Little Person & Synecdoche, New York

I’m just a little person,
One person in a sea
Of many little people
Who are not aware of me.

I do my little job
And live my little life,
Eat my little meals,
Miss my little kid and wife

And somewhere, maybe someday,
Maybe somewhere far away,
I’ll find a second little person
who will look at me and say,

“I know you
You’re the one I’ve waited for.
Let’s have some fun.”

Life is precious every minute,
and more precious with you in it,
so let’s have some fun

We’ll take a road trip way out west. You’re the one I like the best.
I’m glad I’ve found you,
Like being around you
You’re the one I like the best.

Somewhere, maybe someday,
Maybe somewhere far away,
I’ll meet a second little person
And we’ll go out and play.
— Little Person, “Synecdoche, New York”

The lines bring me back to the movie “Synecdoche, New York” which is extremely provocative.  I’m not sure i would call it entertaining but i definitely enjoyed it. I’m pretty sure i need to see it again.  I do think Charlie Kaufman (the writer and director) is a genius.  He’s written some incredible films – all about the mind and how we intereact with it. In fact, here’s how i categorize all his films:

• Most mainstream and accessible – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (How we deal with losing your mind)
• Most clever and funniest – Adaptation (Having a twin brother do what you cannot)
• Most creative and original – Being John Malkovich (Going into someone else’s mind)
• Most thought provoking – Synecdoche, New York (How the mind deals with age, discouragement, wisdom and uncertainty)
• Most exciting and sexy – Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (How the mind deals with two different lives)

I’m not sure which one is my favorite as they are all good in different ways.   Which ones do you like?

Related articles:

• Synecdoche New York review (telegraph.co.uk)

Up is Magical

Last week i went and saw Pixar’s latest masterpiece called Up. If you’ve never heard of the film, it’s an animated movie about an old man, Carl, who is a recluse. He’s at the end of his days and is holding out against the world. He keeps his home as a memorial and still talks to the absent wife Ellie. One day Carl decides to pack up and fly away–literally. Having worked all his life as a balloon man, he has the equipment on hand to suspend the house from countless helium-filled balloons and fulfill his dream of seeking a beautiful Argentinian waterfall called Paradise Falls.

First, let me just say that the film begins with a montage of Carl and Ellie that is one of the best 10 minutes of film that i have ever seen. It is so sweet and wonderful that i’d go back and pay just to see that part.

The film is a funny adventure and the characters are often more real than human actors.  I find it refreshing that the main character is a 70-year old man instead of the latest hearthtrob of the moment.  Where Star Trek felt it had to have all youngsters dominate the film, Pixar handed the reins to what would seem a total unsympathetic character.  Instead, he’s completely refreshing.

It’s a funny thing to say but I wish more movies had the creativity of Up, the realism of Carl, and the emotional weight of this animated film.

Am i alone on this?

Related articles:

• How To Pull A Carl Fredricksen (cinemablend.com)
• Pixar’s Up reviewed. (slate.com)
• Mark Blankenship: In Pixar’s “Up,” Two Chairs Mean the World (SPOILERS) (huffingtonpost.com)

Top 100 Movie Lines

Pretty good clip of movie quotes

The Road

Cover of The Road

I just finished reading Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road which is about a father and a son walking through post-apocalypic America.  While a quick read, it’s dark and sad.  I loved the end of the book but going from page to page was a challenge as i didn’t really want to go back to the world they inhabit.  It’s cold, uncomfortable and frightening.  But that’s what makes the book good – it feels quite raw.

While the book was good, the movie looks to be even better as it puts a face and picture to the madness.  And it has an amazing cast of Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, and Robert Duvall. Can’t wait to check it out later this year.  Trailer is below:

Related articles:

• The Weinstein Company Tampered With ‘The Road’ Trailer (screenrant.com)
• First Trailer for ‘The Road’ Misses The Mark (screenrant.com)

The Brothers Bloom

I went to the movie The Brothers Bloom last weekend and i have to say that it was a really fun flick.  It’s getting killed at Rotten Tomatoes (57%) but trust me it’s a great movie.  It’s written and directed by the guy who did the high school drug mystery movie Brick – which in my opinion was way overrated.  I remember watching it with my cousin Matt Lewis and waiting for it to end.  Granted we were recovering from a big night, but still it didn’t do it for me.  Maybe another viewing is needed

The movie The Brothers Bloom is different. The movie itself has a great beginning and middle.  The ending is the weakest part of the movie, but it’s not horrible.  And, i’ve heard that it had to cut quite a bit due to timing so i hope the Director’s Cut gets released on DVD.

The movie reminds me a lot of a Wes Anderson film in its quirkiness and style and the French movie Amelie in that it thrives around a quirky woman.  Rachel Weisz makes this movie.  Without her it’s just average.  She is fantastic.  The other woman, named Bang Bang, played by Rinko Kikuchi is also awesome even though she doesn’t speak at all. On another casting note, i was so happy that the older brother, Steve, was played by Mark Ruffalo instead of Owen Wilson. If it was a Wes Anderson film, Owen would have played the part and it would have been a worse movie.  I’m sick of him in those roles.

There are a series of great scenes in the movie.  From the early scene at the zoo to the first makeout between Adrian Brody and Rachel.  Something about making out with a girl who’s never kissed anyone before is intriguing to me. These are very very interesting characters and each subsequent scene of the movie was unpredictable.  As an avid moviegoer, being unpredictable and funny are two difficult and welcome characteristics.  I give this movie an 8.  Go see it.

Related articles

• ‘Brothers Bloom’: On The Con, And We’re The Marks (npr.org)
• Review: The Brothers Bloom (cinematical.com)
• Film: Review: The Brothers Bloom (avclub.com)
• A day on the set of Brothers Bloom (Ain’t It Cool News)

14 Movies on my to-see list

I get Esquire magazine and i have to say that i really like it.  The Sports Guy has a rule that he judges how good a magazine is by how long it takes him to read and i have to say that i end up reading Esquire longer than any other mag i get.  I probably spend a good hour to 90 minutes on it every month.

This month’s issue has an area where it has 75 movies that every man should watch.  I have seen most of them (Godfather, Sling Blade, The Good The Bad The Ugly) but there were 14 in there that i haven’t yet seen.   I wrote the list down and what Esquire said about them. I couldn’t be more excited to crack into them.  Here’s the list:

1. In The Heat of the Night. Never before has a man been in more wrong places at the wrong time.
2. Save The Tiger. The nominations for 1973 Best Actor: Brando, Nicholson, Redford, Pacino, and Lemmon. Lemmon got it.
3. Runaway Train.  Existential action flicks are tough to pull off.  But this is the way to do it: just get 2 escaped cons, a chick, an evil warden, and in a helicopter chase in Alaska.
4. Rosemary’s Baby.  You learn there ate bad people in the world
5. Shakes The Clown. A reviewer called it “the Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies.” Faint praise. For every man or woman who ever hugged a toilet all night long
6. Dirty Harry. Sometimes a man has gotta break the rules and hunt the bastard down himself, even if it’s only a metaphor for the next sales call
7. Straw Dogs. Three words: Sam. Peckinpah. Revenge.
8. Giant. The history of Texas in the 20th century, as seen through the anguished lonesome eyes of James Dean
9. Down By Law. Weirdest prison escape movie ever
10. The Verdict. Watch the foray scene, in which Paul Newman is silhouetted against a barroom window, playing pinball: the man is acting with his shoulders.
11. The Warriors. Bloodthirsty mimes, clown-faced baseballers, ad bare-chested men in leather vests. Kind of makes you miss pre-giulliani NYC
12. Stalag 17. Because it inspired a sitcom. With Nazi’s
13. The Misfits. Two drunks and a blonde walk into a Reno bar, get hammered, and embark on a scheme to wrangle mustangs. Starting Clark Gable (who died before it was released), Marilyn Monroe (died 18 months later) and Montgomery Cliff (who died within 4 years)
14. HUD. “nobody gets out of life alive”

The best movies are like vintage port

Some movies get better and better the more you watch them and sometimes you pop a flick in 20 years after you first viewed it and it’s the best viewing yet.  The Sports Guy explains this by comparing movies to wine:

Most movies are like chardonnays or pinot noirs — you can drink them right away or any time within a span of 10 years. Many cabernets, Bordeaux and Barolos hold their vintage really well and you can actually enjoy them for as along as 10-20 years. Kinda like “Midnight Run” or “Hoosiers.” The best vintage ports are drinkable right away (although it’s not advised), but they’re specifically designed to get better and better the more they age. So, if you feel that way about a few of your favorite movies, I’d say that’s your vintage port collection. By the way, my mom helped me write this paragraph.

These movies for me are Boogie Nights, Spinal Tap, Rushmore, Good Will Hunting, Almost Famous, and Pulp Fiction. What’s your vintage port collection?

The movie Crash is #1 on Netflix

I read a really interesting article today.  It turns out that since 2005 the movie Crash has been the top rented movie from Netflix.  That’s 4 years of renting.  Crazy to think about.  The article interviews the writer/director Paul Haggis about this phenomenon. He has no idea why this is the case and has some funny quotes:

“I just assumed it was some sort of anomaly,” Haggis told the Tribune recently. “I have no idea why anyone went to the movie in the first place, let alone rent it. It was a little independent film, and when people started to see it, I was amazed.”

“It doesn’t make it any better of a film. I just know that these were things that were upsetting me, and I wanted to get them out,” said Haggis. “I happened to like my second film ['In the Valley of Elah'] better than ‘Crash,’ but no one went to see it.”

It doesn’t mention that maybe it’s because it won the Academy Award for Best Picture and nobody saw so everyone put it in their queue.  I wonder how many people got it delivered to them and sent it right back so they could get disk 3 of House a little bit faster.

Celebrity Voicemails

While reading the highly entertaining mailbag by Bill Simmons, i read this from one of his readers:

Recently, Morgan Freeman came to my town to help celebrate the opening of one of his restaurants, Pig ‘N Whistle BBQ. He came around and greeted every table and talked with each guest, and everyone was getting their picture taken with him. I had a stroke of genius, though, and had my phone out. When Mr. Freeman reached our table, I asked if he would be so kind as to record a message for me. He said yes. Now I have this on my cell: “This is actor Morgan Freeman, Barnz is away from his phone right now but leave a message and he will call you back, I hope … I hope.” Is there a better choice for voicemail and a specific person to leave it?
– Barnz, Fayettesville, Ark.

That’s truly amazing.  Of course Bill provided a few that he’d rather see:

2. Jack Nicholson: “This is Jack Nicholson. Bill isn’t home right now. You’re entitled to leave a message for him. Just know that I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain where he is, especially to someone who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said ‘thank you’ and went on your way. Either way, I don’t give a DAMN what you think you’re entitled to!!!”

3. Al Pacino: “Hi, this is Al Pacino. I don’t know where Bill is right now. But I do know this. Life is just a game of inches. I am still willing to fight and die for that inch because that is what LIVING is!!! The six inches in front of your face!!!!! Now I can’t make you leave a message. You gotta do it. So wait for the beep.”

4. Buffalo Bill (from Silence of the Lambs): “This is Jame Gumb answering Bill’s cell phone. Bill’s not here. (Long pause.) Is this a great big fat person?”

It’s pretty funny – can you think of  anything better?

Ben Affleck Man-o-logues

Ben Affleck (via last.fm)

I just overheard someone ripping on Ben Affleck.  Say what you will about him – with JLo and Gigli he doesn’t have much wiggle room – but he does have 3 of the better monologues in the past 15 years. They are:

The job interview of Good Will Hunting:

The middle of Boiler Room:

The end of Chasing Amy:

I personally like the interview the best. He also has made (adapted and directed) the best Boston movie I know of in Gone Baby Gone. The Departed is great but Baby is better and more boston-ish.