Now Watching

[mpolak21]

 

I just fell in love with Greta Gerwig... This one is in the upper echelon of Baumbach movies (i.e. the good ones: Kicking and Screaming and Squid and the Whale). The use of Paul McCartney and Wings is fucking delightful. Stiller is just about note perfect too.

 

--Mike

[Moss]

[lamradio]

What'd you think. This movie completely passed my radar. I love Office Space and Idiocracy, but just read some pretty dismal reviews.

 

Extract - Not so good.... Had some funny moments (although they were all in the previews), but it was just overall kind of meh... It was supposed to be dark humor, but just a little too uncomfortable at times (and I'm a big fan of dark humor).. Mike Judge reached the pinnacle of his movie making career with Office Space, and his other movies have just been meh...

[jff]

[uncool2pillow]

Curb Your Enthusiasm - SSN 7, the Seinfeld reunion. Larry David continues to be brilliantly misanthropic. It's amazing all those actors are will into play those twisted versions of themselves.

[Beltmann]

 

I'm not usually excited by late Sixties experiments about existential meltdowns--especially ones that glibly suggest we've all died in the prisons of consumer culture--but Marco Ferrari's 1969 Dillinger Is Dead is certainly, well, something. After discovering an old revolver wrapped in newspapers announcing Dillinger's death, Michel Piccoli spends the night's wee hours cleaning the weapon, making a gourmet dinner, watching old home movies, seducing the maid, and listening to radio songs as the soundtrack to his hollow life. My favorite surreal bit? The parts of the gun being polished in a bowl of olive oil, as if it were one of the meal's main courses. The ending is a kick, too.

[kathyp]

 

[u2roolz]

The Kids Are All Right - I will put the following into spoiler, since it's slowly been expanding across theaters.

 

Edit: Well, I posted a nice (or rather not so nice) lengthy 4-5 paragraph review and it didn't go spoiler on me.

DAMN! Double Damn!

That really upsets me.

I don't know when I will get back to rewriting it.

[lamradio]

Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Finally saw this movie. Holy crap it had some of the funniest one liners I've ever heard... I'm becoming a big fan of Craig Robinson. He's really not that great of an actor but I think that's what makes him so funny.

 

Few memorable quotes:

 

Customer: Hi, can I have a coffee? Black?

Delaney: Can't you see we talking, White

Zack Brown: I've known her since the first grade, you don't fuck someone you met in the first grade.

Delaney: Excuse me, I met my wife in kindergarten, we got married senior year, and she's been the queen of my world ever since.

Zack Brown: But what if you could do it all over again?

Delaney: I would jerk off and live by myself. That woman is the bane of my existence.

Zack Brown: Dude, with your cut of the profits, you're gonna get two flat screens. OK? You'll have one in your living room. You'll have one in your bathroom!

Delaney: One in the bathroom? You know, it's always been my dream to watch shit while I shit.

Zack Brown: Everyone with an ass loves to watch shit while they shit! I'm gonna make that happen for you, man.

 

[u2roolz]

The Kids Are All Right - I don't think I addressed everything as well as my 1st time last night. I may go back here and add things as I remember how I wrote them.

 

I did not like this film. I didn’t read any reviews about it, so I didn’t know anything about the plot going in. I did know that the film was about a lesbian couple. I also feel that I wrote a better review on here last night that didn't show up due to an error of not showing the spoiler. I hope that I can remember everything. I created an MS Word document with my points.

 

In the first big scene where the whole family is shown at a dinner setting, the film failed to convey the family dynamics. Instead the preceding 4-5 “indie” rocks songs seemed to bleed right over into this scene and lingered on, as they listened to “indie” rock as they ate. It seemed intent on creating mood rather than creating character dynamics in a very early important scene. The over usage of “indie" rock songs (in the 1st 5 minutes no less) seemed to cry out at a certain sense of inauthenticity that was already ruining the film for me. It already felt manufactured to be an indie film by having "indie" music and certain cliches from the indie film palette. An article of clothing was meant to address a character: during the opening dinner scene Moore wears a late 70s/early 80s Elvis Costello shirt which pretty much screamed out to me: slacker clinging onto her past. There was also something immediately off about Moore's performance. She seemed uncomfortable in this opening scene (foreshadowing?) and it also felt like she was giving a performance, meanwhile Bening was her character and came off as completely natural.

 

In the opening sequence (before the above mentioned dinner scene) we are quickly shown what the kids are doing: the 15 year old son mothered by Moore (played by a great Josh Hutcherson) is sniffing stuff up his nose with a friend & the 18 year old daughter mothered by Bening (played by the already amazing Mia Wasikowska) is in her room playing a game with a boy who may or may not like her & vice versa and a female friend who is supposed to come off as slutty because she throws around the typical language to establish this. The kids are indeed alright and give off the best performances because they feel real and their conflicts feel real. The adults come off as plot points embodied by Moore and Mark Ruffalo, whereas Bening is the only one that feels very much real which leads me to my 1st big problem with the film's inauthenticity.

 

The 1st intimate scene between Bening & Moore is right after the dinner scene and seems to be a Hollywood Double Standard via how it plays out. They put on Gay Porn, while Moore is invisible under the covers as she goes down on Bening. The big problem with this scene for me is where it heads rather quickly: right into slapstick comedy. If the writer/director isn't going to treat her characters with respect and conviction, then why should we? This scene feels made for the hetero folks uncomfortable with the subject material (and quite possibly the single demographic for this film. I'll address this later on) and can be viewed as quite offensive to lesbian couples. Mulholland Drive had a much better lesbian sex scene that was simultaneously emotional, tender, beautiful and erotic. Here this scene is played for cheap laughs and it comes early on where we don't know much about these women. Already the tone and feel of this film is a distraction for me and it only got worst.

 

Major Spoiler: Moore ends up having an affair with Ruffalo because she doesn't feel appreciated by Bening and she feels some attraction towards Ruffalo. Their sex scenes are very graphic in contrast to the lesbian scenes and in your face. It also offered another slap in the face to the lesbian community when Moore marvels at Ruffalo's penis as she undoes his pants. Plus, the way that they show how she enjoys it may make a lot of heteros in the audience laugh at the scene in a tasteless way. Keep in mind that Moore & Bening have built a family life together for 18 plus years and have 2 children via this very person Ruffalo plays. Not only does this whole plot "twist" feel forced, it doesn't feel honest and feels totally manufactured to create a conflict for the film. You mean to tell me that a lesbian woman...nay...I guess we'll have to refer to her as bisexual now...would have a fling with a man after she spent 18 years building her beautiful family. It seems very impulsive as I am telling you, but it happens so quickly in the film that the audience isn't given enough time to question it and instead they have to hop along for it.

 

Once again this feels like a plot twist tailor made for the hetero audience and is an unkind representation of a lesbian couple for their demographic. I am completely hetero and had a huge problem with this because of one big thing that it seems to be saying to the audience: a genuine lesbian couple doesn't exist in this world that we created, as you can see one of the female characters is bisexual and almost left her lesbian lover for a man. It makes us question the nature of one's sexuality and I think it's the wrong question to be asking here because it feels like a copout. You need to ask a good sample of lesbian women and gay men and see if they would do what Moore does in this film. I'm sure that most of them would disagree with her decision. The single notion that Ruffalo is an option for Moore is another setback for lesbians. At least in Brokeback Mountain the driving force of that film was Ledger & Gyllenhaal exploring their sexuality with each other while they had emotional connections to women in their life. In that film it felt like a revelation to them: living hetero lifestyles while really homosexual or you can argue that they really were both bisexual. In this film, it seems as if the whole thing is backwards. Moore & Bening are already together as a lesbian couple and Moore goes off exploring her own sexuality with a man. I guess I also don't like the basic conflict at the core: the idea that a man is the biggest threat to the lesbian culture seems immature and made for hetero couples seeing this film.

 

The reason why I question this is because Ruffalo's scenes with the 2 children seem to suggest a very positive "fatherly" influence in their life that has been a void for them in the past 18 years. The film stands a rather neutral ground for this hot topic and should have possibly stuck to a genuine lesbian couple and had other conflicts that didn't involve Ruffalo & Moore's affair. It could have been a very unique voice, but instead it ponders questions that appeal to heterosexuals. Wouldn't the kids be better off with a male influence in their life?

 

I have no problem with women directors. I loved Kathyrn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (in fact, I saw that 1 year ago last night at the same theater that I saw this), Nicole Holofcener's Friends With Money and Sofia Coppolla's Lost In Translation, to name a few. I enjoyed Lisa Cholodenko's Laurel Canyon and never saw High Art which from what I hear is similar subject matter to Kids Are All Right.

 

I stand by my motto of art doesn't answer questions it raises them, but in this film it feels as if all of the wrong questions are being asked.

 

Oh, and another thing that made me question the authenticity of the film was when Bening has a breakdown at a dinner. She putdowns the ideas of composting, buying local food, & being into the "trendy" organic food. It is a rather long rant that seems to be a big middle finger to the supposed "indie" crowd seeing this film or is a wink to them. A lot of the characters in the film are involved in the above 3 things and at the time it felt very "indie" cliche, now it feels even more cliche because of this cruel putdown out of nowhere. It made their lifestyles feel even more inauthentic than they already were. It made me question once again who is this film actually for.

 

Ultimately, I felt that this film was a manufactured hypothetical question that wanted to raise conversations about the topic and have people talk so much that they forget how fake the film actually felt while watching it. If the film was more concerned with the characters, rather than which "indie" band to put into this scene, I think it would have been much better. I also questioned the fact that maybe Cholodenko was under pressure to have certain things happen this way and show certain things happen that way via the studio (not so sure about that since indie arm Focus Features is distributing it) and is really a snapshot of where we are at right now in terms of showing "alternative" lifestyles on film.

 

Lastly, I felt that lesbians weren't given a fair hand in this film. Once again I am not trying to make things out to be black & white about one's sexuality, but am I crazy when I think that a lesbian means a woman who desires another woman? I guess to finally put it to rest and into words is my feeling of this: if you come into this film expecting what you think a lesbian couple should be as advertised in the posters & ads, it will make you question yourself and ponder how many lesbians (in a couple) actually have sex with a man and whether a lesbian couple can be defined as a lesbian woman & bisexual woman living together in love. In the end is it really my business at all? Of course not.

 

Edit: I guess I don't like the bait & switch pulled on a certain demographic: those who don't like the gay & lesbian lifestyle, but love the little "indie" films that can be all about Oscar. The film seems catered to them by advertising a hip "indie" film about lesbians and then playing in the comfortable zone of having a man be the main conflict to tear them apart. As I mentioned earlier, it seems to deny the existence of lesbians to this demographic by having Moore have an option out of Ruffalo. I worked at a movie theater when Brokeback Mountain was out and certain people used to ask for "The Gay Cowboy Movie" and giggle or sometimes keep a straight face which is even more strange. So I guess that this film is made for those faux older "hipsters" who don't know a single gay person or know one, but refuse to learn anything about them or flat out not acknowledge it. But they want to keep up with the times and see an Oscar film that the critics seem to be praising and thus feel hip by seeing it and hearing these "indie" bands in the film also adding to their inauthentic "hipness". I see a trend here.

 

 

[Analogman]

Colin Fitz Lives!

[Beltmann]

 

Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979) is the best movie I have seen in a long, long time.

[Beltmann]

 

Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon is a hell of a movie--kind of like watching Ingmar Bergman doing Village of the Damned. Loved it.

[Brock Landers]

 

Recently discovered this show on IFC. I'd put it up there with The Sopranos and The Wire as the greatest TV shows I've ever seen.

 

Freaks and Geeks.

[Magnetized]

 

Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon is a hell of a movie--kind of like watching Ingmar Bergman doing Village of the Damned. Loved it.

Yes, but. . . .. I have such a hard time forgiving the person who directed Funny Games--not once but TWICE--that I just can't see his movies as anything but infuriating. But I'm trying, lord, I'm trying, because this one is gorgeous.

[Beltmann]

Yes, but. . . .. I have such a hard time forgiving the person who directed Funny Games--not once but TWICE--that I just can't see his movies as anything but infuriating. But I'm trying, lord, I'm trying, because this one is gorgeous.

Funny Games is deeply polarizing--and the remake unnecessary--but I'm in its corner: I think it's one of the great films of the '90s. White Ribbon is better, though. It is equally hectoring, but far more subtle and nuanced.

[Winston Legthigh]

Watched Polanski's The Ghost Writer last night.

 

Great movie, but strange casting choices. Jim Belushi? Kim Cattrall?

Nice cameo by Eli Wallach.

 

Movie was well-paced and always intriguing.

 

One strange thing I kept noticing, which I'm assuming was done to get a PG-13 rating... There were many instances where a character is obviously saying "fuck" but another word was dubbed in. I've always heard that the ratings board would give a movie an R rating if there's more than one "fuck" in a movie.

 

I don't know why they would strive to get this movie a PG-13 rating. Yes, I know that widens the potential audience, but I can't imagine a 13 year old getting psyched to see this movie. It's clearly an adult movie.

 

Scorsese's The Aviator has my favorite "one fuck" budgeted line. Uttered by Alec Baldwin near the very end of the movie. It made me laugh for a couple reasons. 1) Scorsese is obviously known for having a lot of blue language in his films. I'm assuming that The Aviator is his only film that isn't rated R. 2) And I know that Scorsese's had his battles with the ratings board (The Aviator even includes such a scene between Hughes and the ratings board). If it's true that to get a PG-13, you have to limit the language to one "fuck", he really made it count in The Aviator. It's perfect.

[u2roolz]

One strange thing I kept noticing, which I'm assuming was done to get a PG-13 rating... There were many instances where a character is obviously saying "fuck" but another word was dubbed in. I've always heard that the ratings board would give a movie an R rating if there's more than one "fuck" in a movie.

 

I don't know why they would strive to get this movie a PG-13 rating. Yes, I know that widens the potential audience, but I can't imagine a 13 year old getting psyched to see this movie. It's clearly an adult movie.

 

You are forgetting about all the little old blue haired ladies (I wonder if they'll go see The Smurfs) who still go to the movies. When I used to sell movie tickets, they'd almost always ask me if there was "filthy" language in a particular movie that they wanted to see. If the movie was rated R, then they'd pretty much would pass on seeing it. The best was when they passed on seeing some R rated movie and ended up seeing the PG-13 Perfect Stranger with Halle Berry & Bruce Willis which was this "sexy" movie where Berry tried to trap Willis with her sexual ways.

 

Of course, I'm not trying to lump together the entire elderly moviegoing public. In fact, there was this interesting article about creating ratings for those particular people. Obviously, half of the people loved the idea and the other half hated being treated like children.

 

Here's that link: Elderly Woman Sitting In A Movie Theater Yeah. That's right. That article came out when that Michael Caine film came out last spring: Harry Brown. It caused a "big fuss" amongst the elderly who expected to see Caine in his typical film roles, but were shocked to see him killing people. I guess Clint Eastwood can get away with that at his age.

[mpolak21]

Recently saw the Simpsons episode with the My Dinner With Andre videogame, inspired a re-watching...

 

 

[PopTodd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFjnKo0BPqM

[calvino]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w248uwpAX14

[Sir Stewart]

There's a thread for YouTube: http://forums.viachicago.org/topic/30278-now-watching-on-youtube/

[Oil Can Boyd]

 

Saw this last night and thought it was great. The look on both Jack White's and the Edge's faces when Page starts playing Whole Lotta Love was priceless.

[GtrPlyr]

[Sir Stewart]

This movie is so good even Burt Lancaster is bearable.