Category: Movies and TV

Movies and Days in Review

Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a marvelous thing. Guns, action, sexiness and subtext. What the movie never quite says (and what perhaps it may not even know) is that the film is an exaggerated metaphor for all marriages. Being married means surrendering yourself to one person and trusting them not to kill you in your sleep. When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are staring down the barrels of each others’ guns, they have to give in, they have to make a leap of faith and surrender to one another. It’s a cute conceit, tied up in shattered glass and head trauma wrapping paper.

Batman Begins is another winner. Cillian Murphy as Jonathan Crane seriously wigged me out, and Liam Neeson takes his Star Wars mentor bit into a darker place. Michael Caine rocks the house, although his Cockney accent seems out of place for a butler. Christian Bale is a better playboy than Michael Keaton and a better Dark Knight than George Clooney. And Katie (I’m the non-British one) Holmes…well, our little girl is growing up. May God save her from being eaten alive by the increasingly batty but still totally not gay Tom Cruise. As a bat-nerd since 1990, I have to say this movie surpasses the original Tim Burton version.

Land of the Dead marks the first time I’ve seen a real B-movie in a theater. It’s truly a fun crappy film.

In other news, Matt leaves for Salt Lake City tomorrow. There needs to be a word for “sad for me but happy for you.” Reverse schadenfreude?

Oh and I interviewed the Boondogs for Localist on Sunday. Check them out. Moody, low-watt power pop.

“Right Next to Interesting Failures”

HighballAs many of you know, one of my favorite movies is a little independent film called Kicking and Screaming. Recently I discovered a film called Highball, whose cast is composed almost entirely of Kicking and Screaming alums. IMDb has it listed as having been written and directed by Noah Baumbach, yet the DVD case says “Ernie Fusco” for director and “Jesse Carter” as writer. IMDb is smart enough to know that these are pseudonyms, but I have to wonder why. Contractual obligations? Further compounding the mystery is the fact that, watching the DVD, one gets a sense that it’s a demo reel for a proper motion picture to be made later. The editing is patchwork in places, the lighting is awful, and sometimes the audio isn’t properly synched. At first I thought it was my machine, but no, the film is in fact, shoddy. This is unfortunate because there’s actually a good film going on underneath it all. Arriving two years after Kicking and Screaming, Highball features a near-reunion of the former’s supporting cast (most everybody’s here – Otis, Max, Chet, the video store guy, the “you’re pretty” guy, the writing teacher, the EuroTrash guy) as well as the distinctive dialogue-over-dialogue style that marks the work as Baumbach’s. Highball is also noteworthy for the appearance of Ally Sheedy as Ally Sheedy, Rae Dawn Chong as Rae Dawn Chong, and famed director Peter Bogdanovich as a random partygoer who does an assortment of spot-on impressions of Jerry Lewis, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and more. How weirdly wonderful is this film?

Incidentally, it looks as though Baumbach may be getting some bigger exposure as his co-writing credit appears on Wes Anderson’s new Bill Murray/Owen Wilson feature The Life Aquatic. So he’s got that going for him…which is nice.

Jason Lee is Fletch, dammit.

Jason Lee won't play Fletch in Kevin Smith's Fletch Won. Miramax says he's not big enough to open a movie. Bastards. Kevin's list of contenders now includes: Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Jimmy Fallon and Adam Sandler. Each name screams "not good enough" to me except Fallon. But Fallon is even more unproven than Lee, so he's the dark horse candidate. Also, Fallon would have to deal with the Chevy Chase shadow since he's got Chevy's old job already at "Weekend Update."

I bought the out-of-print hardcover of Fletch Won on ebay and I've already read the book with Lee in my mind. It would've been a great flick. Kevin has the script done, but Miramax is so adamant about not having Lee that they'll let the rights lapse if Kevin doesn't comply. The gory details can be found at News Askew August archive (August 13 and 14 entries).

By the way, all the Fletch books are back in print in paperback – I highly recommend them if you like comedy-mysteries I've also read Confess, Fletch. Look in your local bookstore or library under Gregory McDonald.