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Awards Season: Week 7
Happy new week! I wasn't great about sticking to my resolution last week because birthday cheating, but I've been 31 for seven days now and it's OLD HAT so I've no excuses! Back on the 'work burritos twice a week only' wagon! Also thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes, most of which I did not respond to because I'm awkward about expressing any sort of genuine sentiment, but I very much appreciated them all!
I am tempted to order a celebratory 'the cold snap broke!' burrito, but I will persevere. I brought cookies to distract myself from the urges today. Anyway, the cold snap broke! I'm very happy! This one wasn't quite as brutal as the last one, but it lasted WAY longer, and I think took more out of me as a result. It's such a relief to be back up into the mosty-toasty minus teens, and it's even supposed to keep warming up all week!
There is a new David Lynch short I haven't watched yet, work is very, very busy, and I am very excited to get home. In the meantime, here's the other shit I watched last week:
Thor: The Dark World (2013): Worst of the MCU? Probably! Still extremely my shit? Oh hell yes! Sif and the Warriors Three deserve their own damn series.
The Last Detail (1973): I AM THE MOTHERFUCKING SHORE PATROL, MOTHERFUCKER. Oh man, this movie is like Midnight Run's depressing older brother. It's a fun wacky road trip movie where everyone's good intentions don't count for anything and ultimately fizzle into nothing in the face of the cruel, uncaring universe! But we're all in it together anyway, so the least we can do is keep caring! Ha ha what the fuck! This movie is real good! Bonus points for TINY HOOKER CAROL KANE and random pre-SNL Gilda Radner for like fifteen seconds??? How Much I Want to Bang Jack Nicholson Score (where 1 is The Shining and 10 is Easy Rider): 3. That mustache is just... real unfortunate.
The King of Marvin Gardens (1972): This is a weird fuckin' movie, man, and not just because my brain refuses to acknowledge the existence of young Bruce Dern (it's SO WEIRD, like, logically I can look at him and recognize that yes, he's got the same profile, and yup, there are those big horsey teeth when he smiles, but my brain just REFUSES to acknowledge that it's him on anything more than academic level, my senses reject the notion that he was ever anything but an old man entirely, ANYWAY). Just real disjointed and kinda baffling, but a lot of small moments from it are gonna stick with me, I think. Also I could just watch Ellen Burstyn having meltdowns forever. How Much I Want to Bang Jack Nicholson Score (where 1 is The Shining and 10 is Easy Rider): Let's go with a 6. It's a weird 'un.
Lost, Lost, Lost (1976): So I watched another Mekas movie because I'm a goddamn idiot, but this was actually WAY more watchable than fucking Walden was, possibly because the footage is all so old, he hadn't yet disappeared up his own ass when he filmed it? It's still three fucking hours of home movies, but it wasn't a miserable assault on all of my senses this time around (a few of the later segments aside), and there's even almost a semblance of a narrative. Also it's just real neat to see all these people from like seventy years ago just hanging out, being casual? Shockingly, I didn't hate this, but I also wasn't sad when it was finally over.
The Conversation (1974): SO GOOD. Tense and spooky and unrelenting and methodical. Possibly my favourite Coppola??!?
Blow Out (1981): THE THEME IS NOW SURVEILLANCE. I also loved this, even if it's more the junk food version of The Conversation. If your movie is about a movie sound guy, it had better have good damn sound! And this does, so. It's tense, with plenty of excellent visual/audio flourishes, but the EXTREMELY goofy last act lets it down somewhat, with Travolta's slow-mo running and shoving people out of the way and then playing 'Stop stabbing yourself! Stop stabbing yourself!' with Lithgow. The worst part was that I spent most of the movie desperately trying to figure out why I was IMMEDIATELY familiar with the main love theme, racking my brain for what other movie it had been used in and not being able to figure it out until the climax (FUCKING DEATH PROOF, and of COURSE this would be one of Tarantino's favourite movies). Very distracting.
A Face in the Crowd (1957): This... kinda fits the theme? It starts and ends with secret recordings, anyway. TURNS OUT ANDY GRIFFITH WAS KIND OF A REALLY GOOD ACTOR??? I HAD NO IDEA. While this movie working hinges entirely on him being charismatic as fuck and all the absolutely INSANE mugging he does, I really loved Marcia's whole character arc the most, from being so instantly charmed by him, to just being in love and along for the ride, to knowing that things are spiralling but still wanting the money, to realizing that she created a monster and needs to DESTROY HIM, ugh, so good. ps matlock fucks
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989): MMM, YUMMY. IF EVER A MOVIE HINGED ENTIRELY ON ITS PRODUCTION DESIGN, THIS IS IT. God, what a wild fuckin' ride. Those colour changing costumes!!! I love it!!! Also it took me a real long time to recognize Ciaran Hinds under all that beard. Never would have picked up on the religious interpretation on my own, at least not without a lot more viewings, but I think I like that one best!
Prospero's Books (1991): It's The Tempest, but CRAZY BUSY. I think I liked it, but goddamn, it EXHAUSTED me just by constantly bombarding my eyes with so much STUFF to look at (mostly naked people, but still) and process and take in and just;ldfjas;ldkjs;faldjsf. Why don't people talk about Peter Greenaway more! His shit is bananas!
Yentl (1983): Mandy Patinkin's so fuckin' dreamy, y'all.
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1992): ...maybe it was less cliché when it came out? I don't think so, though? It's not like a ton of black women got to make movies about black women in the '90s (or ever), so cliché might be the wrong word, but nothing happens in this movie that couldn't be called ten minutes into it. Also, OH MY GOD, they needed WAY more of a buffer between the brutal, bloody birth scene and the epilogue, this movie jumps from a genuinely horrific depiction of a guy putting a newborn in a garbage bag and dumping it on a sidewalk RIGHT BACK to Chantel brightly and spunkily addressing the audience, Clueless-style about her life now! It's some SERIOUS tonal whiplash (and also a li'l disingenuous to be like 'actually having a baby will not affect her future at all! hooray!' but maybe that's just my own traumas coming out to play). Great soundtrack, though, and lots of Peak '90s nostalgia to be found.
Goldman v Silverman (2020): Sandler and the Safdies, just goofin'. IT'S SHORT AND NEAT, WATCH IT!
1917 (2019): Sometimes a script is just an excuse to make some movie magic, and that's okay!! A real 'whatever' kind of story that reads more as a series of checkpoints manned by notable British actors that gets elevated into something real special by what Mendes and Deakins et al have done here. Those two leads (well... lead and a half DIDN'T SEE THAT PROTAGONIST SWITCHEROO COMING) weren't fuckin' slouches, either. I will not be sad when this wins Best Picture!
I am tempted to order a celebratory 'the cold snap broke!' burrito, but I will persevere. I brought cookies to distract myself from the urges today. Anyway, the cold snap broke! I'm very happy! This one wasn't quite as brutal as the last one, but it lasted WAY longer, and I think took more out of me as a result. It's such a relief to be back up into the mosty-toasty minus teens, and it's even supposed to keep warming up all week!
There is a new David Lynch short I haven't watched yet, work is very, very busy, and I am very excited to get home. In the meantime, here's the other shit I watched last week:
Thor: The Dark World (2013): Worst of the MCU? Probably! Still extremely my shit? Oh hell yes! Sif and the Warriors Three deserve their own damn series.
The Last Detail (1973): I AM THE MOTHERFUCKING SHORE PATROL, MOTHERFUCKER. Oh man, this movie is like Midnight Run's depressing older brother. It's a fun wacky road trip movie where everyone's good intentions don't count for anything and ultimately fizzle into nothing in the face of the cruel, uncaring universe! But we're all in it together anyway, so the least we can do is keep caring! Ha ha what the fuck! This movie is real good! Bonus points for TINY HOOKER CAROL KANE and random pre-SNL Gilda Radner for like fifteen seconds??? How Much I Want to Bang Jack Nicholson Score (where 1 is The Shining and 10 is Easy Rider): 3. That mustache is just... real unfortunate.
The King of Marvin Gardens (1972): This is a weird fuckin' movie, man, and not just because my brain refuses to acknowledge the existence of young Bruce Dern (it's SO WEIRD, like, logically I can look at him and recognize that yes, he's got the same profile, and yup, there are those big horsey teeth when he smiles, but my brain just REFUSES to acknowledge that it's him on anything more than academic level, my senses reject the notion that he was ever anything but an old man entirely, ANYWAY). Just real disjointed and kinda baffling, but a lot of small moments from it are gonna stick with me, I think. Also I could just watch Ellen Burstyn having meltdowns forever. How Much I Want to Bang Jack Nicholson Score (where 1 is The Shining and 10 is Easy Rider): Let's go with a 6. It's a weird 'un.
Lost, Lost, Lost (1976): So I watched another Mekas movie because I'm a goddamn idiot, but this was actually WAY more watchable than fucking Walden was, possibly because the footage is all so old, he hadn't yet disappeared up his own ass when he filmed it? It's still three fucking hours of home movies, but it wasn't a miserable assault on all of my senses this time around (a few of the later segments aside), and there's even almost a semblance of a narrative. Also it's just real neat to see all these people from like seventy years ago just hanging out, being casual? Shockingly, I didn't hate this, but I also wasn't sad when it was finally over.
The Conversation (1974): SO GOOD. Tense and spooky and unrelenting and methodical. Possibly my favourite Coppola??!?
Blow Out (1981): THE THEME IS NOW SURVEILLANCE. I also loved this, even if it's more the junk food version of The Conversation. If your movie is about a movie sound guy, it had better have good damn sound! And this does, so. It's tense, with plenty of excellent visual/audio flourishes, but the EXTREMELY goofy last act lets it down somewhat, with Travolta's slow-mo running and shoving people out of the way and then playing 'Stop stabbing yourself! Stop stabbing yourself!' with Lithgow. The worst part was that I spent most of the movie desperately trying to figure out why I was IMMEDIATELY familiar with the main love theme, racking my brain for what other movie it had been used in and not being able to figure it out until the climax (FUCKING DEATH PROOF, and of COURSE this would be one of Tarantino's favourite movies). Very distracting.
A Face in the Crowd (1957): This... kinda fits the theme? It starts and ends with secret recordings, anyway. TURNS OUT ANDY GRIFFITH WAS KIND OF A REALLY GOOD ACTOR??? I HAD NO IDEA. While this movie working hinges entirely on him being charismatic as fuck and all the absolutely INSANE mugging he does, I really loved Marcia's whole character arc the most, from being so instantly charmed by him, to just being in love and along for the ride, to knowing that things are spiralling but still wanting the money, to realizing that she created a monster and needs to DESTROY HIM, ugh, so good. ps matlock fucks
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989): MMM, YUMMY. IF EVER A MOVIE HINGED ENTIRELY ON ITS PRODUCTION DESIGN, THIS IS IT. God, what a wild fuckin' ride. Those colour changing costumes!!! I love it!!! Also it took me a real long time to recognize Ciaran Hinds under all that beard. Never would have picked up on the religious interpretation on my own, at least not without a lot more viewings, but I think I like that one best!
Prospero's Books (1991): It's The Tempest, but CRAZY BUSY. I think I liked it, but goddamn, it EXHAUSTED me just by constantly bombarding my eyes with so much STUFF to look at (mostly naked people, but still) and process and take in and just;ldfjas;ldkjs;faldjsf. Why don't people talk about Peter Greenaway more! His shit is bananas!
Yentl (1983): Mandy Patinkin's so fuckin' dreamy, y'all.
Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1992): ...maybe it was less cliché when it came out? I don't think so, though? It's not like a ton of black women got to make movies about black women in the '90s (or ever), so cliché might be the wrong word, but nothing happens in this movie that couldn't be called ten minutes into it. Also, OH MY GOD, they needed WAY more of a buffer between the brutal, bloody birth scene and the epilogue, this movie jumps from a genuinely horrific depiction of a guy putting a newborn in a garbage bag and dumping it on a sidewalk RIGHT BACK to Chantel brightly and spunkily addressing the audience, Clueless-style about her life now! It's some SERIOUS tonal whiplash (and also a li'l disingenuous to be like 'actually having a baby will not affect her future at all! hooray!' but maybe that's just my own traumas coming out to play). Great soundtrack, though, and lots of Peak '90s nostalgia to be found.
Goldman v Silverman (2020): Sandler and the Safdies, just goofin'. IT'S SHORT AND NEAT, WATCH IT!
1917 (2019): Sometimes a script is just an excuse to make some movie magic, and that's okay!! A real 'whatever' kind of story that reads more as a series of checkpoints manned by notable British actors that gets elevated into something real special by what Mendes and Deakins et al have done here. Those two leads (well... lead and a half DIDN'T SEE THAT PROTAGONIST SWITCHEROO COMING) weren't fuckin' slouches, either. I will not be sad when this wins Best Picture!
no subject
I recognize that The Dark World is objectively not a very good movie, but I love it anyway, and I'm glad I'm not the only one. XD It's got, like, every possible superhero movie problem! And yet!
Goldman v Silverman is a cool lil short film, I like that this is, I guess, what they did with their Uncut Gems downtime? REALLY digging the Safdies' style.
This is pretty much exactly how I also felt about 1917. On paper, could have been a totally generic white-boys-go-to-war movie (though I was also shocked by that switch), but the technical aspects just made it a knockout. Putting all of that together... damn, Mendes. I also really loved that score? That was the first time in idek how long that I was really into and moved by a score.
no subject
AND YET!!! Its only real MAJOR sin imo is the dirt-boring villain, every time they cut to him blathering dark elf bullshit I just kinda tune out and wait to get back to the good stuff. Because there's so much good stuff also?? It's all in a hot mess of a movie, but still! Fun with portals! Darcy! Jane in Asgard! Frigga getting to be a badass (only to get fridged, admittedly, but it's still way more than she got to do in the first one)! What a clever, efficient bit of diagonal character building for Loki it is to just give some traits we associate with him to his mom! HE'S A BIG MAMA'S BOY!!! SHE'S WHERE HE GETS ALL THIS!!! IDRIS ELBA TACKLES A SPACESHIP FFS
no subject
Also ALSO the scene of Loki cycling through different people's appearances is comedy gold from all involved, just brilliant.