Category: (by verdict)

Black Comedies of the 1990s

Unlike Mike and his hi-brow students writing about Fassbinder, Herzog, and Wenders, I have a student who wants to write about the reproduction of black subjectivity in comedies from the 1990s. She has chosen the following titles: House Party, BAPS, Friday, Bulworth, Hollywood Shuffle, School Daze, Soul Food, and The Best Man. I’m of a mind that she has to have an understanding of comedy (if such a thing is even possible) before she can begin to treat these films as texts that tell us (her) something about the nature of black identity in 90s culture. Any advice?

Paul Giammati poops

This is a frivolous post, so forgive me. It is prompted by a casual exchange between Frisoli and Arnab regarding the somewhat regular cinematic appearance of Harvey Keitel’s peeeeenis. I watched “American Splendor” for a second time the other night, and I noticed that, as in “Sideways” there’s a (brief) shot of Giammati sitting on the crapper. Does anyone know of other films that feature Giammati pooping? And has anyone seen “Kings of the Road”–it features perhaps the most touching scene of a man pooping I’ve ever found in film (not that I look for it…often). Anywho, I take it that a man pooping is always a figure of pathos. I’ll be interested in seeing who responds to this first.

wes anderson

i started writing this as a response to mike in the “i heart huckabees” conversation but decided it merited its own thread:

anderson’s best movie is “bottle rocket”–the ne plus ultra of uncloaked, goofy sincerity. i love all his movies but none of them (or any of the later characters) move me the way anthony and dignan did. he needs to get out of his rut and write a new movie–everything since has been a new take on “bottle rocket” with the pleasures of a repertory company and a higher art direction budget taking the place of growth as a writer. though i must admit that he’s gotten better at writing women: inez in “bottle rocket” barely spoke, and olivia williams’ character in “rushmore” pretty much just raised her eyebrows–then again maybe its just angelica huston.

Bloodsucking Freaks, or… films you walked out of

Jeff left “Pet Sematary,” ignoring the fine fine work of Ed Gwynn as the Pepperidge Farm guy.

What films have caused you to get up and leave the theater? I admit that “Bloodsucking Freaks” was actually too sadistic even for me to bear, but I also admit that I simply turned off the video. And that’s not good enough: it’s easy to eject the tape, drop the dvd back in its netflixy pouch. Screw that: what did you pay hard-earned cash for, only to feel so aggrieved or aggravated that you up and walked out?

Me: Rustler’s Rhapsody. I can’t recall why the hell I thought I should see this in the first place.

Fassbinder, Herzog, & Wenders … oh my!

Okay all you high priests of cinema:

I’m working with a student on an independent project on New German Cinema. I, foolishly, thought at first that would mean stuff like Tykwer and … well, new German cinema. But no, she tells me, it’s WF, WH, and WW (see subject heading).

Couple questions for you: Continue reading Fassbinder, Herzog, & Wenders … oh my!

what does scorcese have to do?

at our oscar gathering the consensus was that his best shot will be to make a holocaust movie about a black paraplegic who survives the camps and then single-handedly de-segregates alabama (jamie foxx wins best supporting actor as martin luther king). that or maybe a mussolini biopic.

not that any of us (at the gathering) have actually seen “the aviator”.

and oh, in your face, rwanda!

i like huckabees

just finished watching. why did this get savaged by so many people? i thought it was pretty good. in fact until the 1 hour 10 minute mark i thought it was really, really good. then it got stupid for a while, but the last 10 minutes were pretty good again. it is a genuinely quirky film, one that comes by its quirks honestly, through asking questions it sincerely means (even if the answers don’t end up being very interesting)–unlike, say, via formal whiz-bangery like so much charlie kaufman. (actually this film reminded me of my favorite kaufman written film, “human nature”.) and some really good performances too: jason schwartzmann (looking like someone shrank luke wilson) and mark wahlberg in particular.

anyone else seen it? i recommend it.

LOST

I keep waiting for this show to stumble but 17 hours in and I’m still hooked by the unusual depth of characterization as well as the series’ ability to maintain dramatic tension and narrative ambiguity. What first seemed to be a potentially hokey amalgamation of Land of the Lost, Lord of the Flies, and Gilligan’s Island has transformed itself into a potent post-9/11 story of human redemption. With its cast of Koreans, Australians, Iraquis and Americans, a crazy French lady and some polar bears; LOST may be the best hour of network television since . . . well, Freaks and Geeks (24’s “wham bam thank you mam” aesthetics and the convoluted machinations of Alias’ Rimbaldi plot do not measure up). Will it, however, be able to sustain itself into a second and third season, or will it flame out spectacularly like Twin Peaks?