Chasing Amy (1997)

When a romantic comedy is done right, it has the capability of knocking you out of the park. Two people falling in love provides a sweetness to the low nature of most comedies. Most of Shakespeare’s comedies involve love and marriage. The lovers often don’t know they are in love, change or hide their identities, think they are smarter than they are, love to talk about…love, and find themselves frustrated with their emotional shortcomings. Here is a movie that seems both Shakespearean in content, yet wonderfully ahead of its time in its subject matter and presentation. Chasing Amy is the Annie Hall or When Harry Met Sally for Generation X. The boundaries of content matter are pushed to the extreme, yet the sweetness remains intact. When Amy stands outside and admits of her sexual dealings, we’re surprised to hear her candidness. Yes, she did those things. Yes, she may have even enjoyed it. But why can’t Holden and most men forgive women for their past dealings? Why does a man feel like he’s sharing her? The amazing thing is how Holden doesn’t mind her being with other women, but the second it changes to men, he loses it. For all his thoughts and ideas on things, he hits a wall of inarticulation when it comes to dealing with Alyssa’s previous experiences.
In fact, Kevin Smith finally seems to have a goal in mind with his writing. While his dialogue was freeroaming in Clerks, the conversations in Chasing Amy really work towards defining the characters and giving them some bite to their incessant bark. Banky, in particular, is the evolution of Dante and Randall in the original Clerks. He defends Archie’s heterosexuality and the artistic responsibilities of “tracing” in the comic book industry. He is severely passionate about his tiny beliefs and will defend them like a fundamentalist would his religion. His relationship with Holden is one of the first homosocial “bromances”, where we are just as interested in their fights as we are between Holden and Alyssa. A showdown takes place at the end of the movie that tries to apply logic to the emotional insanity of dating, and the showdown is unique and funny.
It pushes the borders of the genre and explores the nature of love between men and women. Kevin Smith's vulgarity hits really graceful notes in this movie. The sexual escapade scene reenacted with the same setup as “Jaws” is an example of class this movie manages to uphold while talking about the dangers of going down on a girl. The framing of the scene disregards the actual sexual activity; instead, it’s about these character’s abilities to adapt the old pop cultures of the past and reinterpret them into their daily routines. Watch how easily Hooper’s Malcom X caricature deconstructs Star Wars as racist propaganda. He’s not saying that the movie is racist; rather, just that he’s smart enough to take it down a racist diatribe. If he wants to. He’s just talking because he’s really good at it.
Jay and Silent Bob’s arrival on the scene is perhaps the best I’ve seen. Once again, here we have another “bromance” that seems oddly comforting as these two losers feel comfortable exposing the pathetic nature of any situation. Jay is so oddly homosexual that it’s hilarious to hear him cut open Holden for losing his girl. One can’t imagine the heartbreak Jay would feel if Silent Bob up and left. They are the human doppelgangers of Beavis and Butthead. Except Silent Bob’s mesmerizing speech about Chasin’ Amy is right on par. It robs us because of its honesty. Here we have them first talking about going down on girls (but remember, that’s not the actual subject), and then it deftly switches to men constantly trying to transform girls into the built-up images that they hold for them. These men start with vulgarity almost as if that’s how you say hello. Then, only when you recognize the sadness hiding behind the pussy jokes do you weave your way into comfort and understanding.

Solaris (2002)

The remake of Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 film, while at least an hour shorter, still moves at a somber pace. This is a love story set in space, about a man who has a chance to reunite with his dead wife. It's interesting that the film never mentions the word "alien"; while the reincarnations (if that's what you can even call them) are certainly not human, they...well..I imagine they are human. They possess no foreign abilities, and the only thing odd about them is they were created by Solaris itself. Tangible, corporeal bodies brought to life by the deep inner workings of the subconscious. Once alive they possess conscience and free will, yet they are unable to determine where they came from, or why they came at all. Their existential confusion clouds their minds, but certainly they do exist. Right?

Soderbergh's film finds questions within the human condition that astronauts cannot explain. Perhaps they cannot explain it because they have sought for answers elsewhere in space, rather than within. Chris Kelvin stares in disbelief at his wife, for death no longer exists. Captain Gordon fears the "others" totally and completely, refusing to bring them back to Earth. And then there's Snow, whose confusion is well-warranted.

I understand Kelvin's desire to be with his wife again, to make amends and feel her against him, he warmth against his warmth.

In the cold bowels of space, two lovers reunite. The ending of the film is tragic, yet haunting. But lovers will find a way, no matter how foolish or desperate. "For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come".

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Things that went through my head during the exhausting IB experience.

Empty theater, except for myself and Matt.

1. The Revenge Tragedy- Shosanna's story arc follows the popular revenge tragedy narrative. Wronged by Col. Landa, she fulfills her destiny as a revenge hero only to be thwarted (somewhat) at the end. She changes identity completely, sacrificing love, family, and self for the destruction of those against her. She does not, however, get the man who wronged her. Revenge is sloppy in this film, attacking anyone in the way.

2. QT's Love Letter to Cinema- This film is about filmmaking as much it is about World War II. Must watch again to find exact references; "I think this may be my masterpiece"

3. Kinetic Violence- Stunning climax to the Operation Kino, possibly lasting less than 10 seconds. Reminded me of the blistering editing power of The Wild Bunch.

4. Comparisons to the Western- usage of Spaghetti Western music. Opening shot reminiscent of Eastwood's Unforgiven. Apache head scalpers. Shosanna's Apache war paint. Revenge a common theme in The Searchers.

Between Breaths (Gasps)

I'm still here, I promise
Still continuing to disappoint my blog readers (namely,
myself)which is the worst to disappoint.
Life is moving, tangibly, forcibly.

Enough with the adverbs.
Sloppy, exploitative writing.
Naturally. ha

Got encouragement from many sides,
Am at the top of my game.
Electric. Kinetic.

The central "cocksure" component to success
The hub, the CPU, the center, the rock,
is composure.

Having the best time of my life.
Bring the noise.

Halloween (1978)

Halloween (1978): Bump. Bub-ump. Bump. Bub-ump. This is the reason why the original Halloween is so scary. All it takes is those two dreadful notes. The music is absolutely terrifying. One of the filmmakers said if you watch the film on mute, it’s quite tame. It’s when the music comes on, that you feel those worst fears coming true. This film is awfully effective, simply because there’s no shame or winks. Michael Myers moves like Jaws; completely amoral, without need for words or reasoning or conscience. He is a horrendous force of nature. One of the best sequences is when Laurie Strode yells for Tommy Doyle (that name is so suburban, its funny) to come unlock the front door. Across the street, we see the house that Michael Myers is somewhere inside of. Cut back to Laurie. Cut back to the house, and we see Michael slowly (slowly is the key) emerge from the shadows. He’s still coming. Laurie starts to panic and yells once again for Tommy. Cut back to Michael, who’s now approaching the street. So incredibly simple, and yet so bold and terrifying in its directness. I attached the trailer, for an example of the music’s effectiveness.

Funny People (2009)

I have to say that this was a disappointment, and that it, too, deserves another viewing. For a few reasons, but the main one is because I saw the movie in an empty theater. It’s hard to laugh out loud like you want to at the cinema when it’s a quiet (and cold!!!) empty room. The echo of your own laughs makes you feel lonely.

But Judd Apatow’s third feature leaves its most serious subject to go on an hour long subplot that is frustrating in its intentions and quite worthless. The first hour, however, is quite good, and on par with Apatow’s best. Who else can talk about death and penises? But what’s frustrating is that George Simmon’s near-death experience is only that. A spoiled asshole of a man comes close to death, and that’s about it. There’s no catharsis in that situation, no feelings of redemption or hope. Only a man who almost dies, remains an asshole, and never thanks anyone for his luck or resolution. He is a dick to Ira (Shmyra) and then tries to steal his old flame back from a much nicer man. Everyone in the Apatow universe has a problem, but George won’t admit of his problems. He’s just not very likeable. But I don’t think that this movie is bad. It has grand aspirations, and it’s smart, well-written, and (this is key), funny. But compared to Knocked up (2007), which I still think is a masterpiece, this movie doesn’t hold up.

I resort back, quite often, to the rule of thumb from Matt Stone and Trey Parker. They believe, and I do too, that their best episodes of South Park came when they focused specifically on one idea. When they started combining storylines into a twenty minute episode, the plots felt too sparse and rushed. Apatow should consider this, because I think he has two movies piled into this one. The stand-up idea is quite good, and possesses much more material that didn’t make it into this movie. I could tell that Apatow cut a lot out so that he could fit in the other stories into this mess of a movie. There seems to be about three plots going on, and this one ain’t Pulp Fiction.


But But But. THe first sequence of this movie is stunning. Putting this in the movie was quite brilliant of Apatow, but the movie never again seems to reach the high notes of four guys just making jokes in an apartment room.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

Can’t say too much about this one, except that I only watched forty minutes. I won’t say that I left because of disgust, but just because I felt that I didn’t have the time to sit and risk not enjoying the movie. The only thing that I noticed was that Channing Tatum did not seem like a very good actor, and that I had to pee really bad. I hope one day I can sit down and try and figure out if the movie was worth the awesome weekend that it had. For the record, I love director Stephen Sommers; The Mummy and Van Helsing will always be at the very top of my geek chart.

By the way, this movie and Transformers have really sparked some debates about where the movies are going, and more importantly, where audience expectations are going. I am stuck in the middle of the debate. While I value movies with actual stories and action scenes with some motivation and inspiration, I think that most people still go to the movies to escape the burdens of real life. And if people want to see stuff blowed up, or see Sienna Miller in brown hair, let them go. Detach yourself from the machine, and move on past it. I did find myself somewhat depressed listen to everyone laugh at the jokes within G.I. Joe. Their laughs felt contrived, as if they understood the formula of the blockbuster. Put in lots of action scenes, but in between these scenes, give them comic relief so they can feel part of the awesomeness. But the laughs I head in that theater were weirdly timed. A joke would arrive, and it wouldn’t be that funny. But seconds later, the audience picked up on the cue, and laughed. Hard. I don’t know how to respond to that, except that it turned me off.

Also, Channing Tatum (who still can’t act) reminds me of a beefed up Ben Foster. They should have put him in the fucking movie.