Damn, I only have time to watch movies on weekends part 09: hey, I'm majoring in Listology!
Submitted by AJDaGreat on Mon, 08/01/2005 - 07:02
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- 1. March of the Penguins (2005) - Lukeprog's review of Breaking the Waves: "Emily Watson is sooooooooo cute! I'm pretty sure that's what this movie is about. Okay, it's about a whole lot more than that... but Watson's cuteness just overrides everything else for me in this movie." I don't know what this says about me, but I considered writing something similar about this film, only replacing "Emily Watson" with "penguins."
- Before I tell you how much I liked this movie, I want to warn you that this movie isn't particularly innovative or daring. It doesn't take any chances to make itself stand out from other nature documentaries. I guess if you've watched many nature documentaries and always felt that they would be significantly improved if Morgan Freeman had narrated them (and you might be right), you're in luck, but if you're looking for something much more, you'll have to commission Jean-Luc Godard to make a documentary on penguins. But what the film lacks in creativity, it makes up for with sheer charm. It's a movie that goes right to the heart, and it's really hard to dislike such a sweet movie. So yeah, if you are looking for a challenging masterpiece, look elsewhere, but if you'd like to see a great film that is incredibly cute, likeable, and unassuming, have I got a film for you.
- 2. Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) - Picture frame that says "I love you" - check. Teenage girls curious about sexuality - check. Small boy pretending to be someone else on the Internet - check. The stage is set for a quirky film about the sterility of modern communication. But this wonderful film becomes much more than that, and even with its offbeat sense of humor, it finds truth where most movies don't even notice or care. There is a rare moment or two where the quirkiness is too awkward (such as when Male Lead lights his hand on fire early on), but for the most part the movie really understands its characters, from the middle-aged to the teenagers to the young'uns. The film also has moments of inspired weirdness, so really, what's not to love?
- 3. the first half of The Pianist (2002) - What I saw was great. Unfortunately, the DVD I rented was too scratched up to keep watching after about one hour and twenty minutes. The funny thing is I rented this DVD from Penn's library too, only to find it was the Yokelvision version, so I didn't watch it. I think the Fates don't want me to see this movie.
- 4. Friends: Season 8 (2001-2002) - I adamantly refused to buy this season, but when my friend Emmy received it as a gift, and with summer rapidly atrophying my brain, I asked to borrow it. And actually, matters were better than I had remembered. During the 10th season I came up with a theory that Friends seasons tend to come out swinging, with plenty of funny episodes, but tend to get worse as the season progresses, until the finales when they crash and burn. I hated the finales of seasons 8 and 9, and 10 I enjoyed in spite of myself. I must confess I couldn't bear to watch every episode on DVD - I skipped a few that I had already seen, mostly because they dealt with the incredibly lame subplot about Joey's crush on Rachel. And ugh, the last moment of this season has got to be the Worst Cliffhanger Ever. Nonetheless, there is plenty of fun to be had in the early parts of this season. Believe it or not, I had never seen the episode guest-starring Brad Pitt until I saw this DVD. It's a great one, as is the hilarious The One With the Videotape. Ross's neurotic behavior with Mona is hilarious, Phoebe's weird, short-lived relationships with guest stars Sean Penn and Alec Baldwin are very funny, and Chandler and Monica as a married couple are as fun as ever. But I must confess I only watched one episode on the last disc of this season, and it wasn't the crappy clip show, the terrible finale, the decent but forgettable "The One Where Rachel Is Late", or the abysmal "The One With the Cooking Class", where Monica thinks she's a terrible chef because of one man's opinion and is convinced she's good again because of another man's opinion, and where Chandler is reduced to someone who is literally pained when he can't make a joke about the word "duty."
- Oops, almost forgot:
- Phoebe: So tell me about yourself.
- Jim: Alright. I write erotic novels... for children.
- Phoebe: What?
- Jim: (excitedly) They're wildly unpopular.
- 5. Gates of Heaven (1980) - This documentary begins with a whimper instead of a bang, as we hear the mildly interesting story about the chronological beginning of the pet cemetery. Just when we want to see some style, we are treated to, well, talking heads. Here's an idea - how about starting with some of the headstones in the touching montage that comes later in the film, and then going to Floyd McClure? To be fair, let me say that there are moments of brilliance and wonder in this documentary, and I would recommend it. But I was expecting a movie about deceased pets to have more heartfelt moments from the former owners, ya know? Or at least some more interesting stories from the people who ran the cemetery. Instead, we get some scenes about boring logistics of running the cemetery and Dan Harberts talking about how he partied too much in college. In the end, it's interesting, but not as interesting as a movie about pet cemeteries should be. But hey, it's almost worth watching just for Scottie Harberts's wonderful "gates of Heaven" speech.
- 6. Friends: Season 9 (2002-2003) - Okay, this is getting a little embarrassing, but hey, I borrowed both seasons from my friend, and it's too late to back out now from this guilty pleasure. This season still provides some laughs but doesn't follow the pattern of starting strong and ending lousy (if you have no clue what the hell I'm talking about, read review #4). No, this season is just pretty much uneven throughout. The best episode was the 5th one ("The One With Phoebe's Birthday Dinner") on October 31st, but the second best ("The One With the Blind Dates", featuring a hilarious guest performance from Jon Lovitz) didn't come till February 6th; on the other hand, the first two shows are lame, still reeling from the badwill created by the Worst Cliffhanger Ever, and I found myself skipping even more this season than last. I especially fast-forwarded through everything about that jerk Gavin. God, I hate Gavin. I hate his stupid face and his slightly graying hair and the cliche, contrived way he was Rachel's rival at first but then wanted to make out with her. I also skipped as much as possible about Rachel's crush on Joey. Yes, the drama is still unbearable, but even the jokes seem more awkward this time around. The "shark porn" episode was mildly amusing, but the dumb plot was really indicative of a show that had, er, jumped the shark. I think even the guest stars knew the show was becoming lousy by now. The 8th season advertised Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Alec Baldwin, whereas the 9th season gives us has-beens like Jeff Goldblum, John Stamos (apologies to any nostalgic Full House fans, but I never watched the show), and Freddie Prinze, Jr. (who, yes, is a has-been despite being only 29 years old, and damn, when was the last time you heard that name?). On the other hand, this is some of the better acting that I've seen by Mr. Prinze Jr., but to be fair, I've only seen him in Scooby-Doo and Boys and Girls, not his recent performance as the title character of the Lawrence of Arabia remake.
- Still, I watched the whole damn thing in a very short period of time, so there must be some enjoyable moments, right? And there are. As bad as some parts of this season are, I can't help laughing at other times. Phoebe and Mike are a cute couple, and her attempt to charm his parents is hilarious, "The One With the Boob Job" is contrived but classic sitcom humor, Ross and Chandler's war on their alumni web site is lots of fun, and when Rachel isn't developing crushes on every guy to come into her field of vision, she's an entertaining character. I must admit I'll probably watch the 10th season too. The 9th season finale (which I didn't watch), while not as offensively bad as the end of the 8th season, still suffers from probably the Dullest Cliffhanger Ever, though the 10th season recovers nicely - I remembered liking some of the earlier episodes in it. I'm still not buying the 10th season, though.
- You knew it was coming:
- Ross: I have plenty of opportunity. Just now there was a woman at the coffee house who smiled at me. And the other day a woman on the subway "accidentally" sat on my hand.
- Chandler: Dude, don't rub my face in your crazy single life!
- Ross: And how about this? There is an anthropologist at school who totally came on to me during the inter-departmental potluck dinner.
- Chandler: God, why did I get married?!
- 7. The Killing (1956) - At precisely 11:36 AM on Tuesday, August 9th, AJDaGreat started writing a review of The Killing. At approximately 3:15 PM two days earlier, he had started the movie, and despite taking a Listology break in the middle, had finished that night. He had simply been too lazy to write a review since then. He had enjoyed the sense of methodical, carefully planned-out preciseness that went into the heist, and decided to write his review in a similar fashion as the narrator spoke. He enjoyed these old-timey classic crime movies, and Stanley Kubrick's dark, atmospheric direction and early non-linear structure complemented the plot beautifully.
- At approximately 11:41 he got writers' block, and because it was summer when his brain was running on low, he began to surf around the Internet. At 11:47 he came back to the review and added more narration, hoping that would take up space. He could probably write a better review if he tried harder, but he was feeling pretty lazy. He also didn't feel like coming up with an ending line.
- 8. The Untouchables (1987) - This film is a crime story that wonderfully evokes its era and pretty much does what L.A. Confidential did, only ten years earlier. And hey, whatever happened to Kevin Costner? How did he become the total joke that he is now? In the late eighties he was making great movie after great movie. His performance here is not exactly stunning, but he certainly had the acting chops to pull it off nicely. On the other hand, I normally love Robert DeNiro, but his performance here is pretty disappointing. He was playing a Martin Scorsese gangster character when the script called for an Al Capone. In a film that pays so much attention to creating the atmosphere of the time, he sticks out like a sore thumb; I somehow doubt that Al Capone really acted like Jimmy Conway. At least we have Sean Connery, who is fantastic in his role. The direction is great and the script is fine, although for a script written by David Mamet it seems rather pedestrian, as if a watered-down, Hollywoodized version of Mamet. But these are minor complaints, as The Untouchables is a very good, entertaining movie, and that's pretty much what it's aspiring to be. This famous story could be done with more depth or more style, but I will accept it for what it is.
- 9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) - I actually didn't want to see this movie, but let me just say that the alternative would have been mind-numbing, so I gladly accepted this option. I actually enjoyed it more than I expected to. Let me just say this: I made the mistake of reading Roger Ebert's review before seeing this movie, and he pointed out that Johnny Depp's performance is fully channeling Michael Jackson. This fact is surprisingly accurate and, though I may not have been able to put my finger on it had I not read Ebert's review, the realization that Willy Wonka is Michael Jackson is so distracting when watching the movie, you may wonder what Depp was thinking. But anyway, while a movie this weird is bound to have some awkward moments (and even if these kids are supposed to be naughty, I have a tough time believing they would not only be so unenthused by Wonka's self-revelation, but be so rude to him), it is enjoyable enough to recommend. The film's message about family is pretty slight, but I guess a main point of the movie is for us to appreciate the simpler things in life that may not have much point, like candy, and so one can enjoy this film much like one can enjoy a good chocolate bar.
- 10. The Deer Hunter (1978) - The first thing I want to say is that this film is far too long. If you've been reading these reviews for a while, you know that's a pretty predictable reaction from me. I'm a firm believer that if a shot doesn't add anything to a movie, it shouldn't be in the movie. This is especially true of the first hour of this film, and especially in the 25-minute scene that involves the wedding and the reception afterwards. There are a few interesting moments within these 25 minutes, but they're scattered among so... much... dancing. I think this film must have been just dying to win the Academy Award for Most Celebratory Dancing in a War Movie (unfortunately, it lost to Gene Kelly's That's Ho-Chi-Minh-tertainment!).
- Nonetheless, when the movie veers towards more dramatic territory, it is very, very good, and at times excellent. The performances are fabulous, the Russian roulette theme creates harrowing drama, and the uneasy feeling after returning home from the war seemed just right to me. Granted, I've never been in a war and never returned home from one, but the characters, particularly Robert DeNiro, seem pitch-perfect in the awkward way they try to hide their disillusionment. Shattered by the horrific events he has been through, DeNiro attempts to renew his old friendships, but an awkward, uneasy feeling hangs over it all. And what do you say to a woman whose fiance is AWOL with unknown whereabouts? This is what the movie made me think about. Oh yes, and the ending? Simply beautiful.
- P.S. If you see this film on DVD, watch out for chapters 3 and 11. They're doozies.
- 11. Unforgiven (1992) - Alice: (referring to Delilah, the prostitute whose face was sliced up by Mike) "She didn't steal nothin'. She didn't even touch his poke. All she done, when she seen he had a teensy little pecker is give a giggle. That's all. She didn't know no better."
- Look, people. I'm not defending Mike's actions. But how dense does a woman have to be if she doesn't know any better than to laugh at the size of a man's penis?
- Villains whose only crime is putting scars on a woman's face (and as Clint Eastwood says, she is still more attractive than the other whores), but who will die for their crimes. A hero who can barely even get on his horse anymore. His sidekick, who's practically blind. This film is about a sad state of affairs in the Old West. This idea isn't too far removed from The Wild Bunch, but Eastwood's most original contribution was to modernize the Western, showing with his style that there's still room in the 90s for epic Westerns (Dances With Wolves, while it came two years earlier, wasn't really in the same ballpark plot-wise). Besides, the drama that plays out from these poor schlubs is just masterful. It's a beautiful film with some great performances, mainly Clint and Gene. You may wonder what Richard Harris is doing in the movie at all, but hey, his scenes are great, so I'm not complaining. I waited too long to see this instant classic.
- 12. Nobody's Fool (1994) - Paul Newman is brilliant in such larger-than-life roles as Luke, Butch Cassidy, and Henry Gondorff, but here he shows he can be brilliant and realistic as a simple, down-to-earth man too. His mischievous character drinks, steals, and makes lascivious comments, but in that charming, sardonic way that only Paul Newman could pull off. Newman never intentionally steals any scenes from his great co-stars (including Bruce Willis, Jessica Tandy, Melanie Griffith, Dylan Walsh, and Philip Seymour Hoffman), but he makes it his movie anyway because he's just so good. It's a story about regrets and second chances, about discovering who one's family is, about one man's relationships with everyone in a small town. It's a story where nothing happens and yet everything happens. It's a really underrated film, one that should definitely be seen by more people.
- 13. Jaws (1975) - One of the best scenes in this movie occurs towards the beginning. After the first shark attack, Martin Brody has been instructed to keep the beaches open, but he's still anxious that another attack will happen. We cut between various characters going into the ocean. We see Brody looking nervously at all the swimmers. Little things begin to frighten him. Certain events seem like shark attacks, but they're just false alarms. The scene works on two levels. Perhaps Spielberg is just playing with us. On the other hand, isn't this exactly how people behave? If we are frightened something is going to happen, every little thing convinces us that it's happening right now. Then the scene climaxes by breaking one of the cardinal rules of Hollywood filmmaking, which says that . At that time, we know that all bets are off in this film. Jaws is fantastic at creating genuine fear and suspense. For a long stretch of the film, it creates terror without even showing the damn shark. It's also a great male bonding film with three very interesting characters. And it has an ending that really kicks ass. Is it any wonder that a movie this sensational became the first real blockbuster? I waited too long to see this masterful film.Spoiler: Highlight to viewinnocent children don't die gruesome deaths
- 14. The Wayward Cloud (2005) - This film has little plot, no character goals or development, and very little dialogue. It's a gorgeously absurd film, though, that I must say I enjoyed, but it's pretty much unreviewable. Let me just describe it to you. In a society where there is no running water, and everyone must use water from bottles, Male Lead works in the porn industry and likes using watermelon in erotic ways. Female Lead, on the other hand, likes drinking watermelon juice. The two meet (I was told this was a sequel to What Time Is It There? and they're meeting again, but I wouldn't know that if not for my friend Alan, who bought this DVD from Taiwan), and that's pretty much the only plot point in the movie. Interspersed in this "story" are really bizarre musical interludes, including one where a man wearing a hat that looks like a penis head is attacked by a lot of women carrying plungers. Yeah, maybe writing anything about this movie was a bad idea...
- 15. Three Colors: Red (1994) - Probably the best in the trilogy, Red is a nice balance between Blue and White. Blue was slow but very artistic, White was more plot driven but less stylish, and Red has got it all, style and substance. I could talk about the meaning of the film, but it would probably sound suspiciously like what is said on the many documentaries about Red on the DVD. All I'll say is that I love the fast camera movements, especially the one in the beginning, and the end of the film is a brilliant last moment of the trilogy.
- 16. The Matrix Revolutions (2003) (watched again) - Not nearly as entertaining as the sarcastic comments my friends were making at the movie. Script is still as cheesy as I remembered, attack on Zion is still as boring and uninvolving as I remembered. The Neo/Smith fight is still cool, though.
- 17. The Aristocrats (2005) - This movie is about famous comedians saying the most vulgar things that pop into their heads, and strangely enough, that's what most critics love about it. It's a movie that doesn't even pretend to have substance OR style - the editing is really pointless and annoying, jumping rapidly from one angle of a comic's head to another, in a shallow attempt to try to make these talking heads seem more active. It's a movie that mainly consists of comics saying words that rhyme with duck, spit, sock, and runt and hoping that's shocking enough to make us laugh, all in examination of a joke that isn't even that funny. Okay, so the movie is somewhat entertaining in spite of all this, but God, for the critics that called this one of the funniest movies ever, do you understand the difference between shock value and actual humor? Is is actually funny to hear people take incest and scatology to the most extreme limits they can go? Not to me, it isn't. I thought it got repetitive and boring. Well, maybe it's not as bad as all that. I did laugh at the movie in spite of myself, and it seems wrong to criticize a movie that is just trying to be fun, but it seems like the comedians are having more fun than the audience. It's not a bad movie, but it is definitely an overrated one.
- 18. High Fidelity (2000) (watched again) - Top 5 favorite parts of this movie: 1. John Cusack fantasizing about tearing Tim Robbins a new one. 2. John Cusack realizing why the first breakup on his Top 5 Worst Breakups List happened. 3. The different sides of the story regarding what Iben Hjejle told Joan Cusack to make her hate John Cusack. 4. Pretty much everything Jack Black does, which may be cheating, but oh well. 5. When the truth about Catherine Zeta-Jones comes crashing down on John Cusack. (Sure, it goes on a little long, and I sometimes feel like I'm not laughing as much as I should, but this is a very charming film that avoids cliches and also rings true much of the time.)
- P.S. I watched the deleted scenes on the DVD after I finished this review. Here's what I thought of them: "Foreplay" is funny and makes a good observation. "Top Five Worst Things" is a very interesting scene, but I can see why they cut it, as it's a little hostile towards the audience. "The Interview" should appeal to the listmaker in all of us. "Records for Sale" is a compelling scene that has nothing to do with the rest of the movie but might make a good short film. The rest are pretty dull and were rightfully scrapped.
- 19. The Conversation (1974) - This is a movie that, up until the last 20 minutes, had me fooled into thinking it was a character study that was more about Gene Hackman's struggles than the "thriller" or "mystery" elements that the IMDB claims it to have. Well, I still think that, but the awesome ending is so thrilling and mysterious that it makes up for the rest of the movie, which, while oftentimes very interesting, is not particularly exciting. Gene Hackman does give one of his best performances, playing a fascinating character, a surveillance expert who is called the best of his field; obsessed with his own privacy, yet he can't prevent his landlady from entering his apartment to leave him a birthday present. He thinks his surveillance work may lead to a couple getting killed (it's happened before), and his guilt tears him apart. This is great to watch, but the last 20 minutes of this film (after he enters the hotel) are absolutely brilliant, and the ending is simple but haunting.
- 20. Scary Movie 3 (2003) - A lot better than I expected, though I'm sure it helped that I watched it with some friends who love this sort of immature humor. Still, we were dead silent at the appallingly unfunny funeral and most of the 8 Mile parody scenes. In fact, it was lame pretty much any time Simon Rex or his rapper friends were onscreen. But hey, the IMDB trivia section claims, "Anthony Anderson's character turned out so popular in test screenings, that additional scenes for him were quickly written and shot while the film was already in post-production." So I guess that just shows the subjectivity of humor. I preferred the scenes that parodied The Sixth Sense and Signs, myself (Charlie Sheen has a great deadpan). This parody is by no means a good movie, but it provides some good laughs, and I might've found it funnier if I had seen The Ring. It's pretty short, and I didn't have to pay anything to see it, so I have no regrets. In fact, I think if this had come out before the original Scary Movie when this material was more fresh, it might've done okay with the critics.
- By the way, this movie's cameos/supporting cast is simply jaw-dropping. Leslie Nielsen, Jeremy Piven, Camryn Manheim, D.L. Hughley, Darrell Hammond, Jenny McCarthy, Pamela Anderson, Simon Cowell, Denise Richards, Queen Latifah, Eddie Griffin, George Carlin, and a variety of rappers.
- 21. 21 (1977) / 28 Up (1985) / 35 Up (1991) / 42 Up (1998) - Perhaps this is just narcissism, but I think only I could follow Scary Movie 3 with the Up Documentaries.
- I think it's funny that fictional television shows take fake characters and try to make them seem realistic, whereas reality TV shows take real people and make them act in completely absurd ways. Reality TV? What a misnomer. The Up Documentaries, a series of TV-movies, is the only TV that actually captures sincere real life. That alone doesn't necessarily make them interesting, but it is a truly ambitious project and I admire it for that. And in fact, I did find the documentaries pretty fascinating (perhaps because summing up seven years of a person's life in about twenty minutes per movie is certainly abiding by the "brevity is the soul of wit" rule). I grew to really enjoy hearing about these people's lives, not because they're remarkable people, but just because they're sincere, honest, average Janes and Joes. Obviously, some parts of the films are better than others. Tony's life was always the lead-in, but watching him just became more and more awkward as the years went on. The elephant in the room just kept getting bigger and bigger. Interestingly enough, Tony, a lower-class cab driver who couldn't achieve his dreams of becoming a jockey, is quoted in 42 Up as saying that marriage is very difficult. On the other hand, the wealthy Andrew said he didn't think marriage was diffcult at all. It may be completely unrelated to their social status, but somehow I doubt it. I've heard that most people's favorite person in the documentaries is Neil, and it's not hard to see why. I won't spoil it, but let me just say that what happens to him in 42 Up is amazing and caught me completely off-guard. His story was the best closer one could've hoped for, and the very last part when we see various answers to the questions Apted asks, is a great way to end the DVD series. (yeah, yeah, I know that 49 Up is coming out, but the DVD set stops at 42 Up)
- 42 Up is probably my second-favorite film, but I think my favorite is 28 Up. It's the first one with the more organized style of keeping people separate, which definitely helped the film's focus; it was before Jackie and Sue's divorces, which just made me bitter about the state of marriage in the world (in fact, I don't think heterosexuals should be allowed to get married, as they obviously can't handle it); it was after Suzy chilled out (she was pretty hostile and wound-up during 21); it was before Nick's wife got camera-shy; and Neil's part of 28 Up is just heartbreaking. Anyway, I'd definitely recommend going through the Up Documentaries to anyone who's interested. The only rule is you really should watch them in order. Yes, I know it gets annoying to see footage from the previous five movies reused in 42 Up, but you gotta tough it out.
- By the way...
- Michael Apted: Why'd you call [your son] Daniel?
- Symon's Wife: (laughing) Long story...
- Symon: It's my father's name.
- (Long pause.)
- 22. Sin City (2005) (watched again) - Even on a medium-sized TV screen, this film kicks ass. I noticed this time that Brittany Murphy is the only person who appears in all three stories, although my friend Tom (who bought the DVD) told me that was listed as her character description on promotional materials in the Suncoast, so I guess I'm not the only one who realized it. I am very excited for Sin City 2, even though it's called Sin City 2.
- 23. A Man Escaped (1956) - The plot is nothing special, and it's a little disappointing how predictable the story is given the premise, but Bresson's direction definitely makes it work by stressing Fontaine's obsessive, meticulous attention to detail. That's what the movie is, really - a suspenseful story about how a man carefully plans his escape from a maximum-security prison camp, not a dramatic story with startling plot twists. Francois Leterrier's performance is quite gripping, acted with Bresson's typical subtlety. The worst Bresson film I've seen is still pretty great.
- 24. Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) - Some may call Alain Resnais pretentious, but I think his films are some of the most passionate, beautiful, poignant movies of the artsy "classics." It's much more of a personal film than a political film, but it comes across as anti-war simply through its humanism, juxtaposed with powerful memories of World War II. The visuals are breathtaking, the dialogue is poetic, and I'm sure analyzing this film in a group would be just fascinating. A gorgeous masterpiece.
- 25. Broken Flowers (2005) - I saw this with a friend of mine. When we came out of the movie the first thing she said to me was, "Do you ever feel like you spend your whole life waiting?" Thinking she was talking about waiting for death or the apocalypse or discovery of the meaning of life, I asked, "Waiting for what?" But what she meant was that she was always waiting for the next thing in her life. "Like, I was waiting for summer vacation for a long time when I was at college, but now I just feel like I'm waiting to go back to college. Or, on a short-term scale, now I'm waiting to have dinner." I am not sure if that conversation was inspired by the movie or if it was just a random thought she had, but somehow I feel like it sums up the film well.
- Anyway. An aging Don Juan-type gets an anonymous letter from a woman he slept with long ago telling him he has a 19-year-old son, so he visits four old flames trying to figure out who it is. This plot could be done as a dramatic film where the man learns what happened to the women in his life, leading him on a personal journey of self-discovery. It could also be done as a mystery, with the man picking up clues and finally discovering the answer. But this film does it as an offbeat comedy that finds its humor in the awkward moments of the journey (granted, in typical Jarmusch fashion). As a result, it probably has more truth than if it were more dramatic or more mysterious, but I think it is also less involving. We get very subtle glimpses of Murray's true character under all this, but maybe they're so subtle they're not even there. He seems barely affected by all this, pushed into taking this journey by his neighbor, perhaps partially driven by curiosity on his part, but like the film, Murray's character seems to remain emotionally detached from everything. I think this made especially evident by the ending. . It is a good film due to its truth, humor, and slice-of-life indie quirkiness, but it could've been a real masterpiece. To be fair, my expectations may have been too high, as I have really been looking forward to this movie.Spoiler: Highlight to viewAmbigous, open-ended conclusions sometimes work for me, but here it definitely doesn't. The only reason why the movie shouldn't tell us the answer to what Murray has been searching for throughout the entire film is because it doesn't care.
- 26. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) - In my review of the overrated Wedding Crashers in the previous "Damn" installment I talked about how the #1 rule for mainstream comedies nowadays is to put together a crappy script and rely on the energy of the cast for laughs. The 40-Year-Old Virgin, I think, may be the exception to the rule. I may be crazy because it's such a bizarre concept, but I think I actually witnessed a mainstream comedy with a clever, well-written script. Yes, that's right, the studio actually wasn't just relying on comedic star power in this one - and you can tell, because they cast very talented people regardless of their popularity and bankability. Sure, Steve Carell was very funny in hits Bruce Almighty and Anchorman, but who knew he could carry a movie like this? Paul Rudd and Catherine Keener are both underrated and wonderful in this film, but these three are the most well-known actors in the film, and they're not exactly Jim Carrey. Plus co-stars Romany Malco and Seth Rogen are all but unheard-of, but ya know what? They're great. The movie is hysterical. The script and cast come together for one of the funniest movies that's come out in a while. Big laugh-out-loud moments, and the shocking thing is it's relatively grounded. It's not nearly as surreal as the Wedding Crashers, it doesn't have any name-dropping cameos from big stars, and even the raunchy humor seems realistic given the characters (granted, the ending is very bizarre, but it's also hilarious). But hey, don't listen to me, and don't listen to the reviews telling you this is the funniest piece of art ever made. It's not. But you should see the movie anyway (assuming you're not easily offended), because it is damn funny, not to mention sweet and likable.
- 27. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - This wonderful film succeeds mainly on the basis of four (yes, four; I loved Karl Malden) wonderful performances and the great Tennessee Williams. All Elia Kazan did was add some phallic imagery. Just kidding, Elia, you really helped make the film as haunting as it was. Good job. I'm glad to finally see this film, but I'm really glad to finally get all the jokes in that Simpsons episode A Streetcar Named Marge. Anyway, I'm just killing time because I don't have much to say. But trust me, this film is great, especially towards the end when everything comes crashing down.
- 28. The Opposite of Sex (1998) - I can definitely understand why some people wouldn't like this movie. Except for Martin Donovan, all the characters are pretty unpleasant people, and sometimes the movie seems to wallow in their crassness. The metahumorous narration attempts to take off the edge, but I could see how some would be annoyed by that too. Plus, since the plot seems to be all about chasing the main character wherever she relocates, the film could be titled Where in the World is Christina Ricci? But it's definitely a very clever film, and by the end, it's easy to see the film's underlying heart as well. So I give this film a modest recommendation, but if anything I have said concerns you, take my opinion with a grain of salt.
- 29. UHF (1989) (watched again) - Yeah, this one was my friends' idea, but I still enjoyed it. It's not an artistically sound movie by any means, but as a guilty pleasure it's hard to beat. It helps if you love Weird Al's sense of humor and love watching Michael Richards go insane, as I do.
- 30. The Simpsons: Season 6 (1994-1995) - Another great season from the golden years of the Simpsons. This set contains many classic episodes, such as Treehouse of Horror V and Homer the Great; fan favorites like Homer Bad Man, Lisa's Wedding, and Lemon of Troy; and some of my personal favorites, like Lisa on Ice and Bart's Comet. It also struck me how well the Simpsons puts together the emotional episodes. I personally think Family Guy is hilarious and owes a lot to the Simpsons, but they've never been able to handle the emotion as well as episodes like And Maggie Makes Three or 'Round Springfield. That's just a tribute to the strength of the characters and writing early on. This season also contains part one of the hilarious (albeit gimmicky) mystery Who Shot Mr. Burns?, but the real triumphs here are the simple episodes. This is still part of the show's glory days, when they could take an uninspiring premise and still make a solid episode out of it. Just watch The PTA Disbands or Homer vs. Patty and Selma if you don't believe me. There are a few lame jokes in season 6 that signal the shark-jumping that would eventually come, but mostly this is a fantastic batch of episodes. I really enjoyed re-discovering all of them, from Treehouse of Horror V, which I've seen millions of times and practically have memorized, to Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy, which I only saw once and hated, so I always avoided it from then on. (Rewatching it, I'm not sure why I hated it so much. Maybe I was uncomfortable with all the sex in it, as I was in 5th or 6th grade when I watched it. It's not one of the best episodes of the season, but it is quite good. The Al Gore joke is hysterical.)
- Hard for me to pick the quote, but here ya go:
- Bart: I believe that after you die, you come back as whatever you want. I'll be a butterfly.
- Lisa: How come?
- Bart: Because no one ever suspects the butterfly...
- (Bart's imagination. His school has been burnt to the ground.)
- Principal Skinner: (being restrained) I didn't burn down the school! It was the butterfly, I tell ya! The butterfly!
- Chief Wiggum: He's crazy, boys. Get the taser.
- 31. Sunset Boulevard (1950) (watched again) - Have you ever heard something that made you think, "Man, I really wish I'd thought of that and said it"? That happened to me while watching the Making of Sunset Boulevard on this DVD. At the end Ed Sikov, explaining why Billy Wilder was so ahead of his time, said Wilder "really bridges Old Hollywood and New Hollywood. He's got all the grace and structure, the beautiful use of language, the carefully constructed screenplays and images, with the bitterness and cynicism of our present time." I will actually take this one step further and say that with Sunset Boulevard, Wilder was one of the first to make a reflexive film, predating the post-modern era. That may sound like a really pretentious statement, but what I am trying to say is that today films contain so many references to other films. Comedies derive laughs by spoofing and referencing other films and including cameos of famous people. Quentin Tarantino's films contain blatant homages to his favorite films, and his casting choices have attempted to reinvigorate the careers of John Travolta and Pam Grier. Movies never used to do that; we are living in a very self-referential age. Many film historians give credit to the French New Wave for starting the trend of making films that reference film history, but I think Sunset Boulevard did that ten years earlier. Wilder cast silent film star Gloria Swanson, who hadn't been in a film in nine years, as the female lead Norma Desmond; he cast directors Erich von Stroheim and Cecil B. DeMille (both of whom had directed Swanson in silent films) in supporting roles; when Norma Desmond is watching her old films fondly, the movie she watches is Swanson's hit Queen Kelly; Wilder even casts washed-up actors Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson, and H.B. Warner as Norma Desmond's washed-up actor friends, and Hedda Hopper as herself. Yes, Wilder was doing name-dropping cameos long before they were popular. He also manages to do all this as the backdrop of a brilliant, haunting story about Hollywood that remains in the forefront the entire time. This rewatch confirms that the film is one of my favorite movies of all-time.
- 32. Red Eye (2005) - This movie leads me into an interesting dilemma. I'm not sure how to review this film, because for a taut thriller, it is pretty funny. It could be unintentional humor. But given that I've heard Scream is a humorous twist on the typical slasher film (though I've never actually seen a film by Wes Craven), maybe Craven was going for humor here too. All I know is, (a) I definitely wasn't the only person in the theater laughing, (b) shouting "Code Red" and flailing about is not a good way for a bodyguard to act during an emergency, and (c) there are only so many objects that can be thrown at Cillian Murphy before I start cracking up. Okay, I am actually going to give this movie the benefit of the doubt; given the light atmosphere of the film and the romantic-comedy-style beginning, I am going to assume that it was supposed to be suspenseful and funny. I am also swayed by the excellent performances - not so much Brian Cox, whose enormous talents were really wasted, but the creepy Cillian Murphy and the wonderful (not to mention extremely versatile) Rachel McAdams. McAdams could have a fabulous career ahead of her if she makes the right choices.
- 33. Battlestar Galactica (2003) (mini-series) - I have never seen the original version of this show, but I did like this mini-series a hell of a lot. Sometimes the series lays it on a little thick (the girl just keeps brushing the doll's hair...), but mostly this is a wonderfully constructed show. Great performances and special effects take well-written drama to new heights. With separate characters all experiencing the tragedy in different ways, it reminded me of a sci-fi version of 24, and believe me, coming from me, that is high praise.
- 34. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) (watched again) - Yeah, my friends wanted to see it, so I caught it again. Comedies always lose some of their magic and surprise the second time, but I still laughed a lot.
- I watched so many movies today, I wanted to make sure I didn't forget any.
- 35. Taxi Driver (1976) - Martin Scorsese really needs to stop making overlong historical epics that star Leonardo DiCaprio. Watching Taxi Driver, a far more intimate, personal film, he portrays raw, subtle emotions that just haven't seemed to click in his more recent films. It's a little film about a small, insignificant man that ultimately accomplishes bigger feats than Gangs of New York and The Aviator ever could. Robert DeNiro is brilliant as Travis Bickle, an isolated loner who resents the sleaze of the world around him because he functions on a completely different wavelength. I saw elements of my own personality in Travis Bickle, and if I'm not alone in saying so, perhaps that is part of the film's brilliance - that even in a character who is clearly emotionally unstable, we see truth in his mentality and justice in his actions. For my money, this is the best Scorsese film I've seen.
- 36. The Thin Blue Line (1988) - One of the best documentaries I've ever seen, if not the best. Errol Morris makes a film that is both (1) a completely convincing argument against the ruling in this murder case and (2) a film incredibly focused on tiny, stylish details, like the trajectory of a chocolate shake. My favorite part was the various shots of the blue cars, a really well-constructed sequence about the nature of memory. I'm sure I'm just babbling, but it's hard to describe the brilliance of this film. It just must be seen.
- By the way, did you ever notice that when you watch two movies in a row, there's always one element, big or small, that somehow unites the two? For example, I recently watched A Streetcar Named Desire and The Opposite of Sex, both of which are about girls from Louisiana. In this case, I noticed that both Taxi Driver and The Thin Blue Line contain scenes in which the two main characters watch a porno movie in a theater.
- 37. The Shop Around the Corner (1940) - The equation: You've Got Mail minus suckiness plus Ernst Lubitsch equals The Shop Around the Corner. This was from the days when they actually knew how to make romantic comedies. Yes, it's a cliche to say that romantic comedies are predictable; but although we know what's going to happen at the end of this film, the movie actually makes us care. The journey is a sheer joy to watch, and though much of the credit goes to the underrated Lubitsch, certainly Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan make a fantastic couple with great chemistry. The supporting cast is wonderful as well; in fact, I just loved everything about this movie.
- 38. Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns (2002) - This is a good, if not particularly remarkable, documentary about They Might Be Giants. Personally, I would have preferred a tale told by two Johns, while this movie wants to give us a tale about two Johns. I would have liked to see more focus on John Linnell and John Flansburgh's lives and how they affected TMBG's songs; there's some of that, which is great stuff, but there's also a lot of VH1's I Love the [Decade]-style talking heads, only less jocular. Some of what the talking heads say is interesting, but some should definitely have been cut out. Still, despite the film taking itself too seriously and not focusing enough on the Johns, it's a good movie. I loved the analysis of each John's personality, and the concert and music video footage was great.
- 39. The Constant Gardener (2005) - The Rotten Tomatoes score for this film is 80%, meaning 4 out of 5 critics recommended this movie. I agree that it is a tough film to dislike; however, I didn't love it. It's too long and, like many "hidden conspiracy" movies, the plot is too convoluted to make a great film. Meirelles's City of God was fast-paced and exciting, but here, while he puts together some brilliant visual imagery, he suffers from some serious pacing problems, creating a "thriller" that might have actually been thrilling if it weren't so slow and deliberate. On the other hand, Ralph Fiennes makes an excellent lead, the portrayal of African poverty is really well done, and the ending is great. All this certainly amounts to a good movie, albeit one that is less than the sum of its parts.
- 40. Network (1976) (watched again) - Watching this film again, I was struck with how big and theatrical it is. This film tackles some serious allegory, folks - Peter Finch's story depicts a modern-day Messiah tempted by the evils of corporate America, and Faye Dunaway and William Holden's story is a "romance" that ends up being an allegory for the generation gap, Holden representing a more emotional, human generation and Dunaway representing a cold, compassionless one. These stories are told through long, dramatic monologues and acting that borders on histrionic, but at the same time are lightened slightly by the undercurrent of satire. All this could have resulted in a laughably over-the-top film, but somehow it all works (most likely due to the high quality of the writing and acting), and as long as you're not too turned off by theatrics, it's a highly enjoyable film. Sidney Lumet also does a fantastic job directing; this might've been the peak of any other director's work, but for the man who did 12 Angry Men and Dog Day Afternoon, Network will have to settle for being 3rd-best.
- 41. South Park: The Complete Fourth Season (2000) - Anyone who remembers my comments on the South Park movie might be wondering why I watched this whole season of South Park, a show I sounded pretty lukewarm about. I do think I might have been a little hard on the show / movie then. Yes, sometimes South Park resorts to shock value without much actual humor, but most of the time it's rather clever and enjoyable enough for me to like this DVD set. And hey, I got it from Penn's library, so I didn't pay a dime for it.
- South Park is sometimes put in the same group as Family Guy, The Simpsons, Futurama, etc. (i.e., cartoon shows for adults), but really I think it has a whole different feel. It contains much more relevant political / social satire, and it can do this due to the short time it takes to make each episode. Take Trapper Keeper, for instance, which hilariously satired the 2000 election recount on November 15th. As a result of the satire, part of South Park's fan base is a group of "South Park Republicans", who get behind the often right-leaning messages of the show. I think it's pretty clear, though, that these guys are Libertarians, not Republicans. Sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I don't, and perhaps this is just my bias, but I think their arguments always seem thinner in the latter cases. For example, Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000 makes fun of hate crime legislation, but I do think we should consider the intentions of criminals, and a man who assaults someone because they, say, slept with his wife is not as bad as a man who assaults someone because they are black (of course, in the actual episode, Cartman throws a rock at Token because Token calls him fat, not because Token is black, so we should make sure we know what the actual intentions are). But I digress. This was an important season for South Park, as it shows Mr. Garrison struggling with his sexuality (his romance novel is hilarious) as well as the boys finally graduating to fourth grade. Standouts for me this season were The Tooth Fairy's Tats 2000, Timmy! 2000, Cartman Joins NAMBLA, and The Wacky Molestation Adventure. I was actually underwhelmed by the two parter Do the Handicapped Go to Hell? / Probably. It has the boys asking such interesting philosophical questions but ends with a pretty big copout. I was hoping for the Satan subplot to get tied into the main plot, and I was also actually kinda hoping for a long "I learned something today" speech.
- The shock value still didn't really affect me, which kinda got me thinking. I mean, this season has a scene where an 8-year-old crawls up into a vagina and comes out of it dead. That's pretty gross, but I barely stirred. Am I so disillusioned that I can't even be shocked by a boy's corpse being ejected from a vagina? Was I hiding my true emotions? Is it just because it's only construction paper?
- By the way, one thing I really liked about these DVDs is Trey and Matt's mini-commentaries, because I think most of the time DVD commentaries are way too long and only sporadically interesting. But Trey and Matt talk for about 3-5 minutes, then move on, a policy I think should be adopted by more DVD-makers. Speaking of going on for way too long, I'm done.
- 42. The Verdict (1982) - "You guys are all the same," growls Kevin Doneghy, accusing Frank Galvin of only being in it for the money. But nothing could be further from the truth. Galvin could have taken the settlement and allowed the hospital to avoid bad publicity, but the hospital was irresponsible and deserves the bad reputation. Galvin hopes that by implementing his idea of justice, he can redeem himself for years of sloth and alcoholism. It's an excellent concept, and you could not have picked more talented people to make this film. Sidney Lumet behind the camera, Paul Newman in front of it, and David Mamet writing the script. Now that is a triple threat. Together they fashioned a film that functions as both courtroom mystery and character drama and is wonderful at both - a masterful, underrated film.
- 43. Citizen Kane (1941) (watched again) - Sixty-five years ago, Orson Welles made a film, and since then, it has somehow managed to become both incredibly overrated and incredibly underrated. In my humble opinion, it is overrated by critics who call it the greatest movie of all-time, whether they understand everything the film does or whether they are just unimaginative drones who call it the greatest because it's what everyone else was doing; however, it is underrated by critics who call it mediocre or even bad, whether they are truly underwhelmed by the film or whether they just like to be non-conformists for the sake of non-conformity. It is also underrated by yokels who have not seen any other films made before 1987 but watched Citizen Kane when they heard it topped the AFI's 100 greatest movies list and, finding it too slow for their feeble attention spans, called it boring, or perhaps assigned it some vague criticism like "dumb" or "pointless." This is probably the hardest film to watch objectively - and I've demonstrated that here, by mainly focusing my review on opinions of the film rather than the film itself.
- But when you get right down to it, I disagree with the yokels - I actually think this is a really enjoyable movie, whether you appreciate all of its achievements or not. If you like brilliant dialogue, astounding visual composition, riveting drama, and an investigation into what an important but mysterious man was all about, I think it would be hard not to get involved in this wonderful film. And even if you only like noise and explosions, you'll still probably like the fantastic room-destroying scene. Besides, if this was only a critics' movie and had little to offer for audiences, do you think it would be even as high as #16 on the IMDB's top 250? Do you see any Michelangelo Antonioni films on the top 250? I didn't think so. As for me, I wouldn't call it the greatest film of all-time, but it's definitely up there. Actually, #16 sounds about right for me, but I am still offended that it is ranked below Fellowship of the Ring and Star Wars on the IMDB list.
- Anyway, that's it for now, but I'll be discussing this film in class on Wednesday, so if I have anything interesting to add after that, I'll let you know. By the way, if you thought I was referring to you in one of the bad groups above, you're wrong. I really wasn't talking about any Listologists, I respect everyone around here too much for that.
- 44. Clue (1985) (watched again) - A film that throws together the goofiest, corniest, slapstickiest humor imaginable, and yet the comedy manages to work much better than it should, perhaps due to the casting of some of the best character actors of our time. I hadn't seen this fun, enjoyable film in quite some time.
- 45. Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005) - I've heard complaints about this movie saying it was just like a 90-minute version of the TV show Family Guy. But if you like the show (and if you don't, why would you watch this movie?), why is that a complaint? What were you expecting? A 90-minute version of The O.C.? Sheesh. Anyway, I would probably have loved this movie if it were made before the show's original cancellation, back when the writing was sharper and funnier, but now that the quality has noticeably declined, I can only call it pretty good. Why do the writers feel the need to take characters who appeared briefly in one episode and have them make cameos in every other episode now, including the movie (I'm looking at you, Greased-Up Deaf Guy)? And why are glimpses into the future for cartoon characters always so depressing (exception: Lisa's Wedding, but the other Simpsons episodes that looked into the future sucked)? Anyway, this is a pretty good movie that was about as funny as the more recent episodes. But if you've watched Family Guy from the beginning, you know that things could be much better.
- 46. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) - When making a list of the greatest musicals ever, this one is too often overlooked. It's one of the best of Arthur Freed, the producer behind all those lavish MGM musicals from the 40s and 50s. What surprised me about this one was its sense of humor. It's very funny, and not in the goofy, winking-at-the-camera way that many musicals are funny (not that there's anything wrong with that), but realistically funny, with great character-driven humor. This film even has quite a dark side to it, mainly due to the character of Tootie, one of the strangest child character creations ever put on celluloid. On the other hand, it still has that bright, beautiful Technicolor that all those musicals have, and at least half the songs from this film have become well-known standards. A real classic.
- 47. Corpse Bride (2005) - I'm just about the only person my age who never saw Nightmare Before Christmas as a kid, so I have no basis for comparison with Corpse Bride. I have, however, seen a lot of Tim Burton movies, and this is pretty much more of the same. The visuals are deliciously macabre, but you already knew that. The characters' emotional development is pretty weak (unless you count "befuddled" as an emotion), but you probably already knew that too. Tim Burton has definitely settled into his groove of making style-over-substance films by now, and I must say I enjoyed this one. And ya know what, in terms of substance, this romantic comedy (of sorts) actually did manage to make me wonder who would end up with whom in the love triangle, because all three were sympathetic characters. So there ya go. Still not much growth for Mr. Burton, but he does know how to entertain.
- By the way, Burton really needs to stop including throwaway, overused spoofs of classic film scenes. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had two lame spoof scenes of Psycho's shower scene and 2001's opening, and Corpse Bride includes Gone with the Wind's closing line in a way that doesn't even make much sense.
- 48. 1776 (1972) - The Declaration of Independence was probably not formed like this, but since the film was written by two history professors, who knows? I like the version of the founding fathers portrayed in this film. They are not larger-than-life demigods, but flawed humans, who enjoy alcohol, sex, and witty insults. The music is uneven but mostly good, and the soundtrack contains some truly inspired songs. The film is far too long, but it is enjoyable.
- 49. Taxi Driver (1976) (watched again because I'm writing a paper about it) - Review coming soon...
- 50. Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) - See my discussion with lukeprog below. The images are compelling, but ultimately I have no clue what this film is about, and hence should probably not be reviewing it.
- 51. Vertigo (1958) (watched again) - If you've been around this site long enough, you've probably heard lbangs talk about how overrated this film is. A second viewing has confirmed for me that I agree with him, though not quite so strongly. This is the closest Hitchcock ever came to making an art film. Among Hitchcock's acclaimed films, this one is definitely one of the best cinematography-wise. However, there's a suspense element in this film too that gets short-changed in favor of visual imagery, and as a result, it is one of the worst of Hitch's acclaimed films plot-wise. A suspense film, even one focused on art rather than plot, must have more credibility than Vertigo; On the other hand, the first half of the movie is mysterious and interesting, and Scottie's descent into madness is perfectly believable for me, though I will say it distances the audience from the character in many ways. I prefer North by Northwest, where an international spy mystery is thrust upon a hapless everyman (well, it might be a little odd to call any Cary Grant character an everyman, but you know what I mean).Spoiler: Highlight to viewthe plot depends on Gavin Elster knowing exactly what Scottie would do in every situation. Then the plot is revealed to Scottie by the necklace, which is an unconscionably stupid mistake by Madeleine/Judy, not one she should have made if she fooled him for the whole first half of the film. Besides, didn't Scottie notice that Judy's mole disappeared? Or is having that mole surgically removed one of the fixer-uppers we didn't see? On top of that, the final moment is forced and awkward; Judy would have to step backwards quite a bit to fall off the tower, and the fact that we never even see her fall confuses things even further.
- Ironically, what might have worked for the Master of Suspense is if he had removed the suspense part entirely. and turn it into a drama. Then just come up with a non-crappy ending and you've got yourself a great idea for a movie. As it is, I would call this a good movie, though if the focus was intended to be on the plot rather than the visuals, I might rank this as average or worse.Spoiler: Highlight to viewGet rid of the murder plot, have Madeleine actually die, have Judy Barton be a different person,
- 52. The Sweet Hereafter (1997) - A bus crash kills 20 children in the small Canadian town of Sam Dent; a lawyer heads north in order to exact justice for the townspeople, and the result is an incredibly well-made, beautiful character drama with wonderful performance after wonderful performance. For some reason, I didn't find it as affecting as I had hoped, but I certainly can't fault the quality of the filmmaking for that. It's a fascinating, complex movie that is just asking to be discussed.
- 53. Stranger Than Paradise (1984) - Jim Jarmusch is masterful at showing his subjects meander through life; I don't think he is that good when directing a strong narrative. This and Down by Law were fascinating, evocative, moody films that turned out quite great; on the other hand, Broken Flowers didn't work all that well for me. Stranger Than Paradise is more of a bare-bones, shoestring-budget production than Down by Law, but I liked it just as much, if not more. I haven't quite pinned down the artistic statement that permeates all of Jim Jarmusch's work - something about the randomness of life, maybe? - but that doesn't stop me from enjoying his movies.
- On a related note, here is a hilarious article satiring Jarmusch's directing style in Broken Flowers.
- 54. South Park: Season 5 (2001) - Season 5 was a pretty twisted time for South Park. Watching the DVD set, I noticed that these episodes tended to stray from the show's usual crass, bizarre, celebrity-mocking humor and towards a much more sadistic, uncomfortable sense of humor. It starts early on with Scott Tenorman Must Die, which is one of my favorite South Park episodes simply because it's so audaciously appalling. But later episodes take the cruelty of this episode and remove the wit. The worst offender is the episode Kenny Dies. Trey and Matt talk about this episode on the commentary, saying their idea was to have Kenny take a whole episode to die, have the kids actually give a crap this time around, and have the show be almost completely joke-free. That sounds like just about the dumbest idea for a construction-paper-animated Comedy Central show I've ever heard. Then there is Butters's Very Own Episode, which includes some dark, also jokeless scenes involving Butters's dad going to an all-male bath house and Butters's mom going crazy and trying to kill herself and Butters. Hilarious! We also have Cartmanland, which I will admit has some really funny scenes, but is basically a modern-day retelling of the book of Job, so you can imagine how that goes...
- Luckily, there are some comparatively light-hearted episodes here too. Two more of my favorites, It Hits the Fan (where the word "shit" is said unbleeped 162 times) and Towelie (where a vast conspiracy gets more and more ridiculous but the boys only care about playing video games), are from this season. I discovered some other highly enjoyable episodes here too. The Emmy-nominated (hard to believe, I know) Osama bin Ladin Has Farty Pants is a pretty interesting reaction to 9/11 with a rather inspired parody of those WWII Warner Bros. shorts; Here Comes the Neighborhood is a hilarious concept, very well executed; and blah, blah, The Entity, How to Eat With Your Butt, Proper Condom Use, all good too. I find Cripple Fight way overrated though, partially because I don't tend to find fighting cartoon characters all that funny, and partially because I disagree that having the freedom to discriminate against gays is part of what America's all about. But nevermind that.
- Here we go:
- (The boys are playing video games with Towelie, who is high.)
- Stan: Alright guys, focus. Looks like this is gonna be an underwater level.
- Towelie: (slurred) Don't forget to bring a towel.
- Cartman: You are the worst character ever, Towelie.
- Towelie: Yeah, I know.
Author Comments:
Comments welcome, as always.
Heh. Maybe I'm just egocentric, but somehow I feel your March of the Penguins review was written at me. :-) Or perhaps SteveR. But I anticpiate feeling exactly the same way you do about the movie.
I didn't remember SteveR's comment about the movie, but your reviews (especially of The Truman Show) may have been in my mind subconsciously. :-)
:)
I'm thrilled to see your review of Me and You and Everyone We Know! I feared the film would be way too twee for my taste, but I ended up adoring the flick!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I loved it too, even though sometimes that kind of movie can drive me up a twee. Thanks for the recommendation!
Okay, that's the second time today I've seen the word "yokelvision". Can someone enlighten me?
One for the Listology dictionary. It's a term Jim coined, I'm guessing in your absence, to be a more derogatory term for "fullscreen" or "pan-n-scan." It definitely caught on with me.
Yokel-viewer.
Ah, gotcha! Good word! But if "pan and scan" had been mentioned, I would have understood immediately. There's a scene in The Mask where the Mask pulls out loads of guns, and they just pop out little flags that say "bang". In the yokelvision version, you can't see the flags, and miss the joke entirely.
Your review of The Killing is pretty damn funny even without having seen the movie. I'm guessing it's tonally appropriate, and will be even funnier when I get around to it. Sure, pick one of the few Kubricks I haven't seen...
Heh heh heh. Thanks! Knowing how you feel about heist movies, I'm not sure if you'd like it, but I definitely did. Let me know what you think if you do check it out!
Glad you liked The Untouchables! It's an old favorite of mine that didn't quite hold up upon a recent rewatch, but was still quite good. And if you're going to compliment the cast, you should include a nod to young Andy Garcia, who held his own nicely with the big boys (I thought).
I don't really think Costner deserved to become a joke. He made some bombs to be sure, but at least some weren't as bad as advertised, and it looks like he might be staging a low-key comeback. The Upside of Anger looked decent from the trailer, and Open Range was a worthy western, for sure.
Oh, I saw an interview with Depp that said he was surprised by the Willy Wonka/Michael Jackson observation. He claims he was going for old kid-show and game show hosts. Kinda like a combination of Captain Kangaroo and somebody like Monty Haul (he actually mentioned a different game show host, but now I can't remember who).
Well, maybe Depp wasn't the most at fault for the Michael Jackson comparison - the makeup artist deserves a good amount of credit for making him so pale. I didn't think he seemed much like a kid-show or game-show host, though; he was not nearly as theatrical or energetic as Gene Wilder, and the character is a little too sadistic to seem like a TV host. That high-voiced giggle, though, reminded me of no one but Michael Jackson.
Andy Garcia was excellent in The Untouchables. Not as good as Sean Connery's wonderful performance, IMHO, but still quite great. And you're right-on regarding Costner - it's really bizarre how he started his career making great blockbusters, moved on to making bad blockbusters, and has now ventured into independent film post-3000 Miles to Graceland.
Still, I can't resist...
Lisa Simpson: (watching The Postman on a very large TV) Ooh, I hear this really sucks. (presses a button for director's commentary; Kevin Costner appears in a split screen)
Costner: I'm sorry. I am really sorry. Ugh, ah, I don't know what I was thinking, but "Field of Dreams" was good, wasn't it? Made us all believe again.
Lisa: Oh, poor Mr. Costner. He tries so hard.
Costner: Aw, thanks, you're sweet to say that.
Lisa: Uh ... where are you?
Costner: (steps out from behind the TV) I'm back here. Hi. Will you bring me a sandwich? Please? No crusts.
Ha! So did Costner really do that Simpsons cameo, or did somebody imitate him?
Ooh, actually saying those lines would've really been the nail in the coffin, eh? No, that was Harry Shearer doing Costner's voice.
I too recently saw charlie and the chocolate factory basically because it was simply the only choice concievable at the time... and I loved it, well in comparison to my expectations anyway, I thought it would be a mediocre rehashing and burtonizing of the older version(which i really enjoy a lot) and not being much of a fan of burton i thought i would hate that sort of thing, fortunately it somehow stands completely apart from the old version because the story is basically completely different, which i loved, it not only has a more intriguing way of telling the differently aimed plot, but it also made the film nearly uncomparable to the older version, which is the only real way i can fathom liking a gene wilder-less version very much at all.
I'm not a Burton fan either, and I agree with everything you said.
Re: Jaws (1975) I've read (heard? imagined?) several explanations for the tension-terror that the Dread Spielberg created "without even showing the damn shark." The mechanical shark models didn't work often enough, the audience laughed at the shark in previews so the Dread Spielberg said he'd fix (and shorten) it by taking the shark out of the first half of the film, they needed a PG rating and scrapped an early shot of a severed head in the shark's mouth, it's a Hitchcockian technique; there are probably many more apocryphal reasons.
I actually believe all of them. the Dread Spielberg (and cast & crew) have referred to Bruce the shark in far more derogatory terms than "the damn shark." ("The turd" is as potty-mouth as I'm willing to get here.) The 29 year-old the Dread Spielberg had gone wildly over-budget and over-schedule, scaring the heck out of Universal, and would have been subjected to audience testing. The first scene with the death of the blonde skinny-dipper supposedly put the movie in dange of an X rating(!?) and was recut, there was a pre-production sketch that is kinda gruesome and after shooting wrapped they went back to shoot the severed head in the boat hull scene. the Dread Spielberg, young and insecure, may very well have looked to Hitchcock and he definitely stole the Vertigo camera trick in that great beach scene. Besides which the Dread Spielberg had already used the unseen menace trick in Duel which has a tractor trailer playing the role of shark. (You might like that movie... you might also like Blade Runner: The Director's Cut ... then again perhaps not.)
The male bonding may have been helped by the extended length of the shoot, the fact that there was nothing else to do at the location and the collective cast & crew lunches day after day. Of course, before it was all over, Dreyfuss and Shaw hated each other and Scheider had a meltdown.
I think that Jaws is yet another example that limits (not freedom) create the best art. ("You're using coconuts!")
What are your favorite examples that limits, rather than freedom, create the best art?
Yeah, I too heard the one about the mechanical shark not looking so hot, so they made its role in the movie smaller. May I say, great call, the Dread Spielberg.
I had first bookmarked this to comment when you just had Unforgiven on here (and I was going to write how happy it made me that you loved the film, especially after putting me on the edge of my seat in the first half of your review, when I thought you were going to pan it), but then I returned to see you added a couple of my all-time favorites to the list: Nobody's Fool and Jaws. Awesome. Great review of Nobody's Fool, and certainly one I wish more folks would see (I like to think I've convinced at least the scantest handful of folks to check out that movie, Zero Effect, and pretty much anything by Zhang Yimou (except House of Flying Daggers - blech)). Anyway, it's definitely Newman's movie, but boy, that supporting cast is rivetingly good. As for Jaws, my two favorite scenes are probably Richard Dreyfuss crushing the styrofoam cup, and the three guys singing on the boat. Robert Shaw; was there anything he couldn't do?
Yeah, I guess the first half of that review did sound like I disliked Unforgiven. But no, I liked that the whole thing grew from an incident that would seem trivial. It really screws with the traditional scheme of perfect Western heroes and evil villains; instead, the morality is in shades of gray. Do the characters deserve their fates? Maybe not, but that's just the way things go sometimes.
I loved those Jaws scenes - such great male bonding in that movie. And yes, you were the main reason I saw Nobody's Fool, so thanks very much for the recommendation! And I promise to see Raise the Red Lantern when it comes out on DVD...
I've been curious about Virgin; I guess now I am pretty excited.
Our reactions to many of the recent films are pretty close, especially Broken Flowers and Me and You(I'm not the only person disappointed with it!).
I'm also THRILLED you liked Hiroshima.
As always, your reviews are a delight to read; I especially dug the Jaws, and Me and You (wasn't that a good film?) reviews. Kudos for including what might be my favorite bit of Friends dialogue in your review of Season 8.
Oh, and Open Range has already gone far in redeeming Kevin Costner, at least enough to pull him up from the joke category, I reckon (obligatory Okieism when mention Western film). I've never though he was a bad director, even if he has chosen some bad screenplays.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I think you would probably like the 40-Year-Old Virgin, but comedy is so subjective it's hard to tell. I did find Anchorman quite funny (though not as funny as Virgin), so take that as you will.
Definitely loved Hiroshima. What a stunning film.
Glad you enjoy the reviews! Your parenthetical comments in your second and fourth statements made me laugh, but I knew you were talking about Broken Flowers the first time. Friends definitely has some very funny moments when they're not giving us accidental proposals...
It is interesting how Kevin Costner seems to have jumped back the other way from the proverbial shark. Perhaps some time out of the public eye has done him good?
By the way, have you seen the Up Documentaries?
Ah, those ()s, indeed victims of sloppy last-minute editing. You are very perceptive.
I have only seen bits of the Up films, but I've loved what I have seen. My local library has them, so I'll have to pick them up.
I think Costner just needed to come down to earth, abandon the stellar themes his sci fi flicks clumsily explored, and work with a simpler screenplay. His directing chops are pretty solid (as bad as anybody finds Waterworld to be, I don't think the actual directing is to blame), so landing back onto terra firma in the West suited him fine.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I feel that Costner is still shark bait. Not only do I dislike his recent acting but his career is starting to ruin my memories of his old movies. (Did I really sit through Dances with Wolves twice?) In my eyes Kevin Costner has become a second-rate Alec Baldwin without the admirable politics... which is a role that Daniel Baldwin was born to play.
I doubt my opinion will change even if he makes Buffalo Bill Cody 2092: World Series MVP. (Although I do hear that Buffalo Bill was a basically decent guy trying to make his way in the world while struggling with events beyond his control that, in the end, brought out previously unseen noble instincts within himself.)
I suspect most people agree with you, even if I don't.
Have you seen Open Range? In particular, the final shoot-out was directed extremely well, for my money...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Save your money. I have not seen Open Range and almost certainly will not unless you recommend otherwise... and even then. I have no wish to risk my warm flossy nostalgia for Silverado .
Perhaps only Quentin Tarantino could rehabilitate Mr. Costner for me... and even then.
I haven't seen Open Range or The Upside of Anger, but even if he has redeemed himself, he may be headed on the wrong track again. But can you blame him for wanting to hook up with Jennifer Aniston?
How big of a dork am I if I admit that the film sounds like it might actually turn out good?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs (ducking)
You're about a 1.7 on the andy-richter scale. That's not big at all. Having said that I must admit that I enjoyed parts of the trailer.
Not content with sullying my memories of The Untouchables and JFK Kevin Costner is now gunning for one of my favourite movies. As I watched the trailer my mind was screaming *don't be Ben Braddock don't be Ben Braddock don't be oh!sunnuva*
Moving on. The trailer brought two things to mind:
Isn't Jennifer Aniston a fine comic actress? What I wouldn't give to see her in a movie with Téa Leoni and Maura Tierney.
[and]
"Okay here it is: The Graduate, Part II! Ben and Elaine are married still, living in a big old spooky house in Northern California somewhere. Mrs. Robinson, her aging mother, lives with them. She’s had a stroke. And they’ve got a daughter in college... Julia Roberts, maybe. It’ll be dark and weird and funny... with a stroke."
You very well may be right about the movie. After all, I've only seen three horsemen so far.
I guess I should check out the trailer before I start counting the horsey-men, eh? :)
Just out of curiousity, just how high does that scale scale?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I guess it's possible, since the cast is very solid, but in a movie year absolutely riddled with remakes, to me this just sounds like a sneaky way of remaking The Graduate without actually doing so. Plus it's directed by Rob Reiner, who once made some brilliant films but hasn't even been involved with a good film since he acted in Bullets Over Broadway in '94.
I confess I have a hard time giving up hope on artists I once adored. Let's face it - the film will probably either be terrific or it will be horrid. I'm holding out hope, but then I haven't seen the trailer yet...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I liked Open Range, and I'm looking forward to The Upside of Anger and Rumor Has It. But hey, I thought Waterworld was merely poor, not a disaster.
I think you and I see eye-to-eye on Costner, though I haven't seen Upside yet.
Waterworld was not a great film, but it was nowhere near as bad as its rep would imply, IMNSHO.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I haven't seen The Opposite of Sex yet, so what is "metahumorous narration"?
I've been trying to find her opening monologue in its entirety but failing, so instead I'll describe it and include the snippets I found. Basically Christina Ricci starts the film off by saying it's not going to be a sappy, inspiring Pretty-Woman-type movie. Quote: "If you think I'm just plucky and scrappy and all I need is love, you're in over your head. I don't have a heart of gold and I don't grow one later, OK? But relax. There's other people a lot nicer coming up. We call them losers."
She also makes fun of the story at times, pointing out obvious foreshadowing by saying, "This part where I take the gun is like, duh, important", and she even manipulates us by showing us an emotional scene, then takes sadistic pleasure in confessing it never really happened.
Never seen it but does it go like this...
Maybe you should be a screenwriter. Or maybe you already are...
In this case it was just flash research. Which reminds me...
Actually, that's the ending monologue. And it should probably have some spoiler tags...
whoops... like I said: flash research.
If jim or the powers that be are able then I'd appreciate it if the above was SPOILERIZED... or deleted to spare my ego. (Oh, wait a minute. I just found my spare ego. Never mind.)
Kubrick's The Killing was spoiled for me by the Bad Girl's utterly ridiculous hairdo. Every time she hit the screen I broke up laughing.
I must have not noticed the ridiculousness of it.
Perhaps they aren't as extensively reflexive as Sunset Boulevard, but Those Awful Hats showed a clip from another film within itself as early as 1909, and the famous cinema scene from Keaton's Sherlock Jr (1924) is blatantly reflexive. All those cameos from film history are hard to beat, though!
Early "celebrity" cameo casting: John Cage in At Land (1944) - though he's not a film celebrity.
Hey, you saw Gigantic! Looking forward to seeing what you thought of it...
brilliantly put about network, i couldn't have said it better myself.
I agree! (take note ;) )
Excellent review!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Thanks, guys!
Of course Citizen Kane is underrated by yokels who worship Return of the King and prefer Yokelvision. I also think Citizen Kane is overrated as "the greatest film of all time" (if I had to guess, I'd rank it around 5-15). It's also overrated by critics who claim it is the first significant use of, say, ceiling shots, flashback narrative, or deep focus. But I also think critics who love the movie often underrate it because they feel required to include it high on their list of best films, but don't understand that it is the single most significant contribution to mainstream film (not counting format-formative films like Roundhay Garden Scene or The Great Train Robbery). Citizen Kane wasn't brand new, no - it just did everything better and bolder than ever before, and brought film into the modern era.
Very well put, and yes, its contributions to mainstream film are phenomenal, especially in a time when most directors just tended to let the script speak for itself.
"but I am still offended that it is ranked below Fellowship of the Ring and Star Wars on the IMDB list."
That just about sums up how I feel about 240 movies on the top 250... obviously i agree with you and lukeprog about it's overrated/underrated thing... it's better than good, but worst than one of the best of all time... in my opinion... I love a lot of stupid movies and maybe i'm too neutral-minded when it comes to reviewing films(they all hit the vcr with the precedent of an ernest goes to... movie and we go from there) but I think I have it somewhere around 200.
Meshes of the Afternoon: You watched it for class, I'm guessing? Did the instructor even know what to make of it? All I can do is read someone else's analysis of it, play it in slow motion, and try to see what the writer could be referencing. That process led me to believe it is a masterpiece, but not one I care to watch again.
I talked about the short in my film class last school year, and my professor said it was about an engaged woman worried about her upcoming marriage. But no, today I actually watched it out of my own volition. After all, I knew lbangs liked it and you, er, said it was a masterpiece.
This is a side tangent, but you've changed your movie rating system so much, I have one more idea for you. I think you should give every film two ratings: one for how much you enjoyed it, and one for how great you thought it was.
In any case, I found the short interesting but completely unreviewable, as I didn't understand a frame of it. Can you point me to any particularly insightful analyses that helped you make any sense of it?
I have considered a seperate 'enjoyment' rating many times, but a couple days ago I decided to do away with ratings entirely instead. :-)
At one point, I simply looked up every online review of Meshes of the Afternoon or Maya Deren's film work I could find. I can't find the one I found the most useful now, but that's okay since my own "review" is a condensation and paraphrase of its important pieces anyway!
I stated my non-enjoyment of Meshes of the Afternoon too strongly. I would like to see it again, and the likewise difficult Persona, too. But I've seen both of them 3 times in a row this year, and that's enough for now. I certainly don't relish a viewing of Meshes or Persona or even a Murnau flick like I do Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Mulholland Drive, but they do intrigue me enough to go back for yet another helping... eventually.
Well, that rating system (or lack thereof) should certainly simplify things.
Really? The most useful review of Meshes just basically said that there are a handful of overlapping narratives and it's hard to tell them apart? Damn, no one really knows what this film is about, do they?
I think my review said more than that, and the source analysis even more.
Well, not much more. Still, you're right - I was giving a condensation of your condensation and probably simplified things too much.
I'll be watching for your review of The Verdict!
Yes, and if I hadn't realized that I forgot to review it, you'd probably be waiting quite a while. Good thing I caught that, and hopefully I'll be able to remember my thoughts on it.
Excellent! I'm glad you liked it so much! JohnnyWaco had me watch the movie as part of one of our movie exchanges, and I'm awfully glad he did.