Random Film Thoughts: If anyone's gonna piss on him, it's gonna be me!

[Blasty]

Well, it is an amazingly ugly looking movie, from what I can remember.

An oddball Johnny Depp movie that truly is amazing and a forgotten gem is Arizona Dream, with Faye Dunaway and Lili Taylor - it's like the The Paperboy of it's day but actually, ya know, good.

[erikdean]

Um, The Paperboy is good.

[Buster]

Preach it, brotherman!

girl, you so nasty

[Buster]

LOL, it's MUCH easier to make sense of LH than it is of MD (let alone Inland Empire). You're sounding like Rex Reed when he insisted that MD made no sense and all those theories were wanking. Exactly like that. Rewatch the film now that you're an adult or else stop making RexReedesque remarks about something you clearly didn't get.

Laz ... listen to tio McTio ... he's right.

When I first saw Lost Highway just when it came out, I hated it. Damn, I couldn't have been more wrong. I almost consider LH, MD, and IE a trilogy. I could live off those three films for the rest of my days (well, with a little Keaton thrown in as well).

And those (you're probably in the majority) who say things like : "Lynch himself probably doesn't even know, or care." make only themselves look silly, seriously.

Vamos primo!

[lazarus]

Finally caught up with Sound Of My Voice, Brit Marling's follow-up script to her work on Another Earth. Once again, she co-wrote with her director, but a different collaborator this time in Zal Batmanglij.

I'll start off first with Marling's performance. She's a lot more interesting here than her dour work in Another Earth. The character she wrote for herself is a lot more interesting, not only high concept-wise but intellectually and emotionally. The two younger hipster actors are occasionally annoying but I didn't find their contrasting viewpoints and arcs fascinating.

The script, for those who aren't aware of this film, is about a couple who are trying to make an exposé documentary on what they believe is a burgeoning cult, whose leader (played by Marling) claims to be from the year 2054.

This could have gone the found-footage route, which is so played out, but thankfully it doesn't. In fact, the focus of the film is more on how the wannabe documentarians react to their environment more than anything else.

There's a outside character introduced about 3/4 of the way through, and I wasn't crazy about this subplot. It sets up the climax, which has a great twist payoff. Unfortunately, the film stops abruptly after this. I can see many people feeling cheated here. I didn't necessarily need everything explained, but something just felt off about the ending.

Well worth seeing, and I hope Marling continues to fund these intriguing small films (or bigger ones).

I know CMJ has seen and liked it. Anyone else?

[crazyfists3600]

K, so I just finished Take This Waltz and while I haven't fully processed the film, I must say that I LOVED IT Seriously, I'm not sure I understand all the hate that it has recieved...and Williams was perfection. This may be my Beginners of the year

[Howard Beale's Toothpaste]

Ruby Sparks is pretty much garbage, and I'm kind of pissed off now that it got a Screenplay nomination at the Spirit awards. fuck this movie so hard.

[Aaron Leggo]

Yay Laz and Fists! I recently saw Sound of My Voice and Take This Waltz and loved them both.

I was a big fan of Another Earth and so I love that Marling is continuing to tackle these intriguing sci-fi conceits in service of big themes. I also love that she doesn’t shy away from the geeky sci-fi possibilities of the stories. She’s not trying to break down the conceit so that it loses all of its fantasy, which makes Sound of My Voice especially interesting because it’s essentially about two characters that are trying to do just that. Considering the intentions of the protagonist couple, the movie could have easily gone down a predictable path, but it ends up in a rather fascinating place. I loved how it ended and was pretty amazed that Marling and Batmanglij found a way to arrange the pieces so two completely opposing interpretations of the twist are possible. I choose to believe the more fantastical one, but there’s plenty of space to make an argument for the more grounded explanation as well.

I found Take This Waltz deeply moving and surprisingly funny. It’s a very sad story, but the flashes of hilarity feel so honest and silly and weird and these elements are balanced beautifully by Polley. I absolutely adore Polley and think of her as a national treasure, so I wish her nothing but success. I still hope she gets back to acting at some point, but this is a powerful sophomore effort that depicts a filmmaker really coming into her own. At first, I found a bit of the quirkiness potentially off-putting, even though it mostly just struck me as cute and not much more. But before the movie pushed any of that too far, I started to really, deeply care about the characters and was astonished by the authenticity of the relationship problems between Williams and Rogen. They’re such a pair of weirdos, which made me love them, but then we can see these awkward cracks in the façade.

There are so many smart, engaging ways their distance is communicated, such as during their anniversary dinner when Margot is frustrated that they’re not having a conversation, while Lou doesn’t see it as a problem at all. They’re there to eat after all. Their fight at home when Lou is cooking chicken (“You’re always cooking chicken!”) is heartbreaking because it seemingly comes from nowhere and yet both actors let the scene fall apart so believably. I think I was expecting the movie to be more about an affair than a relationship that is failing and the angle from which Polley approaches the story was fascinating to me, because there are no easy explanations, no simple decisions, no characters that are easily villainous. Lou is a great guy, but so is Luke Kirby’s Daniel. There’s no one to hate here, which gives the conflict depth and complexity.

I adored the entire ensemble and thought the final scene with the majority of actors present was incredibly moving. Sarah Silverman’s line about life having a gap in it is quite profound, an insightful observation on the challenges of marriage and overall commitment. That it comes from that particular character only further complicates the emotional entanglement of the message.

Both of these movies are powered by two very talented young women. I can’t wait to see what their next projects are.

[crazyfists3600]

I also found the tidbits of humor essential to the flow of the film. The film felt...kind of French to me. It had that perfect balance of witty charm and devestating drama. I also loved the cinematography, which was just perfect for the moods created and the use of color was powerful. I thought the mere facial expresions and sudden mood swings brought on by Williams were outstanding.

[Howard Beale's Toothpaste]

Yeah, Take This Waltz is brilliant, especially in how it takes the conventions of romantic comedies, and congeals them into something emotionally horrifying. People criticizing the quirkiness missed the point entirely. Polley deliberately invoked recent indie romantic comedies, but did so in order to heighten the child-like nature of Williams' character, and maybe also to expose the inauthenticity of these films. Also, the montage set to the titular song is DEVASTATING.

[lazarus]

Yay Laz and Fists! I recently saw Sound of My Voice and Take This Waltz and loved them both.

I was a big fan of Another Earth and so I love that Marling is continuing to tackle these intriguing sci-fi conceits in service of big themes. I also love that she doesn’t shy away from the geeky sci-fi possibilities of the stories. She’s not trying to break down the conceit so that it loses all of its fantasy, which makes Sound of My Voice especially interesting because it’s essentially about two characters that are trying to do just that. Considering the intentions of the protagonist couple, the movie could have easily gone down a predictable path, but it ends up in a rather fascinating place. I loved how it ended and was pretty amazed that Marling and Batmanglij found a way to arrange the pieces so two completely opposing interpretations of the twist are possible. I choose to believe the more fantastical one, but there’s plenty of space to make an argument for the more grounded explanation as well.

Good to read your thoughts here, Aaron. Just curious: what would be the grounded explanation of what happens at the end?

[Aaron Leggo]

Thanks, Laz.

Okay, I'll spoiler tag this thing!

Basically, before the big finale, Lorna meets that agent who claims Maggie is indeed a fraud and she's been tracking her for a while. She seems to know something about Maggie's proclivity for children and tells Lorna that she'll fill her in on the real reason Maggie wants the kid. Since we never hear the agent's explanation, I figure it's conceivable that Maggie is indeed a charlatan and that her way of convincing non-believers is to pull a stunt where she has her cronies basically stalk some kid, gather info on the child, and then Maggie can perform some sort of trick that makes it seem like she knows something about the kid that supports her claim that she's from the future. It's far-fetched, but not impossible that the thing the agent explained to Lorna was that Maggie has done this before: found a kid, figured out something like a special handshake, and then used that to create the illusion of irrefutable proof. Again, it's a long shot, but by removing us from that conversation between Lorna and the agent, the explanation of the kid's purpose (from the perspective of someone convinced Maggie is a charlatan) remains a question mark. Personally, I like the idea that Maggie is the real time traveling deal, but I think that leaving the agent's explanation as a blank we can fill in opens the doors to dual interpretations.

End spoiler rant!

[jjj]

I just read about Whedon's In Your Eyes. It sounds interesting and I'll add it to my short list of probably-sees for next year.

[lazarus]

Thanks, Laz.

Okay, I'll spoiler tag this thing!

Basically, before the big finale, Lorna meets that agent who claims Maggie is indeed a fraud and she's been tracking her for a while. She seems to know something about Maggie's proclivity for children and tells Lorna that she'll fill her in on the real reason Maggie wants the kid. Since we never hear the agent's explanation, I figure it's conceivable that Maggie is indeed a charlatan and that her way of convincing non-believers is to pull a stunt where she has her cronies basically stalk some kid, gather info on the child, and then Maggie can perform some sort of trick that makes it seem like she knows something about the kid that supports her claim that she's from the future. It's far-fetched, but not impossible that the thing the agent explained to Lorna was that Maggie has done this before: found a kid, figured out something like a special handshake, and then used that to create the illusion of irrefutable proof. Again, it's a long shot, but by removing us from that conversation between Lorna and the agent, the explanation of the kid's purpose (from the perspective of someone convinced Maggie is a charlatan) remains a question mark. Personally, I like the idea that Maggie is the real time traveling deal, but I think that leaving the agent's explanation as a blank we can fill in opens the doors to dual interpretations.

End spoiler rant!

Hmm. I feel like getting Peter to go through with it means she's already won, and that the handshake proof is just the icing on top. Note that the film ends with the reprise of that "It's your choice, Peter. Not mine.

For a while I thought the agent was going to wind up being someone else from the future trying to stop Maggie, but that would have been all sorts of ridiculous. Not sure we even needed that character to present conflict because there was enough already with the dueling perspectives of Lorna and Peter.

Also, isn't there some significance to the injections the little girl was getting? Don't we see Maggie receiving the same thing earlier?

[Aaron Leggo]

Hmm. I feel like getting Peter to go through with it means she's already won, and that the handshake proof is just the icing on top. Note that the film ends with the reprise of that "It's your choice, Peter. Not mine.

For a while I thought the agent was going to wind up being someone else from the future trying to stop Maggie, but that would have been all sorts of ridiculous. Not sure we even needed that character to present conflict because there was enough already with the dueling perspectives of Lorna and Peter.

Also, isn't there some significance to the injections the little girl was getting? Don't we see Maggie receiving the same thing earlier?

Great stuff, Laz. To continue our spoiler tag conversation...

I agree with most of what you're saying. I definitely prefer the more fantastical interpretation of the story and loved the ending because it seemed to support the sci-fi aspects of the conceit. At the same time, I was impressed that the writers were able to introduce another angle and that they specifically didn't provide certain answers to create a sense of ambiguity that could support the charlatan theory. So you're totally right about Maggie "winning", at least in terms of convincing Peter (and probably many of us in the audience).

As for the agent character, I overall enjoyed her inclusion because at first when she appeared, I figured the story was going to go down a predictable route where Maggie is exposed and it's all a sham and stuff like that, but then the agent character is used to create further questions about Maggie's story, opening the movie up to intriguing interpretations that wouldn't necessarily be as potent without her.

And I totally didn't make the injection comparison! That's a great point and a really cool tie between the characters.

[Stéphane]

Roger Ebert's commentary for Citizen Kane is a beautiful jerkoff session.

[haqyunus]

Blind Chance by Krzysztof Kieslowski is amazing in the regard that how much territory it covers and still manages to be pretty insightful. It is a dense and detailed film which is unabashedly political (the 70s/80s communist Poland) but never confusing or excessively instructive. Remarkably focused, ironic and beautiful. It is less stylish than the Colors Trilogy or Veronique but the typical Keislowski themes of fate, opportunities and unpredictability of life are all here in their passionate and profound forms.

[CMJ]

Just now saw your convo Laz and Aaron. I LOVED Sound of My Voice! I was gonna weigh in on the twist ending, but I think yall did a pretty good job of hashing out some of the possibilities they threw out there. I saw a Q&A where both Marling and Batmanglij were at and by the end of it I wasn't even sure they agreed on it. I am not proficient in spoiler tagging, so I am not gonna wade into the nuts and bolts, but they definitely did a masterful job of letting you be able to read either way into the end.

[BBKing44]

I really enjoyed Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Although the plot is rushed (This should have been a half-hour longer) and some of the lines are corny, it's a very solid film. It's great entertainment and I can see why it's amassed a bit of a cult following over the years.

[Jeff Beachnau]

I just got done watching Citizen Kane and Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie together in 10 minute segments, it was quite the experience. So, I'm thinking of doing it with Casablanca and another movie next. I just haven't figured out which bad movie to watch yet. It's gotta be something on youtube though, because i don't wanna go out and rent/buy something awful.