Film Snobs 3: Attack of the 50 Ft Snob

Let's start this thread off right:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/red-meat-april-7-2009,26290/

Very good!

And how about a wonderful short animated effort called "Harvie Krumpet"? You folks'll LOVE this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouyVS6HOFeo

Another amazing animated piece my family and I have fallen in love with.

"The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello".

Check this little beauty out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vORsKyopHyM&eurl

While Sherron was in the States she also turned up a promo postcard for a pseudo-1950's science fiction spoof called "Alien Trespass".

For retro-snobs of all ages:

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2009/4/Alien-Trespass-Movie-Trailer-2009-700102...

we've been watching the "appreciations" that accompany the director's cut of the life of Allen Ginsberg - they are presented in alphabetical order: baez, beck,bono, burroughs, depp, philip glass - so far - many more to go. Skipped Ferlinghetti as we both find him a bother. Philip Glass' memories were the most moving so far (he shared the same Buddhist teacher w/ Ginsberg for many years and was there when he died) and Bono's, among the "non-beats/rockers" was by far and away the most articulate and intelligent appreciation of Ginsberg. Bono - a much better interview than songwriter.

I gotta say, if anyone's life deserves a bio pic, it's Al's.

Although I still blame him for being the one mainly responsible for the "cult of Kerouac". That one I'll NEVER understand...

i think it was a sex/admiration thing...Kerouac (when he and ginsberg met) was a handsome, assured, Columbia U jock and Ginsberg was, to all reports, quite shy and not at all self-confident when he met up the the proto-beats - though he had far more talent than the gaggle of them put together. I think on the road grabbed its audience - for worse rather than better - sans Ginsberg, however.

Well, Al was good to my hero Willie Burroughs, so I won't hold it agin him...

Willima Burroughs starred in "Wax: of the Discovery of Television among the Bees". I have a copy of it somewhere on VHS. Signed by the director.

>4 CliffBurns: - all those spoofs of 1950s monster/SF films look fun in the trailer but the full-length film often just plods along. The problem is that the modern film-makers are trying to be funny, while the masters of the 1950s were actually trying to be serious - it's the sincerity that makes them so enjoyable.

#8 - yeah, in his interview Burroughs deeply appreciated the successful efforts Ginsberg made on his behalf to get published. I THINK it was Burroughs who described Ginsberg as the ultimate Jewish grandmother (paraphrase).

I have a copy of Chappaqua around the apt somewhere. First time I saw it was in college at Madison. WSB, Moondog, etc. Good stuff.

Jargoneer: I fear you're right. "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" was like that for me--funny for the first thirty minutes or so but then the joke wore thin...

http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/thelostskeletonofcadavra/

I realize I am very (two months) late on this one, but I was skimming the other film threads, and I have to come to the defense of In Bruges.

"Just another Sexy Beast but set in Belgium"? What about the first hour and a half, when Ralph Fiennes character isn't in the movie?

Am I the only one here who has heard of Martin McDonagh? Expert writer at combining high and low art, the literate and the profane, and DEFINITELY the only playwright to ever call for a cat to explode onstage.

This movie was influenced by Hieronymus Bosch, Don't Look Now, and Harold f***ing PINTER, that last MUST be worth some snob points!

One of most hilarious scripts I've ever seen. Also very moving--managed to wring real pathos out of Colin Farrell for christ's sake. Even he didn't have an off moment in this picture. And Brendan Gleeson is always good.

Every character was interesting, every scene had quotable lines, and nearly every cliche was subverted.

Sorry to gush, but I absolutely love this film. Couldn't let it go until it got a fair shake.

Watched David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" last night.

Very weird, the plot bending back on itself, little touches of "Twin Peaks" throughout--kept Sherron and I on our toes, I'll tell you.

Anyone seen his last effort, "Inland Empire", the one he shot with a DV camera and some famous friends lending their talents? Just curious what it's like...

Watched Appaloosa the other evening. I don't think it was intended as such, but it certainly came across to both Patty and me as a parody of classic Clint Eastwood westerns. Esp. if you wait it out through the credits to hear Ed Harris sing the closing song.

That, in itself is
pretty weird - he's attempting to channel Johnny Cash and not quite
making it...Except i think the movie was meant to be taken seriously.
But the lyrics (which he wrote) are very, very odd.

"Being scared and lonely, acting so darn loose
Screwin' who you want to and believing you're excused"

a little ditty about the female interest in the movie - Renee
Zellweger looking a whole lot like a chipmunk on speed throughout the
whole movie.

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/09/ed-harris-sings.html

>15 CliffBurns: - wasn't too impressed by Inland Empire. It's so Lynch-ian at times it is like a self-parody. The whole film looks and feels cheap, and yet goes on forever to no great effect (the script is a mess). On the other hand, I know people who think it is a masterpiece. Like most of Lynch's films, you will either love it or loathe it.

I really liked Mulholland Drive, but found Inland Empire dull and overly long. It probably needs a second look, but it's certainly not as good as Mulholland Drive.

Is "Appaloosa" a direct remake of the Brando/Saxon movie? If so, dunno WHY you'd remake it in the first place.

I'm sort of hit and miss on Davey Lynch--"Eraserhead" is staggering, "Blue Velvet" is amazing but "Twin Peaks" bored the snot out of me, "Dune" is dreadful...I've heard "Inland Empire" is kind of a curio and perhaps that's how I'll treat it. If I see a copy in a bin somewhere or as a cheap rental I'll go for it. Otherwise...

>19 CliffBurns: - I really liked Twin Peaks. So here's a piece of trivia - Suzie Quatro is Sherilyn Fenn's aunt.

Are Suzie Quatro and Suzie Creamcheese related?

nice nod to Zappa

A great David Lynch trilogy: Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Inland Empire

i'm not gonna catch the movie - but Slate had a pretty funny - and i think positive - review of Wolverine..

How a ridiculous Canadian mutant conquered the world.

http://www.slate.com/id/2217342?wpisrc=newsletter

"Standing 5 foot 3, weighing 300 pounds (thanks to that metal skeleton), he's a hairy-backed fashion victim from a country nobody takes seriously. But look around any high-school or college cafeteria during lunch hour at the armies of hairy-backed, height and weight disproportionate fashion victims and you'll quickly realize that these are his people. If you're a nerd, a loser, an outcast, or a misfit then there's only one all-purpose tough guy for you. Wolverine: He's just like us. Only Canadian."

("brown shoes - don't make it" - just to keep Zappa references going in album order (??)).
The reviews of Jarmusch's new movie, "limits of control" have been scathing - but then many reviewers compared it to "Dead Man" which they also hated - and Patty and I really liked, pretentious twits that we are.

http://www.d-9.com/
District 9 - the trailer and web site really look promising. if you're looking for SF movies, anyway

from Wikipedia:
Not much is known about the movie's plot. It is, however, known to be based on Alive in Joburg, a short film (produced by Neill Blomkamp, Sharlto Copley, Simon Hansen and Shanon Worley; Sharlto Copley also portrayed one of the interviewed policemen) about aliens landing in Africa and becoming slaves/migrant workers. In the movie they are called the "Non-Humans" and are forced to work by the fictional company, Multi National United (MNU for short). A trailer has been uploaded on the official website depicting the ongoing struggle between the humans and the aliens.

Hey, looks good, Robert . Thanks for that.

odd facts i never knew about one of my favorite actresses, Emma Thompson.

"Thompson is an outspoken anti-religious atheist: "I'm an atheist; I suppose you can call me a sort of libertarian anarchist. I regard religion with fear and suspicion. It's not enough to say that I don't believe in God. I actually regard the system as distressing: I am offended by some of the things said in the Bible and the Qur'an, and I refute them."

It happened that we were rewatching "Sense and Sensibility" for which she won an Oscar for best screenplay (1995) and also did a great job as the older sister, Elinor, so we were checking up on the cast.

25:
I saw the trailer the other day, and watched the short it's based on (only 6 or 7 minutes). I'm provisionally excited...it's a fantastic premise (the beginning of the 2nd season of Battlestar Galactica, anyone?...anyone?) but it could very easily be bastardized by the moneylenders.

It doesn't LOOK like a conventional Hollywood movie ("District 9") but I doubt it I'll ever see it at a theatre in these parts. But I'll definitely add it to my list. I still haven't seen "Dante '01" either, and that's on the list as well (though Ian says it was far from perfect).

Love Emma Thompson. Smart women with big noses...I'm terribly partial to them...

#28 did the short serve, in part, as an allegory of S. African history? everything about the movie's site seems to indicate that being the case. I hope this is one in which Peter Jackson basically can pay for the effects out of pocket and take advantage of his in w/ WETA so that the movie's concept(s) remain intact. Is the short available on youtube?

Anyone else seen "Stranger than Fiction"? really rather brilliant as an attempt to make a popular comedy based largely on literary theory. Emma Thompson, again, is terrific - more surprisingly, so is Will Ferrell who, for once, underplays his role. Dustin Hoffman is excellent as a Lit/Crit prof at the Uof Chicago and Maggie Gyllenhaal very fine as the antagonist/love interest. Besides, it makes great use of the Wreckless Eric song, Whole Wide World..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jS7AD-lqwA

My daughter and I loved "Stranger than Fiction." Interesting, are the influences as referenced by Wikipedia:

"The film borrows heavily from Niebla by Miguel de Unamuno, a Spanish novel about a character who becomes aware he is being narrated by a writer and goes to visit him. Another possible influence is The Comforters, the first novel by the Scottish writer Muriel Spark, in which the main character hears a voice narrating her life accompanied by the tapping of typewriter keys. Italo Calvino, referenced by Hoffman's character in the film, may also be seen as an influence, particularly his post-modern works like "If on a winter's night a traveler." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr, who has had discussions with Kilgore Trout, a character he created in his books, may also be an influence. Of additional interest may be the names on the chalkboard in Dustin Hoffman's character's classroom which are a reference to The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durell.

The Onion sends up "Star Trek" fan-dumb.

I'm a Trekkie, I admit it, and I loved this:

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bash_new_star_trek_film?utm_sourc...

32: Hahahahahaha, my son is starting to enjoy watching reruns of TNG, and I told him not to enjoy them *too much* ....

Last weekend I saw the Soloist while my son was watching Wolverine. I thought it was a good film, but very depressing. My sister is a violinist with the Cleveland Orchestra (the homeless guy is originally from Cleveland) so there was a lot of stuff to discuss with her afterwards. I recommend it if you like that sort of thing.

32: Ha! Just sent link to my husband, who was a Trekkie as a kid. We're going to try to see the new film this weekend.

Post a film review!

i'm sure we'll see the trekkie movie in a couple of weeks after the crowds have died down. Patty is pretty excited given the actors involved and the trailer. I didn't really care for any of the previous ST movies we went to, but this SEEMS a bit more promising. But i'm looking forward to district-9 w/ a lot more interest.

The Soloist just sounds too tragic. I do know the story pretty well and making a living in music is hard enough w/out schizophrenia.

The new "Star Trek" movie opened in our crappy little theater here in town yesterday. We have some free tickets a friend gave us for Christmas, so come Wednesday or Thursday, I likely trip off to see it. No big expectations--not with a co-writer who worked on the "Transformers" movie--just curious.

Last night my family was away and I plugged in "Good Night and Good Luck", George Clooney's movie about the conflict between Joe McCarthy and Edward R. Murrow. The film was disappointing, really, despite good performances from the always reliable David Straithairn and Frank Langella. Rather dully made and there were these long, pointless musical interludes, the jazz singer with a lovely voice but the music serving no plot point.

"One of the best movies of the year" (David Ansen, NEWSWEEK)? Ah, no...

Anyone here familiar with the experimental films of Jeff Keen? He's from Brighton, a self-taught film-maker who uses comic book imagery, found objects, symbols of classic Hollywood movies, imagery flooding off the screen. The British Film Institute released a box set of Keen's work in February (unavailable in a North American format, of course).

I found some YouTube samples. Take a look. The fascinating thing is the guy seems to work mostly in the old Super 8 format, minimum of technology. And look at what he can do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9foXj5jZCww

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3zeHdcC2uU

I saw 'The Soloist' last night, and it was pretty good. The funniest part of the movie for me was how it painted the Christian celloist from the LA symphony orchestra, a relatively minor character in the movie, as a condescending stupid piece of shit. It's based on a true story, so whoever wrote the screenplay must really hate that guy.

...and an interesting bit on "Star Trek" and copyright:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090507.wgtaweb08/BNStory/Te...

Anthony Lane's NEW YORKER review of "Star Trek":

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2009/05/18/090518crci_cinema_lane

we enjoyed Star Trek @ a matinee showing. V. enjoyable, but the only reason the reviews have been SO good is that the previous movies this year have sucked so badly. Jeez...demons and monsters or angels, or whatever the new Dan Brown movie is called, has some absurdly high rating @ rotten tomatoes, which can only mean that this year's movies have been totally worthless to date.

Star trek - a perfectly decent B movie in every sense (i'd give it a B grade, too). The acting >> plot (except for eric bana as the one note baddie)

I like the part of Lane's review when he refers to JJ Abrams as a "re-creator rather than a creator", which is spot on. The guy is corporate talent, all the way. Eye candy and gimmicks; M. Night Shyamalan with an L.A. tan...

Couldn't agree more about Star Trek. Lots of fun, hardly a great film. My husband, who was the old Trekkie in the family was so-so on the young Kirk and lost as to the casting Checkov. Thought Spock was good, though.

Bah. Kind of a ridiculous review if you ask me; the writer has seen so many bad Trek movies he wasn't sure how to proceed when confronted with a good one. A role originated by William Shatner with insufficient depth and motivation? Heavens! A discussion of parallel timelines in a film about time travel? How inappropriate. And he clearly didn't weigh this movie against any of the others or the series in terms of bullshit science when he isolates one of the few technobabble lines in the whole picture: "Red Matter"? Fictional science in a film advertised as science fiction? This guy just plain doesn't like star trek. Which is fine obviously, but the review ignores those viewers (that is, EVERYONE ELSE) who knows walking in to expect a special-effects blockbuster, hopefully involving as few crimes against acting and scripting as possible.

The guy should go watch Star Trek V and remind himself how good we have it.

A good Trek movie is not necessarily a good movie. And if it is not one, it should be treated as if it were one just because it's a good Trek movie.

Very true. But there are many different reasons to watch a movie, and I watch a Trek movie for different reasons than a Kubrick movie, say. It did everything it was supposed to do, and it did them well.

Put it this way: you enjoy sci fi, ian: I assume you don't flinch when someone onscreen mentions parallel timelines or a technological method for creating black holes. To this reviewer, apparently, those were among the things that made this a bad movie. I submit that he probably shouldn't have been the one sent to review this movie.

Well, better Anthony Lane that some fan-boy's blog. And to be fair to Mr. Lane, he didn't seem completely ignorant of all things Trek-ian.

I don't have double standards when it comes to movies. I look for more than sheer entertainment from a film, "a thrill ride", etc. etc. I expect the same intelligence, depth of characterization and craftsmanship in a SF film (or book) as their mainstream counterparts. When I don't get it I'm disappointed and frustrated and all the cool special effects shots and raised eyebrows in the world won't change that.

Fans are NOT the best arbiters of taste. I can remember when the first movie came out back in 1979, tearful Trekkies exclaiming "It's back! It's the best Trek ever!" Ye Gods. When I finally saw the movie I squirmed through the whole thing, frequently suppressing guffaws of laughter.

One of the most interesting reviews I've read so far refers to the new Abrams flick as an "action film" and says the Trek stuff is purely incidental.

Well, come tomorrow night I guess I'll find out. Taking along my thoroughly non-Trek family. They say if I go in my Starfleet uniform, they'll wear bags over their heads in protest.

Honestly, sometimes these people are such Gorns, know what I mean? Real mugatos...

I'm not saying that if you review a star trek movie you have to own a pair of rubber ears; I definitely don't want the fan mooks trying to tell me what good cinema is any more than you do. I just think there is room for apples as well as oranges here. The thread about guilty reading pleasures was much kinder than this one, strangely--I would have expected the reverse. I merely think that criticizing a sci fi movie for using sci fi tropes misses the point and ignores all its good aspects. It is akin to criticizing a Bergman film for being in black and white. Well sure it's true, but I'm not sure it's a criticism, and couldn't we come up with anything more substantial to discuss?

There are lovely movies with hardly any plot at all, which exist to open your mind to thinking about new concepts. There are movies with characters so well drawn and acted that you know everything they are thinking without a word being spoken. There are movies that transport you to new worlds you will never in your life have a chance to see, even if they DO exist in reality. There are movies that are full of historical facts and flavor. And yes, there are movies that are light on realism and long on melodrama. There are movies with laughable premises. But every single one of these movies can be well made if the makers know how. Having different priorities does not make a movie bad.

Anyway. Spent too much time on this already. You probably all think I speak Klingon...

Nah, you make good points.

It's an interesting discussion--I feel torn because as a cinephile I know the new Trek film is mind candy but as a longtime Trek fan I feel compelled to see it, just to find out what damage Abrams and his CGI-lovin' screenwriters have done.

And, as I said before, the tickets are free. But the price of popcorn and pop will still set us back a good chunk of change.

Ah, well. Time to haul out my latex forehead and start prepping for the show...

In non-Star Trek-related news--I'm in a queue (on the library website) for Lars and the Real Girl. I should get a copy for weekend viewing.

Harry! That looks great! Here's the Wikipedia entry, which maybe gives too much away. This looks exactly like the kinda kooky thing that would appeal to the wife and I. Will add it to our list, as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_and_the_Real_Girl

I caught a clip of the film on a review show when it was released theatrically. It came across as being more of a gentle, bittersweet quirkiness than a bludgeoning "Hey, we're QUIRKY, dammit!" hamminess so I'm hoping my impression was correct.

I finally saw Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto", in spite of expecting to hate it, I actually thought it was not bad at all. The anthropological and Maya archaeological underpinnings were solid.

I'd never seen IMAX, so a few weeks ago I asked if they were ever going to have something other than Monsters and something when I was going in for something else. When they told me that Star Trek would be here for two weeks in May I decided to aim for that.

I have now seen IMAX. It looks like a movie should look, but I was not knocked out of my seat by it. The sound was de trop. I'll do it again, but not for every movie.

Star Trek's plot was a little silly, and some of the dialogue was downright appalling. I was not, however, put off by "red matter." I really liked the villain and his space ship. I don't know how to work the end of this movie into what I know about the set ups of the later movies; perhaps I will just go ahead and not worry about it.

Can somebody tell me when it was that I saw Winona Rider? I didn't recognize the character name in the credits.

Robert

55> Winona Ryder played Amanda Grayson, Spock's mother.
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0040549/bio

Thank you. I had referred to her mentally as I watched the movie as Mrs. Spock. I thought she was a pretty good looking mom.

Robert

The "Star Trek" movie last night.

Phew!

Not good, not good at all. Have to write a post about it on my blog this morning and I'm baffled how to review the bugger.

Christ, I hate JJ Abrams and his awful fucking screenwriters.

#58 Can't wait! You'll link to blog?

All the discussion of Star Trek is making me question the snob credentials of this group.

I will turn in my snob credentials I guess. I have always thought "The Wrath of Khan" rocked.

Pfft. Wrath of Khan as the best Trek film is received wisdom. It was a bloated episode and the first to actually try to order the TV programme's universe. But The Search for Spock is superior drama - there are some excellent character pieces in it, and the scene where they watch the Enterprise re-enter the atmosphere and burn up is real sensawunda.

Well actually Ian, I like both films very much (I didn't say Khan was the best one). Still, I will surrender my snob credentials to the authorities (a neighbor has turned me in). They should be here any minute. How liberating! Now I can actually admit that I like King and Koontz too!

Review proceeding...gimme a couple of hours...it's stupid but even something simple like a film review takes me for-fucking-EVER. I wrote the first draft and corrections after coming home last night. Now I'm polishing like an obsessive compulsive in a brass store.

Sales, you're an idiot. "Wrath of Khan" is the best Trek and I already pointed out to you that #4, "Voyage Home" was, by a pretty good margin, the highest grossing film. "Perceived wisdom" would have that one as the best--that is, if you can put "wisdom" and "Trek-dumb" together without bursting into shouts of laughter...

That Wrath of Khan is the best is the opinion of Trekkies, whose opinion should be immediately discounted. As a film, not a Trek film, Search for Spock is better. Voyage Home is now horribly dated and impossible to watch without wincing. Oh, and The Final Frontier is actually not bad.

I also like Peter Straub for the most part!

Cliff:

i was hoping the new Star Trek film would be good, but expected it would fail to meet expectations considering who was involved in the writing.

"Oh, and The Final Frontier is actually not bad."

Any credibility you might have had as a critic just dissolved like William Shatner's hairline.

I am not alone in that opinion - I was a little astonished to discover this, where it says: "‘The Final Frontier’ (1989) might be the best directed of them all (by Shatner) and contain some seminal moments between Kirk, Spock and Bones, but it was wholly scuppered by a ridiculous ending."

Debating the merits of "Final Frontier" is beneath even a fervent Trekkie like me. Unless I've had a good deal more to drink than at present. Gimme a few hours...then meet me in the back alley with a broken beer bottle.

Anyway, I just posted my "Trek" review--this took up far too much of my day and I'm embarrassed I devoted so much time to a movie based on a corny TV show. Sherron is gonna laugh her head off at my silliness.

Enjoy:

http://cliffjburns.wordpress.com

Cliff, I guess you didn't like it.

Robert

You could say that. And save me about 1,000 words and an entire day of work.

You rotter, you...

Cliff...

I am in absolute awe of the seeming unending stream of pejoratives that tumble out of your posts.

I bow to a man obviously misemployed. You should be a political commentator here in the states. The job requires a quiver full of such as rotter and you have it in spades.

Gene (brushing away tears of gratitude), thanks.

I'm Irish. Swearing and invective come naturally to me. It's RESTRAINT I sometimes have trouble with.

Irish... I was born nearer to Ireland than you, and I'm proud of the fact I'm not Irish.

But you certainly have a talent for the somewhat less couth elements of the English language.

You were born closer to Sweden too. Not sure what that means but it would weigh heavily on my mind if I was drafting for my hockey team.

"Talent for the less couth elements of English"--I'll think about that. Either thank you or throttle you for it.

I'm still a little sore that ST review took so much time. My wife and sons liked the film better than I did but they're not Trekkies. I read the review to them and the comment I remember from one son was: "Well, I guess it wasn't TOO mean..."

That's a very good review CliffBurns. Certainly more reasoned than much of the gushing fanboy nonsense I've seen over the past few days.

>74 iansales: The Irish called, and they're proud of that fact too.

Malone is a fine, fine Irish name, it should be noted.

Sales, time to start checking under your car with mirrors, you mick-aphobe.

As a non trekkie, and somewhat less than half Irish heritage, I don't really have a dog in this fight, but am greatly enjoying it.

#76 Any Irish in particular? Or another Irish that was born thousands of miles away from the Emerald Isle?

#78 If you were full Irish, you'd have a pony in the front room.

Memo to my friends in the IRA:

Regarding certain stuckup swinish Englishmen what need their kneecaps removed...

Nicely written review, Cliff. "My wife and sons liked the film better than I did but they're not Trekkies. Yeah, I think that's my problem, too. Can't quibble with anything you wrote, but for me the film falls in that "perfectly decent B movie" range that Bob referenced way back in #42. My husband had many more objections.

>79 iansales: (Don't let me current location fool you: wild geese do fly.)
Emerald Isle? (emrult oyl, perchance?, begorrah, begob and behave yourself) What are you? Greek?

Jag vet inte vad du menar.

83, 82 in response to your 79

Jag var inte född i USA.
Ingen i Eire använder Emerald Isle allvar.
Ledsen för min dåliga Svenska.

That all sounds like bar-bar bar-bar to me.

Ah the Beach Boys.
Me likey.

Well, no one outside Eire uses Emerald Isle seriously either, although I've a feeling it was used on some television ads for Ireland recently.

87> Indeed and my second line is pretty much the response those get from the Prods and Fenians I know!
Glad to see things have not changed in the UK

Actually, bar-bar bar-bar is where our word barbarian comes from. The ancient Greeks referred to non-Greek speakers as barbarians because they all spoke bar-bar, or gibberish as we term it.

I do remember Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys, but used to dance to the original version of the song by the Regents. I hope the BB's paid a lot for the rights because the two versions are almost indistinguishable.

89: You confirmed what I thought you meant! It crept into Arabic from Greek as well.

#88 The BBs got sued successfully by Chuck Berry for stealing the melody for Surfin' USA from Sweet Little Sixteen. Now when they redid the Barbara Ann, whoever held the publishing rights probably got whatever fees (if any) were paid. Pop music/payola/graft/theft of royalties went hand in axe for decades.

My favorite lawsuit was the head of Fantasy records, for whom CCR recorded, Saul Zaentz, suing John Fogarty for plagiarizing himself when he went solo. I'm not sure if ANY of member of CCR got any royalties off their many hits. Fogarty won, iirc.

I didn't notice any Jews aboard the Enterprise, so half my heritage was dismissed - but maybe i wasn't paying close enough attention. We're going to see it again at another afternoon showing and i'll try to pay closer attention to this vital factoid. I DO have the Irish side pretty well covered.

Wasn't the green woman in bed with Kirk Irish?

Robert

That's how they make them in County Antrim...

she was certainly green! I just thought photosynthesis. We went to see it again @ another matinee, w/ a friend our age who is very cranky as a matter of principle. He enjoyed it too, but, like us, figured it as a good matinee flic - not a full price movie. His wife couldn't face ST, so she watched "Earth" falling apart.

This audience was far "trekkier" than the one in the prior viewing; much more laughter at in jokes none of us caught.

You all suck, Star Wars rulez! Just kidding. My girlfriend and I are planning to watch The Grifters tonight. Good stuff from Stephen Frears.

Thank God for public libraries. This past weekend I picked up copies of the latest version of "3:10 to Yuma" and "Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

"3:10" was a half decent western with Christian Bale, as always, superb. I liked Russell Crowe's performance but the psychology of his character makes no sense. His transformation in the last 1/3 of the movie. Sorry, didn't buy it.

"Indiana Jones" was just awful, terrible, overblown shit, from beginning to end. Lucas/Spielberg fans will have a hard time rationalizing this complete waste of time, money and celluloid. Lucas, Spielberg, Ford...these guys aren't stupid, you have to wonder, other than filthy lucre, why they would make such a dreadful flick? Even my two sons loathed it--Sherron left halfway through to take a bath.

When I think of the fanboys praising this film, gushing over it when it came out...what a bunch of fucking morons. There's a reason they're still living in their folks' basement.

Glad I didn't pay a dime for either flick.

The "Crystal Skull" was an abomination, replete with erroneous historical and anthropological information (as well as a lot of nonsense...the refrigerator scene, I mean come on!). The acting was inadequate, and the script made more sense as an X-Files movie.

It is time Professor Jones retired and got caught up on his field reports. That may prove difficult since he does not take notes or photographs. He is unequivocally, the worst archaeologist in the history of archaeology.

By the way, in the real world of archaeology every crystal skull ever found has proven to be a fake...kind of like this unnecessary sequel.

I'm with ya, Eric...

I'd rather have a crystal skull plastered with diamonds a la Damien Hirst

did anyone really praise the last Indy? i mentioned last year that i fell asleep during one of the interminable chase scenes - in a theater w/ a loud sound system during an afternoon showing last summer.

My kids liked it, because it was sort of a nostalgia fest regarding the older ones which they are fond of. I thought it was extremely silly though.

It was extremely silly.

Shia LeBouf is Sean Connery's grandson? Who knew!

A pan of the new "Terminator" movie, out any day:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2009/05/20/f-terminator-salvation-review.html

91: If Adam Sandler's Hanukkah song is to be believed, both Shatner and Nimoy are Jewish.

Had an argument with friend recently about the new Indiana Jones. My contention is that its disparity in quality from the other three can be summed up in the first few seconds of the pictures: they always begin with the paramount logo fading to a mountain in the scene of the movie. In Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, that mountain was a prairie-dog hill populated by happy-go-lucky computer generated rodents. I pretty much knew what I was in for right then. The George Lucas who gave us Jar Jar and CG victory parades in every film had reared his head.

Watched "Gattaca" last night with my son, Sam. Second time for me, first for him.

Pretty decent SF, though the upbeat ending was problematic for a cynic like me.

From the director of one of my fave Hollywood movies of the past five years, "Lord of War".

I enjoyed Gattaca, although the acting seemed so "inert." But it was nice to see a movie with both Ernest Borgnine and Gore Vidal! The SF elements were also underplayed, which was brilliant, although Lara Croft-ogling fanboys would disagree. Then again, fanboys are like magpies, dumb animals attracted to shiny things.

Saw Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette -- a brilliant re-examination and a nice twist on the stuffy historical epic. It seemed very real. I also watched the first part of Godfather Part III -- Sofia Coppola is a brilliant director, but gods! she can't act. She makes Keanu Reeves appear positively Shakespearean. And every time I saw Joe Mantegna, I keep thinking, "Hey, it's Fat Tony from the Simpsons!"

we not only enjoyed "GATTACA" - i went out and bought it.* We also enjoyed (though many/most? critics didn't) Marie Antoinette. Got panned as being "history as fashion" but that, in no small part, was part of the whole French court @ the time, i thought?? (given my barely cursory knowledge of 18th C French history).

*i'm a sucker for movies w/ swimming, having grown up w/ that as my main sport. The wonderful Aussie movie, Little Fish, w/ Cate Blanchett as a recovering junkie who ends up in a fked up drug deal, has great scenes of Blanchett trying to escape her life, doing laps. I think your Aussie citizenship must get revoked if you can't swim at least presentably well! Another Aussie movie, w/ Geoffrey Rush as an overbearing jock parent in the 50s, "Swimming Upstream" is a v. good biopic.

You should see Swimming Pool. It stars Charlotte Rampling. It is a smart, sexy thriller and it has swimming.

that does look good - ah, Netflix.

Ah, Charlotte Rampling.

And don't forget Burt Lancaster in "The Swimmer".

My boys and I watched Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" last night. Both had recently read the book and we found one place here in town that had an old VHS copy. My wife left early because she's no longer a fan of horror films and Nicholson was creeping her out.

The boys enjoyed the movie far more than I did (I'd seen it once or twice previously). I didn't really think it was effectively cast and the movie, like most of Stan's, is cold and aloof. The disintegration of Jack Torrance was far more credible in the book--when we meet the Nicholson version, he's already half-nuts and the LAST person I'd ever agree to spend a winter with in some isolated spot.

Some effective chills but Kubrick missed the essence of the book and lost the thread somewhere along the way. If we don't like Torrance, at least for the first half of the movie, then we feel nothing for him when he tumbles off the Abyss and we're left with little more than a guy with an ax chasing innocents. Typical slasher fare, gussied up with long, tracking steadicam shots.

Just in case you missed it, the reworked Shining trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA

I'd seen this before but I forwarded the link to my sons, for their appreciation. Thanks.

Now that's funny!

I saw the new Terminator movie with Christian Bale. He had more of a supporting role, and was not really at his "Equilibrium" level of intensity. Although I liked it, the movie was okay, just okay. One can certainly wait for it to become Netflix available.

After all the hype, I was expecting a whole lot more.

That was my feeling, Eric. Directed by the man who brought us "Charlie's Angels".

Say no more...

>115 EricCGibson: - that's one of the best reviews of the film I've seen. My favourite line so far is "The entire creative staff has obviously gone to the Michael Bay school of film-making....and failed".

"The disintegration of Jack Torrance was far more credible in the book."

This just in, irascible curmudgeon Cliff Burns nearly compliments Stephen King!

Here there be spoilers.

Yesterday, my wife and I watched the new "Star Trek" motion picture. I had no real expectations one way or another, especially after having read the comments here, and was bound and determined not to judge it on how well it married to the original television show, but on its own merits.

Its own merits just weren't very good. Poor old (young) Bones, still being given lines that barely make sense. I don't know if this was an homage to the show, or just an attempt to make the young Bones the precursor of the Bones we all know, growing up saying dumb things like, "I'm a physician not a physicist." when no one cares and the comment just rips right out of the blue, you know, just like in the TV show.

My wife and I used to have a running joke about the various Star Gates. She is put off by alternate universes and of course the Gates were full of them, so when the alternate universe issue came up, we both got a laugh. However, I will say the people who wrote this movie should have consulted with the Gates people about how to carry off an alternate universe story, especially the time travel aspects of it. Once time travel was inserted into the story the anomalies and errors began to pile up faster than Santa can deliver packages on Christmas Eve.

Time travel mistakes turned the plot sort of clunky, but the biggest clunker of all was old Spock, marooned, exiled on an Ice planet waiting for twenty five years to make his first exploratory journey to a Federation outpost within easy walking distance. Makes no sense. Clunky. As far as I can tell the entire piece was to introduce Scotty. There was mumbo-jumbo about destiny and such, but jeez, we knew that already.

The action sequences were... ah, well, action sequences done with 21st century graphics and FX. The movie couldn't seem to decide if it was shooting for adventure or campiness. Of course the campiness rested solely in the characterizations (see comments on Bones) not the look of the movie. Every cliche from the old series was trotted out for this movie: Scotty: "I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain"! Spock: Live long and prosper." Although they did play with this one some. Many of the cliches worked but some of them seemed to be in scenes specifically crafted for purposes of using the cliche. I guess this is a problem with homages. When does the homage end and self-parody begin?

Finally, I was troubled by one thing that was not really the fault of the movie but more in our stars. As I recall, and I'm not a fan, so it's been a decade or four since I've seen any of the original Star Trek episodes, but it seems to me they were all about avoiding the violence. This movie embraced it. Instead of helping the bad guy save Romulus, now that they knew what was going to happen and had plenty of time to fix it, they rather offhandedly blew the baddie out of space, an outcome neither Roddenberry nor the real Captain Kirk would have countenanced. As I say, this is not a fault with the movie as much as a sea-change in our culture. In 1966 the show was looking for ways to find non-violent conclusions to problems, we now embrace the violence, and find it an acceptable outcome, not only acceptable, but necessary.

I was disappointed with this film, not because it didn't marry well with the series, although, as I recall Spock and Uhuru were not an item, but because it was a poorly constructed movie with terrible dialogue in places, scenes that didn't make sense, and actions out of character with the series. Sort of like the original series. I don't think it was necessary to make the movie quite so much like the show, in that regard.

BTW, they could have had Shatner read the closing, "These are the voyages...". they couldn't even allow him to do that. At least they did use the theme for the closing credits.

I kind of thought after the fight scene in the bar Denny Crane could have showed up passing around business cards to the guys that just trashed the bar. Oh, well, just a thought, and of course it would have been meaningless to most of the international viewers, but that's why they call it an inside joke, not everyone is going to get it. Seeing Shatner walk into the destroyed room with that big grin saying, "Denny Crane, Denny Crane!" would have been priceless. Since Denny Crane spent his entire career befriending and mentoring and being mentored by the guy who originally decoded the Star Gate makes it that much more reasonable as a thing to do.

I'm smiling at that one (and good on you).

THE SHINING is, by a large measure, the best book King ever did. I think it's his "Apocalypse Now", where the experience left him ravaged and scarred. He went deep into his psyche on that one and (like Coppola) it took too much out of him and after that (and after cleaning up a bad drug/drinking habit) he never ventured that close the edge again. He's content to float, to manufacture novels that are are as interchangeable (and indistinguishable) as a Model T.

You're right, that's the closest I'll ever come to praising King. He's become an embarrassment as a writer, the antithesis of everything I believe in. If my work, my creative aesthetic ever falls that far, I'll put a pistol in my mouth.

That's a promise.

One of my fave novels, Mordecai Richler's BARNEY'S VERSION, is currently being adapted into a film:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2009/05/27/barneys-version.html

Screamingly funny novel--Richler was infamous for taking potshots at the sacred cows of Canadian culture, the way we Canucks celebrate the moribund and mediocre. It made him a pariah to some in this country but I respected the man enormously (and, needless to say, agreed with him a good portion of the time).

Just saw Star Trek tonight. Dear God. It made Star Wars look scientifically accurate. I've never seen so much physics thrown away in pursuit of a story before. Not to mention intelligence. Or common sense. Or plausibility. Sheikh Mohamed bin Rasheed Al Maktoum, son of the ruler of Dubai, left Sandhurst a 2nd lieutenant. He was Supreme Commander by the time he stepped off the plane in Dubai. Fastest promotion ever in the history of Sandhurst, but his dad did, well, own the emirate. James T Kirk, OTOH, is accused of cheating and about to be drummed out of the academy... but at the end of the film they make him the captain of their newest flagship. WTF. Give your best ship to a cadet who didn't even graduate. That makes sense. Note to Trek's scriptwriters: not everyone is as fucking stupid as you clearly appear to be.

Thank YOU, Mr. Sales.

And those Trekkie arseholes thought MY review was mean-spirited.

But, natch, I couldn't agree more.

Fuck JJ Abrams and his "Transformers" writing partners. And fuck the braindead, pimply-faced, video gaming mallrat shitheads who think this crap passes for decent cinema...

Not that I relish stepping back into this discussion after THAT description, but doesn't it seem like you're taking a rather silly movie very seriously, as opposed to others placing a shit film on some pedestal? The rabid fanboy in this scenario seems to be you, you're just a pissed-off fan rather than an all-forgiving-cape-wearer. Star Trek is ridiculous. Always has been, always will be.

...

..but yeah. Making Kirk a captain that quickly was pretty damn stupid.

Gene: I always enjoy your remarks, there's a commonsense aspect to them that consistently endear them to me.

I've been curious how non-Trekkers see the film and your impressions seemed spot on, despite your lack of familiarity with that universe. There has indeed been a "sea change in our culture" (as you aptly put it). The mall zombies are dictating box office gold and the first generation gamers have grown up and are now turning movies into $150 million dollar computer games, with all the attendant superficiality and stupidity.

And THAT, my dear "sollocks" is why my response to the film is so vituperative. The morons have achieved power and vapidity is the rule. "Star Trek" did at one time stand for humanist values--recall the episode "Errand of Mercy", where the Enterprise is dispatched to a peaceful, backwater planet to convince them to join the Federation before the Klingons take over. Turns out that Organians ain't no chumps and dictate terms of peace to both sides. Kirk is forced to confront his violent, militaristic side and admit that he's embarrassed to have behaved as badly as his sworn enemies.

That single episode, more than 40 years ago, had more brains in it, more intelligence, than the Abrams-helmed abomination.

I don't take "a rather silly movie very seriously" at all--as a matter of fact, I dismiss it AND any big-thumbed, small-brained zit-head who howled and applauded as the credits rolled...

#125 But why make such silly films? There's no need to make stupid films. I'll accept the time-travel through the black hole and red matter as sfnal devices. But the rest of Star Trek was moronic, and there was no need for it to be. If a writer has to research facts then why can't screenwriters do the same?

Oh well. I decided to jump on the bandwagon and have reviewed Star Trek here.

Not to be too nitpicky, Ian, and indeed it may just show my ignorance of such matters, but I was drawn up short by "If Alpha Centauri went supernova, and its wavefront were powerful enough to destroy the Earth over that great a distance, it would still take four years and three months to reach here."

Yes, it would take that time to reach us, but wouldn't that be the first indication that something had gone wrong with Alpha Centauri?

Ha! Nicely done, muchachos. That oughta get the fanboys steaming.

#129 I'm assuming the Federation, or whatever, would have ships in the vicinity and could travel to Earth at Warp 9 to warn them.

Subspace radio travels FTL doesn't it? If the Enterprise can talk to StarFleet from halfway across the galaxy then--

Jesus, I'm starting to sound like a nerd. I'm outta here...

Colonel Sandurz: Prepare ship for light speed.
Dark Helmet: No, no, no, light speed is too slow.
Colonel Sandurz: Light speed, too slow?
Dark Helmet: Yes, we're gonna have to go right to ludicrous speed.

A trailer for Werner Herzog's re-make, re-think, re-tread of "The Bad Lieutenant". Compliments Gord, the man with his finger on the pulse of pop culture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxB0yXfpQZ8&feature=player_embedded

"Bad Lieutenant," a sequel as imagine by an insane duck. Makes the original look serene and sensible by comparison. Then again, anything with Nick Cage these days risks redlining on the kitsch factor. Maybe he'll find out some evil global conspiracy involving the US Constitution, Freemasons, and evil pagan women from the Wicker Man remake? Hey, it could happen.

I'm waiting for David Mamet to write a sequel to The Notebook

***

Also saw "Colors" this afternoon. Good stuff. Stars a very young Don Cheadle. "Kids are dying over colors." Sort of summarizes the Middle East conflict. Not sure we want to open that Pandora's Box again?

135: No we don't! It's the main reason for my radio silence this week (well ,that and a lot of work)

I saw "Bullets Over Broadway" last night. I had not seen it before. I loved it, particularly the way Chaz Palmenteri stole the movie from John Cusack.

I laughed myself silly, one of the best comedies ever:

Cheech: She can't act. Are you listening to me? She makes stuff not work - stuff she ain't even in - it comes out all twisted!

***

David Shayne: You're gonna write it?
Cheech: What am I? A fuckin' idiot? They taught me how to read and write in school before I burned it down.
David Shayne: You burned down your school?
Cheech: Yeah, it was Lincoln's birthday. There was nobody there.

*****

Cheech: Olive, I think you should know this: you're a horrible actress.
(Cheech shoots Olive dead)

Picked up a DVD with 4 classic episodes of the original "Star Trek" series. Up until now, I've watched "Trek" on old tapes I recorded when CBC ran the show back in the early 90's. My copies were old, faded, crackling; these new versions are pristine, gorgeous...except that they include state of the art special fx, which I deplore. The cheesiness of those original effects was lost--and the special fx were never the focus of Trek anyway, it was the stories and characterizations. So I have rather mixed feelings about owning this new stuff. Will this be like the original "Star Wars", without the enhanced CGI stuff added in? Can't find that version any more and that's a crime...

And Han Solo shoots Greedo first dammit. What the hell was George thinking in that re-edit?

George thinks with his wallet...

Probably true Cliff, God knows he needs the money!

The old movie theatre in town is showing classic films on Wednesday nights all summer, so my partner and I saw The Apartment this week. Shirley Maclaine and Jack Lemmon - what more can you ask for? The bar scene kills me.

Good acting but the film seemed very stagy to me. Stationary camera, actors moving in and out of frame. Boy, Fred MacMurray played a slime well (and I was never a big fan of the man's).

But great of that theater to give time/space to the classics. I envy you...

I liked the way it was done. Next week is The Birds, but I have other plans that evening.

The kids were away last night so Sherron and I had the house to ourselves. Painted ourselves blue and--

No, no, we're too old for that foolishness.

But we did watch some episodes of "Do Not Adjust Your Set", a Brit comedy series that was a forerunner of "Monty Python" and starred Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Michael Palin (along with two other non-notables I didn't recognize). It was, er, not very funny. At all. I fast forwarded through a number of pieces and we finally gave up. Disappointing for the level of talent represented on-screen. Ah, well, it only cost a fiver from a bargain bin.

Yesterday I saw a matinee screening of the new Sam Raimi film 'Drag Me to Hell'. It was gross and funny and made me jump a few times. It's fun, if you're into that sort of thing.

Seen some reviews and it seemed like Raimi is reverting back to his gore-hound roots. Is that necessarily cause for celebration? I was mildly entertained by the "Evil Dead" films and "Army of Darkness" but he's hardly an auteur...and as for his superhero, big budget offerings, er, if you can't say something nice (you're Somerset Maugham).

He hit just about every single horror movie cliche on his trip around bases, but it was good fun. There was even rain and thunder in the graveyard scene...

But the script for "Army of Darkness" was pretty awesome. Bruce Campbell and Kurt Russell should make a film together, some totally wack-ass comedy actioner. We need more movies like "Big Trouble in Little China." Best. Action. Dialogue. Ever.

Jack Burton: You can go off and rule the universe from beyond the grave.
Lo Pan: Indeed!
Jack Burton: Or check into a psycho ward, which ever comes first, huh?

Haven't seen "Big Trouble" in years. Should be seen back to back with "Buckaroo Banzai".

Totally. Viva WD Richter! Given those two movies, I'd love to spend an afternoon in that guy's brain.

My reviews of Star Wreck: In the Pirkinnning and Bryan Singer's Valkyrie are now up on videovista.net.

Sales, you are a genius with faint praise.

"'Valkyrie' is...well-meaning."

That really is delightful--and the "Star Wreck" film sounds like it would be a hoot, as long as it was accompanied by a bong and several grams of good bud.

Bryan Singer and screenwriter McQuarrie ("Valkyrie") were the same guys who were responsible for one of my fave films, "The Usual Suspects". It's depressing to see such talent whoring itself.

Filthy lucre...

I don't think they whored themselves. I think they meant well - certainly the film feels like a cross between a personal project (they spent years working on it before finally getting around to filming it) and a star vehicle for Cruise. It's just that it ended up a bit dull.

And yes, I expect Star Wreck would be much improved by copious amounts of alcohol. Although not too much... or you won't be able to make out the subtitles. And my Finnish is limited to "no, kuunteletkos paljon metallimusaa?" - "so, do you listen to a lot of black metal?"*

(* I cheated - the Finnish phrase is from here. A very useful resource. I especially like "No, moniko sinun sedistäsi on tehnyt itsemurhan tänä vuonna?" - "Well, how many of your uncles commited suicide this year?")

I'd say the same thing for Minority Report and Michael Mann's "Collateral." Both are great films, it's just that Cruise's ultra-super-mega-stardom (and his status as a Scientology wack-job) alter the collaborative chemistry of any project.

"Let's make Von Stauffenburg slaughter Xenu, er, Hitler's body-thetans!"

"OK, Tom."

It's like how Demi Moore ruined Striptease by making it all serious and junk, when it was an adaptation of a comedic book by Carl Hiaason

And the way Demi Moore ruined the film of Disclosure by Michael Crichton --

No, wait...

The moment you take Cruise on board and adapt a film to compensate for his limited skills, you're whoring yourself. And destroying the integrity and worthiness of your picture. Cruise and aesthetic credibility are oxymorons...

Yesterday, a number of terrific films arrived in the mail, stuff I've been dying to see for years and years: Tarkovsky's "Andrei Rublev", Bergman's "Hour of the Wolf", Chris Marker's "Le Mystere Koumiko" and a few others.

Films like that keep me out of the "New Release" section or, really, from venturing into a video store period.

And, no, Ian, I won't be watching "Valkyrie"--just the sight of Cruise's puss on-screen makes my stomach twitch and skip like I've swallowed a handful of Mexican jumping beans...

>153 CliffBurns:, Cliff,

"...one of my fave films, "The Usual Suspects".

So says Keyzer Soze, so say we all.

156: Or the way Demi Moore "helped" Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Nice on the eyes, but what a visually grating film.

"McG launched his directing career with the Charlie’s Angels movies, mercilessly edited pop-art headaches that played like reverse-engineered Mad magazine parodies." from the AV Club review by Keith Phipps:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/terminator-salvation,28237/?utm_source=search_res...

Love that turn of phrase: "reverse-engineered Mad magazine parodies." Writing good criticism is as much of an art as writing good fiction.

"give ME the ------------- car keys!"

159....I find the fact that he refers to himself as McG very annoying. I am not sure why.

Cuz he sounds like an Irish rapper minus the badass attitude of, say, House of Pain or Vanilla Ice.

His real name is:

Joseph "McG" McGinty Nichol.

In the words of Biff Tannen, McG is an "Irish bug."

Here's his video autobiography:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7-E1qTVJgE

It's actually a childhood nickname - apparently, there were three Joe Nichols in the house.

Isn't McG short for "Mc-Git"?

163: Fine, childhood nickname. He's an adult now. He can now be called Joseph or Mr. Nichol or "Hey, dumbass!"

I vote for the latter. I hate the fucker and his terrible shit movies...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

They're doing a remake of "Total Recall":

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2009/06/03/totalrecall-new-version.html

Blimey, "Do Not Adjust Your Set" - me and my school friends loved that when it was on Captain Fantastic and Mrs Black - ah just another childhood memory not standing up to later reality.

Wasn't David Jason in that? I'm sure I read somewhere he never forgave the University crowd for leaving him behind when they went on to Python etc.

iansales, I'm sorry to see that you buy into the revisionist garbage spewed by Valkyrie.

Let’s pull a page from Stauffenberg’s private correspondence. In a letter to his wife he wrote: “The population is a tremendous rabble, full of Jews and those of mixed race. They are a people only happy when under heel. The thousands of prisoners will be valuable for our agriculture.”

More here: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/valkyrie-and-the-myth-of-the-good-german/

Ah, I read Ian's review I don't recall him being an apologist for Von Stauffenberg. Did I miss something?

"All this makes Valkyrie a film is it is easier to admire than to enjoy."

"No one involved has any real reason to be embarrassed; if anything, perhaps the controversy worked to the film's advantage. Because there is little that is actually controversial in it. Valkyrie is... well-meaning."

I do not understand how a film that propagates the myth of a clean Werhmacht (among other things) is "well-meaning" and "easier to admire than to enjoy".

I really don't think the film, Ian's review or the story of Stauffenberg does that. The historical record is pretty clear that the Nazi war machine stayed with their boss to the end and that the efforts to assassinate Hitler were, for the most part, half-hearted, hare-brained or merely pondered, rather than given serious consideration (Speer was only vehemently anti-Hitler when it was his turn in the dock at Nuremberg). There was a very small cabal of people with true conscience, willing to put their lives on the line in their opposition to the Nazis. I think of Bonhoeffer and the White Rose students

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose

--who paid dearly, literally with their heads, for their brave stance.

It seems to me you're approaching Ian's critique from a decidedly biased point of view and that has colored your perceptions to the point where you are distorting his meaning and twisting his words for your own narrow aims.

Mr. Sales is not an apologist for the Wehrmacht or the Nazi regime. He is an intelligent, astute critic and his views are shaped by his appreciation for good cinema. I suggest you keep that in mind.

#169 At no point in my review - or indeed from what I remember in the film - does it say that von Stauffenberg plotted against Hitler in order to save the Jews. He did it to save Germany. His thoughts on Auschwitz and the rest are not addressed.

I think you need to stop buying into Israeli propaganda. Or, at the very least, looking for excuses to demonise people where none exist.

Israeli propaganda??!?!? Where in anything that I wrote was Israeli mentioned at all?

If you want to read Nazi apologists, read Ferdinand Celine or Jonah Goldberg

going way back to Striptease - i had enjoyed the book quite a bit - not Carl Hiaason's best, but plenty enjoyable. Was there a laugh in the entire movie? Though i've gone off Hiaason for a while now as the formula became a bit too predictable.

Yes, Celine was quite the piece of shit, to put it lightly. There's an evocative moment in Gershom Scholem's memoir Walter Benjamin: the Story of a Friendship when Scholem comes from Jerusalem to Paris to find (in horror) Celine's books in all the book shops.

That said, I have a copy of London Bridge and plan to read it along with Journey to the End of the Night.

Celine: great writer, lousy human being. Same can be said about a whole lotta folks in the world of literature. Philip Roth ain't exactly a sweetheart either.
And Somerset Maugham...sheesh...that guy was a prick of the first order.

177: Why shouldn't Isrealis have Celine in their bookshops? They could just as easily burned them in big night time bonfires. As Oscar Wilde said, "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all." I hope Israelis have Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the bookshops as well. Only when you confront these evil books can you understand them and take preventative measures. Banning things is stupid. God tried to ban Adam and Eve from eating the apple from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That worked out well in the end, right?

Celine was a Nazi apologist and mean-spirited misanthrope; Ezra Pound was an active traitor during World War 2 and supported Mussolini and fascism; Herman Melville beat his wife (as did Bing Crosby); Burgess was a homophobic bastard; the list goes on and on.

I'd be more worried if the libraries and bookstores were full of patriotic, law-abiding, feel-good books. Then society wouldn't be too different from an authoritarian regime. I'm sure North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Iran don't have many works by Celine in their bookstores.

That said, once I finish Portrait of a Lady, I'm starting up on Journey to the End of the Night

"God tried to ban Adam and Eve from eating the apple from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That worked out well in the end, right?"

Well... Yes. Yes it did.

Not for God perhaps, but it was a win for those of us who don't like the idea of living naked in the forest.

Well, as long as I wasn't nekkid in said forest with a buncha ugly, hairy, pot-bellied Rotarians...

You didn't get an invite to the Bilderberger Picnic this year either? I'm writing a formal letter of complaint to the Council of Foreign Relations c/o Henry Kissinger's Soul.

Henry Kissinger nekkid...

Brrrrrr!

kswolff, the specific context I was referring to was Scholem visiting Paris while Hitler was in power but before the German invasion of France. I'm sure you can imagine how frightening the image of Celine books in all the bookshop windows would have been.

(This happened before Israel existed, of course. I don't quite follow you about Israeli bookshops carrying Protocols of the Elders of Zion... if you are worried, that book is easy enough to get in the Middle East as its continuing publication is funded by Iran...)

Probably the only reason Valkyrie got made was Tom Cruise coming on board. I doubt anyone would back Singer alone after the failure of Superman Returns. So the choice was probably no film or Cruise. (Personally I think it's time we stopping picking on poor old Tom - I mean why pick on him when studios keep giving million$ to Mathew McConaughey?)

The Usual Suspects is a typical twist film - it's good the first time if you don't guess the twist but it doesn't stand up to repeated viewings.

Collateral - a great film? The second half of that film is so dumb it almost rivals Titanic.

Re Sam Raimi - one of the better directors working in mainstream Hollywood. Spiderman 3 was a dud but the first two are better than anything Scorese, Mann, and the Coens have done in the last decade.

At least Matthew McConaughey is eye candy...

At least MM isn't a Scientologist wackjob ...

184: My reaction would have been different if you had provided some historical dates to contextualize what you were saying.

Getting back to an earlier post, am I the only one who liked "Bullets Over Broadway"?

Haven't seen a Woody Allen film in years. Last one was either "Husbands and Wives" (annoying) or "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (wonderful). But I just can't bring myself to watch another one of his flicks. Part of me has grown bored with his themes and approaches to movie-making, the other part finds his personal, ah, predilections distasteful.

"Superman Returns" I felt was one of the better superhero films and I'll take that over the Spiderman/IronMan/Fantastic 4/X-Men stuff any day.

Still haven't seen "Dark Knight" but will watch it one day soon with me lads.

The performances in "Usual Suspects", from Gabriel Byrne to Kevin Pollak, were universally fine. But, of course, that's the trouble with twist endings, once you see it the first time, the McGuffin's outta the bag...

The last Woody Allen movie I saw was 'Vicky, Christina, Barcelona', and I loved it.

The only Woody Allen film I've seen is Scoop and I thought it was pants.

I enjoyed "Bullets Over Broadway."

Sheldon Flender: (bragging) I have never had a play produced. That's right. And I've written one play a year for the past twenty years.

David Shayne: Yes, but that's because you're a genius. And the proof is that both common people and intellectuals find your work completely incoherent. Means you're a genius.

***

Cheech: Olive, I think you should know this: you're a horrible actress.
(Cheech shoots Olive dead)

umm is/are "pants" good or bad?

the last Woody Allen movie I saw was 'Vicky, Christina, Barcelona', and I also loved it. It had been 20+ years since i'd seen a new Allen film - and i probably wouldn't have seen VCB if Penelope Cruz hadn't been in it.

More from "Bullets"

Sid Loomis: You're a star because you're great and you are a great star, but let me tell you something, Helen. In the last couple of years you're better known as an adulteress and a drunk. And I say this in all due respect.

Helen Sinclair: Look, I haven't had a drink since New Year's Eve.

Sid Loomis: You're talking Chinese New Year's.

Helen Sinclair: Naturally. Still, that's two days, Sid! You know how long that is for me?

Was having an absolutely shitty day yesterday and cracked in a DVD of Tati's "Mr. Hulot's Holiday". Wonderful stuff. Highly recommended to anyone with a bad case of da blues...

Watched more of Doctor Who: Season 3 (the Doctor and Martha, the med student -- for those keeping score at home). Fun stuff: Daleks, a little history, Daleks, and the occasional Cybermen invasion.

Being British I have to love Dr Who, but... the new stuff has far superior production values to the old, but the episodes have been a bit variable - some blinding bits of sf telly, and some right tosh. The old Dr Who series are almost a different programme - dodgy effects, BBC over-acting, that bloody quarry every week, but given their low budgets they occasionally managed some effective drama.

"that bloody quarry every week"

That earned my first bark of laughter this morning, Sales.

I watched Cagney in "Public Enemy" last night (for about the sixth time). Jimmy is such a dynamo of energy; what was he, five-foot-six? And yet he looks like he could kill a man twice his size. To my mind, this is the best gangster film form the thirties, topping "Scarface", "Little Caesar", all of 'em. And, considering it was made in 1931, it was amazingly tough and sexually explicit. No hack director and a terrific supporting cast.

My kinda movie.

I agree with Sir Ian about Dr. Who. Funny how things improve / degrade given a decent budget. I've only started watching Season 3 of the New Doctor Who, but I'll always have soft spot for the Tom Baker / Peter Davison series, since that is what I grew up on. (But I also have a soft spot for Rose Tyler/Billie Piper.)

There's a certain charm of dodgy effects. CGI doesn't solve everything. That's why I love Troma movies. Crappy FX, silly storylines, and the worst advertisements for New Jersey. But I love their anti-corporate, pro-individualist plotlines and attitude. Probably the closest thing to cinematic anarchy since the days of the Marx Bros.

Watched some of the special features on The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration. Good discussion on what makes a film "a classic" and good behind-the-scenes info about how the movie almost wasn't made.

I have seen a grand total of one Dr. Who episodes, ever. This is no brag, just fact. It was while I was staying in Rye, Sussex over the 1965 - 1966 winter. Apollo 1 was destroyed by fire at this time. Blond on Blond had just come out. It was about the time Star Trek came on the scene.

Anyway, it had the sophistication of a Tom Corbett and the Space Cadets episode. I thought if this is the level of television experienced here in Britain, God help them.

I have no clue who played Dr. Who. I just remember the story was unintelligible, I suspect that was because it was one episode of an ongoing series, but nevertheless it just didn't seem to hang together well. The set reminded me of one of the less sophisticated Captain Video episodes, obviously painted cardboard rocks on the floor of a warehouse somewhere in East Grinstead or somewhere. The production values were so poor that having talent play the roles would have added considerably to the cognitive dissonance I experienced while watching it. Oh, it was dark, as if it was taking place in a cave. Lots of rushing for cover between one set of cardboard boulders or another. I remember that much.

Here's a fascinating article on programs that are made for and broadcast directly onto the internet:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/blogs/popculture/2009/06/web_tv_10_outstanding_seri...

I told my sons to check out a show called "The Guild", which is about 5 people who meet in real life after becoming close while playing an on-line game based on "World of Warcraft".

I thought if this is the level of television experienced here in Britain, God help them.

Pfft. Everyone knows UK television is superior to US television.

And don't get me started on Canadian TV. We have actual laws and a governing body (CRTC) that dictate the amount of Canadian programming that is MANDATORY (or stations/networks lose their broadcast licenses). Crap subsidized with taxpayer money because the general public couldn't give a damn.

Similar situation with movies and publishing.

Talk about a license for mediocrity.

UK television today may well be better than US television, but in 1966, not so much.

The show that Ricky Gervais starred in on the second season of Extras may have been a joke there, but I'll bet it wasn't too far off the mark of shows from that era.

"Is 'e 'aven a laff?"

203: On the other hand, Leonard Cohen credits those laws with how any of his videos get on TV. He's a standup guy.

Not sure about that. Lenny's mebbe being a little modest. Stardom was written all over that lad. My sense is that he didn't really "break through" until AFTER he left Canada and moved to the States (mid 1960's). Various people started covering his songs and he was up, up and away.

Personally, I don't think his records are worth listening to until you get to "I'm Your Man". Hate all that earlier folkie shit.

Still in this Canadian vein: I recall that Bryan Adams caused a kerfuffle a number of years back because he's Canadian but his song-writing partner at the time wasn't. So there was debate if his songs met Canadian content requirements: i.e. was it Canadian ENOUGH.

When a debate gets that stupid, you gotta wonder...

Interesting. I find that the poetry of Cohen's earlier albums is much more beautiful. And the later ones, love them as I do, have far too much Casio keyboard and reedy backup singers repeating the last word of every line. But then I'm a sucker for folkie shit.

207: Hear hear! Folkie shit is the best!

Maybe its a northwest thing.

My favorite song of all the Canada songs I've heard. That and Albert Flasher. Once upon a time Canada knew how to rock and roll. what happened?

Bah. Motherfolking motherfolkers...

This affection for the Guess Who is baffling to me, Gene.

Yup, for the record, I DESPISE folk songs. The best thing Dylan ever did was go electric.

Although his last album was a clunker, except for two or three songs.

Cliff, my girlfriend and I love the Guild. Given your feelings about sci fi and fantasy fandom, it should be right up your alley.

Thanks for the plug, Karl. Will try to get around to seeing it or getting a critique from my lads.

P.S. Please check your spelling: that should read "fan-dumb".

I think what happens to rock and roll is the same thing that happens to everything else, we get old.

I honor anybody who honors the beat. That's part of my problem with modern music. To paraphrase Clara Peller, "Where's the beat?"

No, Gene, it is that the younger generation actually is worse in terms of hygiene, musical choices, and their horseless carriages, etc.

Re: #215

It's still there. With bands like Interpol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZWGJTYVW_0

White Stripes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnTb0PfbSoE&feature=related

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slXcHNHEOqg

and--

Jesus, this discussion should be taking place in the MUSIC thread.

But, Gene, hope I just got your day rocking.

All you young whippersnappers are all the same. No respect for the value of life experience. Well, guess what, if you're lucky you'll be old one day, yourselves, and all the young whippersnappers will be laughing at your tastes. Ohhhhhhh, what goes round comes round and payback's a real bitch.

The Mother's curse, "May all your children be just like you."

Happening already, Gene. Both my sons like the kinda metal I consider braindead. Music ain't bad but sporting lyrics like "I walk the boulevard of broken dreams" and other cliches/over-used phrases. Yawn. Gimme Tool any day.

Liam just came back from his first concert without parental supervision. Rise Against, with Rancid opening. Bought a $30 t-shit that will shrink, fade or fall apart in 6 weeks, just so the experience would be complete.

So, Cliff, what you're saying is there is good stuff out there, you just have to find it. My experience with modern music is almost strictly based on my son's collection of vile hip-hop and rap.

If I was twenty years younger I may have done some looking, but now I'm content to listen to the music of my life.

As Mick and Keith so aptly put it lo these many years ago, "What a drag it is getting old...".

But only in some ways. I've never felt more comfortable with who I am than I do now that I don't give a royal rat's ass.

No hip hop or rap in this house, mister.

Boring, self-aggrandizing...and bad poetry to boot.

Nope, not my thang.

There are times when I would give anything to have my kids bring home some hip hop. All we get is whiny boys with eyeliner. Actually, I think that's the name of the band.

222: Yeah, give me rap over emo goth (or whatever they are calling it this week) any day. Thank god my 18 year old seems to be nearly over his vampires'n'black fingernail polish phase.

The children in this house like classical (mainly me) and indie (mainly another person; I'm not sure if 'indie' counts as a genre. To see what I mean, check out Neutral Milk Hotel--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcgyKo7vbm4 Personally, I like several of their other songs better, but some people seem to prefer this one). Rock is listened to occasionally, and the only rap/hip-hop I like would be by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Unsure whether that even counts.

That song sounds very like a group from my time which was then considered a very rare taste - The Incredible String Band.

>225 geneg: - Vaguely reminiscent, in my opinion. I think Neutral Milk Hotel is much better! ;-)

If anyone cares to listen to my favorite NMH songs, though I doubt it, they are:
The King of Carrot Flowers Part 1,
Two-Headed Boy Parts 1 and 2,
Little Birds,
Communist Daughter,
Naomi,
and best of all, Oh Comely.

I didn't provide links to all because I either couldn't find a video or I got confused in the search. Funny thing about NMH is that I hated their music at first; now I really like it. I think that the songs can't be appreciated much if one doesn't know the lyrics.

I'm sorry if I wasn't supposed to make music-oriented posts here, since it is a film discussion.

the incredible string band wasn't all THAT obscure - I had their first four LPs. And then when Robin Williamson came to Chapel Hill in the mid-80s there were several hundred people in the audience of the small but sold-out venue where we saw him. (Actually a Unitarian church sanctuary - which kind of makes sense in an odd way). Are Pearls Before Swine obscure any more? or Michael Hurley and the Holy Modal Rounders?

"Dylan at Newport" is a terrific documentary of his performances there from 1963 ( folk wonder kid), 1964 ( folk over Euro/ uber hero - there is an example of voice recognition error!), and 1965 - the incredible performance with the Butterfield blues band rhythm section - ( folk traitor).

We are pretty eclectic in our Pittsboro listening. 19th century Romanticism ( Ravel, Wagner) is avoided; Goth and hip-hop were pretty much a pass; for new music we generally rely on our son who has a pretty good idea of what we're likely to enjoy.

I wouldn't be all that down on Canadian music - especially if you count ex-pats!. Margo Timmins, Kate & Anna McGarrigle and Martha Wainwright, Fraser and Debolt, some of Bruce Cockburn; there's stuff that i'm not esp. fond of, but is still good rock - The Weakerthans, Arcade Fire - err..in the way back machine, most of "the Band" (only Levon Helm, drummer was from south of the border.) were Canadian.

For some reason, i've been humming Epoxies tunes to myself during this post - "stop the future" has some really neat post-punk/pop songs - kindof Blondie-eque - if nothing as great as Picture This or Fade away and Radiate.

The relationship to topic of any discussion thread post is inversely proportional to the length of the thread. By the time a thread gets to be 220 posts, it becomes about whatever it becomes. That's one of the real pleasures of discussion. We bounce off one another like water molecules in a boiling pot, mostly yielding the same thing - hot air.

The Law of Inverse Proportions is not one I believe they teach in school, but is one of the most important concepts a person can come to understand.

The Greathouse Laws of Fruit are a perfect illustration:

Law # 1 The flavor in a strawberry is inversely proportional to its size. Ever wonder why those humongous strawberries don't have any flavor, well now you know.

Law # 2 The flavor in an apple or orange is inversely proportional to how pretty it looks. That's why those shiny, waxed and polished apples and clear skinned oranges don't have any flavor to speak of.

Bob, you and I are of two distinct musical worlds. I wouldn't take singer song writer crap (my opinion) as far as I could throw it.

BTW, were I a child of the oughties I would think NMH was better than The Incredible String Band, too.

>228 bobmcconnaughey: - Arcade Fire's great.

>229 geneg: - True. One discussion thread I started quickly went off-topic and hasn't turned back since, but I don't really mind. I've never wondered about strawberries because I've never actually eaten one, honestly. I know I should; I'm just content with apples. Oranges are too strong.

I had to use Google to find out what 'oughties' meant. Now I know, and you've got me thinking about the influence an era has on music. Interesting stuff.

My favorite Canadian was Joni Mitchell (back in the day). Like the man said, "What a drag it is getting old..."

"Raised on Robbery, one of the few Joni Mitchell songs with a beat, is my favorite by her.

I like story songs, but not everyone can pull them off and no one can pull them off all the time, not even Bobby.

"sittin' on my groceries" is such a great, great line.

There's another Canuck for ya, Cliff. From up around Saskatoon way, I believe.

We watched "The Visitor" last night. It was one of those movies where I kept asking myself, "do I want to keep watching this?" for the first 20 minutes, and then I was hooked. I did not like the ending although it was true to life. It is the way things actually would have worked out.

I hate to say this:

Somedays, I just want a Hollywood Ending, and yesterday was one of those days.

Overall, I highly recommend it.

Eric: "The Visitor" looks just right for my wife. I'll add it to Sherron's list, see if we can spot it among the umpteen copies of the latest comic book adaptation at the video store.

For anyone's interest, here's the trailer (and, as usual, it gives away too much of the plot):

http://www.thevisitorfilm.com/