225 new of 229 responses total.
At least the book was good. I'll still not forgive him for stretching out over 6 months. That was wrong.
Give me a break, I was supposed to be on sabbatical at the time :)
Actually, I found the experience of having to wait for the next chapter to have been wonderful. A throwback to slower times in this age of instant gratification. I'd like to see more of that sort of enforced "can't turn to the last page early" mode of publication. Some things are worth waiting for.
I too thought the serial release was a fun touch.
None of you people were doing chemo, either.
agora 20 <-> cinema 36
Tonight I will continue a yearly christmas eve tradition and watch "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE" on tv-- This movie is a celebration of the average, normal, work-a-day life. Its actually a fairly dark story of a man whose dreams are crushehd, feels worthless, and is contemplating suicide. And who of course is rredeemed by the love of those around him, and the angel who teaches him that one is never a failure so long as one has friends. Ive seen this movie so many times the characters are like old friends-- Mr. Gower the druggist, Mr. Martini the saloonkeeper, Bert the Cop, Ernie the Cab driver, Nick the Bartender, the evil Mr. Potter, Uncle Charlie, Ma Bailey, Mary Bailey, the Bailey kids including little Suzoo and her rose petals, and of course George Bailey (ourhero) and Clarence the angel (who always has his copy of Tom Sawyer handy) Will Clarence get his wings? Will Harry Bailey make it through the snowstorm to be with his brother? Will George save Mr. Gower from kiling himself? Will George see what life would have been like if he'd never been born and want to live again? I get teary eyed every time at the end of it. It's one of my alltime favorite movies-- because it IS realy a wonderful life when ya think about it!! Merry christmas!
I took the kids to see Toy Story 2. It was, like Toy Story, a kind of nice movie. The kids liked it a lot, and I really did, too. It has impressive graphics, but that doesn't have anything to do with why I liked it. If you're marveling at the graphics, you aren't paying attention to the story, and if the story doesn't hold your attention, the movie is not going to be good. I enjoyed the story.
Re. 12: Ya gotta be a 'puter geek to do both. 8-)
saw Any Given Sunday last night. Overall, a decent movie. Pretty good plot, although it took too long to develop. Decent acting. I'm not sure if it needed to fill 3 hours, there were some parts that could have been cut out without hurting the story. The camera work was, by far, the worst part of this movie. The camera was never still for very long, usually pretty shaky. Maybe this was intended to make it feel more like the camera was right there in the game, but it didn't do much for me. A lot of too-fast cuts along with the shaky camera made me think I was watching "Blair Witch Project Overall: B-
The add showed a front flip, presumably by an athletic quarterback into the endzone. This strikes me as a fairly unoriginal piece of choreography, since that action has occurred twice in college football in the past two years, most excitingly when Arizona's Ortege Jenkins somersaulted over two Washington defenders to win the game on the last play last year. All I can say is that Stone could have hired me to do art direction better than that out of the box.
GALAXY QUEST (B+) -- A surprisingly gentle look at a much-parodied corner of fandom, with a massive surprise reward for some of the geekiest fans at the conclusion. Alan Rickman is almost *too* convincing as the frustrated Shakespearean, Tim Allen is excellent, Sigourney Weaver plays a kind of anti-Ripley. Silly fun.
Mansfield Park: A terribly lovely film. Apparently it was tweaked from the original, but I don't remember the book enough to tell you if it was good or bad changes. Some cute modern-y bits, only one character in strange costume, and the knowledge that since it's Jane Austen, everyone will marry precisely who they should.
THE IRON GIANT-- Watched this christmas day with my nephew (he got it from somebody for as a present) This is a wonderful animated movie about a boy who befriends a giant iron robot. The robot is built to be a weapon, but learns from the boy that he can be who he wants to be, not who others tell him he should be. The movie also has a strong anti- nuclear, anti-weapons message. The animation is wonderful, and the story is really moving. This movie is on a lot of year-end ten best films of the year lists. THE IRION GIANT (**** FOUR STARS)
i enjoyed iron giant, and as soon as it was over, i realized that IRON GIANT is ET in different clothes.
The Talented Mr. Ripley -- C+ About an hour too long. Not particularly faithful to the book. Not mysterious enough to be a mystery. Not suspenseful enough to be a thriller. Too shallow to be a psychological drama. About the only thing really worth watching here is the scenery of Italy..
Lady and the Tramp-
I know it's a little old, but no one should miss seeing it. Disney showed
the letterbox edition last night and it was superb. 4 stars.
One of the guiding principles of American economics is that better things cost more. The DVD of "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" retails for $30, while the VHS version of the same title is over $100.
VHS tapes often cost that much when they're priced for sale to video stores and not ordinary consumers.. Probably there'll be a consumer- price (~$20) VHS release soon..
I accidentally acquired a video I'd never heard of called "The Zero Effect" - the directorial debut of the 22-year-old son of Lawrence Kasdan. It looked like yet another action flick, but I watched it. Possibly partly because I came to it with no expectations, I liked it a lot. You keep thinking it is about to turn into an action flick, breaking out in gun fights and car chases, but it never does. Instead it's a mystery in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes (in fact, it is a remake of Sherlock Holmes), never quite taking itself seriously, never quite going over the edge into utter silliness.
Despite the fact that Bill Pullman always annoys me, I enjoyed "Zero Effect" (perhaps because this time for a chance he's actually *supposed* to be annoying.) Ben Stiller's role, playing the much harried sidekick/assistant/foil to private investigator Darryl Zero (Pullman's character) must've been reasonably fun..
Another thumbs up for "The Zero Effect" from me. It's been said that Pullman's and Stiller's roles should have been switched, but I disagree. Casting against type can work surprisingly well.
Speaking of movies with "zero" in the title: Check out "Apartment Zero" sometime...
movies with "zero" in the title..."Less than Zero", pretty good movie version of Brett Easton Ellis novel about baby boomer angst-- Robert Downey Jr. plays a cocaine addict who dies in the movie when he cant shake his addictions. Downey apparently *really* became addicted to coke on the set and has had serious drug problems ever since and is currently in jail.
"Ground Zero", a decent docudrama-style movie about the British tests
on Arboriginal land in the 1960s, and the fallout (literally) from them.
"Zero for Conduct", a classic 1930's French film about a rebellion in a school for boys.
is it about spankings and stuff?
saw 'run lola run' thought it was pretty good. had a bit of 'groundhog day' feel to it.
ON ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (D) This movie was already described in #14, but I take a far less charitable stand on the presumption of a plot and the invention of the shakey-cam, the cliche for football mayhem on film. I lpaid matinee prices and did not get my money's worth--even though I sat for three hours. I doubt that even the price of a rental would be a bargain. I suggest waiting for a *broadcast* network to play it so that any dope with some scissors can improve it by making random cuts for commercial space. One good thing to say about the film: The sound of turf being torn from the ground in the hands of the first-string quarterback after his injury. That was great, but it certainly didn't make a three-hour movie any good.
resp:24, resp:25 :: We haven't gotten to ZERO EFFECT yet, but from the reviews I was led to understand that it was a reworking of Nero Wolfe, not Sherlock Holmes. Nero Wolfe is the genius who stays home and thinks, and Archie is the assistant who gathers the evidence and tells the story. GALAXY QUEST gets two thumbs up from this household, though perhaps you have to be a SF fan or a Trekkie to really enjoy it. Tim Allen does a wonderful job playing a William Shatner-like character.
No, it's a reworking of Sherlock Holmes. No question about it. It's even a specific Sherlock Holmes story.
Which story? (I haven't read Holmes lately...) The plot may be Holmesian, but I agree with Ken that the two main characters seem to be based on Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.
Roger Ebert says: "Midway through the movie, I was being nudged by echoes of another story, and I realized that Zero Effect was probably inspired by the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and the faithful Watson -- Holmes, who could sit in his study and use pure deduction to solve a crime. When Zero described his methods, he sounds Holmesian: 'Objectivity ... and observation. The two ob's.' If Zero is like Holmes, Gloria is certainly like Irene Adler, from 'A Scandal in Bohemia.' She was the one woman for Holmes, the one who got under his skin and into his mind."
New DVD recommendation-- THE LAST PICTURE SHOW- this is director Peter Bogdonavich's wonderful version of Larry McMurtry's book of the same name about a year in the life of a small, dying, Texas town. Stars a number of young actors in their first acting jobs (Cybill Sheppard, Jeff Bridges, Randy Quaid, Timothy Bottoms). "LAST PICTURE SHOW" is an american classic about the death of small town america. Bogdanovich filmed this in beautiful black and white at the recommendation of Orson Welles. The DVD also includes a terrific "making-of" documentary and other features. This is one of the great films and well worth having on DVD. LAST PICTURE SOHW (***** FIVE STARS)
As Delizia/Ebert say, "A Scandal in Bohemia". Some points of similarity
(mild spoilers):
- "He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine
that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself
in a false position." Much is made in the first paragraph of Holmes'
objectivity, and of the impression his nemisis in this story made on
him. "And yet, there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the
late Irene Adler".
- "I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us
away from each other." Like Steve Arlo, Dr Watson is being distracted
from Holmes by love. Holmes more or less drags him into the case.
- Between cases, Holmes have been indulging in cocaine. Zero drugs up.
(Both also play string instruments (badly) though this is not mentioned
in "A Scandal in Bohemia").
- When Holmes sees Watson, he observes that he has taken up his practice
again and has been recently caught in the rain. The basis? He smells
of iodoform. Zero identifies Gloria's profession based on her hair having
been wet and her smell of iodine.
- The King of Bohemia is being blackmailed by Irene Adler, with whom he
had an affair. She has a picture of them together, which she threatens
to send to his future wife. Obviously this had to be updated, since
that could hardly be cause for much alarm in this day and age. Irene
has been split into two different women in "Zero Effect" and the
embarrassingness of the relationship has been magnified.
- Holmes, like Zero, uses many disguises in his work.
- Holmes' client, like Zero's, attempts to keep secrets from the great
detective.
- A false fire alarm figures in both stories.
- Holmes, like Zero, figures out the woman's secret, but fails to bring
her to "justice", because she figures him out just as fast and flees
the country. She reveals that she has uncovered him by addressing him
by name.
- Though the lady is not captured, the blackmail threat is ended.
The "Zero Effect" plot is substanially more complex and suspenseful, but
this is a lot of similarities given that "A Scandal in Bohemia" is only about
20 pages long. Zero's reclusiveness does seem similar to Nero Wolfe's, but
in fact Zero spends the whole movie out and about, not being reclusive.
I don't see many other Wolfe similarities, but I've only read a couple of
those books.
<remmers concedes the point to janc, who is obviously the superior holmesian scholar>
My roommate and I saw Fantasia 2000 last night on the IMAX screen here in Columbus. Was wonderful, albeit Disney. Some of the pieces including Beethovens 9th Symphony, Saint Saens 'March of the Animals' (Or something close, can't remember the exact name) with a flock of flamingos and a yo-yo; and Pomp and Circumstance with Donald Duck trying to herd animals onto Noah's Ark. Everybodies favourite 'The Sorcerers Apprentice' and Stravinsky's 'Firebird' (I think that's it name. Headache is blocking exact names at the moment). A few other songs were in the movie, of those I can't remember the names or composers so I won't embarass myself with my lack of knowledge on those songs(More than I already have). Lots of story telling through the songs and less image and colours. (I think Beethovens piece may have been the only image piece and not a story). Typical Disney animation and a large contrast in the animation between the new songs and with 'Sorcers Apprentice'. Appeared to have more computer animation than the original. (For obvious reasons, but the computer animation was heavily used as opposed to regular animation. Did that make sense?) Well worth the $10 we each payed for an evening show.
I saw it at the Henry Ford Museum's new IMAX theater. My favorite pieces were 'Firebird' and 'Carnival of the Animals.'
I was going to see it at the IMAX theater here in NYC, but they set up special ticket prices for that movie only-- $12.50 a ticket. I will not pay $12.50 for a movie ticket. Im too cheap.
Another inconsistency in "Man on the Moon": * George Shapiro takes on Andy Kaufman as a client after seeing a show in which Kaufman did an impression of "Jimmy Carter, President of the United States". Shapiro proceeded to book Kaufman on the premiere episode of "Saturday Night Live", which... anyone? Anyone? It happened one year, to the month, before Carter was elected President. Just saw "Magnolia" today. I'm sure I'll understand it more and pick up on more cues if I go see it a second time, but given that, with trailers, we're talking about 3 1/4 hours at the theater, it may be a little while before I can devote the time. There's a "musical number" in the middle. At one point, when all the characters are at or near their respective nadirs, an Aimee Mann song starts playing on the soundtrack, and we are shown all the major characters in the ensemble, each of them singing a half-verse or so of the song. I don't know... I'm still not decided on how I feel about that. On the one hand, if the film can be said to have any unifying themes, one of them would certainly be the ways in which seemingly unrelated lives have effects on each other, and the song does neatly encapsulate that. On the other, it's a definite break in the story-telling, and it draws conspicuous attention to itself as a film, a fabrication. Artifice at 24 frames a second. (And I wish I had thought of that sentence for any of my film classes.) But still, I'd much rather have a director try to break conventions even if they don't work, instead of aiming low and getting it square on. I'm trying like anything to make this a non-spoiler: At several points during the film, the number of a Bible verse is shown. If you know what that verse said (which I didn't) you'll probably be able to predict another one of the film's unifying moments, near the end. Without giving it away, that event is probably the largest break the film takes from realism. It sort of seemed, to me anyway, to have undermined the credibility of what had happened up to that point.
Tried to go see Galaxy Quest, but... The Goodrich 16 out on Jackson is pretty nice, but they schedule the starting times of *all* the films within the same 20 minutes. Needless to say, a huge line forms all the way out into the parking lot. Idiots.
When I went there last week, I was struck by the abbreviations they had to resort to for theaters which were showing more than one film. "STUART BI MAN"
A friend and I also went to the Goodrich 16 to see Galaxy Quest. When the showtime we'd originally planned on sold out we went and had a leisurely supper at Mancino's (a pizza and sub place a few blocks further down the street) and then returned for the next showing. I wouldn't say it was hilarious, but it was at least amusing. We both enjoyed it, I'd give it a solid "B"..
#46 slipped in.. Yeah, we noticed and commented on the "STUART BI MAN" theater.. We were slightly more puzzled by "JOHN WORLD"
It's a theme park where all the fantasy characters look remarkably similar.
When I came out of the IMAX theater after seeing Fantasia/2000, I noticed a plate that said 'ANIM8R' on T-bird.
I saw Galaxy Quest tonight and didn't find it funny or entertaining except for 2 or 3 brief moments.
Oddly enough I saw Galaxy Quest tonight at the Quality 16 (or is it a quality 16?) out jackson road, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I suspect that one's enjoyment of "Galaxy Quest" will depend on how much time one has invested in "Star Trek" over the years.
Or, if you're not personally a Trek fan, on how much you hang out with people who are..
I hang out with star trek snobs. Some of them like ds9 but not voyager; some others became b5 fanatics, and none of them engages in cast rubber sculpture contests of any sort, at least in public (to my knowledge.) But yes, I agree, if you've been living under a rock these past 30 years, you won't understand galaxy quest. (Are there really people who never head of Shatner's "get a life" line?)
<timidly raises his hand>
I am well aware of Star Trek. I can take it or leave it, but I've been exposed to it extensively for decades.
(I still didn't like Galaxy Quest)
(Well, Dan, you know what they say to young people about all people over 30?)
actually that quote was attributed to abbie hoffman, and when *he* turned 30, he changed "over" to "under." i saw magnolia this weekend as well, and i think it was the most unusual cenimatic experience i have ever had. i agree with erik about the song bit in the middle. i found that portion of the film really added nothing for me, and in fact dragged a bit unnecessarily. the climactic moments referred to in the biblical reference struck me as exxagerated for dramatic effect, to the point of hilarity, but plausible as one of many exxagerations in a story which i referred to as "an anthology of everyday pain and suffering." i thoroughly enjoyed the film, even though i would have enjoyed it more if about 20 selected minutes were cut from it.
oh, and rented "the thirteenth floor." i liked the basic concept, and some portions of the execution, however most of the dialogue and attempted development of any romance storylines were completely unoriginal, uninspired and unconvincing. it bore obvious similarities to the much better production "the matrix" but also had some unique story elements. i'd like to have seen this story concept developed by someone who can write.
In nearly every review I've seen of "Magnolia", Tom Cruise's character is referred to as "the Tony Robbins of the male sleazeball set", or something to that effect. But he's hardly a Tony Robbins character. In fact, if I were to compare him to a real-life person, it would be Ross "Speed Seduction" Jeffries. With better fashion sense. I'd be surprised if Jeffries doesn't try to grab some of the spotlight by threatening legalisms towards P. T. Anderson, because Mackey has some lines that closely paraphrase Jeffries.
Tom Cruise uses Eriksonian hypnosis to get the honeys? Damn.
Last I heard, it's legally okay satirize public figures. In any
case, I predict that Cruise will get an Academy Award nomination
for "Magnolia".
Regarding the singing bit -- the director, Paul Thomas Anderson,
also makes music videos. I must say that the film felt like a
music video in many ways. That's not intended as a negative
comment. I liked the movie quite a bit, as I did Anderson's
other two films, "Hard Eight" and "Boogie Nights". (For someone
who was born in 1970, he gets remarkably good 70's period feel
in "Boogie Nights".)
I found a fan site for Anderson on the web:
http://www.ptanderson.com
Yes, it's okay to satirize public figures, but that seemed a little extreme. Not that I'm a Jeffries apologist, mind you.
i probably will have to see it again to develop a fuller appreciation of the value of the singing bit, but at 3 hour and 8 or so minutes running time, it might have to wait a while.
The current running time of "Magnolia" is actually shorter than Anderson's first cut by 20 minutes or so.
*** Great Works of the 20th Century Alert ***
The new issue of Jean Renoir's film GRAND ILLUSION *finally* appears
at the Michigan Theatre on Sunday and Monday. Renoir, the son of
the impressionist painter, is one of the greatest film directors,
and this 1930's drama about World War I POWs is one of his two
best known works. It stars French film idol Jean Gabin, France's answer
to Clark Gable. I haven't seen it in a decade, so I'm looking forward
to this.
Somehow I knew that it would happen while I was out of town..
I am about half way through viewing _The Matrix_ on VHS. A good flik. Whats-her-name just back from a week 'on the job' in California did comment "Wouldn't this be better if we were doing drugs?" - no I don't think she's even 'done drugs' (I have, and yes). But anyway, its an excellent derivitive work of Kronenberg's _Videodrome_ sure to have any psychotherapist dealing with a 'borderline schitzo' or worse client muttering "OH SHIT" under their breath. We passed on it in the cinema format but look forward to the next two sequels.
Kronenberg re-wrote _Videodeome_ with a more modern set and budget in
the recent _eXistenZ_. It's not quite as compelling, but it's more
disturbing. Well worth the video rental.
The International Channel is having a Samurai Movie Festival this month. I stumbled across the first film in the LONE WOLF & CUB series last weekend but I didn't realize that they were showing two per weekend from that series, so all that are left are #5 and #6 next weekend. They'll follow up with a Toshiro Mifune film. http://www.i-channel.com for the schedule information.
(I didn't know there WAS a Lone Wolf & Cub movie series...)
Apparently the International Channel samurai festival is a promotion for video releases of all these films. See http://www.videoz.com for even more information. And I found a pretty good "Lone Wolf & Cub" movie page, too.
Re #70, #71: It's "Cronenberg", with a "C".
I finally got to see and enjoy Toy Story 2 and Galaxy Quest this weekend. I think I was the one in the theature laughing the most.
Double feature on cable: I want to live!- Story of Barbara Graham played to excellence by Susan Hayward. Graham was a woman who was a forger, check passer, prostitute, but what got her was a charge of murder. She was accused of killing an old lady. but she swears she was at home with her kid. Of course, there are no witnesses that could place her there. The criminologist that was hired for the appeal said that her personality was not of a killer, and that the killer was right handed, Graham was a leftie which is something the LAPD chose to ignore. Another one of those could be innocent things. Graham died in the gas chamber at the Q in 1960 something. Very intense ending. worth renting. 3 1/2 stars. Mr Blandings builds his dream house- Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas combine to make building a house in Conneticutt sound like the easiest thing on earth, yet it turns into a money pit. Excellent script, acting and photograpy by James Wong Howe. 4 stars.
I finally rented "Life is Beautiful". Ack. I'm probably one of the few people alive who found the film tedious and way over-everything. I wanted to smack the guy upside the head and eliminate all sugar from his diet. I did like "U Turn".
Was over at some friends' house Friday and rented "Out of Sight", which I had initially ignored because George Clooney was featured prominently on all of the promotional materials I'd seen. Despite the Clooney factor it was a very enjoyable film. For those who haven't seen it, it's director Steven Soderbergh's shot at filming an Elmore Leonard novel. Not surprisingly the movie bears a strong resemblance to "Get Shorty" and "Jackie Brown" (also based on Leonard's novels,) but that's not a bad thing..
This response has been erased.
Yeah, "Out of Sight" is my favorite excellent-movie-that-didn't-win- any-awards from 1998. Caught "Grand Illusion" today at the Michigan. I'd seen it before, but not since the 1960's. Great film, beautifully restored.
I finally saw Mystery Men. It was wonderful. Two instances alone make it worth the view.
Leslie and I saw the last showing of "Grand Illusion" at the Michigan today. The new print is beautiful. I was glad to be able to introduce Leslie to one of my favorite films, now I need to rummage around and find my Renoir videotape collection.
re #80: I think that of those three films ("Get Shorty", "Jackie Brown",
and "Out of Sight") I liked "Get Shorty" best, but "Out of Sight" was
quite enjoyable.
But can anyone explain to me what the title has to do with anything in
the movie?
I wondered about that myself. Is it "out of sight" as in "fantasic, wonderful, etc." or as in "out of sight, out of mind"? The latter doesn't fit, because Clooney and Lopez's characters were never far from each other's thoughts.
I assumed that the title referred to the loot they were trying to find toward the end of the film.
And re the comparison of "Out of Sight" with "Jackie Brown" (which I liked about equally) -- there's the trivia tidbit that Michael Keaton has an unbilled cameo in "Out of Sight" playing the same character that he did in "Jackie Brown".
Arrgghh! I *knew* there was something about his character's name in "Out of Sight" that seemed familiar but I couldn't figure out what it was since I only saw "Jackie Brown" once and while my memory is good, it's not *that* good. That explains the frisson of deja vu..
Three Kings - what a waste of film and time. Three opportunist soldiers with time on their hands at the end of the Kuwait liberation war (a.k.a. Desert Storm) decide to stage a raid on Hussein's stolen Kuwaiti gold. Of course things don't go according to plans. Stale war afterthought.
An opposing viewpoint: I thought "Three Kings" was one of the best movies I saw last year, and certainly one of the most thought-provoking war movies I've ever seen. My biggest problem with the film was that it builds up such emotional momentum during the first 2/3 that the screenwriter and director essentially paint themselves into a corner, leaving themselves nowhere to go to finish the film on the same high note.
Nowhere that I found believable, at least. The ending was a bit
forced.
I mostly agree with Mike. Not a movie about opportunists getting the goods at all. Very thought provoking. Visually exciting. Amazing that it is the director/writer's first film.
Wow. I finally saw American Beauty. It was wonderful. Kevin Spacey never ceases to amaze me. So much one can take from it, too.
Re resp:92 - Hm. According to my research, "Three Kings" is director David O. Russell's third film, not his first. The previous two were "Spanking the Monkey" and "Flirting with Disaster".
Perhaps Leslie is thinking of Spike Jonze, who has a major role in "Three Kings". He directed his first major picture this past year after years of shooting music videos. The result was the very unusual (and quite funny) "Being John Malkovich".
Hmmm, I got my info from Ken about the director of Three Kings... Dunno where he got the idea. Maybe it was the Spike Jonze connection.
Interesting interview with Tim Allen available at http://www.galaxyquest.co m. He's either a genuine SF fan or at least found somebody to give good answers to the interviewer.
If you goto the http reference, you can't get back....
??
I'll give three: ???
Re #98: Click on the link with your middle mouse button to open the page in a new window. If your mouse hasn't got a middle button, install Linux.
Or, under IE, use shift-click. Under Netscape, right-click on the link and choose 'Open in New Window' from the pop-up menu.
Ort, under Netscape on a mac, command-click the link. There,w asn't that easy?
"Bowfinger" - delectably zany farce, well worth a rental at your friendly neighborhood video store. Steve Martin plays Bowfinger, an Ed Wood-like movie director trying to make a scifi movie about aliens taking over the earth, on a budget of $2000. Eddie Murphy is the manic movie star who ends up in Martin's movie without realizing it; Murphy also plays a second role as the star's bashful, self-effacing brother. As an added bonus, the film gets in a few nice jabs at Scientology. Found myself laughing quite a lot. Frank Oz (of Muppet fame) directed.
Ouch. Ordinarily, I take Mr Cranky's reviews with the grain of salt he (or they) want me to take them with. In the case of Bowfinger, however, Mr Cranky drops the mask and delivers a straight critique, with which I couldn't agree more: "I'm basically used to the fact that, as an actor, Steve Martin is a smartass. For a comedian, this can be a gift, a necessity. Being a smartass as a writer, however, is something entirely different. Those of us who have achieved minimal notoriety can credibly retain a smartass perspective, because we can still look at the world through average eyes and offer our take on subjects big and small, rich and poor, without being hypocrites due to our social position. "Steve Martin does not have this "luxury." He is a millionaire. He is a writer and a filmmaker who can write any book or get any film made merely by the power of his name. That Martin would choose to ridicule the caricature of low-budget filmmaking that is Bobby Bowfinger is the equivalent of Martin taking a stroll down Hollywood Boulevard and taking a warm piss on the first homeless guy he saw because said person offended his sense of aesthetics. "In "Bowfinger," Bobby Bowfinger (Martin) has two thousand dollars, a bunch of bad actors, and wants to make a movie. He wants to make it with superstar Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) but doesn't have his permission. So, he simply follows Ramsey around and films the movie anyway. He gets a look-a-like named Jiff (Murphy, in a dual role), a bunch of bad actors including Daisy (Heather Graham), Carol (Christine Baranski) and Slater (Kohl Sudduth), a screenwriter Afrim (Adam Alexi-Malle) and camera man and supplier, Dave (Jamie Kennedy). "What does Steve Martin know about low-budget filmmaking, anyway? What does he know about misfits or about people who will forever fall short because they lack intelligence and talent? What does he know about actresses who have to sleep around to get what they want, other than having maybe slept with one? Why didn't Martin just make a comedy film about a quadriplegic's dream of competing at the Olympics in the 100-yard dash? He could have had hilarious scenes of the quad falling over in his electric wheelchair and being pinned on the hot asphalt for several hours. "Bowfinger" is a mean-spirited comedy trying to pretend it's silly and cute, which makes it that much more contemptible."
(Re 101: Changing your software adds controls to your hardware? Impressive.)
Re: #105 This guy saw another movie. The character of Bowfinger is passionate about film and nothing, not the lack of funding, acting talent, or legal contracts will get in the way of his dream. He face radiates pride when the first screening ends to the applause of an appreciative audience. The scene where the Fed-Ex guy brings him his next "offer" is precious beyond belief. The Bowfinger character is a Hollywood hero. In this movie Steve Martin isn't trying to mock Hollywood as much as pay tribute to every director with a dream and not much else. I like this film.
(Mr. Cranky = Christopher Potter?)
I am glad I got the DVD of Muppets in Space. I watched the movie
for the first time last night. A lot of laughing out loud. Laughed
more when I watched it again with the live commentary by the director,
Tim Hill, Gonzo, Rizzo and Kermit going on.
Now, my Gonzo think film festival of 1999 films will be:
Galaxy Quest, Toy Story 2, and Muppets in Space--they have something
in common.
I liked _Bowfinger_ as well. Whats-her-name even filled me in on all the 'inside' jokes.
Watched _Rush Hour_ recently with Jackie Chan and some eddie murphy wanabe along with some latina that used to have longer hair (hesche appeal?). Mary Wilson, Nai-nai, and I (while whats-her-name was in californicatoria otherwise she's object to its rating). The funniest parts were Mary Wilson translating the mandarin dialog so I wouldn't miss anything (those parts were subtitled). Its the first Jackie Chan movie I've seen and I suspect not the last. It actually had an interesting plot, good action, and the out-takes in the trailer were hilarious. I believe it is the second english film(tape) that nai-nai has enjoyed (the first being a COPS 'best of' that she was amazed at - the notion that the police would actually let the media follow along with them and film things as they happened....) (Mary Wilson loves COPS)
I find COPS kind of disturbing. I'm thinking in particular of one episode where they stopped a black guy riding on a bicycle at night, apparently for no other reason than that he was black, and it was night. Of course, he turned out to have a warrant against him, when they checked out his ID on the computer, but how many guys did they harass who *didn't* have warrants against them? Obviously they don't show that part on TV, but by inference it must happen quite a bit.
I find those "cops" shows rather disturbing as well.
On the same thought, I am concerned about the politically correct
telling police that they can't use any profiling skills they may have had -
unless they're profiling someone who is white, or of a minority that's not
large enough or politically powerful enough to have the protection of the
politically correct - because profiling is racist.
But I have seem some things on that show that really should have
resulted in someone getting dismissed permanently from the police force.
Profiling is racist.
Is profiling the kind of stuff people are talking about when they mention "Driving While Black"?
Re #114: Right...they shouldn't be profiling *anyone* based on the color of their skin.
I find "Cops" too disturbing to watch due to my "My god.. if *this* is how they behave when they KNOW they're being filmed" reaction to most of the footage..
(sounds like a good topic for a separate item)
"NETWORK"-- caught this on dvd over the weekend. I had forgotten what a really great movie this is. A really biting commentary on the power of television and how people get destroyed by ambition and ego. Peter Finch great as a network news anchor who has a mental breakdown and starts ranting and raving on the air. Faye Dunaway and Robert DuVall as the heartless programming execs who keep Finch on the air after his breakdown because his rantings are garnering great ratings. "I'm as mad as hell and Im not going to take it anymore" William Holden as the crusty news editor who is the only one who even cares about Finch. This movie was written by Paddy Chayefsky as a commentary on how television, and its ability to foster and drive a celebrity and ego-driven culture, could create generations of people so controlled by it that they lose touch with reality. That you could end up with people like the Dunaway and Duvall characters, who lose their ability to relate in the real world and start looking at what's on television as reality. A great movie. Finch, Dunaway and Chayefsky all won academy awards. I highly recommend it.
And Peter Finch, who died shortly before the Academy Award Presentations, was the first posthumous Best Actor Oscar.
(Apropos of nothing, I believe his oscar was accepted by his widow who happens to be black)(he is white). Isn't this black history month?) A really great flick, and although somewhat dated in its specifics it is perhaps even more relevent to today than when it was filmed (I mean we have federal and state money being spent to train 'former' welfare recipients to be 'psychics' (NY state in a recent AP wire service story). We have _NEWSWEEK_ altering photographs to fit stories, we have a president debating the meaning of the word 'is'...
I have been seeing two movies everyday for the past week. And the winners are :) "Welcome to Sarajevo" and "The Saviour". I don't how old are the movies but i don't care. I also saw some recent movies which were decent except this "Delta Force : Clear Target". Also i wanted to see more movies like "A Bridge too Far" and "The Hunt for the Red October". Any recommnedations?
The film _A Bridge too far_ is how the british fucked up a perfectly good land war. _The hunt for the red october_ is the only really good non-fictional portrayal of modern submarine warfare if you don't allow the british to fuck it up. All the subsequent novels are an egostistical power trip on the part of an american novelist (so what else is new). Any movie with "Delta" in the title is pure fiction.
Hunt for Red October is non-fictional? Wow.
I liked the movie...but the book, WOW, I read the book not long after it came out, and *could not* put it down until I had fininshed it. None of his other books came close, but I did enjoy Red Storm Rising, and even Patriot Games. I never aw the movie adaptation of that since it got pretty poor reviews. right now I'm reading SSN which is another fictional sub account based on a game that Clancy had a part in. It's okay, but no HFRO. I also like his non-fiction books like Submarine, Carrier, Fighter Wing, etc. Sorry for so little movie content...
I disagree with beady. Run Silent, Run Deep was a very good flick as was Grey Lady Down. GLD wasn't about warfare, but it did show that the Navy could rescue a sub. Charlton Heston and Ronny Cox were great. Nova recently did a piece on the Glomar Explorer, a ship built by the CIA to steal a russion sub that had sunk. Sort of a real life Red October. The sub broke up, and we didn't learn anything about the russkies from that, except how to waste a lot of money on a ship that is now rusting somewhere in some Navy shipyard. On a different topic, I saw Anatomy of a Murder last night and man, what a flick. Jimmy Stewart was fabulous, as was the rest of the cast. This was based on a real case that happened in the UP. The guy who wrote the novel was an ex-judge. All I can say is that I need to see more Otto Preminger movies, and I need to tape this one next time it comes around.
I meant to mention this earlier, and don't know if it's even showing anywhere anymore, but "Anna and the King" was very cool. I've long been an admirer of Jodie Foster, and my boyfriend has long been an admirer of Chow-Yun Fat, so when we heard that they were planning to make a movie together and that it would be a lavish historical piece to boot... well. We'd been looking forward to it for some time, and were afraid that after the hype and whatnot it wouldn't live up to our expectations. But it did. :) Good acting all around, wonderful costumes and sets and other visual elements that really made me feel like I was in 1860's Siam. More than that, the movie dealt with racial, cultural, and gender conflicts with more subtlety than most Hollywood fare these days. It managed to stay away from the old racist approach to these matters -- white Christians converting the heathens -- while *also* staying away from the other extreme, the sort of PC story where the Westerner learns that everything she has ever learned in her culture is wrong and the East is the only place of wisdom and compassion. Seeing a nonpartisan middle ground where both English and Siamese culture are seen to have their good points, and both are seen to have their bad points, was a very refreshing surprise. Yeah, the movie is a little full of itself at times. It's attempting to be a Great Sweeping Epic, incorporating two love stories, a tale of political intrigue, a coming-of-age story, the aforementioned cross-cultural dialogue, etc., etc. all into one 2.5-hour movie. And there were a few overly grandiose moments, but on the whole the film has earned the right to them. It did a better job than most of weaving various subplots and themes together, and actually seemed to be succeeding in its quest towards epicness. (Yes, I know that's not a word. I'm tired.) I'm not a scholar of Thai history, and I'm sure that there were various omissions and fictionalizations throughout (though less, certainly, than in the musical version). But I left the movie fascinated and wanting to learn more. A good sign, I think.
I recall seeing something about the Glomar Explorer, might have been the Nova you saw, a year ago or so. I agree, very fascinating (and expensive) stuff. Didn't one of Clancy's novels mention it?
I dunno; even though I have most of Clancy's novels in my library, I have not got to them yet. Maybe I should start one.
I saw _Boys Don't Cry_ last night. I was far more impressed than I expected to be. I knew most of the plot going in, and expected to have to sit through a lot of uncomfortable moments as the script and actors tried to wrestle with very subtle issues. In that sense, I was disappointed. :) The script was excellent, and between that and the acting, the plot occurred in a very natural way. The movie had much of the flavor of a classic tragedy, to me.
The glomar Explorer was a fron for the CIA to recover a "lost" soviet boomer (nuke carrying sub). The cover story was that wacko...I mean eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes was using this ship to search for oil...I also have anohter sub book that is a barely fictionalized account of anohter attempt to recover this "lost" sub. I wish I could remember the title right now...
Re #127: How did the movie of _Run Silent, Run Deep_ compare to the book? I've read the book, and loved it. The sequel, _Dust on the Sea_, is also good, though considerably darker.
I didn't read Run Silent, Run Deep, I just saw the movie. Sorry, Dave.
re#132: The 'cover story' was that Hughes was trying to mine manganese nodules not oil. The story is well covered in _Blind Man's Bluff_, a really good read, not a movie.
Ahh...then the Hitlory channel got it all wrong...
Nova got it right, though. (Or was it TLC? Forget which.)
re#136: If they said it was oil they did indeed.
International Channel is showing a few movies with Hong Kong action star Chow Yun Fat. See http://www.i-channel.com and look at the "Chinese New Year" link. I know there are a few Chow Yun Fat fans on Grex.
SCREAM 3 (B-) - Not as funny or scary or clever or even as subtle, if you can use that word, as 1 & 2. It was fun seeing Sydney, Gail, Dewey and the gang again, however, and I suspect 3 will have a respectable box office for that reason alone. For a movie/TV fan, it provides lots of wry little moments, which is most of the fun with these movies. The Carrie Fisher cameo was an especially nice touch. EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (F) - A colossal waste of time. Silly, pointless, meandering story, motivation-free characters. the kind of movie that makes the popcorn taste bad.
Don't pull any punches, md, tell us how you *really* feel..
According to http://www.variety.com/ Scream 3 has had a big opening weekend, partly due to the 6,000 or so screens Miramax showed it on (the largest number since Wild Wild West opened last summer). "Third installment in the string of horror pics released under the Dimension Films genre banner reaped an estimated $35.2 million for the biggest opening in Miramax history. The prior best, of course, was 'Scream 2,' which totaled $32.9 in December 1997. "Pic set more than Miramax marks. It's the biggest three-day bow by any distrib during the first four months of the year, not counting the $35.9 million that 'Star Wars' grossed when re-released in January 1997. If the projections are accurate, the weekend would rank No. 28 on the all-time list. "Feedback was strong, if not overwhelming, according to exit polls still being compiled. Between 80% and 90% of auds in exit polls checked one of the top two boxes and a slightly lower percentage said they^Rd recommend the pic to a friend. . . "'Scream 3' in fact occupied a different B.O. realm, crushing runner-up 'The Hurricane' by more than $30 million, one of the widest margins in history. It also outgrossed the Nos. 2 through 10 pics combined." (Sorry about the Varietyspeak.)
Jay and Silent Bob make an appearance in it! (Or so my roommate tells me.)
This afternoon I stumbled across a little film called "Larceny, Inc" with Edward G. Robinson and Anthony Quinn. I won't spoil it by saying what theplot is, but I suggest you go rent this if you want a good laugh. EGR didn't do many comedies, but he did this one to perfection. I have not come across any movie of his that was a dog. 4 stars.
Jim Varney, of the various "Ernest" movies and the "Hey, Verne" TV commercials, has died of lung cancer at the age of 50. He was also the voice of Slinkydog in Toy Story 2.
Was that a movie? Saw the flick _The Big Liebowski_ (or something like that). I believe its from the same folk as _Fargo_ and pretty darn funny although not up to the same standard. The 'cowboy' schtick/cameo from the well known Louis Lamour film adaptations (and owner of the film rights) is another odd touch along with the car from the TV series _Starsky&Hutch_ (trashed and burned). Lots of funny stuff and bit parts by 'big' (small b) names.
"The Big Lebowski" is a stitch. Yes, it's from the Coen
brothers, of "Fargo" fame. (Also "Blood Simple", "Raising
Arizona", and "The Hudsucker Proxy".)
Don't forget Millers Crossing....
Too late.
I don't generally enjoy the Coen brothers' movies (which is a problem sometimes when watching a movie with friends, as all my friends seem to love them,) but I thought that "The Big Lebowski" was very funny.
I too, saw The Big Lebowski. I'm still laughing over it.
New DVD recommendation-- "CITY LIGHTS"-- this is the new digitally remastered dvd version of Charlie Chaplin's 1931 masterpiece. A print taken from the best negative known to exsist-- with a new stereo recording of the original Chaplin score. Looks and sounds just wonderful. This is one of my alltime favorite movies, the story of the Little Tramp's relationship with a beautiful blind flower girl, who mistakenly thinks he's a millionaire. This is a movie thats both heartbreakingly sad and hillariously funny at the same time. And has one of the most famous final scenes of alltime, where the flower girl has regained her sight and encounters the Tramp (a homeless vagrant) who made her sight possible, and doesnt recognize him. Then holds his hand and suddenly does. They are are staring at each other and you are left wondering what they are thinking. Priceless!
That is one of three Charlie Chaplin films to come out on DVD, just earlier this week.
I also enjoyed "The Big Lebowski."
"City Lights" used to strick me as one of the sadest films I'd ever seen.
We took the kids to "The Tigger Movie" yesterday. It was John's first movie in the theater. He's 3 1/2. It kept his attention for the entire movie, which I didn't think was possible. That definitely says something about the movie. I'm not going to say a lot about the movie. It has the entire Winnie the Pooh cast, and is a cute story. That's all you need to know before you go. John loved it; he wanted to go again today. David (age 8 1/2) also enjoyed it. Andrea and I liked it, but that's irrelevant; we didn't go for us.
The City Lights DVD also has as an extra Chaplin's meticulously detailed notes he wrote down prior to filming and during filming, showing just how precisely detailed he was about each scene and each movement. It took three years to do city lights, including a stretch of over a year where he stopped production entirely because he couldnt figure out the key scene where the blind flower girl mistakes the tramp for a millionaire. You'd never see any director suspend filming over a year over one scene these days!
I really enjoyed "Cider House Rules". It's true to the book both in story and style - a gentle and quiet character study. The ensemble cast does a brillant job of keeping it simple. Jane Alexander has a smallish part. I really like her and will see anything she graces.
Roger Vadim, French movie director (And God Created Woman, Barbarella) died recently at the age of 70. He is known to have done it with Brigitte Bardot, Jane Fonda and Catherine Deneuve when they were young hotties, so as much as I would like to say he's gone to his reward, I think he's already used that up.
yeah.
The only ones he missed were Kate Jackson and Dani Delany
Let's hear it for the Sundance Channel. They repeated "The Big Liebowski" so I could record it. It gets funnier with each viewing.
Ann Arbor cable gets the Sundance Channel? Didn't know that.
They do on Digital Next TV from MedioNone. About the same price, but more channels. We just went over to Digi and it's pretty cool. The only downer is that I lost my scheduler.
dvd recommendation-- LONESOME DOVE-- you can have all eight hours of this epic western miniseries on one disc! Based on the pulitzer prize winning Larry McMurtry novel about a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. The best thing about this is the wonderful performances, particularly the chemistry between the leads, Robert DuVall and Tommy Lee Jones. Some say this is the best performance of DuVall's career. well worth having! Also, the DVD of universal's 1931 horror classic, Dracula (the original starring Bela Lugosi) This comes complete with a wonderful new soundtrack written by Philip Glass and recorded by the Kronos quartet! Its great fund to play this and just listen to the music. Also you get as a bonus the alternate Spanish version of the movie, which was shot on the same sets at the same time (spanish version filmed at night, english version during the day) The spanish version is regarded by some as even better. Plus a documentary on the history of Dracula and the Dracula films and lots of other stuff.
"Pitch Black" was much better than I expected. The eclipse sequence was stunning. It worked a little too hard to up-end racial and gender stereotypes, but it was fiction, after all. "Wonder Boys" has one clever script. I'd say it was "Easy Rider" 30 years and an education later. Recommended. No cars blow-up but a hood gets dented.
Snow Falling on Cedars -- (D)
If this movie had been a Fox special it might easily have been titled
"When Bad Directors Attack". Based on David Guterson's popular novel
about a murder trial involving a Japanese-American fisherman just after
WWII, "Snow Falling On Cedars" should've been a fairly safe bet --
adaptation of a bestselling novel, decent cast turning in decent
performances, attractive scenery and interesting setting (a small town
in an island off the coast of Washington State (one of the San Juans?))
Unfortunately, director Scott Hicks apparently decided to take all of
these elements of what should have been a modest success and throw them
into a blender. The resulting morass of flashbacks, cut-aways, and
poorly-edited montages is neither artistic nor appealing, just annoying.
*Extremely* annoying.
--
The World is Not Enough -- (D+)
I caught two movies at the bargain theater this weekend and this was the
second. After "Snow Falling on Cedars" I wasn't looking for anything
ambitious or involved, so a mindless dose of vehicle chases and explosions,
taken withouth any great expectations, seemed like a good idea. Nope!
The two thousandth feature-length James Bond film, TWinE managed to slide
in well under even my extremely low expectations for a Bond action film.
It's hard to criticise a Bond film..
Of course the plot was idiotic and full of holes.
Of course the characters were ludicrously one-dimensional.
And of course the physics of the action sequences were simply insulting
to any moderately thoughtful viewer.
These aren't flaws to be forgiven in a Bond film, they're apparently actual
necessary elements of the genre. You expect them. You might, in fact,
be scandalized if they weren't there.
In that sense, in fact, "The World is Not Enough" might actually be the
quintessential Bond film. The plot is *extra* idiotic, the characters
are especially one-dimensional, and a whole lotta things get 'blowed up
reeeal good,' often by scantily clad women.
Unfortunately, though many other Bond films have been enjoyable despite
these properties, "The World is Not Enough" is just too much.
Yeah, I didn't feel like working up a detailed criticism of it, but I really did not like "The World Is Not Enough" very much. I felt like it was a non-stop assault on my ears. There just wasn't much of a sense of fun to it; in that respect it reminded me of Timothy Dalton's second Bond film, "License to Kill," probably the only Bond film I'm seen just once. The one part of the film I liked was more screen time for Judi Densch, who is the new 'M'. Definitely a disappointment after the success of the previous film, "Tomorrow Never Dies," with Hong Kong martial arts star Michelle Yeoh.
(Aside: I was in the movie store the other day and noticed "Grey Owl", featuring Pierce Brosnan playing a white frontiersman, complete with coonskin cap and fringed buckskin, who gets adopted into an Indian tribe. I very nearly rented it, just to laugh myself silly at seeing P.B. in buckskin. :)
It might've been worth it just to see how the movie would explain how he kept himself supplied with styling mousse on the edge of the frontier..
<smirks> Nice one...
I still think the James Bond character is way overdue for shriveling up due to old age. My god! He's been at it for almost 40 years!
Trivia puzzle: Name all the actors who have played Bond in the movies.
hmmm...george lazenby, sean connery, roger moore, timothy dalton, pierce brosnan, and some american whose name i forget but who starred as james "jimmy" bond in a 1959-ish made-for-tv serious production of "casino royale." is that all of them?
RE #175 I believe that "Jimmy" Bond was played by Woody Allen in "Casino Royale." But I could be wrong on that.
"Casino Royale" is a trick refernce, though, since one of the plot lines was that (to sow confusion) *all* agents would be named James Bond. So you'd have to list a lot of actors and even a dog.
I'm not familiar with a made-for-tv "Casino Royale". The 1967 film version had at least Peter Sellers, David Niven, and Woody Allen as Bond.
void is correct about the made-for-tv version. Author Ian Fleming sold the dramatic rights to "Casino Royale," his first Bond novel, back in the 1950s. The makers of the 1967 film spoof bought those rights and thus had a legal claim to use the "James Bond" name.
right, krj. i'm not talking about the spoof version of "casino royale" with peter sellers, david niven, et cetera. there was a serious, as in non-comedic, black-and-white production of "casino royale" made for american tv in about 1959 or so. most, if not all, the actors were americans and the characters all referred to bond as "jimmy." i'll see if i can find a reference to it somewhere, since krj and i seem to be the only people who have heard of this version.
hmmm. this is why i love google: Casino Royale (1954) The screen debut of James Bond, broadcast live on CBS-TV in the U.S. on October 21, 1954 as part of the "Climax Mystery Theater." Running time 50 minutes. Starring Barry Nelson as Jimmy Bond, Linda Christian as the Bond girl, Peter Lorre as the villain, Le Chiffre, with Michael Pate as Clarence Leiter. In a nationality twist, "Jimmy Bond" is a CIA agent, and "Clarence Leiter" is Bond's British ally. (from http://www.mcs.net/~klast/www/cr54.html)
Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre. . . . Interesting. I've not seen the movie, but I can't see Mr. Lorre in the book's role.
Oh my. Now that void has entered the details, I can recall seeing that TV production. I believe it was the premiere production of "Climax Mystery Theater".
From http://www.eonline.com/ "Leni Riefenstahl, 97, once famed as Hitler's favorite filmmaker, survived a plane crash in the Sudan with only broken ribs, a German source said Wednesday." I had no idea she was still alive.
leni reifenstahl, not only still alive at 97, but coming out with her autobiography soon, should be good as she's had some life-- also movie of her life with her played by Jodie Foster
I had no idea she was still alive either. Must be in pretty good health if she's flying around in planes in the Sudan.
Recent rentals: EYES WIDE SHUT (C) - A beautifully detailed production but as shallow as a pizza pan. It can be helpful with a movie by a Kubrick to imagine that it was directed by someone else -- say, James Cameron -- and then ask yourself what your opinion of it would be. Eyes Wide Shut flunks the Cameron test dismally. Even the sumptuous visuals got on my nerves after a while. In mean, how many curtains of white Christmas lights do I have to be shown before I shout, "I get the idea!"? And how many times does Nicole Kidman have to dissolve in naughty-schoolgirl giggles before you want to put duct tape over her mouth?
If James Cameron had made "Eyes Wide Shut," I'd have said that he'd made a major breakthrough in his development as a director and that I didn't know he had it in him.
"Eyes Wide Shut" might prove to be the breakthrough film for Leelee Sobiewski, who I really enjoyed in the "Joan of Arc" TV mini-series.
as steven spielberg said, he used to hate Kubrick's films-- he particularly disliked The Shining. But a funny thing happened, he periodically watched them again, and with each viewing saw different things and different details. Kubrick made his films with such detail that you simply cant "get it" watching it once. Spielberg now says The Shining, which he once hated, is now one of his absolute favorite movies of all, and that he came to be in awe of Kubrick's talent. He says that in time, people will come to realize "Eyes Wide Shut" for the masterpiece that it is.
Any "masterpiece" that must be studied over and over again to be appreciated is unlikely to ever gain widespread recognition as a "masterpiece," no matter how adored it may be by those who take the time to study it.
Perhaps. On the other hand, there are a great many "masterpieces" that never achieve widespread recognition except among specialists.
Any that the typical person cares about? ;)
drift: does anyone else find it disturbing that the census commercial showing various school rooms and the numbers of students they were built to hold/currently hold uses the same beethoven recording which was used in "a clockwork orange" when alex was undergoing the ludovico treatment and being shown films?
disturbing? i didn't notice, but now that you mention it, i find it very amusing, actually.
I'm a fan of many of Kubricks' films, and I really didn't think that
there was all that much to Eyes Wide Shut, either. Perhaps someone who did
like it might explain what they liked about it, so that I might benefit from
a deeper appreciation?
Re resp:190 et seq: Don't neglect the effect of advocacy. Not *everybody* has to study a work over and over again. If a few do, and those few publish their opinions, this can over time change public perceptions. Various Hitchcock films have been elevated to "masterpiece" status in this way, for example.
Some things I liked about EWS: The exploitation of various societal strata. Dr Harford and his wife are first presented as a couple of rich and wordly New Yorkers, invited to the best parties, collectors of art, all-around BPs. Then, as they are exposed to people from other social and economic levels, we see a prostitute more beautiful -- inside and out -- than either of them; and, in the end, we get Ziegler's comment to Harford that Harford was immediately identified as an outsider at the orgy because, "you arrived in a cab, and everyone else came in a limo." The first and least effective example of this is the oily Hungarian who tries to hit on Alice at Ziegler's big party. We're meant to think of him as an aristocratic European taking advantage of the silly naive American girl we'd been taking for an upper-class sophisticate just two minutes ago. Unfortunately, not only does Kubrick ruin it by making Kidman too drunk for her coy giggles to mean anything, but also the Hungarian himself is first cousin to Zoltan Carpathy, that figure of fun who "oozes charm from every pore as he oils his way around the floor" trying and failing to unmask Eliza Doolittle at the Embassy Ball in "My Fair Lady." It's practically the same guy. But a director like Kubrick can't possibly have done something like this by accident, so maybe the message is: *even* a Zoltan Carpathy can knock over a ditz like Alice. The last scene between the Harfords has been justly criticized, even by the movie's admirers, for some really dreadful writing. But the very last word of the movie is right on the money. The way couples trying to be faithful to each other can deal with the kinds of temptations the Harfords have been agonizing pointlessly over is -- to be faithful to each other. When Nicole Kidman says the word "fuck," you feel like saying, "THANK you!" For more than two hours, it looked like they'd ever figure it out. The fact that Kubrick presented it as if it were some great final illumination is symptomatic of the over-all puerility of the movie, however. I like the general idea, if not its execution in EWS, of the director making ironic little comments, visible only to the audience. The NY Post headline "LUCKY TO BE ALIVE" is one obvious (too obvious) example. The various references to Kubrick, his family, and his other movies scattered throughout EWS is another. There is an undeniably so-what quality to all of this, but it helped pass the time, at least for me.
I'd thought the "LUCKY TO BE ALIVE" headline was a bit corny in that
context; in a movie that was less realistically shot, it might've worked
quite well.
It also occured to me that whomever was writing the film had some
seriously confused ideas about the ritual magic and bondage communities, and
sex clubs.
Sweet and Lowdown 2.5 stars out of 4 Sean Penn is really great in this movie, but about every ten minutes or so the movie is interrupted by Woody Allen and some other folks supposedly knowledgeable about Emmet Ray to tell stories. These interruptions really prevented you from really getting into the movie, imho. And sometimes when Woody was on it was almost as if he couldn't bear to make a movie in which he didn't appear.
I have a fond place in my heart for Sweet and Lowdown, not because I enjoyed the movie so much (though I did rather like it), but because after walking out, I had such an urge to go listen to some jazz music that I went to the Bird of Paradise for the first time. I'm rather quickly becoming a regular there. :)
Remember, Citizen Kane was panned when it first came out-- Orson Welles didnt even get nominated for best director, best actor, or best picture. Like fine wine, good films age well with time-- maybe it didnt win any academy awards, or even get nominated, but Welles' film is now widely considered the greatest american film ever made. People just had to watch it a few times ya know....same thing with Kubrick
When Citizen Kane first came out, Borges predicted that it would be recognized as a masterpiece, but that not many people would want to actually sit through it again. A nice disinction. Maybe EWS will turn out that way, too.
Back to resp:172 for just a sec... In several real-life agencies, designators and working names are passed on as people quit, transfer, die, retire. So, agent 007 is always called James Bond, no matter who happens to be doing that job at any given time. In at least one American agency, teams of people who work together all have the same working first name; you have Mike team, Bill team, Tim team, etc. Honest.
Hm, Borges blew it. I've seen "Citizen Kane" a few times, anyway. Would like to see EWS again too...
We saw "The Tigger Movie" again at the #2/ticket Clinton theater. It kept my wife and I awake, and greatly entertained the kids. It also sold out the Clinton theater on Friday night (216 seats). By obervation, I'd say they had good crowds for the Saturday and Sunday night showings as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed "Wonder Boys" last night. Am wondering, tho, why Robert Downey, Jr was allowed to leave prison to make it.
Because of its strong anti-substance-abuse message? saw "The Beach" at The Harbor, the cheapie theater in Muskegon, on Friday. it was, ummm, interesting.. Not totally unredeemable, but it Had Serious Problems. I'd give it a C+ After "Trainspotting" I was expecting more from director Danny Boyle..
"Mission to Mars" is a Tom Hanks movie without Tom Hanks. Take the kids.
That we will. We went and saw THE CIDER HOUSE RULES (B) in an effort to catch up on our Oscar nominees. It's a very nice movie. John Irving tends to let his plots and characters lead him where they will, which can make for a pleasingly random ride. The movie was shot, I'm told, largely in western Massachusetts where I grew up. Michael Cain is excellent.
I saw FANTASIA 2000 on Saturday. It's a great movie that I highly recommend. The mix of art and classical music was superb. In particular, I loved the animation with the whales (unfortunately, I can't remember the music that accompanied it), Rhapsody in Blue, and The Firebird. The latter in particulr was beautiful. Watching "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" showed the vast difference between 61-year-old 35mm film and new IMAX 15/70mm film. The old film looked grainy in comparison to the rest of the film. Despite that, I still loved watchin it on a big screen. If you see it at the IMAX theater at Greenfield Village, be sure to stick around for the tour of the projection booth after the show. It's a neat behind the scenes look.
robert downey is a great actor, if he can get day leave from his prison home to do films, why not? *shrug*
The question wasn't "why would RD jr leave prison to do a film?" but "why would he be *allowed* to leave to do a film?" Although I like his work, it still pisses me off to see the justice system bend over backwards to accomodate the rich and famous. If he were a bricklayer or an office worker who was in prison as a repeat drug offender would he recieve the same treatment? I doubt it, even if his family's livelihood depended on it..
Re #210: van Gogh looks grainy too.
Saw "Stuart Little" last night with the family at Plymouth's Penn Theatre. Nice little family flick, everything comes out OK in the end (oops, was that a spoiler? ;-) and no animals were harmed in the making of the film (unless you consider cats falling into the river and dragging themselves out bedraggled to be punishment instead of fit punishment! :-)
It was "The Pines of Rome" by Rhespiegi (sp)
"FREE ENTERPRISE"-- found this movie on the video store shelf-- it may have been straight to video because I'd never heard of it before. Its about two Trekkies (star trek fans) who live star trek obssessed lives. Their hero is William Shatner (captain kirk) and he appears to them in apparitions giving them advice. Then one day they actually *meet* Shatner in real life (Shatner playing himself), and are disillusioned to find out Shatner is really a shallow egomaniacal actor. Shatner is recovering from a recent divorce and drowning himself in alchoholism. And instead of doing Trek projects and Trek conventions, Shatner is trying to do a one-man, musical (!) version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in which he plays all the parts. Naturally, the two Trekkies are completely disgusted, but come to realize Shatner is just an actor and that they cant lead their lives based on a tv series done 30 years ago. The ending to this is really bizarre as it shows Shatner actually doing his musical Julius Caesar (this scene defies description) All in all a funny movie, and Shatner is to be commended for portraying himself so accurately
Oh, what a mental image! :)
Re #210: The only thing that bugged me about the whales is that the CG whales and the hand-drawn eyes made a really spooky and wrong-looking combination.
Friend in Florida's review of Mission to Mars: Long and boring. Tried to be 2001 without the aid of Krubrick or Clarke.
My sister, my brother, and I went to see "The Cider House Rules" tonight. Basically, I liked it but think that it's a pretty sad year for movies when this is a strong contender for a "best picture" Oscar.. It was a decent movie and no doubt a better-than-average novel adaptation, but a year and a half from now I suspect I'll barely remember it..
Anney and I watched _Detroit Rock City_ tonight. We laughed and laughed. I'm not a huge Kiss fan, but it had some *great* classic songs all the way through it. Hell, even "Convoy" made it. =) There were some priceless scenes and some fairly good humor. B+
_Mission To Mars_ - Nice special effects except for the martian. Poor science. 1) a martian rover 'bot roaming over sun baked mud is a nice scene, but there hasn't been rain on mars for awhile. 2) If you have three humans on one end of a rope with another human on the other end that is spooling out some speed and apply tension on it you will accomplish two things, you will reduce the speed of the one human on the other end, and you will bring the three humans at the other closer to the one human. Its called 'inertia'. 3) If you are going to film a weightless dance sequence, consider there are three dimensions. All in all, a nice flick, but one better seen at the cheaper matinee price I think. Also, quite a sendup to Kubrick's 2001 but not as well done. Other minor quibbles (warning: potential spoilers): 1)If you are going to have depressurization of a 'shirtsleeve' environment, everybody gets pressurized first thing, even if you have to get a spare helmet. 2) an orbital insertion 'burn' means the main engines point towards the current direction of flight, not aft. You don't speed up to enter an orbit if you are at risk of skipping past (because you are going too fast). 3) A 'temporary' structure at mars surface suitable for human 'shirtsleeve' environment is going to be rather rigid, not a tent billowing in wind gusts. 4) You are not going to recognize 'human' DNA -vs- a pig -vs- an e-coli bacterium -vs- an 'alien' on an atomic level (MM's) as audio even broadcast over FM on a laptop screen. 5) Presumably an advanced enough science to ensure the function of a device for millenia would be able to prevent it being burried by dust. 6) A holigraphic image that holds hands - gimme a break. 1a) Quite a few continuity gaffs. 2a) Major star appears only in flashback or 'video' - one has to wonder what the original screenplay or even film was like. Enough said. About on par with the best of original TV Star Trek and current spin offs, but hardly that great for a full length feature. See it on the cheap showings or wait for the video.
Oh, now, Richard. Shatner doesn't drown *himself*. You know that.
Re #222:
I've been saying your minor quibble #2 about space movies and TV shows
for years.
What he didn't say about "FREE ENTERPRISE" is that Shatner is attempting to rap Shakespeares julius Ceasar... They showed part of it on the Tonight show last night while interviewing Shatner. They also discussed his TV commercials where he sings the oldies for Priceline.com...
After seeing Shatner on the Tonight show, I really want to see FREE ENTERPRISE. SHakespeare set to rap was just hilarious.
Ya oughta hear him read _Lucy in the Sky_...
I can attest that having once heard William Shatner sing Luciy in the Sky with Diamonds, you will never forget it.
Oh, no no no. This is not singing. It is a dramatic reading of the lyrics. I first heard it in 1973; don't know how old it was then. It's from an album he did consisting entirely of dramatic readings of popular song lyrics. I seem to remember that it also contains "Hey, Mister Tambourine Man". <<shudder>>
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