Kadie and I checked the kids out of school early today and took them to the Toy Story double feature. When Toy Story came out in 1995, Scooter had not quite been born and Skeeter was still a couple of years away. (Squealer was almost a decade away!) So watching the films today was the first time any of the kids had seen them on the big screen. I remembered enjoying the films, but not connecting to them in the same way I did this afternoon.
Both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are each stories about the tremendous brevity of childhood. The key plot elements of both films involve the affections of children being transferred from childlike things to more grownup things. Apparently this will even be moreso the case in Toy Story 3 as Andy goes off to college.
As I watched our three kids watch the movie, complete with their matching 3-D glasses, I was reminded again of the tremendous blessing that each of them are. And how quickly the days pass.
Showing posts with label Film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Film. Show all posts
Friday, October 09, 2009
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Film Montage
I've shared before my affinity for the medium of film. Here's the best film montage I know. It is called 100 Years of Film and I saw this on TCM several years ago. It has recently popped up on YouTube (as all things eventually do). Enjoy!
And after 100 years, few images are as haunting as the initial shot from Edison's Kinetoscope.
(For a cheat sheet, see the list of films here.)
And after 100 years, few images are as haunting as the initial shot from Edison's Kinetoscope.
(For a cheat sheet, see the list of films here.)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
W: A Review
W is an entertaining movie, but not a good one. It is entertaining in the same sense that a Will Ferrell DVD of SNL’s greatest Bush skits would be. Humorous, funny, and lacking any coherent plot.
The film is about the run up to the war in Iraq and the “debate” going on in the Bush White House. I put debate in quotation marks because it’s quite clear from the outset what the result will be. The president has already made up his mind. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, et al are each manipulating him toward a predetermined outcome. Only brave Powell opposes their plans, but his opposition is quickly overcome as he is portrayed as brave, if overly loyal footsoldier. Vice-President Cheney in particular is remarkable (Richard Dreyfus in an Oscar caliber performance). Cheney is the driving force behind the invasion plans and gives a powerful speech in favor of world domination to the assembled group of advisors. But his speech is so diabolical that it seemed more appropriate to a Bond (or Austin Powers) enemy. All he needed was, as one critic noted, a cat to stroke.
Throughout the film there are flashbacks (and at times flashbacks within flashbacks) about Bush’s life. The one recurring motivation for Bush in the film is that he is constantly trying to overcome his father (played by James Cromwell in an excellent performance) and to demonstrate his superiority. From his frat boy days at Yale to (literally) fighting with his father in the Oval Office, he’s constantly up against Bush 41. Poppa Bush opposes W at every turn. He dismisses Junior when he wants to run for governor of Texas, when he wants to run for president, and in one of the final scenes merely shakes his head at his son’s decisions in the Middle East.
But the central focus on the film is always Bush the Younger. Many of Bush’s infamous malapropisms (misunderestimated, “Fool me once, shame on you” etc) are here, though not in the context in which they were originally uttered. Although the common anti-Bush tropes are covered in “W” (Bush was motivated by competition with his father: check, God told Bush to run for president: check, the US invaded Iraq for oil: check), Stone eases up on the most left-leaning criticism of Bush. Some of his opponents have claimed that he deliberately used imaginary WMD weapons as the causus belli for the Iraq war (with the brief “Bush lied, people died” mantra). But Stone does not endorse this view and instead "credits" incompetence instead of malevolence. George Tenet (CIA director) summarizes the mistake by simply saying "We were wrong when we thought there were WMDs."
Ultimately, the problem with W is not that Stone aims too high, but too low. By portraying Bush as a self-confident dunce, he gives no insight into Bush the man. He provides no understanding on some basic questions that the narrative suggests: What did a demure wall flower like Laura see in him? Other than affecting his alcohol consumption, how did Bush’s religious conversion change him? And the ultimate question of course: How did someone so stupid end up as a President?
In the end, W is a failure as a narrative film. It is a disorganized mess with neither a coherent plot nor structure.
And yes, I recognize that that description is exactly what many critics apply to Bush’s eight years in office.
Friday, June 06, 2008
A Few Minutes Well Spent
Last night Scooter, Skeeter and I were watching an old movie that I recorded recently. It was the first time that they had ever seen Harvey, the movie starring Jimmy Stewart and a six foot rabbit. One of the best highlights of recent memory was spending about ten minutes working with Skeeter on her Jimmy Stewart impression.
Enjoy the clip
Enjoy the clip
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
How I Spent My Spring Break
I spent it in bed and on the couch with a flu-like virus. Because fair reader, I don’t have the time, nor you the patience, for in depth reviews of the culture I’ve consumed over the last two weeks, I thought I’d share with you a brief summary and one thing I liked or disliked about each movie/book/TV show. Adding much richness to our movie watching experiences was the fact that DIRECT-TV offered free HBO/Cinemax for the weekend.
When one is both sick and tired of chicken noodle soup with saltines, what else is there to do but read, watch, and pray? Here’s how we spent some of our time…
Without further ado…
Two Books:
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness I already reviewed it here.
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- written by the author of Krakatoa. He’s not really a historian, but Simon Winchester can spin a yarn. Just read the three page preface to the book and then decide not to read the rest. C’mon, I dare you. One of the interesting things about the book is it gives the history of the production of the Oxford English Dictionary, a mammoth undertaking that benefits us all even today.
Movies
Little Women (1994) This film was a hidden gem. I’d missed its theatrical release, but the cast overflows with fine actors from Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, and Susan Surandon to Christian Bale. A gripping story with much laughter and crying as we watched this one a couple of times (well, I watched it once. Kadie and the girls a few times). Kadie got this for Scooter’s Easter Basket.
Stuart Little A gift(?) for Squealer, I watched it for about 5 minutes before I could stand no more. I recall the book fondly as I read the masterpiece about childhood alienation.
Two things jumped out at me about the film: M. Night Shymalan wrote the thing and Hugh Laurie stars in it. But this film is a CGI mess. Almost the worst of the films we saw. Almost. Which brings us to…
The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl – Just a CGI disaster. Painful to watch and even more painful to try to discern a plot. Any goodwill built up for Robert Rodriguez in the great, I mean GREAT, family films of Spy Kids 1 and 2 is flushed away in this fluorescent colored dreck.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The girls saw it for the first time, only on the condition that they close their eyes when Jones tells Marion to do so during the death angel scene at the end. They absolutely loved it. I cannot tell you how gratifying it is to hear them burst out laughing when Indy shoots the swordsman after he performs a variety of impressive sword maneuvers.
Flicka – A girl and her horse movie. Perfectly acceptable. Better than expected Tim McGraw performance. Maybe Skeeter’s favorite movie.
Superman Returns – I had pretty low expectations for this one, but they’ve been exceeded. I loved the opening credits, which were identical to the 1978 credits. The actor has his Christopher Reeve impression working well, particularly his Clark Kent nebbishness. Kevin Spacey does his best to chew the scenery, but can’t get me to forget Gene Hackman. And I miss Ned Bettey’s unctuousness “Mistah Luthoh”. One marked improvement is Kate Bosworth over Margot Kidder as Lois Lane. Even as a nine year old, I recall thinking how the movie might have improved had the Lois Lane-Superman flight over Manhattan ended somewhat less romantically and more “tragically”.
(And speaking of rebooted franchises, how did I miss this?! Must not get hopes up…)
Hot Fuzz – Clearly the Belle of the Ball among these films. I had no expectations other than the fact that Roeper and the other guy liked the film and said it was funny. It is a modern British film and is therefore profanity laced and has a few cheesy slasher moments….but my-o-my I laughed at this tale of a tough London cop who ends up in a small town that sounds a lot like Lone Oak. But for a different view, see a recent post at Mr Ginger’s pad. Yhaarp.
The Miracle Maker – A required Easter viewing around our house. Still in my mind the best visual depiction of the life of Christ, bar none. And it’s Claymation!!!!!
The Blues Brothers – I hadn’t watched this in years and I didn’t watch all of it again either. Simply not that funny.
Idiocracy – Very disappointing film from Mike Judge of Office Space fame. The film posits an entertaining (and easily defensible) premise that our society is getting more and more stupid each passing generation. But it depicts this in an idiotic way. I could stand about 15 minutes of it.
Radio Days – I hadn’t seen this Woody Allen treasure in a decade, but it has that right combination of charm and whimsy that makes it delightful. It’s a grow up version of A Christmas Story as Allen waxes nostalgic on the role that the medium of radio played in New York life in the 1930’s and 40’s.
The Dark Crystal “That is one weird puppet movie” was Scooter’s comment after it was over. (This comment has now, in my mind, become one of the greatest lines in our family’s lore.) I’d forgotten a lot of it, but I agree with her sentiments. Kadie picked this DVD out for Skeeter’s Easter basket. Not sure that Jim Henson was smoking when he contrived this plot.
TV Series
John Adams (3 volumes) – A great show on HBO, with high production values. The book on which this is based (McCullough’s John Adams) is one of the best biographies I’ve ever read. So I had high expectations and they were met. The high point of this series for me is that it accurately depicts the close love affair that John and his wife Abigail sustained for years often over great distances. Their personal letters may be the greatest romance literature in American history, simply a joy to read.
House (about 6 episodes) -- For another post
When one is both sick and tired of chicken noodle soup with saltines, what else is there to do but read, watch, and pray? Here’s how we spent some of our time…
Without further ado…
Two Books:
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness I already reviewed it here.
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary -- written by the author of Krakatoa. He’s not really a historian, but Simon Winchester can spin a yarn. Just read the three page preface to the book and then decide not to read the rest. C’mon, I dare you. One of the interesting things about the book is it gives the history of the production of the Oxford English Dictionary, a mammoth undertaking that benefits us all even today.
Movies
Little Women (1994) This film was a hidden gem. I’d missed its theatrical release, but the cast overflows with fine actors from Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, and Susan Surandon to Christian Bale. A gripping story with much laughter and crying as we watched this one a couple of times (well, I watched it once. Kadie and the girls a few times). Kadie got this for Scooter’s Easter Basket.
Stuart Little A gift(?) for Squealer, I watched it for about 5 minutes before I could stand no more. I recall the book fondly as I read the masterpiece about childhood alienation.
Two things jumped out at me about the film: M. Night Shymalan wrote the thing and Hugh Laurie stars in it. But this film is a CGI mess. Almost the worst of the films we saw. Almost. Which brings us to…
The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl – Just a CGI disaster. Painful to watch and even more painful to try to discern a plot. Any goodwill built up for Robert Rodriguez in the great, I mean GREAT, family films of Spy Kids 1 and 2 is flushed away in this fluorescent colored dreck.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The girls saw it for the first time, only on the condition that they close their eyes when Jones tells Marion to do so during the death angel scene at the end. They absolutely loved it. I cannot tell you how gratifying it is to hear them burst out laughing when Indy shoots the swordsman after he performs a variety of impressive sword maneuvers.
Flicka – A girl and her horse movie. Perfectly acceptable. Better than expected Tim McGraw performance. Maybe Skeeter’s favorite movie.
Superman Returns – I had pretty low expectations for this one, but they’ve been exceeded. I loved the opening credits, which were identical to the 1978 credits. The actor has his Christopher Reeve impression working well, particularly his Clark Kent nebbishness. Kevin Spacey does his best to chew the scenery, but can’t get me to forget Gene Hackman. And I miss Ned Bettey’s unctuousness “Mistah Luthoh”. One marked improvement is Kate Bosworth over Margot Kidder as Lois Lane. Even as a nine year old, I recall thinking how the movie might have improved had the Lois Lane-Superman flight over Manhattan ended somewhat less romantically and more “tragically”.
(And speaking of rebooted franchises, how did I miss this?! Must not get hopes up…)
Hot Fuzz – Clearly the Belle of the Ball among these films. I had no expectations other than the fact that Roeper and the other guy liked the film and said it was funny. It is a modern British film and is therefore profanity laced and has a few cheesy slasher moments….but my-o-my I laughed at this tale of a tough London cop who ends up in a small town that sounds a lot like Lone Oak. But for a different view, see a recent post at Mr Ginger’s pad. Yhaarp.
The Miracle Maker – A required Easter viewing around our house. Still in my mind the best visual depiction of the life of Christ, bar none. And it’s Claymation!!!!!
The Blues Brothers – I hadn’t watched this in years and I didn’t watch all of it again either. Simply not that funny.
Idiocracy – Very disappointing film from Mike Judge of Office Space fame. The film posits an entertaining (and easily defensible) premise that our society is getting more and more stupid each passing generation. But it depicts this in an idiotic way. I could stand about 15 minutes of it.
Radio Days – I hadn’t seen this Woody Allen treasure in a decade, but it has that right combination of charm and whimsy that makes it delightful. It’s a grow up version of A Christmas Story as Allen waxes nostalgic on the role that the medium of radio played in New York life in the 1930’s and 40’s.
The Dark Crystal “That is one weird puppet movie” was Scooter’s comment after it was over. (This comment has now, in my mind, become one of the greatest lines in our family’s lore.) I’d forgotten a lot of it, but I agree with her sentiments. Kadie picked this DVD out for Skeeter’s Easter basket. Not sure that Jim Henson was smoking when he contrived this plot.
TV Series
John Adams (3 volumes) – A great show on HBO, with high production values. The book on which this is based (McCullough’s John Adams) is one of the best biographies I’ve ever read. So I had high expectations and they were met. The high point of this series for me is that it accurately depicts the close love affair that John and his wife Abigail sustained for years often over great distances. Their personal letters may be the greatest romance literature in American history, simply a joy to read.
House (about 6 episodes) -- For another post
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Waitress
I had high hopes, buoyed by its 89% at Rotten Tomatoes and its highly amusing trailer. The story concerns Jenna (Kerri Russell) who is a small southern town waitress working at a pie shop. In one of the early scenes of the film, Jenna discovers that she is pregnant and the news disappoints her. She’s in an unhappy marriage with Earl, a thuggish lout, and is making plans to leave him. The impending baby throws a rattle into those plans.
Her only friends are her two coworkers, Becky and Dawn, who support and encourage her. They spend a lot of time discussing their two failing marriages (Becky’s husband has been an invalid for years) and failing dating relationships (Dawn cannot find a man).
Jenna has one old customer who owns the pie shop and is a rascally curmudgeon named Joe (Andy Griffith). He plays the wise old man and is very insightful as he alternately barks orders, and flirts with Jenna. He sees something special in her.
When pregnant Jenna makes her first appointment to see her obstetrician (the same small town doctor who delivered her) she discovers that her obstetrician has retired and a new, young handsome doctor, Dr. Pomatter, has taken her place. There is chemistry between them. Because they are both married, they have initial misgivings. But this is Hollywood after all so they consummate their affair and keep their relationship as clandestine as possible throughout the rest of the film.
The film ends with her baby’s birth which triggers a few decisions in Jenna’s life. She decides to leave her husband and to break off her affair with the doctor. Joe dies and leaves a lot of money to Jenna which she uses to buy the diner and name it Lulu’s after her new baby daughter.
Three things I liked:
1. There is an underlying Pro-Life element to the picture. She briefly considers an abortion, but rejects it almost immediately. Although she laments her pregnancy throughout the film, her daughter’s birth proves transformative.
2. The voice-overs. It is intrinsically difficult in a film to give voice to the character’s thoughts. But Waitress has a useful method of accomplishing that here. Whenever Jenna feels an intense emotion she channels it into a pie. Thus the names of the pies she devises are: “Screaming-Crying Baby in the Middle of the Night Pie,” "I Hate My Husband Pie," and "I Can't Handle an Affair Because It's Wrong & I Don't Want Earl to Kill Me Pie" etc. That makes a nice (and hunger-inducing) method to give the viewer access into Jenna’s mind as she’s sorting through these emotions.
3. The cast. I really liked the casting of Andy Griffith and Kerri Russell. Griffith is such an icon that he’s very hard not to like, even though he plays somewhat of a unctuous scoundrel. Russell is luminescent, a future star.
Three things I didn’t like:
1. It is a very white movie. This is not something I typically notice, but there are no blacks in the film. Not what I would expect from a small southern town.
Her only friends are her two coworkers, Becky and Dawn, who support and encourage her. They spend a lot of time discussing their two failing marriages (Becky’s husband has been an invalid for years) and failing dating relationships (Dawn cannot find a man).
Jenna has one old customer who owns the pie shop and is a rascally curmudgeon named Joe (Andy Griffith). He plays the wise old man and is very insightful as he alternately barks orders, and flirts with Jenna. He sees something special in her.
When pregnant Jenna makes her first appointment to see her obstetrician (the same small town doctor who delivered her) she discovers that her obstetrician has retired and a new, young handsome doctor, Dr. Pomatter, has taken her place. There is chemistry between them. Because they are both married, they have initial misgivings. But this is Hollywood after all so they consummate their affair and keep their relationship as clandestine as possible throughout the rest of the film.
The film ends with her baby’s birth which triggers a few decisions in Jenna’s life. She decides to leave her husband and to break off her affair with the doctor. Joe dies and leaves a lot of money to Jenna which she uses to buy the diner and name it Lulu’s after her new baby daughter.
Three things I liked:
1. There is an underlying Pro-Life element to the picture. She briefly considers an abortion, but rejects it almost immediately. Although she laments her pregnancy throughout the film, her daughter’s birth proves transformative.
2. The voice-overs. It is intrinsically difficult in a film to give voice to the character’s thoughts. But Waitress has a useful method of accomplishing that here. Whenever Jenna feels an intense emotion she channels it into a pie. Thus the names of the pies she devises are: “Screaming-Crying Baby in the Middle of the Night Pie,” "I Hate My Husband Pie," and "I Can't Handle an Affair Because It's Wrong & I Don't Want Earl to Kill Me Pie" etc. That makes a nice (and hunger-inducing) method to give the viewer access into Jenna’s mind as she’s sorting through these emotions.
3. The cast. I really liked the casting of Andy Griffith and Kerri Russell. Griffith is such an icon that he’s very hard not to like, even though he plays somewhat of a unctuous scoundrel. Russell is luminescent, a future star.
Three things I didn’t like:
1. It is a very white movie. This is not something I typically notice, but there are no blacks in the film. Not what I would expect from a small southern town.
2. The film's inconsistency in mood. Waitress crosses the fine line between reaching for magical realism and simply being over the top. When Jenna finds happiness in her relationship with Dr. Pomatter, she walks through several scenes with a grin (intentionally) pasted on her face. I think the director was trying to depict the fantasy world that a clandestine relationship provides, but it looked a little over the top. More cheesy than anything else.
3. The portrayal of affairs. But my primary objection to the film is its portrayal of the various affairs ongoing throughout the film. Becky, Jenna’s friend, articulates the sentiment I find most offensive. She’s married to a man who is now an invalid and has been out of his mind for several years. To her shock, Jenna discovers that Becky has been having an affair with the boss of their diner, Cal. Jenna asks Becky if she loves him. Becky replies “Love Cal? I don’t know, but I love IT! I love having someone to look pretty for. I love waking up and there’s something to look forward to. Something fun, and sneaky, and sexy!”
Although I don’t doubt that the attendant emotional feelings to an affair can be as intoxicating as the relationship itself, the film doesn’t explore the problems and consequences of the affair. In both cases, with Becky and Cal, Jenna and Dr. Pomatter, they each end up happy and regret free. Even when Jenna breaks off the affair with Dr. Pomatter, she says “I could never thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me.”
For a lighthearted comedy that is billed as “uplifiting” and supposedly depicts reality, this depiction of affairs was a glaring oversight. In Waitress, affairs are therapeutic and, at times, necessary to allow a person to realize their full potential. I simply reject that perspective.
For these reasons I didn’t enjoy the film and would not recommend it.
***I should note that the writer and director of this film, Adrienne Shelly, was brutally murdered shortly after its completion. Obviously a tragic event.
3. The portrayal of affairs. But my primary objection to the film is its portrayal of the various affairs ongoing throughout the film. Becky, Jenna’s friend, articulates the sentiment I find most offensive. She’s married to a man who is now an invalid and has been out of his mind for several years. To her shock, Jenna discovers that Becky has been having an affair with the boss of their diner, Cal. Jenna asks Becky if she loves him. Becky replies “Love Cal? I don’t know, but I love IT! I love having someone to look pretty for. I love waking up and there’s something to look forward to. Something fun, and sneaky, and sexy!”
Although I don’t doubt that the attendant emotional feelings to an affair can be as intoxicating as the relationship itself, the film doesn’t explore the problems and consequences of the affair. In both cases, with Becky and Cal, Jenna and Dr. Pomatter, they each end up happy and regret free. Even when Jenna breaks off the affair with Dr. Pomatter, she says “I could never thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me.”
For a lighthearted comedy that is billed as “uplifiting” and supposedly depicts reality, this depiction of affairs was a glaring oversight. In Waitress, affairs are therapeutic and, at times, necessary to allow a person to realize their full potential. I simply reject that perspective.
For these reasons I didn’t enjoy the film and would not recommend it.
***I should note that the writer and director of this film, Adrienne Shelly, was brutally murdered shortly after its completion. Obviously a tragic event.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
The Golden What?
While it's nice to see a certain film snorkeling under 50% at Rotten Tomatoes, there is an upcoming film that the Taran kids are giddy with excitement over...
Monday, November 05, 2007
Reel Life Dan
A milestone for our clan this Sunday evening. Due to a large fellowship on Saturday, our church took Sunday night off. At home, Kadie and I fed the kids and then took off to see a movie. What is significant is that this is the first time we’ve left Scooter in charge of her younger siblings for 2 hours so that we could see a movie. (Of course the theater is 1.3 miles from our home, which helps a lot).
Unfettered freedom I tell ya’!
In celebration, a movies review. May it not be the last.
We went to see the flick Dan in Real Life (DIRL) a romantic comedy for the middle aged, and further evidence I suppose that Kadie and I are easing our way into that particular demographic. It stars the likeable Steve Carell and the beautiful Juliet Binoche.
Carell plays Dan an advice columnist who is also a widower dealing with the onerous task of raising three daughters ages 9, 15, and 17. Like the cobbler whose kids have no shoes, Dan’s kids don’t have enough of him as a Dad. The youngest daughter wants his time, the oldest daughter his car and the middle daughter just wants him to disappear.
Every year he takes his brood to his parents’ home on Chesapeake Bay. He is joined there by his two brothers, his sister and all their assorted spouses and kids. The film plays out over three days as the assorted two dozen people engage in Pictionary, touch football, and family traditions like talent shows and walks on the beach.
The central narrative is generated by a chance encounter that Dan has with Marie (Juliet Binoche). Dan has been so overprotective of his daughters that his mom sends him away for some time by himself in the local town bookstore, named the Book and Tackle Shop, a name so small-town cute, it must really exist (Yep).
In the bookstore, Dan and Marie meet, awkwardly flirt and seem to make a connection. In a scene that demonstrates how intimacy can occur without physical contact, Dan shares with her about the loss of his wife which seems to surprise even himself. “I don’t usually talk much about her” he confesses.
After Dan returns to his parent’s home, he is brimming with excitement about his newfound friend and tells his family that he’s met someone special. Sharing in his joy is his younger brother Mitch who has brought home someone special as well. Mitch introduces his new girl friend to Dan and … it turns out to be Marie. The story then unfolds as Dan, Marie, and Mitch try to come to grips with this new reality.
Three things I didn’t like:
1. The Predictability of the Plot – This is usually a big one for me. If I’ve invested 30 minutes in a film and can tell you the direction it is going in, then the screenwriter (who has presumably spent more time with the story than I have) has done a poor job.
2. The Equation of Love and Attraction – Both Dan and his middle daughter (see below) equate these two distinctive realities. Part of the difficulty in adequately portraying love on film is the limits of the medium. Love takes a long time to build and an even longer time to maintain than two hours. I must confess that his criticism could be made of almost every film.
3. The Tidy Ending – The film ends and everyone (everyone!) is appropriately paired off with who they should be. Not hard feelings anywhere in sight. While this might make some people leave the theater happy, it doesn’t confront the messiness of life.
Three things I liked:
1. Steve Carell – I like him in the Office and in the two Almightys. He plays nice and funny well, but I didn’t know if he could play any drama. He does a very good job. Dan loves his family, but doesn’t always like them. Carell portrays well that delicate balance. Part of the emotional satisfaction at the end of the film (as he finds love again) is due to the investment that the film makes in depicting how deep his sense of loss is over his wife. The highest compliment I know is to say that half-way through the film I saw Dan on the screen, not Evan or Michael Scott.
2. The Relationship of the Father to his Daughters – Not many films get this right. In most films the dad is an idiot, or the kids are wise beyond their years…or both. But in this one, there is an entertaining dynamic that doesn’t shy away from the fact that parents and children can love each other desperately and still fight passionately. The most entertaining relationship is between Dan and his middle daughter Cara. Cara has met the boy of her dreams and Dan doesn’t think that she has any idea what love is about and grounds her when he sees her kissing her boyfriend in public.
Cara responds the way preteen and teen girls so often do—with tons and tons of drama. Brittney Robertson plays Cara in a melodramatic, over the top way…exactly the way teens and preteens so often behave. It’s not just that they say “The World is coming to an End!!!” They actually believe it that it is.
3. The Family –DIRL presents family as a mixture of joy and sorrow, best friends and bitter rivals. There is love, there is dysfunction, bad advice, and laughter. The family reunion setting highlights all of the attractions of family. Like other good movies about family (The Royal Tenenbaums comes to mind), it makes the viewer wish we could be a part of that family too.
Overall I recommend the movie. Like the proverbial bumble bee, this movie flies when it shouldn’t. The predictable, sit-com like plot is tiresome, but fortunately the film is not.
Unfettered freedom I tell ya’!
In celebration, a movies review. May it not be the last.
We went to see the flick Dan in Real Life (DIRL) a romantic comedy for the middle aged, and further evidence I suppose that Kadie and I are easing our way into that particular demographic. It stars the likeable Steve Carell and the beautiful Juliet Binoche.
Carell plays Dan an advice columnist who is also a widower dealing with the onerous task of raising three daughters ages 9, 15, and 17. Like the cobbler whose kids have no shoes, Dan’s kids don’t have enough of him as a Dad. The youngest daughter wants his time, the oldest daughter his car and the middle daughter just wants him to disappear.
Every year he takes his brood to his parents’ home on Chesapeake Bay. He is joined there by his two brothers, his sister and all their assorted spouses and kids. The film plays out over three days as the assorted two dozen people engage in Pictionary, touch football, and family traditions like talent shows and walks on the beach.
The central narrative is generated by a chance encounter that Dan has with Marie (Juliet Binoche). Dan has been so overprotective of his daughters that his mom sends him away for some time by himself in the local town bookstore, named the Book and Tackle Shop, a name so small-town cute, it must really exist (Yep).
In the bookstore, Dan and Marie meet, awkwardly flirt and seem to make a connection. In a scene that demonstrates how intimacy can occur without physical contact, Dan shares with her about the loss of his wife which seems to surprise even himself. “I don’t usually talk much about her” he confesses.
After Dan returns to his parent’s home, he is brimming with excitement about his newfound friend and tells his family that he’s met someone special. Sharing in his joy is his younger brother Mitch who has brought home someone special as well. Mitch introduces his new girl friend to Dan and … it turns out to be Marie. The story then unfolds as Dan, Marie, and Mitch try to come to grips with this new reality.
Three things I didn’t like:
1. The Predictability of the Plot – This is usually a big one for me. If I’ve invested 30 minutes in a film and can tell you the direction it is going in, then the screenwriter (who has presumably spent more time with the story than I have) has done a poor job.
2. The Equation of Love and Attraction – Both Dan and his middle daughter (see below) equate these two distinctive realities. Part of the difficulty in adequately portraying love on film is the limits of the medium. Love takes a long time to build and an even longer time to maintain than two hours. I must confess that his criticism could be made of almost every film.
3. The Tidy Ending – The film ends and everyone (everyone!) is appropriately paired off with who they should be. Not hard feelings anywhere in sight. While this might make some people leave the theater happy, it doesn’t confront the messiness of life.
Three things I liked:
1. Steve Carell – I like him in the Office and in the two Almightys. He plays nice and funny well, but I didn’t know if he could play any drama. He does a very good job. Dan loves his family, but doesn’t always like them. Carell portrays well that delicate balance. Part of the emotional satisfaction at the end of the film (as he finds love again) is due to the investment that the film makes in depicting how deep his sense of loss is over his wife. The highest compliment I know is to say that half-way through the film I saw Dan on the screen, not Evan or Michael Scott.
2. The Relationship of the Father to his Daughters – Not many films get this right. In most films the dad is an idiot, or the kids are wise beyond their years…or both. But in this one, there is an entertaining dynamic that doesn’t shy away from the fact that parents and children can love each other desperately and still fight passionately. The most entertaining relationship is between Dan and his middle daughter Cara. Cara has met the boy of her dreams and Dan doesn’t think that she has any idea what love is about and grounds her when he sees her kissing her boyfriend in public.
Cara responds the way preteen and teen girls so often do—with tons and tons of drama. Brittney Robertson plays Cara in a melodramatic, over the top way…exactly the way teens and preteens so often behave. It’s not just that they say “The World is coming to an End!!!” They actually believe it that it is.
3. The Family –DIRL presents family as a mixture of joy and sorrow, best friends and bitter rivals. There is love, there is dysfunction, bad advice, and laughter. The family reunion setting highlights all of the attractions of family. Like other good movies about family (The Royal Tenenbaums comes to mind), it makes the viewer wish we could be a part of that family too.
Overall I recommend the movie. Like the proverbial bumble bee, this movie flies when it shouldn’t. The predictable, sit-com like plot is tiresome, but fortunately the film is not.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Stranger...
Two of my buddies from college and I are discussing the film Truth is Stranger Than Fiction over on Mr. Ginger's Bolg. It is actually interesting!
Ummm.....we are discussing a rather key plot point, so if you have not yet seen the movie, then please don't click here!
Ummm.....we are discussing a rather key plot point, so if you have not yet seen the movie, then please don't click here!
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Thar Be Pirates Heer!!
Bowden's daughter wasn't the only one who watched the Pirates of the Carribbean last night. Kadie and I had a wonderful date night as we inflicted the three kiddos on a babysitter and had a nice dinner (a Cajun restaurant) and a movie. At the theater we saw twelve people from our church and got tickets only because I ordered them online earlier in the day. I spoke with a lot of people throughout the day who were going to it, which I guess explains this shocking news!!!!!
A stunning half a mill opening day. I had reasonably low expectations for the film, and they were well met. As busy as I've been, I had no idea that it was the first installment of a two part episode shot back to back (a la the LOTR or Back to the Future trilogies). So it ended in media res, but was still alright. It did remind me a lot of the Captain Blood type of films, where you just suspend your disbelief and ride along for the fun. For a full review by an administrator at the premier Baptist University in the country, read Thomas Hibbs’ take.
I won't risk stepping onto someone else's turf here, but one thing struck me about the film. Jack Sparrow might become one of the more iconic film characters in time. I suspect that he will really resonate with contemporary culture and we will soon see Sparrow references umm, flying everywhere.
A stunning half a mill opening day. I had reasonably low expectations for the film, and they were well met. As busy as I've been, I had no idea that it was the first installment of a two part episode shot back to back (a la the LOTR or Back to the Future trilogies). So it ended in media res, but was still alright. It did remind me a lot of the Captain Blood type of films, where you just suspend your disbelief and ride along for the fun. For a full review by an administrator at the premier Baptist University in the country, read Thomas Hibbs’ take.
I won't risk stepping onto someone else's turf here, but one thing struck me about the film. Jack Sparrow might become one of the more iconic film characters in time. I suspect that he will really resonate with contemporary culture and we will soon see Sparrow references umm, flying everywhere.
Monday, June 26, 2006
How to Become a Famous Musician
(Thoughts after watching Ray and Walk the Line on successive weekends)
Be born in the rural South.
Work as a sharecropper.
Have a brother who dies in a tragic childhood accident for which you were not at all responsible, but for which you will remain haunted by guilt for your entire life. (I would guess that this would be a typical response to childhood trauma).
Get married, but remain consistently unfaithful to your spouse.
Get addicted to drugs.
Express regret (via rehab) and your legend will be secure.
Despite their similar story arcs, I enjoyed both movies. I am more familiar with Charles' work, but each movie made me I want to listen to these two artists more. Cash is the more intriguing character, and I like the Christian themes in Walk the Line.
Jamie Foxx, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon (!) were unbelieveably good in these films, but overall Walk The Line made for a better story.
NB: For a raw, painful video that Johnny and June Carter Cash made shortly before their deaths, watch the music video for the song Hurt. It is a remarkable work of art suffused with religious imagery.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Film Memories
The year was 1975.I was six years old and remember it vividly. I was excited because I was going to the movies. For some reason, my mother and my uncle foolishly agreed to take me to the show. Dad was home with my infant brother.
Going out with my uncle was always a treat, I so much enjoyed being around him. He was a unique individual. He was my mother’s oldest brother and what I most remember about him was his laugh. He was always either telling a joke or laughing at one. He had a wicked sense of humor that I didn’t always understand, but made my mother laugh uproariously. She tells me to this day that my sense of humor reminds her of his.
Mom says that she and her brother used to stay up late into the night watching Johnny Carson. Humor defined my uncle and played an important part of first their, and then later our, relationship. I remember confiding in my uncle about how I felt slower than my friend Chip who lived down the street. My Uncle told me that he was sure I could beat Chip in a race if I just kept working at it. (He was absolutely wrong on that point, Chip always toasted me).
One other thing about my uncle. He was a quadriplegic. He was struck with polio in his late teens as he finished up high school. Before the disease he was tall and athletic and according to family tradition, had a full baseball scholarship to the University of Texas. I never saw his hands strong enough to swing a bat or grip a ball. In my mind’s eye they are always locked in an odd angle, incapable of movement.
So going to the movies was a special treat. Mom got out his wheelchair and picked him up and placed him in it, as she had thousands of times before. We wheeled him in and bought our tickets. The theater marquee had a huge caricature of Jerry Lewis next to the listing of all the films. Inside, where you waited in line for popcorn and a coke, was a mural of a crowd of the Hollywood greats. So you stood there waiting for your Milk Duds alongside the Duke, Groucho, and Marilyn.
We sat in the back of the theater (this was a fifteen years before the Americans with Disabilities Act) with my uncle in the aisle. My mother sat next to my uncle and I sat next to her. I’m sure we talked a bit before the film began, but that is not what I remember most.
The film was the Return of the Pink Panther, starring Peter Sellers as Jacques Clouseau. And I can recall the precise moment, the nanomemory where my love affair with film began. Clouseau was trying to get into the (Notorious) Litton’s home and disguised himself as a telephone repairman. He borrowed a telephone repair van and drove down a hill. The brakes went out and (as I recall) the stick shift came off in his hand. His garbled French and English combined in fright as he hurtled off the street and through a row of bushes. The van then took flight and crashed into a swimming pool where it sank like a cartoon anvil.
It was at that moment that I turned to look at my mom and my uncle and saw that they were each laughing. I laughed too. That image of the three of us laughing is locked in my mind.
Two years later my uncle finally succumbed to polio. I still remember the phone call when my mother told me he died. In recent years I sometimes stop in Emory to visit his grave. I regret that he didn’t get to know my beautiful wife (with a wicked sense of humor herself) or his great nieces. He also missed getting to know the great nephew who would one day bear his name.
But Clouseau is still chasing the Pink Panther diamond. And now I can put the DVD in and watch it with my kids and laugh at the same scene.
I bet that it still makes my uncle laugh too.
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