It’s way too easy to compare Eyes Wide Open, director Haim Tabakman’s film of a homosexual affair between two ultra-orthodox Jewish men in Jerusalem, to Brokeback Mountain, but that would be unfair. Comparisons like that are always dismissive and the film that was released later usually comes off sounding like a cheap Canal Street knock-off. But more than that, the comparison is inaccurate.
Moon, you’re luminous.
I wish there were more of you.
Moon, can we clone you?
My philosophy professor once told me about an essay he had
to write in grad school. He was asked to ponder the question, “If you are
continually darning a sock, at what point does it become a new sock?”
The question is about essence. What makes each individual thing unique? Is the sock new after a single patch? After 51% of it is patched? Or is it still the same sock as long as a single thread remains from the original?
The same question can be asked of people. What gives each person their own identity? Is it their body? Their memories? If a person has their memory wiped clean, as happens more and more now as we live longer, are they still the same person?
Put another way, what constitutes a human soul?
Because I have lists on the brain, here's another: films that have had a huge impact on me in general, and on my documentary, A Life's Work, in particular.
If you know that I love puppetry, Roald Dahl’s writing, and
stop motion animation, you might
think that I’d be an easy mark for “The Fantastic Mr. Fox.” But in truth, after I saw a preview and
a few commercials I wasn’t sold.
The stop-motion looked herky-jerky - disturbing. The characters, animals all, looked
scary and feral, with beady little eyes and sharp little teeth.
Finally saw “Nine” yesterday. I almost didn’t bother, after all the critical sniping. (Seriously: what IS it with you critics? Do you hate the musical form? Or are you just trying to take down Rob Marshall on his sophomore movie musical? You slammed Marshall for repeating himself - but there’s a difference between repeating yourself and developing a style.)
If there's one thing I hate it's blanket statements. The burr
under my saddle today is "voice overs don't work." Next time someone
says this, I'm not going to correct them with words of wisdom such as,
"I'd qualify that. Bad voice overs don't work." No, instead, I'm going
to tell them to watch Kind Hearts and Coronets. No, check that, that's
in black and white and English, and anyone who would make such a
ridiculous proclamation probably wouldn't know Ealing Studios from East
L.A. No, I'm just going to make them watch this scene from Goodfellas.
Continue reading ""And I had some beautiful cutlets that were cut just right ... "" »
Just saw 2012. Lives up to everything you’d expect it to be – dazzling, escapist, disaster porn. The visual effects are not just stunning to look at they are also remarkable in the attention to detail and the sheer imaginative breadth of their execution.
But there’s an odd disconnect between the level of visual achievement and the lack of imagination brought to the script. Plot, character and general dramatic tension don’t seem to be high on the list of priorities here.
But, ah, those visuals!
Ever since my parents took me to see "Angel in my
Pocket" starring Andy Griffith back when I was, oh, about four years old
at the Mosinee Theatre in my hometown, I've been a fan of being in a theatre
with a group of people with only popcorn in my hands and a soda to keep me
company. I even have had a lifelong ritual: buy the popcorn, lightly salt it,
shake the bag and close it up (to keep the popcorn hot) and sit down and not
eat any until the movie starts... not the previews, but when the actual title
of the movie comes up THEN I can start eating.
Having a theatre in my hometown was a joy because it was easy for me to go, even when my friends weren't interested in going with me. Even when the Mosinee Theatre closed down and I started going in earnest to the Grand Theatre in Wausau, about twenty minutes away, I wasn't deterred. The Grand Theatre was cool because it was a large old style theatre and even had an intermission during the movie - something I took for normal (and still miss).
Just read Martin Scorsese's list of the 11 scariest movies of all time.
These lists are totally subjective, I mean, duh, so I'm not going to argue with his selection. Instead, here's my 11 scariest movies of all time. Like that Facebook quiz that asks me to list 15 books I'll always take with me, I'm not spending any time on this. Great horror is visceral, and this list is jotted down viscerally.
BY B R E N D A N H A YAs Extra Criticum's go-to zombie guy, I'm proud to say that Zombieland is a fine additional to cinema's zombie canon. It fits into the sub-genre of zombie comedies and is on par with that category's previous best efforts Shaun of the Dead and Dead Alive. However, it also stands out from both of those films by being an out-and-out comedy. There is a fair amount of gore in Zombieland, but its focus is always laughs. And character-based laughs at that. The script actually feels more like a TV pilot at times, really taking the time to set up who our remaining human characters are. As such, you really grow to like these folks and not only don't you want them to die, but you're actually even happy to just hang out with them when there isn't a single zombie on screen. It's been quite some time since I watched a zombie flick where the humans were more interesting then the living dead. Not even the last two George Romero flicks were able to reach that bar.
I saw Bright Star the other night. It’s a wonderfully poetic film about the doomed love between a sickly poet and his muse. Fittingly, it is cinematic poetry, full of complex imagery (a sealed bedroom full of butterflies, a handsome young man reclining on the top of a tree canopy staring at the sky, an extreme close up of a needle being threaded and pulled through cloth), the kind of imagery that strikes you immediately because maybe you haven’t seen it before, but also stays with you, their multiple meanings revealing themselves as you dwell on them in the context of the film. It made me wish Jane Campion would make more films.
But as for the title of this post.
Continue reading "How to Keep an Audience in Their Seats through the End Credits" »
There are films you see to escape your life, and there are films you see to learn about your life. Still Walking is one of the latter.
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