MOVIE WITHDRAWL !! WARNING

Other things came up this week, so I didn't watch a single movie.

As far as cinematic experiences go, I did finish The Sopranos, probably the very first show I have ever followed from beginning to end, starting when I was wrapping up high school in an HBO home, and wrapping up the last couple seasons through Netflix, a year and a half after the infamous ending of the show. Fortunately, even though I knew how the series was going to end, watching it for myself I feel like it was still done in a very subtle but shocking way.

For me, the Sopranos was like The Beatles of TV (wait, follow me through here). Just as the Beatles were given complete artistic freedom to take their music to creative heights totally beyond what anyone expected of the recorded music medium, the censorless HBO combined with the critical and commercial support of the Sopranos allowed for it to tell the story in as patient or violent as necessary. I never felt for a second that the show was limiting itself. It's only by the last season where I seemed to think they were dragging some of the conflicts out, but I don't think fans wanted it to end any time soon, so that's forgiven. What a treat to be able to follow the whole thing. Now, I've heard good things about the Wire...

#2 Movie of 2008

2. THE DARK KNIGHT

A critical and commercial success, there is so much 'movie' in this movie it was exhausting to sit through. But it had to be this way, in order to explain and define two new villians in ways that aren't clean cut, and to introduce tragedy and conflict in ways where you have no idea what to expect next from any character on the screen

While the 1989 Batman scared me when I was younger, the punches The Dark Knight refuses to pull were so much harsher. I'm also glad that the movie moved so quickly, because otherwise younger more innocent minds might linger too much of their thoughts on the 'pencil', the 'smile', and the giant pile of burning money. And there isn't any lingering aspect of the violence... it just happens with a rawness in this film, hoping, without much success, that we're too desensitized by blind brutality to notice.

As for that breakneck pacing and fast editing that made something like Armageddon so awful, there's no way that some of it, even in this movie, can't be a little irritating. So I give it a very small demotion because the movie could have slowed down for me to absorb some of the subplots.

But regardless, what makes this movie even greater than a perfect 'comic-book' movie is how it reflects, in a rather pessimistic way, the underlying mood of all us in times of great insecurity like we're living in today (although a little bit less as of Inauguration Day) . As the Joker explains his anarchic philosophy and acts on it, it all comes strikingly home, not just because you can recognize the great City of Chicago in many exterior shots. No, the Joker's mayhem plays into something deep, because he values stoking rabid fear and paranoia as gleefully as brutally cutting up someone's face. The terrified Gothaminians are the all-too-vulnerable ends to the Joker's means. In the opening scene before he first appears, as his bank robbery cohorts rapidly off one another, the message to crooks and citizens alike is... "Don't trust anyone, and be loyal to nobody." Batman and Two-Face are variations on this ultimate screen villian's modus operandi, where the swelled up emotions of a terrified populace legitimize an authority's strength, whether costumed or legitimate.

TUESDAY REPORT

GO (1999)
THE HOST (2006)
SLEEPER (1973)

What could my two favorite movies of last year possibly be?!? Stay tuned!

Tuesday Report

Greetings!

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (2007)

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2008)

THIRD ENTRY: OLD JOY (2006)

[Partial interruption of my 2008 movie countdown to add another entry to my "10 Films that Make Me a Casual Film Snob" series]

I have revealed to a few close confidants that my most hated movie of all time is Armageddon. That movie had the temerity to mix scenes of absolute devastation, edited at a breakneck speed, with the most contrived emotional scenes. Every frame of that movie gives you context for the standards by which I judge cinema. I want my movies to trust my sense of art and patience. Let moments of tragedy and cruelty linger as long or as short as necessary to make the most effective emotional impact. And, pretty please, if you’re going to make a big explosive cartoon of a movie, make the characters fantastic or unreal to fit the style. On the flipside, if you want real human beings to express themselves on the screen, whether in a lonely woods or in a spaceship in outerspace, make the movie’s pacing and style fit your desire for the audience to identify with these characters.

Old Joy is a unique movie because it follows this standard on which I decided I should judge films, and dares me to keep that standard on a type of movie that is the polar opposite of anything remotely like the big obnoxious blockbuster. It’s a movie that barely exists, but what is shown is appropriate to the situation. It moves like a slow stream, and in fact the only brash element in this movie is the blaring of right-wing talk radio as the only two main characters in the movie (and a dog) head into the wilderness.

The movie involves two old friends in their late twenties, one married and one kind of a loner, who go on an overnight hiking trip to a secluded freshwater spring. And that’s about it. The movie quietly follows this trip they take, and no dialogue or interaction is wasted in any way that doesn’t make you question the authenticity of these people. You’re mostly left to guess about their past, and it seems like most of the larger battles that come with the development of any deep friendship have already occurred. It’s only at one hinting moment, which in the broadest of interpretations could be the “climax” of the film, that opens up interesting questions. Or it just as easily could be nothing major or revelatory.

From the previews I watched online, Old Joy looked quite unspectacular, but I didn’t expect its urgency to barely rise above the level of a cricket chirp or a bubbling spring. But I still enjoyed it because of the ability of the filmmaker to think small and keep everything understated. I’ve had difficulty coming to terms with other low-budget low-key movies like this, that seem to putter around and offer interesting images but no mood or setting to shape your expectations and interpretations. But this film works because it settles into a natural pace so effortlessly, and is compelling in how it flows as normally as life would unfold on your most mundane of days. With attention to background noise and mood as much as dialogue, the film reminds me of the clarity of mind that comes with the belief that most of life is background noise, with the occasional pivotal moment bubbling up to the surface. Movies have trouble with this understatement since there’s always a need for them to say something and be very in-your-face about it. Old Joy allows me to appreciate a whole set of films where there is nothing obvious to conclude or even remember once the credits roll. In fact, that open inconclusiveness is entirely the point.

More 2008 favorites!

No new movies were watched as 2008 made it to 2009. I was out visiting my family at my brother's place in Florida. Sometimes we watch movies when we're together, but often we're too excited about eachother's company to sit still for very long.

Let's continue with my movie countdown...

5. Quantum of Solace - A satisfying, stylish continuation of the cliffhanger ending of Casino Royale, this is a Bond movie that has characters that are approachable in spite of all the usual fantastical bond elements, which in my view are exotic locales, beautiful women, sharp expository dialogue, and the main character's collected demeanor. Only a little lower on the list because it feels like an intermediate chapter in a larger saga. After viewing some of the tangents the older Bond movies went on, it's nice to see something this direct and entertaining.

4. Happy-Go-Lucky - This was the movie that I shamefully omitted as I finalized my first version of this countdown. Maybe it, like other Mike Leigh movies, just felt so natural and honest that it was folded into my memory as something other than fictional cinema. One of my friends called Roberto Benigni's character in Life is Beautiful one of the most likeable characters he has ever seen, but I think Poppy, the main character in this movie, is incredibly loveable and infectious. Very few movies have characters that provide a personality mold on how to live your own life, but after watching this, I deeply felt that all my problems could be solved by facing every dire situation and difficult personalities with a smile and a relentless positive attitude. Sounds super-corny I know, but watch the movie and you'll know what I mean. Excessive happiness leads to so many benefits.

Honorable mention must also go to my original #4, Forgetting Sarah Marshall... a comedy that doesn't have the indie-cred or natural style of Happy-Go-Lucky, but is comparable in its innocence and sympathetic main character, and the joy of watching two gorgeous female characters by themselves or together in nearly every scene. A little shallow of a factor in movie-viewing, yes, but harmless in a cute and hilarious comedy such as this one.

3. Speed Racer

The reviews for this were extremely mixed, with some people really, really hating this movie. The status of it as a box office bomb doesn't help it's reputation, but this movie is the purest example of why I will still go see movies in theaters. A stunning visually-innovative spectacle, with homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey light shows and just about any bright and shiny thing that served as eye candy to me from age 1 to the present, this was so fun to watch on a huge screen. Maybe upon a second viewing I will see how stupid this movie's plot, dialogue, or message is. But I've seen stupid spectacles before, and this movie as a whole is so mesmerizing that its giddy pace and colors distract you from thinking too much. Like an art gallery where every blank space and door is covered in neon paints and bright colors, Speed Racer leaves no room for anything but the suspension of reality. For a overserious and rationalizing person like myself, that cinematic effect deserves respect.