Ç TROPIC THUD | Main | THE COEN BROTHERS (Part 1) È
September 20, 2008
BIG TOP ANDYTOWN
Five remarkable thoughts I had:
1) In my last post, I crapped all over TROPIC THUNDER. Not that I want to revisit that crud-fest, but I was recently struck by its remarkable similarities to childhood favorite THREE AMIGOS. Both are about clueless movie stars duped into a real situation they think is fake and acting accordingly dumb until they are forced to become the stereotypes they usually portray. In both, a villain sympathizes with a character because of his association with an on-screen persona. And both are send-ups of the artificiality a genre that fancies itself to be realistic. In the far-superior AMIGOS, however there are THREE as opposed to the convoluted five of THUNDER - and then added in are an agent, studio head, studio head's assistant, a director, a special effects guy, the writer, etc. etc. AMIGOS is also breezy and light, while THUNDER attempts commentary and topical humor that won't make sense to anyone watching it five years from now (see also: ZOOLANDER). AMIGOS has a lot of silliness about an invisible swordsman and a bandito named El Guapo while THUNDER invokes insulting stereotypes about Asian drug lords and "retards" in an attempt to be shockingly offensive (and indeed it is offensive, but never very funny) - in other words, one is clever and informed by movies, and the other takes xenophobic cheap shots. THREE AMIGOS: not a masterpiece by anyone's standards but nonetheless looking like one in comparison to the recent thud of thunder.
2) In contrast to that big budget dud, I was regenerated by the happy unfussiness of mumblecore. One of the first posts on this new forum was about my love for this exciting new low-budget genre. I was also excited by HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS, the most erotic (if least successful) of the bunch, and now have enjoyed THE PUFFY CHAIR, which is the EASY RIDER/BOTTLE ROCKET/TWO-LANE BLACKTOP of the bunch. Meaning its an existential road movie with any profound sense of existentialism. Stuff just kind of happens; there's more plot here than the anti-plot films of Andrew Bujalski, and the film often has a sketch comedy sense of staging. But the slacker vibe and ethos moves things along to nice scenes of revelation and recovery. What excites me most about this genre is the democratic free-for-all that these movies are: co-writer and star of CHAIR Mark Duplass is also in HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS and the upcoming BAGHEAD, while Bujalski (a fun actor whose sense of place in his own films resembles that of Spike Lee) co-stars in his own movies but also HANNAH.
3) The Mets won last night after dropping two of four to the Nationals, one of which was attended by me. With my favorite college football teams tanking, the Mets playoff run has an unequalled level of primacy in my current life. I care more about John Maine's shoulder than my own personal hygiene (and like my hygiene, neither is improving). I admit that my Mets fanship is fairly recent, but most of that has to do with the fact that baseball just started getting fun again about three years ago. Granted, free-agency takes some of punch out of things - as this years' team only slightly resembles the NLCS team two years ago - but since all the steroids guys got called out, and since Barry Bonds all-but-disappearance after his asterick-worthy record, baseball has resurged in my interests.
4) I need to blog about MAD MEN. This season, in my opinion, hasn't held up with the fresh surprise of last season, but the show seems to be saving its power for the end: this explains why we're gradually learning more about the purposely elusive Don Draper - whose internal struggles have become more prominent this year, and the spiritual and personal psychoses of Peggy. This is an amazing show - the episode a few weeks ago, THREE SUNDAYS, would work as a movie. As I've been saying, if Walker Percy and Richard Yates got together to write a TV show directed by Douglas Sirk, it would end up being a lot like MAD MEN.
5) New albums I like:
Bloc Party, INTIMACY (Better than they say it is)
Dr. Dog, FATE (kind of; I'm obsessed with it)
The Walkmen, YOU AND ME (One of the front runners for the best album of the year)
Brian Wilson, THAT OLD LUCKY SUN (It's no SMILE, but I'm happy to have it)
Calexico, CARRIED TO DUST (More of the same from a consistent favorite)
Glen Campbell, MEET GLEN CAMPBELL (I'm a sucker for these types of projects
Were you expecting me to blog about Sarah Palin? Sorry to disappoint
| By Andytown | 1:57 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://memphisblogs.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/554