Showing posts with label Drive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drive. Show all posts
Mar 5, 2013
Jun 4, 2012
We were mighty pressed for time,
Encountered two traffic slow-downs, had to navigate parking in what might be the world's largest garage, figure out automated ticket buying, settle for pre-made popcorn, find a bathroom, and find the theater in the airport terminal known as the Metreon in The City.
(What is up with the Metreon? It was Renee and I's first visit there, and both of us never want to go back. Very strange; teenagers canoodling on tables, Prom kids -- looking very lovely -- swanning through the mob and holding court, graybeards playing pinball, indie kids posing with paperbacks, the expected Avengers crew in an Avenger length queue. Honestly, this type of melange of humanity would normally please me to no end. Perhaps, because we were in a hurry? Was it the popcorn problem? We shook our heads disgustedly on the way out. Never again.)
But we made it on time, despite our adventures. (I was off at four. The film played at ten past five.) And there is nothing more sexy on a movie date than arriving just as the film begins.
And what of Moonrise Kingdom? Well, I am not sure if I am in a state worthy of speaking of the film in a critical manner. But, I will try my best. I have not felt this dreamy, this elated, this dazed upon leaving a movie theater in I do not know how long. The film had such a personal connection to me that I felt as if I had watched it alone, as if my Wife were nowhere near me, that the rest of the house had never existed.
Wes Anderson's style has not changed. It is the same as all his other films: inset shots, the same pastel pallet, an extra massive plot point precisely halfway through the film, the excruciating attention to detail, the composed shots, the triumphant anti-authoritarian slow motion sequence, the quick pans and tilts, the dollhouse half sets, and on and on, ...
But it is the love story in this film, a love story of two twelve year old children, both with considerable baggage in addition to what they carry when they run away together, that elevates this particular Anderson film to greatness, and that means Moonrise Kingdom can sit comfortably on the shelf next to Anderson's other two masterpieces, Bottle Rocket and Rushmore.
On the island of New Penzance -- an island with no paved roads; an island of sad, fucked-up misfit adults -- it takes two damaged children with the guts and passion and love necessary to create a history for themselves to save the grown-ups and their sad little corner of the world, to survive the flood and cultivate and produce a new golden fulsome harvest the next Autumn.
But in like all the best fairy tales and myths there will blood and shocks and hurts and pain. There will be some that will not be pleased with the violence in this film. I understand their point of view and I respect it. But, I think it is absolutely essential to the story being told here. Although not even remotely as violent as the film, Drive, I see Moonrise Kingdom and Drive as authentic heartfelt modern fairy tales. Drive is a modern Arthurian legend, and Moonrise Kingdom allegorizes the Old Testament's Great Flood and the "virtuous heroine" adventure stories that our lead female character, Suzy, likes to read. Both films would make a smashing double feature. (But which to show first?)
And, I do not think I have ever seen a finer, more poetic, more honest, touching love scene for children in the American cinema. It is something so difficult to do. And, I have only been completely convinced and swept off my feet with these type of love scenes when watching french films. The love scenes in Moonrise Kingdom reminded me of Eric Rohmer. Or Truffaut. So, naturellement, we will be listening to a Françoise Hardy record as these scenes play, infuriating Anderson's numerous vehement critics, crying out, "Clever clogs!" or "Precious!" Fine. But it is beautiful to me.
I am still in a daze thinking about this film. Just like it took me a few days to absorb and process Drive. Both films are supremely heavy on style, yet, both films are able to transcend style and touch your heart, move you. They are the work of two master film makers at the absolute top of their game, stunning achievements.
************
Random favorite moments from Moonrise Kingdom: the earrings; "Do the other one."; the opening sequence with a Child's Guide to the Orchestra playing; the battery operated record player; the kitten; the treehouse; the triumphant slow motion walk out of the chapel tent; the other scouts scene where they join forces w/ Sam and Suzy; "I love you, but you don't know what you're talking about."; Sam and Suzy's hilarious and poignant epistolary sequence; Suzy's expression when Sam asks, "No, what type of bird are you?"; the stellar yet awkward naive performances delivered by Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman as Suzy and Sam; the production of Noye's Fludde; the tennis ball can; Sam and Suzy's heads peeking out over the church steeple; Jason Schwartzmann; Tilda Swinton hanging up the phone; Françoise Hardy; that the adult characters are so deeply realized despite having hardly any dialogue, at all; and the film's position that children can save their parents. What a lovely idea that is.
All my Monday love,
Ardent
(What is up with the Metreon? It was Renee and I's first visit there, and both of us never want to go back. Very strange; teenagers canoodling on tables, Prom kids -- looking very lovely -- swanning through the mob and holding court, graybeards playing pinball, indie kids posing with paperbacks, the expected Avengers crew in an Avenger length queue. Honestly, this type of melange of humanity would normally please me to no end. Perhaps, because we were in a hurry? Was it the popcorn problem? We shook our heads disgustedly on the way out. Never again.)
But we made it on time, despite our adventures. (I was off at four. The film played at ten past five.) And there is nothing more sexy on a movie date than arriving just as the film begins.
 |
| Jared Gilman. |
And what of Moonrise Kingdom? Well, I am not sure if I am in a state worthy of speaking of the film in a critical manner. But, I will try my best. I have not felt this dreamy, this elated, this dazed upon leaving a movie theater in I do not know how long. The film had such a personal connection to me that I felt as if I had watched it alone, as if my Wife were nowhere near me, that the rest of the house had never existed.
Wes Anderson's style has not changed. It is the same as all his other films: inset shots, the same pastel pallet, an extra massive plot point precisely halfway through the film, the excruciating attention to detail, the composed shots, the triumphant anti-authoritarian slow motion sequence, the quick pans and tilts, the dollhouse half sets, and on and on, ...
But it is the love story in this film, a love story of two twelve year old children, both with considerable baggage in addition to what they carry when they run away together, that elevates this particular Anderson film to greatness, and that means Moonrise Kingdom can sit comfortably on the shelf next to Anderson's other two masterpieces, Bottle Rocket and Rushmore.
On the island of New Penzance -- an island with no paved roads; an island of sad, fucked-up misfit adults -- it takes two damaged children with the guts and passion and love necessary to create a history for themselves to save the grown-ups and their sad little corner of the world, to survive the flood and cultivate and produce a new golden fulsome harvest the next Autumn.
But in like all the best fairy tales and myths there will blood and shocks and hurts and pain. There will be some that will not be pleased with the violence in this film. I understand their point of view and I respect it. But, I think it is absolutely essential to the story being told here. Although not even remotely as violent as the film, Drive, I see Moonrise Kingdom and Drive as authentic heartfelt modern fairy tales. Drive is a modern Arthurian legend, and Moonrise Kingdom allegorizes the Old Testament's Great Flood and the "virtuous heroine" adventure stories that our lead female character, Suzy, likes to read. Both films would make a smashing double feature. (But which to show first?)
And, I do not think I have ever seen a finer, more poetic, more honest, touching love scene for children in the American cinema. It is something so difficult to do. And, I have only been completely convinced and swept off my feet with these type of love scenes when watching french films. The love scenes in Moonrise Kingdom reminded me of Eric Rohmer. Or Truffaut. So, naturellement, we will be listening to a Françoise Hardy record as these scenes play, infuriating Anderson's numerous vehement critics, crying out, "Clever clogs!" or "Precious!" Fine. But it is beautiful to me.
I am still in a daze thinking about this film. Just like it took me a few days to absorb and process Drive. Both films are supremely heavy on style, yet, both films are able to transcend style and touch your heart, move you. They are the work of two master film makers at the absolute top of their game, stunning achievements.
************
Random favorite moments from Moonrise Kingdom: the earrings; "Do the other one."; the opening sequence with a Child's Guide to the Orchestra playing; the battery operated record player; the kitten; the treehouse; the triumphant slow motion walk out of the chapel tent; the other scouts scene where they join forces w/ Sam and Suzy; "I love you, but you don't know what you're talking about."; Sam and Suzy's hilarious and poignant epistolary sequence; Suzy's expression when Sam asks, "No, what type of bird are you?"; the stellar yet awkward naive performances delivered by Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman as Suzy and Sam; the production of Noye's Fludde; the tennis ball can; Sam and Suzy's heads peeking out over the church steeple; Jason Schwartzmann; Tilda Swinton hanging up the phone; Françoise Hardy; that the adult characters are so deeply realized despite having hardly any dialogue, at all; and the film's position that children can save their parents. What a lovely idea that is.
 |
| Kara Hayward. |
All my Monday love,
Ardent
Jan 22, 2012
Went and saw Drive yesterday
With the Wife. It is still playing in the City, at the last stop Art House Cinema, the Opera on Van Ness.
And it is going to take a few days for me to get my head wrapped around this thing. And I am still ambivalent about the ending.
I had warned Renee that the film is extremely, gruesomely violent. It is. Renee did not like the violence, at all, and I blanched a fair bit, too. Still, we talked about the film for a very long time after we saw it. And Renee obviously liked the film, in spite of the blood, knives, and guns. I liked it, too. There are a lot of things to like: The composed set-ups early in the film, many w/ no dialogue; the elliptical eschewing of period; the phenomenal 80s synth-band soundtrack; the apartment and apartment hallway sets; the opening get-away sequence; Ryan Gosling's silent noble samurai performance; Bryan Cranston; Carey Mulligan; the driving scenes, of course; the "picnic" scene; the whole picture dripping with style; the desperate nerve-wracking intensity, in which I was literally glued to my seat, not daring to move; the silk jacket; the use of slow motion, so often abused and mishandled in other films; Blanche; the lengthy kiss in the elevator; and I could still prob go on.
This film is so heavy on style, that I would not be surprised that if in a few years (or few months) the film looks completely weird and dated. I could even see myself making a complete about face sometime in the future, hating this film. It is up in the air, and I will be thinking about Drive a lot the next few days.
Kisses,
Ardent
And it is going to take a few days for me to get my head wrapped around this thing. And I am still ambivalent about the ending.
 |
| Do you think Marcus Mumford is jealous? |
This film is so heavy on style, that I would not be surprised that if in a few years (or few months) the film looks completely weird and dated. I could even see myself making a complete about face sometime in the future, hating this film. It is up in the air, and I will be thinking about Drive a lot the next few days.
Kisses,
Ardent
Oct 9, 2011
This should be a free-wheeling catch-all,
So, let us begin:
First, happy birthday to Jock Ono Lennon, who would have been seventy-one years old today.
And, secondly, keeping with the Beatle theme, the Scorsese-directed, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, despite some crack editing, fabulous-sounding music (natch), and some great interviews, is a bit of a let-down. It is especially a let-down to Beatle/Harrison fanatics like myself. Although, as my wonderful wife, Renee, pointed out, the film looks much better to folks unfamiliar or ambivalent about the Beatles or Harrison. (And it is only the true Beatle nuts, like myself, who are stunned to discover that anyone could be unfamiliar or ambivalent about the Beatles.) Renee definitely has a point, and she is still watching the 208 minute doc in pieces, and she is enjoying it immensely and thus, lifting my feeling about it, as well. The thing I am most disappointed about is the gloss over the Patty Boyd/Eric Clapton issue. Scorsese got Ms Boyd to sit for an interview, she, the subject for two of the greatest rock songs of all-time, Something and Layla, but we never really get in to the crazy details of how these relationships started, changed, and dissolved. I am not asking for some titillating TMZ/E Network grit-fest. I trust that Boyd and Clapton (and interviews of the deceased Harrison) could handle this amazing Rock Story in a tasteful way, I mean, all three loved each other, right? (But just as I typed this, I also remembered Renee's reaction to some of Clapton's interviews, "He's kind of a jerk, isn't he? He is so full of himself." Spot on, Renee. Just when I gave Slow Hand some credit for the George Harrison memorial concert, I go and see his nibs all smug and Blues-snooty in this documentary. Clapton should just play guitar and "you, don't talk so much" [h/t This is Spinal Tap].) The film also does not discuss the My Sweet Lord/He's So Fine lawsuit, at all, a massive, glaring, unforgivable omission, and glosses over the infamous 1974 US tour, with a coked-up Harrison, insisting that Ravi Shankar be a part of the bill; Harrison's voice shot, wheedling about God to the audience on every stop. My other problem with the film is something Scorsese suggested but should have taken pains to really punch, and that is the paradox that was Harrison. Harrison, the Roman Catholic from Liverpool, who went on a spiritual quest, not attached to Western Organized Religion, was also the same guy who was a tightwad with money, reluctant to even pick up dinner checks sometimes (but had no problem mortgaging one of houses to raise four million dollars to produce Life of Brian), who wrote the song Taxman, who published one of the most self-indugent, over-the-top, autobiography editions in recent memory, who was the man who organized the first big-time rock star benefit concert of all-time, who time and again, seemed to have an insanely insightful consoling nature with his friends and loved ones re death and loss and grief, who loved racing and super expensive sports cars, and on and on and on. Like I said, much of that is in the film. I just think Scorsese should have made that the focus of his film, his contradictory nature, as opposed to his Spiritual Quest. Enough kvetching! Here is the good stuff from the film: I did not even know Astrid Kirchherr was still alive, and when she unleashed that photograph of Lennon and Harrison in Stuart Sutcliffe's studio, that was taken right after Sutcliffe's death, I was near tears. (Once again, here is Harrison, at eighteen, having some kind of other-worldly insight in to death that is beyond most folks, well before he discovered Eastern Spirituality. Amazing.); the Phil Spector interviews about All Things Must Pass are well-worth watching, Spector wearing a Beatle-like wig, and his right hand shaking the entire time, discussing how George also liked to do nine million takes; all the Olivia Harrison interviews are spectacular, particularly the toughest one about the home-invasion and attack, and it is great to finally meet Ms Harrison, who is a smart, grounded, amazing person, in her own right, who Harrison was damned lucky to find, and marry. Plus, their son, Dhani, seems to be a great guy, too, and he is v v v good-looking. ... The addition of TCU to the Big 12 is a smart move, albeit one that should have been done last year. I love TCU football, they have built their whole program on stout defense and a power-rushing attack, my favorite type of football, to be honest, but I still believe the conference is in trouble, and that their idiotic concession to let UT have its' own network is supremely unfair to the other great Big 12 athletic programs and could (prob will) fracture the conference in the future. (And every Sooner fan knows that the last team to beat the Sooners in Norman was the Horned Frogs, many years ago.) ... Renee and I loved Moneyball; Pitt was great, reminding me of seventies stars like Redford or Newman, in fact, the whole film had that 70s star-studded comedy feel to it; the script is great (Aaron Sorkin, co-wrote); it does not get bogged down in super stat-geek stuff; the guy playing now Ranger Manager, Ron Washington, gets a great laugh line (which you see in the commercials); it was long but not too long; it was just really good. And it is wonderful to see a good, solid Hollywood comedy. They are few and far between these days. My only problem was the amazing Seymour Hoffman's talents were sadly wasted here, he hardly has any scenes. ... Renee and I also loved Love Crime, a french thriller, obv influenced by Chabrol and Hitchcock. Renee said it best, "It was sexy despite showing hardly any sex and it was violent despite showing hardly any violence." A real must-see, folks. ... Still have not seen Drive, yet, maybe next week. ... Poor Justin Verlander seems to bring rain with him, wherever he goes. He has had the worst luck this post-season, and yet, the Tigers remain a formidable foe. And they are saying there could be more rain tonight, too. Oh boy.
kisses,
xxx ooo xxx,
Ardent.
First, happy birthday to Jock Ono Lennon, who would have been seventy-one years old today.
kisses,
xxx ooo xxx,
Ardent.
Sep 21, 2011
The Magic Number is four.
You know, even if the Rangers do not do well in the playoffs (or have a total collapse and do not even make the playoffs- do you like how I am tempering my expectations to avoid a nervous breakdown?) they have had a v fine season. Face quit bellyaching and has had a remarkable year w/ two-hundred hits and competing for the batting title. Derek Holland has really blossomed and looks like a possible Ace going forward. CJ Wilson (in a contract year, natch) has become our own version of Cliff Lee and Adrian Beltre has been an absolute joy to behold this year, defensively, offensively, and in the clubhouse. It has been an awesome year for Ranger fans and this organization might just be building a dynasty. Watch this space.
************
Drive, the movie, starring Ryan Gosling, Albert Brooks, and Carey Mulligan, looks soooooo good to me but Renee is not impressed. So I will either have to see it by myself (I have not done that in ages- and I used to do it all the time) or wait until it hits cable/dvd. I am really looking forward to seeing Albert Brooks stab someone in the eye w/ a fork. (I imagine I will be wishing he was stabbing William Hurt's character in Broadcast News.)
************
Renee and I have a fabulous weekend planned. It is part of a Wedding Present, we will spend the weekend in Sonoma County at one of my Wine Rep's Country House. It is Renee's burthdaie this weekend (Sunday) and we're going to drink, eat fabulous food (incl checking out Applewood Inn, one Michelin Star) and reeee-lax.
I am sure I will have tons of great photos for you next week.
Mwah, ...
************
 |
| "What do you do when your life exceeds all expectations?" "You keep it to yourself."
|
************
Renee and I have a fabulous weekend planned. It is part of a Wedding Present, we will spend the weekend in Sonoma County at one of my Wine Rep's Country House. It is Renee's burthdaie this weekend (Sunday) and we're going to drink, eat fabulous food (incl checking out Applewood Inn, one Michelin Star) and reeee-lax.
I am sure I will have tons of great photos for you next week.
Mwah, ...
Jun 7, 2011
Films I am eager to see (UPDATE x 2!)
1. Rejoice and Shout!
2. Midnight in Paris (Check. Flimsy and fun as silk lingerie.)
3. The Artist
4. Drive
5. Polisse
6. Shame, starring Carey Mulligan and Michael Fassbender (no release date yet)
7. A Dangerous Method, Fassbender again w/ Viggo, and Vincent Cassell, dir Cronenberg, about Freud and Jung, I am not making this up, release date later this year.
8. The Trip (Check. An absolute riot, basically a two hour set piece for Brydon & Coogan w/ lots and lots of impressions but a lame, soulful ending that still does not mess up the fun experience.)
9. Tabloid, an Errol Morris doc about my new fave personality, Joyce McKinney, released July fifteenth.
10. Le Nom des Gens, a French political satire about a sex pot lefty who "converts" tories by bedding them.
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