Month: February 2009

the Trilogy Meter


Since I’m still in the movie mode, here is a film trilogy thing from Dan Meth, via SamuraiFrog and Jaquandor:

Star Wars
The original Star Wars is one of my favorite films. Empire Strikes Back is nearly up there. Return of the Jedi is a bit disappointing, mostly because the Ewoks irritated me; Tribbles, but not as cute. As for the prequels, not only did I bhate Jar Jar Binks, but, far worse, I was bored by all of the political yak for good chunks of the movie.; so, I never saw the rest of that trilogy.

Indiana Jones
Raiders of the Lost Ark I loved. Temple of Doom, for whatever reason, never grabbed me the same way, and I thought it was gratutiously gross to boot; it practically created the PG-13 rating. The Last Crusade I liked almost as much as the first film, because of the humor and the great Harrison Ford-Sean Connery riffs, but also because of that whole theological angle of walking out into nothingness bit. adventure movie. Never saw the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The Matrix
I saw the first movie on commercial TV; I was unimpressed, and never saw the others. Probably didn’t give it a fair shake. So never saw the others.

Star Trek
I’ve seldom been as bored with a movie as I was with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I don’t know if it was the pacing or what, but these characters, who I liked a lot, were making me restless in my seat. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the best Star Trek film I’ve seen, and it was probably helped in the minds of the fans by its improvement over its predecessor. The problem with Star Trek III is that even though big stuff happens, it feels transitional, like the middle part of a trilogy; toss out the first, largely unrelated movie, it really is. As for the others, I saw Star Trek IV with my mother; she was quite confused not having seen III, though she enjoyed it well enough. I liked it considerably more, for which I credit my San Francisco obsession. Star Trek V was awful, just awful. I’ve not seen a Star Trek movie since, though I would.

Superman
The original’s iconic, yet I’ve never seen the sequels, except pieces of III on TV.

Jurassic Park
saw the first one well enough, but never cared to see the sequels.

X-Men
Never saw the first movie. My wife and I were in a hotel in Maryland on New Years’ Eve, coming back to Albany from North Carolina when I flipped on the TV and saw most of X2. It wasn’t bad, but seemed terribly busy. My wife, who is not a comic book collector, was totally confused.

Spider-Man
I liked the first film quite a bit, though it felt flat occasionally. The second film, though, I loved; possibly my favorite superhero movie, though Iron Man was pretty nifty. Haven’t seen the third yet.

The Lord of the Rings
It’s just not my genre. I tried, and failed, to read the books. I saw the first movie, thought it was fine, but never saw the latter two parts. Yeah, I know: sacrilege.

Mad Max
Seems that I’d catch one of these on TV, but never knew at the time which one it was. Probably should actually watch.

Jaws
This came out at a time tin my life that I just wasn’t going to see movies that might be gory. I have never seen Jaws, let alone its sequels. I will, someday, see the original, at least.

Back to the Future
I was very fond of the original. The second movie just felt both dark and like the middle part of a trilogy and doesn’t stand on its own. I musty admit that the third movie, with the okld West theme, I thought was a hoot, and I’d end up watching big chunks of it when it used to show up on TNT every other day.

Die Hard
Another movie series where I’d catch it on TV but didn’t know which episode it was. Looked like fun.

Blade
Never saw.

Planet of the Apes
I managed to see all five Apes movies in one day. NOT recommended. The original Planet of the Apes is a great film; I totally bought into it. Beneath was a lesser effort, but I actually enjoyed Escape. Conquest was stupid and Battle was an unrelenting bore.

The Godfather
This was one of the films (along with Catch-22 and A Clockwork Orange) that got me to swear off gory movies from 1973-1980. No doubt, the original was one of the finest films ever made. But I wasn’t going to see II or III.

Rocky
Rocky, which I saw with my mother, is a great film; I think it got slapped down because it won the Oscar against showier fare. I rather liked Rocky II, which comes close to equaling the first one. But III to V, awful to more awful. Never saw Rocky Balboa.

The Terminator
Yet another series I’ve only seen on commercial TV, and caught by flicking stations. Seemed that I would like at least the first two films, based on what I’ve seen.

Rambo
Never saw. Never really wanted to see.

Batman
Batman, the first one with Michael Keaton, I liked well enough, though sometimes it felt as though Jack (Nicholson) was doing Jack. Batman Begins, though I know I saw it, for some reason didn’t stick to the brain; I do recall that it seemed a bit campy, and I never got back into watching Batman movies – though I WOULD have seen Batman Begins (2005) had I been going to the movies. As for Dark Knight…wait until tomorrow.

Alien
The first film was excellent. But didn’t need to see the sequels.

The Mr. Frog and Jaquandor suggested other trilogies:

Lethal Weapon, Karate Kid
Other one I saw only on TV and couldn’t tell you which episodes I actually saw. Know I saw the end of KK1, and at least parts of three different LWs.

Omen, Scream
Didn’t see at all.

ROG

ROG

VIDEO REVIEW: The Visitor


When The Visitor was released in April 2008, I made a mental note to go see it. It was, after all, director “Tom McCarthy’s follow-up to his award winning directorial debut The Station Agent.” And I loved The Station Agent. As it turned out, I never did see it in theaters. But recently, I cajoled my friend The Hoffinator to put it in her Netflix queue and then let me see it before it got returned. (I have my own Netflix account, but I had The Dark Knight 12 days unwatched.) I watched it Thursday morning at 5 a.m.

Richard Jenkins, best known for being, if I was told correctly, the first to die in the HBO TV show Six Feet Under, plays Walter, a widower without much going on. A professor at a Connecticut college who’s allegedly writing a book, presenting papers for which his contribution is minimal and teaching his one class by rote.

As I thought back on the movie, there’s a Paul Simon lyric which seemed to encapsulate Walter’s persona:
I’ve just been fakin’ it,
I’m not really makin’ it.
This feeling of fakin’ it–
I still haven’t shaken it.

It is while he’s in New York City to present a paper that he visits his seldom-used apartment, only to find that is already occupied. This turns out to be transformative in Walter’s life. Frankly, I don’t want to tell too much more except that the djembe, an African drum, plays a role. In fact, after I watched the movie, I saw the trailer, and I felt that it gave away too much of the plot elements.

Later, I watched the deleted scenes and totally agree with their excisions. Another extra: info on the djembe.

I still haven’t seen Frozen River, The Reader, The Wrestler or Benjamin Button, among others. But of the 2008 films I DID see so far, The Visitor was my favorite.

ROG

ROG

OSCAR Questions

Oscar night has been for me a must-watch for decades. This year, I’m actually in better shape seeing movies than I was last year at this time.

The obvious questions about which I’d love for you to opine:
Who will win?
Who do you WANT to win?
* indicates films I’ve actually seen

BEST ACTOR:
*Richard Jenkins-THE VISITOR
*Frank Langella-FROST/NIXON
*Sean Penn-MILK
Brad Pitt-THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Mickey Rourke-THE WRESTLER
Will win: Rourke. Oscar loves the comeback. Langella, though, would not be a shock.
Want to win: Jenkins, who nobody knows until they see him. “Oh, THAT guy.”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
*Josh Brolin-MILK
Robert Downey Jr.-TROPIC THUNDER
*Philip Seymour Hoffman-DOUBT
*Heath Ledger-THE DARK KNIGHT
Michael Shannon-REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
Will win: Ledger. The fact that DK was not picked for best picture practically assures it.
Want to win: Downey, because he had a good year with Iron Man, which I saw and enjoyed. But I’m not begrudging the late Ledger.

BEST ACTRESS:
Anne Hathaway-RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Angelina Jolie-CHANGELING
Melissa Leo-FROZEN RIVER
*Meryl Streep-DOUBT
Kate Winslet-THE READER
Will win: I can make the case for Hathaway, who’s expanded from the Princess Diaries/Devil Wears Prada mode; yeah, she did in Brokeback Mountain, too, but didn’t get the recognition. Or for Streep, who’s won twice, but not in a quarter century. Guess I’ll pick Winslet, because she’s never won, though oft nominated, and she had a good year with Revolutionary Road and this. (Although, when I went to see Slumdog, my wife was asking about Revolutionary Road and the couple in front of us told us it was three hours of whining, a complaint I’d heard before.)
Want to win: Leo, who was on one of my favorite TV shows, Homicide, and who lives in upstate New York. Yes, I can be parochial.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
*Amy Adams- DOUBT
*Penélope Cruz-VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
*Viola Davis-DOUBT
Taraji P. Henson-THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Marisa Tomei-THE WRESTLER
Will win: Henson. The movie has the most nominations and it needs a win. Also, Oscar wants to honor a black or foreign performer (England and Australia evidently are not foreign enough) – could be Cruz, but Davis’ part was too short (Judi Densch in Shakespeare in Love notwithstanding). Finally, Oscar always wants to pluck someone out of obscurity, and if you look at supporting actress winners over the years, it’s littered with “Who’s she?”
Want to win: Cruz, who lit up the screen.

Best Animated Feature
BOLT
KUNG FU PANDA
*WALL-E
Oh, please. I’m just annoyed that something like Waltzing with Bashir wasn’t also nominated to give the most deserving Wall-E some semblance of a challenge.

Best Director
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
*FROST/NIXON
*MILK
THE READER
*SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Will win: Slumdog Millionaire
“Oh, Danny Boyle,
The Oscar trophy’s call-all-lin'”
Want to win: Gus van Sant’s Milk, though Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon would be OK, too.
I’m SO relieved the directing and best picture nominees lined up so I don’t have to hear about the best picture nominee sans director, “What, did it direct itself?” again.

BEST PICTURE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
*FROST/NIXON
*MILK
THE READER
*SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Will win: It’s SLUMDOG-mania!
Want to win: Frost/Nixon, though Milk wouldn’t displease me.

Adapted Screenplay:
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
*DOUBT
*FROST/NIXON
THE READER
*SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Will win: Slumdog Millionaire. I had a faint inkling for an upset, but it has passed.
Want to win: Frost/Nixon

Original Screenplay:
FROZEN RIVER
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
IN BRUGES
*MILK
*WALL-E
Will win: Milk. The only best picture nominee on the list, which will get shut out of other major categories.
Want to win: Frozen River, which my wife DID see, but I didn’t, when I got sick on the back end of a botched separated movie date.

ROG

ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Slumdog Millionaire


In keeping with my Washington’s Birthday tradition, I went with my wife to see a movie. I chose Slumdog Millionaire to watch with her because I knew in advance that it would more…intense than she might have thought. As I was discussing on Twitter this week, it was rated R for a reason.

How on earth does a poor young man fare so well on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”? He must be cheating! But how? The police use “extraordinary” means to find out, only to discover that there’s an explanation for it all, based on an extremely difficult childhood.

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said: “Slumdog Millionaire is nothing if not an enjoyably far-fetched piece of rags-to-riches wish fulfillment. It’s like the Bollywood version of a Capra fable sprayed with colorful drops of dark-side-of-the-Third-World squalor.” Well, maybe. I know the producers didn’t bill it as such, but as a friend of mine put it, “it took a long time for this ‘feel good’ movie to feel good.”

I think part of the problem was that it took three actors each to play the three main characters and I didn’t always buy the transition from one to the next. One either buys into the sheer level of coincidence or one does not. I guess I never fully engaged enough to buy in. So the “happy ending” seemed less joyous than it should have been; I didn’t feel the payoff. Whether this is a function of the low-key acting styles, especially of Dev Patel, the last lead male, or what, I’m not sure.

This is not that I did not enjoy elements of it. The outhouse scene was memorable. Having had to go to the bathroom while taping a television quiz show, albeit in the United States, I was intrigued by another particular scene. Frankly, I was a bit of a sucker for that original run of Millionaire hosted by Regis Philbin, so I enjoyed the game section on that level. The smelling of a $100 bill will stay with me. The stuff at the Taj Mahal, though, I swear I’ve seen before in some movie or TV show.

My friend David savaged the movie, noting that it was not even the best film made in India last year. He may very well be right, but for the Hollywood community, it’s irrelevant. Hollywood is not savvy to Bollywood cinema.

Ultimately, when I see a movie, I’m ready and willing to suspend my belief that it’s just cinema and surrender to it; just didn’t happen for me. I didn’t hate the film, and I’m not unhappy that I saw it, but I can’t imagine wanting to see it again.
***
Remembering Gene Siskel by Roger Ebert. Recommended highly.
ROG

ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Frost/Nixon


Because Richard Nixon was the first President for whom I could have voted for – I didn’t – he has long held a special role in my life and my heart. In the day, it was nothing but anger and revulsion; since then, a more nuanced view. At the time, I thought he was destined to be one of the United States’ worst Presidents; in hindsight, merely one that was fatally flawed.

I saw the Oliver Stone-directed movie Nixon (1995), starring Anthony Hopkins and Joan Allen, when it came out, with its warts and all. I enjoyed it well enough, but its quirky narrative style sometimes got in the way.

So last weekend, the wife and I did one of those “split date” things, with me going to the movies on Saturday and her on Sunday to see the more “conventional” filmmaker Ron Howard’s take on an event that took place after the Nixon Presidency, but which was necessarily all about it, Frost/Nixon.

I’ve found that a great number of people no longer remember David Frost, the “British satirist, writer, journalist and television presenter” who interviewed Nixon in 1977. There’s no current comparison who fully encapsulates it, but it’d be like Jay Leno or Larry King doing a hard-hitting interview of George W. Bush.

Most people who disliked Nixon wanted the interviews to be the mea culpa that Nixon never gave after the resignation, but felt that Frost was a lightweight who was was not up to the task. So it was that each participant had something to prove. Frost/Nixon turns out to be an intriguing film, not just the one-on-one, but the whole backstory leading up to the main event, including the need to secure the $600,000 for the interview, the slams of “checkbook journalism” and the desire to get the interview right.

Frost/Nixon is another play that was made into a movie. But unlike Doubt, it didn’t feel as stagy. One would not expect a historically-based movie about two guys talking to be so tense and yet so revealing of both men. Frank Langella, who is rightly nominated for best actor, “does” Nixon without being a caricature. In fact, the most revealing scene has Langella saying nothing. But look at his eyes! They spoke volumes about what was going on in Nixon’s mind. But the movie would collapse if Michael Sheen as Frost was not up to the task. Sheen, who played Tony Blair in 2006’s The Queen, ends up being as worthy an acting partner for Langella as Frost was an adversary for Nixon.

Some critics inevitably kvetched about historic inaccuracies here and there, which almost always happens. I wondered if the last scene – which is REALLY funny – actually happened; it matters not. I was entertaned and I learned a few things.

Recommended.

Frost, who has interviewed the last seven U.S. Presidents and six British Prime Ministers (excluding, so far, the current ones) now works for Al Jazeera English.

See part of the Frost/Nixon interviews here (97 minutes) and here (10 minutes).

ROG

ROG
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