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Overlooked DVD Pick: Reds
 From Chicago/Milwaukee, this is The Dope Sheet ... I'm Sam Van Hallgren
I've always been intrigued by massive artistic undertakings. I
guess many people are. Huge ambition can make for great art. Or
legendary fiascoes. Big books, three disc concept albums, all day
productions of Wagner's Ring Cycle. I can't say that I go out of my
way to actually experience many of these things -- who has the time?
-- but I love that people still make the effort.
Well this week's Overlooked DVD is one of those grand artistic
efforts. Warren Beatty's 3 1/2 hour labor-of-love biopic of communist
sympathizer John Reed.
"Reds"
was released in 1981, made $40 million at the box office and was
rewarded with 12 Academy Award nominations. But who do you know that
has actually seen this movie?
For reasons I can't quite articulate, I've always been fascinated
by the idea of this movie. I guess growing up in the '80s during the
Cold War, the idea that there was a film -- and a celebrated film, at
that -- that documented the life of the only American buried at The
Kremlin seemed kind of ... dangerous ... to me.
Somehow I never got around to renting the movie; but TCM was
showing it the other night and I decided to Tivo it. Earlier this
week my wife and I found 200 minutes to spare and we watched it. And
I thought it was absolutely incredible. The three and a half hours
flew by, and my wife and I both pointed out that the movie seemed
much shorter than either The Black Dahlia (121 min) or All The King's
Men (128 min).
The movie has an incredibly complicated story to tell (the
Communist movement in America, the Russian revolution of 1917), and
Beatty does so with amazing grace and economy. He builds the entire
story around the relationship between Reed and his on-again,
off-again wife Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton), and the attention he
pays to the relationship never compromises Beatty's efforts to
portray the political sea change that the world was undergoing.
I mean, I love Diane Keaton, but her performance in this movie is
absolutely astonishing. Beatty's great, too, and I've never been
really fond of his low-key acting style. And in lieu of voice-over
narration to guide the viewer through the complicated story, Beatty
uses some great interview footage with people who knew Reed and
Bryant. A truly awe-inspiring piece of work. Worth finding the time
for.
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Maybe The Best Compliment We've Ever Received
(From Someone We Never Dreamed Of Ever Getting a Compliment From)
One of our favorite critics, Scott Tobias from The Onion A/V
Club, posted this short piece on the
A/V Club blog
on Thursday. Listing Filmspotting as one of his "Awesome Links,"
Scott also claims to be "in awe" of Filmspotting. Somehow we doubt
that, but we really appreciate him saying so.
The Onion itself is based in NYC, but the A/V Club staff is in
Chicago. Adam actually contacted Scott several months ago about
filling in for me during one of my short stints in rehab. Scott was
nice enough to respond, declining due to his previous experience with
radio. If this is his way of apologizing for not being able to join
Adam behind the mic, well, we forgive him. Also, I was never in rehab.
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Cheese and Contests on the Filmspotting Message Boards
I love Filmspotting listeners.
Here's just one reason why.
That's right: a six-page thread on the majesty that is cheese.
With remarkably few posts that go off-topic. And somehow completely
unrelated to my recent move to the cheese capital of the world:
Wisconsin, America. (For those who didn't get The Dope Sheet two
weeks ago, I moved from Chicago to Milwaukee in June.)
Also, csscheider started a popular thread titled
The Movie Game.
So far, there have been over 600 posts.
And one more contest that wraps up today or tomorrow, from Lynch
over at crackspotting.com.
A Movie Game + Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon. Good times. And, as far
as I can tell, impossible.
Who can we thank for this golden age of the Filmspotting Message
Boards? Well, of course all the people who have spent valuable time
procrastinating from their real jobs posting on the boards; but
there's also board moderator Alex Knesnik.
I'm actually convinced that Alex is many people that fall under
the single "AK" moniker. I mean am I supposd to believe that it's
just a coincidence that "Alex Knesnik" shares the same initials as
Filmspotting host "Adam Kempenaar"? Has this ever been pointed out?
Am I in the matrix? Is this thing on? Are we recording?
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National Novel Writing Month: Podcaster Wanted
 Some of you may remember that last November, in addition to doing
Filmspotting (then called Cinecast), I also produced a podcast for
National Novel Writing Month --
nanowrimo.org
For those of you that do recall, and actually checked out that
podcast, you'll remember that it didn't quite have the "filmspotting
magic" (tm). It was a lot of fun, however, and the NaNoWriMo crew
are just about the greatest bunch of people on the planet.
I was actually planning to produce the podcast again this
November, but as I learned more about my new job, it became
increasingly difficult to imagine pulling it off. So. National
Novel Writing Month needs a new podcast host/producer. Maybe that
person is you.
Are you a podcaster? Do you live in the Bay Area (or
thereabouts)? Are you a novelist? Are you familiar with National
Novel Writing Month? If any or all of these things are true, send me
an e-mail --
sam@filmspotting.net -- and
let me know if you're interested in learning more about the job.
There IS a small stipend. And some expenses are paid as well.
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Defending Brian De Palma
I really thought we'd hear from a lot of listeners after last week's
review of The Black Dahlia, which turned into a virtual condemnation
of De Palma's entire career. Instead, we heard from a lot of people
like Lajos Bellman, who offered his "Swedish Movie Title" take on De
Palma's career:
Swedish Title: Original US Title:
Wannabe Blow Up Blow Out
Wannabe Psycho Dressed To Kill
Wannabe Godfather Scarface
Wannabe Platoon Casualties of War
Wannabe Godfather 2 Carlito's Way
Wannabe 2001 Mission To Mars
Wannabe James Bond Mission Impossible
And opening this weekend: WANNABE CONFIDENTIAL, starring Josh
Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson.
---
But we did get this e-mail from Vern H. taking us to task in a
way I have to admit I was totally prepared for.
"Fellas -- Listen to your show, enjoyment, etc. Now down to
business ... I listened to your BLACK DAHLIA show and although I
didn't like that movie very much either, I feel like you guys just
don't "get" De Palma. The clearest indicator was when you laughed at
FEMME FATALE and called it "a disaster."
Well, I can't talk you guys into liking it, but it genuinely
makes me sad that two guys as obsessed with movies as you guys,
especially two guys who drop the phrase "film noir" as often as you
guys, could not get any joy out of a movie as spectacularly great and
unique as FEMME FATALE.
To me it is the ultimate De Palma movie. He takes every obsession
and every trick he is known for and throws them all into overdrive.
The only movies you can really compare it to are De Palma's other
craziest movie, RAISING CAIN, and maybe the ludicrousness and
playfulness of WILD THINGS ...
You talk about the ridiculous twists as if they are absurd by
accident, just like you talked about the camp in BLACK DAHLIA like
maybe De Palma didn't know what he was doing. Of course De Palma
means to be over the top. I mean you've seen SCARFACE haven't you? Or
PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE? I know you saw CARRIE so don't tell me you
forgot Piper Laurie's performance ...
Even if you didn't like it -- hell, even if you hated it -- I
can't see how you could call it a "disaster" unless you thought De
Palma was trying to make some kind of boring normal thriller for
bland people who don't like to be surprised. Maybe call it "insane"
or "whacked out" or something, but at least acknowledge that it is
deliberate. "Disaster" implies some sort of accidental collision.
I'm afraid to even ask how Sam could possibly hate MISSION:
IMPOSSIBLE so much, but that's just De Palma doing an exquisite job
at a mainstream popcorn movie. FEMME FATALE is where his heart is
really at. I know you guys have a whole bunch of marathons already
lined up, but I don't care. You just earned yourself a De Palma
marathon. No whining. You start with the more classical thrillers
like BLOW OUT, DRESSED TO KILL, maybe OBSESSION or SISTERS. And then
watch RAISING CAIN and FEMME FATALE. It will change your life.
Until you do this I will not abide by any more disparaging
comments about FEMME FATALE."
Thanks boys,
Vern
I won't be watching FEMME FATALE any time soon, Vern, but you
make a good point about my idle use of the word "disaster." I agree
that there is something intentional about the execution of De Palma's
films that makes words like "insane" or "whacked out" better
descriptors than "disaster." And I guess what I'm admitting when I
talk about my impatience with movies like The Black Dahlia or Femme
Fatale (or Scarface or Mission Impossible or you name it) is that the
over-the-top nature of the performances doesn't exist in any context
that I can relate to.
Are the performances part of the elaborate stylization of his
films? Well then, I guess it just doesn't work for me. The "style"
of De Palma's films seems to be just that -- style for style's sake.
And in that way, it feels arbitrary. And although I would never
accuse De Palma of being a lazy director as far as the look of his
films go, I would accuse him of ignoring some of the more basic
elements of filmmaking (storytelling and character development come
to mind) that make going to movies interesting for me.
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