August 2010 posts
Let’s Talk About…Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call, New Orleans
BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL, NEW ORLEANS (2009/DVD)
From: Brian McClelland
To: Kimberly Faulhaber, Sarah Gremillion
Hello, Ladiez! Have either of you seen Abel Ferrara’s original Bad Lieutenant from 1992? One of the most harrowing tales of drug addiction ever, made even bleaker by the audience’s prolonged exposure to Harvey Keitel’s wiener. (Seriously, I think Keitel must have made the You-Gotta-Show-My-Wiener clause an ironclad contractual requirement for his ‘90s work. Who HASN’T seen it at this point?)
Which brings me to the film that is decidedly NOT a remake of Ferrara’s film—says the director, the awesome German weirdo/genius Werner Herzog—and a different monster altogether tone-wise, but for some reason titled in a way that would, uh, beg to differ: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call, New Orleans. Boy, there really is no possible way to say this title within the confines of casual conversation. It is TEN SYLLABLES LONG, people! But that weird title is par for the course for my fave crazy filmmaker, an eccentric artist who never met a p.o.v. alligator shot or lizard hallucination that he didn’t like. Read more »
A Woodstock Flick Perfect for the Small Screen
TAKING WOODSTOCK (2009/DVD) Some movies are better seen on the little screen than in the theater. I think this is true of Taking Woodstock, which I have now seen both ways. I recall that viewers were disappointed by the lack of music in this Ang Lee picture but Lee is not interested in Woodstock as an event. He is giving us a quiet and sweet portrait of the “real” people behind the event–a back story in effect, which is really a coming of age story about Jake Teichburg (played earnestly by Henry Goodman) who is stuck living with his mother and father in the Catskills (Sonia and Elliot played well by Imelda Staunton and Demetri Martin), trying to save them from bank foreclosure on their motel. As luck has it, Jake has a city permit to put on an art event in the barn and happens upon the Woodstock organizers who’ve lost their venue and need not just his motel, but also his permit. Enter Eugene Levy as Max Yasgur whose farm famously hosted the event of a lifetime. The movie builds to show the craziness that was Woodstock as word got out—tons of people on the road trying to get in, lots of rain and mud, plenty of music and drugs, and loads of hippies!—but it chooses to stay focused on Jake and his immediate entourage. Quite entertaining and warm. Watch for Liev Schreiber in drag, Paul Dano as a true hippie complete with bus, and a strange Vietnam veteran turn for Emile Hirsh. But don’t get your hopes up too much. It’s truly a little picture. Nice for a quiet night of remembering.
Grade: B
Suggested movie pairing: A Walk on the Moon (1999)– another coming of age Woodstock meets the Catskills story, this one featuring Diane Lane as the young restless housewife married to good guy Liev Schreiber but seriously attracted to handsome hippie Viggo Mortensen. Watch for nice work from a young Anna Paquin as the teenage daughter.
Trailer Trash: Thor Smash! Edition
Come join us for a discussion of the trailers we’ve been privileged to experience over the last month or so. Are they tantalizing nuggets of the hits of tomorrow? Or harbingers of Knight and Days to come? We do not know! But we will assume that we do, because it is our way. Have YOU seen a trailer lately? Do tell. In the Comments, please—we can’t hear you from our cubicles.
Kimberly: Who has seen the Thor trailer? (Too late, slowpokes, Marvel pulled it off the Web.) Holy Watchmen, it looks terrible! Liberal use of slow mo, too-literal costumes, bellowing—it even opens with an overhead zoom shot featuring rain! I hope our man A.O. reviews this one. The guy in the flesh beard playing Thor is unknown to me, but IMDb indicates that he was in an episode of “Fergus McPhail” and a reality show called “Home and Away: Weddings.” Star on the rise! Can I say that this guy strikes me as a total pounder? Is that allowed on the Internets? I give this trailer 1.5 out of 5 glowing lollies. Kenneth Branagh may want to pull an Alan Smithee while there’s still time. Read more »
Queue Query: Inaugural Dispatch
We stole this idea from Slate because we think it’s fun, and because maybe we haven’t seen anything worth writing about in a while. Sue us. And so, without any advance reordering to save face, we present to you the first five entries on Sarah’s Netflix queue, along with some brief commentary. Judge if you must.
1. Cemetery Junction (2010) – Written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, this movie got a theatrical release in the UK but was totally off the radar in the States. It’s a coming-of-age comedy set in the 1970s, and I know very little about it other than that I love Gervais and Merchant and will therefore probably find this hilarious.
2. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) – A high brow choice! Selected for the cinematography and cultural commentary, obviously.
3. Summer Hours (2008) – This family drama from France was well reviewed when it came out in the States. It stars the lovely Juliette Binoche as one of three adult siblings summoned to their mother’s country home to divvy up her art collection before she dies. It sounds to me like one of those sad, beautiful, meandering movies the French do so nicely.
Who Is SALT? She’s the Real Skinny Bitch
SALT (2010/IN THEATERS) Fans of cold-war themed popcorn spy thrillers will be amply rewarded by Salt, this summer’s classic action pic famously starring Angelina Jolie in a role designed originally for Tom Cruise. Jolie can seriously pull these non-stop action pictures off—if you have any doubts, be sure to catch “Wanted” again. In that slick flic, she was gorgeous, great with a gun and gutsy right to the last. Salt is essentially the same character, with a convoluted (and hard to believe) plot that is intended to keep the audience guessing right to the end. Like Tom Cruise, when you’re watching Jolie, you never forget that she’s the star. Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor are the back-up team in this picture, both very solid but not particularly exciting, playing Evelyn Salt’s CIA co-workers, one appearing to support her, the other seeking to bring her in. The big question being posed: is Salt a Russian spy planted here decades ago in a carefully constructed plot to kill both the U.S. and Russian presidents and re-start a cold war on steroids, complete with nuclear weapons? Jeez….what a throw-back for a plot! The cold war is over….right??!! Or maybe the filmmakers got incredibly lucky, what with the big Russian spy coup/exchange of only a few weeks ago. Of course, the real-life spies hadn’t infiltrated anything except a couple travel agencies in the suburbs. Oh well. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone says it best when talking about viewing Salt: “Suspend disbelief…Salt is primed to keep your pulse racing so your brain will stop thinking WTF!”
Grade: B-
Hard for me to buy this picture. Despite the fact that we can see Angelina’s bones sticking out of her clothes because she’s so painfully thin, she’s able to knock big burly secret service guys out cold frequently. And is able to jump from one moving vehicle to another just as successfully as Matt Damon’s Bourne—unlikely—at least he limped after all his jumps.
