Columbus (2017; d. Kogonada)
I loved this movie so much. One of the best of the year so far. My review.
Dunkirk (2017; d. Christopher Nolan)
Overwhelming. Saw it in IMAX 70 mm so I can’t compare to others’ experiences but seeing it that way made the dogfight sequences particularly vivid. Vertigo. Old-fashioned everyday heroism, the story of Dunkirk, Dunkirk which resulted in one of the most famous speeches of the 20th century.
Ingrid Goes West (2017; d. Matt Spicer)
Adored it. My review.
Jailhouse Rock (1957; d. Richard Thorpe)
It was an Elvis-heavy month because I was working on the essay for Film Comment. Always a fun thing.
Spinout (1966; d. Norman Taurog)
If you have not seen this nutso Elvis movie, all I can say is: Do yourself a favor … If you want to see the absurdity of the Elvis Formula, operating at peak Mode – Spinout is a great example. Especially the last scene, where – one by one – he kisses each bride – standing there with her groom-to-be – three women in all – and the grooms of course do not protest because it’s ELVIS kissing their women, for ELVIS normal rules of jealousy do not apply … and it ends with him looking right at the camera saying, “I’m still single.” My GOD it’s glorious lunacy.
Viva Las Vegas (1964; d. George Sidney)
Fantastic movie. Pure pleasure.
Live a Little Love a Little (1968; d. Norman Taurog)
In my Elvis piece, I made a strong case for this forgotten film. Years ago, I wrote a whole essay about it.
The Sopranos Season 6 (2006-2007)
Cut to black. I finished up my Sopranos re-watch. God, I had forgotten how depressing it was to watch Meadow and AJ subtly get pulled back into the family system. Meadow devoting herself to the bullshit “oppression” that “her people” apparently face, and AJ being given a job with a porn-director’s bullshit mob-run company. It’s brutal. Those kids cannot be allowed to get away.
Lemon (2017; d. Janicza Bravo)
The film wore on my nerves. My review.
This Gun for Hire (1942; d. Frank Tuttle)
A favorite.
Twin Peaks, episode 13 (2017; d. David Lynch)
Oh, Big Ed!
Icarus (2017; d. Bryan Fogel)
This documentary was streaming on Netflix and I highly recommend it. Russian doping scandal.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962; d. David Lean)
My nephew Cashel and I went to see it at the Museum of the Moving Image. 70 mm. Overwhelming. If you’ve only seen this on your television at home, then you haven’t really seen it. I only saw it “large” when it was re-released theatrically in 2012 for its anniversary. I had seen it many times before then, and had loved it, enjoyed it, etc. But seeing it on a huge screen was an entirely different experience. I texted Cashel, asking if he wanted to come. His response? “Always up for Larry.” Me too.
Ball of Fire (1941; d. Howard Hawks)
A favorite.
Twin Peaks, episode 14 (2017; d. David Lynch)
Monica Bellucci dream. Because of course.
Polina (2016; d. Valérie Müller, Angelin Preljocaj)
Lots of amazing dance scenes. My review.
Beach Rats (2017; d. Eliza Hittman)
Hittman’s second feature. I love her work. My review. This past Sunday, I did a QA with Hittman following a screening of Beach Rats at Lincoln Center. It was great talking with her about her process.
Daisy Kenyon (1947; d. Otto Preminger)
God, I love this movie. It’s a movie for grown-ups. One of Crawford’s best. One of Dana Andrews’ best. One of Henry Fonda’s best. I wrote about it almost 10 years ago for Slant.
42nd Street (1933; d. Lloyd Bacon)
Pre-Code musicals – like 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade – helped form me. I saw them on afternoon TV, fizzy black-and-white images, when I was 8, 9, 10. It was a whole world of Show Biz that called to me. When I was 12, 13, I wrote a whole NOVEL about a troupe of teenage chorus girls, informed by all these movies. The movies still work their magic.
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939; d. William Dieterle)
Charles Laughton’s performance is one of the greatest performances in cinema.
The Dark Mirror (1946; d. Robert Siodmak)
What a fun movie. Olivia de Havilland plays twins, one bad, one good. ONE of them has murdered somebody. It is up to homicide detective Thomas Mitchell to untangle it. De Havilland is brilliant in this. You can totally tell which twin is speaking, because she has made such specific choices about the INNER lives of each woman. She’s not stalking about “showing off” her range. It’s more subtle than that.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939; d. Frank Capra)
Well, I’ve been working on a big project. Insightful people will figure out the connecting thread but I will not confirm or deny. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this. It’s extremely upsetting to watch this right now. The big thing that Mr. Smith goes up against, is graft, and using political office to line your pockets. It’s such an enormous accusation that an entire career is at stake. It’s devastating to watch this now, in a time when people are defending the indefensible.
Moontide (1942; d. Archie Mayo – Fritz Lang, uncredited)
I love this movie so much. I’ve seen it a couple of times. It’s rare the movie that makes you want to live in a one-roomed barge stinking of fish, but Moontide does it.
Twin Peaks, episode 15 (2017; d. David Lynch)
There were a couple of pure heart explosions in this episode. I was a wreck.
High Barbaree (1947; d. Jack Conway)
Van Johnson is so attractive. One of the issues with this movie is that the belief in coincidences and signs is so strong that it obliterates tension. If everyone goes around having “feelings” about things, that then come true … then where is the tension? There’s also something humorous about Van Johnson telling his fellow downed pilot his whole life story as they lie there floating in the middle of the Pacific. If I were that guy I’d be like, “Dude, have you ever thought I might have something to say? You have been talking for THREE HOURS now.” No, I’m just kidding. It’s a sweet movie.
The Lost Horizon (1937; d. Frank Capra)
This movie is NUTS.
The Lost City of Z (2017; d. James Gray)
I finally settled myself down for the 3-hour running time. It was worth it. I was not as over the moon about The Immigrant as so many other critics were. My favorite of Gray’s thus far was Two Lovers. He kicks it up a notch in Lost City of Z, a movie so bold and audacious – and uncompromising – that I almost can’t believe it exists in its present form. You should definitely see it.
A Boy Called Po (2016; d. John Asher)
Reviewed for Ebert.
It Felt Like Love (2013; d. Eliza Hittman)
Watched in preparation for my QA with the director at Lincoln Center. This is her first film. See it, if you haven’t.
Twin Peaks, episode 16 (2017; d. David Lynch)
How can this already be almost over? I have RELIED on this to help me through the current administration. What am I supposed to do now?
The Apartment (1960; d. Billy Wilder)
A brutal masterpiece. Still stunning. Breath-taking.
Death of a Scoundrel (1956; d. Charles Martin)
George Sanders at his amoral best.
Logan Lucky (2017; d. Steven Soderbergh)
I do not understand why regular audiences are not going to see this. Maybe because people don’t go to the movie theatre anymore? Hopefully once it moves to VOD platforms, it will find its audience because it deserves it. I am always up for a good old-fashioned heist movie. With Channing Tatum and Adam Driver as brothers? YES PLEASE. It’s so good! See it!
Only Angels Have Wings (1939; d. Howard Hawks)
Watched last night. Titles shift about in my “Top 5 Movies Ever Made” list, but this one always has a spot.
I just saw THE LOST CITY OF Z. Not going to lie my boyfriend, Robert Pattinson was a MAJOR reason (and he did not disappoint).
I loved, loved, loved the movie. I can’t stop thinking about it and I can’t wait to watch it again. It was a nearly perfect cinematic experience. An old-fashioned adventure film, but with.. I don’t know.. sensitivity? Just adored it. And easily my favourite James Gray film.
Nicola – I’m so glad to hear you loved it (three Loves in a row!!!) . I can’t stop thinking about it either. I got lost in the dream of it – how many times he went back – how you never really know what Z represents to him … that glorious moment before the rushing river comes when he sees the cluster of sculpted heads in the stone?? I GASPED.
I was devastated by the ending – especially since his son had come along. But of course that’s the only way it could have gone for someone like him.
It reminded me slightly of Evelyn Waugh’s Handful of Dust and the fate of poor Tony Last – although Tony Last is not in any way an explorer. He sits in the jungle bemoaning his fate, reading Dickens, and trying to pretend he’s back in the loving arms of empire. :) .
But Z did exist in that tradition of British exploration – because of the reach of the empire, and because of colonization (how about that opera company in the middle of the jungle??) … and the idea that finding an ancient sophisticated civilization in a place that the empire considers barbaric – or just a cash cow b/c of bananas or rubber or whatever else … that his discovery of artifacts threatens the entire establishment.
Extraordinary.
I get the sense that James Gray made exactly the film he wanted to make, don’t you? I can’t see where he was made to compromise.
Oh and I agree – Pattinson was just extraordinary.
// (how about that opera company in the middle of the jungle??)//
I loved that. It was so bizarre that for a moment I thought it was like a dream sequence or hallucination or something. And when he came back years later with his son and he said how he wished he could have seen it. His nostalgia, you never got the sense that he felt that same type of homesick/nostalgia for his actual home, for England. I love watching that type of singular passion play out.
And how ANGRY those members of the RGS were at the insinuation that there might be something more than “barbarians” out there. Anger?! How is that the response? Amazing.
I loved everything about it. So glad I managed to see it before it went off the circuit.
Nicola – yeah, their anger was fascinating. Their entire world-view, their view of themselves as the best civilization, their view of the “savages” as “savage” … an entire empire was based on the idea of being superior to others. and here’s this guy throwing doubt on that.
I’d like to read a book about the real guy. I wonder what happened to him for real!
Curious if you’ve written anywhere about Two Lovers….I’m a huge fan of Paltrow and J. Phoenix and I kept thinking I should like the movie better than I did. Been hesitant to revisit it but a good think piece (by you or anyone else) might get me in the mood!
Love that 42nd Street GIF. The Queens of the Side Eye!
NJ – I haven’t written on Two Lovers extensively – I just loved its Brighton Beach atmospherics, its eccentricity, how it dealt with mental illness … I loved how Paltrow was sort of cast opposite her normal kind of role, and I thought she was wonderful. I loved the “slice of life” feeling.
James Gray is not a particularly friendly film-maker. Ha. He is meticulous and very sensitive to environment – all of his films take place in very specific environments and times … I think he’s as much interested in that as anything.
and yes – those snazzy cynical chorus girls. I wanted to BE those chorus girls when I was a kid.
Oh, God, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I imagine that would be upsetting to watch right now.
//How can this already be almost over? I have RELIED on this to help me through the current administration. What am I supposed to do now?//
I KNOW. I am simultaneously dying for Sunday night to get here and dreading reaching the end.
When does the new season of The X-Files start?
Natalie – Mr. Smith was devastating. I was like, “Oh my God, we have let everyone down.”
I’m not sure about X-Files. I’ll check with Keith – I’m sure he’ll be re-capping. That’ll be fun!
But what else do we have??
Saw Baby Driver again in the theater last night. My favorite new release in years.
Have you seen Logan Lucky yet?
Are you a Soderbergh fan? I can’t remember. I’m going again tonight!
Not yet.
Love Soderbergh! The Informant! is brilliant. Love Damon in that. Side Effects, Magic Mike, Contagion all good. The Limey so overlooked. Traffic amazing. Out of Sight my favorite George Clooney.
Other than the consistently excellent quality of his films, it’s hard to pin down his “thing” since these are such different films in a variety of genres. Seems able to shape his style to fit the material, like a good sports coach.
Todd – Love the analogy of a sports coach!
it’s so funny, a friend was visiting and she wanted to see it, so I went to see it again. The first time I saw it it was like an 11 a.m. show and I was the only one in the theatre.
When I saw it with her it was a 7:30 pm show on a Friday night and it was packed.
The film plays like a bat out of hell for an audience. It was so great – there’s a laugh (multiple laughs) every scene.
It’s a heist movie. No pretensions at being anything else. I really enjoyed it.
AND it’s even funner to see it twice, since the whole “sting” of it is withheld from the audience. Seeing it the second time, you pick up on so much more!
Plus … Elvis’ granddaughter. :)
I’m sold, I will try to get to it on the big screen.
The Sopranos is still my favorite show of all time. What writing and acting. My favorite sequence is probably the head-fake escape/murder of Adrianna, which so expertly did what the show did best, toying with expectations and emotions.
The ending bothered me for a while, until I read this, which may be the single best piece of film or TV criticism I have ever read. I’m now convinced Tony was killed at the end.
https://masterofsopranos.wordpress.com/the-sopranos-definitive-explanation-of-the-end/
Todd – sadly, I very much dislike that piece, which is very well-known in critic circles. For me, it encapsulates much that I dislike about fan culture, and how fan culture bleeds into commentary now – there is a discomfort with ambiguity as well as a need to be RIGHT. This person wanted to be RIGHT. He could not sit with the ambiguity of that ending – that no matter how many ways you slice it – you can’t KNOW.
Fine, I get it, it’s fun. I just dislike his attitude towards art – that any mystery is a PROBLEM to be SOLVED.
I’ve written about the Sopranos pilot before and how I think it’s one of the best pilots (maybe the best) in TV history. and in that pilot, with the ducks, Chase declares his intentions. Whatever is really happening will ALWAYS be between the lines.
That writer makes some good points – nothing anybody with eyes in their head couldn’t see for themselves.
What I disagree with is his tone, and his idea that it MUST be this way, it MUST be this way, and that art is a little puzzle-piece to put together and you get a gold-star. I blame Christopher Nolan for this kind of thinking.
Sarah Bunting has mockingly referred to that piece as “the notorious Rosetta Stone” … and I’m sorry to go so hard on it since you clearly like it! Hopefully I’m not like the guy in the piece who needs so much to be right that you’re not allowed to have YOUR opinion too. :)
If something had “happened” definitively – in that last scene – then it wouldn’t have half the impact that it did. I’d argue that even the reputation of the whole show would have suffered. It would have been too concrete. It would have come down too strongly on this or that side – when this was a show about the glitchy-twitchy queasy movement BETWEEN two sides.
Think how glorious: we all have spent so much time filling in the blanks, wondering about that scene, trying to piece it together, watching it again.
I found that scene very depressing in this last viewing – because – as I said I was so aware this last re-watch of just how much Tony and Carmela (Carmela, particularly) could not let those kids go. Meadow’s now dating a nice Italian lawyer, and she’s now all puffed up on victimization and a sense of outrage/justice – which just loops her back into her monstrous family … and AJ’s doing a bullshit job for a mob porn-magnate. It’s so sad! BUT – even sadder – nobody at that TABLE thinks it’s sad.
It was so great!!
Like I said, the guy makes some good observations. It’s his “this IS what happened” tone I find off-putting. Plus the length. Plus the pre-school lecture on POV shots. Sorry. :(
Todd – are you aware of the fact that Matt Seitz and Alan Sepinwall are working on a book about The Sopranos?
I can’t wait!
Sheila,
I notice you don’t actually address the ACTUAL TEXT of that famous website and instead make juvenile complaints against it.
I then notice you reference Sepinwall and Matt Seitz and that is a dead give away that you reference these insecure bloggers who just cannot take that their original interpretations of the ending was wrong. Even Ross Douthat at the NY Times criticized Seitz for his narrow minded viewpoint on the ending while praising the Master of Sopranos site.
Michiko Kakutani tweeted about the site TWICE. It’s been praised by Atlantic and the New Yorker. Even David Chase himself praised the site in a Brazilian interview a few years ago.
But hey, “Sarah Bunting” doesn’t like it-whoever the hell that is! Perhaps you’re a little jealous of such an in depth analysis. At least you’ll enjoy that Sepinwall/Seitz Sopranos book.
Sorry :)
I was not, but man that will be good. I really like Sepinwall’s stuff, plus he’s one of the few critics who saw The Leftovers! (That fucking show. I cannot. stop. thinking. about. it.)
Have we discussed The Leftovers? I think I told you that I only saw the pilot – I know, I know, I am always so behind – and absolutely loved it.
Maybe that will be my next binge-watch!
There was a big kind of crazy interview Matt Seitz did with the creator – not sure if you read it? It’s very interesting.
I have mentioned to you how much I love it. It’s up there for me with The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men.
You will love the acting. But the whole show is mesmerizing. Stick with it, there is a little rough patch season 1 but it gets better as it goes, and Season 2 might be the best season of TV ever. But the whole show in totality is just great. The show is so bold in it’s storytelling, it makes the above great shows I mentioned seem like they weren’t taking enough chances, and it makes everything else I watch on TV now seem juvenile to some degree. I freaking love it.
and Leftovers is done now, right?
Yes it’s done. 3 Seasons and out, at the creators request.
Season 1 was based on the book pretty closely from what I understand. (I never read it), and ends where the book ended.
Seasons 2 and 3 freed them up from that constraint, and, just, WOW.
Also Carrie Coon and Justin Theroux give, in my mind anyway, iconic performances throughout. And Kevin Carroll and Regina King both deserved multiple awards for their season 2 work.
I try not to over hype stuff, it can lead to trouble, but I feel very confident on this one.
I love all of the actors so much. Like I said, the pilot really gripped me. Just from that I got that the seems to reside in a particular sweet spot of mine: strange futuristic situations, plus cult-like groups, etc.
Yeah it has all that and then some.
And I need to go on about the cast : Amy Brenneman, Christopher Eccleston, Liv Tyler, Ann Dowd, Margarett Qualley (from The Nice Guys), Scott Glenn, Amanda Warren, Janel Maloney, Paterson Joseph.
All amazing -It’s a ridiculous embarrassment of riches.
Did you finish Rob Lowe?
Yes! I read it in a day at the beach. It was fantastic.
Yay! That was a no-brainer. Lowe has had some life.
I was particularly taken with his description of basically growing up unmonitored and wild in Malibu – the “lost boys of Malibu” etc. One of my best friends grew up in Malibu at the same time, knew all those people, and has told amazing stories about just how wild they all were. Post-hippie parents, into New Age stuff and EST, basically letting their children roam free. Wonderful stuff, but also many casualties. Too much freedom.
I thought he nailed it.
Yup. That cool kid that drowned. Whole thing was oddly touching, it’s like he had to teach himself how to be an adult.
How about watching an after school special with Cary Grant and Cary Grant’s daughter? That starred himself? How many people have done that?
So bizarre! and the moment with Belushi: “Stay out of the clubs.”
Ouch.
I love how happy his marriage seems to be. How grateful he is for it. He grew up super fast but then found this amazing non-famous woman.
I’m happy for him too. And if I had to have some degenerate years, spending them with Demi Moore, Nastassja Kinski, and Princess Stephanie sounds tolerable! But he’s so self aware it makes him very likable.
Yes, he’s very honest. and also so funny!! Which is not a surprise – you can tell he has a sense of humor in his acting.
There’s one sentence where he was set up on a date for publicity purposes – he’s like 17, 18 – he was already dating a local girl from Malibu – he said something like “I took my girlfriend on this date. Because I am an idiot.”
That is a really long piece with updates and footnotes, but this is the intro to the main analysis:
I. THE FINAL SCENE IN HOLSTEN’S IN “MADE IN AMERICA”:
Mr. Chase structures the final scene so that a significant portion of it is shown through Tony’s “Point of View” (POV). Chase uses this technique so that the viewer can experience Tony being murdered. Here is a basic definition (from Wikipedia) of a “Point of View” shot:
“A point of view shot (also known as POV shot or a subjective camera) is a short film scene that shows what a character (the subject) is looking at (represented through the camera). It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character’s reaction (see shot reverse shot)”
More importantly, Chase uses the ringing of the bell of the door of Holsten’s to signal to the viewer when he will be using the traditional point of view shot discussed above (character looking at something/cut to a shot of what the character is looking at from the character’s POV/cut back to a shot of the character, usually for the reaction). This is repeated five times in the final scene to create a “pattern” that logically concludes that the last “shot” of the series (10 seconds of black and silence) is from Tony’s POV. The implication being that Tony sees “blackness” and “nothingness”. Tony is dead. So how exactly does Chase do it?
What is more interesting to ME, Todd – is what bothered you about the ending.
How did you think about it? What did you THINK would happen and … what do YOU think happened?
In my opinion, Tony gets shot by that guy who goes into the bathroom.
It feels like a done deal.
But again, there’s that black screen. I can’t know for sure.
But it is fun to speculate.
I admit I felt cheated at first. I understand not every story provides closure, but this show had so much craft, and was so definitively about “The Sopranos”, that I wanted and expected to see the story end in a more traditional fashion.
I think expectations are a part of it. I love 2001: A Space Odyssey, a movie clearly better for it’s mysteries. I also usually love puzzle movies like Donnie Darko or Mulholland Drive or Memento. I’m PREPARED to be fucked with on a storytelling level in those cases.
But not for The Sopranos. So when I came across this piece, I felt like I frankly had found the Rosetta Stone. I won’t go point by point. but all the arguments made sense to me, and I’m convinced that David Chase, while he may never admit it outright, had Tony get shot at the end.
I find it funny that you agree with the conclusion, even though you don’t like the piece! The attitude may be off-putting, and calling anything you write the “definitive” anything is asking for trouble. But in terms of pure analysis I think it’s spot on. If someone disagrees or has a more compelling argument I’d love to hear it.
I think Chase knew exactly what he was doing, giving just enough clues to allow the astute viewer to crack the code.
I also admit I could be completely wrong. As you say it’s fun to speculate!
// I think Chase knew exactly what he was doing, giving just enough clues to allow the astute viewer to crack the code. //
I so agree with this.
and like I said – in my last re-watch, it just seemed so OBVIOUS to me that Tony was gonna get wacked. The guy in the members only jacket heading to the bathroom …
It’s such a BRILLIANT sequence. The song. The banal conversation about onion rings. Meadow parallel parking. Tony looking up every time the bell rings.
Just masterful.
ALSO that this was not a restaurant we had seen before. Normally they eat at Artie’s. But suddenly in the finale they’re eating at this whole different unfamiliar place … with jukeboxes at the table, and that mural …
The whole thing is so unsettling.
Considering the history of Tony Soprano – and how even with all the work he’s done … he can’t really “get it” … he can’t change … plus how he and Carmela subtly yet so obviously bring their children back into the fold … it seems that no WAY could Tony “make it” to old age. It seems like it’s a done deal that something is coming for him.
I once read “if Peter O’Toole was just a bit prettier, the film should have been called Florence of Arabia”. I don’t know if I read that on this blog or not, but how true it is. The film is one of those unforgetable masterpieces: the script, the slow camels coming from afar, the deep friendship, the then broken friendship, you don’t need any woman in the film for the “romantic” part. I saw it on a cinema screen, and it’s a moving experience. There should be a moratorioum on seeing the film on TV.
I haven’t seen all the films you listed here (or many) but I can relate to Mr. Smith goes to Washington (thrilling, espcially now), 42nd Street (how modern and down to earth those girls look, besides, it has Joan Blondell), Dunkirk (wonderful, I just missed the killed horses from Atonement and it bothered me those big coats while it was summer on the beach), and Viva Las Vegas (yes, pure fun).
I hope your plans and projects will materialize in the best way.
// “if Peter O’Toole was just a bit prettier, the film should have been called Florence of Arabia” //
HA!! It’s so true.
I wanted to leave a comment on your post earlier in August for Joan Blondell’s birthday but the comments are locked. So I will leave it here. Regarding Busby Berkeley (which you probably already know), he was a lieutenant in the Field Artillery in the Great War, which may have impacted not only his precision choreography but also his feeling about the lost forgotten men, the veterans. Just a bit of trivia!
Thanks for letting me know that Blondell piece was locked – I don’t know how that happened!
// which may have impacted not only his precision choreography but also his feeling about the lost forgotten men, the veterans. //
I did know this and his personal feelings on this topic are SO evident in that number, don’t you think? Men as cannon fodder. Homeless men who were heroes like yesterday. It’s such an ANGRY number. I really can’t think of an equivalent – in his career or in anyone else’s.
Thanks for tracking down a place where you could comment! :)
Todd – if you come back here:
I’ve watched the first 3 episodes of The Leftovers and I’m hooked!
I need to keep a running list of things you’ve recommended to me that I then went on to LOVE. :)
The Baader-Meinhoff Complex
Yay! It just keeps getting better! I am still obsessed with it months after it ended.
My recs that I remember:
Z
13 Conversations
Rob Lowe book!
I’ll try to think of others.