Reactions to Wall-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008)

Trying out a new reaction thread for our recent theater watchings. Post reactions, highlights, drawbacks, best/worst moments, or whatever else you feel needs saying.

Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973)

The shockingly assured and visually distinctive filmmaking style of Terrence Malick arrived, fully-formed with his debut feature Badlands in 1973. The circular, contemplative retrospection, painterly images and existentialism that befit Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and The New World were in full effect from Malick’s first feature, a low budget rumination on the rage of murders committed by real-life couple Charles Starweather (Martin Sheen as Kit Carruther’s) and Caril Ann Fugate (Sissy Spacek as Holly) in the late 1950’s. But this isn’t Bonnie and Clyde. These outlaws aren’t in search of fame or fortune. These things just seem to happen to them and Kit can give you no better reasoning for why he shot Holly's dad then, "I don't know. I always wanted to be a criminal, I guess. Just not this big a one." Kit’s a strange study, “quite an individual” he’s called later, killing numerous people along this spree but always appearing as cool and calm as he did at the beginning collecting garbage. Actually, other than bolting towards the border, the only thing Kit seems to have put any real thought into is Holly. He knows he wants to be with her, nothing else matters but that and surviving. So that leaves Holly with plenty of time to ruminate on the intricacies of life and love and, in typical Malick-ian fashion, she does so through a soothing, searching voiceover narration that the director would go back to years later in Days of Heaven. The two of them are in a world unto themselves, spending as much time alone living in the woods and driving through dirt fields as they do interacting with anyone else. And everything happens on the fly, as the outside world closes in and our two fatalistic lovebirds make way for Canada keeping a realistic perspective of where this is headed. And, I think it’s safe to say, it ain’t happily ever after.

RIP George Carlin

1937-2008

EW's 100 New Movie Classics

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2001-03)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)
11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
12. The Matrix (1999)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
16. Boogie Nights (1997)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)
20. The Lion King (1994)
21. Schindler's List (1993)
22. Rushmore (1998)
23. Memento (2001)
24. A Room With a View (1986)
25. Shrek (2001)
26. Hoop Dreams (1994)
27. Aliens (1986)
28. Wings of Desire (1988)
29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
30. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
31. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
32. Fight Club (1999)
33. The Breakfast Club (1985)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. The Incredibles (2004)
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
37. Pretty Woman (1990)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
40. Speed (1994)
41. Dazed and Confused (1993)
42. Clueless (1995)
43. Gladiator (2000)
44. The Player (1992)
45. Rain Man (1988)
46. Children of Men (2006)
47. Men in Black (1997)
48. Scarface (1983)
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
50. The Piano (1993)
51. There Will Be Blood (2007)
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
53. The Truman Show (1998)
54. Fatal Attraction (1987)
55. Risky Business (1983)
56. The Lives of Others (2006)
57. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
58. Ghostbusters (1984)
59. L.A. Confidential (1997)
60. Scream (1996)
61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
63. Big (1988)
64. No Country For Old Men (2007)
65. Dirty Dancing (1987)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
67. Donnie Brasco (1997)
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999)
70. Broadcast News (1987)
71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Office Space (1999)
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
75. Out of Africa (1985)
76. The Departed (2006)
77. Sid and Nancy (1986)
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
80. Michael Clayton (2007)
81. Moonstruck (1987)
82. Lost in Translation (2003)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
84. Sideways (2004)
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
86. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
87. Swingers (1996)
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
91. Back to the Future (1985)
92. Menace II Society (1993)
93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001)
96. Far From Heaven (2002)
97. Glory (1989)
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
99. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)

What are your thoughts? What's too high? Too low? What would have made your list? And what has no business even being on this list?

In the Screening Room - Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor

Session 020 - The Last Emperor

Who saw it and what are your thoughts on it?

Definitely, Maybe (Adam Brooks, 2008)

I’ve liked Ryan Reynolds ever since I saw him on "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" back when I was in high school. I don’t remember how many episodes I saw but it couldn’t have been many since I can hardly recall a detail about any of them, except that Reynold’s wit and comic timing stood out. He was the one reason I stopped flipping and tuned in. Fitting then that his first couple forays into film had the same result, Van Wilder, Waiting..., Just Friends… not a worthwhile picture in the bunch, but again, Reynold’s wit and comic timing stand out. He’s been, very often, the only reason to tune in. That finally changes with Definitely, Maybe. After an inauspicious opening sequence that amounts to about the equivalent of flipping through a photographer’s collection of Ryan Reynolds’ modeling shots and unnerves you towards the possible vanity still to come, the film settles into a nice groove… instead relying on charm, affection and an unfeigned playfulness between its pretty people falling in love. In a way the charm is akin to that of The Princess Bride (though admittedly not as strong), but it’s tale, set up as a story told by an adult to an interested youth, instills the film with a childlike curiosity and mindset that Brooks works to his advantage. Reynolds spends the following two hours recanting a story to his daughter (Abigail Breslin) about how he met her mother and because of its setup, everything becomes sweeter. The usually tired plot points of the romantic comedy get a different taste, but there’s a slight cynicism that the romance isn’t always perfect and doesn’t always work out. It’s hardly perfect, but it’s well acted by all involved (Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz, Kevin Kline and Isla Fisher in particular), and it’s especially nice to see Ryan Reynolds finally has something worthy of his time, and so do you.

The Forums: Topic III

Topic of the Week:

Name Your Favorite Scenes of the Year, Thus Far

Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show (Ari Sandel, 2008)

The brainchild of Vince Vaughn (we actually get to hear Vaughn propose the idea over the opening credits), the Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights – Hollywood to the Heartland is a mash up, more documentary than stand-up, more behind the stage than on it, more improvised than not and, just slightly, more good than bad. Pitched as a sketch show hosted by Vaughn himself, the film opens to an amusing skit between Vince and, naturally, Jon Favreau about Swingers. But from that point on the skits start misfiring pretty badly, which filmmaker Ari Sandel seems to realize as he pushes the four comedians (Sebastian Maniscalco, Bret Ernst, John Caparulo and Ahmed Ahmed) to the forefront of the story. The whole thing is curiously devoid of legitimate “westerner’s” and the jokes are sometimes uneven, but regardless, it’s when the film takes the time to reflect on the comedian’s individual situations (Maniscalco waiting tables, Ernst on how his set had just bombed) that the best moments shine through. Unfortunately those moments are rare and I started to get the peculiar feeling that a lot of the juicier moments were cut out to make this more of a “puff piece” than it should have been. After all, the film is mostly an excuse to hangout for Vaughn and a group of his friends. But it’s strange that after 30 days, Vaughn, who’s surprisingly getting the least number of laughs and the least attention, is ready to call it quits… while the comedians want the show to go on.

Recent Watches: June 2008

Why have I taken so long to post this forum? A better question, how can I forget about a topic that I post every... single... month?

The Visitor (Thomas McCarthy, 2008)

In just two films, director Thomas McCarthy has shown himself to be an adept, minimalist storyteller. Observant and, even better, patient, McCarthy lets his stories unfold in a naturalistic manner that allows the actors room to find the story without feeling the need to force big moments.

When McCarthy approached the regular character actor Richard Jenkins about staring in his next film, The Visitor, Jenkins said something that amounted to “Sure, but the producers won’t fund it with me in the lead.” McCarthy simply told him not to worry about that and cast him anyway.

He knows his characters, his story and he casts the actors that will best fill his story’s needs (it seems that his own acting experience has gone a long way towards helping him trust his actors). What was the much-loved (especially by me) The Station Agent but a clinic on the power of a silent scene, brilliantly assaulted by Bobby Cannavale’s overly garrulous Joe?

In fact, The Visitor, another character study film based on a reclusive outsider brought back to the world by an enormously affable new companion, shares a lot of similarities with McCarthy’s only other directorial work. These films are chock full of moments that would be excised from other, lesser films. They’re full of silent, retrospective moments, humor and real relationships and conversations. In fact, the only drawback I can think of to The Visitor is it’s sometimes too much like real life and its conversations tend to reflect that by not always being the most attractive of dialogue.

But how invigorating is it to see a director dedicated to making grown up stories and to finding new talent (Haaz Sleiman as Tarek is as great a find as Cannavale and Dinklage were). By keeping his budgets modest, McCarthy has somehow managed to work inside the studio system and meanwhile keep his stories and characters intact. That’s why he can turn a profit, even with the relatively unknown Richard Jenkins in the starring role.

The sad-eyed Jenkins is exceptionally good as Walter Vale, a college professor whose wife recently passed and who starts the film heartbreakingly trying to learn her life’s passion, the piano, only to be told he’s not naturally gifted at it and probably too old to learn.

Recently, he’s decreased the number of classes he teaches, in order to focus on writing his latest book but ends up spending most of his time at home, alone with a glass of wine and his wife’s CD to listen to. It’s only when he’s forced to present a paper he “co-authored” with a colleague at a conference in New York that he’s reluctantly thrust out of his self-imposed routine (that his colleague is about to give birth doesn’t dissuade him from still trying to pass off the task to her).

It’s in New York, much like when Finn from The Station Agent moves to Newfoundland, that Walter is forced to confront the outside world… it just happens from inside his own long-discarded apartment, where he finds both Tarek and Zainab, illegal immigrants to the states, have been living for the past three months. After some initial confusion and apologies (the couple thought they were renting the place from its rightful landlord), the same humanistic elements that touched Finn persuade Walter into letting them stay “until they find another place.”

The immigration story ultimately has more on its mind and more of a message then the beautifully low-maintenance Station Agent, which doesn’t necessarily make it a better (or worse) film. It’s just a different angle that McCarthy has decided to take on similar material. He puts a face on a relevant political subject and because that face is Tarek’s, a character so imbued with an affirmation and love for life, it makes it next-to-impossible to ignore. After all, McCarthy’s characters are only looking for a sense of belonging, to each other and even to this country. They do, as does McCarthy with that camera.

In the Screening Room - Robert Altman's Nashville

Session 019 - Nashville

Who saw it and what are your thoughts on it?

Transformers Wins Best Picture at MTV Movie Awards

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAA

Must See Movie of the Month: June 2008

June is an atypically lame month for movies this year. Being that there are more films coming out this month where the idea of seeing them actually physically scares the hell out of me (You Don't Mess with the Zohan, The Love Guru) than "must see" films, I've begun to question whether I've somehow traveled back in time a few months to relive January all over again? Seriously, up until I noticed the latest Pixar movie was coming out... I had M. Night Shymalan's The Happening listed in this position (and the last movie of his I liked was 6 years and 3 movies ago, for my hometown Bucks County-filmed Signs). But the promise of a new Pixar in which the first 40 minutes are entirely speechless? I can't resist.

Who else wants to see it and what are your "must see's" of the month?

Other Notables:

The Happening, Get Smart (I loved the TV show, here's hoping), The Incredible Hulk (why Norton, why? This has Daredevil written all over it), My Winnipeg