It Pays to Recycle

Why makes me think of moose and squirrel?

Natasha, perhaps this provides a clue 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYPpoV4_9Fk

Perhaps Sensei JP has explained why I find Hollywood movies so incredibly boring.  If Hollywood thinks are indeed only 12 basic plots, I think I now understand why their depictions of our incredible world are so 'flat'. 

I will stick to classic films (Birth of A Nation), documentaries (Divorce Iranian Style), foreign films (I don't know where to start....) , historical films (Oh What a Lovely War), philosophical films(1984), fantasy films (Tokyo Godfathers) and other outliers. 

One of my many disappointments was an attempt a few years ago to start a film-and-discussion club (rental DVDs from Netflix).  Everyone whined about the subtitles (the best Iranian films).  Then they missed the point of 1984 (the mutability/inmutability of what we commonly call 'human nature').  And finallyI ended up with my hosts, an elderly and irrascible Indian retiree and his sweet wife, and me waiting for Godot (the others).  We briefly discussed Aditya's village youth in India as the son of a strict and religious Brahmin -- and then I went home.  It was the end of a dream.  I now watch films by myself.  

Oh, the funniest film sequence in a classic film is The General (1927) with Buster Keaton and  Marian Mack (as Annabelle Lee).  It's a train chase set in the Civil War and Buster has his girlfriend (who he has just rescued) helping him.  She (dressed in a full ballroom length hoop skirt) is trying to help feed the fire of the wood-stoked locomotive as their pursuers approach.  Annabelle grabs a piece of wood, notes with shock that it has a knothole in it, and pitches it overboard.  (Well, I thought it was funny!) Incidentally if you want to watch The General, a lot of it is on YouTube:   http://www.youtube.com .... Use search term: Marian Mack

Well, enough for now.... (Aside: I became a grandfather for #2 time a few hours ago... this has nothing to do with the topic, but the best films begin with a cast of characters, and my life now has one more 'actor' in it.... heh, heh, heh)

No time to post today, but a GREAT BIG CONGRATS to Doc!

Have a nice day evryone!

My rules for what constitutes a good movie are adolescent, and ultimately very satisfying.

1. No smooching. Keep the frikkin' love stories for schmaltzy After-School Specials.

2. Not on the planet Earth. Anywhere but Earth. And no cheating with this "Earth in the past/future/parallel universe/underground Earth" bull-hockey, either!

3. There MUST be fewer lines of dialogue than there are explosions and screaming. I've got a Godzilla movie, and there's 42 minutes in the middle of it that's nothing but screaming and invective against the giant, radioactive lizard. It's awesome.

Yeah, sure, Joe vs. The Volcano violates all of those rules. So what.

CONGRATULATIONS, GRAND-DOC NOLAN!!!

Ever notice how much bigger NY apartments are in the movies? Or how groceries still come in brown paper bags, a baguette poking out at an angle indicating the whole order read yesterday's post?

My favorite five movies:

THE RACHEL PAPERS

ANNIE HALL

GOLDFINGER

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

 METROPOLITAN

This is MOVIES, not MATH, folks. open another bottle of wine, stay a little longer.  

My daily life is way too much like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, only without any resolution...

Anybody ever see THE FRESHMAN? ELECTION? THE O in OHIO? THE THIN MAN SERIES

yeah yeah yeah, Bogart, The Graduate, Geniuses in France, star bleeding wars, E-darned-T, all of them foreign jobs and a whole bushel of bustle movies...

right.

Strictly Ballroom was great, though.

Willia said open another bottle of wine, and it's a little early in the day maybe but OH HELL WHO CARES I'm having cabernet with breakfast!!!

Oh, sorry, Willie! Didn't mean to give you the alpha-ending there. Gender change. Sorry.

I LOVE Hollywood cliches! I love predictable plots and sappy happy endings, the sappier the better. Why do you think all these formula plots have survived so long? Because they work! Deep down inside, a lot of us (I'm not going to say "all of us") want and need the simplistic, unrealistic, comforting familiarity of these formula plots as an escape from harsh reality. I watch movies to be entertained. If I wanted to look at real life I'd read the paper. I know it's hip to be cynical and cutting-edge, but I freely admit I love the fairy tales. Be honest. You do too.

Doc Nolan,

How wonderful! Congratulations to you and the entire family!

"One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new grandbaby around the finger of a grandfather."  ~Joy Hargrove

Let's see:

1) boy meets girl

2) Monster/invader/terrorizer

3)death calls for revenge

4) getting the gang (back) together and putting on a show/going on the road/etc

5) hidden treasure

6) disparate characters trapped together in a hotel, submarine, foxhole

7) the road in all its grand profusion

8) success, then booze, pills, and women, then redemption

9) the loyalty of pets

What else? Struggle with the elements? Those crazy kids? Betrayed by the One you love? Are #4 and #6 different ones? or different forms of the same one?

DPR, I am sure you can give us analogues from the stage classics...

Oh, yeah, and DIVA. Now there was a movie with a baguette

Isles, maybe I need to speak in a deeper voice to avoid confusion.

Can we tell that joke on here?

(he) I love you, I love you

(she) deeper

(he) I LOVE YOU

(dripping from shower)

DID I say WHO DONE IT?

yeah. who done it?

iGoogle 'Quote of the Day': Not every story has explosions and car chases. That's why they have nudity and espionage. --- Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum

Oh, yeah and a BIG (post yesterday's topic, fully inflated) congratulations, 

DocNolan. You lucky lucky guy.

Taglines: every film has a tagline. "Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?" "I'll be back." "Be afraid. Be very afraid." And one of my personal faves: "No matter where you go, there you are." You go to a movie and wait for the tagline, even when it has been over played in the previews ‘bout a million times. Its part of the whole cliché whether is corny, stupid, sincere, thoughtful, whatever, its there and you wait for it. Even if the movie stinks - it has a tagline.

Congratulations Doc! "Few things are more delightful than grandchildren fighting over your lap." Doug Larson

Back on topic:  Am I the only guy who really, really likes really, really dumb movies? Caveman, Airplane, PeeWee's Big Adventure and similar stuff?  And Godzilla, not to mention Godzuki, Mothra, Rodan, not to mention those two tiny twin girls, known as the Shojobin!

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee-wee%27s_Big_Adventure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothra_vs._Godzilla

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt008214 

(One great thing about 'Caveman' featuring Ringo Starr and a (very hot!) Shelly Long is that it is not encumbered with a lot of dialogue!  Women HATE this movie!)

DocNolan,

Length and weight are optional but gender and given name required.
That's okay- you'll get better.

A beautiful thing- isn't it?

We have the treasure hunt movie cliché with all the spider webs, dust, torches, spinning rooms, water hazards, secret doors and magic decoders you will ever need. One fedora away from box office gold!

And yes, I love a stupid movie. They are fun, pure entertainment. What movies are all about. Leave the documentaries to PBS. 

Doc Nolan,

Thank you for that picture. What a great image to carry through the day. I love his intertwined fingers. It seems he's already planning some mischief-making ;)

I didn't realize, at first, that Tony's in Japan. You have to love the benefits of the Internet, being able to "see" him so soon after his birth. Is being able to see him, in person, in your not-too-distant future?

There were many advantages to be had for my children while traveling/living in various places, throughout my husband's 20+ years in the military (we moved 13 times, during those years). The biggest disadvantage was being separated by distance from their grandparents and great-grandparents...but they were always close in heart...I wish you and yours the same...

"When you enjoy something, you must never let logic get too much in the way. Like the villains in all the James Bond movies. Whenever Bond breaks into the complex: 'Ah, Mr. Bond, welcome, come in. Let me show you my entire evil plan and then put you in a death machine that doesn't work."   ~Jerry Seinfeld  

Thanks, Kindlee (... and I loved your quote: "One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new grandbaby around the finger of a grandfather." ~Joy Hargrove...)

I'm a tactile-visual and would love to HOLD the little guy, but web-cam is going to be all until next trip to Tokyo in April.... 

What I'm REALLY holding out for is retirement AND taking them both to Great and Dunes National Park in Colorado ( http://www.nps.gov/grsa/ ).  It would have been SO COOL if as a kid I'd known there was a sandbox with sandhills rising hundreds of feet t and going on for miles, a river that disappears into the sand, and mountains all around.... I'd have bugged my parents for YEARS to take me there!

And I still hope to go on backpacking trips into the Japanese Alps someday (please, may my health endure...) with them.  

Hey, maybe we could bring a camera along and make a documentary film: 'Old Dude and Two Kids, Lost and Loving It!'

Doc Nolan - congratulations (and I won't bore you with my infamous ten word telegram from too many years ago that one could send for $1) - I spent Thanksgiving with my youngest grandson (age 6) who sincerely believes he is Indiana Jones - and has most of the required props including the long leather whip is mother just brought him from Mexico - plus the over the shoulder bag, leather jacket, etc. etc.  I don't need to go to the movies at all - just let my grandsons watch them and then repeat all of the action in their back yard!  You probably have the most fascinating movies on your monitor! 

And these little guys don't miss a move - I sleep with a pink fluffy teddy bear as my pillow and when the younger one grabbed it as girlfriend for his brown "sugarface bear" - I had to avert my eyes during one of the action scenes!!  They know ALL of the moves and I wasn't aware of any aphrodisiacs around!

Doc,
My sincerest congratulations! Being a grandparent is the best job in the world. You get to see the world through the eyes of a child again. What a precious gift.

Doc Nolan,

Your film sounds like a thoroughly enjoyable counter-cliche movie!

My favorite movies, meaning the ones to which I enjoy viscerally, not just cerebrally, are those that use the cliches to get you 'almost there,' and then depart to a new place. And not just to be different or obtuse, like, pardon me, Kaufman sometimes does.

The ones that seem to be operating inside the lines, but color outside with dialogue that somehow rings more true by breaking the rules at the very last minute. I literally feel it when that happens.

The Wilson brothers do this with dialogue. So does Vince Vaughn. Love Mike Judge's writing as seen in Office Space. Don't think there's a funnier scene than when the guys are going gangsta postal on the copy machine out in the field. Loved Zach Helm's writing for Stranger Than Fiction.

And, brace yourselves, very high brow warning here, but I really think Will Ferrell is brilliant at coloring outside the lines. Granted, his plots are crap. But the fact that we still love his movies are evidence that he's doing something you can't wait to see. You never know what's going to come out of his mouth. I imagine he doesn't either. I think he's on to something new. That's invigorating.

And I fell head over heals for him in Stranger Than Fiction. Especially when he brought 'the girl' "Flours." 

I thought Amelie broke out, too. And Happenstance, same actress and director. Actually, many French movies do that for me. Perhaps because they're working within another culture's paradigms? Whenever I think a woman's about to go ape shit about her lover's affair, she just lights a cigarette. I love that jolt of human behavior that is unexpected but still very believable. 

Maybe because it reminds me that life can break stereotypes, too. 

Doc. Awesome. He's incredible. Thanks for the pic. 

Only if you're really, really interested on my thoughts regarding why improvisation in movies hits harder than reciting lines. REALLY, REALLY interested.

I just find it moves a little further to sucking the audience into the experience. To summarize.

Or you can read it. But you've been forewarned.

http://sandinmyswimsuit.blogspot.com/2008/07/side-of-owen-wilson-please.html 

Run Lola Run. Yes. Have a hair appointment tonight and might get Franka's red hair for the film premiere.

The McKee article (above, left) is okay. Was waiting for him to sound like a wind bag, but not too bad.

I'm down with the idea that TV is the new Hollywood.

Always liked the answering service clice.

If the hero listens to his answering machine for one important message he usually has two very short non-important messages on the tape, "Hi Frank, great dinner last night" Hi Frank...don't forget the...  and then the killer, or blackmailer...

l

"Adams æbler" or Adam's Apple, in English.  Funniest movie I have seen in a very long time.  It was released at Sundance and I saw a screening there, I don't think it ever picked up a distributor here in the states but I know the DVD is available with English subtitles...if you can find a copy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418455/

If you want to see a terrifically bad movie full of hollywood cliche and really silly moviemaking at its worst, rent "The Last Legion".  It has been one of a handfull of bad movies that I didn't mind when people heckled the film outloud in the theatre.  Mocking the film while watching it makes it much more enjoyable.

Missive, if you like Franke Portente, you might like "Der Krieger und die Kaiserin" (The Princess and the Warrior, in English).  It is the most unconventional love story I've ever seen. 

Nachista,

A lot of my husband's colleagues fly out for Sundance. We might go next time. I'll look you up.

Sometimes I read screenplays for fun, just to see how they 'move.'

Kevin Spacey started Trigger Street.com for rookie screenplay writers to post and comment and get agents. You can read rookie scripts there. It's pretty interesting. Mostly crap piled on cliches. But some good stuff.

http://www.triggerstreet.com/gyrobase/Screenplays

Hey Doc..."Birth of a Nation"...really?!?!  Well at least you'll never be disappointed in a re-make, I doubt in this day and age anyone in hollywood would greenlight it. 

Since I'm thinking about racist/skinhead movies, I thought "American History X" was an excellent hollywood film that thought outside the box.  Hard to watch but interesting and thought provoking.

Nachista,

I LOVED that movie. LOVED it. Great love story.

And isn't that the one where she jacks off the kid in the mental ward? Great character development there, heh? How often do you see the romantic heroin doing that? 

Missive, I used to go to Sundance every year.  But each year it gets harder and harder to get tickets.  They put out this local advertising claiming that they are "local friendly" but the ticket purchasing process has become such a zoo that I've abandoned the festival altogether now.  The last year I went was 2005.

If you come to town for Sundance let me know.  Park City is only about 2 hour drive from where I live and its fun to hang out there during the festival and people watch.  I saw a man chase down Jay Mohr to get his autograph, when Jay agreed the man said "So Rick, what have you been doing since 'Silver Spoons' went off the air?".  Uh, yeah.  You can tell the difference between "industry" "face talent" "true indies" and "locals", it is a very surreal environment.

Her character was definitely an anti-hero, but then again so was Bodo.  I like German films in general but my husband finds them way to slow.  I would like to see an American production company do a hollywood remake of "Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei" (the Educators), I think hollywood could improve upon the original...as long as they don't dumb it down for American audiences. 

Nachista,

If I come to Sundance, they'll have to create a new category: "groupie/groper"

My husband on the other hand would call himself "industry," while I stood back and said, "Yeah, you blend."

lol no one "blends" at Sundance, everyon stands out.  My favorites are the "you know they ain't from Utah" kinds.  Typically dressed in lots of black, wearing sunglasses inside and out (whether they need them or not), talking on one or more cell phones at all times, and usually carrying a briefcase or clipboard while standing next to a black SUV idling by the curb.  Yeah those guys are soooooooooooo cool.

Sundance has gone Hollywood, no matter what they say.  They still do docs and shorts and all manner of indy films.  But when you've got 30 some-odd films with major hollywood actors/directors/etc., you really can't call yourself that independent.  Its just an excuse to shop a film for a better distributor and to get some "street cred".  But its still fun and fascinating to go, even if you can't get tickets to the hot movies (that's ok too because you'll see at least a dozen of them in major movie theatres by July anyway).

Remember Open Water? That had an unbelievable story (the making of). What category would that fall into? Slice of Life's a Bitch?

And Nachista, your description of the  men in black with seven cell phones above convinced me that perhaps my husband really would blend! He now has to check his phone at the door when he gets home.  

"The Fat Years are Gone" gets translated into "The Educators"? I gotta find out how that works. Onces in Tanzania, I saw a poster for the old movie "Hoosiers". Of course, nobody outside of America knows what the heck a Hoosier is. It had been retitled "Last Shot" for foreign audiences.

Jonathan, I thought it was a strange interpretation as well, until I saw the movie.  Its not a translation of the title into English, so much as an English title that describes the protaganists.

Educators is about 2 kids who try to rebel against the capitalistic greed that they see as corrupting society, by breaking into the homes of wealthy people and rearranging their furniture and leaving them a note saying "the Fat Years are Gone", to make them uneasy.  They end up kidnapping a businessman who catches them breaking into his house...and it all goes south from there.

Isles,

I don't know what a Hoosier is.

Cynthia,

Thank God for you and your love of stupid movies and of course to Doc for the opening. I didn't imagine ever telling this story... and I wouldn't tell anyone but you.

Recently: got my hat and coat on, keys in hand, heading for the door.

Phone rings (doesn't it always?) Caller ID tells me: Russ & Laura and I don't recognize the area code.

I answer.

She sobs: "Daddy, don't hang up. I know you hate me but I really , really need to talk to someone right now."

"Laura, " I say as patient sounding as I know how, "It isn't daddy."

Not helpful and she now has embarrassment heaped atop her pile of woes.

"Listen, Laura, stop pacing for a minute a find a comfortable seat."

She does, working to get her actual boo-hooing under control. Not that many people actually boo-hoo, have you noticed?

"Now, look at the tiny rainbow."

"Wh-what rainbow?" she wonders.

"Why, it is in a little crystal spit bubble resting on the slightly moving lips of the baby in your left arm. Smell the baby shampoo? Feel the soft hair and cheeks."

"I don't know too much about babies," she manages to say.

"Not a problem, this one is healthy, happy, dry, well fed and just needs a safe, warm place for about an hour. You can do this. Feel the little hand on your finger?"

"What's her name?" she asks.

Bingo! the bait has been taken.

"She is April," I answer.

I spent about one more minute pouring on the high fructose corn syrup before:

"Ssshhh, she's sleeping."

Another minute or so of silence and I'm gone to dinner.

Hours later into the evening but before my wife got home, another call from them, only this time, it's Russ. And Russ is clever enough to have done a redial of the last call made by Laura. She is still asleep on the couch.

He had broken off a job to attend to her distress, had got home and found her sleeping.

I wasn't totally crazy about explaining the whole deal but kind of walked him through it.

He didn't get it.

"How does she know you?" It was reasonable for him ask.

"She doesn't, it was a wrong number." I had left out the part about her dad just in case.

"So," he summed up,"You get a call from an upset woman and you just set there all evening and talk her down?"

Actually," I explained, "It didn't take five minutes- I had my hat and coat on you see."

Only one of us was enjoying this conversation much but I told him that guys with daughters know a thing or two about a thing or two and worked my way out of it.

"I'm keeping your number," was the last thing he said.

What I didn't tell him was that: If I were he, I wouldn't be taking Laura to any hypnotism shows unless there was a lot of interest in seeing her cluck and waddle or that that kind of performance can be pulled off only with someone who doesn't already know that I am completely full of crap.

So, there you have it a scene so incredibly implausible that The Lifetime Network would wad it up and pitch it and as you know, probably better than most, their stuff already comes with a diabetic warning.

But, I believe that at the root of a lot of today's pseudo-sophistication and cynicism is the fact that almost nobody knows anybody who isn't in too big a hurry to listen, talk softly and hold somebody's hand for a minute.

Sshh, don't tell anybody.

Stoney,

I loved your story...and mostly the fact that you took the time to be helpful to a perfect stranger. It is rare in this day to find someone willing to stop rushing through their life long enough to listen and care about another person. How very kind and sweet you were/are for doing so...

By the way, a Hoosier is someone from Indiana.

nachista and MissIve,

You are both movie afficionados extraordinaire! I have been exposed to a great many of films I've never heard of today. Thank you for increasing my learning curve.

Stoney, how do you do that?!?!  Are you ever going to run out of amazing stories?  I was almost crying, but then I was walking the floor last night with a cranky young toddler who wouldn't stop sobbing at 2am, I sympathize with Laura.  That would make a great movie scene. 

Stoney,

Forgive me, please, for peeking at the post meant for Cynthia.

Nobody judge me, but...

Sometimes I like a good cliche.  Predictable and silly aren't always bad.  I've always loved movies.  When we were little kids, my siblings and I would sleep over at my grandma's house on the weekends to help her get chores done (elderly lady living alone in a big old house), usually just 2 or 3 of us at a time...she probably would have smothered us in our sleep if it had been all 7 of us at once.  Anyway if we were really good, she would walk us up to main street to the old Capitol Movie House (it was turned into a performing arts center when I was in Jr. High) for a matinee cartoon.

It wasn't the movies that I really loved.  It was the experience.  I loved walking through the long carpeted lobby, with carpet so thick that you couldn't hear your own footsteps and every sound was sort of hushed.  We'd get that awful, wonderful buttery popcorn and a soda to share.  We would always beg to sit in the balcony and grandma always gave in (we should have been shot for making an 80 year old climb stairs unnecessarily).

Once we were on the second level my favorite part was pushing through the heavy velvet curtains and into the huge dark theatre.  It was like walking into another world.  Sticky floors, people whispering, creaky old seats, and a glowing screen.  The previews would start and in the balcony we could hear the click of the projector and see the dust motes swirling in the beam of light.  It was all so facinating to me.  I can't tell you the name of a single movie I saw there, but it didn't matter, I loved stories but the movie was secondary to the treat of going out on the town with Grandma.

So now everything is digital, you never have to wait while they repair the film.  They all have stadium seating and fancy high backed seats with cup holders.  There are car ads and cell phone ads before the previews.  Its different, but I still go for the experience.  I enjoy almost every film I see...high brow, low brow, no brow...because for 2 hours you get to be somewhere else and meet new people.  My family thinks I'm weird but when I lived in Ireland I would go to the theatre several times a week.  I saw every film that came out while I lived there...some of them three or four times.  I'd much rather go to the theatre than watch tv or go out to a club.

Hmmm so I never finished my long-winded point.

Sometimes you don't want to think.  Somedays you just want to sit down and be entertained and not have to stretch.  Somedays you just need to see a happy ending to make you feel better.  That's when the cliches are good.  Cliches maybe passe, but they work for a reason, many of them have a ring of truth about them that we recognize and crave.

nachista,

Lovely memories of your Grandma and a very nice point indeed.

My grandmother was a worker in a textile mill, back in the 1920's. She always went to the movies every Friday night to escape reality and be entertained. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin were among her favorites. She named my mother 'Pauline', after her beloved silent film star Pauline Frederick.

While you people were busy talking about movies, I went and saw one- QUANTUM OF SOLACE. It has plenty del cliches and more than a little arse kicking. I recommend. highly. Do it in the theatre and save your speakers at home.

sleep tight

wt

Tonight I was in the movie where the lady goes out with her friends and meets a bunch of other women and plays with adorable babies and drinks wine and yaks a lot. Then I came home and found that my friends on PE were waxing eloquent about the very same things, and more besides. You're a grand lot entirely. Stoney and Suzanne-bien fait, mes amis!

For me, the films of the late '50's and early 60's are the most satisfying. 'This Sporting Life" (Richard Harris before he recorded "MacArthur Park"), "On the Waterfront", "A Face in the Crowd", "A Streetcar Named Desire", just to name a few. Especially the Kazan films. The man knew how to capture people's faces. There are clichés, sure, but I manage to look past them and not care. 

Disney movies. Horrible step mothers. Child separated from parents. On and on.

And the suitcases that never have anything in them.

Anyone seen Australia yet? Sir Boyscout took me and we totally enjoyed the cheesy cliche fest. I even cried in parts, I told him I can't watch any more war movies with him.

Suzanne-good plan...