I highly recommend Tropic Thunder. Very well done satire (not a spoof - there's a difference) with teeth. Essentially, this is a heavily armed Christopher Guest movie. Robert Downey Jr. is having the summer of his professional life - Iron Man and now this controversial but ultimately very funny and deft role. (I wish I could see it with Russell Crowe and see what he thinks. I imagine he'd either be very flattered or very pissed off. Probably the latter; you don't hurl telephones around if you're inclined to thank people.)
And it's much, much better than Zoolander. Seriously, Zoolander? Am I the only person in the world who likes Ben Stiller but was considerably underwhelmed by that movie?
Yes, that many years in a row as of today. (I just read Jack White and I have the same birthday. Awesome!) When I first saw this next clip, at age 14 or so, I remember thinking, "Dude, thirty-seven is waaaay old". It seemed ancient at the time. And, well, here I am...
Now go out there and live up to your campaign promises. Be the change you said we've all been waiting for. Today he's officially kicking off his campaign throughout my home state of Virginia:
"David 'Mudcat' Saunders, a Roanoke-based strategist who has advised politicians on how to reach out to rural voters, said southwest Virginia is 'a logical place' for Obama to start because he will need to appeal to those voters in other crucial battleground states as well.
" 'If Virginia truly is in play, it's a practical move for him because he can get the western Pennsylvania bunch, the southeast Ohio bunch,' Saunders said. 'It's the same region. It's the same bunch of people; they just live in different states.'
"He added, 'These are the people around the country who decide the president of the United States, and they are neglected. The Republicans take them for granted, and the Democrats don't try to come get 'em. God bless Barack Obama for for trying to go get 'em.' "
Good luck turning my state purple, Senator. (I'll be your Waco Kid if you need help with the locals down there.)
In my 36 years (I'm exactly as old as WDW, by the way), I've somehow missed Uncle Walt's theme park, but I'm finally here. It's probably a good thing I didn't go when I was younger. What about this next creepy early 70s commercial would make any child want to come near this place? (Aside from getting the chance to rough up that snotty Peter Pan?)
I did enjoy one admittedly spectacular night in the Magic Kingdom, taking in two classic attractions. The famous "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme ride, enhanced with additions from the successful (but eventually bloated) movie franchise:
I'm not really an amusement park ride kind of guy, so I probably had no business getting on Space Mountain. I thought it would be a quaint, somewhat kitschy tour through the cosmos. I waited in line for an hour while gradually realizing, through posted warning signs and the whoops of prior riders, that I was instead getting on a twisting, diving roller coaster that tops out at roughly 30mph. That may not sound fast, but in near pitch darkness, it sure felt pretty damn fast.
Anyway, I haven't collected comic books in over twenty years, but I still enjoy classic hardbound versions of titles I read back in the 80s. I especially enjoy contemporary graphic novels, as well. My Mad Magazine archives back then probably would've rivaled Bart Simpson's, if not Al Jaffee's personal stash. Bill Gaines, creator and editor of Mad, played an important role in the pop culture landscape of the 40s and 50s, especially, and consequently in Hadju's book.
On a related note, in a little less than a month, on May 2nd in America, one of the most anticipated summer movies premieres: Iron Man.
Co-Created by Stan Lee, Iron Man was another key character in the early 60s revolution of more nuanced, flawed superheroes such as the more famous X-Men and Spider-Man.
Iron Man had an adventure in Vietnam (the film adaptation alters this to Afghanistan). The character's alter-ego, billionaire engineer and industrialist Tony Stark, was also an alcoholic. Pretty serious stuff for an alleged kiddie book, but Marvel pushed the envelope again (as Hadju's book details) after the crackdown that led to the Comics Code Authority.
Casting troubled but brilliant actor Robert Downey, Jr. as Stark was a masterstroke of marketing and talent. (Among others, noted professor, pundit, and comics enthusiast Larry J. Sabato lobbied heavily for the role.) I hope this film plays not just to the fan boys but to a broader mainstream audience and a franchise results. Downey could use the hit (and stabilizing work); Marvel, who has dealt with bankruptcy recently , could use the solid revenue stream. Iron Man is the first major film adaptation Marvel has financed through its own production company. Previously, they've sold the rights to the characters and only received licensing money from ancillary products.
Comics have come a long way and their impact on popular culture half a century after the era discussed in Hadju's Ten Cent Plague is tremendous. Worthy of a whole other book, in fact.
The late, great Robert Altman would've celebrated his 83rd birthday Wednesday.
So many of his films are wonderful and infinitely rewarding in various ways: Nashville, The Player, Gosford Park, hell even Popeye. And as A Prairie Home Companion listener, I enjoyed his movie adaptation written by and starring Garrison Keillor. Tanner '88 is a striking political satire and worth revisiting particularly in our current election year. And McCabe & Mrs. Millernot only introduced me to a completely different kind of Western film, it helped me discover Leonard Cohen's music as well as an enigmatic actress named Julie Christie.
As superlative and influential as his eclectic career was, one Robert Altman movie is indisputably my favorite among his work. It's the same one that launched his big screen career: 1970's MASH. I've watched it countless times and enjoy it more with repeated viewings. A problematic shoot, at one point, stars Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould approached the producers and tried to get Altman fired. Gould later admitted this subterfuge to Altman, but Sutherland never did. Consequently, Donald Sutherland never acted with the legendary director again but Elliot Gould went on to star in several more Altman movies, including a revisionist The Long Goodbye, an early 70s film noir exercise that laid the groundwork for the landmark Chinatown a year later.
MASH has some of the best dialogue and editing in film history, and it also features one of my favorite tracking shots of all time. It's obvious in a subtle way, and you could miss it despite its staring you right in the face. I'll give you a hint:
Other than Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, this kind of dark, highbrow irreverence and satire was essentially unknown in American cinema prior to 1970. It took a maverick like Altman to push it through, particularly during a hot and hotly controversial war.
If you've never heard the lyrics to "Suicide is Painless," the famous MASH theme song co-written by Altman's then 14 year-old son Mike, now's your chance. For those of you who haven't seen the film or it's been awhile, a plot recap: "Painless" Paul the dentist (aka Jawbreaker) is unable to perform sexually with one of his many female conquests, so he confides in Hawkeye that he must be gay and therefore will kill himself. Sympathetically, the open-minded doctors of the 4077th step up to help their colleague through a difficult transition:
I've always thought the television adaptation of M*A*S*H* (asterisks now included) diluted the greatness of the original novel and Altman's film (I like my black comedy strong and substantive - not borscht belt). Altman wasn't a fan of the TV adaptation, either, but maybe he said that because he wasn't getting enough in royalties from the show. The movie's theme song, featured prominently in the television's opening and closing credits, sure did, however and Mike Altman actually went on to make more money in the long run from MASH than his father ever did.
The series, while cute at best in the initial seasons and later almost embarrassingly sentimental and self-serious, doesn't have the heft and nuance of the film's rich character portrayals, particularly Hawkeye and Trapper John. Their small screen portrayals are lightweight, I believe, but, until I saw this hysterical clip, not light in the loafers.
That MASH-up, if you will, is funnier than any episode of the show ever was. Watch it again. Those edits are dazzling, and I'm not above admitting I absolutely love that Queen song. My surgical cap is off to whoever put that together.
One of the principal actors in arguably my favorite movie of all time died. Roy Scheider will always be Chief Brody first and foremost in my mind, as well as most other moviegoers he's entertained for decades, but he had other notable roles particularly in the 1970s:
I don't care what's possible or not. It's just a movie, yes, but Jaws is still pretty close to the best movie of all time, in my experience. I saw it in a theater when I was six or so years old, and the impression, the experience was so visceral, I may as well have rocking back and forth on the doomed boat with Hooper, Brody, and Quint. As I got older and more sophisticated in my appreciation of film, I was pleased to see how Jaws holds up as a thoughtful, at times funny thriller with real characters, particularly Scheider's Police chief Martin Brody. He's a nuanced Joe Everyman fighting his biggest fear (the water) manifest with a malicious maw. At the end of the day, how can you not admire the hell out of a public servant doing whatever it takes to protect his citizens?
Away From Heris a good but heartbreaking movie, well deserving of its many accolades. (It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006, when I was there for a conference. My wife, who loves to tag along when I travel for work, stalked all the red carpet events, and I think she may have seen the luminous Julie Christie, who is as beautiful today as she was 40 years ago.
These days, I have Yo La Tengo's "Tom Courtenay" in my head more often since Ms. Christie's in the media for her Oscar nomination. That's not a bad thing at all.
...is when you'll be still be watching Peter Bogdonovitch's exceptional and exceptionally long documentary Runnin' Down a Dream. I saw it yesterday afternoon on the Sundance Channel. Four hours, folks. Just under 240 uninterrupted minutes about Tom Petty in one sitting. For the record, here are...
Other Things I Could've Done in Four Hours
1) Driven to New York City
2) Driven to North Carolina
3) Driven halfway to New York, turned around, and driven back (and still caught the movie's final credits)
4) Watched most of the last quarter of the Super Bowl - including all the time-outs - where Tom Petty is the halftime performer later today (I hope Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell doesn't flash his nips, no matter how tempting)
I did enjoy the movie quite a bit despite or maybe because of its seemingly interminable length (which, to be fair, goes by at a pretty good clip). I especially liked the new interviews and great archive concert footage. Eddie Vedder is one of many luminaries lauding Petty and his decades of achievement. The film features a great version of Vedder with the band on "The Waiting" at a 2006 show:
One of my favorites has always been "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," Petty's early 80s duet with Stevie Nicks. This song did so well on the Billboard chart, it effectively killed concurrent airplay for the actual Heartbreakers single at the time, "A Woman in Love".
One of my earliest and best MTV memories is the 1982 video for "You Got Lucky" fromtheir Long After Dark album. It's got this great, post-apocalyptic art direction, and a new wave synth melody so sturdy that it probably would survive a nuclear exchange. I unfortunately can't embed it here. There's an entire Tom Petty YouTube channel worth checking out, however.
Runnin' Down a Dream has many great behind the scenes moments (and how could there not be with FOUR HOURS TO FILL?). The prolific Jimmy Iovine, who produced the Damn the Torpedos album, is arguing with drummer Stan Lynch on the follow-up recording. Iovine isn't happy with the anemic percussion. Stan, never one to shy away from expressing an opinion, wonders aloud why the producer isn't on "the other side of the glass". While the Heartbreakers chuckle, Iovine blinks, shakes his head, and storms out, muttering "Fine. Well, you're going to sound like the Motels on this album."
I guess that's an effective way to shame one of the most hard-rocking American drummers from the 70s and 80s. For the record, though, I've always liked Martha...
One of our greatest contemporary actors has tragically left us. His range was impressive and diverse. One of his last films was I'm Not There, the Bob Dylan kaleidoscope biopic. Ledger played his Dylan as the reclusive family man from the late sixties and early seventies. Exactly when this song was recorded...
Watch again or for the first time if you've not already seen it (a couple of years since hype and renewed culture wars temporarily obscured its universal insight and genuine heartbreak) Brokeback Mountain. You'll see some of the best acting ever filmed...
The Library of Congress recently announced the official selections for inclusion in the National Film Registry for 2007. Each year, hundreds of titles are nominated by the public, the National Film Preservation Board and the Library’s Motion Picture Division staff to be on the list of National Registry films. 25 are annually chosen.
"Even as Americans fill the movie theaters to see the latest releases, few are aware that up to half the films produced in this country before 1950—and as much as 90 percent of those made before 1920—are lost forever," said [Librarian of Congress James] Billington. "The National Film Registry seeks not only to honor these films, but to ensure that they are preserved for future generations to enjoy."
With the passage of decades, more and more films are vanishing due to deterioration of the nitrate stock on which older films were shot, or to the more recently discovered "vinegar syndrome," which threatens the acetate-based stock on which most motion pictures were reproduced.
Among the films included are William Wyler's 1939 adaptation of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights": You can watch the entire movie on YouTube. Here's part 1:
As brooding as Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon are in this film, and even though I was an English major in college, just reading the words Wuthering Heights immediately puts in my head Kate Bush's epic hit single from the 1970s. After I heard "Running Up That Hill," I had a massive adolescent crush on this awesomely weird British chick. Most other guys my age had Heather Locklear posters on their wall. Worrying my parents, I instead went with this valkyrie girl:
Here, inhuman octaves intact, is the woman responsible for every Tori Amos song you've ever hated with a passion:
I've always suspected "Wuthering Heights" is the more literate UK version of something like Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light": a song you're ostensibly supposed to despise, but it's sure fun to sing along to in your car. "Wuthering Heights" is such an institution in Britain, some artists have enjoyed tweaking its conventions. Here's the Puppini Sisters' 1940s-esque version:
Joining Kate's "balls in a vice" high notes, young kiwi classical songstress Hayley Westenra premiered a more recent version:
What's all this then? Stop this! It's silly! Stop this silliness this instant! This is classic literature! How dare we be silly!
Now let me get in gear and badass this blog up! Here's a Tarantinoesque shout out to another 2007 National Film Registry selection - 1968's Bullitt.
You shouldn't need me or even the Drive-By Truckers to tell you how cool Steve McQueen is. I will tell that when I was sixteen years old, I had a 1969 Mustang Mach 1. 351 Windsor engine. It was a fastback model just like the '68 featured here. My Dad even had a similar Dodge Charger when I was little like the other vehicle in this most famous car chase .
I've driven on these same San Francisco streets, though not at nearly 110 miles per hour. I'm still awed even via a blog screen by how visceral this sequence is. Wuthering heights, indeed.
(By the way, if you watch all the way to the end, you'll see an actor rarely seen outside of a late 70s American sitcom.)
Thank you for the five disc limited edition suitcase of Blade Runner! I can't wait to check out the nine hours or so of supplemental features. (No, really!) And thank you for In-laws cool enough and genuinely interested enough to sit through all of the special edition DVD of Metropolis with me this past weekend! Seriously, did you build them in your workshop or what? They rock!
Anyway, thanks very much for a memorable holiday. Oh, one last thing. To determine whether you're real or not, I have to ask you a few things. They're just questions, Santa. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response. You're in a desert walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden, you look down and see a tortoise...
The Coen Brothers are back to form with a great adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's spare, violent meditation on morality and mortality No Country for Old Men.
I've thought Joel and Ethan have been off their game a little to a lot for the past several years. Even O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which I eventually came around to (largely because of the music), is still too knowing and pretentious for its own good. This latest one, however, is a worthy successor and maybe even equal of similarly themed Fargo and Blood Simple. It's definitely their most mature film.
I'd read McCarthy's book, so I was eager to see the Coen Brothers' first literary adaptation. It's just about exactly like the novel, which is a good thing. The dialogue is lifted verbatim for long passages/scenes at a stretch. The film's end (which elicited several groans and snorts in my theater) is directly as it is on the book's last page. It's not a Hollywood ending, as the saying goes, but it's the right rumination to end a genre picture that turns out to be a thoughtful treatise on the measure of men. (McCarthy's title comes from a Yeats poem, by the way.)
It's kind of movie that will stay with you days after you see it and quite some time after that. I highly recommend it.
The 30th annual Kennedy Center Honors were held here this past weekend in The District of Columbia. How meaningful can these actually be? I like Steve Martin and Brian Wilson well enough, sure. They're both quite talented, but anytime people pay attention long enough to acknowledge Martin Scorsese's greatness is especially fine with me. I think it's cool he received his long overdue Oscar the same year I was married.
Here's a sequence from Scorsese's 1978 concert film The Last Waltz. The Band and The Staples Singers, ladies and gentlemen, plus an impromptu Basement Tapes moment backstage with Richard, Rick, and Robbie. It doesn't get much better than this, folks:
Across the Potomac River at the Kennedy Center, in front of those fuddy duddy DC power elite who fill up the expensive seats at these things, I hope they screened some footage from Scorsese's brutal, infamous 1990 classic. One of the greatest films of all time:
So Missouri didn't work out last night. And I'm definitely not in Kansas, either.
I'm watching the first part of Sci-Fi Channel's new miniseries Tin Man. It's a fetishized, twisted adaptation of L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Pretty much everybody knows the story better from the beloved 1939 movie with Ray Bolger and Rufus Wainwright as the Scarecrow and Dorothy.
There are elements that are almost too clever and cute for their own good in this 2007 version, but I'm enjoying an imaginative interpretation. And how can you not like the adorable Zooey Deschanel in anything? Okay, maybe you can dislike her, but you're frankly just a damn crank if you do.
I used to manage a science museum back in college. We had a planetarium that featured laser light shows. Consequently, I have some genuine affection and admiration for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. I spent many weekends in the early 90s in a projection booth watching rays of red and blue dance through an inevitable rising cloud of pot smoke with that music featured.
Many people know of the Dark Side of the Rainbow, but how many have actually tried it? Well, I did with a few friends ten years ago. We waited for the third roar of the MGM lion, then I started the CD.
Dude...
I recall being somewhat awed when, after her house has been upended and whirled through a tornado to the strains of the appropriately named "Great Gig in the Sky"...
...Dorothy walks out into Oz and the next, most famous track on the album is perfectly sequenced to introduce the color of money:
"Us and Them" is probably my favorite Pink Floyd song of all, so let's go out with that as Dorothy eases on down the road:
Pardon me for getting all fanboy on you, but...so Nicholson is pissed. So what? As his contemporary Michael Caine said, they're not trying to outdo what Jack did - that was (and continues to be) tremendous commercially and critically. Yet next summer will showcase a different interpretation of an iconic and malleable pop culture character. In the vast Batman universe, part of American 20th century mythology (as some have called it), you can visit, among other places, the campy 60's, the gothic 80's, and the realistic, twisted 21st century. And that's not including its changing comic book genesis.
I remember thinking in 2005 when I left Batman Begins that you know who should combine the menace of Ziggy Stardust and the desperate mania of Roy Batty. Christopher Nolan screened Blade Runner to his team before revitalizing the Caped Crusader on the big screen a couple of years back. He told his crew, "I want our movie to look like this." Deckard and Batty battling through the abandoned building at the end - that's Bats and Mr. J somewhere in Gotham City.
Nicholson may have misunderstood that The Dark Knight is the second part of a "franchise relaunch" and not a continuation from the Tim Burton movies. Or he might be kidding around. It's one thing to completely remake a movie for a naked grab at cash. It's another to reimagine it, as the saying goes, with a new look for a new generation, etc.
Heath Ledger is a real wild card here. Based on an eclectic array of films I've seen him in, I have complete confidence Ledger will absolutely nail his critical role in this nuanced popcorn flick. I wish Jack wouldn't have bitched at all, frankly, because it looks petty and ungracious. Even if he's an SOB in person, and I guess you have to be a little or a lot to survive and thrive in Hollywood as long as he has, he should've just smiled.
As it turns out, the two principal actors (Christian Bale and Heath Ledger) in TDK are also in I'm Not There. Isn't it amazing how you can relate Dylan to anything?
