Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Join in the fun by picking three movies that fit the week's theme and writing a bit about them!
I'm gonna be honest, guys. Tuesday night wrecked me. Wednesday has been a haze; even my office, usually abuzz with activity and chatter, was dead silent. My voice is horse from all the screaming. My eyes are dried out from all the crying. My feet are sore from all the marching in protest. And my spirit is somewhat defeated from not knowing what to do. I don't have it in me to write a whole lot about this right now, so please, forgive me.
Let's just dive right in, shall we? The subject is addiction. The movies are:
Shame (Steve McQueen, 2011) Pretentious, only occasionally involving twaddle about sex addiction. Fassbender and Mulligan are the only reasons to see it and even then, I'm not sure they're worth the slog through every single goddamn well-trodden trope about addiction.
The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder, 1945) Perhaps a bit over the top, but still powerful look at alcoholism. Ray Milland gives one of the best Best Actor Oscar-winning performances.
Bigger Than Life (Nicholas Ray, 1956) The best of these three, with the best lead performance, this time from James Mason as a schoolteacher who becomes addicted to cortisone. Nick Ray was a genius filmmaker, and this is well within his typical florid wheelhouse, which he turned into a sort of house of mirrors to critique the male-dominated American society of the 50s. Mason is nothing short of brilliant in the lead.
Oh man, I loved Shame. lol. I haven't seen the other two. I actually have had all my TMP posts scheduled since the beginning of the year, I'm not in the mood to write anything new either. All my content is previously scheduled :(
Yeah, not a fan of Shame. At all. And I went in really wanting to like it. Oh well. You can't like everything! Very smart of you to have all these written and scheduled already!
I feel your pain and frustration if that helps though I know it probably doesn't.
Great picks, especially the last two!
I'm pretty much in the same boat with Shame as you. Excellent performances but unremittingly grim. I struggle through to the end.
I appreciated The Lost Weekend more than enjoyed it, felt the same way about The Days of Wine and Roses, but Milland is incredibly vivid and Jane Wyman very touching as his girl.
Agreed that Bigger Than Life is the best of the three. What a tremendous talent James Mason was.
To alleviate some of the gloom from the week, one of my cousins was also involved in a serious car accident on top of everything else, my first choice-while dealing with a serious subject-is a deliciously lurid take on it full of juicy goodness and the divine Suzanne Pleshette.
A Rage to Live (1965)-Soap opera pure and simple based on a John O’Hara novel about a woman who in more enlightened times would have been viewed as a person with a crippling disorder, nymphomania, that would require treatment but for our purposes here is a wanton slut. The great Suzanne Pleshette’s character Grace Caldwell Tate is ruled by urges she cannot control and nothing she attempts, marriage, a child etc., can stop them. There are minor attempts at some insight into her problem but they are quickly tossed away in favor of sensationalism. Good supporting cast including Peter Graves and in a rare on screen role Brett Somers Klugman from Match Game! If you enjoy trashy cinema with quality actors enacting silly situations with earnest professionalism this is right up your alley.
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)-A “family” of junkies consisting of two couples (Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham and James Le Gros) drift around the country subsisting and feeding their habit by robbing drug stores. They float along in a perpetual haze until a tragedy opens the eyes of the leader Bob (Dillon) and he determines to go straight. It’s a struggle and only gets more difficult when someone from his past shows up and tries to force him into scoring drugs. Gus Van Sant directed film is relentlessly downbeat with one of Dillon’s best performances.
The Doors (1991)-The story of the rise and fall of the 60’s rock band and its infamous leader Jim Morrison whose freewheeling lifestyle and many addictions lead to much acrimony within the band as well as his early death in Paris. Val Kilmer is terrific as The Lizard King, Meg Ryan less so as his wild child wife.
Oh I meant to mention that I love Nicolas Ray too! I think we might have talked about him when you saw In a Lonely Place. If you haven't seen it I highly highly recommend his The Lusty Men with brilliant work from both Robert Mitchum and Susan Hayward.
Never heard of A Rage to Live but WOW does it sound fun. If Brett Somers is in it then I simply MUST see it. I've heard of the other two but haven't seen them (although I have seen bits and pieces of The Doors).
Yeah, Nicholas Ray made some amazing films. The Lusty Men is on my list - it keeps coming up in talks with people who like him.
I know what you mean. I felt like I was watching a train wreck Tuesday evening. Let's hope he can't do much because he has to get things past through the Senate, House of Commons etc or he will get impeached or whacked which, even though I despise the orange fop, I would not wish that. Love that you could find this trailer. I tried to find this trailer and couldn't. From my blog. ...isn't James Mason brilliant?!I have to try to rewatch The Lost Weekend because I actually did giggle at a few spots plus I could not understand why anyone could love such a jerk. I haven't seen Shame but is this the one with the full frontal of hubby hubba?...I mean Michael Fassbender?
Bigger Than Life is GREAT. I didn't think Shame had anything new or particularly interesting to say. Which is a shame, since Fassbender and Mulligan really are good in it.
McQueen's directorial style on Shame, to me, is frustrating in its deliberateness, but I don't think I'd call it pretentious. It's pretty damn unique. The long, static shots work more than they don't (I'm thinking the scene where Fassbender stares that red head down for what seems like an hour). Anyway, that's the only of your three I've seen, though I'd love to see the older two.
I feel your pain on last Tuesday. Fucked my whole week up. Now, I'm just....
I usually visit all of your posts on the new week when I publish my new post, so I didn't quite get your intro at first and had to backtracked what happened last Tuesday...plus with the time difference...your Tuesday is my Wednesday. So whatever day it was...it was just all so unbelievable and sad.
Oh man, I loved Shame. lol. I haven't seen the other two. I actually have had all my TMP posts scheduled since the beginning of the year, I'm not in the mood to write anything new either. All my content is previously scheduled :(
ReplyDeleteYeah, not a fan of Shame. At all. And I went in really wanting to like it. Oh well. You can't like everything! Very smart of you to have all these written and scheduled already!
DeleteWhoa not a fan of Shame. Still want to see it. I had a feeling The Lost Weekend would pop up. Bigger than life is soundi7more appealing.
ReplyDeleteBigger Than Life is REALLY good. Totally underrated.
DeleteI feel your pain and frustration if that helps though I know it probably doesn't.
ReplyDeleteGreat picks, especially the last two!
I'm pretty much in the same boat with Shame as you. Excellent performances but unremittingly grim. I struggle through to the end.
I appreciated The Lost Weekend more than enjoyed it, felt the same way about The Days of Wine and Roses, but Milland is incredibly vivid and Jane Wyman very touching as his girl.
Agreed that Bigger Than Life is the best of the three. What a tremendous talent James Mason was.
To alleviate some of the gloom from the week, one of my cousins was also involved in a serious car accident on top of everything else, my first choice-while dealing with a serious subject-is a deliciously lurid take on it full of juicy goodness and the divine Suzanne Pleshette.
A Rage to Live (1965)-Soap opera pure and simple based on a John O’Hara novel about a woman who in more enlightened times would have been viewed as a person with a crippling disorder, nymphomania, that would require treatment but for our purposes here is a wanton slut. The great Suzanne Pleshette’s character Grace Caldwell Tate is ruled by urges she cannot control and nothing she attempts, marriage, a child etc., can stop them. There are minor attempts at some insight into her problem but they are quickly tossed away in favor of sensationalism. Good supporting cast including Peter Graves and in a rare on screen role Brett Somers Klugman from Match Game! If you enjoy trashy cinema with quality actors enacting silly situations with earnest professionalism this is right up your alley.
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)-A “family” of junkies consisting of two couples (Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, Heather Graham and James Le Gros) drift around the country subsisting and feeding their habit by robbing drug stores. They float along in a perpetual haze until a tragedy opens the eyes of the leader Bob (Dillon) and he determines to go straight. It’s a struggle and only gets more difficult when someone from his past shows up and tries to force him into scoring drugs. Gus Van Sant directed film is relentlessly downbeat with one of Dillon’s best performances.
The Doors (1991)-The story of the rise and fall of the 60’s rock band and its infamous leader Jim Morrison whose freewheeling lifestyle and many addictions lead to much acrimony within the band as well as his early death in Paris. Val Kilmer is terrific as The Lizard King, Meg Ryan less so as his wild child wife.
Oh I meant to mention that I love Nicolas Ray too! I think we might have talked about him when you saw In a Lonely Place. If you haven't seen it I highly highly recommend his The Lusty Men with brilliant work from both Robert Mitchum and Susan Hayward.
DeleteNever heard of A Rage to Live but WOW does it sound fun. If Brett Somers is in it then I simply MUST see it. I've heard of the other two but haven't seen them (although I have seen bits and pieces of The Doors).
DeleteYeah, Nicholas Ray made some amazing films. The Lusty Men is on my list - it keeps coming up in talks with people who like him.
I know what you mean. I felt like I was watching a train wreck Tuesday evening. Let's hope he can't do much because he has to get things past through the Senate, House of Commons etc or he will get impeached or whacked which, even though I despise the orange fop, I would not wish that. Love that you could find this trailer. I tried to find this trailer and couldn't. From my blog. ...isn't James Mason brilliant?!I have to try to rewatch The Lost Weekend because I actually did giggle at a few spots plus I could not understand why anyone could love such a jerk. I haven't seen Shame but is this the one with the full frontal of hubby hubba?...I mean Michael Fassbender?
ReplyDeleteYup, that's the one! The full frontal comes early in the movie and it's glorious, but it's all downhill from there.
DeleteJames Mason is SO brilliant!
Aw man, I actually loved Shame. Oh well. To each his own, I guess. I still need to see the other two.
ReplyDeleteI can kinda-sorta see what people liked about Shame, but it REALLY didn't work for me. I just didn't find anything all that interesting about it.
DeleteOh man, I loved Shame, it's easily my favourite film about addiction. I haven't seen the other two, but Bigger Than Life definitely sounds appealing.
ReplyDeleteBigger Than Life is GREAT. I didn't think Shame had anything new or particularly interesting to say. Which is a shame, since Fassbender and Mulligan really are good in it.
DeleteMcQueen's directorial style on Shame, to me, is frustrating in its deliberateness, but I don't think I'd call it pretentious. It's pretty damn unique. The long, static shots work more than they don't (I'm thinking the scene where Fassbender stares that red head down for what seems like an hour). Anyway, that's the only of your three I've seen, though I'd love to see the older two.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain on last Tuesday. Fucked my whole week up. Now, I'm just....
I usually visit all of your posts on the new week when I publish my new post, so I didn't quite get your intro at first and had to backtracked what happened last Tuesday...plus with the time difference...your Tuesday is my Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteSo whatever day it was...it was just all so unbelievable and sad.