Apparently the much-hyped Blade Runner Director’s Cut of the 90’s was no such thing. James Christopher at the Times Online (link thanks to Blogenheimer) wonders whether we needed a third version of Blade Runner, this one actually edited by Ridley Scott.
#61 in my 2007 movie challenge was Hairspray, the movie musical. This is one of those movies that exemplifies how the “Oh, I don’t like so and so” reason for skipping a movie can result in a real loss. The director, Adam Shankman, has worked on some terrible films. I don’t like Johh Travolta, and the thought of him donning a fat suit and playing a woman was a significant deterrent to my seeing this movie. Imagine my surprise, then, when I liked both the movie and his performance, which was a touching portrait of a shy woman who became a recluse after she became severely overweight. Her daughter Tracy, played radiantly by Nikki Blonsky, draws her out of her shell, and both go on to a happy ending that isn’t marred by contrived weight loss. Christopher Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer were also great, and looked like they had a great time. This movie was a lot of fun. The songs were catchy, the dance numbers well choreographed, and the characters engaging.
#60 in my 2007 movie challenge was West Side Story, a long-unwatched movie gathering dust on our Tivo hard drive. It’s understandable we’d put it off; it’s not often we have enough time and energy for a three-hour movie. We split it into two nights. WSS is a riff on Romeo and Juliet, set in 50’s America and substituting racial tension for the rival families of the original play. It’s a film that I’m glad to have seen for it’s importance to my film literacy, but it wasn’t one I enjoyed a great deal. I found Natalie Woods’s accent especially irritating. Some of the musical numbers were great, and it’s important to note that musical movies simply weren’t done that way prior to this film. I liked the opening number, Natalie Woods’s “I Feel Pretty”, and Rita Moreno’s “America”. These were early on, though, and most of the following ones were not as lively. The studio freaked out when the original director, Jerome Robbins, choreographer and director of the Broadway show, looked to go over budget. They fired him after he’d completed four numbers (”Cool” in addition to the above mentioned three), and hired Robert Wise to complete the film. Both directors eventually shared the Best Picture Oscar. The result is a dated musical that occasionally sparkles with the possibility of what might have been.
#59 in my 2007 movie challenge was Superbad. I thought it was pretty good. Funny, raunchy, and real, if you’re a teen boy, that is. The female characters, though, were two dimensional and hardly complicated enough to compete with the three protagonists. There was a drunk, horny, intimidating one. There was a nice, sober, intimidatingly pretty one. There was a drunk, sexy, scarily menstruating one. One had a large chest. And one wore a thong.
As a thinking woman, I feel I should have disliked this movie. Instead, I found the boys geekily charming, especially Michael Cera and newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse. I only wish the creators had gone the extra mile to make the objects of their affections more realistic.
#58 in my 2007 movie challenge was Stardust, the film adaptation of the beautiful graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. It was a box-office disappointment, but I enjoyed it a lot. Michelle Pfeiffer almost stole the movie with her chilling turn as an aging witch. There were so many other gems, though, like Robert DeNiro’s pirate and the ghostly gallery of dead princes. It was cheeky, bawdy, and reminiscent of The Princess Bride. I thought it was a lot of fun.
#57 in my 2007 movie challenge was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The new director, David Yates, had the unenviable task of adapting the longest, most rambling of the Potter books. Amazingly, the result was the shortest of the movies. Like most of them, it was good but not great. It cut out one of the book’s most satifying subplots, about Neville. The young actors continue to get better, and Helena Bonham Carter was well cast as the villainess–sexy, crazy, and truly cruel. Apparently, she got a little too method in the filming, and punctured “Neville’s” eardrum with her wand. Imelda Staunton did a tremendous job as the evil Dolores Umbridge, aided immeasurably by a great wardrobe and wonderful set decorations.
#55 in my 2007 movie challenge was Paul Greengrass’s Bourne Supremacy. More murder, more mayhem, another great car chase, and that famous scene with a magazine. The second frenetic installment of the trilogy continues the tradition of a fast-paced thriller that doesn’t require you to check your brain at the door. I enjoyed it at least as much as I did the Bourne Identity, and more than I did the first time I watched it. I was glad to have re-watched it before seeing The Bourne Ultimatum. But will someone please feed Joan Allen?
#54 in my 2007 movie challenge was The Bourne Identity, the first in the Bourne trilogy. It was directed by Doug Liman, who also did Swingers and Go. Apparently, he angered the studio by going over schedule and over budget because he insisted on going back to film a new car-chase sequence. I think that car-chase scene helped make the movie successful enough to ensure a sequel, but Liman was removed as director, and Paul Greengrass, known for Bloody Sunday and later for United 93, was brought in.
Matt Damon, a native of South Boston, is surprisingly effective as Jason Bourne, an amnesiac trying to find out who he is, and why everyone is trying to kill him. He asks Franka Potente for a ride, and the film explodes in almost non-stop action from there. Bourne is a trained killer, and incredibly resourceful. The supporting cast is impressive, too. Potente brings a human touch to Bourne’s tough guy, and effectively gives the audience someone to relate to. She’s joined by Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Julia Stiles, and Clive Owen. This is a smart, effective action movie that was well worth seeing again.
I called my husband G. Grod in last night during the Daily Show to watch the Iron Man trailer with me. It was stunning. I was enthralled. Until I saw the date: May 2008. And then I was pissed.
#53 in my 2007 movie challenge was Patricia Rozema’s film, Mansfield Park. It’s a very good film, though it’s not a faithful adaptation of Austen’s book. The character of Fanny is a complete departure, and is instead invested with the historical personality traits of Austen. Henry Crawford is described in the book as plain but charismatic. In the movie he is played by Alessandro Nivola, who is far from plain, but readily conveys the character’s allure.
There were a few things I took issue with, since the book was fresh in my mind, such as the non-complex villainy of her uncle, exemplified by the slave subplot. I greatly missed the tension of the subplot of Maria’s marriage to Rushworth, which I found greatly minimized in the film.
I found more to admire, though. The re-imagining of Fanny’s personality makes sense, as so many readers dislike that character as written. Jonny Lee Miller made a fine Edmund, and Embeth Davidtz a frighteningly effective Miss Crawford, especially in the closing scenes. The tension of whether Fanny will finally admit Henry to her affections is even more heightened than in the book, and is conveyed through a wonderful sequence of scenes. I thought it was a clever and effective bit of casting to have the same actress play Fanny’s mother and her aunt.
I enjoyed the book; I enjoyed the movie. While MP doesn’t exactly follow the book, it is a well-done film. Recommended.
Depending on how Guppy naps this afternoon, I’m going to try and catch up on movie reviews; I’ve fallen woefully behind.
While I’m failing on my “watch stuff I own or have stored on Tivo” resolve, I am watching about two movies a week. Part of me feels bad that I’m giving short shrift to reading. Another part is pleased that I’m making time for something I love, thus proving that it’s possible to have small kids and see movies both at home and out. With every film I watch, I become a better viewer. I love this learning process.
(Will I manage to get to see Wild Strawberries at the Oak Street tonight? I have my doubts, but I’m going to try.)
#39 in my 2007 book challenge was Raymond Chandler’s Long Goodbye. I’ve meant to read Chandler for a long time, and it’s the kind of book that slaps me upside the head as I read it for taking my time to get to it.
What is there to say about private detective Philip Marlowe that hasn’t been said before? He’s ethical, lonely, jaded, and yet a romantic. He doggedly pursues a friend’s case even after gangsters and a billionaire warn him to stop. He tries to help a Hemingway-esque writer (whose novels sound more like Michener’s) stay away from the bottle. In each case, he’s a man on a mission, and Chandler’s cutting prose paints him in shades of noir:
I drove back to Hollywood feeling like a short length of chewed string. It was too early to eat and too hot. I turned on the fan in my office. It didn’t make the air any cooler, just a little more lively. Outside on the boulevard the traffic brawled endlessly. Inside my head thought stuck together like flies on flypaper.
The “b” in “brawled” could be a typo; I found a few in my upscale Vintage Crime trade paperback. I find that irritating in a $13.95 edition. Nonetheless, this is a great story and one I’ve taken too long to get to. I look forward to re-watching the Altman film, and reading more of Chandler and Marlowe.
#38 in my 2007 book challenge is Hope Larson’s slim and lovely graphic novel Gray Horses.
Noemie is a French exchange student, on her own for the first time. In Onion City she befriends free-spirited Anna, a baker’s daugher who scultps in bread, and finds herself the target of a mysterious photographer–but it’s not until she falls asleep that things really get weird.
Larson’s art is beautiful and accessible, and the choice of two-tone color emphasizes it well. The story is both realistic and dreamy. All passages in French are translated, so this is a good book for beginning students of French. This book charmingly bucks the YA conventions of geeky boys and group acceptance. It’s evocative in both art and story. There is much for a reader to savor here. Recommended.
#37 in my 2007 book challenge was The Professor’s Daughter, story by Joann Sfar, illustrated by Emmanuel Guibert. It is a translation of a European graphic novel, and is published in the US by First Second. This is a beautiful and funny book, which I found surprisingly delightful after recently reading several disappointing graphic novels.
A mummy and a professor’s daughter forge an unlikely romance. There is murder, mystery, and general mayhem. The watercolor art is lovely; the characters and story are engaging. The slim book itself is a lovely edition with heavy paper and a gatefold cover. Highly recommended.
#36 in my 2007 book challenge was Clubbing, written by Andi Watson with wart by Josh Howard. It’s from the DC Comics Minx line of graphic novels. I’ve really enjoyed some of Andi Watson’s work, like Geisha and Slow News Day. Clubbing was a huge disappointment.
London goth girl Charlotte “Lottie” Brooks is exiled to the country with her grandparents after being caught with a fake ID. There is the standard geeky cute boy that the heroine comes to appreciate over the course of the book. The story, though, takes a bizarre twist once Lottie arrives in the country, and ends up as a supernatural mystery. Had it been well done, I might have appreciated the subversion of expectations. Instead, it read like a Season 7 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Not a good thing.)
While the story might appeal to bubble-headed eleven-year olds, any charm was lost on me. Lottie was as self-absorbed, irritating, and foolish as a girl can get. Not recommended.
#35 in my 2007 book challenge was The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Even if I don’t end up seeing the December film, I like to read books around when the movie comes out because of the increased coverage of the book in the press.
The Golden Compass is a sweeping adventure book, mixing fantasy, science, and religion. All humans have daemons, animal-like creatures that shift shape until their partner hits adolescence. A friend of young orphan Lyra Belacqua’s is kidnapped, and she decides to rescue him. Danger and adventure ensue.
GC has a great pace, and some very big ideas, but the characters don’t achieve three dimensions. Most of the adults are evil, all of the kids are good, and Lyra becomes increasingly unrealistic as a kid over the course of her adventures. She’s far too competent in a crisis, of which there are many. Some of her lack of complexity is explained away as a lack of imagination. This is another example for my catalog of fictional lunkheaded saviors, but it doesn’t make her more believable as a kid. Nonetheless, the story swept me along, the ideas intrigued me, and the story had closure and a compelling cliffhanger for the next book.
I am interested to see what the holistic experience of Pullman’s trilogy will be.
#34 in my 2007 book challenge was Lionel Shriver’s The Post-Birthday World, which I’ve written about previously here. The premise is that a woman’s life branches after a major decision, and the chapters alternate between the two lives, rather like the movie Sliding Doors, though that was about chance, and not nearly so literate.
Shriver ruthlessly questions the all-too-common assumption we make when we take a fork in the road and things don’t go as planned. The other fork looks great in retrospect. She carefully crafts her narrative to show that there’s good and bad in all choices. In the end, I thought she favored one choice over the other, but I didn’t think this was a bad thing.
Embarrassingly, this book caused me to develop an accidental crush on Anthony Bourdain, an author and TV food personality I previously didn’t care for. Bourdain’s look so matches the physical description of Ramsey in TPBW, though, that my literary crush on the character of Ramsey (for all his faults) segued into a crush on Bourdain. Oops.
#33 in my 2007 book challenge was After Dark, by Haruki Murakami, the first book I’ve read by this author.
any single human being, no matter what kind of a person he or she may be, is all caught up in the tentacles of this animal like a giant octopus, and is getting sucked into the darkness. You can put any kind of spin on it you like, but you end up with the same unbearable spectacle.
The book is the giant octopus, and the reader is sucked in.
We know. But we are not qualified to become involved., …We look down…from above….Gradually, as point of view, we begin to draw back. We break through the ceiling, moving steadily up and away….The higher we climb, the smaller grows our image….until it is just a single point, and then it is gone. We increase our speed, moving backward through the stratosphere. The earth shrinks until it, too, finally disappears. Our point of view draws back through the vacuum of nothingness. The movement is beyond our control.
Murakami toys with point of view and perspective in brave and exhilarating ways.
No one answers our questions. Our question marks are sucked, unresisting, into the final darkness and uncompromising silence of the night.
The author honors his readers by not explaining every little thing. The images, characters and ideas in this book linger; my brain continues to puzzle over them.
#32 in my 2007 book challenge was Faith Sullivan’s Cape Ann. I’ve taken a few seminars with Sullivan through the Loft. She is both a kind and constructive reader, so I wanted to check out her books. The Cape Ann is narrated by young Lark Ann Erhardt, and set in a depression-era small town in Minnesota. The details are carefully crafted, and the narrative unfolds precisely but not predictably. Lark and her mother are engaging characters, easy to love and empathize with, though there are some heartbreaking things that transpire. Lark’s voice is at times too knowing for a six-year old, but the overall effect is winning.
#31 in my 2007 book challenge was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I wrote about here, here, here, here, and here.
In short, I really enjoyed it. It digressed and dragged in the middle, but I found both the ending and the epilogue satisfying. I also enjoyed reading many of the interviews with J. K. Rowling, to learn the answers to questions I had, and ones that hadn’t occurred to me.