Watercooler: The Not That Bad Lieutenant
While the rest of the world lined up for New Moon (to the tune of $140 million in the US and $118 million worldwide), I headed over to the historic Chinese Theater in Hollywood to watch Nicolas Cage chew the scenery in Werner Herzog’s The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. It was a solid B picture with some terrific highlights, but I was a little disappointed at how conventional it all was. Instead of really flying off the rails like he’s capable of (cockroach anyone?), Cage was pretty tame most of the time.
Nevertheless, the movie was enjoyable and it has all the markings of a cult favorite. The amusing irony of it all is that Cage’s character is a decent person motivated by good intentions who ends up doing increasingly bad things to get himself out of a series of unfortunate situations. Neither Cage nor Herzog are playing this with a straight face. They’re clearly having fun and the audience is in on the joke. I guess I just had it in my mind that it would be more over the top.
In other news, James Cameron was featured in a 60 Minutes puff piece tonight to help push Dances with Thundercats. There was some talk about the future of 3D, a few glimpses behind the scenes of filming and Morley Safer hit all of Cameron’s career beats, but there was really nothing new to carry away from it. A big chunk of the 60 Minutes audience probably doesn’t even know what Avatar is and this might have been their first introduction with the film only a few weeks away. Are enough aware of it and interested now to make it a hit?
That’s all I’ve got this weekend. Now it’s your turn.
Filed under: Watercooler
On Friday night I attended a wedding of a young female teaching colleague, but rallied to pack six movies on Saturday and Sunday, half of which were seen with the entire family and one on this past Monday for a total of seven:
The Sun (Sokurov) **** 1/2 Sunday 1:00 P.M. – Film Forum
Broken Embraces (Almodovar) **** Sunday 10:30 A.M. – Landmark Cinemas
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call (Herzog) **** 1/2 Saturday night – Chelsea Cinemas
Twilight: New Moon (Weitz) * Saturday afternoon – Edgewater Multiplex
The Blind Side (Hancock) ** Saturday afternoon – Edgewater Multiplex
Planet 51 (Blanco) * Sunday evening – Edgewater Multiplex
Pirate Radio (Curtis) *** 1/2 Monday evening – Edgewater Multiplex
Sokurov’s claustrophobic, meticulously observed study of Emperor Hirohito during the closing moments of World War II, The Sun humanizes the monarch, but neither passes judgement on him nor shows him as undeserving of his fate. The central performance of Issy Ogata is brilliant, and the film, which opened in 2005 at the New York Film Festival, just now received a USA theatrical release. The Russian helmer’s spare, brooding, almost surrealistic style shows some stunning prosaic segments of the devastation of war.
Almodovar’s Broken Embraces isn’t one of the great director’s best movies, but it’s nonetheless a passionate, tragic and satiric film that despite some narrative contrivances and convolutions, still manages some fascinating characters and some superlative individual scenes that recall the most mature Almodovar. Cruz again leaves a strong impression.
Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call makes excellent use of the Katrina-ravaged environs of New Orleans, and some surrealistic touches involving iguanas is wed to a mesmerizing noirish tale that provides Nicholas cage to deliver his best performances in years as a drug-addicted corrupt cop. The film recalls Aguire the Wrath of God.
The new installment of the “Twilight Saga,” New Moon is tedious, vapid, and inane and those might be its better points. My daughter 13 year-old Melanie, however, has been waiting for this for a long time and she and the other kids were not at all disappointed. Lucille thinks I’m being too harsh, but I just haven’t the patience for this.
Sandra Bullock is as good as she’s ever been in The Blind Side, but that’s not really saying all that much. The film is formulaic and it plays shamelessly for the big emotional moments. The film does contain some intermittant humor too, but a day later it’s completely forgotten.
Planet 51 is trite, inert and derivative, and after just a few minutes it’s clear it’s low-grade stuff.
Pirate Radio wasn’t always fun to watch, but it’s still hard to resist and the music of course is simply to die for.
I was hoping to see John Woo’s Red Cliff, but I couldn’t do any better than I did, so perhaps during the week.
I’m glad you enjoyed Broken Embraces, Sam. I thought it was a lot of fun and filled with winks to cineastes without detracting from the story. There was a mix of stylistic vibes but the ones I enjoyed the most evoked Hitchcock. I’m also encouraged by both your and Craig’s responses to BL.
Finally saw Inland Empire which I thought was a work of genius. How many artists could make such an abstract work of surrealism so effective? Like dreams it possessed an emotional subtext that made accepting its crazy turns and progression (filled with his recognizable icongraphy and themes) easy and engaging. And what an amazing performance by Laura Dern. Now in his 60s, Lynch is just as avant-garde as he always has been.
Also enjoyed Shotgun Stories and Paris. The former established a real sense of place and culture (its sights, sounds, rhythms, social milieu), and with neither too much or too little ambition it told what seemed a truthful story about the long unfolding consequences of past wrongs and trauma. Paris was well made and filled with some stunning moments and fine performances but in an odd way it seemed formulaic and a little too self-conscious in its efforts to connect its human stories of life, death, and stuff inbetween to the broader character of the great city itself.
I’m amused, Sam, that after your weekend viewing you can discuss seeing a film that recalls Aguirre the Wrath of God in one sentence and New Moon in the next. :)
Thought we were going to do a short day trip to see movies that don’t play here, but lost the motivation and just stayed in. Friday night I watched The Right Stuff for the first time. Thought it was pretty great, definitely a product of its era. I get into those plane-flying & space shuttle-launching kind of films. Didn’t disappoint.
Revisited Raising Arizona for the whoknowshowmanyth time Saturday night. Still awesome. Also watched the first episode of The Wire. Looks promising.
Yesterday morning we started to watch Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev then decided to break in the middle (it’s 205 minutes) and never managed to get back to it. I’m expecting we will soon. It’s beautifully shot but I’m finding it emotionally distancing so far. The slow pacing does not bother me. I am not as interested in theological discourse in film as some are (side effect of being a preacher’s kid), so I’m wondering how the thing will work for me as a whole.
Yes sartre, I quite agree that INLAND EMPIRE is a work of staggering genius. That monologue by Laura Dern, by the way, was one of the most terrifying segm,ents in all of contemporary cinema, methinks.
And yes, I definitely loved the Almodovar, even if I didn’t consider it among his very best films (TALK TO HER is my #1 favorite of his). Still a decent Almodovar is better than most director’s best films.
The Herzog film is really resonating with me two days later. I think it’s a Top Ten finisher at this point, and Cage has never been better.
Jenny, get back to RUBLEV. I know in the end you will love it exceedingly. It’s one of cinema’s great masterpieces.
Eagerly awaiting this coming weekend when I will have some films I’m actually excited to go see. Stayed out of a theater this weekend. I did see Bruno, which started off well enough and then became various levels of unendurable. Most of the best parts were in the trailer and the rest was a slog to sit through.
Also revisited Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which I still enjoy immensely.
Late last week I watched Whatever Works, which was very uneven and at times frustrating but still managed to end enjoyably. It worked, and in a way it exemplified it’s own mantra: Whatever works indeed.
Not willing to rely on others’ impressions of Precious, I saw it on Sunday. Though impressed by many aspects of the film, I feel it needs some editing. At times I felt like I was watching an after-school special. Lee Daniels did manage, however, to get some very good performances from the cast, and Gabourey Sidibe is a revelation.
Agreed completely Pierre. There was also some superfiliciality in those over-the-top histrionics. The acting as opposed to the characters, was compelling for sure.
The superficiality you mention, Sam, didn’t bother me as much as the occasional heavy-handedness. I’m not talking about the grim subject matter or mean-spiritedness of the Mon’ique character, for example. I’m suggesting that Lee Daniels sometimes doesn’t seem to know when to stop, doesn’t have the judgment to realize when enough is enough — whatever it is.
I would agree, Pierre, that a couple of scenes ran overly long, most notably the final one in the caseworker’s office. But on balance I’m glad that an unflinching look at poverty is getting this much attention, even I have reservations about its cultural implications and many of the stereotypes it may reinforce. In other words, I wouldn’t really recommend anybody see it who is not predisposed to have some empathy its characters. Otherwise it will likely a negative effect.
Precious was the only theater screening I made this weekend, leaving me pretty far behind now as the Oscar race heats up and the Thanksgiving movies arrive. I’d like to see The Messenger but am not sure when I’ll get a shot at it.
And I continue to ignore all hype, negative and positive, for Avatar. If I can keep my ears and eyes closed successfully for another 3 weeks, I’ll be thrilled to walk into the theater.
Saw IL DIVO and AN EDUCATION this weekend. Disliked the former, was indifferent to the latter.
IL DIVO isn’t about Il Divo, it’s about that director wanting to be Martin Scorsese (how many minutes of the movies are spent showily panning over character names?).
AN EDUCATION is released about once a year, its always bogus, and people always applaud it. Adults are resented for being self-serving while the equally self-serving youths at the center are celebrated. The cop out ending didn’t disappointed me because I had already braced myself for it. Enjoyed several of the performers though.
“AN EDUCATION is released about once a year, its always bogus, and people always applaud it. ”
hahahaha Chuck! Good one!!! Can’t say you are wrong there. But the performances are indeed first-rate.
But IL DIVO is a heck of a lot better than GOMORRAH by any barometer of measurement.
I thought An Education a mixed bag – some things done very well and others very poorly (or at least overly familiar/cliched). But almost from the moment it ended what stayed with me was the latter. Now I feel a slight irritation at its memory.
Sam, I know Gomorra is not so loved in these parts but I thought it outstanding. Regardless of what one feels about its success or failure shouldn’t it be judged on its own merits rather than dismissed by way of comparison to another Italian film that features organised crime?
I quite agree sartre. I was just trying to illustrate the disparity between two critically-praised films, one which I loved and the other which I did not love. The point of comparison was basically to tell Chuck that I took the minority position too.
Needless to say though, I will still buy the Criterion GOMORRAH, partially to give it another shot and partially because I’m an obsessive collector.
Sam, I preferred Gomorrah to Il Divo, but that’s more indicative of my dislike for Il Divo than my affection for Gomorrah.
Incidentally, here is the link to the dirt-cheap Region 2 DVD of the Russian film I saw this week and praised unreservedly, Alexandre Sokurov’s brilliantly-observed study of Hirohito during the final days of WW2. I just ordered it myself. It’s only 5 and a half pounds, which means maybe $8.00 US money.
It’s a steal, especially since it’s one of the best films of the year.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sun-DVD-Issey-Ogata/dp/B000C05YG8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1259010420&sr=1-1
Fair enough Chuck. I would say that most critics agree with you on that. As I say I’ll see GOMORRAH again on that Criterion DVD soon.
Ha! My Comment #15 above is of course referring to THE SUN.
I am losing it.
I’d have to agree that Gomorrah is better than Il Divo, although I think both have their problems or at least, my lack of enthusiasm. I would have liked to have seen an entire movie just about the “fixer” from Gomorrah (and his new hire) who come up with creative ways to dispose of other people’s problems (a storyline that has become alarmingly real in the last year).
I didn’t care much for the other storylines in the film though, especially the two up-and-comers on the moped. I felt like I’d seen those stories so many times already that they were just overwrought gangster cliches.
“the two up-and-comers on the moped. I felt like I’d seen those stories so many times already that they were just overwrought gangster cliches.”
They worked really well for me. I thought the director presented their story with a degree of lyricism relative to the grimy toned social realism mostly presented. Which seemed effective in underscoring their own perpetual glamorized fantasizing about being American movie gangsters. These types of character may have been seen before but they felt more authentic and less cliched to me. The interview with the director on the blu ray revealed that it is common to find such gangster movie fetishizing among young men in these communities and for the more reckless and hapless to be on a fast track to death. I guess for me, attempting to fashion themselves into movie cliches was the point.
“I guess for me, attempting to fashion themselves into movie cliches was the point.”
Yeah, but between the Sopranos, the Wire, every subsequent knock-off of the Sopranos, and a handful of other gangster films from Europe and South America, I feel as though we’ve seen this before. Or I’ve seen it before. Probably the only part of their story I liked was the end of it, but that didn’t justify the rest of it for me.
I’ve seen and enjoyed all those other shows and films too, all I can say is that the depiction still felt fresh and authentic to me, and well integrated into the overall depiction of what I found a fascinating sociological study. But I can appreciate this was not the case for you.
There was a tremendous amount of hype about Gomorrah in the year before it’s release, sartre. I don’t think that helped, although honestly I may not have seen it were it not for the hype, so maybe it doesn’t matter.
Jesus, Sam. That’s a crapload of movies. I’m skeptical of The Sun because I didn’t care for Alexandra, but you’ve got me curious. A little surprised you loved Bad Lieutenant so much. I liked it, but I wish I loved it more. I really really wanted to.
Sartre, I just rewatched Inland Empire too. It was a transcendent experience the first time I saw it in a theater and I was afraid to revisit it for fear that the magic would be gone. I needn’t have worried. I loved it even more this time through.
JB. Raising Arizona is my sentimental favorite. I won’t say it’s the Coen’s best, but I love it.
Chuck. I fell for An Education the first time, but it didn’t hold up to a second viewing. It set out an interesting problem but then turned away from it in favor of a soap opera and a tidy all-too-easy ending. Mulligan was a charmer but Oscar or no, I think she’s peaked here.
I tended to favor Il Divo in comparison to Gomorrah because it was up for many of the same italian awards but didn’t get a fraction of the hype. In retrospect, it hasn’t stuck with me at all and the latter has even though I still don’t ever want to watch the latter again.
Not having seen Il Divo, I can’t comment on that one. But I thought gomorrah was very good.