I find it kind of amusing that there was some talk about the trailer for X-Men 3, but no talk of the movie itself. I didn’t see the first two, but I come across chunks of them on TV so often that it would now be annoying to try to watch the entire films now. I’d been told the second one was quite good and the third one bad, but at least I hadn’t seen 15 minute sections of the third one over and over, so I rented it for no good reason. Continue reading Strangers With Candy / X-Men 3
Month: December 2006
Christmas Wish List
I’m pretty sure someone did this last year. Anything anyone is really jonesing to get for Christmas this year, movie-wise? I’ve railed against bizarre box sets before, but I have to admit that this first season SNL set for under $50 sounds pretty sweet. I’ve wanted to see the Albert Brooks films for years, as well as some of the musical guests. Then there’s the ability to program up a full batch of Michael O’Donaghue written sketches. Continue reading Christmas Wish List
Pusher
The first of a three-part series which detail intersecting characters selling drugs on the streets of Denmark. At least I’m pretty sure it’s from Denmark. (They make fun of Swedes.) We follow Frank, a generally unlikable low-level thug with hints that he might have some residual humanity, as he moves through one week–and follow at the most literal level, at times the camera jostling along right over his shoulder as he pushes his way through rave crowds, into bars, and in physical confrontations. (By confrontation I mean something a bit more extravagantly, ‘though never exuberantly, violent.)
I was impressed. The film can be quite funny but never self-consciously, ironically, never with the kind of smart-ass wit playing at tough guy patter–but real nasty guy patter. And its bleak, fairly vicious tone resembles Richard Stark’s Parker novels (captured in the great Point Blank) more than Elmore Leonard or Tarantino. Reviews claim parts 2 and 3 get even better, and the cumulative effect is even stronger. I’ll let you know.
By the by, the new Bond villain (Mads Mikkelsen) turns up as Tonny, a cheese-eating bald punk hanger-on, who takes some vicious beatings here (and, I hear, in the next film). He’s damn good. Hell, everyone is very good.
forest for the trees
i’d like to recommend a small german film called the forest for the trees (2003). i stumbled upon it at the university library and i’m still haunted by it even though many weeks have gone by. the very simple story is about a young woman who, having just been left by her boyfriend, moves to a different town to teach middle school. lonely and friendless, she latches onto another young woman who lives near her. the story of this ill-fated friendship is so painful it is hard to watch. melanie is desperately needy. like needy people everywhere, she does her do all the wrong things and, most pathetically, exudes some indefinable vibe that repels others. the director captures this predicament and its impalpable elements so sharply that, if you have ever been needy, or dealt with a needy person, you’ll cringe. the countless scenes of melanie knocking on tina’s door are harrowing. Continue reading forest for the trees
gimme shelter
i watched gimme shelter last night. i was pretty sure it had been talked about on the blog, but i couldn’t find a reference and there’s nothing here in the “rock documentaries” topic where you’d expect it to have been discussed. it is a really interesting film though i am not sure what exactly it is a document of. the first half, which largely has pre-altamont footage from a show in new york showcases jagger’s unbelievable charisma and the band’s power live–though the one brief clip of ike and tina turner blows the stones’ performances away.
(i remember reading stanley booth, the true adventures of the rolling stones way back in the late 80s at the american center library in delhi–i don’t know if anyone else here has read it, it is a chronicle of this tour, and is a riproaring read–and he notes that the stones were terrified of ike.)
Continue reading gimme shelter