George Carlin was one of those people who inspired you to wonder “If we just listened to a little of what this guy’s saying….” Nah, I guess the world’s meant to end either way. I’m tired of reading legends’ obituaries every week.
BC’s Services Will Resume…
soon. A move last weekend delayed things, followed by a few days of sickness (not encouraging I know) that delayed things even further. I hope to pick things up either later today or tomorrow. Your patience is appreciated.
Posted on June 4th, 2008 in Bits & Pieces | 1 comment
Glitch.
The computer ate my look at Elevator to the Gallows, which turned out to be an early draft that wasn’t meant for other eyes anyway. The last draft, the draft which I was offering for your consumption, has somehow disappeared. I hope to re-write tomorrow, but I’m job hunting, house hunting, as well as hoping to catch Speed Racer and Indiana Jones. I will try to not let these things affect the consistency with which I post, but please bear with me if they occasionally do. I appreciate it.
Posted on May 19th, 2008 in Bits & Pieces | 2 Comments
Real Life.
Real Life will prohibit me from posting again until Sunday, at the best, or Monday, at the most likely. Next week we’ll have the Monday classic, of course, but Speed Racer will, I promise, follow after that. Before we part though, a nugget of movie wisdom to ponder:
The War of the Roses is an occasionally hilarious, superbly paced dark comedy from 1989, featuring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito (who also directed) doing wonderfully bitter fun-house distortions of their audience friendly characters from the Romancing the Stone films. DeVito is a game and underrated director in general, but Roses strikes me as especially successful and brave. Can you image Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson signing on for a deranged blend of screwball, Looney Tunes and Very Bad Things today?
Posted on May 16th, 2008 in Bits & Pieces | 2 Comments
Hanging with Otto.
No review today, have been stuck in Foster Hirsch’s wonderful Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King. If you’ll recall, I found Laura to be mildly overrated, but Hirsch’s impassioned analysis is going to force me to return to the picture (which, in fairness, I’ve always liked). I’ve always loved Anatomy of a Murder, a courtroom procedural that features a large cast doing what they each individually do best. Watching George C. Scott and James Stewart spar is a particular pleasure, and Lee Remick gives good sexy, untrustworthy dame.
No promises, but prepare for a mild Preminger fest whenever I finish the book.
Posted on April 4th, 2008 in Bits & Pieces | 5 Comments
Jules Dassin passes.
Just read on Hollywood Elsewhere that Jules Dassin, the director of the incomparable Rififi has passed away today at the age of 96. This clearly isn’t a tragedy. Dassin lived many years and managed during some of those years to make films that many will always cherish. You should see them if you haven’t (and I’ve missed a number of them) but be sure to start with Rififi, which is every bit as good as you’ve heard. Many call it the best heist movie ever made, but that’s being too specific, it’s one of the best movies, period. Also be sure to check his Brute Force and Night and the City, starring the also recently deceased Richard Widmark.
Posted on March 31st, 2008 in Bits & Pieces | 4 Comments
Apologies…
..but Bowen’s Cinematic is taking its act on the road for the next few days. I’m hoping to fire something off before the weekend ends but, as with everything else, there’s no guarantees. Worst case, I’ll be back Monday, with a look at either In Bruges or The Darjeeling Limited.
Posted on February 28th, 2008 in Bits & Pieces | 1 comment
Caution, Misdirection
While we’re on the topic of alternate editions, I ask you to please avoid the recently released Lust, Caution DVD that promises the “R-Rated Version of the Film Not Seen in Theatres”. That phrasing implies that scintillating footage has been added, when it is actually the opposite. The R-rated Lust, Caution wasn’t seen in theatres because producer James Schamus and director Ang Lee had the stones to tell the MPAA where they could go with their R-rating and took the NC-17 instead, releasing Lust, Caution with all footage intact. The R-rated version (in fairness, I haven’t seen this cut) most likely abbreviates very intense sex scenes that magnify the story considerably. See the film, it’s a very good one, but see the naughty version that was available in theatres.
Posted on February 25th, 2008 in Bits & Pieces | no comments
If Bowen’s Cinematic picked the Oscars (we don’t)
First a taste of the clichéd and self-righteous: I boycotted the Oscars last year, the prior year’s awarding of Best Picture to Crash being enough, and I didn’t even get on the All the Cool Kids Hate Crash bandwagon. Crash is what it always was, a better than average bit of rich guilt porn. People blowing it all out of proportion and then hating it because THEY overrated it is their issue not the movie’s, just as a certain movie this year that rhymes with Uno (hint: Juno) is a perfectly ok bit of irresponsible teen babe wishful thinking malarkey when taken on its own terms, it’s just not a Best Picture.
Oscar and I are still broken up though, even though they rectified the fascinatingly absurd omission of Martin Scorsese last year. Every year the Oscars leave me feeling a little guilty and woozy, as if I just eaten a box of very heavy candy. I would rather have the candy, or at least the self-congratulation of skipping a ceremony that will do just fine without me.
Because I’m a whore though, and because I’ll do anything for attention, here, out of the nominees, are my picks:
Best Picture: There Will Be Blood.
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson-There Will Be Blood.
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood.
Best Actress: Julie Christie, Away from Her.
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men.
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone.
Best Original Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins, The Savages.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men.
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, No Country for Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Readers of my site will know that I have a major jones for There Will Be Blood, as well as its star and director, so I will elaborate no further on those. I will say, however, that the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominees largely leave me cold. They all feel so obligatory, so created simply to be honored on this special night that it doesn’t give me much pleasure to really root or talk about them, with one exception: Julie Christie. She’s a legend, she’s beautiful, and neither of those matter. Her performance in Away from Her is not the work of a famed personality resting on their laurels: it’s subtle and vulnerable, deserving of recognition. Gordon Pinsent, the proper star of Away from Her, was even more devastating and understated, but I guess he isn’t famous enough.
Ruby Dee’s work in American Gangster is the equivalent of giving the good actress a gold watch, she’s fine, but there just isn’t much of a part there, Scott’s film is a boy’s club all the way. Tilda Swinton is good, but again, it feels pitched to win awards, as is Cate Blanchett’s Jude in I’m Not There. Blanchett gives good freak show method impersonation, but it’s actually the least interesting Dylan to choose to reward. People accusing Amy Ryan of over-acting don’t know what they are talking about; a prior day job occasionally afforded me a close look at Amy Ryan’s mother in Gone Baby Gone, and let me tell you: they ARE that obviously odious and unpleasant. Ryan’s work is more ambitious than initially appears, beyond the up-front ready made for the Academy white-trash histrionics is an authentic portrait of bitchy entitlement as mask for cancerous self-loathing.
But the Academy overlooked many of my favorite Actresses this year, the most obvious being Wei Tang of Lust, Caution and Carice Van Houten in Black Book. Just because they’re sexy doesn’t mean they’re just sexy, these women give star-making performances in wonderful erotic thrillers of quick-silver deceit and pain. Or if we wanted to honor I’m Not There, what about Charlotte Gainsbourg? She gave the film a yearning that helped save it from tipping too far into the Glory of the Artist abyss. People continually mourn the lack of roles for women in the movies, but the best female performances are frequently ignored anyway.
Best Supporting Actor is an unusually strong category this year, and it seems a pity that Philip Seymour Hoffman shouldn’t win anything despite giving not one or two, but three of the best performances of his career in 2007. That’s how the cookie crumbles though, because Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem are iconic and un-missable: avenging dust clouds of our collective apathy and despair.
Original Screenplay goes to Tamara Jenkins because she managed, with The Savages, to write an “it was daddy’s fault” pity party that’s quick, funny and plays fair. Michael Clayton would be next, but The Savages gets the edge for giving me either my first or second favorite to date Philip Seymour Hoffman performance, no mean feat. Laura Linney is fine too, but Jenkins’ imagination isn’t quite as generous with her, I never believed I was watching anything other than Laura Linney prestige performance #12.
Adapted Script goes to No Country, primarily because There Will Be Blood appears to be an original script masquerading as an adaptation. The Coens should be recognized anyway, for their graceful distillation of the overly ponderous novel, and for creating a film that’s just about as rich and powerful as Blood.
Cinematography is barely debatable. Roger Deakins shot The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and No Country for Old Men this year. If that’s not enough to convince you, I don’t know the words that will be.
Happy hunting.
Posted on February 20th, 2008 in Bits & Pieces | 9 Comments
Oscar Reviews
Hey guys, this is Ben. Here is a little meta-post round-up of reviews Chuck has done this year for films either nominated for an Oscar or featuring Oscar nominated performances.
There Will be Blood
Eastern Promises
Juno
Michael Clayton
The Savages
Away From Her
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Ratatouille
Sweeney Todd
