Sunday
Aug252013
Open Thread
Sunday, August 25, 2013 at 2:35PM We haven't done one of these in a while. What's on your cinematic mind? Purge those thoughts in the comments to make room for this weekend's podcast!
Sunday, August 25, 2013 at 2:35PM
Reader Comments (26)
I saw Elysium. Honestly, why bother? Not a shining day for Jodie. Meryl told the SAG members, "give Viola a movie," and Hollywood did. This was a major act of kindness. I pray Jodie works with Meryl, since she could use the elevation.
Another plug for the Strong Female Characters article - please discuss! :)
Any of you seen "In a World..."? I loved it, witty, clever, and female-centric. I've told several people to see it and even referenced it several times in conversations about women in film and the pervasiveness of the "little girl voice" amongst the female youth. Would be worth having a discussion about it on the site! Plus, just got a good writeup in Grantland via Wesley Morris :)
East of Eden, The Member of the Wedding, I Am a Camera, The Haunting, Harper...
Watched Lore on Netflix Instant. Loved it. Catch up with it if you haven't. Too bad it didn't get the Oscar nomination.
My attempts to see Blue Jasmine keep getting thwarted. This week! Finally!
I was thinking how close they must be to announcing the honorary Oscars and how badly I want an unrewarded actress to get one, preferably Doris Day or Angela Lansbury. Wishful thinking, probably.
Jake D- yay, another Lore supporter! I saw it on January 3 and it still remains my favorite movie of the year. I hope that people don't pass it over just because it's not in this year's Oscar conversation.
That face kept leering at me from "Foreign Films" Netflix categories! I couldn't resist!
I've been in a comic book/superhero mood recently and throughout my watching and re-watching I realized that Michelle Pfeiffer (as Catwoman) gives the greatest performance ever in that genre. What a great mix of comedy, vamp and genuine sincerity She's clearly having a ball but also taking it very seriously. It's a strange performance that gets talked about a lot but I still feel is pretty underrated. Unfortunately I think performances of that nature will always be disregarded by film snobs.
The Ben Affleck casting as (face it, you know that's what this creative team will do) Frank Miller's Batman in the Batman/Superman movie. If we had no clue at all what Batman was being brought to screen, I'd say he's an inspired choice, like Keaton ultimately was. For the Frank Miller version? He's a TERRIBLE choice. John Hawkes could do that if he bulked up, Jon Hamm could stretch slightly (and bulk up) to pull it off, but Affleck's NOT that type. Frank's Batman is a gruff drill sergeant type, with what little warmth he has left being telling Carrie Kelly (Dark Knight Returns Robin) that she's a "good soldier." Ben Affleck is, at his best, a very warm and comforting individual (like his wife). (For what defines Affleck at his best see: Chasing Amy, Dogma and Extract.) I'd probably LOVE what he could do with, say, a slightly aging Jay Garrick (Flash I) during the first act of that Flash movie and I'd at least LIKE THE IDEA of him as a closer to mainline Batman.
I just watch "Top of the Lake" in its entirety for the third time, which means only one more viewing until I've devoted any entire day of my life to Jane Campion's epic. Every time I watch it, I find its themes of resolute conviction even more piercing. At some point I'll need to write at length about it, because I can't believe I haven't devoted 1500+ words to it yet. It deserves that sized treatment more than most.
In the meantime, I wasn't planning on reviewing "You're Next", but I ultimately found it impossible not to. It's been such a long time since a mainstream film surprised me in such a fun, yet still willfully disposable manner. I found it to be something of a lost half-sibling to "Cabin in the Woods", but less an absolute revolution than a blood-splattering revolt, to incongruously paraphrase the line from "Laurence Anyways".
Was Woody paying tribute to Anna Magani in The Rose Tattoo when he wrote the infamous "Don't Speak!" line in Bullets Over Broadway?
I saw The Butler, Blue Jasmine, White Material, My Mother, The Piano Teacher, and currently in the middle of Female Perversions. Safe to say I am now a fan of Isabelle Huppert, Oprah should do fine this awards season, and no one is comparing Blanchett's Jasmine to the characters Geraldine Page and Charlotte Rampling played in Interiors and Stardust Memories?
On my cinematic mind? Sally Hawkins in Blue Jasmine. Ginger was the perfect parallel to Jasmine. It's not all in the genes, indeed.
Also, I'm still amazed that every time I rewatch Gosford Park, I still find an undiscovered nuance or a wonderfully hidden treasure of a line-reading. I'm looking at you, Emily Watson.
Finally, thanks to HMWYBS, I watched The Bad and The Beautiful (and it hooked the bf with no coaxing from me!). Now, he won't stop telling me, like Lila, that he saw my picture and thought I was swell.
I wish I liked You're Next like most of my fellow critics. Didn't dislike it but found it mostly empty with flashes of fun and striking imagery.
Nicholas and Alexandra starring Janet Suzman and Michael Jayston! It was nominated for a large bevy of Oscars in 1971, including Best Picture and Best Actress. Have you guys seen it? If so, do you like it?
Film festivals! Advance ticketing for TIFF and NYFF is this week, so I'm trying to hammer out what tickets I need to try to lock down for them. It's very challenging, but I"m getting close!
Anna Gunn's op-ed of dealing with death threats for playing Skyler White on Breaking Bad. People are already declaring there is too much backlash to the backlash in the Skyler hate. Some of the people say the hate of Skyler was nothing to do with sexism/thinking Walt is cool/declaring it merely a failure or writing/misunderstood the intent of the creators. No, it's you. Look up the Vince Gilligan Q&A with Emily Nussbaum at Film Society and one of the questioners is somebody who dislikes Skyler and seems to know it comes off sexist and seeks to nitpick why he dislikes her that won't come off sexist. One was she never seems to have an honest moment (look at Nussbaum's facial reaction to that). Considering who the main character is, that is rich. I imagine that is why the Skyler haters tell themselves.
Skyler should be allowed to be a complicated, imperfect character who cannot always be written to appeal to everybody. Nobody should receive death threats. I thought Gunn wrote the best she could without revealing specific plot points (sorry, Mo Ryan, there is a reason she cannot 'go far enough' in the piece) and really say what she thinks of the fans. I think Vince Gilligan hates the results of his work. As Sam Adams notes, it is virtually impossible to turn an audience against a show's protagonist w/o turning them against the show. There is definitely an indulgence angle but it is clear Vince Gilligan and the writers find Walter White to be a fiction. There is no fantasy-life, kill everybody, 'I hate you, Mom!' sentiment to people in your way in real life but some fans do.
TL;DR
I love Breaking Bad but I hate a lot of the fans of the show.
I saw the Chinese cut The Grandmaster (on a plane, which I'm sure is how Wong intended it to be seen). Wow! Definitely the best film I've seen in ages. Would love to see it on the big screen but I'm just after reading the film.com article about the changes they've made with the American cut and they seem to have taken out lots of my favourite moments- baffling. I'll probably still go see if it ever opens where I am though.
I got involved in a conversation about Sharknado (TL:DR summary: people were surprised a SyFy original movie was really bad) that somehow became a defense of the so bad it's hilarious Deep Blue Sea. Now I want to see it again. Not really, but I want to laugh at it again. I settled for watching LL Cool J's Deepest Bluest music video again and laughing at that.
Watched The International again. Love the Guggenheim scene.
I just found out about the play that Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert did together in Australia. Angry at all of my friends for not letting me know about it sooner.
Saw Blue Jasmine and I think what everyone and reviewers have said about Blanchett's performance is right on... right now I would give her the Oscar ( and I am not generally a big fan of hers )
I also loved Sally Hawkins and Bobby Carnavale was superb.
My cinematic mind: "I hate it when summer is over, and my local theaters stop showing matinees every day." It doesn't fit my schedule as neatly. Lame, I know.
Many many many thoughts this weekend.
1.) How likely is it that the one showing of Blue Is The Warmest Color at NYFF sells out before non-members get a shot at tickets?
2.) Shirley Maclaine: best Oscar speech ever?
3.) Will Short Term 12 ever make it out of the big cities and to my eyeballs? I am ready for love, India.Arie style.
4.) First time watching Frankie And Johnny this week and ugh Michelle Pfeiffer is so wonderful in that movie!
5.) Could Jessica Chastain's Facebook page be more endearing?? https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jessica-Chastain/130560923681640?fref=ts
I keep thinking about how I wish there were more to "The Butler" than there is. Lee Daniels plays it so safely that it's more like an educational film strip than a commercial cinematic release. Worst of all it's so generic that it seems like anyone could have directed it. Thankfully, the performances on the whole are its saving grace, though Daniels's flair is evident from time to time.
And will someone please give YaYa her own movie soon?!