Saw V…Coming out on October 24.
Monthly Archives: September 2008
Paul Newman (1925-2008): A Man Who Will Always Be One of a Kind
My entire life, I’ve lived in the same town that Paul Newman inhabited. Ever since I first saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in the 6th grade, I always dreamed of one day running into him in this very small town. Unfortunately, this never happened. Even though I never met him, I feel like I knew Newman better than ever today when I found out about his death. I realized he was not only one of cinema’s finest actors, but also a man who did as he pleased and one who gave back to the community. To me, this impact is felt so much for the small things he did throughout his life to make Westport a better place.
Breaking News: Paul Newman Dies
Today, we lost one of Hollywood’s great. Paul Newman (1925-2008), The legendary actor who starred in such classics as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Hud has died at the age of 83 after a battle with cancer. Right now, I am still trying to collect all of my thoughts about a person as wonderful as Newman was and right now it’s difficult to express my sadness in words. A longer obituary on Paul Newman will be up later today or tomorrow.
Quote of the Day
Emmys Go "Mad" for "30 Rock", "Men"
I’m going to make this quick, considering I still have some English reading to do. Mainly, the ceremony contained 5 awful hosts, a few big surprises, and a lot of “I saw that coming”.
The Emmys: Who Will Win?
In this year’s line-up: It’ll be Tina Fey’s show, with a little bit of Mad Men and maybe a break in the Senifeld curse. Meanwhile, will Stephen Colbert finally get the Emmy that’s been stolen from him two years in a row?
Best Comedy: 30 Rock
Movie Review: In Bruges
Bruges. Where the hell is that? Is it real? Is it fake? Who knows. Well, Bruges is real. It’s a city in Belgium that looks kind of like a run down version of Venice and Amsterdam. But it turns out it’s a city full of surprise, midget actors, and very dark secrets. No, I’ve never been to any of those cities. But In Bruges is such an accurate portrayal, I might as well have been in the canal with them.
Fall TV Begins
Unfortunately, The Office and the underrated My Name is Earl don’t start up again until next Thursday. Even worse, 30 Rock won’t be returning until the end of October. However, if you haven’t started watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia yet, now’s your chance. Sunny’s season premiere tonight is at 10 PM on FX. And since creator/star Rob McElhenney is such a great guy, he decided to kick the year off with two new episodes. In these episodes, the gang develops a taste for cannibalism and then tries to solve the gasoline crisis. Knowing Sunny‘s sick, twisted sense of humor, these episodes will be outrageous, offensive, and brilliant. And I cannot wait.
Movie Review: Burn After Reading
At a certain time in a director’s life, they’ve made so many movies that each one can be distinguished by the tiniest features in plot, setting, characters, themes, etc. Joel and Ethan Coen, who are among the few directing pairs left in Hollywood, can be added to that list.
“Burn After Reading” is in every way a Coen Brothers movie. After 24 years of filmmaking, the so-called “Two-Headed Director” haven’t lost their touch for making incredibly shocking and original films.
The world of the Coens is a world of idiots. The less intelligent minds focused on in this film are the brain dead fitness instructor Chad Feldheimer (scene-stealing Brad Pitt) and his co-worker Linda Litzke (Frances McDormand) at a D.C. gym. They stumble upon a CD filled with files that may be the work of Osbourne Cox (the always bizarre John Malkovich); a man just kicked out of the CIA who now wants to write a memoir.
Believing the disc is valuable, Chad decides to return it to Cox in hopes of reward money and Linda joins in, desperate for cash to pay for her plastic surgeries in a goal to reinvent herself. It seems like a perfect plan, but it turns out the files are totally useless. Somewhere along the way, a man named Harry Pfarer (George Clooney) and Cox’s wife (Tilda Swinton) get sucked into this elaborate scheme. Trademark Coen Brothers chaos and miscommunication ensues.
It would be impossible to compare any Coen Brothers movie to another without examining the musical score. A Coen movie’s music usually defines something about the characters. The Creedence filled soundtrack of “The Big Lebowski” shows that the Dude is still living in his burned-out hippie days. The music-free “No Country” represents an emptiness and Godless feeling in the world.
“Burn After Reading” contains a score that is at times too intense for moments in which nothing is happening. This is used as a way to trick the audience, and make it impossible to know what will happen next. In this way, the directors succeed in making the audience feel as dumb as the characters.
Some critics have complained that a problem with the movie is that it makes fun of its characters and it is therefore impossible to like any of them. It may be true that the audience is laughing at Chad as Cox punches him hard in the face as Chad begs for a reward. However, it is the directors’ point for the audience to feel a sort of emotional distance from the characters.
The film is meant to be watched as the viewer not being put in the characters’ shoes but instead watching in utter shock from a third person perspective that some people are actually capable of doing things this stupid.
This is different from the type of comedy popularized by Judd Apatow in recent years but in a way, some sort of sympathy can be felt for the characters. It is unfortunate to see that Chad, an overall good guy, doesn’t realize what a terrible trap he’s gotten himself into. Maybe he should learn what blackmail means first.
“Burn After Reading” is Marx Brothers humor laced with a “Maltese Falcon” like conclusion. All this, put together with the Coen Brothers thoughts on the stupidity of humanity, the dangers of miscommunication, fate and freewill, and the idea that people think they can handle everything but actually have no idea what they’re doing.
In a changing world of cinema, the Coen Brothers continue to make movies the way they want to. “Burn” might not earn the Oscars of “No Country” but for stark originality, unpredictability, and great entertainment it will earn a spot on the list of the year’s best films.
This review will also be posted in the upcoming issue of Inklings
Movie Review: Y Tu Mama Tambien
Every once in a while, a movie comes along that holds you in it’s grip for two hours, shatters you’re expectations, and leaves you breathless at the end; still not totally grasping this new view of life you’ve just been provided. Director Alfonso Cuaron did this to me once before with 2006′s Children of Men, and he’s done it again with his totally different, yet very similar Y Tu Mama Tambien.