At the movies, of course! Where else would you find a movie dweeb with 11 days on his hands to do [almost] whatever he wants? Saw lots of them, at home and at the cinema. Some new, some old. Some I had seen before [some many times before] and some I had never seen. So here's the rundown with my ratings and forth:
In Theaters:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 8.5 A Dangerous Method - 7.5 The Artist - 8.0 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - 8.5 Hugo - 8.5
At home, on cable or dvd:
Tron : Legacy - 7.0 [ 2010 ] How Do You Know ? - 6.0 [ 2010 ] The Green Hornet - 7.5 [ 2011 ] All Night Long - 9.0 [ 1981 ] Tightrope - 7.5 [ 1984 ]
Of all these I was most surprised by The Green Hornet. It is a subversive action-hero movie in that it is played for laughs most of the time, with Kaito the real hero and Seth Rogen's Hornet making jokes, running from the bad guys yet taking credit for the super hero stuff that he didn't do. I found it refreshing and I laughed often while watching. The most disappointing had to be How Do You Know? With a stellar cast of Reese, Owen, Rudd [always worth watching] and the mighty Capt. Jack Nicholson, what could go wrong? And with Oscar winner James Brooks at the helm as writer/director! Well, as it turns out, a lot. This romcom started out very sluggish, the first hour being especially tough to get with. However, it did get better as it went, the second hour improving on the first, and it had a nice ending too. Tron: Legacy was somewhat of a mistake; I didn't really wanna see it, but one morning it was on and my girlfriend [a confirmed SF dweeb] and I just went with it. And found that it wasn't bad. A pleasant surprise. And Mr Bridges, a holdover from 1982's original Tron [yes Virginia, this is a sequel], is always worth watching. He has made some junk in his career, and after a 40 year career who wouldn't, but he is usually the best thing in his films, weather they are good or bad movies.
Of the new stuff I saw in theaters I guess Dragon Tattoo was the most riveting. Fincher is one of the most outstanding filmmakers working today. His films usually bend toward the dark...well hell, I'm convinced he lives in the dark! Only Benjamin Button was a somewhat light affair - and compared to the rest of his output, it was a regular fucking Disney flick. At least two scenes made me flinch, and the end of the film took about ten to twelve minutes too long [though necessary] to wrap up, it still is a wonderful addition to his already impressive canon. Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method about Freud and Jung and the patient that comes between them, is a somewhat dry and, yes, methodical, piece of filmmaking from a creator who seldom bores. Like Fincher, Cronenberg is one of the few who seems to work on challenging subjects that must be of some interest to him. Unlike his last film, 2007's Eastern Promises, Method is deliberate filmmaking, almost Eastwood-like in its pacing. Scorsese's Hugo was immensely enjoyable. Though sold as a kid's movie, it really is an adult movie about kids. And about the movies. The main plot of the film is Hugo's attempt to help the embittered toy store owner of the train depot where Hugo lives. The toy store owner is none other that George Melies, an early 20th century French filmmaker who fears his work has been forgotten and is apparently lost forever. Of course this is just honey to an old cinema-bee like me, so I was entranced. The Artist, a French-silent black & white film that takes place in old Hollywood of 1927-1932 just when talkies were taking over, should've been my favorite of the holidays and maybe a contender for an all-time favorite. But alas, such was not the case. Enjoyable and diverting as it was, I felt that The Artist's plot was tired and left wanting, a cross between Singing in the Rain and a little bit of Sunset Blvd thrown in. However, the performances, photography, musical score and audacity [a B&W, silent film: OMG] were all first-rate. And the ending was particularly enchanting as it ends as a musical with expert hoofing from the two likeable leads. My only hope is that the director next makes a all singing, all dancing picture. That film would be tremendous.
Tinker, Tailor was an excellent, yet somewhat confusing tale of espionage and the double cross. Though at times tough to follow [almost a must for all spy films], the plot is deceptive, because it is simple and basic: A mole has infiltrated British intelligence and Gary Oldman's George Smiley must weed him out. From the performances to the writing to the sets and photography, Tinker Tailor is low-key, dark and somber which fits the story and mood of the piece to a T.
So now I'm off to try to catch Fellini's directorial debut, Variety Lights, which I've got from Netflix, if I can only find the time.
Ok so I know alot of movies suck this time of year but not nearly as much as the one's that get major play dates during the summertime.I could give a rat's-ass about Sheerluck 2 or Impossible 4 or Alvins skunks. I saw 2/3 of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo last night. It really had me going, was about 2 hrs into the movie when the bloody film broke and we had to call it a night. F@@k I was pissed. But the theater did give us our money back AND 2 passes for other movies.So that was ok. I will have to go back for the Dragon Tattoo cause I really liked what I saw, tho it was a highly disturbing film [ rapes, dead cats, etc ] So the movies I want to see, which haven't even reached my neck of the woods or just haven't been released yet are: Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, Shame, Von Trier's Melancholia, The Artist, Payne's The Descendants, Scorsese's Hugo [ which along with the Payne film is in town ] Polanski's Carnage, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier,Spy. Most of these are not fun films or easy to take but when it comes to film I like a challenge more often that not. Adventures of RinTinTin or whatever the f@@k it is called or WhoreHorse. Are these things people want to see? Why is it that American film goers [ I know I am making generalizations here but check the latest box office figures ] only go see shit? Why was that crap that Hugh Jackman was in a couple months ago a hit at the B.O? It's depressing and the dumbing down keeps getting worse every year. Nicolas Cage in Ghost Warrior 2. Christ, I didn't know the first one was such a hit it warranted a sequel. Why do another?? This has been a rant by a disgruntled moviegoer who loves movies but can't get worked up over the latest CGI-fest. So my wish this Christmas is this: please Hollywood, stop the madness!
Jane Fonda turns....... wait for it..............74 years [ ! ] young tomorrow. She is an incredible woman who has had a fascinating life. An almost chameleon-like performer who has gone from sex kitten, Vietnam war protestor [ something her critics won't let go of ] serious, Oscar winning [ twice ] actress, exercise queen, trophy wife, author, well I think you get the picture. She is someone that cannot be pigeon-holed. And her recent cosmetic work is amazing. The only senior I can think of who looks as good would be Sophia [ 3 years Jane's senior ]. So Happy Birthday, Barbarella! I think you're amazing!!!!
P.S I would have tried to find something from YouTube that was more er, appropriate, but what the hell.
On Nov 16,1981 actor William Holden's body was found in a Santa Monica apartment building. He apparently had been having one of his bouts with the bottle, tripped on a throw rug, and hit his forehead on the corner of a nightstand. It is estimated that he was conscious for about half an hour, blotting the blood with towels, before he passed out and bled to death. His body was discovered several days later.
Holden was on my radar screen in 1981 mainly because he had just appeared in Blake Edwards' S.O.B, a satire on Hollywood. I saw it at least 3 times when it was released in the summer of '81. I was taken with the whole film: it's manic swings from humor to tragedy, Hollywood double-crosses, orgies, drug intake, quack doctors, cunning agents, ego driven actors, etc. All done with a master's finesse, which Edwards surely was. But in the swirl of all this hedonistic activity was Holden's seen-it-all-but-still-come-through-it-with-humanity-intact veteran movie director, Culley. He is a island of calm and integrity in a town that has little or no use for either. So when I read that Holden had been found dead and alone in his apartment I was fascinated.
I, of course, had heard all about decadent Hollywood. I had read Hollywood Babylon, Kenneth Anger's incredible telling of legends doing bad things with drink, drugs, or each other, and David Niven's Bring on the Empty Horses, his sometimes factual, sometimes fanciful telling of celebs from the "Golden Age" of tinseltown. I knew of Marilyn Monroe's death, Fatty Arbuckle's rape of a young woman at a San Fransisco party (apparently false), and so on and so on. But Holden's death caught me short. This was "Golden Boy." An Oscar winner from the 50's, one of the town's most reliable stalwarts, an Eisenhower Republican, Mr Nice Guy. Dead from being too drunk to know better. Illusion and reality really met head on here. What Holden was perceived to be and what he was, were two different things.
According to all Bob Thomas' bio Golden Boy, Holden played around on his beautiful wife to whom he was married for 30 years, for the last 10 at least they didn't even live together. He allegedly had affairs with Shelley Winters, Grace Kelly, Capucine, and Audrey Hepburn. It was Hepburn whom he wanted to marry according to Thomas' bio. But he and his wife didn't wants any more children (they had two sons), so he had a vasectomy. Audrey, being quite young at the time, wanted a family. The affair wound down after they made Sabrina in 1954.
Making a living as an actor and being an introvert, Holden drank to relax, to loosen up in front of the cameras. Holden would carouse with the hard drinking RKO/Paramount crowd: John Wayne, Bob Mitchum, Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford. Boozing with buddies instead of playing house with the wife and kids. Eventually drink started to control his life and affect his work. Hangovers on set, listless performances, a wife who, when he won his Oscar for Stalag 17 said "Bill, you know you didn't win for this, you won because they didn't give it to you for Sunset Blvd." Nice soul-mate. So Holden drank to keep the demons at bay. Yet those very demons he tried so hard to lose ended up killing him.
I always liked Holden, had seen him in Sunset Blvd (to me his best performance), Network, Sabrina, Bridge on the River Kwai, Picnic, and others. He always seemed in control of any situation and rock steady. Little did I know a drink was needed to steady that hand and put confidence and conviction in that voice. He was a man who did not age gracefully. Pain and regret were etched into that face. No plastic surgery for him. I think he was proud of every line. Every wrinkle told a story. I still like William Holden. Maybe more after his death. And maybe for the way he died, tragic though it was. I now see his movies with a different perspective on the man and what may have been going on inside him. It helps explain how he could understand and bring humanity to roles like Joe Gillis in Sunset Blvd, a user and taker who gets took and used back. I like Bill Holden, because of the weakness he tried to hide. As Billy Wilder said on hearing of his friend and collaborators death, "What a lousy fade out for a great guy."
On The Town-1949-Directors: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
If one looks at the first 6 of my top ten, you will see one musical. Well, fasten your seat belts because more are on the way! I love musicals. I didn't always. I remember a time my mom was getting ready to watch a thing called Showboat,which my eleven or twelve year old mind had never heard of. But I was willing to give it a go. About twenty minutes into it I had to excuse myself. BORING! Oh my lord, I figured if one looked up boring in the dictionary, this movie would be the definition.
Times change. People change. As I entered my teenage years [ you know, those years when one knows it all ], I started to act in plays in school. And, of course, musicals were performed in school once a year, usually in the spring. Now I performed in a few of these little epics: The Apple Tree, Guys & Dolls, The Fantasticks, etc. I grew to have an appreciation for this genre. Musicals aren't as easy as they may appear to be. A lot of work and sweat and effort go into making a song and dance effortless. I began to see behind the facade. Not that all musicals are great, good, or wonderful. Far from it. But the best of them are sublime.
So aside from The Wizard of Oz and The Beatles' efforts, I didn't have much use for musicals. A couple of odd ones, like 1954's A Star is Born made inroads on my conscious mind. Gypsy was also an early favorite. But other than that, not much. Then in 1979, shortly after the purchase of my first VCR, PBS, channel 28 out of Los Angeles, broadcast 7 or 8 musicals during the summer, a different film every Thursday and repeated the following Sunday. What a life changer for me. The first movie selected that wonderful summer was On The Town, starring Gene Kelly & Frank Sinatra. I don't think I had ever seen either in a movie before. Well, this movie grabbed me, shook me loose, and woke me up to the fun and exuberance of Hollywood musicals. The minute those two sailors and their buddy Ozzie (Jules Munchin) leave the deck of the ship that has docked in New York City and start to sing "New York, New York" (not the one made famous by Ol Blue Eyes decades later), I was hooked. This story is about three sailors on a 24 hour pass, and all they really want to do is get laid. They meet three young, willing and able ladies who are after love and adventure as much as they are. To a twenty year old male, this was one thing I could relate to.
This movie taught me that musicals need not be stuffy. It has a breakneck pace, energetic dance numbers ("Prehistoric Man ") and sing-able tunes ("Let's Go to My Place "). This was also one of the first musicals to go on-location. Kelly & Donen convinced MGM that the only way to make the film authentic was to shoot on-location in the Big Apple. MGM said ok, but only two weeks. Those two weeks were spent on the opening number that took them all around the city. Another precedent was sent by having Kelly & Donen direct this film themselves. Gene Kelly was and is one of the most important figures in the world of film musicals and to have a actor-hoofer direct a film was audacious. Unless one's name was Orson Welles, actor's didn't direct. Certainly they didn't direct a film that they were in. And what was the result of all this effort? A smash hit that made millions for MGM when the company needed it most (1948 being an especially hard year profit-wise). The success of On the Town made it possible for An American in Paris to be made 1951, and Singin' In The Rain in 1952. I have introduced it to a select few over the years, two such are my niece Susannah and my good friend Alan. Susannah has a long and fertile love of musicals, and I like to think it started here. Alan is my constant buddy. Where and whenever we get together if I say "Where shall we go?" he, without pause, will sing, "Let's Go To My Place." Even if his place is out of town.
On The Waterfront-1954-Director: Elia Kazan
This is the movie that convinced me Marlon Brando is the greatest film actor ever placed before a camera.
I saw it on the old channel 11, KTTV out of Los Angeles , on a spring weekend in 1975. Every weekend that channel had a program called "Festival of Classics." They would show one film twice on Saturday and twice more on Sunday at four and eleven PM. I was so enthralled by this film I recorded it on audio, as I didn't have a VCR back then. In fact VCR's were kind of a sci-fi invention not known by the general public at that time.
The story concerns Terry Malloy (Brando) who must come to grips with his conscious when he unknowingly sets up a man to be murdered for informing on the mob, which controls the waterfront docks in the New York/New Jersey area. To make matters worse, he falls in love with the murdered man's sister, Edie Doyle, played by Eva Marie Saint. His brother Charley, played by Rod Steiger, is the mob's lawyer. Terry is a former boxer who, as we find out as the plot unfolds, had to take a "dive" in the ring so that the mob could collect a vast sum of money on the other boxer. Terry is a man who has untapped warmth and potential for tenderness. Edie's love and guidance shows him that life on the waterfront is corrupt and keeping silent about something he knows is wrong is, in itself, wrong. The story is about the redemption of Terry Malloy's soul.
The movie from beginning to end belongs to Brando. His confusion about his feelings for Edie, the betrayal of his "friends", the realization of his brother's betrayal, is poignantly portrayed. It is also the beginning of Kazan finding his way as a filmmaker. A respected and admired Broadway director (Death of a Salesman, A Streetcar Named Desire, etc) Kazan, in his own mind, wasn't a bonafide filmmaker yet. In his autobiography he writes about being "out of it" when it came to the planning of his films. "Waterfront" changed that. It was a very personal story for him. Kazan had cooperated with the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and named friends as communists. Kazan, like Terry in the film, informed on people in knew. In the words of mob boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) he "ratted" ("You ratted on us, Terry!") on them. Kazan was also ostracized by many in the theatre and film world. As recently as 1999, when Kazan was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Science, there were as many boos as applause. Some wounds never heal.
When Brando first saw this film in rough cut, he fled the screening room without a word. He felt that he was "in & out" of character and didn't think it was one of his better portrayals. Time and several awards later have proven otherwise. It is considered one of his finest. In his first six films Brando racked up an impressive four Best Actor Nominations from the Academy. "Waterfront" itself won eight out of twelve nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Supporting Actress for Eva Marie Saint in her screen debut.
For me, the personal identification comes from Terry being treated as a bum a second class citizen among people not worthy to walk in his shadow of speak his name. Of course this is the film with the famous taxi cab scene above, but "Waterfront" abounds with great scenes: Terry and Edie's first encounter in the park when the mob breaks up a meeting at the local Catholic church, Terry and Edie's first "date" in a saloon with Terry buying Edie her first ever alcoholic beverage, Terry's confessional conversations with Father Barry (Karl Malden), the parish priest, and the finale with Terry beaten to a bloody pulp by Friendly and his henchmen.
A Star is Born -1954 - Director : George Cukor
Ok, I know, I just posted a blurb a few days ago on the anniversary of the opening of this movie. But it's still a fave and one I cannot ignore. I first saw this with my sister, my memory tells me it was a New Year's Eve showing. It was about 1970 or 1971, which means we were way too young to go out that night. But I believe my parents did, which was why we had our way with the TV that night. I'm sure it was sister's idea to watch this, her being a few years older and far more sophisticated than I in her choice of movies, at that time. It being a long movie, I think we were still up when the folks got home sometime after midnight.
There are so many goodies in this movie, I can hardly fit them all in: The performances by Mason & Garland are really special. Judy's is well-remembered to this day, but Mason's, less showy but always spot on, is more subtle. Some of these scenes are heartbreaking - almost all involve Mason's character Norman Maine's fading alcoholic screen idol. The scene after the preview of Garland's first movie, when it is obvious she will make it as a star in the movies (all with the help of Maine), Garland's Vicki Lester tells Norman how she feels about, telling him how much she cares for him. But Norman, knowing of his life and how dead he feels inside, tells her it's too late. It's a wrenching scene:
Norman : It's too late, I tell you.
Vicki: No it's not, not for me.
Norman : It is, I tell you! I destroy everything I touch! Forget about me; I'm a bad lot. You've come too late.
But of course he doesn't listen to himself and falls in love with her anyway. Another great scene is Judy's as she tells her boss and friend Oliver Niles about Norman's failed effort to stop drinking and how he tries so hard, how he fails to stop, and how she feels a failure for their love not being enough to get him to stop. And Norman's suicide in the Pacific Ocean, one of the most touching and romantic gestures ever put on film. Put that together with the music, camerawork, set design, script, etc and what one has is a powerful movie experience.
The movie also captures a Hollywood in transition. The 1950's may have been "I Like Ike," apple pie, and The Mickey Mouse Club, but in tinseltown major upheavals were taking place: Wide Screens, stereophonic sound, witch hunts (a hold over from the late '40s), TV and a fickle public. The film was originally to be filmed in the standard 1.66, ratio but with the success of Fox's The Robe in 1953 (filmed in CinemaScope), Jack Warner, head of the studio that bears his last name, reconsidered the process and had director Cukor start from scratch in the widescreen process after about 10 days worth of filming. This along with the usual delays and anxieties of Garland pushed the budget further up from it's original 3 million. The final tally on the budget is in the neighborhood of 6 million.
The film was put together by Judy and her then husband Sid Luft (she had 5 total, Luft coming in 3rd), so there was no doubt who would play the female lead, but the leading man's role was hotly contested by some and, according to Ron Haver's book on the making of the film, many were considered: Laurence Olivier topped Garland's list. Number 2 was newcomer Richard Burton, who had just made a splash in The Robe a year earlier. Also Tyrone Power, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Glenn Ford, Stewart Granger, Gregory Peck and Ray Milland. Of all the listed names, Cary Grant's was the one that delighted everyone. Jack Warner considered Humphrey Bogart. Frank Sinatra was very interested and put forth his services to Garland and Luft. But Bogie was a bit old for it, and Warner didn't think Frankie had the acting chops (his comeback in From Here To Eternity still hadn't seen the light of day). So James Mason won the part, by default so to speak, but it was a great choice.
The Wizard of Oz -1939 Director: Victor Fleming
Yep. You knew it was coming, right? This was my favorite movie pre-Butch Cassidy. As a little boy I LOVED this movie. Watched it every year on commercial TV, which means with commercials. And on a B&W television. This means that when Dorothy lands in Oz and steps out of her house, it wasn't in color like it is now. It was still B&W for me until a few years later with the family purchase of a color TV.
Amazing thing about this film is that it still can affect me today. If I haven't seen it for a while I can get caught up in the plot and characters still. "Over The Rainbow" still chokes me up. Who doesn't want a place where you can go and hide and be happy, beyond the moon beyond the stars. I guess some (most?) of the FX look dated to the modern eye, but realizing how they did those affects and how primitive the circumstances, they are still pretty special and a barometer for today's more sophisticated green screens. The music, despite the cliched "Off to See the Wizard" and "Follow the Yellowbrick Road," still live within everyone who has seen it. The film has pathos, humor, spectacle, suspense, horror, philosophy and heart. A lot of heart. One of my favorite movie lines of all-time is: "Remember, my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others."
This is a movie beyond great. It is in our blood, our genes, our DNA. It is beyond judging. Even if one doesn't like this film one cannot deny it's power, not only over children, but the affect it has on those children as they reach adulthood and don't even recognize that everyone they meet down life's path will some way or other resemble Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Lion and the Great & Powerful Wizard of Oz.
James Dean met death head on while driving to Salinas,California for a car race that he was to participate in on this day. The great thing about Dean is that no matter your age one can relate to the characters and his portrayal of them. Growing up I liked East of Eden the best but have grown to have a greater appreciation for his Jett Rink in George Stevens' Giant. I believe it was a little more of a reach, a stretch of his ability and talent. He ages from a 20-something ranch hand to a 50-something oil baron all in the course of 3-plus hours. The reason I chose this song is because of the reference to his name and I always think of him when I hear it. It seems to fit his restless, youthful, always searching spirit. If he had lived he probably couldn't have fulfilled his potential as an actor. But who knows? He could have wound but similar to Marlon Brando, a burn out. Or possibly he would have had a career like Paul Newman, respected and admired for his personal and private life. Who knows ? RIP Jimmy, we are lucky to have your performances to live on and inspire us. You will remain, forever young. Godspeed.
Forget about any other version of this story you may have seen, this is the version! On September 29,1954 " A Star is Born " Directed by George Cukor and starring Judy Garland and James Mason had it's world premiere at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. It was a huge affair with all the stars there are in the heavens in attendance: Clark Gable, Bogart & Bacall, Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, in the background James Dean, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford and on and on and on. All broadcast on that new fangled contraption called television. It was a movie that ended up costing Warner Brothers studio nearly 6 million dollars, at the time the most expensive movie they ever made [ $49 million in 2011 dollars ] It went on to receive 6 Oscar nominations and become one of the most beloved films of all-time. But it was not successful at the box office on it's initial release. A film would have to make twice what it earned to break even. " A Star is Born " made only 6 million by September 1955, which means it lost about 5- 6 million on it's original release. And it won no Oscars. The great torch song " The Man Who Got Away " lost best song. And Judy Garland lost for Best Actress. As Groucho Marx said about Judy's loss " This is the greatest robbery since Brinks ". And the film originally ran for 3 hours but the exhibitor's were losing money because of the long running time so, Warners, under pressure, cut approx 27 minutes out of the film. This footage was restored in 1983 by preservationist Ron Haver in 1983. A dramatic musical " A Star is Born " is one of the greatest achievements in the history of the cinema. A tragic love story, a Hollywood success story a comedic story and a story full of pathos, it is one of my all-time favorites. I have seen Hollywood thru the eyes of this movie ever since. If you have seen it before, relive the splendor, if you haven't seen it how I envy you as you discover for the first time a true treasure of the cinema. This is what movie watching and great moviemaking is all about!!
