Oscar Nominations 2022: 4 of 9

This year's nominees:

The Batman

3 Nominations

• Sound
• Visual Effects
• Make-up & Hairstyling

Director: Matt Reeves

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Paul Dano, Andy Serkis, Peter Sarsgaard, Jayme Lawson, Barry Keoghan 

This movie was visually very cool, and I love me some Robert Pattinson. I must confess that this film was too long, but it looked interesting the whole time: cool lighting, intriguing sound design, great score. I was interested, too, in the sort of anti-Joker turn it took, where the villain became a terrifying army of people who idolize people like the Joker. For me the Catwoman character really didn't work as a plotline with any interest – or maybe I find Zoë Kravitz boring, who's to say? As for the Colin Farrell of it all? It's sort of mindblowing that he played Oswald Cobblepot in this. He's completely unrecognizable. Anyway, this is a slick bit of business. It's been a very long time since I've seen it, but it's good. I don't think it'll take home any trophies, but maybe the Academy will like the (far superior) make-up of this film over The Whale's prosthetics.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: Make-up & Hairstyling

My Rating: #28 out of 65

Women Talking

2 Nominations

• Picture
• Adapted Screenplay: Sarah Polley (Away from Her)

Director: Polley

Cast: Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Ben Whishaw, Michelle McLeod, Frances McDormand, Kate Hallett, Liv McNeil, August Winter

I came to this place for magic, and instead I got Women Talking. Y'all, this movie. The women talk, but they only say things you've already heard. They debate, but the terms of the debate are without any intrigue. They weigh various consequences for their actions, but none of that feels remotely real. The plot of Women Talking is apparently based on real events that happened in a Christian religious community slash cult in South America. The events have been fictionalized by novelist Miriam Toews, with the events transplanted to the United States. This transposition makes things seem very odd. It's clear that we are in 2010 – a man in a truck blares the date over a loudspeaker to make sure we catch it – but it sure doesn't look like a place in the U.S. in 2010. Well, that's because it isn't. It's a fiction invented in order to debate a question that is not a question at all. This wouldn't have bothered me really if it was designed to get me to think differently about something. But it isn't. It is designed, instead, to confirm a bunch of things I already know: the gender binary and assumptions deriving from the gender binary are harmful and deeply inequitable; violence against women and sexual violence can be profoundly traumatic; bonds between women can often be very, very strong when fighting the oppression of men; women often develop separate cultures in order to preserve their own safety, enjoy themselves, create space for themselves, and for other reasons; it is difficult to love someone who is a member of a class who oppresses you as a member of another class, and yet this is the conundrum of heterosexuality. Women Talking has all of these ideas embedded in it, but it actually doesn't interrogate any of them. It's quite a bad film, actually, and I find myself rather stunned that it snagged a best picture nomination.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #57 out of 65

Living

2 Nominations

• Actor: Bill Nighy
• Adapted Screenplay: Kazuo Ishiguro

Director: Oliver Hermanus

Cast: Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Sharp, Tom Burke, Barney Fishwick, Adrian Rawlins, Oliver Chris, Hubert Burton, Patsy Ferran, Lia Williams, Zoe Boyle, Jessica Flood

This is gorgeous. Bill Nighy is completely incredible – his performance is not just the kind of stuffy British thing you might be imagining; instead it's wonderfully vulnerable, simple, and beautifully nuanced. This entire film is filled with nuance, and it boasts a truly excellent performance from Aimee Lou Wood, as well. Ishiguro's screenplay is also a beautiful standout here. The film brims with the deep feeling and impossibility of speaking at which Ishiguro excels so wonderfully. He understands this period of British life with utter perfection, and I found this movie unpredictable and moving, despite the fact that it's based on Kurosawa's Ikiru. I don't think this movie will win the two Oscars for which it is nominated, but if you haven't seen this movie, I think you should. And if you love Bill Nighy in this, you should also check him out his great performance in Their Finest.
Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #19 out of 65

Aftersun

1 Nomination

• Actor: Paul Mescal

Director: Charlotte Wells

Cast: Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Brooklyn Toulson, Spike Fearn, Harry Perdios, Ruby Thompson

Honestly I haven't stopped thinking about this film. It's such a beautiful piece, and it explores form in a pretty wonderful way. This is a film about memory – of a woman's attempt to understand her father by remembering a vacation they took when she was a child. The entire film is filtered through her memories but not as memories, instead we see the memories through the media that help her remember and, indeed, limit what she can remember. What complicates this is that she hasn't really known her father all that well, although she has loved him intensely and still does. Her father – perfectly, beautifully played by Paul Mescal – possesses a deep, powerful sadness for which he has developed some coping mechanisms but which seems always to threaten to overwhelm him. I loved this film. Paul Mescal's nomination was a bit of a surprise: he and Andrea Riseborough and Brian Tyree Henry (more on them in the next post) and Stephanie Hsu all got surprise Oscar nominations this February, but Mescal's is perhaps the strangest of these. It's not a showy part, and he doesn't have any really big Oscar-winning moments. Instead, Mescal just lives truthfully in this character in a way that feels heartbreaking and profound. I'm so glad he got nominated.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #6 out of 65

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Banshees of Inisherin, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Elvis

2. The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

3. Avatar: the Way of Water, Triangle of Sadness, The Whale, and Babylon

More posts coming soon:

5. Blonde, To Leslie, Glass Onion, and Causeway
6. Argentina, 1985, Close, Eo, and The Quiet Girl
7. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Pinocchio, Puss in Boots: the Last Wish, Turning Red, and The Sea Beast
8. Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, Empire of Light, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, RRR, and Tell It like a Woman

Hey!

Check out my new book Love Is Love Is Love – out March 24!

Stray Dog (1949)

Stray Dog (野良犬) is an analysis of postwar Japan and the disaffection and poverty experienced by many veterans and their families. It is a generational analysis of urban life like the kind Mizoguchi and Ozu were making in this period. I hadn't seen this movie before, so I hadn't known Kurosawa was making movies like this too. But Stray Dog blew me away. It's all of this hidden inside a detective movie. This film is atmospheric and rich – the entire film is sweat soaked, and you can feel the heat. It's easily comparable to postwar American films noirs. But Stray Dog has so much humanity! The ending is just devastating. It absolutely broke my heart. I loved this film. 

Also... Toshiro Mifune was, like, really handsome in the late 1940s.

The Briefest of Reviews from 1970

Dodes'ka-den (どですかでん) is Kurosawa's first color film. I thought it was ok. Sad, but with lots of lovely parts. It's intended as a kind of Chekhovian story, with comedy, love, tragedy, fantasy, etc. The title Dodes'ka-den means, apparently, "clickety-clack", and the metaphor here is the train, which rolls by the lives of the poor people that this film describes. The characters are beautifully sketched here. Dodes'ka-den was also produced by the great director Kon Ichikawa. In any case, this is not the place to start with Kurosawa, but it is very good nonetheless.

Tonto & the Ranger

Julie and I, as a part of a long tradition, get drunk and watch The Lone Ranger.

* * * * *

 

Julie: I'm ready.
Aaron: Give me ten minutes.
Julie: Sure, but I hope you know this mess is two and a half hours long.
Aaron: I do. Such plaintive music! I think these are visual effects.
Julie: Haha. You may be right. Also we have not discussed the most important thing: What are you drinking?
Aaron: Merlot!
Julie: That seems a little classy for Tonto.
Aaron: Merlot isn't so classy, is it?
Julie: There he is! In the museum!
Aaron: "THE NOBLE SAVAGE". We are starting with that racism?
Julie: Well, Tonto is inherently a racist character.
Aaron: Oh this is good makeup!
Julie: Is he eating animal crackers?
Aaron: This is a weird way to begin an action movie. Where is the action? I think they're peanuts.
Julie: Here we go! The non-use of articles is one of the most racist things about this character. Apparently that is a Tonto tradition.
Aaron: Oh great.
Julie: Also, he has always been played by a white guy, so. There's that.
Aaron: But Johnny Depp isn't quite white, right?
Julie: That's the best part! Johnny thinks he might be Cherokee. But according to ancestry.com... He's African American.
Aaron: No you did not bust out ancestry.com.
Julie: Hahahahaha.
Aaron: No way. Really??? That is amazing.
Julie: Right? I mean, we can't trust that site. But: hilarious.
Aaron: Well, this is a Hollywood tradition, right? Non-white people or ethnically ambiguous actors are constantly being paid to play non-white characters.

Aaron: Is that... Tom What's-his-name?
Julie: Um?
Aaron: Hey, it's Pensatucky! I am watching this movie only for the cameos.
Julie: Wait, really? Is that her?
Aaron: Yeah. The woman behind Helena Bonham Carter.
Julie: Oh, I was distracted by HBC's whorish red red red lips and costume
Aaron: I approve of whorish red lips. Do you like Armie Hammer?
Julie: I forgot the Winklevoss was in this. No he's just a pretty face. Perhaps he will be interesting in this one! Or.. perhaps not.
Aaron: I think more than his face is pretty.

Julie: Well, that guy's face sure isn't pretty. Wait, is that the mom from Saving Mr. Banks?!
Aaron: It's her right? Oh maybe it is. I thought it was Pensatucky.
Julie: Ruth Wilson. She's not been in anything else of note.
Aaron: Oh. Hm. Well good for her. 2013 was a big year I guess.
Julie: This poor girl will always be in period dress with a bad accent.
Aaron: Let's hope not, poor thing.
Julie: And that would be Tom Wilkinson. FYI.
Aaron: Tom Whatshisname, Tom Wilkinson. Tomato, Tomahto.
Julie: That dude has a gnarly beard.
Aaron: Who directed this mess? Michael Bay? Gore Verbinski? Is it "Tanto" or "Tonto"?
Julie: Tonto.
Aaron: In Spanish, tonto means foolish.
Julie: I know. When Spain dubbed the original Lone Ranger, they changed his name to Toro. Look at me, I'm a fountain of useless knowledge.
Aaron: I appreciate it. I don't know thing one about this film except what nominations it got. Hahaha. That was funny. PG-13, of course. So the violence will all be fake and only for laughs.

Julie: Well, I guarantee you none of these actors knows as much about Tonto as I just told you. When did Johnny Depp go so wrong? Was it the fourth of fifth Pirates? He is a mess.
Aaron: Long before that.
Julie: He did things before Disney? It's been so long.
Aaron: Well, I was thinking of the second Pirates.
Julie: Oh, yes. That is correct.
Aaron: That second Pirates movie is the worst thing.
Julie: By the way, I already have no idea what is happening.
Aaron: Armie is some kind of district attorney? Something about railroad men? I am glad some action is happening, at least.
Julie: But how did they get together? Did I miss that?
Aaron: Yeah. Armie came in just in time to save Johnny from the criminal guy who just got rescued. But then Armie refused to kill that guy (you know, like you do) and then they both got locked up/captured by those outlaws. What's there to know? Stop the train. Fight the bad guys.
Julie: And why was Johnny locked up again? Because everyone is racist against Injuns? I need some motivation here, Aaron. Help me out.
Aaron: That was not explained as far as I can tell.
Julie: Oh, ok. Then we'll stick with the obvious, if silent, racism.
Aaron: Why is there a bird on his head?
Julie: Because he's an Indian! And that's what they do! What is this music? Who wrote this?
Aaron: Shall we try to guess?
Julie: Hans! The Zimmer Man! (Sorry, I had already looked it up.)
Aaron: Haha. But I love Hans Zimmer. All those drums. By the way, they asked Johnny why he was locked up and he answered "Indian", so your theory was correct.
Julie: Yes! Racism is always the answer. Sondheim should've scored this.
Aaron: Hahaha. Poor Steve. You're terrible.
Julie: Wait, what!? Don't pretend like you don't agree with me.
Aaron: Hahaha. You know I agree.
Julie: Just because he's old doesn't mean he's off the hook.
Aaron: But he's so old and white and closety.
Julie: He's not closely! He has a 25 year old boyfriend or something Doesn't he?
Aaron: He does? Good for him.
Julie: Closely? Am I that drunk? I meant closety.
Aaron: You can't be drunk yet! We have like two hours left in this drama.
Julie: I'm almost done with my first beer. And half the Cheez-its. I eat my feelings! The Racism is making me upset.
Aaron: Step away from the Cheez-It.
Julie: I can't. They're so cheesy.

Aaron: I think this movie used to be called Rango and starred a lizard. Now he's a Texas Ranger?
Julie: Well, it is Gore Verbinski!
Aaron: Is it? I was thinking it was Michael Bay.
Julie: I want a spirit horse!
Aaron: I do too!
Julie: How does one get one of those, do you think?
Aaron: Wasn't there a movie called Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron where Matt Damon was a horse? I think for it to be your spirit horse you have to break it yourself or something.
Julie: Oh my gosh, there sure was. I want a Matt Damon Horse. Yes, but where are all the visual effects?
Aaron: There are, so far, a bunch of really cool shots.

L'Arrivée d'un Train en Gare de La Ciotat

Julie: Yes, but where are all the visual effects?
Aaron: A train came right at us!
Julie: Um. Wasn't that the first film ever made? Haven't we made any improvements in a century?
Aaron: Did you see Elysium? I think it was robbed in the VFX department. You are so right about that train and the first film.
Julie: Elysium was boring as hell and the effects were no bueno.
Aaron: Trains always make me think of Freud and trauma, too.
Julie: Freud has a thing with trains? It is your time to shine dramaturgically and tell me what that means.
Aaron: Honestly, I am the worst Freudian. I have forgotten all of that. But Freud's first explanations of post-traumatic symptoms are related to having experienced a train crash.
Julie: The Lumière Brothers. They did the train first, and it was better.
Aaron: Perhaps the Academy was feeling nostalgic? (Like in the 2011 season?)

Julie: Ewwww. Is he taking his heart?
Aaron: I don't know, but this is way too much for a PG13 movie.
Julie: Ewwww. Did I need to see him vomit?! PG13 my ass. This shit nasty.
Aaron: I think he ate something. Like his kidney or something.
Julie: I feel that is racist in some way. I don't know how. But it is.
Aaron: Haha! It is, of course. The true lawmen are behaving properly. But the evil guys are "savages" right?
Julie: Ok, this narrative frame is total cribbing of Princess Bride.
Aaron: This narrative frame is asinine.
Julie: This is stupid. Is it supposed to teach me something? Also, is that Johnny Depp?
Aaron: Best Makeup. Yes.
Julie: Nice. But is it as good as Bad Grandpa? That is the question.
Aaron: No way. Absolutely not.
Julie: What is the other nominee? I forget.
Aaron: The winner: Dallas Buyers Club.

Spirit Horse!

Julie: Aw shit. I hope not. (Side note: I finished my beer and am drinking water until you catch up.)
Aaron: Catch up to what? I've had a quarter of a bottle of Merlot. And of course Dallas Buyers Club is gonna win.
Julie: Haha. You've got nearly 2 hours to polish that off. Spirit Horse! Do you think they painted the horse? I feel like he must be in white-face.
Aaron: HAHA. It is a really white horse.
Julie: He must be an albino.
Aaron: All of this exposition. It is so unnecessary.
Julie: Ew that horse crap was unnecessary.
Aaron: This is Verbinski's main problem. It's for teenage boys. So we have shit jokes. And racism. Teenagers love that shit.
Julie: I just looked him up and didn't realize Gore was so young! I feel like he's 65 but he isn't.
Aaron: He and Brett Ratner are about the same age, right? They've always seemed really similar to me.
Julie: Brett's four years younger, so basically.

Julie: Bunnies!
Aaron: Back to the narrative frame. Oh. No. It's just bad effects.
Julie: Oh my goodness, do you remember that oscar short that was all bunnies a few years back? It was so good. Sorry, I'm distracted by the bunnies.
Aaron: No. Bunnies?
Julie: Rabbit a la Berlin. So good!
Aaron: OK. I will watch it later. Or perhaps during this film.
Julie: I recommend the latter.

Julie: Did he just say his bird hat was angry?
Aaron: "Bird. Angry."
Julie: Angry Birds?
Aaron: Disney's product placement. So. Much. Exposition.
Julie: Really? I guess I'm just not listening to any of it.
Aaron: I know, but that's the point: why is there so much exposition? The film could be so much better if there were some guns or some explosions or something.
Julie: He needs to stop saying Kemosabe.
Aaron: Or an evil animated rattlesnake.
Julie: Well, we still have an hour and a half. It could happen.
Aaron: Also, let me just say that I wish this were a little more homoerotic.
Julie: Again, we have an hour and a half. 

Julie: I feel like Baz Luhrmann wants to be in this scene.
Aaron: I was just going to say that. Party sequences filmed by Baz.
Julie: He should totally do that! Just film everyone else's party scenes and leave the rest of the movie to the professionals. Is this like Batman? No one can recognize him because his eyes are covered in a black mask? Oh my god, her shoes. They just shot the table!
Aaron: Such a Tarantino rip-off.
Julie: Oh yeah? Huh.
Aaron: The guy who ate the heart is an evil spirit actually.. A windigo or wendigo or something. He eats human flesh.
Julie: He's just like Charlize Theron. I wish this were campier, like that movie.
Aaron: This movie has racist portrayals of black people, too.
Julie: Wendigo! Wait, there are black people?
Aaron: The bouncer.

Julie: The horse is as drunk as I am!
Aaron: Haha. I need more Merlot.
Julie: I need more Harp.
Aaron: The horse is supposed to be a spirit animal. And it gets wasted? Why does he keep saying kemosabe? Did you look that up too? What does it mean?
Julie: Ke-mo sah-bee (often spelled kemo sabe or kemosabe) is the term of endearment and catchphrase used by the intrepid and ever-faithful fictional Native American sidekick Tonto. Tonto originated that word! Who knew!
Aaron: Apparently white people in Texas were just as racist back then as they are now.
Julie: Ultimately derived from giimoozaabi, an Ojibwe and Potawatomi word that probably meant "scout", it is sometimes translated as "trusty scout" or "faithful friend". Its use has become so widespread that it was entered into Webster's New Millennium Dictionary in 2002.
Aaron: You are a font of knowledge.
Julie: I am good at Wikipedia.
Aaron: It's a good thing to be good at.
Julie: I wish this was a horror movie. I mean, dude is eating hearts! Why isn't there a Tonto horror movie like that? (Racism.) OH MY GOD. Is he in blackface?! AND A DRESS?
Aaron: He is. "This ain't what it looks like mister. I just like them pretty things." Well it looks like blackface drag. Is that what it is?

Julie: HAHAHA. Johnny should get the Razzie for this. It is terrible.
Aaron: So what keeps happening is that the film continues to point out that white people are, like, really racist and awful and xenophobic. While the film itself also manages to be really racist and awful with every single one of its portrayals.
Julie: Well, Disney isn't exactly known for being PC. Song of the South and all. They are kind of clueless, even when well-intentioned.
Aaron: Effects! Flying horse.
Julie: I missed the effects! because I was thinking of zip-a-dee-doo-dah! Dammit.
Aaron: I am willing to wager that your memory of Zip-a-dee-doo-dah was better than the effects. Ugh. More cartoony PG13 violence.

Julie: HAHA. Probably true. The redface is making my night. This movie is out of control with the racist makeup.
Aaron: For which it received an Oscar nomination. Actually, I am pretty sure the makeup nomination is for the old-age makeup in the frame.
Julie: He just explained Kemosabe! We were supposed to wait for it.
Aaron: So he did.
Julie: But that took an awfully long time.
Aaron: I am glad you looked it up. What did he actually say?
Julie: Oh, I don't know. I'm drunk.
Aaron: "Young brother"?
Julie: That sounds right.
Aaron: The guy who dresses in drag is named Butch. [I got this wrong, actually, but who can blame me?]
Julie: I love that he's still wearing that bonnet.
Aaron: And the wendigo just told him to "tell him straight"!
Julie: Hahaha

Julie: You can't shoot Mrs. Banks!
Aaron: I think we've all seen enough of these movies to know he doesn't shoot her. Why even bother setting it up?
Julie: But that face plant was awesome.
Aaron: I mean, it's all so predictable! Oh no, I missed it!
Julie: Mrs. Banks falls well. Hey, Black Beauty showed up! OH NO!
Aaron: OMG.
Julie: Animal cruelty. I am calling PETA.
Aaron: "Horse. Dead." Jesus.
Julie: Who's spirit animal was that? What a shame.
Aaron: He only uses nouns.
Julie: He just used a verb.
Aaron: This music was composed by Hans Zimmer?
Julie: Yessir. He just called himself a savage. Was he being ironic?
Aaron: Ironically.
Julie: Is he a hipster Injun?
Aaron: He's Johnny Depp. He invented hipster culture.
Julie: So true.

Julie: Nice scream, Armie. LOL!
Aaron: He is hot.
Julie: I am just not into him.
Aaron: I'll say this for Armie: he knows what kind of movie he's in. Orlando Bloom never did.
Julie: Truth.
Aaron: Barry Pepper! Told you  I was in this for the cameos.
Julie: But there aren't that many! There should be more.
Aaron: There should.
Julie: Also, Armie's mask is throwing me off. It's like he's going to the masquerade in the Phantom. He's in the sweat lodge! I hope they start singing "Colors of the Wind".
Aaron: That is not a sweat lodge. That is just a regular old teepee.
Julie: Whatever. They can still sing.
Aaron: This is so racist. Oh Jesus.
Julie: See! They're laughing at his mask too!
Aaron: "Many moons ago"? Really?
Julie: Exposition. 
Aaron: By which you mean more exposition.
Julie: But this is the first time I'm listening. Kind of.
Aaron: See, this is the thing that pisses me off. They act like evil white people killed the native peoples of the Americas. Such bullshit. The people who killed the natives were regular middle-class assholes. Not special hateful ones. Just normal ones.
Julie: The stories we tell ourselves...
Aaron: Right. "We are already ghosts". Wow. That was a good line. I'm actually emotional about that one.
Julie: I am emotional about the fact that that Native American actor is in this piece-of-shit movie.

Aaron: Where is the magic horse, Júlia?
Julie: I don't know, but I need some magic.
Aaron: Me too. Visual effects!
Julie: YAY! Horsey's back! Oh my god, he's so cute. And he just ate the scorpions.
Aaron: He is cute!
Julie: Um, no. Armie cannot pull himself out of sand with his teeth. Ridic. I have to (tee)pee. Be right back.
Aaron: If there is going to be a silver mine, there will probably be Chinese immigrants, too. Yep. Here they are.
Julie: Naturally.
Aaron: What we just saw was preposterous. A cave that has been dug by miners or railroad men cannot have Indian cave paintings on it. It has just been dug.
Julie: Aaron, you are being logical. But this movie is not. You have to accept its fictions!
Aaron: Finally an explosion. I've been waiting.

Julie: Fun music, Hans! Is he gay or straight (in real life)?
Aaron: Hans Zimmer?
Julie: HAHAHA. Well, yes, I'd like to know that too. But I was talking about Armie.
Aaron: Armie Hammer, as far as I know, is quite straight. [So is Hans Zimmer, as it turns out.]
Julie: Hmm.
Aaron: Long term girlfriend, I think.
Julie: I kind of want to watch Pirates now. Johnny is way more fun in that.
Aaron: He is really good in that.

Julie: Is she about to get acupuncture?
Aaron: Chinese woman? Keeper of oriental mysteries. This film.
Julie: Haha. truth. Is that Barry?
Aaron: It is.
Julie: Wow, we haven't seen him in anything in a long time.
Aaron: This man is obsessed with the railroads. But in 21st-century film that signals über-capitalist obsession. Which signals: bad. So Tom Wilkinson will turn out to be a villain of some sort. Just wait.
Julie: Well, clearly. I already thought he was one.
Aaron: Barry Pepper knows what kind of movie he's in, as well.
Julie: She certainly doesn't.
Aaron: What is happening? Whoa. This just got crazy.
Julie: Tom was praying.
Aaron: Is this Fiddler on the Roof? I thought they were going to sing "Sabbath Prayer"
Julie: Tom's beard is really bad. It is too bushy and not the right color.
Aaron: Is his beard fake?
Julie: Um, clearly
Aaron: I think that beard is real.
Julie: Really? How can we find out?
Julie: "Stupid white man." Yup.
Aaron: Yup. Eating Caesar salad.
Julie: Hahaha. I love a good Caesar salad.
Aaron: Julie, I am obsessed with Caesar salads. I make them at home now.
Julie: Really? One can be obsessed with Caesar salads?
Aaron: I crave them, honestly. I know. It's crazy.
Julie: But they are like so unhealthy for you. I remain unimpressed by these train visuals.
Aaron: As do I. What's wrong with a sensible Caesar salad?
Julie: Wait, I thought that kid was Armie's? Who is his dad?
Aaron: Maybe it is. I don't know, actually. How old is he?
Julie: No, he was whining about his dad maybe being dead. So it can't be Armie.
Aaron: The boy, I mean.
Julie: 10?
Aaron: Well, Armie says that the girl and he stopped talking 8 years ago. So... maybe.
Julie: Mmmmk.

Aaron: In these kinds of movies, why don't people who want each other dead simply kill one another?
Instead, they defer it.
Julie: Because then the movie would be 10 minutes long.
Aaron: The death, I mean. What would Derrida say?
Julie: WWDS?

Arrow-scene from Zhang Yimou's Hero.

Aaron: The Chinese workers are actually wearing the hats they wear on the rice paddies. Like, seriously? For digging tunnels? Seems impractical. And fucking racist.
Julie: YESSSSS SO MUCH RACISM. Hard to believe we still have 40 min to go.
Aaron: Oh for Heaven's sake. We do? What else could possibly occur?
Julie: Exposition.
Aaron: Hahahaha. True.
Julie: The Indians are coming!
Aaron: This scene brought to you by Zhang Yimou.
Julie: :D
Aaron: At least Verbinski watches other people's movies. OMG! Kurosawa shot. That is the famous Seven Samurai shot.
Julie: I love Hans just rocking out in the background. He knows how to get the job done.
Aaron: This is horrible.
Julie: And by horrible you mean amazing. Explosion!
Aaron: That was cool. By horrible I just mean how the slaughtering of thousands of native people is just one more fun adventure sequence.
Julie: Barry killed the old Indian!!!!!! I hate Barry. He really is a ghost now.
Aaron: JULIE!
Julie: What?
Aaron: Does Johnny's whiteface wash off in the river? Apparently not.
Julie: Where is the horse? That's all I'm worried about. He is the best actor in this thing.
Aaron: Seriously. The film keeps forgetting about the horse.
Julie: I don't understand how you can forget about a spirit animal like that.
Aaron: Me either.OK but seriously where is the horse?
Julie: Yay! We just saw him!
Aaron: Oh there he is.
Julie: :)

Aaron: Wait, this is somehow about the transcontinental railroad?
Julie: I don't care about the railroad. And I don't think this film does either.
Aaron: Cameo! It's the guy who plays that guy who loves staplers in Office Space. No. You are wrong. This film is obsessed with calling the railroad evil. This film is anti-technology.
Julie: But that is so weird.
Aaron: Stephen Root? I think I thought of his name.
Julie: Who? I don't know who that is.
Aaron: The guy Tom Wilkinson is talking to.
Julie: He's talking to a lot of guys.
Aaron: This scene stolen from The Godfather.
Julie: HAHAHA. Yes. The Lone Ranger, The Godfather. Basically the same.
Aaron: "Hurry up wid dem grapes". What?
Julie: Is the black guy Jamaican? What the hell is happening?
Aaron: "The National Anthem".
Julie: Johnny is not anti-technology, though. There goes that train.
Aaron: Is he stealing all that silver? Is that what's happening?
Julie: I'm not sure. But the horse is back, so I'm happy.
Aaron: This is the William Tell Overture.
Julie: Sure is.
Aaron: Is that a Lone Ranger thing?
Julie: Yes.
Aaron: I love the William Tell Overture. These are visual effects. YES.

Aaron: Terrible. This movie is terrible. Did it do well at the box office?
Julie: You were just excited about it! No, I'm pretty sure it did badly.
Aaron: He hit the girl in the head with a piece of coal And she fell like a cartoon and then got back up.
Julie: Reference: "Johnny Depp Blames Critics for Lone Ranger Bombing at the Box Office".

Aaron: Zimmer is having a good time.
Julie: Well somebody should be.
Aaron: There are two railroad tracks that run parallel to one another. In what world?
Julie: Hahahahaha In Gore's world.
Aaron: Hahaha. That grape slingshot thing was a good joke This movie's second good joke. I've forgotten the first.
Julie: I missed both of them.
Aaron: Never bring a knife to a gunfight. Or an unloaded gun to a knife-fight.
Julie: That was the first joke?
Aaron: No. That was just good advice.
Julie: Ah. I'll keep that in mind. I am waiting for them to make this into a ride at Disney World. That would be fun.
Aaron: Depp blamed the critics for this film's bad performance?
Julie: Apparently. Isn't that hysterical? It couldn't possibly be his terrible performance.
Aaron: Perhaps he ought to have blamed a) his lack of a desire to get in shape for the film and b) his continual need to work with Verbinski. But, like, the critics were right. I love Hans Zimmer right now, though. He just hasn't stopped!
Julie: Yes, he's making this part tolerable.
Aaron: He truly is.
Julie: He just threw Armie a bullet. And he caught it. From a moving train. This movie.
Aaron: Like. James. Bond.
Julie: Just. Like.
Aaron: You cannot shoot a car off a moving train. I am sorry.
Julie: In Gore's world, anything is possible. What is with this time piece?
Aaron: I don't know. The future? The past? No idea. Another watch.
Julie: Hmm. Another of Gore's enigmas.
Aaron: Remember when Rango won Best Animated Feature?
Julie: Unfortunately.
Aaron: Dayne and I always talk about how awful it is. He says thank you for the Her score link, by the way.
Julie: You're welcome? I'm mad at those Her people. That is ridiculous. [We are talking about the fact that the score for Her hasn't been released on iTunes or CD.]
Aaron: It is! That score is gorgeous!
Julie: And it's the only one that would actually make money and they just failed to make it. Like, seriously? Wait, is it over? The bunny just ate the scorpion! What does that mean?
Aaron: Huh? Back to the frame?
Julie: You missed it.
Aaron: No, I saw it. I've onloy had one bottle of Merlot.
Julie: Onloy?
Aaron: OK.

Mr. Fichtner.

Julie: Never take off the mask. Oh. It's over.
Aaron: There will be a button, surely.
Julie: You and your buttons. I always just turn shit off.
Aaron: And now the credits. Which clearly arrive with shame. Who would take credit for this?
Julie: Johnny was a producer. Hans!
Aaron: Well usually I just fastforward until the end of the credits to make sure there isn't a button. I like this tupeface. Typeface.
Julie: Tupeface? Hehehehe.
Aaron: It might be my favorite part of the movie. William Fichtner? That was Willliam Fichtner? James Frain was in this? Who was he?
Julie: I don't know; they all had beards.
Aaron: Remember when he used to get work regularly? I miss him.
Julie: That button sucked.
Aaron: Seriously, though, this movie was already made. And it was called Rango. And it was about greedy railroad barons. And it was just as Manichaeistic as this one.
Julie: Well, as Tina and Amy say, if something goes kind of well, Hollywood will just keep doing it until everyone hates it. I really don't think I even watched Rango all the way through. I am over putting myself through this shit.
Aaron: Haha. This score is great. The winner for the evening is Hans Zimmer.
Julie: Sorry, Hans, but I've gotta go with the horse. I mean, he at the scorpions and was generally delightful.
Aaron: Oh. You might be right. I change my vote. Horse and then Hans.
Julie: Wait, did the horse even have a name?
Aaron: Silver! "Hi yo, Silver!"
Julie: Oh. HAHAHAHA.
Aaron: Julie. Come on. I thought you researched this shit.
Julie: He didn't say it until the end! And then I was just like, oh! Yeah! That phrase! haha.
Aaron: Yeah, but, like. It's famous.
Julie: Shut it.
Aaron: No, they had a whole convo about naming the old mare.
Julie: At least I knew the William Tell Overture was from The Lone Ranger.
Aaron: True. I knew enough to ask...?
Julie: They had convos about a lot of things that were unimportant, Aaron. How was I supposed to know when to pay attention?
Aaron: Can I ask a question about the botton? Button. Jesus. Merlot.
Julie: HAHAHA Sure.
Aaron: Where is Tonto going?
Julie: I have no idea. He got all dressed up and everything. No clue.
Aaron: He is wearing a suit.
Julie: He must be looking for Silver.
Aaron: I'm looking for another glass of wine.
Julie: Hahaha. How many have you had? I only had two beers. And I am ready to pass out.
Aaron: Let's close out the Lone Ranger. Does it win anything?
Julie: No.
Aaron: Anbolutely not.
Julie: Yeah, I mean, that old Indian makeup was good, but that's not enough to win. And visual FX were not even on par with the other noms.
Aaron: Totally agree.
Julie: Sorry, Johnny.
Aaron: Also, no one is going to see this except us.
Julie: So sad. So true.
Aaron: Not sad.
Julie: We are dedicated (fools).
Aaron: Indeed.
Julie: Ok, I need to go to bed. Please edit me into a coherent, sober being.
Aaron: Good night.
Julie: Peace out. Hi-yo Silver. And all that Jazz.

Some of our earlier dialogues: The Avengers, Snow White and the Huntsman, Anonymous.

7 Pyschopaths

The highly anticipated new film from In Bruges director Martin McDonagh is out, y'all. (It's been out, in fact, for two weeks.)

First of all, the eponymous seven are no seven samurai or magnificent seven (and, yes, I know those are the same thing), but rather a collection of disparate psychopaths connected by Los Angeles and a frustrated screenwriter named Martin (any relation to the writer-director of the film presumably intended).

In fact, some of the psychopaths in the title never even meet one another, and I am not actually sure how they all fit in the film. Neither is McDonagh, and I think that he is sort of fine with that. In many ways, Seven Psychopaths reminded me of the total mess that was Woody Allen's most recent film, To Rome with Love. Psychopaths is a much, much better movie than Allen's, but it has a lot of similarities with its absurd conventions, obvious self-referential qualities, and occasionally stilted acting.

Like Allen's film, too, McDonagh's is quite funny. This is worth a lot and I appreciated it. So few films are funny nowadays. But there are many laugh-out-loud moments in Seven Psychopaths, and they are even worth the loads of nonsense through which one is forced to wade in order to get there.

Psychopaths is a sort of collage of stories of psychopaths. Farrell's character is writing a screenplay about these seven psychopaths, but although his movie is not really the movie we're watching as far as I can tell, we get to see these short vignettes which are the movie, or are at least stories about psychopaths. I am not actually sure, in fact, how his movie must've turned out, but, we get pieces of it.

These stories are interesting. The best are Tom Waits's sequences, which seemed designed as a McDonagh-style nod to (the awesome) Jim Jarmusch. There is also a nod to Fincher, as well as a really great story with Harry Dean Stanton.

I want to say, too, that the acting in this film is excellent. Sam Rockwell, whom I have loved for years, is (again) great here. And Woody Harrelson and Colin Farrell are doing their usual excellent work. (It really is a shame that Farrell never got the kind of legitimate recognition that was promised with Tigerland. He really is very good.) But the stand-out is Christopher Walken, who gives what I think is an Academy-Award-worthy performance. I would not be surprised if he is mentioned at year's end. His performance is just beautiful work.

The other notable thing about Seven Psychopaths is the usual McDonagh coupling of gruesome, even grotesque violence with humor. Psychopaths is very funny, as I noted, but like In Bruges and like his plays – The Lonesome West, A Skull at Connemara, and The Pillowman, but particularly The Lieutenant of Inishmore, which I saw recently with Chris Pine – this humor is sort of about violence. McDonagh's characters are often irrational idiots, committing violence for arbitrary or asinine reasons, and thinking little about the consequences of their behavior. McDonagh's world is a one in which characters possess ethics that are inscrutable or absurd, and in which characters have no sense of life itself as sacred in any way.

Now, I am not quite sure that life is sacred, but as always I find McDonagh's own representational ethics baffling.  His work is funny, yes, but what is the point of all this hilarity? Why take the horrific banality of violence as a starting point and then transform that banality into humor as though it were so many episodes of Seinfeld? Frankly, I believe that McDonagh does have a larger project on which he is working, here. (I think Tarantino has a larger project, too.) But I'll be damned if I know what McDonagh's trying to do here. I liked this sprawling, self-reflexive, homage-filled, mess of a movie, but, as always with McDonagh, I wish for more than banality, terror, and severed carotid arteries.

So Productive!

There had been random speculation this week that, were Chief Justice Rehnquist to be forced into retirement by his health, Justice O'Connor could be persuaded back to the High Court in order to be the new Chief. Such speculation was started by a Democratic senator, naturally, but the Conservatives might have gone for it after all. At any rate, this evening, the Chief issued a statement saying that he is hale and hearty and has no intention whatsoever of retiring despite his recent bout with thyroid cancer. Ah well. I like the Chief a lot and I would be sorry to see him go in any case, but the person I really wish would stay on the court is J. O'Connor. Every time I think about her not being on the Court next year, I just get depressed. I will miss her.
Why couldn't Justice Thomas retire? Now there's an idea I could get behind.

In other news, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince is being released on Saturday. Ok, I will shut up about that. If you care, you know and are excited, and if you don't give a shit about Harry, I'm sure you're damn sick of hearing about his scrawny little sixteen year-old ass.

I can't watch DVD's anymore when I get home from work. I always try but it never works out. This afternoon I came home and popped in Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali and sure enough, ten or fifteen minutes into the film I start falling asleep. Pather Panchali is thought by many (Akira Kurosawa, for one) to be one of the greatest films ever made, so I thought I might want to be awake when I watched it. It's not that the film was boring, it's just that I am so tired when I get home from work these days. I don't know what it is that tuckers me out so badly.
Anyway, I ended up baking tonight. I made popovers (which turned out only so-so) and then I made a cheesecake for work tomorrow. We need a little morale boost at work, lately. Yesterday, our boss was screaming at the top of her lungs at two of the girls in the office and for no good reason at all. We all find it frustrating and one of the girls is very seriously thinking about giving her notice. I am not quitting (no one would yell at me like that anyway) but I feel like I should cheer them up a little--or at least try to.

Oh yeah, and I got a new phone: it's really cute and the battery lasts longer than five minutes.

Kung Fu

Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle is part Charlie Chaplin, part Akira Kurosawa, part Vincente Minelli and part Zhang Yimou. You might think that this combination would be crap. But oh how wrong you would be. Kung Fu Hustle is hilarious, visually cool, and always inventive.

I've been seeing more Italian cinema than usual, as well. Last night on the recommendation of my boss I saw Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice from 1971. It's very good, but it's not a movie I would go around recommending. It's a very very sad film about death and morality amidst a plague (a symbol, perhaps, for moral weakness) set to the music of Gustav Mahler. Like I said, it's wonderfully made, but I didn't love it. (Sound familiar?)

Friday nights blow... I'm always too tired to really do anything like go out dancing or partying or dating (oh yeah, I don't do that anyway.)

I still don't have a concept for The Two Gentlemen. Why am I suddenly a talentless hack who can't even come up with a concept? Grr. I need to read it again. It will come to me. Maybe it hasn't come because the cast isn't finalized...

Oh... and I got the script that I've been hired to direct in the Fall and the gods must be crazy. Stephen Jeffreys' version of Hard Times clocks in at three hours. What? The Heidi Stillman version you see at right (if you're reading this on my main page) is a totally different animal, evidently, although the characters--and some of the lines--are the same. Hmm. I guess I have my work cut out for me.

Movies

Did I leave the tap running or is the apartment getting more tearful?
I always thought it would cope okay.
Didn't expect it to cry so much.
When people cry they can dry their eyes with tissues.
But when an apartment cries, it takes a lot to mop it up.

-Wong Kar-Wai Chung King Express

Today I watched something I should have seen years ago: Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. This film is a fucking masterpiece and don't let anyone tell you different. I was put off by the three-hour-twenty-minute running time but I shouldn't have been. It is nothing short of genius.

My Little Flat I'm Turning That into a Sunday School

Have I mentioned how much I have recently been into the films of Akira Kurosawa?  I watched Rashōmon this morning, much to my delight.  It was only like an hour and a half, but what a movie!  Such good times.  You can see Kurosawa's influence on so many people.  The DVD I got had this whole interview with Robert Altman about how much Rashōmon, specifically, and Kurosawa in general had influenced his career.  Very cool.

I listen to way more Barbra Streisand than is probably healthy.  The USDA would probably have a fit.

Speaking of, I am really pissed about the FDA's decision to not allow the so-called "morning-after pill" for over-the-counter use.  I know you guys have all heard this tirade before, but I just can't even fathom who they hope to help by keeping this drug off the shelves!  Grrr.

Last night, D, Sarah, and I went down to AMPAS for an evening called Shorts!  We left after the first 5.  I would've stayed for the whole program, but the two of them specifically wanted to see the animated shorts and once those were over, they kinda lost interest in the rest of them.  It was fine.  I actually don't know much at all about the live action shorts, so it was fine with me.  But we did get to see Destino: the resurrected collaboration of Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney. 

Hello Dalí! 

Okay, that was a bad pun.  The night's program was as follows: Boundin', Destino, Gone Nutty, Harvie Krumpet, and Nibbles.  As I must have said before, the eventual winner of the animated short oscar was a huge upset to all the predictors, who were predicting either Boundin', Pixar's entry, or Destino.  The winner was the Australian claymation flick narrated by Geoffrey Rush called Harvie Krumpet.  And it deserved to win.  The thing is, though, these predictors must not have seen the films, because the audience was wowed by Destino and Gone Nutty but only lukewarm to Boundin'.  Strange, I thought.  Even I liked Gone Nutty and I really disliked the movie it was based on: Ice Age.

After the movies, we went to Toi on Vine (as usual) and I had the spiciest fucking thing I've ever eaten.  Thank heaven for green tea ice cream to soothe the soul.

Today has moved slowly.  I think when I don't have evening plans, I tend to take the day like molasses.  I have plans now, though, so I have the impetus to do things.  I sat in the sun around 2, and I did some work on Shrew.  Zamora hasn't been in contact with me.  This drives me nuts, but I suppose he is the producer and he can do whatever the Hell he wants.

I had a dream about Leslie last night.  I think we might have hugged in it.  I feel so much more affection for her now that I am not her student. In the dream, someone stole my roommate's car and it was totally my fault.  It was some guy I barely knew who I was sleeping with.  I have no idea what that was about... guilt, probably.

This shirt I bought yesterday is so cute.  It says "Warriors" on the back and on the front it says staff as if I'm some gym teacher in Belmont, CA.  The best part is that the shirt was $7 at American Eagle Outfitters (and I don't admit I occasionally shop there, so don't spread it around.) Cheers.

I wanna feel my heart coming alive again. Before the parade passes by.

Culture Ingestion

A. Cohen is in a play at the Greenway Court Theatre in H-Wood, but I decided I didn't want to go.  I caught a run-thru of Earnest at CPP last night and I am going to the opening tomorrow.  Plus I am supposed to see a Neil Simon show on Saturday and the new Gotanda show on Sunday, so I don't want to be all theatred out on Sunday, so I thought it best to spend another night in.  To be honest I was going to catch The Dreamers down the street, but by the time I looked at the clock it was already 9pm and by then I was feeling lazy.  I did send my Oscar-party e-vites, though.

At any rate, I had another culturally productive night.  I watched Kurosawa's Yojimbo: the Bodyguard on my roommate's gigantic television set.  It's such a pleasure that tv.  Kurosawa is a badass.  He must've invented Quentin Tarantino.  Tarantino borrows from Kurosawa so much it's almost as bad as Sofia Coppola and Wong Kar-Wai.  I heard this story about how Nia Vardalos' new script Connie and Carla do L.A. is basically a remake of Some Like It Hot, but Vardalos is saying it's based on her life.  Whatever.  Anway, Yojimbo was very cool.  I recommend to all.  Much better than that David Lynch piece of shit I watched last night.

After Yojimbo I read Pterodactyls by Nicky Silver.  I'm on a kick.  I have 2 more of his plays to read.  I find I like to be bombarded with ideas from one person over a short period of time.  It's more interesting to see someone's play in the larger context of the rest of their work.  I seem to do this by reading a whole bunch of their stuff at once.  Pterodactyls is searing, beautiful, and of course hysterically funny.  Silver's plays all seem to have at least 1 gay man (usually 2), siblings, a lot of monologues, a lot of witty banter, and basically the same character structures.  It is all very black humor, too.  That kind of shit always appeals to me.  Love it.  My collaborator and friend Aaron C tends to be bored by the kind of sick theatre I get really excited about, which is a shame... but anyway, here's a bit of Pterodactyls:

"That was Mr. Levie.  There's a problem with the rabbit pâté.  For the cocktail hour--it seems all the rabbits had cervical cancer and the pâté is contaminated."

Sick, right? I love it.