Okay, instead of prepping class, as I should, a hello–this board has been a bit arid, of late.
But I haven’t seen much. “Ray” is in my queue, but dropped precipitously after Arnab and John chewed it up and spat it out. I watched “The Girl Next Door,” which was not as funny as I’d expected (wearing my “good-reason-for-watching” hat) nor as titillating (wearing my “reason-for-watching-that-will-get-me-in-Dutch” hat). Actually, I watched it to see Timothy Olyphant, because I am so fond of “Deadwood” that I’ll watch almost anything any of that grand cast ends up doing between seasons. And Olyphant was pretty good, even in a dull film.
I’m hanging on to “Stevie” and “Maria Full of Grace” for when I have time and inclination to see these darker things. Meanwhile, Kris and I watch “Freaks and Geeks” together. I like it, but…. three episodes in, I’m not stunned into worshipful muttering. Is that heresy? Amy?
Here’s a challenge–what’s strange in your netflix queue? Those things that will be cool but will take forever to move up, what with all the films about things blowing up that could precede. Me: Dr. Akagi, Mule Skinner Blues, Goin’ South, Tunes of Glory, 9 Souls, Touchez Pas Au Grisbi, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, The Yakuza Papers, Madigan.
speaking of “deadwood”–mike, you don’t think it turned into self-parody by the end of the first episode? i really can’t take olyphaunt’s performance on that show (pitched somewhere between an illustration of what it must feel like to have severely impacted stool and ANGST)–if it weren’t for ian mcshane (and keith carradine’s wild bill hickock) i wouldn’t have been able to watch it. as it is i might not be able to make it into the second season–but i probably will. luckily they killed that annoying fucking preacher off; i can only hope that calamity jane, the big-city woman, and brad dourif’s doctor will be next. a much better show would be one that focused only on the rival saloons, the chinese and the whores–leave all this law and order and moralistic crap out of it.
to answer mike’s real question: my list is populated more by crap that even i can’t bring myself to watch–“hidalgo” for instance keep seeing things promoted over it. there’s also a lot of french and italian high art from the 60s and 70s that never seems to move up. things that i probably should promote: “24 hour party people”, dylan’s “don’t look back”, “i am cuba”, “the bride with white hair”, “gangster #1”. thoughts?
24 hour party people and bride with white hair both deserve promotion–they’re both grand fun. and if you liked coogan in that jarmusch film, you’ll dig 24-etc.
gangster #1, despite some great glowering by malcolm mcdowell, is boring. it’s gangster #2, for this critic.
sorry. that was my inner joel siegel coming out.
arnab: you are wrong about deadwood, except about mcshane and carradine who are the best things about the show. i think it dodges the self-parody bullet by being pitched–in dialogue as well as performance–right near the edge of comic exaggeration throughout. olyphant never blinks; you gotta love a show (or an actor) that makes its (his) “hero” less a pale echo of eastwood than an homage to lee van cleef. and i thought calamity jane and the doc were hilarious. or, to get in the spirit of things, HI larious. c’mon, admit it: didn’t you start saying “cocksucker” more often after watching?
i do enjoy the swearing on “deadwood”, not that i need any encouragement or tips on how to do it myself. i do think olyphaunt’s character is the weakest link on that show. and i preferred the al swearengen of the early episodes who was just a evil bastard; now he’s beginning to show signs of a possible heart of adulterated gold.
as much as i found some of the later episodes of season 1 hard to take i have to say it is a compelling show–but this may be testament more to just how crappy regular tv is.
when satellite tv first came to india in the early 90s we got a lot of older american shows, some that had been popular in the u.s (“st. elsewhere”, “hill street blues”), others which i assume didn’t last more than a season (“f.m”, “sledgehammer”). a friend’s father used to complain about the incessant phone-ringing and background conversations on “hill street blues”, saying, yes, we get it, this is realistic now let’s make it easier to hear the primary dialogue. this is how i sometimes feel about the “realism” of “deadwood”.
Mike asks, “Here’s a challenge–what’s strange in your netflix queue?”
I only put 3 or 4 movies into the queue at a time, because it takes me forever to watch a movie: right now it’s The Leopard and The Leopard bonus material (on a second disc). this movie will take me even longer to see because first I want to finish the novel. Little projects like this keep me a hairline from insanity, when I’m not spending my time putting slips of paper into larger slips of paper and waiting for distant people to contact me. Also on the list are a Ramones concert film Raw–I am on a Ramones kick and waiting for the recent doc End of the Century to be released. Next up “Willard” with Crispin Glover–is that strange enough? Recently, in Abe Simpson letter writing outrage mode, I sent a message telling the folks at Netflix to beef up their documentary listings–by getting all the Frederick Wiseman films on disc. I’m sure they had many a snicker over that.
P.S. I loved Gangster #1 though it belabored its “shakespearean” angle a bit much. After hearing “The Good Life” during the title credits, I really enjoyed Tony Bennett for the first time. Of course it’s not quite up there with my favorite English gangster movie “Get Carter” whose desecration by Sylvester Stallone I recently sat through. I remember nothing about the remake except for Sly’s silver tie.
I take it back about “Freaks and Geeks.” Episodes 4 and 5 were astounding. I will start muttering now.