accidental feminist

Lawrence of Arabia = Fun for the Whole Family July 13, 2008

The girls stayed up until the intermission last night (12:30). They’re watching the second half now.Their favorite part: Lawrence losing his compass and watching his servant die in quicksand. I think it reminds them of “The Princess Bride”.

My favorite part: Alec Guinness. He gets all the good lines; and he looks good in robes. My favorite: “For him mercy is a passion; for me it is good manners. You decide which is more reliable.” Nice.

(Although, to Anthony Quinn’s credit, “Give thanks to God that when he made you a fool he gave you a fool’s face” is quite possibly the greatest “neg” ever.)

I also think it was a wonderful choice to cast “Europeans” as the two main Arab tribal leaders, further blurring the lines between “Westerner” and “Arab”. Of course, casting fay, bleach-blonde, pasty Peter O’Toole is a nice contrast to Guinness and Quinn. And, of course, he ends up being the most stereotypically “Arab” of them all. I’m sure that’s an insight that has never been made in the thousands of reviews of this movie since 1962.

enchanted= maybe i don’t hate everything April 22, 2008

I have to admit it, despite my gag-reflex at the thought of Disney trying to be meta, some of this movie actually worked. Here’s a breakdown:

Worked-
* Amy Adams got that Disney princess movement and voice down “freaky-good”, y’all.
* “Working Song” and “How Does She Know That You Love Her” work way better in the actual movie than on stage at the Oscars. Oh, I get it! Because New York is streotypically dirty and the people are stereotypically misanthropic, so it’s ironic! Sure, sure.
* Susan Sarandon- Bassie says she has a beautiful voice, and wants to see other Susan Sarandon films now. Hmmm…shall it be “Rocky Horror” or “Dead Man Walking”?

Didn’t Work-
* Most of the plot
* Most of the dialogue
* That stupid chipmunk

All in all worth the expense, considering Dina got it as a gift. (At least it’s not this)

“laura linney is a revelation” April 7, 2008

I put that in quotes because I’m just assuming that more than one critic has used it to describe her current stint as Abigail Adams in the HBO mini-series named for the aforementioned’s husband. She makes the tiniest facial tick explode with emotion on my crystal clear Panasonic HDTV (although I don’t think I have quite the level of readership that would allow me to actually make money from Panasonic with that plug…).

It’s inspiring to see two equally strong people in such a seemingly mutually supportive relationship. Obviously they had their issues, too, but that makes it all the more touching to watch them work through such difficulties and remain together (and by “such difficulties” I mean primarily “A recently widowed and totally hot Thomas Jefferson hanging around their home in Paris and obviously having a little thing for Abby”).

I can’t wait to watch last night’s episode later this week. I’m really hoping that my big Founding Father crush, Alexander Hamilton, makes an appearance. Yum!

george clooney weekend! March 8, 2008

Last weekend yosefblog and I happened to have two Clooney films come up in our cue (and our mailbox) at the same time. This Synergeorgey led to a weekend of salt ‘n pepper hair and understated smooth. Michael Clayton was actually a surprisingly simple film, given that it was sort of a thriller-ish sort of movie. And Tilda totally deserved the Oscar on that one; unlike Michael Clooney-Clayton, who will, upon seeing the car that should have killed him blow up, run straight up to it and throw all of his electronics in it in order to fake his death, thereby buying the time necessary to devise the perfect payback to screw the evil fertilizer conglomerate, Tilda’s character will fall to the ground, stricken by her own crippling guilt and fear, while Clooney coolly swaggers away in victory. It’s the ultimate commentary not only on the abuse of power, but on the difference between the way that women and men handle that power. Is it a coincidence that the phrase Clooney uses to indicate to Swinton that she has lost the game of brinkmanship is “You’re so fucked”? Hmmm…probably coincidence, but still…

And then there was “Ocean’s Thirteen”. Mexican factory strikes. Love potions. Prosthetic noses. Men being men; gotta love it. “Remember that thing with that guy in that place?” Yup.

Once = “Make Art!” February 25, 2008

Oh, what a beautiful movie. It’s (according to my count) the second (the first being “Lost in Translation”) in a line of what seems to be a trend of films that deal honestly and intelligently with a really difficult concept: two people, both committed to other people (either by law or in their hearts), find themselves drawn to each other. They have an intense “romance” (although they are not sexually intimate), but choose not to pursue it in the end, and to return to their previous (perhaps “ever-present”) relationships. In both, you are moved in so many ways. On the one hand, you’re sort of rooting for them to get together, because they are so cute and good for each other, and because they are the romantic protagonists of the movie. On the other hand, aren’t the girls sort of cheating on their spouses by having this incredibly intimate relationship with another man? On the other hand, their relationship with that first man really is non-existent/he’s a creep/the folk singer with the scruffy beard is so cute!

At the end of the movie, you’re torn, because it’s probably “best” for everyone, but it just seems like their relationship was so, you know, cinematically wonderful.

At any rate, I am so glad their song beat out all those cookie-cutter crappy ones from “Enchanted”, especially because I’m guessing that the title “Once” is a post-modern re-imagining of the phrase “Once Upon A Time”, and the film actually succeeds in recouching the tropes of the fairy tale romance in a complicated and real world, and “Enchanted” was trying to be a post-modern, self-referential jab at Disney, but ended up just being more of the same.

Here’s Glen and Marketa at the Oscars. How sweet!

juno = acting saves well-paced but overly stylized and overwrought script December 30, 2007

Yeah, who’s the bitch now, Diablo!? No, seriously, she’s definitely got something unique going on, and I think her next script will tell. Will she go the way of Apatow, and perfect that “edgy, pop-culture referency yet grounded and realistic comedic tone”, or will she go the way of Tarantino, and wallow in that “extended pop culture references that provide a surprising contrast to the dark intensity of the surrounding plot because everyone loved it when I did that ‘Like a Virgin’ thing at the beginning of Reservoir Dogs but that was when they didn’t see it coming like the Hindenburg” thing? The choice is yours, Ms. Cody.

That said, I love Michael Cera. I love Jason Bateman (Best Supporting Actor nomination? No? Too much?). I love Sydney Bristow. That girl who plays Juno is really charming (and looks just like Rose, for those of you who know what I’m talking about). And the pseudo-romance between Page and Bateman was just pitch perfect; they went just far enough where it was still very charming and honest.

Plus, any movie that does a double shout out to yosefblog’s hometown goes in my “thumbs up” pile. Yay, Manteno!

I am cultured, do you hear me? Cultured! November 24, 2007

Yes. Yosef and I have been watching old foreign films, like “Breathless” and “Wild Strawberries”. In fact, “Wild Strawberries” was my first Bergman film ever, I think. And unlike when I saw “La Strada” and thought to myself “Uh, was I supposed to like that or risk being thought uncivilized?” (a question my college boyfriend answered for me when I mistakenly thought our relationship was built on enough honesty for me to ask it out loud; the answer, in case you were wondering, is “yes”. In fact, he spent most of our relationship acting like he liked things that would make him appear very cultured, like “Der Fledermaus” and Nat Sherman cigarettes; I think he almost threw up on me when I admitted that, while I appreciated the Marx Brothers, I didn’t laugh out loud to all the jokes in “Duck Soup”. Now, where was I…?), I actually loved this film. I can see why Woody Allen loves Bergman, too, what with all the self-absorbed and tortured characters and flashbacks to equally uneventful, self-absorbed, and tortured childhoods. Bergman shows that you needn’t live through extraordinary times or events to have lived a life worth consideration.

Also, Bibi Andersson is an awesome actress (yb and I had no clue she played both “Sara” characters), and she’s the quintessential hot Swedish girl.

Tout Va Bien = thank god for the skip feature on dvds… September 29, 2007

…that way, Yosef and I could check at 10 minute intervals to see if there was ever going to be a plot. The answer… after this ten minute rant about the capitalist oligarchy. And this one. And this one. Oh look, a picture of a woman holding a penis. Oh, now it’s another ten minute lecture on the oppression of the workers by the petit bourgeois. I’m sure this was just fascinating and groundbreaking and shocking and brilliant in 1972. But now it’s just sort of sad, mostly boring. And, really, I don’t mind a little slice of “remember when…” every now and then. Wall Street was dated, too, but at least it had fun features like Daryl Hannah in a wet suit, an apartment with splatter paint walls, and a reference to “Sean and Madonna”’s apartment.

Or maybe I just missed the revolution…

the long goodbye= oh, THAT’S why Robert Altman is considered a genius… August 22, 2007

…Cause, honestly, I liked “Ready to Wear” and all, but I wasn’t really ever quite, let’s say, moved by any of the films he made in my R-rated movie-viewing lifetime. But this, this was…crazy. He takes a straight noir detective novel and adapts it into a dark tinsel-town farce. I don’t even know if that’s a genre (if it were, you might be able to put “The Player” in it) but it’s pretty awesome. And the whole “long goodbye” theme; honestly, I can’t say whether I would have been happier if I hadn’t known that **spoiler alert** (sort of, if you’re really picky and a total film snob)
the entire soundtrack was one song before I saw it, but it really was crazy. The switch from the car radio to the convenient store muzak had to have been the best. It actually sort of goes in waves: you hear it, then you hear it again, and again, then you can’t believe it’s just going to keep going like that, then you sort of get used to it, then Elliot Gould starts humming it out of the blue and it’s right in your face again and you’re like “Man! It’s still going”, then the cycle begins again.

I think I should probably see “M*A*S*H*” now, right?

the big easy= i’ll have a muffalata w/ dennis quaid filling July 30, 2007

Wow. This movie did for Dennis Quaid in my mind what the combination of “Chicago” did for Richard Gere, and “Evita” did for Antonio Banderas. I’m sure that makes perfect sense. Of course you understand that I mean that, like seeing Richard Gere in “Chicago”, watching Quaid in “The Big Easy” actually made me respect an actor who I had previously thought was just a two-bit romantic comedy hack. Not to say that “The Big Easy” wasn’t a two-bit (okay, maybe three-bit) romantic comedy, but, man, his Creole accent really rocked it! He had that perfect can’t-put-your-finger-on-it, sort-of-Southern, sort-of-French thing going, and he was working it. Was he born with that? If not, wow. If so, how that he was able to ditch it for every other movie he made? Oh, yes, Antonio Banderas. Well, before I saw “Evita”, I didn’t understand why everyone thought he was so sexy. Now I do. And I now, too, understand why Dennis Quaid has that reputation for women about a decade older than me. I mean, the movie pretty much was just a vehicle for him to prance around naked, or, better, in nothing but lightly washed jeans (so 80s!).

I would like to stop here to comment on what a dearth of pictures there are of both james spader having his hair caressed from behind and dennis quaid shirtless on the Internets. Well, rent the movie (either one) if you want to know what I’m talking about.

So between this and “In Good Company” (I love me some Topher Grace), I’m almost ready to forgive Mr. Quaid for the debacle that was “Innerspace”. And for allowing Dane Cook to sort of look like him (toggle between these two until they merge into one).