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.
Look, as much as I hate to admit it, every once in a while Hollywood remakes one of its own movies and it's... not... bad. And on rare occasions, it even improves on the original.
Shocking, I know. But true! Granted, it doesn't happen very much these days, but by the sound of it, A Star Is Born, of all things, is at the very least as good as the 30s and 50s versions, and better than the 70s version. I remain skeptical, but perhaps it will indeed join the ranks of these great remakes!
The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1956) As Hitch himself said, the original 1934 version with Peter Lorre is "the work of a talented amateur," while this remake "was made by a professional." Granted, the original is very good. But this one has Jimmy Stewart, Doris Day, "Que Sera, Sera", and of course the Albert Hall sequence, one of the best, most thrilling scenes in all of Hitchcock's filmography. Accuse it of being overwrought all you want, but this is one of my favorite Hitchcock films, often because its too much-ness is truly exciting.
The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956) And as long as we're talking about too much-ness, this film pretty much defines it. But in the best possible way. They don't make movies like this anymore, truly epic in every way. Every performance (Charlton Heston! Anne Baxter! Yul Brynner! Yvonne de Carlo! Judith Anderson! John Derek! DeMille himself!) is iconic, and the special effects sequences capture the kind of grandeur that you wouldn't have thought possible in 1956. It may be over three and a half hours long, but it's so entertaining that you don't even notice. DeMille's own silent version of this story is still worth seeing, but it's got nothing on this, one of the biggest spectacles the cinema has ever seen.
Ocean's Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001) Yeah, sure, The Rat Pack, and all that, but even that classic brand of cool ain't got nothin' on what Soderbergh, Clooney, and Pitt cooked up here. Everything about this remake of Ocean's Eleven feels effortless, from the easy charisma and chemistry of the stars, to the slick cinematography, the playful editing, and most importantly, that iconic jazzy score. This is Hollywood product at its slickest, providing one hell of a good time that you can't replicate anywhere else. It's pure movie magic, with a twist that more than holds up to multiple viewings. Neat trick, that.
Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Come join us by picking three movies that fit the week's theme and writing a bit about them!
I'll be honest: movies about viral outbreaks are NOT my thing. WAY too real. I'm not much of a germophobe, but this sort of thing really makes me want to crawl up into a ball, silently rock back and forth, and never EVER leave my house.
That said, these movies are really good.
Contagion (Steven Soderbergh, 2011) Do NOT watch this movie unless you want to go through life with latex gloves and a doctor's mask on FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Seriously, this movie is SO scary - Gwyneth Paltrow contracts a cold on a business trip, except it's NOT a cold, but rather a SUPER contagious disease, and then everything goes to hell. This movie seriously feels all too real. A ridiculously starry cast is the least that this movie has to offer.
World War Z (Marc Forster, 2014) FAR better than the initial reviews would have you believe, World War Z is a terrific thriller about a United Nations investigator who has to find a way to stop a zombie pandemic. Yes, it's ridiculous, and yes it ends on a bit of an anti-climax, but its best sequences are real edge-of-your-seat, biting-your-nails, watching-through-splayed-fingers masterpieces of suspense.
Idiocracy (Mike Judge, 2006) Yes, yes, alright, fine. This TECHNICALLY doesn't have any sort of viral outbreak in it, BUT, admit it - an epidemic of stupid is kind of scarier than an outbreak of bird flu. Especially since Mike Judge's satire of American machismo and overconsumption gets more and more prescient every day.
Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Join in the fun by picking three films that fit the week's theme and telling us about them!
Ready, steady, GO: Con Artists
...
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....
...
Sorry, I'm still in a turkey coma from last week. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I had two celebrations, one on Thursday and one on Friday. This was my first year traveling to celebrate the holiday since college. And I was also cooking. So I missed last week's Thursday movie picks. :-(
So I wanted to be back this week with a vengeance.
Except that I forgot today was Thursday.
DAMMIT.
Oh well. I shall soldier on anyway! I've got one modern classic, and two Classic classics.
Ocean's Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001) Effortlessly cool and with enough movie star charisma and swagger for eleven films, Soderbergh's update of the classic Rat Pack film is pure, endlessly rewatchable movie fun.
The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941) Barbara Stanwyck's seduction of Henry Fonda's dim-witted mark is one for the ages.
Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1933) Only Lubitsch could make a con film this sophisticated, sexy, and funny. Indelible performances from conwoman Miriam Hopkins and single socialite Kay Francis, as well as suave Hubert Marshall, the man caught between them.
Written for the series hosted by Nathaniel R. at The Film Experience. Check out what else is going on there - the magnificent actress Ann Dowd guest-hosted the site this week!
I was just watching Magic Mike this past weekend, trying to convince my boyfriend to see the sequel because the original was far better than it had any right to be, because it was a completely different film than any description of it might suggest. You hear the words "Channing Tatum male stripper drama" and you can't help but get a certain image in your head. Especially if you've seen clips of Matthew McConaughey's legendary performance. But Reid Carolin's script and Steven Soderbergh's direction subvert that at practically every turn. Magic Mike, based on Tatum's experience as a male stripper, is actually a whopper of a character study. That's probably because Tatum really KNOWS these people. Like, knows them on a deeper level than they probably know themselves. Constantly up on the take, these are "bros" who might aspire to something more... or would, if they had any ambition to change their lives or, you know, actually DO anything.
But what struck me most this time around was just how much the film is about the act of watching. The film's first scene is of Dallas (seriously, McConaughey is SO brilliant here) telling the audience that "the law says you cannot touch", follows it up with a glorious shot of Tatum's ass, and then proceeds to withhold the stripping for nearly half an hour. What a tease. Perfect for a film about stripping. But if you can't touch - and we in the movie theater or our home or wherever else we're watching the film certainly can't touch the dancers of the Xquisite revue - the only thing you can do is watch.
And the film is full of shots of people watching things - be they half-naked people or Joe Manganiello's giant dick in a penis pump or something else entirely. It comes close to being an indictment of the audience and their expectations/demands. Sort of, "Oh, you thought this was going to be a hootin'-hollerin' good time? An easy-breezy summer skin flick? How dare you expect so little of us! Oh we'll give you what you want, but you may not want it when we do."
Best Shot Runner-up; we've never seen dance from this angle before!
When we do get to the stripping, it feels weird. It's not what we expect. It feels low-rent, and a little cheesy - but not in a good way. Not in a Showgirls way, either. It's enough to make you feel JUST bad enough about not only watching, but wanting to see it. Not so much that you don't enjoy it, but enough to make you feel the tiniest bit guilty about it. It's a clever trick, actually, and Soderbergh is a wizard in how he pulls it off. The yellow tint of the cinematography makes the whole film feel like Florida - hot and muggy and draggy. The retro soundtrack gets you revved up but also makes you feel a bit nostalgic. The shots are mostly wide, and the editing isn't fast really, but it cuts enough to make you wish it would stay on its subjects a bit longer, so you can really appreciate their great dancing (and their great bodies).
And so all of this is why I chose this as my Best Shot. When Cody Horn's Brooke shows up at the revue to see if what her brother Adam (Alex Pettyfer, perfectly cast for once in his life) told her about his new job was actually real, she doesn't know what to expect. And when his new best friend/mentor Mike tells her to stay and watch the rest of the show, she's dismissive. But then as she's about to leave, she hears the crowd go wild for Dallas's intro for "Magic" Mike. And then Ginuwine's "Pony" starts up, and Mike starts dancing, and she can't quite look away.
BEST SHOT
And as the dancing/stripping continues, we keep coming back to that closeup of her, getting slightly closer each time, watching every emotion flicker across her face just like the lights in the club. She thinks it's ridiculous. She thinks it's hot. She likes it. She's surprised she likes it. She hates herself for liking it. She hates the other women for liking it. She hates Mike for being so damn fine. People gave Cody Horn a lot of shit for this performance, but looking at this shot I don't get it. Yes, she's a bit affectless, but that's the character. She's a perfect foil for Tatum in her low-key naturalism, and when she lets loose with that smile, she makes you feel like you've earned it - completely key in selling this character as someone Mike would be interested in.
I don't think there's been a single shot in recent times that so thoroughly shows the audience their reaction to watching the movie in which it takes place. It's genius, and completely essential to the film, giving us all that we need to see that maybe Brooke isn't a complete stick in the mud, and that she and Mike might actually be good for each other. It's the key to the whole movie: Screw up this moment, and the film fails. But it's Soderbergh, so he knows how important this moment it is and nails it. Far be it from me to advocate taking time away from watching Channing Tatum dance, but this shot is worth it.
Written as part of the blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. It's incredibly easy to join - just pick three movies that fit the category for the week and post your link to the Wanderer's blog!
I was never really into comic books as a kid, but I was into Saturday morning cartoons. So when I was a kid my favorite superheroes were, far and away, the X-Men. I was a bit obsessed. I even had decks for the Marvel Overpower card game. I never felt the need, though, to see them in live action on the big screen. And truth be told, I have seen most of the superhero movies of the past few years out of some combination of boredom and duty: Everyone else is seeing them, they're part of the national cultural conversation, so I guess I have to see them, too. Not that I haven't enjoyed most of them (largely due to star power - Robert Downey, Jr. is compulsively watchable as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth is hot as FUCK as Thor, the Chrises Evans and Pratt has never been more charismatic than as Captain America and Starlord, respectively), but I almost never WANT to go see them. Especially since there are just so damn many of them crowding the multiplexes practically year-round.
But here are three really, really good superhero movies, from the time before the cinema was All Superheroes, All The Time, in order from least to most realistic.
The Incredibles (Brad Bird, 2004) Look, by rights, this list should just be The Incredibles 1-3, but for some stupid reason Pixar hasn't made a sequel to LITERALLY THE ONLY FILM THEY'VE MADE THAT ENDS WITH A CALL FOR A SEQUEL. Whatever. Director Bird is apparently working on a script for a sequel now, so hopefully we won't have to wait too long to see the Parr family (and Fro-Zone) onscreen again. This is just a genius flick, with great scene ("NO CAPES!") after great scene ("WHERE'S MY SUPERSUIT?") after great scene ("That was TOTALLY WICKED!") and great, fully-fleshed-out characters. Some people say it's Pixar's best, and I'm not so sure, but it's definitely up there. And, God help me, I can't WAIT for the sequel.
Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan, 2000) Far and away Shyamalan's most sophisticated film, I think Unbreakable might be a far more important film than we give it credit for. This was the first superhero film to unquestionably take place in the real world, with very real consequences to its characters' actions - a style which has become more pronounced in recent years thanks to Christopher Nolan's Diminishing Returns Dark Knight trilogy. But this is where it really started, and what sets Unbreakable apart is that for the most part, it ISN'T a superhero movie - it's a mystery with a slight supernatural edge (frankly, the big superhero/villain reveal very nearly unmoors the whole movie; it's only saved by Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson's great performances). When this first came out, I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it, but looking back, this is Shyamalan's best film.
Erin Brockovich (Steven Soderbergh, 2000) I know. I KNOW. But people, Erin Brockovich is an ACTUAL REAL LIFE superhero: A single mother with no job experience who through sheer force of will and personality becomes a legal assistant and single-handedly brings down one of the nation's largest utilities (plus, I mean, six hundred and thirty-four blowjobs in five days. - COME ON - who wouldn't be tired?). And couldn't we use more of those? And couldn't we use more films this thornily entertaining? And couldn't we use more of the crackling chemistry between Julia Roberts and Albert Finney? Another film that is just perfect scene after perfect scene from start to finish.
BONUS PICK
Chronicle (Josh Trank, 2012) Okay fine, if that last one was too much of a stretch, what about this one? A lot of people said this found-footage teen flick was "really" a superhero origin story. I'm not sure I buy it, but Chronicle (about a trio of high school friends who find a UFO and, after touching it, gain mysterious powers, the development of which they capture on video) is one of the most surprising films of the last few years. Clever, fun, and with ingenious visual effects, it's a blast. One of those movies that makes you excited to see what everyone involved is going to do next.
