Category: classic

Perhaps, like me, you’ve noticed an underlying–sometimes surfacing–tension between Jeff and Arnab in posts on this site. As I have learned from the movies, such tensions inevitably signal a future moment of intense connection and union. I have been trying to imagine how that future union may occur…. (air gets all wavy and fuzzy:) Continue reading 13 Short Films about Arnab and Jeff

I had never seen this. It has not been released on DVD in the US (Or VHS now) despite three A-list actors and a slew of Oscar nominations in 82. (Nine, winning three including best director for Beatty. Can there possibly be many other Best Director oscar winners not out on DVD? Particularly one that is fairly recent?!)

I wonder what the discussion was then as the Bright Shining Reagan Era was dawning about the merits of a very good film vs. its story of political dissent, socialism, communism, voting for leaders who would not take us into war and so on. Especially when, at its core, it’s just a love story. Continue reading Reds (1981)

Thought I’d break this into a new discussion, to continue riffs from the earlier thread on Syriana and (less so) The Constant Gardener. I am tempted to rave and ramble, but I went for a run to clear my head after seeing Munich early this afternoon, and I have just a few short ideas I want to get out there–I promise no spoilers ’til the last part (and I’ll warn you), but–go see this. It’s as good as people say; I’m tempted to call it a great film, and I want to discuss it. Continue reading Geopolitics, part II: Munich

When I was dissing Eastwood’s Baby, I was speaking out of turn, as I hadn’t seen it, and was playing off summaries and my own sense of his filmmaking to rant. Having since viewed it, I perhaps grudgingly admit its workmanship and persist in my rant about its cheap sentimentalized cliches about disability and remain firmly underwhelmed by aforementioned workmanship. But I wasn’t sure why, or maybe just how to pitch those complaints in a fresh way. I mean, it wasn’t Raging Bull, but it wasn’t trying to be. How do we talk about and critique its scaled-down ambitions, without pulling out masterpieces to beat it over the head?

Here’s how: Continue reading The Set-Up

the “mike judge collection” looks good. 40 of his favorite episodes, with the narrative bits separated from the music-video bits (which makes sense to me). and apparently, we’re not being set up for a scam wherein we buy this collection and then get hit with the complete seasons one by one. judge has said that only non-overlapping collections of his favorite episodes will be released. if i hadn’t caught a lot of the comedy central marathon from last week i don’t know if i would have wanted to buy it, but having done so, i must (damn you, evil marketing geniuses!). plus “the great cornholio” is in this set. unfortunately, i don’t think the great i.n.s episode in which cornholio is deported is on here–i remember watching this at a super bowl party at ned’s (it was mtv’s half-time counter-programming); probably will be in a later collection. i hadn’t really paid a lot of attention to the show till i saw that episode (i think sean portnoy forced us to watch)–it was when i realized that i’d been missing something really, really smart.

i know michael’s a fan–anybody else?

I was watching ‘Alien vs Predator’ on HBO last night (disappointing: neither as frightening and clever as the Alien movies nor as funny and explosive as the Predator movies).

In any case, right after ‘AVP’ HBO showed ‘Before Sunset’ and I kept watching. This must be the third time I’ve seen it in the space of a year, and each time I’m enthralled. The quality of the dialogue between Hawke and Delpy is remarkable. Even the mis-steps somehow seem to work, to make it more realistic. When Delpy is lecturing Hawke on all that’s wrong with the world, it shows her lack of confidence yet that she and Hawke will connect as they did before in Vienna. When she uses American colloquialisms she should not know, even having lived in NY, it shows her relaxing around Hawke. And the manner in which the conversation evolves, from the trivial and the humorous, to the heartbreaking revelations they both make about their current relationships near the end, just seems utterly natural. It is also interesting to see Linklater and Hawke give the bulk of the dialogue to Delpy. Hawke plays off her superbly, but it is Delphy who has most of the crucial moments.

The simplicity of the camera work as it just backs away from the couple as they walk around Paris lends just enough structure to the movie without detracting at all from the dialogue. Hawke’s repeated movement to touch Delpy on the shoulder before resisting, and countless tiny gestures, capture the mixture of tentativeness and familiarity. I very much liked ‘Before Sunrise’ and in a lot of ways it is a better movie. But it is easier to craft a movie around discovery, and the first moments of a new relationship, than rediscovery, and the rekindling of an old relationship.

When I wrote up something about Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, I said that I would have loved it if I saw it at 13. Well, if I had seen The Corpse Bride at 9, it would have opened up whole new realms to me. Not only would I have loved it, it would have been one of my favorite films ever. Yet, while Hitchhiker’s Guide disappointed me as a 35 year-old, Corpse Bride still amazed me, and was a load of fun. (The fact that it opened with a Bugs Bunny Cartoon only helped.)

This film had the mix of humor, gorgeous animated beauty, eroticism, fear, songs and gothic horrors that enraptured and terrified me watching Disney’s Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty and – especially – Snow White. Continue reading The Corpse Bride

A near-excellent police procedural about a real-life, unsolved series of murders in middle-80s Korea. Often funny, occasionally thrilling — even moving. And with an excellent central performance by Kang-ho Song that compares–favorably–with Hackman in French Connection…. I kid you not. I didn’t think it as strong as Chan-Wook Park’s vengeance stuff, but it’s pretty damn good.

No analysis–just a strong rec.