“Up in the Air” and “Mr. Fox”
I really liked this film. There's a lot of great stuff here. George Clooney is a Cary Grant. He's just good. He's as himself as much as he is whatever character he's inhabiting, but it works. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xIUtRrTlgo?wmode=transparent] "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" was also good, but not nearly so much. It was cute, and there's a certain joy of creativity that comes with Wes Anderson's better films. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you already knew going in to it that you liked his movies.
Good Hair at the Grand
"Good Hair," the documentary by Chris Rock is one of those documentaries where you actually learn a whole lot. Chris Rock explores the world of black hair, triggered by a question from his daughter–"why don't I have good hair?" There's a lot of really interesting stuff in the movie, and Chris Rock is a pretty good interviewer with some very funny lines. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun too. Good criteria for documentary. Here's the trailer. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A68UVn0nMvo?wmode=transparent] Plays through tomorrow at the Grand.
The Blind Side
I read (and loved) The Blind Side a few years ago. It's a great piece of sports writing with a great story in the middle of it. That story makes up the core of the movie adaptation. And generally, the movie stays pretty true to what actually happened. The biggest change from the book, and the hardest for me to get past, is the focus on the adopting mother (Sandra Bullock) as opposed to Michael. This is like watching the story of Hamlet through Gertrude's eyes–the most interesting character is not the focus. Even so, it's an affecting story and Read more…
An Evening With Kevin Smith
I spent two evenings with Kevin Smith, actually. The two disc set has about 3 1/2 hours of Kevin Smith. The DVD is a compilation of 5 Q&A sessions he did at universities around the country. They are funny, irreverent, interesting, full of penis jokes, and then sometimes really graphic. Pretty much your basic Kevin Smith movie. He has some wonderfully funny stories in there. His story about writing a draft for a never-to-be-made Superman movie in the mid-90s was great; as was his week of making a documentary for Prince that never went anywhere; and picketing his own movie Read more…
Lauren Bacall wins!
via nydailynews.com I’m always a fan of her. I like this especially: “I can’t believe it – a man at last,” quipped Bacall, as she accepted an honorary Oscar over the weekend. “The thought that when I get home I’m going to have a two-legged man in my room is so exciting.”
Rebecca always wins in the end
I read Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca recently, which was adapted into the wonderful Hitchcock movie of the same name with Laurence Olivier. The book is from 1938 and holds up tolerably well. The narrator is twenty but for a long time she's as annoying as a 12 year old. She's a lot easier to take in movie form where you don't have to be inside her head. But the book is still pretty good. There's definitely a few more plot twists and turns than in the movie. The biggest downside was the romance-novel-style cover. It's hard to take any book Read more…
Scattered thoughts: The Arts
I've been negligent on posting here as well. MusicJust discovered the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album. What an odd combination of musicians! And with a pretty great result. I've been listening to their cover of Gone Gone Gone by the Everly Brothers. Here's the Everly Brothers performing it. It's a really fun pop song, though in this case the highlight is definitely the dancers. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35YKLemYPtM?wmode=transparent] TelevisionMary's been watching Weeds and whenever I drop in for a few episodes I've really liked it. I've been interested in Glee and FlashForward but have decided to save both for DVD. The only TV Read more…
A Serious Man
The Coen Brothers "A Serious Man" was some great filmmaking, though not up to their No Country For Old Men. It was funny and rather painful, but that has something to do with it being loosely based on the Book of Job. It's an odd movie, to be sure, made more so by an entirely Yiddish opening and a very abrupt ending (that I did not see coming). But like any Coen Brothers movie, it's perfectly cast; that and the filmmaking are really wonderful. It opened at the Grand yesterday. Here's the preview. It pretty wells illustrates the oddity and Read more…
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