DATELINE - Austin, Texas - Sept. 27th:
Another 'Post From the Road', again at my favorite coffeehouse in Austin (Halcyon on W. 4th St.). Why am I in Austin, you ask?? To see the stars of last year's indie hit -- and Oscar* winner -- "Once," of course! (Not once, but twice!)
Yesterday I saw the band known as "The Swell Season" (featuring Irish musician Glenn Hansard & Czech singer Marketa Irglova) in an abbreviated, 45-minute set, hampered by sound and equipment difficulties, at the 7th Annual Austin City Limits Festival -- my first visit to this renowned event (the closest I will have to a Woodstock experience, since I am too old for 'Burning Man.')
I also heard complete sets by David Byrne and Patty Griffin, and sampled songs from Alejandro Escovedo, Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), the Freddy Jones Band (from Chicago? never heard of them), and Jakob Dylan (sounds just like his dad!)
Tonight I will be seeing a more complete set by the Swells at the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Austin. Set lists for both shows will follow, as will my review of the Sunday matinee of the film "I Served the King of England," by noted Czech director Jiri Menzel. That will make it 3 Czech artists in 3 days! (In Central Texas, where Czech immigrants settled in the 19th Century).
I think I'll stop for a kolache on my drive back to Houston!
* TM
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Catching up...one movie at a time
(Belated) Review of TRANSSIBERIAN below:
But first! I found it amusing during Sunday night's dreadful Emmy Awards telecast that the two actors I called out in a previous post for being undeserving -- BOTH WON! (Dianne Wiest and Paul Giamatti). What was NOT amusing was the Emmy choice for Best Director of a Musical/Variety Program : the same guy who was the victim of my wrath in that same post -- Academy Award show director Louis J. Horvitz (bastard!) -- the man who has now ruined 2 awards shows in one year (because, purely coincidentally, he directed the G*d-awful Emmys!) He gave himself all the time in the world to accept, then later he cut-off the winning writer of the John Adams miniseries (someone who actually had something intelligent to say). Bastard!
Laura Linney gave the best acceptance speech of the night (thanking "the community organizers who formed this country" -- take THAT, Sarah Palin!!) My personal preference would have seen either Gabriel Byrne or Michael C. Hall and the lovely Christina Applegate win ... but the Emmy's exist to disappoint people who value quality television (Grey's Anatomy won one year, remember?)
Transsiberian
I fear my review comes too late to for you to see this exciting thriller in a theater, which is a shame, because it is clearly ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR!! Director Brad Anderson (of the shamefully-overlooked The Machinist) has crafted another mysterious and scary Hitchcockian world -- on a train, no less! -- lumbering across Siberian Russia with an international assortment of heroes and villains and a climax that is a touch more riveting (and gruesome!) than The Lady Vanishes (1938). Comparing Transs. to that classic is high praise from me: Anderson effectively updates the genre by showing the claustrophobia and discomfort of train travel that movies tend to smoothe over. The cast is excellent, top to bottom. I won't reveal the plot so you can be surprised by its ingenuity ... like me!
I know I didn't mention Mary-Louise Parker this time (I don't even watch her show!) but you have to admit, she is a raven-haired beauty!
But first! I found it amusing during Sunday night's dreadful Emmy Awards telecast that the two actors I called out in a previous post for being undeserving -- BOTH WON! (Dianne Wiest and Paul Giamatti). What was NOT amusing was the Emmy choice for Best Director of a Musical/Variety Program : the same guy who was the victim of my wrath in that same post -- Academy Award show director Louis J. Horvitz (bastard!) -- the man who has now ruined 2 awards shows in one year (because, purely coincidentally, he directed the G*d-awful Emmys!) He gave himself all the time in the world to accept, then later he cut-off the winning writer of the John Adams miniseries (someone who actually had something intelligent to say). Bastard!
Laura Linney gave the best acceptance speech of the night (thanking "the community organizers who formed this country" -- take THAT, Sarah Palin!!) My personal preference would have seen either Gabriel Byrne or Michael C. Hall and the lovely Christina Applegate win ... but the Emmy's exist to disappoint people who value quality television (Grey's Anatomy won one year, remember?)
Transsiberian
I fear my review comes too late to for you to see this exciting thriller in a theater, which is a shame, because it is clearly ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES OF THE YEAR!! Director Brad Anderson (of the shamefully-overlooked The Machinist) has crafted another mysterious and scary Hitchcockian world -- on a train, no less! -- lumbering across Siberian Russia with an international assortment of heroes and villains and a climax that is a touch more riveting (and gruesome!) than The Lady Vanishes (1938). Comparing Transs. to that classic is high praise from me: Anderson effectively updates the genre by showing the claustrophobia and discomfort of train travel that movies tend to smoothe over. The cast is excellent, top to bottom. I won't reveal the plot so you can be surprised by its ingenuity ... like me!
Emmy pics
The aforementioned Ms. Applegate:
I know I didn't mention Mary-Louise Parker this time (I don't even watch her show!) but you have to admit, she is a raven-haired beauty!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
French double-feature
But first! ....
TWO MORE OBSERVATIONS about "THE DARK KNIGHT"
1. I never visualized Gotham City as looking like Chicago before -- it has always been New York City, only scarier. (I even thought that in "Batman Begins"). But Chicago it is this time, unmistakably.
2. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont is one tough old guy! (standing up to The Joker like that!)
Tell No One (2006)
The French have always had a knack for creating unsurpassed mystery/thrillers: foreboding visual style, impeccable acting, serious and thoughtful movies for adults. [But when you have the entire oeuvre of the prolific Georges Simenon to choose from, you already have a head start. He wrote the Maigret mysteries and the story that was turned into 1989's Monsieur Hire, for example.] The classic example of the genre is Les diaboliques (the 1955 version directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and starring Simone Signoret, of course). That plot was so good not even Sharon Stone could ruin it!
Notable recent examples in the genre include "Under the Sand" (Sous les sable, 2000), "Red Lights" (2004, also based on a Simenon story) and L'homme du train (2002, with the great pairing of Jean Rochefort and pop icon Johnny Hallyday).
What the French have proved to me in the last two films I've seen is that they can even make gems out of material that is decidedly below par. Witness the previously-reviewed Roman de Gare, and now, Guillaume Canet's "Tell No One" -- even the title sounds better in French: Ne le dis à personne. [I refuse to include Francois Ozon's "Swimming Pool" in this category -- that ridiculous movie still makes me mad!]
The film has a great cast and compelling plot: a supposedly-dead wife begins sending emails to her husband seven years after her murder, and the police continue to suspect the husband in her death. The action and suspense is non-stop, I will admit. The actors, especially in the roles of the couple (Francois Cluzet and Marie-Josee Croze) and her father (Andre Dussollier in a triumphant return to the screen) are totally invested in this plot, and it shows in their performances. I wish they had something better to invest in: the plot takes them (and us) to places I just find preposterous. The movie trumpets the author of the source material: "Based on the best-selling novel by Harlan Coben." My reply: "Who is this hack Harlan Coben??"
La France (2007)
The French also have pioneered a decidedly different genre: the grim and depressing World War I movie. It is given a new twist in La France, courtesy of actor-turned-writer/director Serge Bozon, whose last film was in 2002. One could call him a 'Gallic triple-threat,' since he also wrote all the songs in the movie. Yes, I said 'songs,' for this is a grim and depressing (the French don't make any other kind) French WWI musical!!
"A Very Long Engagement" this is not!! For one thing, it does not feature Audrey Tatou as the long-suffering war bride who goes to look for her husband. That role is taken by the boyish, but still gamine-like Sylvie Testud (last seen in La Vie en Rose) as Camille. The movie follows her as she pretends to be a boy in order to get to the front, where she soon joins up with a ragtag company of French soldiers, under the command of a gruff but loveable lieutenant (Pascal Greggory). Whether they are advancing or retreating is one of the many questions left hanging, supplanted in your mind by 3 or 4 unexpected musical interludes, featuring the soldiers singing and playing homemade instruments. Bozon deliberately makes no attempt at verisimilitude here: the music, obviously coming from real instruments, is not of the period; the songs, while connected in theme, appear to have no relation to the plot. I interpret this device as a clue from the director that what we are witnessing should not be taken literally. (Another clue might be the readings and discussions about the lost city of Atlantis among the foot soldiers). Through a series of close calls, the men bond with Camille and become her guardian angels.
Regardless of how you interpret Bozon's intentions, he succeeds in bringing this story to a beautiful and satisfying conclusion that makes sense of everything you have seen.
* No spoilers here!
Sure, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" had an unusual tone for a musical, but it didn't take place on the front lines of World War I! Without a doubt, this is the most-depressing musical ever made. And that's a high recommendation indeed from moi!
TWO MORE OBSERVATIONS about "THE DARK KNIGHT"
1. I never visualized Gotham City as looking like Chicago before -- it has always been New York City, only scarier. (I even thought that in "Batman Begins"). But Chicago it is this time, unmistakably.
2. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont is one tough old guy! (standing up to The Joker like that!)
Tell No One (2006)
The French have always had a knack for creating unsurpassed mystery/thrillers: foreboding visual style, impeccable acting, serious and thoughtful movies for adults. [But when you have the entire oeuvre of the prolific Georges Simenon to choose from, you already have a head start. He wrote the Maigret mysteries and the story that was turned into 1989's Monsieur Hire, for example.] The classic example of the genre is Les diaboliques (the 1955 version directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and starring Simone Signoret, of course). That plot was so good not even Sharon Stone could ruin it!
Notable recent examples in the genre include "Under the Sand" (Sous les sable, 2000), "Red Lights" (2004, also based on a Simenon story) and L'homme du train (2002, with the great pairing of Jean Rochefort and pop icon Johnny Hallyday).
What the French have proved to me in the last two films I've seen is that they can even make gems out of material that is decidedly below par. Witness the previously-reviewed Roman de Gare, and now, Guillaume Canet's "Tell No One" -- even the title sounds better in French: Ne le dis à personne. [I refuse to include Francois Ozon's "Swimming Pool" in this category -- that ridiculous movie still makes me mad!]
The film has a great cast and compelling plot: a supposedly-dead wife begins sending emails to her husband seven years after her murder, and the police continue to suspect the husband in her death. The action and suspense is non-stop, I will admit. The actors, especially in the roles of the couple (Francois Cluzet and Marie-Josee Croze) and her father (Andre Dussollier in a triumphant return to the screen) are totally invested in this plot, and it shows in their performances. I wish they had something better to invest in: the plot takes them (and us) to places I just find preposterous. The movie trumpets the author of the source material: "Based on the best-selling novel by Harlan Coben." My reply: "Who is this hack Harlan Coben??"
La France (2007)
The French also have pioneered a decidedly different genre: the grim and depressing World War I movie. It is given a new twist in La France, courtesy of actor-turned-writer/director Serge Bozon, whose last film was in 2002. One could call him a 'Gallic triple-threat,' since he also wrote all the songs in the movie. Yes, I said 'songs,' for this is a grim and depressing (the French don't make any other kind) French WWI musical!!
"A Very Long Engagement" this is not!! For one thing, it does not feature Audrey Tatou as the long-suffering war bride who goes to look for her husband. That role is taken by the boyish, but still gamine-like Sylvie Testud (last seen in La Vie en Rose) as Camille. The movie follows her as she pretends to be a boy in order to get to the front, where she soon joins up with a ragtag company of French soldiers, under the command of a gruff but loveable lieutenant (Pascal Greggory). Whether they are advancing or retreating is one of the many questions left hanging, supplanted in your mind by 3 or 4 unexpected musical interludes, featuring the soldiers singing and playing homemade instruments. Bozon deliberately makes no attempt at verisimilitude here: the music, obviously coming from real instruments, is not of the period; the songs, while connected in theme, appear to have no relation to the plot. I interpret this device as a clue from the director that what we are witnessing should not be taken literally. (Another clue might be the readings and discussions about the lost city of Atlantis among the foot soldiers). Through a series of close calls, the men bond with Camille and become her guardian angels.
Regardless of how you interpret Bozon's intentions, he succeeds in bringing this story to a beautiful and satisfying conclusion that makes sense of everything you have seen.
* No spoilers here!
Sure, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" had an unusual tone for a musical, but it didn't take place on the front lines of World War I! Without a doubt, this is the most-depressing musical ever made. And that's a high recommendation indeed from moi!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
BACK to the movies!
Enough with the travelogues, I've got movies to review!
The Dark Knight
I'm not damning it with faint praise to call TDK the best Batman movie ever made. No doubt director Christopher Nolan has turned this franchise into something much more than just a very good comic book adaptation (he proved that with Batman Begins). But here he has created an unsettling, exhilarating future of moral ambiguities, impossible choices, and damaged individuals. At the center of it all, of course, is the black hole of amorality that is Heath Ledger's Joker. He is so frightening because he doesn't believe in anything! It is a searing portrayal envelopes the movie the way both Daniel Day Lewis' Daniel Plainview and Javier Bardem's Anton Chigura did, to cite two recent (Academy award winning) examples. And yes, the late Heath Ledger should join their ranks in Febraury 2009, as Best Actor! (Don't try to ensure a win by promoting him as a 'supporting actor' Warner Brothers!)
Two more observations: After seeing the movie you will also understand why Katie Holmes took a powder on the sequel (Maggie Gyllenhaal got the most out of the role, but I would have liked to have seen what either of the other of the other two actresses up for the part would have done with it: Emily Blunt and Rachel McAdams, because let's face it, they are more in the Katie Holmes mold).
Brideshead Re-Revisited
To anyone old enough to remember the "original" classic, 11-part British ITV production (seen in the States on PBS in 1982), two questions immediately come to mind:
1) WHY?
2) Could anyone in the cast possibly live up to -- let alone surpass -- the original actors??
After sitting through Julian Jarrold's 133-minute adaptation at the River Oaks theater, I still have no anwser to the first question. The second answer has a somewhat more satisfactory answer. First, the pace feels like a Cliff Notes version of Evelyn Waugh's story: Oxford, then Brideshead, Venice, back to Oxford, Morocco, back to Brideshead, etc. etc. If you didn't know better, you'd swear they had high-speed rail in the 1920s. Sure, all your favorite characters make an appearance (Bridey, Cordelia, boorish American Rex Mottram), but all of the nuances and small pleasures of the book are lost. My favorite line, for instance, didn't make the cut:
Julia: "Oh Bridey, don't be so Jesuitical." (I love that line!)
What is shocking is what little impact many of the actors have in their respective roles: Matthew Goode (as Charles Ryder) is little more than a cypher -- vaguely resembling a young Jeremy Irons is not a qualification for starring in a movie! Emma Thompson fares little better: no, she does not get the screen time that Claire Bloom had to fully-develop her character, but in the scenes she does have she does not acquit herself well (at all). Bad director, maybe? And the guy who tries to compete with the great John Gielgud as Ryder's memorably wacky father? His performance simply falls flat.
What does work? Not surprisingly, Ben Whishaw is an effective Sebastian (he played Bob Dylan, after all!) But the only true improvement is the actress who plays Julia Flyte. Hayley Atwell brings all the youthful insecurity, guilt and confusion to her character that I seem to recall the original actress (Diana Quick) masked with a cool British veneer, until the very end.
The second greatest performance in the film actually makes a repeat performance: the grande dame Castle Howard reprises its role as Brideshead. And the Yorkshire mansion hasn't aged a bit!
Full disclosure: been there!
The Dark Knight
I'm not damning it with faint praise to call TDK the best Batman movie ever made. No doubt director Christopher Nolan has turned this franchise into something much more than just a very good comic book adaptation (he proved that with Batman Begins). But here he has created an unsettling, exhilarating future of moral ambiguities, impossible choices, and damaged individuals. At the center of it all, of course, is the black hole of amorality that is Heath Ledger's Joker. He is so frightening because he doesn't believe in anything! It is a searing portrayal envelopes the movie the way both Daniel Day Lewis' Daniel Plainview and Javier Bardem's Anton Chigura did, to cite two recent (Academy award winning) examples. And yes, the late Heath Ledger should join their ranks in Febraury 2009, as Best Actor! (Don't try to ensure a win by promoting him as a 'supporting actor' Warner Brothers!)
Two more observations: After seeing the movie you will also understand why Katie Holmes took a powder on the sequel (Maggie Gyllenhaal got the most out of the role, but I would have liked to have seen what either of the other of the other two actresses up for the part would have done with it: Emily Blunt and Rachel McAdams, because let's face it, they are more in the Katie Holmes mold).
Brideshead Re-Revisited
To anyone old enough to remember the "original" classic, 11-part British ITV production (seen in the States on PBS in 1982), two questions immediately come to mind:
1) WHY?
2) Could anyone in the cast possibly live up to -- let alone surpass -- the original actors??
After sitting through Julian Jarrold's 133-minute adaptation at the River Oaks theater, I still have no anwser to the first question. The second answer has a somewhat more satisfactory answer. First, the pace feels like a Cliff Notes version of Evelyn Waugh's story: Oxford, then Brideshead, Venice, back to Oxford, Morocco, back to Brideshead, etc. etc. If you didn't know better, you'd swear they had high-speed rail in the 1920s. Sure, all your favorite characters make an appearance (Bridey, Cordelia, boorish American Rex Mottram), but all of the nuances and small pleasures of the book are lost. My favorite line, for instance, didn't make the cut:
Julia: "Oh Bridey, don't be so Jesuitical." (I love that line!)
What is shocking is what little impact many of the actors have in their respective roles: Matthew Goode (as Charles Ryder) is little more than a cypher -- vaguely resembling a young Jeremy Irons is not a qualification for starring in a movie! Emma Thompson fares little better: no, she does not get the screen time that Claire Bloom had to fully-develop her character, but in the scenes she does have she does not acquit herself well (at all). Bad director, maybe? And the guy who tries to compete with the great John Gielgud as Ryder's memorably wacky father? His performance simply falls flat.
What does work? Not surprisingly, Ben Whishaw is an effective Sebastian (he played Bob Dylan, after all!) But the only true improvement is the actress who plays Julia Flyte. Hayley Atwell brings all the youthful insecurity, guilt and confusion to her character that I seem to recall the original actress (Diana Quick) masked with a cool British veneer, until the very end.
The second greatest performance in the film actually makes a repeat performance: the grande dame Castle Howard reprises its role as Brideshead. And the Yorkshire mansion hasn't aged a bit!
Full disclosure: been there!Upcoming reviews:
Tell No One (France)
La France (France (naturally) 2007)
Heads-up for Houston film lovers:
Aurora Picture Show outdoors!
Saturday, August 23, 8PM
Menil Park, 1515 Sul Ross
FREE Admission In collaboration with The Menil Collection, Aurora presents a selection of early 20th-century short films directed by artists like Fernand Léger, Rene Clair and Hans Richter.
"Bring your blanket, picnic, and your avant garde-loving dog!"
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
9 Things I Love About New Mexico ... and one, not so much
August 4, 2008 --
I have just returned from another trip, this time to attend my
But first I spent 3 glorious days in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and from the moment I crossed the State line, I knew it would be an 'awesome' trip...for the following reasons (I threw in one movie reference at the very end to keep this post legit):
# 9. 75 mile-per-hour Speed Limit -- gotta love that.
# 8. Those cool yellow license plates (the new ones are even better: they've added a burnt orange balloon!)
# 7. Coyotes (the furry, 4-legged ones, not the ones smuggling immigrants over the border). One crossed my path while I was searching for a gas station off the highway.
# 6. Two Margaritas in high-altitude Santa Fe are the equivalent of 3-1/2 margaritas at sea level! (that made those $8.75 'Silver Coin' margaritas at The Shed taste even better!)
# 5. At the Santa Fe Opera, even the coffee is good (and cheaper than water!) [More about this experience later.]
# 4. Sharing a breakfast table on my B&B's patio with a cute blonde Aussie named Amanda. [Note to self: plan upcoming post entitled "10 Things I Love About Australia" #1: Naomi Watts.]
# 3. Chatting with the Brooklyn-born owner of an upscale Italian restaurant a block from my B&B. How upscale? It bills itself as a "fragrance-free restaurant" -- you are literally denied admittance if you are wearing perfume or cologne! That, and the $16./glass of Montepulciano make it 'upscale' in my book. It was here where I also met and chatted with....
# 2. ... a real live Opera Star! You might not have heard of Gwynne Howell, a 70-year old Welsh bass-baritone, but he has been on the stage for decades, and I first heard him in Houston in the production of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd (I saw a different production of Billy Budd in Santa Fe). He and his wife could not have been nicer when I interrupted their dessert to gush. (The waiter tipped me off, but I had to figure out which character he played). He was doing Figaro in Santa Fe. It makes me wish I could have gone out more and run into the Number One Thing I Love About NM.....
# 1. Deborah Domanski's bare midriff! (She would necessarily be attached to it if I ran into it).
Like me, you may never have heard of this young mezzo soprano, but when she made her first appearance in last Friday's production of Handel's rarely-performed Radamisto at the SF Opera, I knew my vacation -- and the fourth-row seat I bought two weeks before -- had been well worth it. I can best describe her as the opera world's version of Mary-Louise Parker. The outlandish, Turkish-inspired costumes in this production not only accentuated her lithe waist, it made it a featured performer! [A rare pleasure in opera, if you're familiar with the average weight of opera singers.]
Now that Anna Netrebko went and got herself pregnant, Deborah D. possesses, hands down, the finest waist in all of Opera!!
But don't take my word for it: read what this dude had to say about her: “The lovely mezzo-soprano Deborah Domanski (replacing Christine Rice, who withdrew from the production because of illness) sings the courageous Zenobia with luscious sound and lyrical refinement.” – Anthony Tommasini, New York Times
If you still think I'm exaggerating, check out these photos:
And the one thing I didn't like so much about NM ...
I knew checking into the Silver Saddle Motel for my last night in town -- across the street from Santa Fe's only strip club (the prosaically-named 'Cheeks') -- was going to be an adventure, but the lobby had a signed picture from Clint Eastwood (circa Spaghetti Western Clint) so how bad could it be? What I did not expect was my 3am wake-up call to be the sound of breaking glass and some woman shouting every Spanish curse word I know (and some I probably don't) at her male companion (john?) who threw her out of his room. All I could do was pray the sound wasn't coming from my rental car parked outside. The next morning I surveyed the damage: every window on this poor guy's Pontiac Grand Prix was completely smashed-in, and it was parked two spots away from mine!
Yikes.
I'll leave you with a more pleasant memory:
Now do you understand why I love opera??
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thoughts about the Emmy Nominations
July 17, 2007 --
Allow me a brief departure from movies to talk about the 'lesser' arts ... with all the movie stars doing TV now, the Emmy nominations are starting to read like the Oscars! (Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Laura Linney, Laura Dern -- a lock for Recount).
Before I take the TV Academy to task, a few overall comments:
Basic cable / premium cable...now that I'm on the dish, it doesn't make a bit of difference to me! I'm just glad these smaller shows are getting recognized. [I'm speaking specifically about Dexter ... I haven't seen Mad Men or Damages--because who watches AMC or FX, really?!?]
And I'm sure '30 Rock' has a devoted following, but -- 17 nominations?? Really?? Is is that better than 'The Office'? Or rather, since 17 nominations is more than ANY comedy series has ever received, is 30 Rock that better than Seinfeld-Cheers-Frasier-Mary Tyler Moore?? It is not because it has no competition this year, either!
I keep telling myself not to take the Emmy's seriously -- why bother getting excited, when you already know that James Spader, William Shatner (Boston Legal) and Tony Shalhoub (Monk) will win, AGAIN!?! [How can people vote for a show no one watches? (see, Monk).] The Amazing Race is a lock, too -- can you say "Over-rated?" Here is a synopsis of every episode in every season of The Race: Contestant (loudly, to Third World cabbie): "I'm an Ugly American, and we have to get to the Airport FAST!!" Quality television.
On to my quibbles --
In Treatment: my favorite show of the new season did get the most important recognition, for Gabriel Byrne's brilliant lead performance as Paul. But no Best Drama Series, and none of the patients were recognized, which is nothing short of a travesty considering the riveting performances by Aussie hottie Melissa George (Laura/Monday--last seen in Alias), Aussie teen Mia Wasikowska (Sophie/Wednesday), and Blair Underwood (Alex/Tuesday--the best work of his career!) Yet they DID recognize the only cast member who looked totally uncomfortable with the concept of the series -- Dianne Weist.
John Adams: I am sure it is deserving of its 22 nominations (I couldn't commit to it); the problem is that it received 23: Best Actor for Paul Giamatti, who by all accounts was as uncomfortable in the role as Dianne Weist!!
Dexter: Didn't get enough! How about some props for the supporting cast, or at least Best Casting of a Series (from which In Treatment was also snubbed).
What can you expect from an institution that has created a separate category called "Outstanding Special Class Program--Awards Programs." Here is an awards show that gives an award to other awards shows! Not only that, you know the Musical Director a**-hole who cuts off the Oscar winners during their acceptance speeches? He gets a nomination EVERY YEAR! No shame. It's as lame as the "Best Commercial" category.
Allow me a brief departure from movies to talk about the 'lesser' arts ... with all the movie stars doing TV now, the Emmy nominations are starting to read like the Oscars! (Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Laura Linney, Laura Dern -- a lock for Recount).
Before I take the TV Academy to task, a few overall comments:
Basic cable / premium cable...now that I'm on the dish, it doesn't make a bit of difference to me! I'm just glad these smaller shows are getting recognized. [I'm speaking specifically about Dexter ... I haven't seen Mad Men or Damages--because who watches AMC or FX, really?!?]
And I'm sure '30 Rock' has a devoted following, but -- 17 nominations?? Really?? Is is that better than 'The Office'? Or rather, since 17 nominations is more than ANY comedy series has ever received, is 30 Rock that better than Seinfeld-Cheers-Frasier-Mary Tyler Moore?? It is not because it has no competition this year, either!
I keep telling myself not to take the Emmy's seriously -- why bother getting excited, when you already know that James Spader, William Shatner (Boston Legal) and Tony Shalhoub (Monk) will win, AGAIN!?! [How can people vote for a show no one watches? (see, Monk).] The Amazing Race is a lock, too -- can you say "Over-rated?" Here is a synopsis of every episode in every season of The Race: Contestant (loudly, to Third World cabbie): "I'm an Ugly American, and we have to get to the Airport FAST!!" Quality television.
On to my quibbles --
In Treatment: my favorite show of the new season did get the most important recognition, for Gabriel Byrne's brilliant lead performance as Paul. But no Best Drama Series, and none of the patients were recognized, which is nothing short of a travesty considering the riveting performances by Aussie hottie Melissa George (Laura/Monday--last seen in Alias), Aussie teen Mia Wasikowska (Sophie/Wednesday), and Blair Underwood (Alex/Tuesday--the best work of his career!) Yet they DID recognize the only cast member who looked totally uncomfortable with the concept of the series -- Dianne Weist.
John Adams: I am sure it is deserving of its 22 nominations (I couldn't commit to it); the problem is that it received 23: Best Actor for Paul Giamatti, who by all accounts was as uncomfortable in the role as Dianne Weist!!
Dexter: Didn't get enough! How about some props for the supporting cast, or at least Best Casting of a Series (from which In Treatment was also snubbed).
What can you expect from an institution that has created a separate category called "Outstanding Special Class Program--Awards Programs." Here is an awards show that gives an award to other awards shows! Not only that, you know the Musical Director a**-hole who cuts off the Oscar winners during their acceptance speeches? He gets a nomination EVERY YEAR! No shame. It's as lame as the "Best Commercial" category.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
The re-birth of Norwegian Cinema!
I know that headline sent chills through your spine ... although rebirth may be the wrong word here: while Scandinavian cinema has been relevant since Carl Th. Dreyer first picked up a silent movie camera, movies from Norway have been strictly relegated to the film festival circuit. Overshadowed in the last several decades by the very dark shadow of Ingmar Bergman, I can only remember a handful of movies from Norway that I've seen -- beginning with 1987's The Pathfinder (notable for being the first movie in the Sami language), the dreadful The Ice Palace (the longest 78 minutes of my life, and one of many mistakes I made at the Houston Film Festival), and the sweet, nostalgic Herman from 1991 (also at the Houston Film Festival). All three were Norway's official entry in the Academy Awards; all three were passed over by the Oscar nominating committee).*
In the last twenty years, Denmark has dominated international screens again (starting with Lars von Trier's Zentropa through last year's After the Wedding), notwithstanding Bergman's unfailing talent (his last, Sarabande, being equal to his great works of the Seventies), and with occasional entries from Finland (mostly by Aki Kaurismaki). (The films of the fifth Scandinavian country, Iceland, are even more hard to find--anybody see '101 Reykjavik'? -- so they haven't had a chance to establish an identity).
But when was the last film from Norway to make a splash? The only two I can recall getting a U.S. release were 1996's Hamsun (starring Max von Sydow) and 1997's Insomnia (starring Stellan Skarsgaard, effectively remade in English with Al Pacino and Hillary Swank--the first case in history of an American remake being superior to the European original!).
Until now, that is, when an edgy, youthful film has gotten some well-deserved attention over here -- appropriately titled "Reprise," because it is very much a return to the themes that first drew American audiences to European films in the heyday of the Sixties: the slow, painful growth of young people into adulthood. These are the difficulties faced by the two nascent writers Philip & Erik in Olso, as envisioned by director Joachim Trier.
Aside from their literary ambitions, these two are indistinguishable from the Glaswegian layabouts in "Trainspotting," the Berlin ne'er do wells in "The Edukators," or most directly, the three delinquents in Godard's classic "Band a Part" (three films this one calls to mind in both subject matter and kinetic visual style). True, Philip & Erik are more law-abiding than the characters in those movies, but judging from the places and people they hang with, you wonder how and where they ever got their intellectual stimulation to become writers. But writing is the thing that binds these two together through Phillip's mental breakdown (poetically realized early in the movie in flashback with a few wordless but telling scenes). The tension between the three protagonists (including Philip's girlfriend, beautifully played by Viktoria Winge) as they inevitably grow apart as one becomes a serious writer and the other doesn't, is uncomfortably real. What's the future for this Norwegian gem from 2006? Well, it was the country's official entry in the Best Foreign Film category of the Oscars ... and it didn't make the cut. Better luck next time, Norway.
* The Academy's many oversights may be a thing of the past, thanks to a key rule change for 2009. We can only hope.
In the last twenty years, Denmark has dominated international screens again (starting with Lars von Trier's Zentropa through last year's After the Wedding), notwithstanding Bergman's unfailing talent (his last, Sarabande, being equal to his great works of the Seventies), and with occasional entries from Finland (mostly by Aki Kaurismaki). (The films of the fifth Scandinavian country, Iceland, are even more hard to find--anybody see '101 Reykjavik'? -- so they haven't had a chance to establish an identity).
But when was the last film from Norway to make a splash? The only two I can recall getting a U.S. release were 1996's Hamsun (starring Max von Sydow) and 1997's Insomnia (starring Stellan Skarsgaard, effectively remade in English with Al Pacino and Hillary Swank--the first case in history of an American remake being superior to the European original!).
Until now, that is, when an edgy, youthful film has gotten some well-deserved attention over here -- appropriately titled "Reprise," because it is very much a return to the themes that first drew American audiences to European films in the heyday of the Sixties: the slow, painful growth of young people into adulthood. These are the difficulties faced by the two nascent writers Philip & Erik in Olso, as envisioned by director Joachim Trier.
Aside from their literary ambitions, these two are indistinguishable from the Glaswegian layabouts in "Trainspotting," the Berlin ne'er do wells in "The Edukators," or most directly, the three delinquents in Godard's classic "Band a Part" (three films this one calls to mind in both subject matter and kinetic visual style). True, Philip & Erik are more law-abiding than the characters in those movies, but judging from the places and people they hang with, you wonder how and where they ever got their intellectual stimulation to become writers. But writing is the thing that binds these two together through Phillip's mental breakdown (poetically realized early in the movie in flashback with a few wordless but telling scenes). The tension between the three protagonists (including Philip's girlfriend, beautifully played by Viktoria Winge) as they inevitably grow apart as one becomes a serious writer and the other doesn't, is uncomfortably real. What's the future for this Norwegian gem from 2006? Well, it was the country's official entry in the Best Foreign Film category of the Oscars ... and it didn't make the cut. Better luck next time, Norway.
* The Academy's many oversights may be a thing of the past, thanks to a key rule change for 2009. We can only hope.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
"Twice" ... and more Music links
RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL, Monday, May 19, 2008:
What can I say? This was an even-better show than last year's outdoor concert at Stubb's in Austin! It is quite an event playing Radio City, and Glen and his mates rose to the occasion, playing a two-hour, 10-minute set, with a 5-song encore.
The very-first song let everyone know it was going to be a special night: Glen walked out on stage alone with his beat-up guitar and sang 'Say it to me now' at the top of his voice -- away from the microphone. A few people even yelled "we can't hear!" before realizing he did this deliberately, like he was performing on a street corner (get it?). They ended the show by bringing out his opening act--the guy in the movie who sang at the dinner party -- to sing his song from the soundtrack, 'Gold.'
Here is what they sang in between:
2. Lies
3. This Low
4. The Moon
5. When Your Mind's Made Up
6. True*
7. On My Mind*
8. Falling Slowly
9. Leave (solo)
10. What Happens When the Heart Just Stops*--I'm paraphrasing
11. a Van Morrison cover
12. ???
13. then Marketa asks her sister to come up on stage for a duet of a song from the 1973 movie The Wicker Man, "Gently, Johnny."
14. the obligatory "Hoover Fixer-Upper Guy"
15. Happiness*
16. Once
Encores:
1. If You Want Me
2. Gold
3. Fitzcarraldo
4. Star, Star
5. and finally, they closed with an audience sing-along of Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic." (He always knows how to end a concert on a high).
>Have I had my fill of the 'Once' phenomenon now?? I just this week purchased my one-day ticket to September's Austin City Limits Music Festival, headlined by The Swell Season. Let that be your answer! (Whether you've had your fill reading about them is another question entirely ... the answer to which the foreignfilmguy has no interest in hearing).
More Music Links!
>>Two more female singer/songwriters to promote.<<
KATHLEEN EDWARDS -- truthfully, I'm more into her than her music (alt-country in a voice reminiscent of Iris DeMent), but she loves Austin and cats, and has an entertaining blog ... and she's another red-headed Canadian!! (see Sarah Harmer; Melissa auf der Mar).
(she's got that Cate Blanchett-look working for her, doesn't she??)
What can I say? This was an even-better show than last year's outdoor concert at Stubb's in Austin! It is quite an event playing Radio City, and Glen and his mates rose to the occasion, playing a two-hour, 10-minute set, with a 5-song encore.
The very-first song let everyone know it was going to be a special night: Glen walked out on stage alone with his beat-up guitar and sang 'Say it to me now' at the top of his voice -- away from the microphone. A few people even yelled "we can't hear!" before realizing he did this deliberately, like he was performing on a street corner (get it?). They ended the show by bringing out his opening act--the guy in the movie who sang at the dinner party -- to sing his song from the soundtrack, 'Gold.'
Here is what they sang in between:
2. Lies
3. This Low
4. The Moon
5. When Your Mind's Made Up
6. True*
7. On My Mind*
8. Falling Slowly
9. Leave (solo)
10. What Happens When the Heart Just Stops*--I'm paraphrasing
11. a Van Morrison cover
12. ???
13. then Marketa asks her sister to come up on stage for a duet of a song from the 1973 movie The Wicker Man, "Gently, Johnny."
14. the obligatory "Hoover Fixer-Upper Guy"
15. Happiness*
16. Once
Encores:
1. If You Want Me
2. Gold
3. Fitzcarraldo
4. Star, Star
5. and finally, they closed with an audience sing-along of Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic." (He always knows how to end a concert on a high).
>Have I had my fill of the 'Once' phenomenon now?? I just this week purchased my one-day ticket to September's Austin City Limits Music Festival, headlined by The Swell Season. Let that be your answer! (Whether you've had your fill reading about them is another question entirely ... the answer to which the foreignfilmguy has no interest in hearing).
More Music Links!
>>Two more female singer/songwriters to promote.<<
KATHLEEN EDWARDS -- truthfully, I'm more into her than her music (alt-country in a voice reminiscent of Iris DeMent), but she loves Austin and cats, and has an entertaining blog ... and she's another red-headed Canadian!! (see Sarah Harmer; Melissa auf der Mar).
(she's got that Cate Blanchett-look working for her, doesn't she??)
EDIE CAREY -- she came all the way from New England to Houston to perform at the very first 'house concert' I've ever attended, so of course I bought her cd. And she started her second set by asking: "Has anyone seen the movie Once?" before launching into "Falling Slowly."
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Best Vacation ... EVER !?!
NEW YORK CITY -- May 15th - 23rd:
I wanted to post my second 'on the road' post from the Big Apple (following my Austin post last November), but I was on the go all the time, and had no free time to blog. It was a special vacation from the start, because I was attending a significant moment in Palmer family history, but the best moments of my New York adventure were, as always, completely serendipitous. (For example: I got a ticket to Yankee stadium FOR FREE! I didn't have to pay for my ticket! How sweet is that for a Yankees-hater like me?!)
Coincidentally, what motivates me to blog is the same reason that my Austin trip motivated me: an upcoming concert by the stars of the hit movie "Once" -- Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova -- not at Stubb's Barbecue this time, but at an equally legendary music venue: RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL!! That memorable concert deserves a separate post, so stay tuned for my recap, entitled "Twice" -- also a good name for the sequel. Copyright!
The trip's vibe can be summed-up in the chance encounter I had at O'Neal's restaurant (across from Lincoln Center) after leaving my box seat to ABT's matinee performance of Le Corsaire (starring the lovely redhead Julie Kent): I had a wonderful conversation with two intelligent, attractive New Yorkers sitting at the bar, one of whom was a dead ringer for the lovely actress Cate Blanchett! (I kid you not!) Lou, if you are reading this, I am not talking about you!! Only in New York.
In keeping with the theme of this blog, the rest of my travelogue is entirely movie-related:
>First stop (The Dakota--72nd & CPW): I have never bothered to seek out this historic site on previous visits, but as I was wandering from Lincoln Center to Central Park, I noticed some German tourists snapping pictures of a doorman, and sure enough, it was the same entrance that will soon be seen on movie screens everywhere -- in the John Lennon movie. I walked across the street to the 'Imagine' mosaic in Central Park next, where two guys with guitars were playing "Love Me Do" (poorly, I might add). It made me think: how many times has this scene played out on this spot over the last quarter-century?
>Second stop (the Lake in Central Park): As I rambled through the Park, I noticed more and more activity as I approached the lake with the canoes , and before I knew it, I had stumbled onto a movie set! My first indication that it was a major motion picture was hearing the lady sitting next to me at the fountain exclaim: "I'm sorry, but Anjelica Huston is FAT!" (I immediately started looking around, and there in black, lounging on a director's chair with the words "When in Rome" on the back, was Anjelica Huston herself, looking sophisticated in black, and weight-appropriate for her age). This lady went on to say: "That's what happens when you go through menopause," eliciting a response from her friend: "Oh, I'm not there, yet." Reply: "Oh, I am!"
Then a lady who was on the set -- an aging, obviously-dyed redhead with a face so stretched and pulled by multiple surgeries I can only describe her visage as skeletal (she must be an agent or PR rep) -- walked over to my two companions and the first lady said, "Sylvia, I was just saying what wonderful husbands we have." Redheaded Joan Rivers: "Yes, we do have wonderful husbands." Me: "They would have to be, to put up with you two beasts!" (Maybe I just thought that). [I realize that if this lady turns out to be a big shot producer, I may never work as an extra in a movie again!!]
I hung around on the fringes for the next half-hour, made eye contact and waved at a Kate Beckinsale look-alike on the set. (I know it wasn't her because of the reaction I got: she immediately looked away without acknowledging me. The real Kate would never do that to her fans!)
This is how the real Kate Beckinsale would have reacted if she had seen me waving at her! (I'm sure of it!)
All this time I thought I was ogling the female lead, Kristen Bell (Star of Veronica Mars and Forgetting Sarah Marshall for those of you not in the know), in jeans, funky cap, and colorful tennis shoes. Then I noticed the filming had begun -- an outdoor cafe scene between Ms. Huston and Ms. Bell -- except Ms. Bell was already on set, hair in a bun and wearing a black coat! I must have been ogling her stand-in as she loaded up on fresh fruit from the craft services table. (I hope the real one appears somewhere in all the pictures I took). That's New York in a nutshell: it is overrun with so many beautiful women, they all could be famous!
When In Rome (2009) - In New York City, a young art curator finds herself aggressively pursued by a band of wannabe lovers after she steals coins from a Roman fountain. (Sounds good to me!) Check out this all-star cast, too: Josh Duhamel, Will Arnett, Jon Heder, Danny DeVito (him not so much).
and starring the lovely Veronica Mars herself!!
>Third stop (Greenwich or West Village)(I never know where one ends an the other begins): Two days later I was in "the Village" on a pilgrimage to the site where Adrienne Shelley tragically lost her life (15 Abingdon Square) when I walked into another movie shoot--with a loud director who sounded and slightly resembled Vince Vaughn -- filming a street corner scene with 3 hippies. Only it wasn't Vince Vaughn, just some wannabe director affecting his mannerisms. Only in New York.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
A foreignfilmguy's dilemma
FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2006 --
Here is my dilemma: Houston is the latest stop in the revival tour of the most inscrutable French film from the Sixties (not directed by Godard) "Last Year at Marienbad" (France, 1961) -- in a 35mm Cinemascope print! I have never seen this classic conundrum of a film, directed by the great Alain Resnais. The trouble is, I'm leaving on a 10-day vacation on the Thursday before the second of three consecutive Friday screenings, so I can only go to the May 9th showing.
May 9th also happens to be my last chance to see Houston Grand Opera's production of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd, the first of HGO's multi-year retrospective of Britten's work. I have a new appreciation for Britten's operas after listening to several performances of the Met's recent production of Peter Grimes on SIRIUS, plus I'm a sucker for a good seafaring yarn.
Two must-see productions: one night. What's a foreignfilmguy to do????
The answer will surprise you.
Against all expectations (for the subject of this blog, anyway) I went to the opera. That's why this post ends here. [I've waited this long ... I can always catch Marienbad at another art house venue in the future.]
Here is my dilemma: Houston is the latest stop in the revival tour of the most inscrutable French film from the Sixties (not directed by Godard) "Last Year at Marienbad" (France, 1961) -- in a 35mm Cinemascope print! I have never seen this classic conundrum of a film, directed by the great Alain Resnais. The trouble is, I'm leaving on a 10-day vacation on the Thursday before the second of three consecutive Friday screenings, so I can only go to the May 9th showing.
May 9th also happens to be my last chance to see Houston Grand Opera's production of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd, the first of HGO's multi-year retrospective of Britten's work. I have a new appreciation for Britten's operas after listening to several performances of the Met's recent production of Peter Grimes on SIRIUS, plus I'm a sucker for a good seafaring yarn.
Two must-see productions: one night. What's a foreignfilmguy to do????
The answer will surprise you.
Against all expectations (for the subject of this blog, anyway) I went to the opera. That's why this post ends here. [I've waited this long ... I can always catch Marienbad at another art house venue in the future.]
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