Thrillers and Killers

I just watched a couple of great thriller / gangster flicks. The first was Primal Fear (1996) with Richard Gere and Ed Norton and Laura Linney. It is a typical "somebody was brutally killed, here comes the grandstanding lawyer" type of courtroom drama. However - the cast is amazing. You can watch it for Ed Norton alone. Although this one has multiple story lines, it is rare in that it manages to juggle those story lines successfully. (Contrast to Shutter Island.) Ed Norton is a baby in this one.

Then I watched Public Enemies (2009)with Johnny Depp - again. I love Marion Cotillard in this - and I think they are great together. My friends C and J didn't like this because it's a Michael Mann film - very stylized. (For example, when Baby Face Nelson is shot, it's a cold night and you can see the vapor of his breath. Every shot is perfectly framed, the sets are exact and the lighting is always moody.) Also, the viewing public apparently thought it was too quiet. I thought it was perfect. I loved the style - the perfect acting, and Johnny's understate performance. He was charismatic and psychotic at the same time - seamlessly. I would give this one a shot.

Gay romance

The last two movies I watched both happened to be gay romances. I didn't know that when I added them to my queue, and it's weird they both showed up at the same time. Does that happen to you? I don't mean with gay movies or fascist moves or movies at all, but when you hear a subject, seemingly for the first time, you are bound to hear / notice it in quick succession six or seven more times.

I put these two movies in my queue because of the stars. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) is an early Daniel Day Lewis movie. He plays a white fascist youth in England in love with a Pakistani (male) college student. The romance is a decent part of the movie, but it's also hugely about family and the immigrant experience. Being a daughter in a British / Pakistani family is also an issue (the daughter we meet cannot inherit the business, and her father tries to marry her to her cousin), and that could be the subject of its own movie. Daniel Day Lewis loves the cousin, Omar, and the big question is WHY? I thought Omar was a dick to him (no pun intended) a good portion of the time. Anyway, this movie is solid, but not great. It features gangsters and gangs and conflict, and manages to hold it all together.

I really hated My Summer of Love (2004). It is an early Emily Blunt movie, and I really like Ms. Blunt. She could not make this movie work for me though. If you are a tortured teenage girl with overwrought emotions, this might work for you. If you like naked young girls frolicking while having intense discussions about their feelings, it would be a great movie for you. There are also religious characters that are pure caricatures. I was bored, maybe even annoyed at some times.

Casino Royale

I am in love. It is yet another unrequited love, but nevertheless, Daniel Craig is the man for me. Today that's what I think. I also honestly think I have a chance with Chris Isaak - so I'm delusional.

I was ALWAYS a Sean Connery fan. I thought David Niven, Timothy Dalton (that oily guy!), Roger Moore, etc., were all vastly inferior to Sean. Sean is a GOD. Poor Pierce Brosnan. He couldn't even take off his shirt in any of the movies. Did anybody really believe he could steal a fighter plane or escape from a prison? No. I like PB - I like him when he spoofs himself, like in Mrs. Doubtfire, and in Ghost Writer. He was great in Remington Steele - remember that? But he SUCKED as Bond.

I just watched Casino Royale for the 312th time, and my swimsuit area is sparkling. I even adore the scene where DC gets tortured. Of course, that's his naked scene, but it's still torture.

This movie turns the franchise upside down. Bond is not the smoothest, fastest, or most graceful. He is the smartest. In the opening scene he is slower than the guy he's chasing, and not as good at gymnastics(!). However, he is the one who comes out of the ocean in a swimsuit. He asks the waiter who inquires about shaken versus stirred - Do I look like I give a damn? M calls him a blunt instrument and considers killing him.

This is a real movie, not a Bond movie. And I love Daniel Craig.

Prime Suspect and Jane Tennison

This weekend was nuts in a good way. I didn't do much movie watching - I popped in Animal House for the zillionth time, plus I finished watching Ju-On again. I don't know how many times I have watched that, but I am starting to figure out the damn movie. Woohoo! I think the mom is trying to find someone to listen to her - to hear her story. Of course, it really never works out for her, but hey, she has something to tell.

I am watching all of Prime Suspect - do you know this one? Helen Mirren, easily one of the top ten, maybe five actresses working today, plays DCI Jane Tennison for the British police. Her name doesn't change as the series moves on, but her title does. She keeps getting promoted.

If you like incredible crime / police dramas, this is for you. If you like chicks kicking ass, this is for you. It is in NO WAY a chick flick, although the lead character is female. Tennison is an incredibly ambitious police officer, and the series starts in the late 80's or early 90's, so she is up against rampant chauvinism. She is routinely treated like shit, but that is not what the series is about. Tennison knows what is going on with the guys, has no illusions, and plays rough with male team members and superiors. She gets her hands very dirty.

She also drinks too much (it is a problem), smokes too much, sleeps with married men, has minimal personal interaction with family. She puts career above all relationships. She is a fantastic character. The show is full of British acting royalty (Ralph Fiennes and Tom Wilkinson in the first installment, for example).

The series is not what you would expect from TV - it is incredibly good. There are not necessarily neat endings, as the bad guys can get away with it - we know that, right? I think there are six installments, maybe seven? I am halfway through 4 - it is ridiculously good. I recommend putting this in your queue.

Animal House

Everyone has their Animal House, I suspect. By that I mean a movie you adore and have probably watched one million times. I'm guessing you saw it first as a kid, and if you watched it now for the first time, it might not make the same impression. It doesn't matter, though, because you have been watching this movie FOREVER. Maybe it's Stripes or Airplane or Kingpin or Zoolander. Oh right - this is not an Academy Award type movie, it's more of a guilty pleasure. But you would fight anyone who says this is not a quality movie - and you would quote a half dozen lines - extremely witty ones - to prove your point.

When we were kids, my mom and dad thought TV would rot the brain, so we had an antenna only and one lone TV in the house. At some point my dad wanted to watch something, so he got cable for the family room. I would say this was about 1979. We lived in a little podunk town, but basic cable came with HBO and a brand new show called MTV. What more in life is there when you're 13 or 14?

So before my parents got home, my brother and I would sit down and watch HBO. Animal House came out in 1978, and we were right in time. (Remember, video was still very new and I didn't know anyone who had it.) Animal House was amazing. It was raunchy and filthy and I didn't get half the jokes and I thought it was probably the best thing I'd ever seen.

Fuck her - fuck her brains out.
Eight years of college down the drain!!
I have a husband named Dean Wormer at Faber.

(By the way, Kevin Bacon is in this one.)

I remember my dad coming home one day and sitting down to watch with us. He was appalled. He said - You kids can't watch this! We looked at him and said - you're a little late. We know every line by heart. To his credit, we got to keep watching it. I don't remember if they monitored us after that. Maybe they took HBO away? Don't remember. I just remember Otter and Pinto and Flounder, Bluto and Neidermeyer and Greg Marmalard, and of course, Mandy and Babs. (That boy is a P - I - G pig!) I honestly think Tim Matheson (Otter! - with that bachelor pad!) peaked with this movie. I could live with that if I were Tim. I know I could.

So what is your Animal House?

Army of Shadows

L'Armee des Ombres is a real downer with great performances. It was filmed in 1969 and did horribly in France. When released years later in the US, it rec'd critical reviews. Now it is considered fantastic - doesn't the Wizard of Oz have a similar story? I will check later.

The movie follows several French Resistance fighters in occupied France. Often Resistance fighters are portrayed as romantic figures; not here. This life is purely dangerous. Also, Simone Signoret plays a key role. The movie is interesting for her alone - so if you're a fan of Simone or of war movies, pick this one up. For most, I would suggest passing on it.

Opera - 1987

I watched Opera today, a movie by Dario Argento. Mr. Argento is an Italian director in the horror genre. I was researching the movie a bit after watching it, and I came across this user comment on IMDB:

"If you love Dario Argento, then you learn to treasure these idiosyncrasies (plot holes, odd motives, clumsy or tacked-on endings, bad female performances, blah, blah, blah) as part of the auteur's clumsy charm. And if you love Argento, it is because of his spectacular, flaming imagination and his confidence and skill in bringing all of it to the screen."

If, on the other hand, bad acting, crappy plots, and amazingly stupid endings make you want to vomit, I would pass on this movie. Also, aside from a few good camera shots, I did not see evidence of the imagination referenced above. This seemed like a bad version of Phantom of the Opera combined with the Birds. And really, really bad acting.

I understand that there are movies / actors / directors that get popular, that have huge fan bases BECAUSE of their cheesiness or lack of credibility. If that is the appeal here, it just didn't work for me.

The Notebook

I am finally watching this movie!! It is ridiculously cheesy and I adore it. These two leads have so much chemistry and the movie is so romantic that it may be perfection in its genre. Ryan G is right now holding his hand over his heart and yelling at Rachel M.

The scary part is - I'm actually beginning to doubt that James Garner's character is Ryan G - is it James M??? How can I remotely be confused about this? It has to be Ryan G. If it's not the whole movie is a contradiction.

BTW - there is no way their kids would be that sweet and understanding. And good looking. This is really not a great film, but I loved it. Wait, I'm changing my mind. This ending sucks. All we need now if for James G to have a massive heart attack and die. Oh jeez. I have a really bad feeling about this.

Well, I didn't cry, but I agree with my friend J that this DVD needs to be turned off when James and Gena are dancing.

So what other movies are in this genre? What is this called? Intensely emotional period romances? Does that mean that Pride and Prejudice and Emma are grouped with this? Or is it just Bridges of Madison County, Walk to Remember, those kind of movies? I am not a big fan of the latter.

Brothers

This was a great movie, and I suspect it has wide appeal. The actors are popular (Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman and Jake G), the acting is great, and it's about war. Actually it's pretty much ripped from the headlines. I am not a huge enjoyer of war movies - but this was gripping. And I'm particularly a fan of the ending. It is NOT A TYPICAL AMERICAN ending. That doesn't mean everybody dies, but it does mean there is no pretty wrapping up of all loose ends. Let me know if you watch it.

Seraphine (2008)

I watched a beautiful movie this weekend. It is a true story, so the ending is not pretty. It is about the French painter Seraphine de Senlis, born in 1864 to the laborer / farm workers class. Her primary means of making a living is house cleaning, and through that, one of her clients stumbles across an early painting of Seraphine's of apples.

The client happens to be the German art critic and collector Wilhelm Uhde. The path to her fame was not straightforward due to WWI and the depression, but Seraphine continued to paint, totally untrained, and mixing her own colors. Her work is insanely beautiful. Seraphine was not 100% mentally and ended up institutionalized for "chronic psychosis". Like I said, true stories suck.

This movie is mainly, to me, about the artist's need to create. The movie shows Seraphine's appreciation for the feel of water, the view from a tree, the sunlight coming through leaves. By the end of the movie, I really felt how Seraphine needed to paint. She would rather paint than eat or pay her rent. I have not seen another movie that expresses this need so well.

If you liked Bright Star, you will like this movie. I have attached a picture from the movie, as well as a picture of Seraphine herself.

Day of the Locust (1975)

I watched a movie I really hated today. On one level, I know it was well acted, with gorgeous costumes and art direction. It was well written and well directed. However, none of these qualities change the fact that if I saw the Day of the Locust while channel surfing on TV, I would not even pause.

This movie is a one of the bleakest I have seen in a while. If you want a look at the ugly under belly of Hollywood, circa the late 1930's, go for it. Donald Sutherland is great (and I'm not a huge fan), and Burgess Meredith was amazing. Plus you get to see a young Jackie Earle Haley - that's cool.

The foil for everything was a character named Tod Hackett, played by William Atherton. I have included Atherton's picture so you will recognize him - I am sure you will. Just this week Mr. Atherton was on Lost as the principal in the alternate reality school where Ben works. He is screwing the school nurse and is a crappy / creepy principal. The next night he was on SVU (or the same night?) as a serial killer. The word SMARMY doesn't really do this guy justice. His characters are usually rodents, and he is the blank slate that all other characters play against in Day of the Locust. Actually, he's not that blank; he is eminently corruptible. If you have seen this guy in Die Hard, or any of his countless movies, you will know that mood that follows him.

I was increasingly nauseated as I watched this movie. Maybe that was what the director wanted? It wasn't for me.