Movie Recommendations, Rants and Ruminations
moviegourmet This 2010 documentary traces the history of the modern environmental movement through the remembrances of some of its key players. The stock footage of pesticide being sprayed on schoolchildren as they eat lunch in the 1950s is especially chilling. PBS through April and May.
This is the third straight week that I’ve been recommending The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I’ve gotten some initial resistance, primarily from women who have read the Stieg Larsson novel; one of those women went to the movie anyway and loved it. Here’s why you should see it before it leaves the theaters.
First, the movie is centered on Lisbeth Salander, the best new crime drama character since Helen Mirren’s Inspector Jane Tennyson. And Noomi Rapace creates a Lisbeth Salander who is a lethal mix of damage and drive. Noomi Rapace’s Lisbeth, as a tiny fury of a Goth hacker, is only 90 pounds, so she will lose a fistfight with a man; but she prevails with her smarts, resourcefulness and machine-like relentlessness. Lisbeth is always mad AND always gets even.
Second, the Scandinavians have already made all three movies for the Stieg Larsson trilogy. They’re all in the can with the same stars. Movie #2 is The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, which has already been released in Scandinavia and is in wider European release now. Movie #3 is The Girl Who Played With Fire, to be released in Scandinavia in September. American Stieg Larsson fans will be will be able to see all three movies soon, in theaters or on Netflix.
Third, Hollywood is going to remake this movie. I doubt that Hollywood is going to remake the whole trilogy, so this may be your only chance to see the trilogy. There are rumors about casting George Clooney or Brad Pitt, so male lead will likely be enhanced at the expense of the story. The movie will likely be dumbed down to make Lisbeth more of a stylized action hero . And, of course, Hollywood is not going to cast Noomi Rapace in the lead, so you would miss the film’s essential performance.
I’ve updated of the Movies To See Right Now page. La Mission is now in theaters (see post below). Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is new on DVD Gran Torino, Strangers on a Train, Pan’s Labyrinth, Bob LeFlambeur and Airplane! are on TV.
My top recommendation is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in theaters. Now is the time to catch Broken Embraces (Abrazos Rotos) and Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains on DVD.
La Mission is an uncommonly realistic and respectful film about Chicano culture. Unfortunately, that is all too rare. Here’s my list of the Ten Least Convincing Mexicans and Chicanos in the movies.
Just made my regular Thursday update of the Movies To See Right Now page.
The Secret of Kells is now in theaters. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is new on DVD Gran Torino, Monterey Pop, Bob LeFlambeur and A Place in the Sun are on TV.
Just like every Thursday, I have updated the Movies To See Right Now page. The Secret of Kells is now in theaters. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is new on DVD Gran Torino, Monterey Pop and Bob LeFlambeur are on TV.
My top recommendations remain The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in theaters and The Hurt Locker, Precious and Up in the Air on DVD.
In Theaters:
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Rock-em, sock-em feminist suspense thriller built around the very original character of damaged, angry, master hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace). Lisbeth makes Dirty Harry look like Bishop Tutu. The Swedish title was Men Who Hate Woman, and there’s lots of violence against women in this film, satisfyingly avenged. This is a whodunit with layers of romance, suspense, and sex, with even some Nazis thrown in.
A Prophet Probably the year’s best film so far – about a young French-Arab from his first terrifying day in prison to his release. It evokes the Deniro scenes in Godfather II, except set with gritty realism in contemporary France.
The Ghost Writer First class paranoid political thriller by Roman Polanski.
On DVD:
The Hurt Locker, Precious and Up in the Air. If you haven’t caught up with last year’s best, there’s no better time than now.
On TV:
Mon Oncle Perhaps the most deeply funny movie of all time, this is Jacques Tati’s masterful satire of modernist consumerism. The spare soundtrack might be the best ever. TCM 3/28/10
Shotgun Stories Character driven, gripping tale of three damaged brothers in the Bayou. Sundance Channel in late March and early April.
Layer Cake Contemporary British noir crime thriller with Daniel Craig. IFC 3/28/10
Outrage Documentary that convincingly exposes secretly gay politicians who vote against gay rights. This is not Florida Governor Charlie Christ’s favorite movie. HBO 3/3/0/10, 4/1/10.
Also in Theaters:
Alice in Wonderland in 3-D: Eye candy from Tim Burton.
The Runaways: Very well-executed Behind the Music arc. Good performances by Kristin Stewart and Dakota Fanning.
I’ve posted my annual list of best movies of the year (see “Best Films of 2009” link above).
I’ll also be filling in my list of ten recommended films from the year – the ten movies that I am pushing on everyone I know:
The Hurt Locker
Stranded: I’ve Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
Precious
Broken Embraces (Abrazos Rotos)
Goodbye Solo
Up in the Air
Gomorrah
Sin Nombre
(500) Days of Summer
The Last Lullaby
Every year, we watch the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. For example, we had sushi for Lost in Translation and cowboy campfire beans for Brokeback Mountain – you get the idea.
Last year, Frost/Nixon and Milk were stumping me until I realized that they were set in the 1970s. So we had celery sticks stuffed with pimento spread, pigs in a blanket and Tequila Sunrises.
This year, the growth to TEN nominees has challenged us. But here is tonight’s Oscar Dinner:
Airplane bottles of liquor for Up in the Air. Obvious.
Prawn Cocktail Exotique for District 9 and for An Education. “Prawn” is the South African slur for the aliens in District 9. And a shrimp cocktail would fit into the fancy 1960s dinner out in An Education.
KFC chicken for Precious and The Blind Side. OK, the fast food chicken in Precious is from a diner, not from KFC, but it comes in a bucket.
Scrambled Eggs for Avatar. This references the scene where Jake Scully powers through his breakfast before getting back into his avatar control module. Plus we didn’t want to dye any food blue.
Fatayer bi Sabanekh for The Hurt Locker. It’s the Arab version of spanokopita, the spinach and feta turnover. Had to go Middle Eastern.
Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man. A Seriously Jewish Brisket.
Haricot Vert for Inglorious Basterds. It takes place in France, and we needed a vegetable.
Ice cream for Up. Ours isn’t from Fenton’s Creamery. but, hey, we don’t live in Oakland.
Best Supporting Actor: Christolph Walz completely deserves to win Best Supporting Actor – and he will. Me and Orson Welles’ studio made a huge mistake and pushed Christian MacKay for Best Actor instead of Supporting for his amazing performance as Orson Welles; MacKay belongs among the nominees here. And the funniest performance as a Supporting Actor – maybe in the decade – is Fred Melamed as Sy Ableman in A Serious Man; Melamed creates a hilariously pompous and blatantly manipulative character as the guy who seduces the protagonist’s wife and then expects the hero to bend over backwards to make everything convenient for them; I’ve never seen such an earnestly self-entitled character. Woody Harrelson is also great in The Messenger.
Best Documentary: The Cove is nominated for Best Documentary, and I’ve heard that it is very, very good. But it’s been a strong year for documentaries. My favorite,
Stranded: I’ve Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains, may actually be a 2008 release. But I think that Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 and Tyson are nomination-worthy. Other goods documentaries this year include Outrage, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, The September Issue, More Than a Game, The Way We Get By, It Might Get Loud, and Thrilla in Manilla.
Best Animated Feature: Just saw The Secret of Kells, and I have no idea why it has a high Metacritic score or why it is nominated for Best Animated Feature.
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Nine, but her better performance was in Broken Embraces.
Best Foreign Language Film: And why wasn’t Broken Embraces nominated for Best Foreign Language Film? It was one of my top five films of the year, and the Academy loves Almodovar. I am rooting against The White Ribbon – a brilliantly made film that tells a disappointingly shallow story. The White Ribbon is a depiction of a village in which every father is emotionally, physically and/or sexually abusive, all of the kids are very creepy and a mysterious someone is doing some very, very bad things. That could all work toward a good film, if the message were something a little deeper than “Germany’s WWII generation had very mean parents”.