Seen for the sixth time in July 2013.
"Brick" was the best movie released in the first decade of this century and the only other movie that comes close is Larry Clark's "Bully." What does Brick do well? It perfectly emulates the style and atmosphere of classic noir. Shit, it takes the platonic ideal of noir, and emulates that, giving us the witty dialogue, the style, the suspense and atmosphere. It's extremely well cast with only one bad performance coming from the girl from "Lost."
The part that makes it controversial is that its set in modern high school, which misleads the pre-concepted into expecting realism, as if this would be a good movie if it were a realistic high school drama about drugs. I scoff. Like what Havoc? I can't think of any good high school dramas. Can anybody think of one since "American Graffiti"?
But I digress, what makes "Brick" great is that it's a great noir, not a great piece of realistic film-making. "Brick" helps us to understand that noir was never about realism. It was about style, wit, suspense, and atmosphere. It was about an idealized form of masculinity, imperfect but essentially good, doing the best he can using his wits in an undefeatable and essentially corrupt world, and maybe even surviving. This is what Brick is about.
And the high school setting is essential. It is essential to create a stylized world for these characters to inhabit. Even classic noir was staged in a stylized world and not a realistic one, though many of us wouldn't know that these days. Nonetheless the traditional noir setting may be too dated and cliched at this point to produce something truly noteworthy and exceptional. New and fertile worlds must be sought for noir to excel at it's brand of urbane sophistication.
"Brick" uses the high school setting to create this very necessary stylized world where the conventions of noir can successfully be revealed without seeming cliche. And the underlying noir that takes place in this setting is a very very good one. The world of "Brick" is hermetically sealed one, similar to our own, but very much not our own. Like a billion other realistic teen sagas, it's not a very good teen drama. It is however, an exceptionally good piece of film noir, and it deserves its place right alongside Chinatown, and The Maltese Falcon, and The Big Sleep. It's that good. Even accounting for parasitism. It's that good. Grade A.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
The Big Sleep - Howard Hawks
Seen for the eighth time in July 2013.
I can usually make sense of "The Big Sleep" for maybe an hour after I watch it and then it becomes a jumbled confusing mess again. But what it lacks in coherence, it more than makes up for in style and atmosphere. I don't believe that Bogart was ever more enjoyable than he is in "The Big Sleep," and Bacall keeps pace in impressive fashion. The labyrinthian machinations and motivations intertwining in this convoluted tale are an asset and the need to make sense of the plot here is the hallmark of monomaniacal.
"The Big Sleep" is to be enjoyed for Bogart's brand of rugged sophistication, gruff and savvy, tough and yet at the same time, discerning. He balances a kind of heroic stoicism with a brash wit. It's a treat to watch him work here, a man's man and yet charming to women too, always a few steps ahead of his adversaries even when he's a step behind. And Bacall is at her best as his foil, given lines to keep pace with Bogart's wit, as the dance of mutual flirtation leads them further and further into this mystery.
The supporting cast is all top-notch as well. And the guy who plays the little guy deserves to be singled out for a great performance of a great minor character. But overall it's the aura of mystery and the cool wit of the writing along with some fantastic performances that makes this film such a dazzling experience. Grade A.
I can usually make sense of "The Big Sleep" for maybe an hour after I watch it and then it becomes a jumbled confusing mess again. But what it lacks in coherence, it more than makes up for in style and atmosphere. I don't believe that Bogart was ever more enjoyable than he is in "The Big Sleep," and Bacall keeps pace in impressive fashion. The labyrinthian machinations and motivations intertwining in this convoluted tale are an asset and the need to make sense of the plot here is the hallmark of monomaniacal.
"The Big Sleep" is to be enjoyed for Bogart's brand of rugged sophistication, gruff and savvy, tough and yet at the same time, discerning. He balances a kind of heroic stoicism with a brash wit. It's a treat to watch him work here, a man's man and yet charming to women too, always a few steps ahead of his adversaries even when he's a step behind. And Bacall is at her best as his foil, given lines to keep pace with Bogart's wit, as the dance of mutual flirtation leads them further and further into this mystery.
The supporting cast is all top-notch as well. And the guy who plays the little guy deserves to be singled out for a great performance of a great minor character. But overall it's the aura of mystery and the cool wit of the writing along with some fantastic performances that makes this film such a dazzling experience. Grade A.
The Awful Truth - Cary Grant
Seen for the second time in July 2013.
Cary Grant's charisma is probably the one thing that separates classic screwball comedy from the insipid fare that passes for romantic comedy for the past 30 or so years. As great as Cary Grant is, he's still an underrated performer. I've heard him compared to George Clooney for example, but Grant towers over his imitators. I've never seen George Clooney pull a pratfall, much less pull a pratfull and still seem as though he's the most charming and sophisticated person on the entire planet. I've seen Cary Grant do that. I saw him do it in "The Awful Truth," which is a great movie, and probably the best of Cary Grant in the screwball era, though "His Girl Friday," isn't edged out easily.
It's interesting to me the snobbery that this film gets away with. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne's characters are both clearly well-educated and well-off and much of the humor in this movie is a result of them snidely turning their noses up at their less well-heeled brethren. Whether it's Bellamy's mid-American rube or the risque act of a working class dancing girl or even Dunne's imitation of such. I'm not sure how this stuff would play in today's political environment. I don't believe that a film of mass appeal made today would get laughs by appealing to an urbane sensibility's disdain for the masses.
"The Awful Truth" gets away with it nonetheless, I'm sure not just by having the carte blanche of being classic Hollywood, but also by being so goddamned relentlessly entertaining. Irene Dunn and Ralph Bellamy are at their best, and Cary Grant gives one of the all time most charismatic performances. Grade A.
Cary Grant's charisma is probably the one thing that separates classic screwball comedy from the insipid fare that passes for romantic comedy for the past 30 or so years. As great as Cary Grant is, he's still an underrated performer. I've heard him compared to George Clooney for example, but Grant towers over his imitators. I've never seen George Clooney pull a pratfall, much less pull a pratfull and still seem as though he's the most charming and sophisticated person on the entire planet. I've seen Cary Grant do that. I saw him do it in "The Awful Truth," which is a great movie, and probably the best of Cary Grant in the screwball era, though "His Girl Friday," isn't edged out easily.
It's interesting to me the snobbery that this film gets away with. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne's characters are both clearly well-educated and well-off and much of the humor in this movie is a result of them snidely turning their noses up at their less well-heeled brethren. Whether it's Bellamy's mid-American rube or the risque act of a working class dancing girl or even Dunne's imitation of such. I'm not sure how this stuff would play in today's political environment. I don't believe that a film of mass appeal made today would get laughs by appealing to an urbane sensibility's disdain for the masses.
"The Awful Truth" gets away with it nonetheless, I'm sure not just by having the carte blanche of being classic Hollywood, but also by being so goddamned relentlessly entertaining. Irene Dunn and Ralph Bellamy are at their best, and Cary Grant gives one of the all time most charismatic performances. Grade A.
Monday, July 29, 2013
The Public Enemy - James Cagney
Seen for the first time in July 2013.
James Cagney may not seem like much of an actor in "The Public Enemy" - his lines sometimes come off as stiff and wooden - but his presence is undeniable. He pops right off the screen and his charisma overwhelms the performances of the rest of the cast, the rest of the film too as a matter of fact, which is a diverting 80 odd minutes but underwhelming when put against the pace of modern gangster fare. It's a probable influence on "A Clockwork Orange" and Cagney is an enjoyably funny scumbag, sort of a proto-Pesci, if you will. Nonetheless, the film is more dusty and cobwebbed than finely aged, though nonetheless entertaining. It certainly illustrates how stars become stars, by virtue of presence and charisma. Cagney has both to spare. Grade B-.
James Cagney may not seem like much of an actor in "The Public Enemy" - his lines sometimes come off as stiff and wooden - but his presence is undeniable. He pops right off the screen and his charisma overwhelms the performances of the rest of the cast, the rest of the film too as a matter of fact, which is a diverting 80 odd minutes but underwhelming when put against the pace of modern gangster fare. It's a probable influence on "A Clockwork Orange" and Cagney is an enjoyably funny scumbag, sort of a proto-Pesci, if you will. Nonetheless, the film is more dusty and cobwebbed than finely aged, though nonetheless entertaining. It certainly illustrates how stars become stars, by virtue of presence and charisma. Cagney has both to spare. Grade B-.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Super
Seen for the second time in July 2013.
If "Super" has a flaw outside of too much schmaltz in its expositional epigraph, it's that during the portion of the movie where Ellen Page plays the kid sidekick, Rainn Wilson doesn't seem as psychopathically unhinged as in the rest of the movie, which is to say it doesn't maintain a tonal consistency, which is also to say it deviates from what it does best. But the takeway is that I don't know that another movie has ever so successfully played a senseless vicious beating with a wrench quite so humorously as this movie did. I'm impressed. This movie was made for my sensibility.
The question is how much of a detriment does Ellen Page create when her character makes Rainn Wilson's seem reasonable and conservative? It confuses things. It causes an inconsistency that aggravates. And frankly "Super" is at its best when Rainn Wilson is at his most psychotic. Nonetheless, what Ellen Page debits here, she at least partially credits by gesturing to pervy sensibilities. Which is all we can ask for. It might even be a fair trade.
In the climax, things get surprisingly dark. And I applaud the bravery of those inclinations. And though the epigraph ends up a little too bittersweet in that irritatingly mid 00's cutely upbeat way, like it's channelling the ghost of "Little Miss Sunshine," overall this film is an impressive blend of offbeat hilarity and genuinely frightening psychopathy. On of the finest comedies of whichever decade 2010 belongs in. Grade A.
If "Super" has a flaw outside of too much schmaltz in its expositional epigraph, it's that during the portion of the movie where Ellen Page plays the kid sidekick, Rainn Wilson doesn't seem as psychopathically unhinged as in the rest of the movie, which is to say it doesn't maintain a tonal consistency, which is also to say it deviates from what it does best. But the takeway is that I don't know that another movie has ever so successfully played a senseless vicious beating with a wrench quite so humorously as this movie did. I'm impressed. This movie was made for my sensibility.
The question is how much of a detriment does Ellen Page create when her character makes Rainn Wilson's seem reasonable and conservative? It confuses things. It causes an inconsistency that aggravates. And frankly "Super" is at its best when Rainn Wilson is at his most psychotic. Nonetheless, what Ellen Page debits here, she at least partially credits by gesturing to pervy sensibilities. Which is all we can ask for. It might even be a fair trade.
In the climax, things get surprisingly dark. And I applaud the bravery of those inclinations. And though the epigraph ends up a little too bittersweet in that irritatingly mid 00's cutely upbeat way, like it's channelling the ghost of "Little Miss Sunshine," overall this film is an impressive blend of offbeat hilarity and genuinely frightening psychopathy. On of the finest comedies of whichever decade 2010 belongs in. Grade A.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Mike Nichols
Seen for the tenth time in July 2013.
I often times cite this as my favorite movie. It's easily in the top ten. I'm surprised by how much I still laugh out loud while watching it. I'm not sure wittier dialogue has ever been filmed. Richard Burton is amazing. Elizabeth Taylor is perfect. And it turns out that's the guy from "Just Shoot Me?" Whoa. I noticed Mike Nichols's camera work this time around, which truly resonates and is good. This is not just a filmed adaption of a great play. Nichols puts thought and effort into how to portray it on the screen, but also has the good sense not to get in the way of the play's vicious wit.
It's a cliche for people to say that every time they watch a movie they get something new out of it. I don't. This movie doesn't need to improve on second viewing. It's just jaw-droppingly good and worth watching and re-watching. It's also a long movie. In the past, I've sometimes found it emotionally exhausting to watch toward the end, but this time through, I enjoyed the crisp entertainment from beginning to end.
I don't know that any other movie has so well succeeded at being at the same time so funny and so mean and so sad and so overwrought and just really really crazy. Pale imitations have come in it's wake, but there are no predecessors. This is sui generis. It's crazy wit will never be matched and it's unflinching cruelty is rarely even attempted. And it does what it does while still managing to be emotionally powerful, in a way, the viewer will at times find exhausting. It's a remarkable achievement. Grade A.
I often times cite this as my favorite movie. It's easily in the top ten. I'm surprised by how much I still laugh out loud while watching it. I'm not sure wittier dialogue has ever been filmed. Richard Burton is amazing. Elizabeth Taylor is perfect. And it turns out that's the guy from "Just Shoot Me?" Whoa. I noticed Mike Nichols's camera work this time around, which truly resonates and is good. This is not just a filmed adaption of a great play. Nichols puts thought and effort into how to portray it on the screen, but also has the good sense not to get in the way of the play's vicious wit.
It's a cliche for people to say that every time they watch a movie they get something new out of it. I don't. This movie doesn't need to improve on second viewing. It's just jaw-droppingly good and worth watching and re-watching. It's also a long movie. In the past, I've sometimes found it emotionally exhausting to watch toward the end, but this time through, I enjoyed the crisp entertainment from beginning to end.
I don't know that any other movie has so well succeeded at being at the same time so funny and so mean and so sad and so overwrought and just really really crazy. Pale imitations have come in it's wake, but there are no predecessors. This is sui generis. It's crazy wit will never be matched and it's unflinching cruelty is rarely even attempted. And it does what it does while still managing to be emotionally powerful, in a way, the viewer will at times find exhausting. It's a remarkable achievement. Grade A.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Thieves' Highway - Jules Dassin
Seen for the first time in July 2013.
While "Thieves Highway" is a good deal better than "They Drive By Night," thus sort of winning the gritty noir about truckers hauling produce sweepstakes, its still lags behind "Rafifi" and "Night and the City" in terms of Jules Dassin's work. Grade B -.
While "Thieves Highway" is a good deal better than "They Drive By Night," thus sort of winning the gritty noir about truckers hauling produce sweepstakes, its still lags behind "Rafifi" and "Night and the City" in terms of Jules Dassin's work. Grade B -.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
The Rules of the Game - Jean Renoir
Seen for the first time in July 2013.
Containing the same warm depth as "La Grande Illusion," (though I'd compare it more to a dusty bottle of a pleasant blended Scotch than an aged Wheated Bourbon), I nonetheless liked "The Rules of the Game" a good deal less than I liked "La Grande Illusion." Not so much because it wasn't a pleasant film with some very nice moments, but probably because I'm unable to regard it with the esteem that consistently places it amongst the very best films ever made. There is a warm humanity infusing it and it is pleasantly diverting, but it does feel like one is being a good boy and eating his vegetables and it leaves me wondering a bit just what am I supposed to be getting out of this. It doesn't feel essential much less canonical. The joys are light and subtle, but not particularly deep. I'm left feeling very self-conscious about assigning it a grade. It's reputation is so big and yet it's impact so small. Honesty ought to prevail. Grade B-.
Containing the same warm depth as "La Grande Illusion," (though I'd compare it more to a dusty bottle of a pleasant blended Scotch than an aged Wheated Bourbon), I nonetheless liked "The Rules of the Game" a good deal less than I liked "La Grande Illusion." Not so much because it wasn't a pleasant film with some very nice moments, but probably because I'm unable to regard it with the esteem that consistently places it amongst the very best films ever made. There is a warm humanity infusing it and it is pleasantly diverting, but it does feel like one is being a good boy and eating his vegetables and it leaves me wondering a bit just what am I supposed to be getting out of this. It doesn't feel essential much less canonical. The joys are light and subtle, but not particularly deep. I'm left feeling very self-conscious about assigning it a grade. It's reputation is so big and yet it's impact so small. Honesty ought to prevail. Grade B-.
Miller's Crossing - The Coen Brothers
Seen for the the tenth time in July 2013.
I went a good decade-long stretch of not watching this movie after having seen it for the first time at some point in the mid-nineties. I had seen it too many times and thought that I didn't think it was that good. Over the last couple of years, however, I've come to realize it is the Coens's masterpiece.
My theory of the movie is basically that Gabriel Byrne's character Tom has an unrequited homosexual love for his boss Leo. This is more or less why he sleeps with Verna, Leo's lover, despite his disregard for her. It is the closest he can come to consummating his love for Leo; by sleeping with the woman that Leo is sleeping with. Tom does not take a single action in this movie that is inconsistent with this motivation, including the instances where Tom acts more like a spurned lover than an intelligent, ruthlessly logical man "playing the angles."
In addition, some overt support for this theory occurs with Leo's exasperated line early in the movie while still arguing over whether or not to turn Turturro's Bernie over to Casper "the kid is as bad a twist." Leo is referring to Tom as a woman with this line and specifically he is referring to Tom's stubborn emotions which arise to him not getting his way. This subtle feminization of Tom is in line in popular understanding with a suggestion of latent homosexuality. Also the final scene between Tom and Leo plays like the end of a romantic relationship more than a professional criminal one, again with Tom playing the part of the spurned woman, and Leo the heartbroken male role.
The great debate surrounding this movie is whether or not Tom has a heart. I am in the camp of seeing Tom as essentially heartless. He's ruthless and intelligent, unswayed by sentiment or notions of ethics but unwaveringly loyal to Leo, wanting to see Leo happy, even after he's determined that they must part ways. And if this is true, it leaves me wondering, after all these years, just why he choses to let Bernie live the first time he is in position to shoot him. After all, his machinations do not depend on Bernie living. In fact, he did not and could not have anticipated being thrust in the role of Bernie's assassin.
So why if he is so ruthless and heartless, does he let Bernie go free. Is it that he has never killed anyone before and has a moment of weakness or are we to believe that this was part of his plan all along or is it simply that he didn't feel as though he needed to kill Bernie and so that was enough for him not to. I do not believe it is due to any attachment he felt toward Bernie's sister Verna who Tom uses and clearly has no real affection for. Tom's motivation in this scene, and it's one of cinema's historically great scenes, can be debated at length. It is itself one of the great enigmas of cinematic history. Turturro's gives what has to be historically one of the best performances by any actor, on par with Dustin Hoffman in Urban Cowboy, in terms of nuance and range. Truly exceptional.
Grade A.
I went a good decade-long stretch of not watching this movie after having seen it for the first time at some point in the mid-nineties. I had seen it too many times and thought that I didn't think it was that good. Over the last couple of years, however, I've come to realize it is the Coens's masterpiece.
My theory of the movie is basically that Gabriel Byrne's character Tom has an unrequited homosexual love for his boss Leo. This is more or less why he sleeps with Verna, Leo's lover, despite his disregard for her. It is the closest he can come to consummating his love for Leo; by sleeping with the woman that Leo is sleeping with. Tom does not take a single action in this movie that is inconsistent with this motivation, including the instances where Tom acts more like a spurned lover than an intelligent, ruthlessly logical man "playing the angles."
In addition, some overt support for this theory occurs with Leo's exasperated line early in the movie while still arguing over whether or not to turn Turturro's Bernie over to Casper "the kid is as bad a twist." Leo is referring to Tom as a woman with this line and specifically he is referring to Tom's stubborn emotions which arise to him not getting his way. This subtle feminization of Tom is in line in popular understanding with a suggestion of latent homosexuality. Also the final scene between Tom and Leo plays like the end of a romantic relationship more than a professional criminal one, again with Tom playing the part of the spurned woman, and Leo the heartbroken male role.
The great debate surrounding this movie is whether or not Tom has a heart. I am in the camp of seeing Tom as essentially heartless. He's ruthless and intelligent, unswayed by sentiment or notions of ethics but unwaveringly loyal to Leo, wanting to see Leo happy, even after he's determined that they must part ways. And if this is true, it leaves me wondering, after all these years, just why he choses to let Bernie live the first time he is in position to shoot him. After all, his machinations do not depend on Bernie living. In fact, he did not and could not have anticipated being thrust in the role of Bernie's assassin.
So why if he is so ruthless and heartless, does he let Bernie go free. Is it that he has never killed anyone before and has a moment of weakness or are we to believe that this was part of his plan all along or is it simply that he didn't feel as though he needed to kill Bernie and so that was enough for him not to. I do not believe it is due to any attachment he felt toward Bernie's sister Verna who Tom uses and clearly has no real affection for. Tom's motivation in this scene, and it's one of cinema's historically great scenes, can be debated at length. It is itself one of the great enigmas of cinematic history. Turturro's gives what has to be historically one of the best performances by any actor, on par with Dustin Hoffman in Urban Cowboy, in terms of nuance and range. Truly exceptional.
Grade A.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
The ABCs of Death
Seen for the first time in July 2013.
A- A woman with a nice ass kills a man lying in bed in comedic fashion.
B-Scary Mexican bedtime story. Good one.
C- ???
D- Good dog fight, but didn't like the end. Kind of a smug surprise.
E- Bugs.
F- Japs are funny and pervy. Silly and weird. I hate flatulence but enjoyed it anyway.
G- meh.
H- Creative. WWII dogs and nazis.
I - Well that was intense and unsettling. In a good way.
J- not bad.
K- do not care for the scatological. not even cutely scatological.
L- fucked up depraved but good. one of the best.
M-pfft
N- funny I guess
O- working backwards there's no surprises and is uncreatively literal
P- grimy and seedy and revels in it though it pretends not to. I like it.
Q- some lighthearted meta. i liked it.
R - bleak and tedious
S - fun fun fun
T- claymation scatological nonsense
U- nice tone, but unmemorable.
V- thrills but a little too full of itself
W- fun as shit. one of my faves.
X- unsettling and hard to watch.
Y- Pretty awesome
Z- this was the fucking best. so many great touches.
Grade B.
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