 |
|
The Long Goodbye
 How many people, like me, when they heard the news about Robert
Altman, thought immediately of his speech earlier this year at the
Oscars, when he revealed that he'd been the recipient of a heart
transplant 11 years earlier:
I got the heart of, I think, a young woman who was in her late 30s .... And so by my calculation, you may be giving me this award too early. Because I think I've got about 40 years left on it. And I intend to use it.
It's terribly sad that Altman's gone, and I would have given
anything to have another Altman film (or ten), but he lived a long
life, and his last couple of years were productive ones. And if too
many movie mavericks are said to be ahead of their time, can we say
of Altman that he lived (and worked) long enough to be of his time?
That is, for someone who never compromised his art, we had the
pleasure of knowing what we had when we had him.
As we said on this week's show, we'll honor Altman with a
discussion of "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" next week. To our great
embarrassment, neither Adam nor I have seen the film. And as a
result, the third film in our Animation Marathon, "Akira," will be
pushed back a week.
And if you haven't already,
vote in this week's poll question:
"Robert Altman's masterpiece is ... Gosford Park? MASH? McCabe &
Mrs. Miller? The Player? Short Cuts? or Other? Adam meant to include
Nashville but forgot and, yes, he does feel like an idiot. But feel
free to hit Other if you're a Nashville fan.
|
|
|
| |
|
Overlooked DVD: Porco Rosso
 I was at my in-laws over Thanksgiving and I was surprised to find
Hayao Miyazaki's "Porco Rosso"
(1992) on my father-in-law's bookshelf. [It was right next to
"Punch-Drunk Love," which was even more perplexing. And I'd try to
explain why this struck me as so strange, but that would require a
really long tangent and it's not really relevant to an overlooked dvd
review ... suffice it to say, my wife agreed that it was odd].
I loved Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" [we'll be discussing it in
week 5 of the Animation Marathon], but I was even more impressed with
"Porco Rosso." The story of a reclusive and (literally) pig-headed
airborne bounty hunter who partners with an excitable teenage
engineer named Fio when he finds himself at odds with everyone from a
gang of air pirates to the Italian air force circa 1930, the movie
somehow manages to strike a perfect balance between Disney and
Hemingway.
In addition to the grace and detail of the animation -- according
to my father-in-law, all the planes in the film are replicas of real
WWI-era aircraft -- and the intelligence, cleverness and humor of the
story, the thing that impressed me most about the movie was its
ability to sustain two contrasting tones: Porco's sorrow and
cynicism; and Fio's youthful energy and optimism. Even at it's most
silly, there's an honesty to the way Miyazaki treats his adult
characters like the adults they are.
Although I would usually default to the subtitled version of any
foreign film, we ended up watching the dubbed version and I'm so glad
we did. Michael Keaton does the voice for Porco and (please cue
Sam's hyperbole theme) it's the best performance he's given in at
least ten years.
The rest of the English-language dubbing is just as great. I was
so impressed, I actually scanned the credits to see if they listed a
"voice director." [They did: Tony Bancroft. Nice job, Tony.]
Consider "Porco Rosso" extra credit for the marathon. I'm sure
it will come up during our discussion of "Spirited Away."
|
|
|
| |
|
The Good German Trailer
 I had Steven Soderbergh's "The Good German" as my #1 most anticipated
movie of the Fall without seeing a film still never mind a trailer.
Well, I finally saw
the trailer
the other night and it did not disappoint. It's not the kind of thing
that blows you away with shocking moments of suspense or
pyrotechnics, it's just got ... style ... and Cate Blanchett.
I read a New York Times articles recently about Soderbergh's
decision to shoot the film as if he were a studio gun-for-hire circa
1946. He shot the entire film on a sound stage in Burbank, eschewed
zoom lenses, relied entirely on boom mics and used a 32mm wide angle
lens that hasn't been used since the grand old days of Michael Curtiz
and Casablanca.
Here's a link to the
full article.
(Note: I didn't link to the actual NY Times article because it's
been archived and they'll charge you five bucks to read it.)
|
|
|
| |
|
And While We're Discussing Trailers...
 Do you ever watch a trailer and just wish immediately that you'd
never seen it?
I saw one recently for "Notes on a Scandal," which, like "The
Good German," stars the great Cate Blanchett. I'd been intrigued by
"Notes," particularly for the movie's cast (Judi Dench co-stars), and
I think I would have remain intrigued had I never seen the trailer.
The problem, aside from the fact that the movie appears to be
some weird hybrid between a Mike Leigh film and "Single White
Female," is that the trailer provides a nearly complete story arc.
Whether it's the movie's actual story arc or not doesn't really
matter -- WAY too much information about the story was revealed.
And yes, I know this has been a problem with movie trailers
forever. So here's my proposal to our friends at the MPAA: make it a
punishable offense (like, say, a $1 million fine) for trailers to
contain scenes from after the movie's first 20 minutes. Or, even
better, make it so that movie trailers may contain NO footage from
the final cut of the film. Wouldn't people start getting creative
with trailers if they couldn't use any of the film? All in favor,
say "aye."
[Adam's note: I, too, saw this trailer last weekend and was
shocked at how much of the story seems to be revealed. I guess just
close your eyes and plug your ears if you're curious about this film
and the trailer comes on.]
|
|
|
| |
|
Alexander The Great
If you're a Dope Sheet subscriber who hasn't visited the
Filmspotting message boards,
or hasn't visited them recently, consider this a plug.
Thanks to Boards Chair Alex Knesnik, the boards have had a little
make-over. In addition to previously existing forums like Show
Announcements, Comments/Suggestions, Overlooked Movies, Top 5 Talk
and Marathons, Alex has added a forum for discussing specific
episodes of the show, and he's split Movie Talk into two separate
forums -- one "with spoilers" and one without.
There are some great conversations taking place in those forums
about "The Fountain" and "The Prestige," among others. Adam has also
added a "Music" forum to discuss the music that we play on the show,
or any other music-themed treads.
And on the subject of music ... we've added a "Bought music heard
on Filmspotting?" e-mail link on the
Music Page on
filmspotting.net. If you've purchased music you first heard on
Filmspotting, send us an e-mail and let us know! We'd love to pass
your email on to the label.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
