Henry's Top 100: #42 - Pulp Fiction

I have nothing whatsoever to add to the discussion of this film. Its brilliant and fun and was robbed of the Oscar by Forest Gump and QT hasn't come close to making as good a movie and it's awesome.

Best Scene? Sam Jackson. Nuff Said:

Top Ten Use of Music: Number 4 - Pulp Fiction

Scene of the Day: A Bittersweet Life

Ben Saw: Smart People

Right from the start, if you name your movie Smart People then you are asking for trouble. Really, there's not a lot of ways it can play out effectively: you can create a farce so that the title takes on an ironic edge (Monty Python's Meaning of Life), you can really own the title by creating a movie whose characters demonstrate their intelligence effortlessly and with aplomb just by being themselves (History Boys) or you can create a movie in which 'smartness' is the one tiny quirk given to an otherwise formulaic drama. The last option, from a quality movie perspective is obviously the worst.

(click the link for more)

Of course Smart People, showing balls the size of a second trimester chipmunk fetus, goes with the last option. Take your standard-issue pseudo-indie drama/light comedy which is usually about non-Hollywood-standard relationships (older couple or big age gap or multi-ethnic or whenever there aren't two pretty young people, usually white) and is inevitably set in a location that 'doesn't get enough exposure' and then add whatever superficial twists you want to your main character. Steve Carrell's Dan In Real Life is, for me, the ur-example of this sub-genre……I actively disliked Dan In Real Life. I did not like Smart People much better.


However, that kind of wannabe-indie adult drama/comedy is precisely the template used. You have two non-Hollywood standard pairings: a real 'older person' couple and a fake 'older person-teenager' couple. You have a non-standard location in glorious Pittsburgh. You have the superficial twist in the aforementioned 'smartness'. And then you have all the other workhorses of the sub-genre putting in overtime: soft, acoustic indie music, half-hearted political messages, long, stationary shots of quirky behavior in lieu of genuinely witty writing and directing, 'old dogs learning new tricks', inadvisable facial hair.


So what do Smart People's smart people do with their time? I'm doing this offline and I'm hardly going to watch the damn movie again, so I won't know characters' names. Dennis Quaid's character is the main character, a selfish, arrogant jerk of a literature professor at Carnegie-Mellon (hence Pittsburgh). His wife died at some point and it made him sad. He also is a very distant father to his kinda-smart son (whose character borders on irrelevance) and very smart anal-retentive daughter Ellen Page. Quaid's layabout brother (Thomas Hayden Church) shows up to Quaid's major chagrin but, through deus ex machina, Quaid hits his head and requires a chauffeur for 6 months, so Church can stay. At the same time, Quaid's doctor at the hospital post-injury is Sarah Jessica Parker, who is a student of his from about ten years ago and used to have a crush on him. Quaid and Parker start dating while Church tries to get Page's character to loosen up which Page interprets as interest and so she starts pursuing the lucky bastard despite his protestations. Both Quaid's and Page's characters main hurdles are their own assholishness and self-absorbtion which keep them from playing with others nicely. This meanders on until it doesn't and then the movie wraps itself up with the sub-genre standard 'optimistically muddling through' happy ending.


The characterizations are shocking both in how lazy they are and how impossible they are to like. Quaid's character a consists of going from a self-important windbag to a self-important windbag that wants to keep a girl around. Parker's character approaches pure-cardboard status which I imagine is also the texture of her skin and Page's character is defined mostly by smarm, as well as being a polticial near impossibility (but we won't go there). I think Page is a genuinely talented actress and she shows some chops once her character shows vulnerability and emotion, but the character is written in this bipolar fashion where she is this tremendously shallow caricature 80% of the time (an extremely uptight and proper, elitist nerd who, in a stunning act of cognitive dissonance by the writers, drops F-bombs regularly), but 20% of the time behaves in a semi-real fashion. Unsurprisingly, Church is the runaway success amongst the four: he drags the script along kicking and screaming in his mostly successful effort to make his character multi-dimensional, believable and, refreshingly, likable.

The likability question is kind of a fascinating one in this movie: I felt like I was actually being challenged in the first half of the movie "I dare you to like these characters! I have constructed this movie so that you, the viewer, wishes death and sadness on all of them!" This is a movie that is desperate to prove that the titular smart people are, in fact, smart. To accomplish this, they give Quaid, Page, Parker and a few others periodic trivia tibits to drop clumsily in to conversation. This is not the conversational technique of a smart person, this is the conversational technique of a person who is hoping to convince other people that they're smart. The arrogance and intellectual bullying are part of what make these characters unwatchable at times, but it is done with no sense of them being real people: when Ellen Page tries to defend her crappy cooking by saying that the recipe was original to the French royal court it will be very clear what I mean. This is like trying to defend Paul Molitor by saying that you like the Brewers' uniforms and it definitely does not make your character seem smart. Of course, in the second half the movie decides to forget all that and throw out every character except church for more acceptable standards for Hollywood pap: Parker's motivations stay as murky as before as she morphs in to 'the girlfriend', Quaid is the guy who's trying to redeem himself through love and Page is the precocious teen who secretly has lots of growing up to do. It's a pretty jarring tone shift.

Another aspect of the likability question: the soundtrack. I am not a very music-centred guy in movies although there are plenty of exceptions. For one thing, I cannot stand the Juno style of soundtrack where every song is acoustic indie music, and often unbearably cutesy at that. Smart People manages to commit that sin as well.

The movie does have some positives. Page has a few moments where you can tell that she really did put work in to the character, most notably the bar scene where you can tell how her character's intelligence has been an enormous social liability for her. Mostly, though, the burden of not sucking falls squarely on Church who really is the only consistently watchable part of the movie. He manages to be charismatic while also being more than slightly pathetic (if principled). People who are willing to be kicked around make for interesting characters in movies and Church is not an exception here.

Overall, though, this is a bad movie. It's certainly a lazy movie, substituting shots of Church's ass for actual comedy, but it's also shallow and remarkably off-putting. I knew the reviews were bad in the first place, so why did I see it? When Ellen Page is in stuff, I try to see it, and that's really as complicated as it gets. Despite her radiant beauty, though, this movie is bad and I recommend it to no one except possibly those strange people that badly need to see Dennis Quaid with a beard.

Grade: C-

Top Ten Use of Music: Number 5 - Snatch

Oasis' Fuckin In the Bushes in Snatch:

Henry's Top 100: #43 - To Kill a Mockingbird

This is a fantastic novel turned into a powerful film. Read the damn book. I mean...seriously...if you somehow haven't read the book - go to the bookstore or library / get a copy / and read it.

This movie is only on this list because of Gregory Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch. This is one of the most iconic and effective performances of all time. You can learn how to be a better person by watching Peck in this film.

Best Scene? The African-Americans on the second floor of the courthouse standing as Finch leaves the court after the verdict

Henry's Top 100: #44 - Billy Madison

Yeah. That's right. Billy Madison.

It's stupid. It's silly. It's barely a coherent movie. But it's funny. "Nudie magazine day" "Conditioner is better" "Stop looking at me swan" "Man I'm glad I called that guy" "THAT is CORRECT!"...ah good times.

Stupid movie. Stupid fun movie.

Best Scene? The flaming bag of poop:

Top Ten Use of Music: Number 6 - Goodfellas

The Piano section of Eric Clapton's Goodfellas:

Top Ten Use of Music: Number 7 - Rushmore

The Faces' Ooh La La

Henry's Top 100: #45 - Jurasic Park

Another film I don't have to go on and on about as you have no doubt seen it.

But lets go back to when this movie came out. 1993, I must have been 7, and this is the first movie I remember the public being collectively excited for. I remember seeing a trailer for the movie MONTHS before it came out. It must have been one of the earliest examples of what are now called "teasers". Very short trailers that studios put out while the movie is still being finished just to tell the world that it is coming out. But yeah, I remember the buzz in the theater when my parents took my sister and I to an opening night showing of "JP".

Since then there have been the Star Wars, and Spider-Man, and every big summer movie. But for me JP was the first. So for that it holds a place in my heart.

Best Scene? The first T-Rex scene.

Top Ten Use of Music: Number 8 - Donnie Darko

Tears for Fears' Head over Heels:

Henry Saw: Ghost Town

Charming


Ghost Town was predictable. Unremarkable. Pretty forgettable. But I actually liked it. As I said...it has charm. And most of that is due to the comic ability of the film's star: Ricky Gervais.

I enjoy the British "The Office" but its not my favorite thing ever. Extras, on the other hand, is amazing. Please, please seek it out if you haven't seen it. Just pure brilliance. So I was a Ricky Gervais fan going in.

The basic plot is: Gervais plays a dentist who is a total curmudgeon. Just a real jerk. And some of the funniest stuff in the movie is Gervais just being a bit of an ass to everyone. Anyway, while under going a colonoscopy he dies for a "little bit" and afterwards can see and talk to dead people. So its a bit of Sixth Sense, Ghost ("You in danger girl"), Down to Earth, Just Like Heaven...etc.

So its pretty formulaic but it is kinda sweet and it is kinda funny. Perhaps nothing more than an airplane movie (in other words, don't seek it out but if its playing on a flight, its worth the time).

Grade: B

Best Scene? Kristen Wiig (from SNL) playing the doctor who has to explain to Ricky Gervais that he died in the O.R....for a little bit.

Henry's Top 100: #46 - The Fugative

One of the best thrillers ever made, and other than Air Force One, the last great movie Harrison Ford was a part of. Tommy Lee Jones is of course fantastic (in an Oscar winning role) as the U.S. Marshall trying to find Dr. Richard Kimble.

As an example of how quality the movie is, not that this means everything, but it was nominated for Best Picture in 1993 (which was a great year for movies). The chase scenes in Chicago are exciting, the soundtrack works very well, and the moments of humor that pepper the film are also a great benefit.

This is just a fun, mature, film. Enjoy it.

Best Scene? Dr. Kimble saves a boy's life even though it increases the likely hood of being caught.

Top Ten Use of Music: Number 9 - The Big Lebowski

Hotel California by The Gypsy Kings...and John Turturro:

Henry's Top 100: #47 - On The Waterfront

One of the sadder movies on the list. Not because of some heart-breaking ending but because the character of Terry Malloy is one of the more tragic figures in cinematic history.

Everyone knows the "I coulda been a contender" speech but in the context of the movie it is just incredibly upsetting.

One of the classics of Hollywood and pretty much a must watch.

Best Scene? You know...

The Top Ten Uses of Music To Score a Scene

So Sam and I came up with a list of the Top 10 uses of a song to enhance a scene. Over the next ten days, we will post our list with video evidence. We start today, with number 10:

The Matrix with...WAKE UP:

Henry's Top 100: #48 - There Will Be Blood

I'll try not to make a milkshake joke...I promise...

No Country for Old Men vs There Will Be Blood. This was the big battle of 2007. What side do I fall on this debate? Well...No Country For Old Men is not on this list...

There Will Be Blood is all about Daniel Day-Lewis. Yeah, the cinematography is nice, and Paul Dano is good, and the story is relatively compelling...but the movie is all about Daniel Day-Lewis. And the reason to see the movie is that this is the best performance I've ever seen.

I thought Day-Lewis was great in Gangs of New York (a shit movie by the way) but he outdoes himself in this movie. The character he creates...it's literally astonishing. Astonishing. If they were to give an Oscar for best performance of the decade, Day-Lewis would have run away with it. He's that good in the film. When his character, Daniel Plainview, says: "I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed." ...its almost like Day-Lewis himself is putting all the other actors of the world in their place.

You can't consider yourself a fan of cinema if you avoid this movie.


Best Scene? ...Fine, I have to say it, "I. Drink. Your. Milkshake. I DRINK IT UP!" It's goofy but brilliant

Scene of The Day

I can't promise we'll remember to do this every day...but I like this idea.

Over the next year, Sam or I will put up some of our favorite scenes, thanks to the wonder that is Youtube, for your enjoyment. We'll try to avoid spoilers but no promises.

Today? You've probably seen this one (given the Box Office Numbers...who hasn't?) but here's one of the great scenes from The Dark Knight:

Henry Saw: The Duchess

...Yeah but wha?


So I saw The Duchess. And I really don't know what to say about it.

I went in expecting just another British Costume Period Drama...your standard B.C.P.D...but there was something weird about The Duchess. Well there was a lot weird about The Duchess.

To get the usual commentary on a B.C.P.D. out of the way - It is very British (everyone in it is exceedingly English actually). There are a lot of costumes. In all fairness, the costumes are great. I expect this will win the Academy Award in that category. It is very much a period piece. It looks and acts like every other period piece you've ever seen. And it is a drama...I guess...that's where things get a bit more complicated...

There are two leads in the film: Keira Knightly and Raplh Fiennes.

Keira Knightly as Georgiana - Well, first, she looks amazing in the movie. I actually think she has kinda been unattractive since the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Just too skinny. Well she looks great in this film, classically beautiful. As for her performance / character...she's certainly the best thing the movie's got going. She is the most fleshed out character (if a bit..."look, she's a modern woman!" for my taste) and she is given the most leeway in terms of range of acting. All in all, I can't say I had any real complaints about Knightly or Georgiana.

Which brings us to Amon Goeth...and I'm only kinda kidding. In fact, I think Fiennes was allowed to play a more fleshed out character as the NAZI AMON FUCKING GOETH IN SCHINDLER'S FUCKING LIST than he was in The Duchess playing the Duke of Earl or whatever. Fiennes is...rediculous in this movie. And its not his fault...its the way the character is written. He is really just a cartoon villain. He is so inhuman, so uncaring to his wife, so unloving to his children, so out of touch with everything... that you have to assume he's meant to be a total joke.

But the problem is...this movie doesn't call for ANY character being a total joke...especially Ralph Fiennes' character. He (spoiler ahead)...






rapes the title character. He shouldn't be played only for laughs. But every time he was on screen or opened his mouth...I started to crack up. He's just that silly. His character is the number one problem with the movie.

There are two other "main" characters. Fiennes' lover Bess Foster, played by the woman who caught my eye in Cassandra's Dream, Hayley Atwell; and Knightly's lover Charles Grey, played by History Boys' alumn Dominic Cooper. Atwell is actually decent in the film. Again, her character is limited, but she really tries. And she looks good. There is one very obvious difference between her looks and Knightly's and I kept waiting for Fiennes to point it out (hint: the dresses they wear point out the difference quite obviously). Cooper is...there. He's meant to just be an attractive alternative to Ralph Fiennes. But, as I said, Ike Turner would be an attractive alternative to Ralph Fiennes' character in this film.

So what do I think of the movie? I actually kinda liked it. There are boatloads of problems with the movie. Dozens. But I enjoyed my two hours in the theater.

Grade? B-

Best Scene? The scenes showing The Duchess enjoying herself at parties.

Henry's Top 100: #49 - Goodfellas

Click the link to read the full business


So how exactly did this lose to Dances With Wolves? Seriously...how? This is the best gangster film ever made after The Godfather (That's right Godfather 2...you stink). This is one film that almost everyone has seen, so I don't need to prattle on about it...so I'll just quickly focus on one part of the movie: The Soundtrack.

It's hardly breaking news to say that Scorsese has an amazing sense of how to score his movies with popular music (Mean Streets, The Departed, etc.) but the music in Goodfellas is flawless. The use of Layla's useless piano solo alone is reason to cheer.

Goodfellas is not for everyone, it's violent, crass, and all that good stuff. But it's a phenomenal film. If you somehow haven't seen it...what's fucking wrong with you?

Best Scene? Henry Hill, cracked out on Coke, trying to cook dinner while being paranoid that a helicopter is following him.

Henry's Top 100: #50 - JFK

So yeah, much of this movie is bullshit. Do I think something strange happened that day? Yes. Do I think Oliver Stone knows what happened? No. But this is a pretty great presentation of a theory.

The cast is big, and everyone is solid, but the movie is not about the performances (though Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey is pretty damn impressive) but its about how the movie is put together. The way Stone has all the threads introduced and the brilliant editing makes JFK a thriller in which none of the principle characters is ever really threatened.

A smart, if slightly insane, examination of one of the most important subjects of the 20th century.

Best Scene? Donald Sutherland's exhausting monologue.

Henry Saw: Control

Well that was much better than I thought it would be...


Control is a film depicting the life of Joy Division's lead singer Ian Curtis. Now I've never been the biggest fan of Joy Division's music (though one of the songs I heard in the movie I really liked - She's Lost Control - incidentally where they got the name for the movie).

The film, shot in black and white, traces Curtis' early years as a Manchester youth, his marriage at a very young age, his joining up with 3 other musicians to form Joy Division and their rise to fame, his infidelities, his struggle with epilepsy, and ultimately his suicide.

The film is quite stark, and there is a bit of a grim tone, but I was surprised how much humanity was found in the film. Sam Riley plays Ian Curtis as a young man who just wasn't ready for what life handed him. A wife, a daughter, and fame were just not something that Curtis was ready to deal with. When you add the seizures on top of all this...they make it very clear why he might have felt like he had to end his life. Which is not always easy to do. It still is an obviously gigantic mistake...but instead of feeling anger at Curtis, you just feel sad. Thankfully, Riley doesn't just play Curtis as a sad and pathetic figure. He has joys...the music, his lover Annik, and has a bemused sense of humor about the world.

The cast is excellent. The only other person I recognized was Samantha Morton who plays Ian Curtis' wife Deborah but everyone else is the movie is fantastic. The members of his band are clearly more into the whole rock and roll thing than Curtis but show genuine concern for their lead singer and friend.

There are moments of humor, which also surprised me, and this makes a very interesting companion piece to the comedy 24 Hour Party People, which is also about the late 70's New Wave movement in Manchester.

The film is beautiful to look at...something about B&W photography really is cool to watch. The camera work is also noticeable as shots are very well framed and the lighting puts a strange ghostly edge into every scene.

Not a fun movie necessarily, but a very good movie. Even if you hate Joy Division's music, you should still see the film. I'd say you only hear their music for a total of seven minutes in the whole movie.

One of the gems of 2007 that was mostly ignored here in the States. Check it out.

Grade? A-

Best Scene? I actually liked seeing that Ian Curtis, even when Joy Division was gaining some steam, still worked at an Employment office and helped sick people find work.

Henry Saw: Burn After Reading

Disappointing. I thought this would be much better...click the link for the full review


So...this is the Coen Brother's follow up to "No Country For Old Men"?

Pretty...meh.

I'm not the Coen's biggest advocate. I see the charm but I'm not in love with their pictures. Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple, The Hudsucker Proxy, etc...they are all a bit over-rated. The Big Lebowski is great fun, as is Raising Arizona and O Brother Where Art Thou. So yeah, they can be damn good. And for some reason I had high hopes for this movie. Maybe it was the loaded cast (Clooney, Pitt, etc.) or the great trailer (including the cool track "Grounds for Divorce" by Elbow) but I just thought this would be a good start to the fall movie season. Instead Burn After Reading is nothing but a dud.

The movie never really gets going. I guess, as one reviewer noted on Aintitcool.com, the movie is a bit of a spoof of John le Carré novels, except every character is a moron. That sounds like a funny premise, but somehow, the movie never clicks. Other than J.K. Simmons (of Law and Order and Spider-Man fame) none of the actors hits the right comedic notes. Pitt is trying, very hard, but in the end all it seems like is that he is trying too hard. Clooney doesn't have much to do except

*SPOILER*
BUILD A DILDO CONTRAPTION
*END OF SPOILER*


In short..I thought this movie would be a lot more fun. I thought it would be sharper, have a better soundtrack, and just have much more energy / punch.

Instead, Burn After Reading is an utterly forgettable exercise. Really... don't bother.

Best Scene? J.K. Simmons dealing with the different strands of the movie at the end of the film.

Grade? C-

A New Segment: Ammo For the Movie Game

I call this new segment "Ammo For the Movie Game"...The movie game is like Horse, except with Movie instead. The way the game is played is that the first person names a movie, and then the next person names and actor/actress in that movie, the first person then has to name a movie that actor/actress has been in and so on...no repeating names or movies. If you can't name an actor/movie during your turn you get a letter...M...O...you get it. The idea is to get to point where you can name a movie or an actor obscure enough so the other person can't come up with a response.

So, ammo for the movie game...that's when you watch a movie which is total and complete crap and the only good thing to come of it is that you have an obscure movie/actor to be used in the movie game...Anyone who's ever played knows there's nothing better than being able to pull out some obscure B movie that no one has heard of to stump a buddy. That being said, today's entry is, Feel the Noise staring Omarion and Giancarlo Esposito. Watch the trailer...feel the crappyness

Watchmen: I Really Want to See This Movie

Great Trailer. I really want to see the movie now...The only question is, do I read the Graphic novel first. I'm thinking no. Nothing like a reading a great book and then being totally disappointed by the movie. I think I'll read it once the movie has come and gone, that way I'll be pleasantly surprised, although that aproach crashed and burned when applied to There Will Be Blood and the novel it's based on, Oil!

Henry's Top 100: # 51 - Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

Back to reviews from moi...


So I still can't write about Indiana Jones with as much love as I could have before Crystal Skull.

Alas.

So all I'll say is that The Last Crusade is one of the great adventure movies ever made. The opening, with dead River Phoenix, is actually fun / clever (even if they try to force too much of Indy's origin in that one incident). The cut from Phoenix to Ford is excellently done. Sean Connery, James Bond, being cast as the father of Indiana Jones was brilliant and the chemistry between Connery and Ford is undeniable. Last Crusade really feels like a true sequel to Raiders, which is saying a whole lot.

Best Scene? Indiana Jones and a horse take on a German tank