Movies I Should Have Already Seen, Vol 3, #8

Now that the blog is back, we should also bring back one of the longest running bits.

Movies I Should Have Already Seen, Volume 3, Issue 8

This is the first MISHAS installment of the Hulu era. Or, at least the era in which I watch Hulu. That means that for you readers that want to play along, you can swing over to Hulu and watch the movie right now.

Watching movies on Hulu can prove engaging because of the comments people can post on each movie or show page. Because Hulu enforces an actual name policy, the posts tend to be a bit more put together than the average YouTube comment. Older movies and shows tend to attract many comments by what I assume are younger viewers often hammering the video. These are people that are also engaging in MISHAS and they mostly hate it. I read one comment asking for the movie to be remade with today's faster pace. That would be a mess with ten minutes of setup and another hour-and-a-half of gun fights. Every individual piece of every individual gun would be separately mic'ed to intensify bullet time effects. The famous mirror scenes would be cut short to fit in another gun fight. But, we would make sure to try and get a PG-13 rating to boost profits. Robert DeNiro would be replaced by a cut-up Gerard Butler and Miley Cyrus would be Iris.

I really liked Taxi Driver and part of me would have wanted to see it during its initial 1976 run. I think that it is a wonderful character piece that stands in stark contrast to the usual plot driven popcorn thrillers. I read some criticisms that nothing much happens in Taxi Driver until the very last minutes. Agreed that it does not clip along, but it is a lingering and long descent into madness. A weaker movie or a current remake of the film would try to highlight Travis's madness with dream sequences, quick jump cuts, or green screened hallucinations. The original film does that with a loopy soundtrack that exchanged between jazz horns and a screeching bass line. The noise really gets under your skin and makes it feel like the city itself is assaulting you. Some of the scenes seemed superfluous, such as the match strike conversation in the campaign headquarters. But this also helps add to the mental anguish, as if every inane conversation is pointless and hollow. The modern equivalent would probably be blog posts. That no one reads...

Speaking of the city, NYC comes off as gritty and dirty and needing that hard rain Travis so wishes for. This is partially a sign of the times as most urban centers in the 1970s were tough places to be, but everything gets to you. Like the Nostromo in Alien, everything seems old and broken making us wonder what life is there to live. The cinematography often reuses that same shot over and over again, particularly in the driving scenes where we pass the same traffic light or movie theater crowd several times. This helps highlight Travis's fragile mindset.

I read some comments that the movie has not aged well and should be appreciated as more of a period piece that was great at the time and for the better pictures it has influenced. I can understand this mindset and often used it for previous MISHAS pieces. I found Taxi Driver to be eerily prescient. Travis was anguished because of his experiences in Vietnam and coming back to a country that he did not recognize. This drove him to violence. How is this any different than the ennui and rage that motivated school shooters at Columbine or Virginia Tech. We all seem to be angry at each other and social commentators speak of an increasingly polarized culture. Travis felt isolated and misunderstood and are those feelings that existed purely in the post Vietnam 1970s.

I also think it is a bit short sighted to dismiss older movies by what they influenced. Does that mean The Godfather is a piece of crap because it inspired Goodfellas or The Sopranos? Every gritty, or attempt at a gritty, movie now disproves Taxi Driver's worth? Fight Club was great, but I didn't know it was proof of the law of diminishing returns.

It was also nice to see a young Harvey Keitel as the muscled up pimp, "Sport." He looks like a damn tank! Cybil Sheppard was pretty foxy as Betsy, the campaign worker and infatuation for Travis. 13-year-old Jodie Foster did well with the 12-year-old prostitute role even though she comes in the final act. The movie had balls to refer to a 13-year-old that could "make your cock so hard it pops off." Good luck saying that today even in our more "realistic" world.

Peace!

Movies I Should Have Already Seen Vol. 3, #7

If dealing with this were school, I'd had a Harvard degree....

Movies I Should Have Already Seen Volume 3, Issue 7

Forrest Gump

This is a hard one to see 14 some years after it's initial release. Not because the movie is unwatchable or bad. Not at all. However, after watching umpteen bench sketches and listening to Weird All Yankovic's Gump (Bad Hair Day was the first ever album I bought) all of the magic of Forrest' s accidental philosophy does not hit me too hard.

So, yes, except for the very end and the whole wrap up with Jenny, all those iconic moments were already with me. The braces falling off, the gunfight in Vietnam, the ping pong, etc. However, it as still wonderful to see them all put together. Visually, the movie struck me with coffee table book landscapes and the CGI seamlesness. While dated, the special effects still hold strong. I didn't know that Gary Sinise's legs were amputated on via computer. It looked amazing and I just thought they subbed in a double amputee. Except for that one clip where Forrest meets John Lennon, everything looked great.

And let's diverge for a moment about Gary Sinise and his Lieutenant Dan character. I loved Lieutenant Dan and the way that Forrest lead his life from anger (I had a destiny!) to happiness as co-owner of the shrimp company. Lieutenant Dan is pimp. If anyone deserves to still be called Lieutenant whatever after the war it is lieutenant Dan. The man stood up to a whole hurricane! And he had no legs! NO LEGS! And he hadn't buttoned up his shirt, which must have made it very chilly. We needed Lieutenant Dan during Katrina! "Your not going to break these levees dammit! Where's God now, huh!?" Also, its FUNNY! Not because Tom Hanks plays someone with an IQ of 75. We are beyond crude retard jokes here at the blog and so was the movie. It's just damn funny, filled with pointed references and visual jests. Amanda taught me the wonder of "Lieutenant Dan! Ice Cream!"

It's a damn sweet movie, but I found it off that Forrest Gump, a movie that crafted many moments with the people in power during the past 40 year, didn't really take a stance. Not that such plot points are required, but the movie made a concerted effort to frame Forrest's adventures in the tumult of the 60's, 70's and 80s. Like a Greek chorus, the radio, TV, or Forrest's asides himself tell us why the world is a crazy place. Did Forrest, the character and the movie, agree with the counter-culture? Or should we all have stayed home? Yes, Forrest is a nice guy, but what happens when you stick that nice guy at the Watergate hotel or at a Black Panthers rally? Where does that nice guy fit in?

Don't get me wrong, I am all for letting books and movies exist just for the sake of story and pleasure. Trust me, Amanda and I live in Ithaca where we have to justify why we saw the latest Hollywood movie and not whatever was playing at the local art house cinema. However, Forrest Gump garnered so much praise and so many Oscars (6) that I wanted it to say something besides "Stupid is as stupid does." I must mention that the movie does touch upon this. In a scene where Forrest is running across the county, a gaggle of reporters ask him why is he doing this? Is it for the environment? Women's rights? World peace? Forrest just says because he wanted to run. And there are other little nuggets of reflection. Maybe we can all find redemption in just being ourselves and staying home? Forrest just did everything people told him to do, never injecting his own thought, and he became wildly successful. Conversely, Jenny rebelled against her life and ended up a druggie. Is ignorance bliss? Should we just ignore all that about Vietnam, Watergate, AIDS, Iran-Contra, MLK, JFK, RFK, Malcolm X, civil rights, Roe V. Wade, the environment, Berkley, etc, for our own good? While anyone can enjoy this film, it was made for Baby Boomers. Isn't everything that Forrest what you ask Baby Boomers? Where the hell were you during Vietnam, dad?! Hell, I even asked my parents that when I was young and we lived in quasi-isolated PR. Imagine if I ever had a kid and he or she asked me, 'Hey, dad. What were you doing during the 2000 Florida re-count, 9/11, or the 2003 Iraq invasion?" And all I gave them was this big smile and a "Meh." That kid woulf probably be pissed.

Maybe the movie as trying to tell us something, but really just wanted us to focus on the heartwarming aspect of Forrest's life. I can give it that, in fact, I feel too many people today do not realize that you can just have fun at the movies whether it be though explosions or a life-story. I enjoyed all the little references sprinkled throughout the movie, which helped merge Forrest's life with the times. However, part of me still wants to know how those two work.

Peace!

Triple Sized Installment!

This will certainly make up for all the inactivity on the blog of late. Here is a TRIPLE-SIZED Movies I Should Have Already Seen for you! DAMN!

Movies I Should Have Already Seen Vol 3., #4, 5, & 6

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Bleh, I must say that I didn't like this movie very much. I believe it is definitely something that you had to have been there to truly appreciate. Imagine being in the summer of 1977 and going to see this while you were still on your Star Wars high? Pretty sweet, eh? However, we all live in a post Encounters world and all I could think of during that scene where the aliens take Barry is the similar scene in Signs. Time has ruined me and also ruins this review. I must also admit that I am biased. I am TERRIFIED of alien greys. Real or not, those little skinny, almond-eyes bastards give me the creeps. They will always be a menacing figure to me and that is why I reciprocate with movies like Signs and Alien. I realize this was the whole point of Encounters, to challenge the monster from space motif, but alien greys are just creepy. Encounters does the creepy part well. The scene where the crablike ship flies over those corn fields, and all we see is its shadow, really shook me up. So did Barry's toys coming to life at the very beginning.

It's not a bad movie at all, but unlike other 70s science fiction classics (Star Wars and Alien) I don't understand why it endures except for the very point that it was amazing when it premiered. Laser gun fights will always be exciting and some big slimy thing coming at you will always be scary. That is what carried those two classics into today! But, Encounters? Spielberg, maybe? Many artistic works suffer this same fate. You ever wonder why we have to read what we do in literature class? However, I have never struggled so hard to appreciate something as I have with Encounters. I feel like I should like it, but I don't.

However, in the end, Richard Dreyfuss does get that bigger boat!

Fargo

This is one of those movies where I have to quote Jim Gaffigan:

"Hey guys! I just saw Fargo!"

"Fargo!? That movie came out like ten years ago!"

"Yeah, I know! Let's talk about it!"

"No."

"Oh, but I want to talk about it now!"

And, I will damn-it!

I loved Fargo! I loved it, eleven years late, but I still loved it. Ya, hear that the 90's! The prodigal son has come home! Now, I just need to watch Reality Bites.

First, I am sucker for atmosphere. The cold plains and all those wide shots really reeled me in. The location helped framed the movie. Who could imagine all this could happen up in the icy flatlands of northern Minnesota? And the scenes with Frances McDormand all seem just so homey. I couldn't help but smile throughout the entire movie even during those scenes that you really shouldn't. Like the kidnapping scene or where they shoot the state trooper. It was the accent. The Coen brother played off the "Nice Minnesota" stereotype well to add to each characters pluck and/or villany. Imagine the scene between McDormand and Macy, before he flees the car dealership, in anything else but that accent. They even threw in some "darn tootins!" EEEE! Minnesota can do no wrong in my book. It gave us the Coen brothers, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and has a lot of lakes, which if you read this blog, get me waxing all nature writer like.

Transformers: The Movie

Because Amanda and I still can't stop talking about the live action version, I saw this movie. I must admit that I was never a big Transformers fan. I was too young, in some instances not even born, to watch their first time TV adventures. When it came to reruns of 1980's cartoons, I was more of a GI Joe kid. Hell, my sister was apparently a huge He-Man fan, so that means our household missed one part of this animated trinity.
People get all nostalgic about this movie, but since I never saw it in the first place, most of its appeal is lost on me.

In retrospect, these were some horrible shows. Lackluster animation designed to make us buy the latest toys. This movie gets some regards for being a bit "heavy." Many characters do die on-screen including Optimus Prime. Before Aeris died, there was Optimus Prime's death. It was pretty well done for a cartoon. The creators strengthened his death by countering it with his previous invincibility. If we expect the movie version of TV shows to do bigger and bolder things then we got it with his death.

I knew that Orson Welles was in this movie, but I flipped out at some of the other notables in the voice work. Robert Stack of Unsolved Mysteries fame! Leonard Nimoy! Judd Nelson! Eric Idle of Monty Python! SWEET!

I must comment on how much 80s there is in the movie. You got the power ballads ("You got the touch!") and the Weird Al Song "Dare to Be Stupid!" along with neon. Lots and lots of neon.
You also have endless marketing potential. Every robot is joining the fray and every planet hold something else that transforms into something. I can give the movie that Cybertron is full of transforming robots, but every other freaking planet!

And for some weird reason, the entire movie reminded me too much of anime.* At the risk of being flamed off the blog-o-sphere, I don't like anime. At all. I used to. Oh boy. I used to. There was there a time (ages 13-18) where I was a mindless "otaku" but, now I say forget anime. I can get all nostalgic about Robotech and old school Gundam and still have a weak spot for Digimon** , but most of it (Especially the ones kids are all crazy about now. I am looking at you Naruto! Fucking ninjas.) makes a bit queasy. Before this develops into a a seperate post, my big issue with anime is that there are so many people here in the US that assume because it is anime it must be good. No, not good, but AMAZING! If art exists everywhere, then so does crappy art. Including anime.

Peace!




* I can only guess here, but shows like Gundam and Robotech might have influenced the Japanese origins of Transformers. And all those animation studios, where they do the tedious work, are overseas in Asia. Oh, and the movie had a brief scence that reminded me too much of a "tentacle scene." Google that term at your own risk.


** It is superior to Pokemon.

Movies I Should Have Already Seen Vol 3. #3

I'm back and you know the freaks can't handle it! WOOOOO!

But, of course, you aren't a freak. Right? So you can handle it. Which is good because I don't want the three people that read this to not handle it.

Onward....

Movies I Should Have Already Seen #3

I remember when this movie came out. Yes, I realize how pompous that sounds since Borat is only about a year old, however everyone treated it like the next comedy powerhouse.

Like with Team America: World Police (another movie that needs the "already seen" treatment) I initially stayed away. I didn't know anything about Sacha Baron Cohen or his Borat skit. I thought this movie would just be an ugly excuse to play off xenophobia and stereotypes. Sort of like Eurotrip except without Michelle Tranctenberg in a bikini. The Ithaca in me overtook my movie judging powers* and I quickly turned my nose up at Borat.

Of course, I was wrong.

Now don't think I am too deep into the Borat army. I still don't think the movie is the next comedic watershed. For how much the shock value was billed, I found the funniest part to be pure slapstick that could work in any movie. The whole "NOT" gag, the bear in the ice cream truck, and the asshole neighbor were gold. I can never look at an Ipod Mini again and say, "Everyone knows it for girls!"

And then you just had those Amelia Bedelia moments like the "gypsy" garage sale and the dinner party. Classic.

When the credits rolled, I kept thinking, "Well, what was the big deal?"

The whole experience reminded me about a time Amanda and I were discussing art. In our plush leather chairs in the study we sipped on Lagavulin that our dapper bunny Carson brought while wearing a tuxedo. Dante the Guinea pig played harp atop the antique globe that held our single malt scotch. While we were so refined, I said that comment that no one is supposed to say.

"I just don't get modern art sometimes. What the hell is so important about a Mark Rothko piece?"

Then she brought on an epiphany!

What defines a lot of modern and post modern art and creativity is not so much what they are showing, but how it was made. Hence, the value of a Pollock piece. This same thing applies to Borat. I didn't find the frat boys particularly funny (Anyone who has been to high school and/or college in the past twenty years should have spent plenty of time laughing at guys like that already), but the method was scintillating. Baron Cohen duped hundreds of people into thinking that he was a real reporter from Kazakhstan and then had them verbalize their unhinged opinions. There lies the success and the comedy, the fact that such horrible figures* still exist in America and want to have everyone hear their vitriol. So the main impressions rests in the method itself. That is why it was a big deal. Obviously, I enjoyed it, and I hope that it is for the same reasons the producers of the movie thought it was hilarious. It is a buffoonish movie, appealing to the lowest common denominator, but still able to create huge amounts of discussion. Conversations about race, American image, and sociology.

I am not going to remove myself from this argument. If I would have been walking down the streets of NYC and some mustached man came up to me asking for a kiss, I would probably freak out. And if we were in a more controlled setting, like the Southern dinner party, I would get all tense and awkward at Borat's mannerisms. Just like the people in the movie. If I met a mysterious man from Kazakhstan then I wouldn't know what to say. I don't know anything about the country except:

1) It is a former Soviet republic;
2) It borders the Aral sea; and,
3) I can point it out on a map. Pesky Uzbekistan, too!

Peace!

* If Wikipedia is right, then I don't feel bad for the rodeo owner or the frat boys, but pity the news producer in Mississippi. But, how true is the report?

Movies I Should Have Already Seen Vol 3. # 2

And it continues!

Movies I Should Have Already Seen! # 2

Joe Dirt

I am always a bit conflicted about David Spade. it isn't that I find his jokes unfunny, but that he puts off such a weaselly person that sometimes I don't feel I should laugh at his bits. Is his snark relevant or is it a bit too over the top? I like my David Spade in small bites, just like my Adam Sandler and pretty much everyone else from early 1990's Saturday Night Live.


I enjoyed Joe Dirt and I am not afraid to admit it! What really made it was the one-liners and the little bits that stay in your head. In an age shaped by quotable machines like Napoleon Dynamite, Joe Dirt seemed way ahead of its time. Who can dislike a movie where the main character, a redneck oaf goes around saying upbeat messages like "Life's A Garden. Dig it!" or "You can't have no in your heart!" Or a movie where motivation is found in "You're my sister! You're my sister!"or the latest copy of Autotrader Magazine. Sure, we laugh at Joe Dirt because he is crass, but he also has a little inkling of heart, which, of course, you can't have "no" in.


There is a fair amount of poop jokes and most are forgettable, except for the one involving the sheriff, ball peen hammer, and a septic tank. "It's just an old crapper tank from an Airstream, folks!"Inserting poop doesn't automatically make something funny, but in that scene, it just works, with Joe's own sincerity challenged by the reality that has, figuratively, crapped on him. The movie doesn't do very well with critics (11% on Rotten Tomatoes), but that shouldn't be a surprise. However, I think people are too quick to call this movie disposable. It has a heart and some surprises. You can't forget the mullets, crappy cars, and redneck jokes, but the actual movie has little to do with that. I am always so surprised how movie studios choose to advertise their movies. I guess an easy redneck skewering movie sells better than a slapstick journey. It easy to set up the movie as something that will have us laughing at the character, then empathizing. Joe never complains even though he has good reason too and this makes him likable. I guess this works especially well with the David Spade casting as he usually plays acerbic ninnies.

Peace!