people speak highly of this show, which apparently comes close to toppling “suddenly susan” as best portrayal of life in an office. i have never seen it. however, i see that bbc america is running a marathon of the first season on march 26th and the second season on april 2. is there anything on the dvd’s that makes them worth renting or am i safe just taping and watching it on vhs?
Month: March 2005
Seductive Presences
Since Jeff asked–
Seductive presences on film–people who, when they show up onscreen, you can’t turn your eyes away: Sergi Lopez, Denzel Washington, Isabelle Huppert, Cate Blanchett, River Phoenix, Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet. Ruth Gordon. The entire cast of “Deadwood,” especially McShane and Olyphant. Ben Kingsley in “Sexy Beast” but not in “Gandhi.” Jeff Turner (I’ll send you the footage). Holly Hunter, Sigourney Weaver, Susan Sarandon. Burt fucking Lancaster. Don Cheadle. Mifune. Takeshi Kitano. Tony Leung and Andy Lau. Dennis Haysbert. Graham Greene, even in “Dances with Wolves.” Samuel L. Jackson. Travolta, one out of five times he’s onscreen. Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Hope Davis, Campbell Scott, Oliver Platt (and, despite this, “The Impostors” isn’t so great. But still). James Gandolfini and Edie Falco. Edward James Olmos. Once upon a time, Jeff Goldblum and Peter Weller. Jeffrey Wright. Jonathan Rhys-Meyer. Christian Bale, if well-fed. Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Reilly. Harry Dean Stanton. Vince Vaughn. Scarlett Johanneson. Rosario Dawson. Kimberly Elise.
Action and Violence
Maybe these are two genres. Maybe they’re 50. But let’s lump ’em together.
I am curious about two things from Arnab’s recent posts:
–Name 2, 3 good action films that people here won’t know. Then try to say why.
[I was glad to see Michael clarify why “Wolf” wasn’t good, since I’d forgotten. (And I’d note: Arnab, I did see it in the theaters. It was good to watch for about ten minutes, then…. see what Michael said. And THAT said, watch the thing again and come back and tell us why we’re wrong.)]
–I can think of any number of films that, like “Funny Games,” ostensibly show how the audience’s pleasures in violence should be challenged. I can’t think of one that works, that doesn’t arouse the wrong passions, that doesn’t thrill. Are there any successful anti-violence films? (I recall, vaguely, that Truffaut said you can’t make an anti-war film; the medium sensationalizes, is about arousing sensations in the viewer…)
Cartoons
3 quick points and/or questions:
1. I have the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, which on occasion I pull down and relish. Today I got it out for Max. My god I forgot how blisfully violent they are; we watched “Scaredy Cat,” and there’s a fine little scene where Sylvester, terrified of some angry mice, wants to stay upstairs with Porky, but Porky kicks him out. So Sylvester goes to a drawer and grabs a gun, which he holds up to his head, threatening suicide. Now that is comedy my friends. Max loved it. (Porky then opens the gun and drops the bullets all over the floor.)
2. We also got him “Bambi.” I’m leery of most Disney stuff, but this one sticks in my head from childhood. I recall a drive-in, pajamas, it starting to rain toward the end of the film. (So, as fire erupts in the forest, it’s pouring outside my window…) God the animation is amazing. And every time the stag made his regal entrance, up above the action, it recalled very precisely shots from Miyazaki’s “Princess Mononoke.”
3. Has anyone seen “Steamboy”? I was convinced by a friend here to seeing Miyazaki, and he was right; this friend also bought me “Akira,” which I admire but I don’t love. So… should I bother with “Steamboy?”
programming note
okay, so i had some time on my hands and mucked around a little–it is possible that i have fixed the password retrieval thingy. does someone want to help me test it? to do so, log out (you’ll have to click login first to see the “logout” button). then click “login” again and initiate the retrieval process. wait for the email, try that password. if it doesn’t work email me. if it does work, go into your profile and reset it to something you’d prefer.
Lisboa/Sergi Lopez
I watched a reasonable but not-great Spanish noir called “Lisboa”. Really good cast (Carmen Maura, Federico Luppi from Men with Guns) with the standout star Sergi Lopez. The film itself, again, is mediocre: a traveling porn salesman–and, note to Mark, that may be the color of your parachute, my job-seeking friend–runs into a woman on the run, dreadful husband and family in pursuit. Will the salesman act, will he be moral, will he save her… or… well, it’s a noir film. So you guess.
But Lopez is what I wanted to post about. Damn, the guy can act. In “Dirty Pretty Things†I’m told he spoke his lines (in English) phonetically, yet he oozes a smug confident sleaze. In “With a Friend Like Harry,†he burns a hole in the screen–his eyes are just a little too close together, and they brim with possibilities going on behind whatever dialogue he’s been given. Lopez looks unassuming–he looks short on film, so in person he’s probably 2′3″. And he’s a bit lumpy. And he slouches. And yet I’d say he’s one of the most seductive presences on film today. The guy can act…
funny games
mike mentioned this in the “time of the wolf” discussion–an earlier film by the same director–and it recently washed to the top of my netflix queue (i keep finding excuses for not watching “hidalgo” but i can’t bring myself to remove it from the queue). we watched it tonight. i liked it but don’t quite know why. i’m guessing this film is trying to make audiences question (acknowledge?) their relationship to cinematic violence. of course it is trapped in being exactly what it critiques and its pleasures finally are those of the genre it seems to want to make the viewer feel bad about enjoying. i am too tired to think of anything smarter to say about it–mike, please tell me why i liked it.
over the top french action movies
now there’s a genre for you. i began this as a response to the michaels in the “garden state” discussion but decided it needed a place all to itself.
while being right generally about luc besson you’re all wrong about “the fifth element”. that film kicks ass– even though there is a lot deeply, politically wrong with it. but the rest of the luc besson catalog is all crap. however, i am a connoisseur of the scenery-chewing performance and besson has enabled some of the greatest of this kind in screen history. oldman’s performance in “the professional” may never be topped–though daniel day lewis does make a strong case in “gangs of new york”, but i digress. aesthetic problems with his movies aside, besson’s penchant for putting the female body in pain is somewhat disturbing. i think he may have issues.
Continue reading over the top french action movies
Guarded Stare
Garden State A FILM ABOUT TROUBLED YOUNG PEOPLE… WITH NO TROUBLES.
Is Zach Braff just not good enough – or confident enough – to let certain things remain unsaid? Or is the audience that dense that we need to have every little thing spelled out for us? Braff lets his cast off very easy in this film, particularly himself and Portman. Blinding headaches? Oh, they just go away halfway through the film. Been on lithium, Zoloft, Paxil for ten years and decide to take yourself off all at once? Well, the worst thing that will happen to you is that you’ll joyously shout while standing in the rain! Continue reading Guarded Stare
russian ark
we watched this last night. that is to say, i watched it all, while sunhee fell asleep at about the 50 minute mark. i don’t really know what to make of this. i found the opening 20 minutes or so to be very absorbing but then it sort of fizzled out. perhaps one needs to be much more familiar with russian history to get what the film is doing with it. but in the absence of that knowledge it felt more and more like a celebration of pomp and circumstance for its own sake. doing it one take was apparently the director’s attempt at a filmic version of doing something in “one breath”. i suppose, but i don’t know if a colder approach a la kubrick in “barry lyndon” might not have suited his purposes better. then again maybe it works really well on a large screen. anyone else seen this? amy, if you’re still reading, i think you’d recommended this–what am i missing?