Please Hold
I've got gobs of new material that's filled a number of pages in my notebook and a whole load of photos to share, but the circumstances of making the 14 hour drive from Dallas to Tallahassee in the morning have put those journalistic endeavors on hold. I wrote that in boldface to make sure you read it as sincere...or pitiable, who cares. For reference, these are the features you can expect in the new year:
Reviews of The Producers (a shrugger...wasn't great, wasn't entirely horrible either, but needed an intermission), Brokeback Mountain (Grand Canyon Effect), and the thoroughly excellent Match Point, which doesn't require snarky parentheses.
Talking at the Movies with Mom, Editions 2 and 3 (Brokeback and Match Point)
A new list for each major post, including an addendum to The Ones That Got Away. Overlooked actors, the Unseen piece broken into chunks, and a host of other little "Year in Review" bits.
I desperately ened to sleep. Good night, folks. See you in 2006.
Ones That Got Away
As seems to happen every year, there's a clutch of movies that make it to theatres, but for one reason or another (didn't come to town, was in town for a week, etc.), I didn't see.
The list is composed of movies that I wanted to see, so as to not include stuff that didn't sound remotely interesting or that I didn't mind catching on DVD. In a year full of movies like Paradise Now and The Aristocrats playing to near-empty (and at times empty save for one person) houses, there are plenty of great flicks that slipped through the cracks for me and most of America.
Mondovino
As much as wine's popularity surged after Sideways hit big with mainstream and arthouse audiences alike, it's slightly surprising this allegedly fascinating doc about the business of wine making, bottling, and delivering didn't get the kind of release or notice as other docs did later on in 2005.
The Beautiful Country
Bai Ling, recently more famous for singing badly on VH1's "But Can They Sing" along with the likes of Morgan Fairchild and Joe Pantoliano, apparently gives a fantastic turn in this "now it's here, now it's gone" release from earlier in the year. From what I hear, sumptuous visuals meshed with a fascinating immigrant story made this a Terrence Malick movie without the Malick.
Me & You & Everyone We Know
One of the many notable directorial debuts of 2005 had heaps of acclaim before most people even saw it. Now available on DVD, Miranda July's film focuses on the difficulty in interpersonal connection in the modern world. An unemployed shoe salesman (John Hawkes) meets a lonely performance artist (Miranda July) and finds himself completely engrossed in someone he barely knows.
Breakfast on Pluto
Neil Jordan's latest sees Cillian Murphy taking his third "off-beat" type role in as many movies (Batman Begins, Red Eye). Murphy plays Kitten Braden, a foster child who leaves behind small-town Ireland for big city life in London. Kitten becomes a cabaret singer and meets all manner of people in 1960s/70s London, with the turbulence of the times and terrorism swirling around her. Supporting turns by fantastic actors such as Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson, and Stephen Rea make this one I was sorry not to see while home.
Last Days
I heard extremely mixed notices on this pseudo-bio-slice-of-life/death Kurt Cobain piece from Gus Van Sant. I'll never really forgive the waste that was the 1998 Psycho remake, but Van Sant still completely won me over with Good Will Hunting and Drugstore Cowboy and a few other films to the point that I'll give him a chance no matter what might not come out quite right. Oddly, as much as I like Gus, I've still not seen Gerry or Elephant, though I'd very much like to very soon.
This list may be shorter than expected, but the reason is that other films belong to a list to be posted on Thursday, The Unseen: Movies You Didn't Know You Missed in '05.
Come back for thoughts on Ushpizin, (Green Street) Hooligans, The Comedians of Comedy, Where the Truth Lies Hustle & Flow, Dear Frankie, The Great Raid, Prozac Nation, Dominion: A Prequel to the Exorcist, Tarnation, Saint Ralph, and Little Manhattan. I'd have posted all of these today, but the list goes and goes, and I find myself continuing to add to it.
2005's Last Bang: Back in Dallas
This is the time of the year for upheaval, and more so than previous years, I've been hit by the Upheaval Fairy, so I apologize for the multi-week disappearance. Most of that time, I haven't had consistent access to the net, let alone time to type things out. This week provides me a great opportunity to get back on track and ahead. Have a great time with your loved ones and look for frequent updates over the next week.
With the year coming to a close, the next few days see the release of a big group of movies that I've yet to see. Before compiling a year-end list as so many already have, I've got some work yet to do, though the next few days will see the posting of lists that this fact has no bearing on whatsoever. Expect Ones That Got Away, a list of the notable movies I missed this year, as well as The Unseen (movies no one got to see) on Tuesday.
Thursday I've got a sneak of Woody Allen's Match Point that I'm greatly looking forward to seeing. I'll likely shoot something up that night, with a more substantive piece following early next week.
Talking at the Movies
King Kong
"Okay, this is a bit excessive."
-a pretty girl (the completely out of my league type) sitting just down the row at King Kong, during the three T-Rex/Kong pas de quatre in a canopy of vines
Same Girl: "Why did you take me to movie with all those spiders in it?"
Her Date: "I swear, I didn't know. Let's see something else this weekend, how about The Family Stone?"
Girl: "Yeah, that looks really funny."
-the girl from above and her date, under the mistaken impression The Family Stone is all screwball comedy
The Family Stone
during the trailer for Ice Age 2
Me: "I heard this movie was packed on its opening weekend while Kong was pretty sparse."
My Mother: "Kong is Kong, who cares. It is what it is."
during the trailer for Tristan & Isolde
Mom: "Glad there's no reason to waste money on it now, they just showed us the whole movie."
Mom: "Okay, we get it, the house is a cage and they're all animals, stop showing us shots of the house."
Mom: "Wow."
-repeated throughout
Kinship and Social Chaos (Talking @ the Movies vol.2)
I caught The Family Stone just a few days ago with my mother, so I'll preface my capsule review with a transcription (from notes) of the conversation we had afterward, continued a few days yet later. There are some minor spoilers sprinkled throughout, so be aware.
Mom: "That was the best cast I've seen in a long time."
Me: "You mean they not only looked like they were blood, but felt like they were too?"
Mom: "Yes, it felt very authentic, and extremely well-directed. The script could have made it really stupid if it weren't so well-acted and directed."
Me: "You mean the partner-swap thing?"
Mom: "Oh yes."
Me: "As soon as Claire Danes showed up, I said, 'oh, no. I was starting to really like this a whole lot.' and then everything turned out fine."
Mom: "And the brother--"
Me: "Luke Wilson?"
Mom: "I'm sure you would know his name better than I would."
Me: "He's a really fantastic actor. I heard they were originally looking at him for the lead."
Mom: "Oh, he was much better as the brother, he was a fantastic foil."
Me: "Did you catch Amy wearing those rings at the end there?"
Mom: "Oh yes, that was one of my favorite little touches. That's where the expert direction really shows, in those little details that aren't thrown in you face."
Me: "That girl, Rachel McAdams, is a really fantastic actress, I've become a big fan of hers. She more than held her own opposite Diane Keaton, who's one of my all-time favorite actors."
Mom: "Well what a great job they did of being each other. Amy was her mom but younger. They were both so wonderful."
Me: "I'm glad Craig T. Nelson got this gig, he was always really undervalued until he did The Incredibles."
Mom: "Overall, just wonderful."
A couple days later...
Me: "What did you like most about the movie, now that it's had some time to sink in? What really got you the most?"
Mom: "I think the part lots of people will be really affected by is the scene with the scars in bed."
Me: "Jesus, yes, that wrecked me."
Mom: "I think it made a statement about all the families that have suffered and dealt with Breast Cancer, since it's really turned into something of an epidemic. The movie did a great job of striking at the heart of the concept of an ideal American woman being a Tyson chicken: all breast and thighs. Diane Keaton's character is all about what makes a real woman."
Me: "Everett's breakdown with his mom was the part that really got to me the most."
Mom: "Different things get to different people."
Me: "There's something for everyone more than usual."
Mom: "I definitely have to agree. Just great all around. You know, that Jessica Parker girl did such a fantastic job of embodying that uptight, back-East type. It sounds cheap to say, but it was really spot-on casting. I just had some problems with the cinematography. Sometimes there were moves I just didn't understand, in terms of what we were supposed to be looking at."
I don't have too much else to add that Dr. Deyoe-Chiullan (Mom) and I didn't go over above, but for what it's worth, the trailers still terribly misrepresent this movie as some kind of slapstick balls-to-the-wall romp. I am very glad to see it playing strongly even in the face of Kong and The Lion, The Witch, and the Jesus Allegory in the Wardrobe.
As soon as it can be on network TV for the holidays, this will become a perennial favorite on the video racks.
The Gorilla Abides
There's not much that's not already been said about Kong. I also found myself in a half-empty theatre, along with most of America.
The first hour or 70 minutes or so is long, but the amount of character development is strong. I couldn't imagine watching it three times in a weekend, as friends did for Jackson's Rings films or tons of girls I knew when I was 14 saw Titanic.
I've studied Anthropology at FSU for the last four years, and I'll be damned if they didn't do some outstanding, awe-inspiring animal behavior animation. Just as the amazement would start to wane during each sequence, I'd be surprised to find myself saying "how much longer is this gonna go?" time after time.
I love visual spectacle, and am fully capable of making the unpopular choice and proclaim my enjoyment of a movie regardless of its (often major) flaws. So many sequences started awakening the 8-year-old inside me, but just as often, I felt compelled to tug on mom's shirt and ask if we can have popcorn.
The Bronto Run sequence was dazzling, and was supposed to be entirely implausible, but I still found myself wondering how there weren't more puddles of people after it was all done.
Upon repeat viewings, I'm sure it'll grow on me. Dont' get me wrong, I really enjoyed the majority of it a whole lot, especially Jack Black and Andy Serkis' performance as Kong himself was virtuoso.
My date had to ask if I was okay near the end when the big monkey lost his fight. That escape of breath just before he falls really killed me, and in the best parts of the movie, it did feel like I was awash in my younger years all over again. Don't let anyone tell you the movie's no good, but don't go in expecting a world-shattering, perfect adventure movie.
Oh, and for the record, I dig all the chatter about Heart of Darkness.