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

[McTeague]

It seems The Chase (Arthur Penn, 1966) doesn’t have a great reputation and was lambasted by critics upon release, but I found it to be a very powerful movie, successful in it embittered, angry tone. Yes, it’s a pot-boiler and, like all pot-boilers, it can be accused of throwing in too much (the sexual revolution, the civil rights for Afro-Americans, the greed of the oil industry, class conflict, race conflict, sex conflict, power conflict…) but I found everything to be very-well put together, in a way that all the excess makes sense.

It helps that Penn’s direction is so solid and stingy, making everything feel real (it certainly foregrounds the impending revolution in the way Hollywood would start filming violence and sex just two or three years later) but also keeping a high level of stylization that makes the pot-boiling aspect make sense.

The cast also helps, without a single weak link (well, maybe Redford and his usual blandness, but he’s in it for so little time that you won’t notice, and it’s not as if he’s bad, he’s just nothing special). Miriham Hopkins was best in show, somehow! Such (called-for) pathos and intensity!

But, AMPAS that year decided to nominate The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (Jewison, 1966), which is a bland, overlong comedy filled of good intentions towards cold war and stuff. It’s like an Elling comedy without the teeth and with considerably less charm. It’s not bad, some gags work and some moments even move a bit, but for the most part it’s so predictable (not only in terms of plot, but in terms of which gags you’re gonna see) that you never understand why it takes so much time to get where everyone knows we’ll get.

Is 1966’s the worst lineup ever in AMPAS history? This and “A Man for All Seasons” are as bland as it gets, and that Virginia Woolf mess is pretty dumb. I still have to watch “Alfie” and “The Sand Peebles”, but they don’t look very promising…

[bryan1311]

So, I know there are a few fans of it on here (Buster?!), but I was absolutely stunned at how much I liked Bernie and, specifically, how much I liked Jack Black as the titular character. Linklater did a perfect job of incorporating the mockumentary aspect into the film.

Like, I'd probably give this a nomination in Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress...and maybe even Picture?!

[lazarus]

It seems The Chase (Arthur Penn, 1966) doesn’t have a great reputation and was lambasted by critics upon release, but I found it to be a very powerful movie, successful in it embittered, angry tone. Yes, it’s a pot-boiler and, like all pot-boilers, it can be accused of throwing in too much (the sexual revolution, the civil rights for Afro-Americans, the greed of the oil industry, class conflict, race conflict, sex conflict, power conflict…) but I found everything to be very-well put together, in a way that all the excess makes sense.

It helps that Penn’s direction is so solid and stingy, making everything feel real (it certainly foregrounds the impending revolution in the way Hollywood would start filming violence and sex just two or three years later) but also keeping a high level of stylization that makes the pot-boiling aspect make sense.

The cast also helps, without a single weak link (well, maybe Redford and his usual blandness, but he’s in it for so little time that you won’t notice, and it’s not as if he’s bad, he’s just nothing special). Miriham Hopkins was best in show, somehow! Such (called-for) pathos and intensity!

Wow I'm impressed you managed to write this up without trashing Brando.

[Buster]

So, I know there are a few fans of it on here (Buster?!), but I was absolutely stunned at how much I liked Bernie and, specifically, how much I liked Jack Black as the titular character. Linklater did a perfect job of incorporating the mockumentary aspect into the film.

Like, I'd probably give this a nomination in Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress...and maybe even Picture?!

[bryan1311]

It's such an oddly sweet and touching and funny and unnerving little film. And I LOVED the little old man who had such a low opinion of the town that the trial is moved to.

[Buster]

Yeah, he was great!

Sonny Davis: Carthage is in East Texas and that’s totally different from the rest of Texas which could be five different states, actually. You got your West Texas out there with a bunch of flat ranches. Up north you got them Dallas snobs with their Mercedes. And then you got Houston, the Carcinogenic Coast is what I call it, all the way up to Louisiana. Then down south, San Antonio, that’s where the Tex meets the Mex, like the food. And then in Central Texas you got the People’s Republic of Austin with a bunch of hairy-legged women and liberal fruitcakes. Course, I left out the panhandle and a lot of people do, but… Carthage, this is where the South begins. This is life behind the Pine Curtain and, truth be known, it’s a good place.

The dvd extras were really interesting as well, especially talking with all the townspeople who got hired ( and their auditions ). It's funny, I'm really quite eager to see this again ( unlike so many of the 'required' Oscar favorites, so many of which were difficult to sit through even the one time ). I'd love to see this little film sneak in for a few nods ... hell, wins even! I just came upon this interesting NY Times piece How My Aunt Marge Ended Up in the Deep Freeze . . . A good read !

And there was something about Aunt Marge’s ending up in a freezer that seemed appropriate. She’d always been kind of coldhearted. It was not an unfitting end.

When informed that Marge died, the first thing my Aunt Sue, her other sister, said was, “What a relief.”

[Markku Palo]

Is 1966’s the worst lineup ever in AMPAS history? This and “A Man for All Seasons” are as bland as it gets, and that Virginia Woolf mess is pretty dumb. I still have to watch “Alfie” and “The Sand Peebles”, but they don’t look very promising…

Alfie is good, if a bit dated. The Sand Pebbles, despite McQueen's solid work, is almost ubearably dull.

[Thomas]

I sat through Four Christmasses and Horrible Bosses yesterday, and I don't know why!

These are the kind of films that make you question art, but not in a good way.
I feel sad/angry for all the talent involved in those two films.

However, Jennifer Aniston was all sorts of great. [/clearwatergirl]

[Anthony_X]

Surprised at how much I liked Sleepwalk with me. It's a sweet, crowd-pleaser indie and Birbiglia is just incredibly charming. Funny, witty... Very solid.

[Ben7]

How cool is this? One of my favorite actors ever, Peter Fonda arriving at the launch of his fashion line yesterday. He arrived on a motorcycle wearing a leather jacket and boots. Looks like he just stepped off the set of Easy Rider!

[McTeague]

Wow I'm impressed you managed to write this up without trashing Brando.

Girl, what's up with you and my supposed Brando hate? I've said many times I don't think he's the best actor ever and that he could be very actorly and method-y, and his win for The Godfather is laughable, but I consider many of his performances to be among the all-time bests and when he's not overdone he's indeed usually excelent. Hell, only a couple of weeks ago I was defending him from Jali's attacks regarding his perf in Julius Caesar, which I called the best and most memorable turn in the film. Like, stop overreacting like a fangirl because I once said a couple of things against him. Not being blind at his missteps doesn't mean I hate him.

Alfie is good, if a bit dated. The Sand Pebbles, despite McQueen's solid work, is almost ubearably dull.

Yeah I keep hearing that about Sand Pebbles so I think I’m gonna skip it. I tend to be a completist but life’s too short and I want to move onto 1967 already. I however want to give Alfie a chance. It looks fresher than the other 4 BP nominees and I’m a Caine fan, so I wouldn’t like to pass it. I think I’m watching that, Resnais’ “The War is Over” and Polanski’s “Cul-de-sac” and consider myself done with this year.

Maybe I should also give a try to Godard’s “Made in USA” and Passolini’s “Hawks and Sparrows, but I feel like I’d never finish the year and it’s not like I’m closing the door to anything from 1966 or something, I’ll eventually watch them.

And there are of course things I couldn’t watch due to unavailability, and for whom I’d wait if they came my way: “The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short”, “Wings”, “The Round Up”, a couple of those celebrated Italian comedies and “Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment” (for Vanessa), but so far I cannot find them anywhere (in formats I can watch, I know there are other “ways”) so I’ll move on when I watch Alfie, the Resnais and the Polanski. I plan to make a 2012 parenthesis to catch up with this year before starting with 1967, though.

Anyways, from 1966 I also saw A Man and a Woman (Lelouch, 1966) which is a bit too flimsy and maybe even banal, but which also has charm to spare. Sometimes the way it had of filming those faces, bodies and landscapes (or cityscapes) so characteristic of the 60’s (and with that wonderful score, and I’m not only talking about the famous main theme, but about any incidental bit of music, the whole score is wonderful) had a haunting effect, and reminded me that film is also a way to create… ghosts. It seemed like ghosts from beautiful people and places and moods of the 60’s had been captured and were melancholically trapped there, as in amber. And LOL some of these films from the 60’s have an odd Oedipal effect in me: not to brag about things like this, lol, but my mother looks (or looked when she was younger) so much like these slim, gamine, chic women of the 60’s, in particular a cross between Anouk Aimée and Audrey Hepburn, that whenever I see these films I can’t help feeling I’m watching films about my mother, and it’s somewhere between affecting and disturbing.

What I’ve now seen complete is the 1966 Best Director lineup, and while it’s certainly much more inspired than the BP lineup, the lone director spots seem to have gone more to trendy things of the moment than to truly solid directorial efforts. I mean, yes, Lelouch did a lot of harming, fresh things with camera and editing, but it’s still not better than, say, Wilder’s incredibly precise and mischievous framing in “The Fortune Cookie”. I’d rank that Best Director lineup as follows:

1- Richard Brooks, The Professionals
2- Claude Lelouch, A Man and a Woman
3- Michelangelo Antonioni, Blow-Up
4- Mike Nichols, that Virginia Woolf horror (but the direction wasn’t its problem)
5- Fred Zinneman, A Man for All seasons (the movie’s not as bad as Virginia, but here the main problem actually was the direction).

Of course my own lineup would look entirely different.

[lazarus]

Girl, what's up with you and my supposed Brando hate? I've said many times I don't think he's the best actor ever and that he could be very actorly and method-y, and his win for The Godfather is laughable, but I consider many of his performances to be among the all-time bests and when he's not overdone he's indeed usually excelent. Hell, only a couple of weeks ago I was defending him from Jali's attacks regarding his perf in Julius Caesar, which I called the best and most memorable turn in the film. Like, stop overreacting like a fangirl because I once said a couple of things against him. Not being blind at his missteps doesn't mean I hate him.

It's still odd to review a film with that cast and not comment on him at all.

Yeah I keep hearing that about Sand Pebbles so I think I’m gonna skip it. I tend to be a completist but life’s too short and I want to move onto 1967 already. I however want to give Alfie a chance. It looks fresher than the other 4 BP nominees and I’m a Caine fan, so I wouldn’t like to pass it. I

Maybe I should also give a try to Godard’s “Made in USA” and Passolini’s “Hawks and Sparrows, but I feel like I’d never finish the year and it’s not like I’m closing the door to anything from 1966 or something, I’ll eventually watch them.

I liked The Sand Pebbles, even if it was primarily for its cast. Arguably McQueen's best work. For that alone I'd say do it.

Made in USA is absolute trash. Shallow even by Godard standards.

[haqyunus]

According to NYTimes (video feature; didn't know where else should've I posted it?):

Ingénues, icons, action heroes, divas and the world’s next great comedy star: 13 actresses who gave the dreamiest performances of 2012.

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/12...ide-awake.html

[Cricket]

According to NYTimes (video feature; didn't know where else should've I posted it?):

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/12...ide-awake.html

Thanks, haqyunus. It was cute how they bookended with Wallis and Riva (wearing the same type of costume?). They're a mixed bag, overall. I liked Watts and Hathaway's. I didn't like Lawrence's at all, and LOL at Helen Hunt's.

[haqyunus]

^They were weirdly timed though, some were too short (e.g. Marion Cotillard, Shirley MacLaine etc.) while others long (Anne Hathaway, Kiera Knightley etc.) I personally liked Rebel Wilson and Amy Adams the most.

Wallis and Emmanuelle Riva were somehow predictably sweet and cute, perhaps a bit too much. On the other hand, the problem with Jennifer Lawrence might be that it got only sexy (though she does look amazing!!)

Anyway, I wonder whether the actresses themselves had any input about the content of the videos. Are these their ideas of 'dreams' and 'dreamiest' performances (in which case Naomi Watts has some serious issues )

[Habsburg]

I LOVED The Sand Pebbles, but it's my type of film. It has it's flaws, but McQueen and Mako were really very good, and it is EPIC.

[GR3]

The Sand Pebbles is what I thought of when I saw The Master trailer. Visually, I think they look similar. I also loved the ending.

[Jeff Beachnau]

According to NYTimes (video feature; didn't know where else should've I posted it?):

http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/12...ide-awake.html

I wonder if the actresses get to choose what kind of role they're given.
Anne Hathaway: "I'd like to have a bit of The Help crossed with Black Swan"

[McTeague]

It's still odd to review a film with that cast and not comment on him at all.

I just thought it's something so in his wheelhouse that he could do it in his sleep. He's rock-solid of course, but the character isn't given much nuance by the script (your average brooding tough guy) so there was little he could do other than delivering another rock-solid turn. When I said the cast is uniformly great I meant that almost to a fault, in the sense that everybody is solid but nobody (save Miriam Hopkins) moves an inch from how those characters are expected to be played. I'd probably rank Brando third best after Hopkins and Fonda, but really, below Hopkins, everyone is in top form but still nothing that stands out in their careers.

[flibber]

I'm interested to hear The Chase is good. Apparently Penn was forced out of the editing room on that one.