Greta Gerwig is Lola. About a woman getting dumped three weeks prior to her wedding and the ensuing few months of her life.
I haven't seen the director's first movie - but it was evidently a well respected indie movie. So - I think it sad that his second effort was so..."blah." I have two major points of contention with it.
1) The lack of structure. There really is not second act to this movie - at least not in any story kind of way. The main character just sort of wanders about, getting herself into trouble. The main character just sort of wallows in self obsessed early adult melancholia. The second act doesn't go anywhere - it just sort of loops constantly back on itself. She falls for her friend, she sleeps with her ex, she dates her friend, she gets high with her ex, etc, etc
2) If you're stay away from a more structured movie - at least give me an interesting voice in which to tell your story. There are plenty of amusing moments and clever turns of phrase. But in the end the dialog and the filmmaking do not stand out in any meaningful way from so many other failed romantic comedy attempts.
So the movie is neither Hollywood enough, nor indie enough and as a result it's just not particularly good. It simply wallows.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
Meandering: Chronicle
For so many reasons this movie shouldn't work. The plot is aimless. The supporting characters thin. The emotional beats unconvincing. But - obviously - movie goers really enjoyed the movie. I am only luke warm on it.
But the movie did a number of things right:
83 minutes
The promise of the premise was paid in full - friends exploring their new found super powers in fun ways.
High school - a milieu we all know and identify with.
A believable friendship-
An effective - albeit unconvincing in my mind - story arc for the lead character.
But the movie did a number of things right:
83 minutes
The promise of the premise was paid in full - friends exploring their new found super powers in fun ways.
High school - a milieu we all know and identify with.
A believable friendship-
An effective - albeit unconvincing in my mind - story arc for the lead character.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Meandering: Girls 1-5
I like the show Girls.
But I rather hate the girls themselves.
Angst runs through me as I watch them complain, whimper and "suffer" through their daily lives.
The only obstacles these women face are of their own making - but man are they hard to overcome.
How does one overcome being a snobby, self-involved idiot.
And why do I enjoy watching it.
The only answer I can come up with is that every time they seem to learn a little bit about themselves - they suffer all the more for it.
I'm watching this show because it's one step forward and two steps back and they'll get somewhere eventually.
But I rather hate the girls themselves.
Angst runs through me as I watch them complain, whimper and "suffer" through their daily lives.
The only obstacles these women face are of their own making - but man are they hard to overcome.
How does one overcome being a snobby, self-involved idiot.
And why do I enjoy watching it.
The only answer I can come up with is that every time they seem to learn a little bit about themselves - they suffer all the more for it.
I'm watching this show because it's one step forward and two steps back and they'll get somewhere eventually.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Meandering: Avengers
What a fun movie. Even though weighed down by burdensome action sequences the juggling of characters and story lines was so deft as to keep me involved throughout. Certainly Whedon is good at character moments - witty character moments in particular. Aside from Batman - this is the high water mark for summer superhero blockbusters.
Meanderings: Elena
Saw the movie Elena last night.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1925421/
It's Russian, very slow paced and (excluding a few minutes in the middle) quite watchable.
The movie involves an older woman (Elena) who recently married an old, rich guy and wants him to support her shiftless adult son from a previous marriage. He's reluctant.
Though the situation of the film is quite clear, there's a distinct lack of plot or forward movement - quite intentionally so. This entire movie is basically the first act of a Hollywood movie.
Nevertheless - I'm interested in the fact that I found it so watchable. The movie was pointedly meditative. There's no dialog for the first six minutes and in fact the opening frame is a two minute static frame of the apartment in which the couple live.
There's something potent that comes from simply observing characters. My brain fills in all the small spaces where plot and activity would usually be. I've just mentioned The Assassination of Jesse James in a previous post - it does the same thing - allows each individual audience member's psyches to fill in the space. I love it.
I moved through a phase wondering if I'd filled such blanks incorrectly. If i'd missed something and ended up liking a character I'm "supposed to" dislike or vice versa. As if there's an exact answer. But in my ego-laden old age I enjoy being given the space to meditate on characters without being force fed a feeling about them. Indeed, the movie as a whole embodies that idea - as the plot's "climax" does not prescribe and audience reaction.
Elena kills her husband, steals his money and give it to her shitty family. But the husband was essentially cutting her out of his will and leaving his money to his own good for nothing offspring. This kind of reminds me of the TV show Girls - full of unlikeable characters but really engaging to watch.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1925421/
It's Russian, very slow paced and (excluding a few minutes in the middle) quite watchable.
The movie involves an older woman (Elena) who recently married an old, rich guy and wants him to support her shiftless adult son from a previous marriage. He's reluctant.
Though the situation of the film is quite clear, there's a distinct lack of plot or forward movement - quite intentionally so. This entire movie is basically the first act of a Hollywood movie.
Nevertheless - I'm interested in the fact that I found it so watchable. The movie was pointedly meditative. There's no dialog for the first six minutes and in fact the opening frame is a two minute static frame of the apartment in which the couple live.
There's something potent that comes from simply observing characters. My brain fills in all the small spaces where plot and activity would usually be. I've just mentioned The Assassination of Jesse James in a previous post - it does the same thing - allows each individual audience member's psyches to fill in the space. I love it.
I moved through a phase wondering if I'd filled such blanks incorrectly. If i'd missed something and ended up liking a character I'm "supposed to" dislike or vice versa. As if there's an exact answer. But in my ego-laden old age I enjoy being given the space to meditate on characters without being force fed a feeling about them. Indeed, the movie as a whole embodies that idea - as the plot's "climax" does not prescribe and audience reaction.
Elena kills her husband, steals his money and give it to her shitty family. But the husband was essentially cutting her out of his will and leaving his money to his own good for nothing offspring. This kind of reminds me of the TV show Girls - full of unlikeable characters but really engaging to watch.
Andrew Dominik
I am very excited about this movie from Andrew Dominik who made The Assassination of Jesse James.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1764234/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1764234/
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Meandering: Mr Foe
directed by David Mackenzie
A slightly unbalanced boy/man is obsessed with his mother who died when he was a teenager. The boy, an amateur voyeur, has a strange sexual/maternal fixation with first, his step-mother (whom he, in his paranoia, thinks murdered his mother) and then with a young woman who looks much like his mother.
The boy, Hallam, is in dire need of some kind of closure over the death of his mother. That unstable ground tilts him into the sexual desire he feels for these two different women.
We watch his fixation with the young woman hotel manager in awkwardly as it's unclear of how he's reconciling the maternal feelings he's having for KaTE with his obvious relationship/sexual interest in her.
It all resolves when Hallam tries to kill his step Mom and Daddy tells him that his mother loved him - even though it wasn't enough for her to want to stay alive.
I found this movie watchable - but it did not blow me away.
I'm always slightly less interested in movies in which the main character is mentally unbalanced...and the conclusion of the movie will involved him coming to terms with/being healed of that imbalance. Good Will Hunting somehow escapes my disdain for this - I'm not sure why.
I did like the examination of maternal/sexual fixation. However, fot such dark and subversive themes to work i think the movie needs to remain more outwardly subtle. When one of the story lines involves the son trying to kill his step Mom, an act which triggers the emotional cure for the son - it's all too out in the open. He was sick - he tried to do something horrible - realizes his wrongs - starts to get better.
This is one of those movies that makes me realize just how hard making a good film of this kind is. There needs to be an examination of themes - but at the same time an A story that moves things forward - but isn't too on the nose.
I'm trying to think of a movie that does this well. Two movies jump to mind, though I don't think they're the answer but....nevertheless. One Flew over the Cuckoos nest. The Beat my Heart Skipped.
Again - very difficult to have basically a crazy person - perpetrating crazy actions - as the main character. How can this resolve itself in a meaningful and believable way?
A slightly unbalanced boy/man is obsessed with his mother who died when he was a teenager. The boy, an amateur voyeur, has a strange sexual/maternal fixation with first, his step-mother (whom he, in his paranoia, thinks murdered his mother) and then with a young woman who looks much like his mother.
The boy, Hallam, is in dire need of some kind of closure over the death of his mother. That unstable ground tilts him into the sexual desire he feels for these two different women.
We watch his fixation with the young woman hotel manager in awkwardly as it's unclear of how he's reconciling the maternal feelings he's having for KaTE with his obvious relationship/sexual interest in her.
It all resolves when Hallam tries to kill his step Mom and Daddy tells him that his mother loved him - even though it wasn't enough for her to want to stay alive.
I found this movie watchable - but it did not blow me away.
I'm always slightly less interested in movies in which the main character is mentally unbalanced...and the conclusion of the movie will involved him coming to terms with/being healed of that imbalance. Good Will Hunting somehow escapes my disdain for this - I'm not sure why.
I did like the examination of maternal/sexual fixation. However, fot such dark and subversive themes to work i think the movie needs to remain more outwardly subtle. When one of the story lines involves the son trying to kill his step Mom, an act which triggers the emotional cure for the son - it's all too out in the open. He was sick - he tried to do something horrible - realizes his wrongs - starts to get better.
This is one of those movies that makes me realize just how hard making a good film of this kind is. There needs to be an examination of themes - but at the same time an A story that moves things forward - but isn't too on the nose.
I'm trying to think of a movie that does this well. Two movies jump to mind, though I don't think they're the answer but....nevertheless. One Flew over the Cuckoos nest. The Beat my Heart Skipped.
Again - very difficult to have basically a crazy person - perpetrating crazy actions - as the main character. How can this resolve itself in a meaningful and believable way?
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Why is gay love so damn cute...
I have a soft spot for gays in love. I find it both ridiculously cute and highly admirable...far more so than hetro relationships. I'm wondering why.
The originality of gay relationships, the fact that I've grown up with almost no mythologized narrative of its kind, makes it new, intriguing and far more interesting than straight love. This is so, even if in the end there's no tangible difference between the two, aside from the genders of the people involved.
At 40 years old I've got an encyclopedia of romantic story lines embedded in my brain. Movies, books and magazines have trumpeted the wonders of love. Whether Harry and Sally, Jane and Rochester or Brad and Angelina - we've seen hetro love affairs over and over and over. We've seen every permutation of how a man and a woman can fall in love with one another.
Look - a gay relationship doesn't contain some unique element of love that we've not seen before. There's nothing mysterious about two people, even of the same sex, falling in love with one another. But for me - it's a new version of a love story that the media, which has inundated my consciousness for the last 40 years with stories of straight people, has yet to bombard me with. That newness makes it far more exciting, audacious and interesting than what I've seen a million times before.
The originality of gay relationships, the fact that I've grown up with almost no mythologized narrative of its kind, makes it new, intriguing and far more interesting than straight love. This is so, even if in the end there's no tangible difference between the two, aside from the genders of the people involved.
At 40 years old I've got an encyclopedia of romantic story lines embedded in my brain. Movies, books and magazines have trumpeted the wonders of love. Whether Harry and Sally, Jane and Rochester or Brad and Angelina - we've seen hetro love affairs over and over and over. We've seen every permutation of how a man and a woman can fall in love with one another.
Look - a gay relationship doesn't contain some unique element of love that we've not seen before. There's nothing mysterious about two people, even of the same sex, falling in love with one another. But for me - it's a new version of a love story that the media, which has inundated my consciousness for the last 40 years with stories of straight people, has yet to bombard me with. That newness makes it far more exciting, audacious and interesting than what I've seen a million times before.
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Meandering: Good Dick
A movie I started watching because of Dick Night. However, this dick movie went to Sundance. I think ours was better.
Good Dick started out well - but never evolved enough- rather it wallowed in its subject matter - occasionally making unbelievable jumps which further undermined it.
They ellipse the woman skeptical of Ritter - to the two of them sitting together. It rung false. Ritter seems to be a completely unbelievable character through the whole thing - as if he's playing a persona - which is fine - but that persona has to crumble at some point. It never really did.
The movie simply repeats the same moments over and over
she: I want you out - i hate you
him: no i'm staying
That's it - for a solid 45 minutes of the movie. There needs to be more. Something must evolve - something that will hold my interest.
Note: (A lesson I too have learned) - if you're going to call a movie "Good Dick" and have it involve porn as much as this one does. There better be some nudity!!!
Meandering: Homeland EPS 1-4
I really enjoyed the pilot episode. Two obviously damaged people leading the show.
Boyle
Fucking his wife for the first time - dispassionate, brutal, unfeeling. There's obviously something wrong with the guy. We've seen sex used this way before - but it's not all that common so it still maintains its integrity. I think of Michael Douglas fucking Jeanne Tripplehorn in Basic Instinct (http://fooooo.com/w/cbc1b907084f2e99249462b8ab369f14) - though upon rewatching it - that's more a weird rape thing he's working on. Nevertheless - sex style - a fascinating way to look at a character's psyche.
Carrie
For Clair Danes - she comes home - tosses an obviously faux wedding band into a dish, washes between her legs and heads out for work. Pretty awesome. The duality of her former status as innocent Angela Chase - now grown up and fucking random guys is wonderful. There are three things that combine adeptly to make Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) work so well.
Her Age - she's no longer an ingenue. Is she 30 or 40 - kinda tough to tell.
Her Looks - she's....pretty?? - But not really. She was as a young girl, but now looks much more like a real person - a woman who might actually be a CIA analyst.
Her Past - she played one of the iconic virgins in TV history.
Combined - this makes for a great character foundation.
Through four episodes I'm totally onboard and very interested to see how the two characters now start to interact with each other. I can't see them ever having a relationship - but we shall see.
A side note: Manny Patinkin is unbelievably good at acting!
Boyle
Fucking his wife for the first time - dispassionate, brutal, unfeeling. There's obviously something wrong with the guy. We've seen sex used this way before - but it's not all that common so it still maintains its integrity. I think of Michael Douglas fucking Jeanne Tripplehorn in Basic Instinct (http://fooooo.com/w/cbc1b907084f2e99249462b8ab369f14) - though upon rewatching it - that's more a weird rape thing he's working on. Nevertheless - sex style - a fascinating way to look at a character's psyche.
Carrie
For Clair Danes - she comes home - tosses an obviously faux wedding band into a dish, washes between her legs and heads out for work. Pretty awesome. The duality of her former status as innocent Angela Chase - now grown up and fucking random guys is wonderful. There are three things that combine adeptly to make Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) work so well.
Her Age - she's no longer an ingenue. Is she 30 or 40 - kinda tough to tell.
Her Looks - she's....pretty?? - But not really. She was as a young girl, but now looks much more like a real person - a woman who might actually be a CIA analyst.
Her Past - she played one of the iconic virgins in TV history.
Combined - this makes for a great character foundation.
Through four episodes I'm totally onboard and very interested to see how the two characters now start to interact with each other. I can't see them ever having a relationship - but we shall see.
A side note: Manny Patinkin is unbelievably good at acting!
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