men” and now “Dexter.” I can’t wait till the Fall films start hitting the theaters so I can start writing in earnest again.
Nice review, JB. It’s great to see that HH is still trucking. Maybe they’ll finally give him that Oscar. Not that awards mean all that much, but I’m sure he’d appreciate the acknowledgement. It would be a perfect career-capper.
I love Maddin. You got my hopes up that the film might be available on Netflix, but no such luck.
I saw The New World at the Castro last spring, which was great. But I’d never seen it before, so I’m not sure which cut it was.
And I second the enthusiasm for the Naruse. Wish more of his stuff was available.
No new movies over the weekend but we watched Christine Edzard’s Little Dorrit (1988) Parts I & II on DVD – me for the first time since its release. Like no other Dickens’ adaptation ever done. We could enjoy both the strong presence of the source material and its post-modern exploration and presentation. Covering essentially the same events from two different main character perspectives (Arthur Clennam’s in the first part followed by Little Dorrit’s in the second) was an inspired choice (and subtly underscores gender and character differences). The pay-off is greatest in part II when all the pieces are fitted together with the addition of the story’s prologue and ending. So many terrific performances – Derek Jacobi, Max Wall, Joan Greenwood, and Sarah Pickering who never appeared in anything again. But the most memorable was one of Alec Guinness’ late career best.
Also watched Johnny To’s excellent Election parts I and II. The first part sets the plate nicely but the second particularly satisfies. Much of the enjoyment of quality films from Asia is the unique cultural mores and sensibility they reveal in even the most familiar of genres.
I’ve ordered The New World on blu ray. It’s the kind of film that the format was made for. I’m also impatient for a blu ray edition of The Thin Red Line – one of my all time favorite films.
Crikey Sam, you’re in for a treat now that you’re gearing yourself for the upgrade in home theater. At its best with familiar films it can be like seeing an old master painting vividly emerge from under layers of vanish. But take care to read reviews about transfer quality before buying – all films look better in the format but some far less than others because of the lack of remastering or particularly degraded source material.
I’ll add my voice to those who have praised Mildred Pierce. And I’m so pleased that Sam and Dorothy loved Bright Star.
Ooops — confession — I was Harriet Tubman in a previous incarnation.
Pierre, you’re so very naughty….
I missed seeing INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS again in the theatre last week because the bloody cineplex didn’t advertise the fact that they had two preview screenings that particular night – which meant, of course, that IB and another film skipped evening showings when I was fhere.
So I opted for THE INFORMANT! instead, which I enjoyed a great deal.
No matter. I’ll get my IB fix satisfied before the weekend is done. My obsession hasn’t faded yet. The bloom is stil on the rose.
Also went to a one time screening of the original Keaton/Nicholson/Basinger BATMAN on Friday evening.
It was fabulous…
Nothing beats seeing a movie that you’ve adored your entire life in the cinema. Especially one that you haven’t viewed on the big screen since you were a kid.
Totally magical. I’ll treasure that experience always.
Hot night. As in scorching…
jennybee’s guest review is indeed terrific and deserves the promotion.
I’m late this week, but I did see a couple of movies over the weekend and before the weekend.
During the month of September TCM was celebrating Claude Rains every Wednesday. Last Wednesday they showed all movies that he did with Errol Flynn: The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk and The Prince and the Pauper, all well-made, really fun movies, especially the first two.
On Friday night I saw Coco Avant Chanel which I thought was good not great. Audrey Tautou was very good though and the story was interesting, if a little slow. Saw a bunch of trailers before it, all which looked lame with the exception of An Education. And Whip-It looks like it could be great fun. I don’t mind Ellen Page and I’m rooting for Drew Barrymore.
On Saturday I watched Jean Renoir’s powerful La Bete Humaine on DVD. I have La Règle du Jeu at home too, but didn’t get around to it yet. This weekend. :)
I’m late to this particular party on account of my little vacation, but I’m happy to see you’ve all been having a grand movie time.
I’m going to have to award the Watercooler prize to everyone this week. There’s a lot of fabulous viewing going on out there in all kinds of films.
I second Sam and Dorothy’s love of Bright Star and I recommend Dorothy’s review. As I already said to her, it’s such a delicately poetic film it’s hard to articulate feelings about it (if feelings were easy, there wouldn’t be poetry, would there?) but DP did an especially good job of pinning it down.
This isn’t a movie that will appeal to everyone….it’s awfully delicate and it’s mockable-y earnest if you want to be cynical about it, but if you’re a sap like I am, you just might fall for it. It looks lovely as hell and the cast, particularly Abbie Cornish are excellent.
Sam I’m also glad to see you enjoyed Coco Before Chanel. That film is getting a bum rap by critics if you ask me. It’s not the film of the year, but it’s lovely and quite subtle. You’re right about Desplat’s score too. The dude is just on a roll.
Alison I see you weren’t quite so hot on Coco and I kind of get that. I had to warm up to it after the fact. It seems very wispy and it ends before her story starts to really get fascinating. Still, I ended up falling for it.
Jennybee, I’m looking forward to Evening Sun and I owe it to you for calling it to my attention. I wasn’t paying attention when it won awards at SXSW and it was only you talking about it that put it on my radar. Can’t wait to check it out.
I love Mildred Pierce the movie, but as I know you’re a reader I have to recommend you seek out the novel. It lacks the star power of Joan Crawford, but it’s a richer experience. Great stuff. Plus it ends with one of my favorite lines: “Let’s get stinko.”
Miranda, even better than seeing a beloved movie on the big screen is rewatching a beloved movie after many years and finding that it still holds up.
Pierriet Tubman: Did the last 30 of Carrie remind you of the finale of any movies you’ve seen in theaters lately…?
Sartre, I predict the wife will have to pull you bodily off the television set after you pop in New World on blu-ray.
Like Joel, I’m not sure whether I care for this new version, but I think it might just be because I’m used to the old version (I saw the slightly longer version that premiered in LA on Christmas and then caught up to whatever version originally came out on DVD). As I’ve said elsewhere, that first experience was one of the most intense moviegoing experiences I’ve ever had. No subsequent viewing has recaptured that same magic, though in each case it reminded me of it and put me back there.
That’s another film that got the bum’s rush from critics when it first came out.
Chuck, Sugar to a point was marred for me for exactly the reasons you say: these kinds of movies are feeling sort of samey. I’d even extend it further to include other minimalist low budget indies like Ballast and Wendy & Lucy. The stark earnestness is killing me. Sugar was more vibrant, but still.
Craig, I thought Coco was good just not great.
I hope you enjoyed your vacation. :D