Month: September 2006

Jackass or Asshole?

I am venturing into Reynolds territory, so I’ll keep this brief and hope he brings some clarity to the role that comedy plays in rendering certain kinds of social relationship visible. A few years ago I went with a few friends to see ‘Jackass’ and it generated a discussion of the difference between being a jackass and being an asshole. That first ‘Jackass’ movie, for all the incredibly stupid stunts, did a good job of illustrating the difference. There was a scene in which the crew race golf carts, and they are jackasses, while the golfers are clearly assholes. Several of the bits were also just hilariously funny.

So the same group of friends went to see ‘Jackass 2’ last night and — surprise! — they are now mostly assholes. There are still some mind-blowingly funny sequences, of which the penis sock puppet and the snake, drinking horse semen, and “the gauntlet” are the best. But the real joy of the stunts has been replaced with a mildly sadistic desire to hurt each other. The key line in the movie is: “was the dick hair really necessary?” It addresses what, ultimately, makes a stunt funny. In that case, the dick hair was actually necessary.

recent viewings

I recommend Hollywoodland, a neat little noir that is no big shakes but is well-handled and intriguing enough. I expect that it will serve nicely as the first part of a double bill with The Black Dahlia, another story of dashed hopes in hollywood. and speaking of the black dahlia, please read the book by John Gilmore (which I’ve recommended elsewhere) called Severed–you can practically feel the seediness of 1940s LA and the desperation of midwestern starlets who find themselves in quasi-prostitution rather than working with Warner Brothers. In Hollywoodland, the nicest bits are Bob Hoskins as a feral studio exec whose wife overtly cheats on him with George Reeves, the man who played superman in the TV series. Ben Affleck, never known for his acting chops, is very fine as Reeves, getting his manner and vocal inflections down without being overbearing. the heart of the film is probably diane lane as the studio exec’s wife, carrying on with Reeves–she projects an interesting mix of sexiness with a tinge of desperation at getting old and at letting her life go to waste in pointless indulgence. Adrian Brody as the detective/plot exposition device who investigates the whole sordid affair (was Superman’s death a suicide or a murder?) is also good. The movie is competently directed by Allen Coulter, a regular director for The Sopranos. one wishes that Coulter had let go a bit in the manner of, say, Jack Nicholson in The Two Jakes (an unjustly overlooked masterpiece–I don’t care what fans of Chinatown say) or David Lynch in Mulholland Drive, but as a sucker for the fatalistic noir genre, I was happy for two hours. I, too, am afraid of being typecast as the invulnerable he-man type.
Continue reading recent viewings

Chris Eigeman: Metropolitan (1990) and Kicking and Screaming (1995)

I’m annoyed with myself for being unable to write up a short appreciation of Chris Eigeman here; particularly in the context of these two films. I’ve meant to do it for a while; thankfully I don’t write for a living. These two films have recently come out in Criterion editions, and both were quite excellent debut features by directors who had little idea how to make movies going into these. Though Criterion has been releasing some newer American films, I think it’s worth noting that they didn’t do a batch of Stillman or Baumbach; just these two films close together, which have in common only the presence of Chris Eigeman.

I can also say that both of these movies would be – well, not terrible – but not nearly as good without Eigeman, who raises the bar on both. (Kicking and Screaming at least benefits from a decent Eric Stoltz part, but it turns out it was written for him just as filming began, and it seems a little tacked on.)

So, I’m just throwing this out there hoping that Reynolds or someone else will pick up the ball and write somthing interesting about him and the movies he’s been in. Continue reading Chris Eigeman: Metropolitan (1990) and Kicking and Screaming (1995)

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

I first heard about Daniel Johnston through Yo La Tengo. I bought a 7″ record that features sleeve art by Johnston. The recording is simple: Yo La Tengo calls Johnston at his home and asks him to sing “Speeding Motorcycle” into the phone while they play along in their studio. His voice, thin and raspy to begin with, sounds tiny and hurt as it comes through the receiver. But he sings with a lot of emotion and gets carried away. And if you look at the sleeve art while listening to the record, you pretty much get who Johnston is. It’s a drawing of him on stage strumming his guitar and singing “Speeding Motorcycle” with an adoring crowd cheering him on. The documentary sticks with this idea: Continue reading The Devil and Daniel Johnston

Sunset Studio 60 Something

Terrible title.

Pretty good show though. I have a hard time imagining that I will care for these people and admire them in the way I cared for and admired the characters of The West Wing.

And it’s easy to make that assumption b/c so much of the WW cast is duplicated here. As an example, Matthew Perry’s guest stint on West Wing as the chief clerk (or something) for a hospitalized, dying Supreme Court Justice was great. He won an Emmy for it, I think. It had some gravity and walked a nice balance between something we can all relate to – someone dying we care for – and something most of us will never relate to – preserving massive political power for as long as possible. How can something like that be carried off in the setting of a sketch comedy show?
Continue reading Sunset Studio 60 Something

Altman’s Quintet (1979) / Reel Paradise

Trying desperately to throw a couple of new things up here so that anyone can pipe in with things they’ve seen of late. I had low hopes for Quintet and high hopes for Reel Paradise, but neither one really met with my expectations.

I had never heard of Quintet. But geez – a late ’70s Altman sci-fi film starring Paul Newman? And featuring a macarbe version of backgammon in Earth’s “Last ice age”? Well, sign me up! This ddoes after all involve many of my favorite things: Paul Newman, backgammon (macabre backgammon no less), wild dogs, ruined relics of World’s Fairs past, Altman, and late 70s sci-fi. What could go wrong? Continue reading Altman’s Quintet (1979) / Reel Paradise

Mars Attacks!

Is this the perfect movie? I just watched it for the umpteenth time with my kids. Almost every scene is a delight, with Nicholson’s performance — alternating between world weary cynicism and noble statesmanship — anchoring the middle of the movie. Wonderful small parts by Martin Short, Jim Brown and Natalie Portman, and of course Tom Jones tearing up a Vegas cabaret and then the hills above Lake Tahoe with song. Lukas Haas’s speech at the end of the movie is a masterpiece of comedy that almost makes me want to live in a teepee. This is a filmmaker really having fun so that every time you watch the movie you catch another little detail. I just noticed the aliens carrying off appliances from the stores they destroy.

TBS seems to have decided to remember September 11th with alien invasion and monster movies. Not a bad choice.

the yes men and harlan county, usa

these are both excellent political documentaries that manage not to depress but to encourage and fuel. or at least they did me. the yes me is about two guys (with a few sidekicks) who decide to take on the WTO. they build a website that looks just like the WTO’s, choose a url that attracts traffic directed to the WTO (it’s still up: www.gatt.org — GATT was the WTO’s original name), and proceed to respond to all invitations to conferences, summits, tv shows, etc. directed to their nemesis. the documentary follows them in a couple of such clandestine excursions into the world of high finance and international manipulation. they are remarkably low tech, mostly i suppose because money is tight, but still manage to pull off incredibly believable performances. their approach is simple: expose the WTO’s inhumane and repressive practices by exaggerating them to the point of absurdity and repugnance. Continue reading the yes men and harlan county, usa