Completely Unnecessary

I borrowed a slew of movies from friends of mine a while ago. American History X has sat, untouched for weeks, on top of our TV cabinet.

Though it’s been nearly ten years since I first saw it, I couldn’t bear to watch the curb scene again.

And I mostly avoided it. I wound up watching the actual moment peering through my fingers, but it wasn’t as graphic as I remember. It’s more the fear in the victim’s face before the act that sets up the terror of the moment. (By the way, this is not so much a I-don’t-want-to-give-it-away-moment as an I-don’t-want-to-describe-it.)

Anyway, the film is a mixture of brilliance and maudlin. Edward Norton’s white supremacist, Derek, (who predates Ryan Gosling’s Jewish neo-nazi by two years) is clearly the emotional center of the film, despite narration by his younger brother.

I have trouble connecting with Norton’s voice, though. There’s some strange Fight Club/Primal Fear holdover that makes it difficult for me to engage with his dialogue. It’s like I mistrust what his character is telling me… His body language and intensity, however, is why he’s one of the most highly-regarded actors around.

Horribly, the curb scene is the highlight of Norton’s performance. The manic joy in his eyes as he awaits arrest is both repellent and intoxicating. In the next scene, the moment is made all the more compelling via the deadness in the eyes of Cam, Norton’s character’s mentor.

There are highs and lows, most of which are summed up by the uneven, heartstringy ending. After a dramatic moment, we’re left with more questions than answers of what this might mean for the characters. The soundtrack during the rather predictable jail rape scene is overwrought and belies an unnecessary terror on the part of the composer (I feel as though few movie composers find themselves prey to incarcerated gang rapes).

Derek’s brother Danny (Edward Furlong) narrates and acts well, and there are strong moments from Doris (Beverly D’Angelo), the brothers’ mother. There’s a strangely stilted performance from the almost uniformely fine Elliot Gould; there’s no question he was directed poorly in both of his scenes.

Even if you have bad memories from the first time, American History X is worth a re-watch. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that it made me want to re-watch The Believer as well. There’s only so much neo-nazism I can take - it’s not really the genre I was looking for this week.

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In two sentences or less:

The Notebook (film): Meh. Too much or not enough softcore (especially in the deleted scenes), I can’t tell.

Wuthering Heights (book): Sister Emily should have sold the story rights to Charlotte.

The Girl with the Pearl Earring (film): I can’t take seeing Cillian Murphy tragically wasted in another film this week; two was enough. Also, as a character note: I hope to she sold that shit.

Maus (book - graphic biography?): Wonderful - still not sure how I never read the original since Maus II has been a favorite of my bookshelf for years.

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (book): Getting better. I know it’s a noir, but it shouldn’t take me 100 pages to care.

Buffy (Season Six, Disc 2 - ‘Life Serial’, ‘All the Way’, ‘Once More With Feeling’, ‘Tabula Rasa’) (tv): Maybe my favorite three episodes of Buffy ever. ‘All the Way’ would make it four if Dawn’s grisly murder had been a plot point.

‘Life Serial’ gets an additional two sentences, since Warren’s (Adam Busch) outburst during one of The Trio’s James Bond arguments still makes me laugh out loud anytime I hear it or think of it:

I mean, there’s a shot of, like, pigeons doing double takes when the gondola blasted by!  Moonraker is inexcusable.

I think that’s honestly the best combination of writing and delivery I’ve ever seen.

Angel (Season Four) (tv): Kinda zzzzzzz. Narrative structure, much?

Herald Sun (newspaper): I actually had to read some of the HS for some research the other day - hands down the worst newspaper I’ve ever read. HS is inexcusable.

[Things I forgot! -Ed.]

Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog (online video) - Awesomely wonderful. If I’d know there was only a short period of time to watch it for free, I would have done it a bunch more times.’

Possums (animals) - So cutie pie and so everywhere. I lure them over with the promise of food, but then get a little nervous and ride away.

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How pretty is Chicago?!?!

That’s my takeaway from The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s new installment in the Batman series. In short: it was great.

But back to my pretty city. In Batman Begins, most of the action focused around ‘The Narrows’, a CGI island plunked in the middle of the Chicago River. In Dark Knight, however, the city is filmed with a lot less computer fussing and frequently during the day.

The river even looked clean! It was the best the city’s looked since The Fugitive. And it’s the closest to feeling homesick I’ve been since returning to Oz. It’s really funny to watch chase scenes running up and down Lake St. and the ending up somewhere completely different. (Look out also for the awesome ‘GTA’ bus.)

And, of course, there’s the obligatory chase scene on Lower Wacker Dr. I was just joking to my friend Avi, which whom I watched Batman Begins the other day, that any movie filmed in Chicago must involve Lower Wacker. And as a cop yelled, “Go down to Lower 5th Avenue!” (or something like that), I turned to Avi and said, ‘See? Here we go.’

Which is not to say that those pesky things like plot, action and acting weren’t present as well. The story was a little overpacked, even with a runtime of 2.5 hours. But that’s not a major complaint. There just wasn’t always time to digest everything that was going on with the large number of characters.

I was thinking the other day that Zodiac is basically a who’s who of who’s good in Hollywood these days, but the Dark Knight cast has it beat, actually. Plus, this movie was also more or less a who’s who of men I’d cheerfully marry if it came to it. Or even just suggested, really.

Heath Ledger’s performance, as has been widely speculated, etc., was amazing. It’s clear that he was coming into his talent in a big way, and would probably have been one of the greatest performers of his generation. The only thing that detracted from his turn as The Joker was that it was almost too nuanced for film. There was so much going on in his face and eyes, that I sometimes missed what he was saying for watching him so intently.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is a happy replacement for Katie Holmes as Rachael. Aaron Eckhart is great as always. Gary Oldman gets better material to work with this time around; I thought the writing for him was really bad in the first film.

Strangely, Bruce Wayne kind of got left out of this movie. There were few scenes with Christian Bale as Wayne - and he was often shot from the side or from behind his shoulder. The person part of the character was subsumed by Batman, but I think that’s the point. It’s definitely a second in a trilogy, darkest before the dawn kind of thing.

Nolan really knows how to make beautiful set pieces. The Bat… Lair(?) this time around is beautifully minimalist in stark blacks and whites.

That all being said, I am so jealous of those of you who get to run around beautiful Chicago. Go play in the Lake and see The Dark Knight when it cools down.

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Part of the Universal lot burned today. This makes me very, very sad:

Officials say the iconic courthouse square from “Back to the Future,” has been destroyed, and the famous clocktower that enabled star Michael J. Fox’s character to time travel has been damaged.

What a shabby way to go. It should have been destroyed with 1.21 gigawatts!

Unfortunately there’s no youtube video of the lady shaking the can screaming ‘Save the Clocktower!’ That would have been perfect.

Universal Studios Fire [AP via HuffPost]

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Dith Pran died today of pancreatic cancer at the age of 65.

Dith is most famous for his partnership with NYT journalist Sydney Schanberg. The two covered Cambodia during the rise of the Khmer Rouge.

Unlike Schanberg, who had an American passport, Dith was unable to escape Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime. He lived through a time in his country’s history that remains nearly unspeakable to this day.

It seems impossible to believe that he survived so much, only to be felled by his own cells. It is tragic that his life (as well as the lives of all who died as a result of the KR regime) was cut so short.

If you haven’t read The Death and Life of Dith Pran, I highly recommend it. Dith and Schanberg were also the subjects of the Academy Award-winning film, The Killing Fields. The film is good, but I recommend the book. If you get interested in the Khmer Rouge period, I also recommend, Stay Alive, My Son.

The NYT also has a photo gallery of Dith, including some of his work with the paper after his escape.

Link:
Dith Pran, ‘Killing Fields’ Photographer, Dies at 65 [NYT]

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Um, there’s a film in preproduction right now called Dali & I: The Surreal Story.

Who would be bold enough to take on the part of everyone’s favorite artistic crazy man? Why none other than Hollywood’s favorite crazy man: Al Fucking Pacino.

Al Pacino is playing the part of Salvador Dali in a film.
To clarify, Salvador Dali is being played by Al Pacino.

These are the things I learn stalking Cillian Murphy on IMDB. Sunshine was pretty weird, but oh, oh so worth it.

Um, so I have to go to Asia now. Bye.

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Against all odds - and really most of recorded history - Australia got a film before anyone else. Namely Cloverfield, which I was excited to see a) because it’s JJ Abrams and LOST is still kind of awesome and b) it’s fodder for my post-9/11 disaster movies PhD, which is totally impractical but is still a fervent dream. The Statue of Liberty gets blown up and NYC gets a pummeling. Great stuff.

And, unfortunately, I’m going to give it what I imagine must be the worst kind of review in Abrams’ mind: meh.

It had some interesting elements, but was dragged down by incredibly stilted dialogue (shame on you, Drew Goddard, you’ve done some great stuff) and just a general inability to build interest in the characters. Luckily, they don’t seem that interested in each other either, so that works out. The direction is uninspired - the filmwork is jarring but good - Matt Reeves is a TV director and it shows.

Cloverfield’s major redeeming factor is the line I’ve quoted in the title. I think I laughed for nearly a minute on that one. That’s the Drew we know and love. But! One line does not a disaster movie make. I will give Abrams credit for not pulling his punches, though; he deals out the death not just the destruction.

So, it wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t particularly interesting either. And at only 75 minutes long, my $15 ticket is all the more upsetting. And I’m now convinced that Abrams has no idea how he’s going to wrap up LOST. I think he just likes weird and inexplicable.

So then we snuck into Juno. People who approximate my taste in films all gave glowing reviews of this film, but again I was unwowed. If I had to come up with a one sentence review, it’d be: ‘Wow, teens sure have a whole lot of funny words’ or ‘Motherhood is rewarding even in the most trying of circumstances, sometimes pretty contrived ones.’

But getting back to Cloverfield, perhaps ’some thing has found us.’ Walking home tonight, something scurried along the path, and I literally cannot tell you what phylum this beastie belonged to. A bug? A rodent? Who he hells knows?

Which brings me to a point I’ll leave for tomorrow - provided I don’t die from the Off I just sprayed all over my bed to keep the mosquitoes away.

Update: Inexplicably, the Age thought Cloverfield was amazing; um, the NYT did not.

Update II: The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips pretty much wrote the exact review I would have - if, you know, I was writing for something other than my own personal amusement (and didn’t have some strange LOST loyalty to Abrams about not wanting to give the monster secrets away. Sad!)

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And by ‘breach’, I mean ‘flying United’. Ew.

America has been teh fun. I think I ate everywhere I needed to (though confidential to Irazu, I hope you step up the burritos back up when you get done renovating) and saw nearly everyone I needed to see.

A note to Australians: no brunches for a while. I’ve been to so many freaking brunches since I’ve been home; it’s muesli and yoghurt for the next month or so.

What craziness did I get up to for my last night in town? Um, I saw There Will Be Blood because I’m sure it won’t open until June (or later) in Oz.

Daniel Day-Lewis was amazing, but he was overshadowed by the guy playing Eli Sunday, the preacher. I couldn’t place him during the film, but he turns out to be Paul Dano, the silent brother in my totes favorite film evah, Little Miss Sunshine. I thought he was good in that wretched little movie, but he was incredible in this. TWBB dragged a bit about 3/4 through and I couldn’t figure out why until Eli turned up again. He’s like a younger, brown-eyed, American Cillian Murphy. I expect great things (which Murphy can also get on to doing any time now).

Hey, so every minute I spend blogging is one less minute I have to do all the insane amounts of crap I haven’t gotten around to doing over the past six weeks. If it can’t be left to the last minute, it isn’t worth doing. Or so my philosophy appears to go.

Lygon Street gelato in T-30 hours!

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I’m not supposed to double post from my the Melbourne Metblog, but I’m too excited - loosely-based internet rules be damned!

John Cage is one of my favorite 20th century composers. His most famous piece is ‘4:33′, in which no actual notes are played. That’s interesting and all, but I’m in love with his prepared piano stuff. His technique included shoving (very carefully) a bunch of stuff (frequently everyday, junk objects) into pianos and composing around that. Some of it’s really amazing.

Well, I’ve just spent 15 minutes failing to make the audio player work, so that’s thrilling. I’m sure I’ll think about this time when I’m whining over my 12,000 words due in about three weeks. Here’s a youtube clip instead (there’s a bunch of lead up, so I’d start watching from 5:00, the piece starts just before 6:00):

Here’s another. This is actually from the Prepared Piano set I wanted to play, though not the one I wanted. It’s pretty neat:

Anyway, this Friday the Melbourne Arts Festival is running John Cage’s Musicircus. It goes from dusk (5:48pm) to dawn the next morning. There’s all sorts of music, art, dance, theatre, etc. The lineup looks amazing, though there are literally so many acts I didn’t even get to look at them all properly.

So excited for this. It’s going to be 25 degrees as well, but, being Melbourne, the low is going to be 9. Sigh.

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It has been widely observed that I can’t enjoy movies because I insist on analyzing them. This is not true. For instance, my favorite part of Transformers was about a four frame cut of two elderly Qatarian men. They looked on blithely as seven marines were chased, guns blazing, by an enormous, scorpion robot. They both had a look that said, “Eh, I’ve seen worse.”

As usual, I laughed alone. But I did enjoy myself.

Over at The Stranger, Transformers was described as “retarded Republican-scented fascism porn”. Maybe not, but were some definite smacks of gung-ho Americanism.

Most notably - Bumblebee. All the Autobots were good ol’ fashioned GM American cars, but they beat it a bit over the head with Bumblebee. In the cartoon he was a VW Bug, but that kind of national socialist bullcrap doesn’t sit so well with America, so he’s a Camero instead. Not only that, but he actually attacks a yellow bug sitting next to him that… whatisname is maybe going to buy. American automotive engineering is aggressively superior to that of other nations.

It’s not.

But it is in this movie - there are alien robots, anything could happen.

Second - aliens attack Earth and AGAIN they’re fighting in the southwestern desert. It’s almost as if that’s where most of our ‘undesirables’ turn up. What with immigration reform being a hot topic the last few years, I can’t imagine why they’d make a movie about Americans fighting aliens in the southwest.

That being said - this movie is a bit different because the battles take place in podunk towns. I can’t remember where they said it was occurring (somewhere in Nevada?), but it sure wasn’t LA or New York, the two usual suspects for disaster fiction. Message = terrorism/immigration can happen anywhere.

A brief aside: Can John Turturro please be in every movie? Thanks.

I’m less excited about this project than I was as it was running through my head in the shower this morning. Work, class and a glass or two of wine will do that to you. Also, I’ve been reading Wonkette’s live blogging of the CNN/YouTube/Morons debate and I feel like writing in bullets instead of complete thoughts.

Which brings us to my last point, which is: I don’t consider myself hugely affected by September 11th. I wasn’t in NYC, I don’t know anyone who was directly affected - I’d feel kind of cheap to say that it ‘touched my life’. That being said (and minor spoilers, I guess), during the big fight Starscream takes Optimus Prime through a skyscraper. He’s in complete plane mode, so it’s basically a jet driving straight through a skyscraper. I was pretty upset by that image, actually. I thought it was tacky, at best. Worse, if they were using it intentionally, which they probably were. I don’t think too many Americans would have missed that one.

So Republican fasioporn? A bit. There were some complexities - for instance the bad guys were almost uniformly instruments of war. Then again, (spoilers if you’re dumb!) they were defeated by the American Army and not by the other aliens. Rah America.

It was still overly long and kind of crappy (sorry Paul - I don’t think he reads this). Seriously, cut some stuff, Mr. Editor! I do not need to watch people hunt for an object in a bedroom for half an hour! Yes, yes, it yielded numerous masturbation jokes. He he. Hilarious. Cut to the action.

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