Arts + Life Movies/TV Nick's List - June 23 | Nick's List - June 23 |
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| By Nick Otten, Special to the Beacon | |
| Last Updated ( Monday, 30 June 2008 ) | |
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Watch next week for a list or two of movies to watch at home during the Hollywood summer doldrums. Feed your brain some good movies in the hot weather.
MOVIE 75
2 days in the Valley
L.A. Confidential came out almost exactly one year after this fascinating little movie but I still think of it as having somehow overshadowed 2 days in the Valley. Do yourself a service, if you haven't heard of this one: Watch what happens when a Hollywood movie lets a whole bunch of actors act. Even bit parts are highly polished. Actually, I went back to this movie because I had just seen Eric Stoltz in a bit part in Say Anything (see below), which surprised me. I immediately thought of his funny work in this movie and in Pulp Fiction and decided to take another look.
MOVIE 74
Say Anything
Director Cameron Crowe broke out as a writer with Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) but Say Anything was his directing debut and cemented his reputation as the chronicler of the young American wanna-be, following with Jerry Maguire (1996) and Almost Famous (2000), which got him an Oscar for best screenplay. Say Anything is so beloved as a teenage movie that IMDb offers six entire pages of quotes from the script. For a wry little joke, note that Jeremy Piven is a drunken high school yo-yo in this movie; and in Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) [See Nick's List, April 25, Movie #45.], he again plays John Cusack's school friend from high school "10 years later" -- now a Beemer-driving real estate agent (and still smoking weed). MOVIE 73
The Incredible Hulk
ASIDE: Hulk's girl problem reminds me of an issue long glossed over in the movies but definitively, hilariously explained in a Larry Niven short story called "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex." The story is so wildly accurate about the implications that I can't hurt it by telling you that for somebody really super to get busy with somebody merely human would be disastrous. So for a funny good time, find a copy of Larry Niven's book of short stories, All the Myriad Ways. That one story is worth the price of the whole book. Back to the movie: Ed Norton at least makes a believable scientist and Tim Roth is always credible as a twisted little -- person. William Hurt as a power-mad general is actually getting manlier as he ages. He was definitely hateful. I wasn't so thrilled with the monster that Hulk fights. Note to movie directors everywhere: Take a tip from Terminator 2. Don't make the bad-guy monster merely ugly. Make him nearly cute -- but relentless. For Marvel Comics fans, there's a little final joke right at the end. Just for you.
MOVIE 72
You Don't Mess With the Zohan
Be further forewarned: Do not take the kids unless you are ready for some very weird follow-up discussions about sex. With Mom. And Granny. And Hillary and Mrs. Obama. Much rude sex talk and -- movements, OK?
MOVIE 71
Kung Fu Panda
The story does have odd spots: we are introduced early to a cool array of legendary weapons that never get used in the story, and Po the Panda has a storky dad -- how does that work? Doesn't matter, though, because this movie is fun. And you can take the kids. The best joke of all is that Po achieves enlightenment -- in overeating. Ha!
BOOK 36
Write It When I'm Gone:
A number of ideas surfaced for me, especially that Ford was a plain, decent man beyond the usual for a U.S. president. He fixed his own breakfast and walked his own dog and famously named himself "a Ford not a Lincoln." David Broder of the Washington Post claimed Ford was "the most normal, sane, down-to-earth individual to work in the Oval Office since Harry Truman left." Hmm. You know the bromide that anybody who wants to be president so badly that he (or she) is willing to go through our election process is too crazy to be president. Think about Colin Powell, who was vastly more popular than Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s and was being called "America's Black Eisenhower" and "A President for All Seasons" from coast to coast. He probably could have been a shoo-in Republican nominee, if he would have accepted. He declined and remains one of the few people in the Bush II administrations still widely trusted across party lines. Here's my question: If a candidate has to keep smiling while bending over backward for the media and the public, is that a sign of flexibility or foolishness, statesmanship or hypocrisy? Last thought: whether you're a Ford or a Lincoln, somebody wants to take shots at you. Not a pleasant idea, but it's on people's minds.
BOOK 35
The Diaries of Adam and Eve
The first part is "Extracts From Adam's Diary Translated from the original MS." and every two-page layout has text on the right and an accompanying illustration on the left. Adam's illustrations all look like ancient clay tablets of cartoon "hieroglyphics." He mostly comments on Eve, the exasperating "new creature with the long hair." The second part is "Eve's Diary Translated from the Original" with the same arrangement of facing-page illustrations. But Eve's pictures are all Victorian-looking line drawings, mostly with an innocently naked Eve in them. Her pictures are surprisingly clever, with Eve trying to train her pet brontosaurus, or trying to knock stars out of the sky with a long stick and so on. She predictably complains about insensitive Adam, "the other Experiment," and how she first chases it up a tree and eventually teaches it to be more sociable. Her surmises about phenomena such as the loosely fastened moon falling down and disappearing will remind some readers of Huck and Jim trying to imagine where stars came from. Just the sort of charming nonsense that unschooled primitives might devise. I bought the book at Mark's Twain Home in Hannibal and even got it stamped with its official seal. When the shoplady asked if I wanted the seal impressed in my book, I thought the idea was silly. Then my friend from Beijing said he definitely wanted the seal in his book! Suddenly, the idea seemed changed. I know I wouldn't turn down an artifact that showed I had been to the Great Wall.
Nick Otten is assistant director in the Theater Program at Clayton High School and adjunct professor in the graduate Communications MAT Program at Webster University. He consumes vast quantities of books and movies. In his description of Nick's List, he says, "For every single work, I’ll quickly post a brief commentary — each week, at least 1 book and 2 movies, usually more. Maybe a paragraph, maybe a page. Sometimes, not often, I may go crazy and write some kind of extra, a page or so, on some movie or pair of movies or some genre, actor, or something else, or how one book relates to another or a movie or you or me or us. Such stuff will be just one click away, guaranteed." If you want to reach Nick, rather than comment on the articles, contact Beacon features and commentary editor Donna Korando. To read the previous Nick's List posts click June 16, June 9 , June 2 , May 26 , May 19 , May 12, May 5 , April 28 , April 21 , March .
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The primary power of this clever little movie is in the stunning ensemble work. At least a dozen surprising performances develop from people including Danny Aiello, Jeff Daniels, Teri Hatcher, Glenne Headly, Peter Horton, Marsha Mason, Paul Mazursky and Keith Carradine. They're not headliners these days but they all do fine work. Most of them are now or were TV names. Some of them are ex- and future Oscar winners, which is neatly appropriate because the story is all about the has-beens and wanna-bes and not-quites in LA. Charlize Theron and James Spader were total newcomers in this movie and are utterly riveting on the screen. Watching them do a sex scene may make you sweat a little. Watching Theron and Hatcher have a serious fistfight will make you grip your seat and duck.
I wanted one good teenage summer love movie under my belt because we haven't been given much so far. So, I turned to Teenage Summer Love Movie Heaven: the 1980s. Besides, I'm collecting movie quotes and this movie has a keeper: Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) explains the all-time funniest opinion about careers to avoid. John Mahoney is also spectacular as the creepy Dad who loves his daughter just a bit too much, thank you. Mahoney is best known as Frasier's dad on Frasier, but he goes way back, doing theater with Steppenwolf in Chicago and then on Broadway.
Poor Bruce Banner just can't get a break. He finally gets a hot-to-trot girlfriend (Liv Tyler) and he has to stop and -- well, you know he can't get too excited, right?
Actually, I went to see if this was really only a Jewish Kung Fu Panda and to my surprise it wasn't. Besides being unbelievably unbelievable (work with me here), the movie knows it's silly and just doesn't care. I laughed all through it. I'll be surprised if you can find a weirder plea for peace in the Middle East. But be forewarned: I am not an official Adam Sandler Hater, so I didn't mind seeing the usual from him and John Turturro and others.
Nothing radically new, but not quite the usual kung fu fare either. I hear this movie is doing well in Beijing, so who am I to demur? The voice of Jack Black as the panda is irrepressible, of course, and Dustin Hoffman as a somewhat neurotic kung fu master is an interesting switch from the usual wiser-than-thou teacher of Asian wisdom.
Probably time to think presidential -- which I don't much enjoy -- now that we have only two candidates. As Emily Dickinson might say, the best way to insight can be from a view aslant, so I will probably start reading around the candidates and issues, so to speak. Anyway, I'm starting with this politely gossipy insider view of Gerald Ford, the famously unelected president, who made a gentleman's agreement with Newsweek reporter Tom DeFrank to tell him off-the-record info, but only if DeFrank would not report it until after Ford was dead. DeFrank agreed, and this book has the scoop, 30 years later. So: Ford thought Reagan was a poser, Carter is a meddler, Clinton has had a roving eye all along. For political junkies, such information is probably fun to read.
This charming book seems to be a facsimile of some earlier edition, though I can't tell for sure -- if so, it must have been little. My copy is typical trade-paperback size (like a sheet of loose leaf folded in half), but with giant margins. The text on each page is only about 3 x 5 inches.
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Editors' Picks
- Openings
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As the day turns to night on Aug. 16, "National Treasure Book of Secrets" will appear on the outdoor screen at St. Dominic Savio Parish -- sponsored by the Affton Community Betterment Association.
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- People
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"Heaven just got funnier." That was the response of Don Cheadle following the death of comedian Bernie Mac Aug. 9. | MTV.co.uk
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- Film Series
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See Metropolis -- a state-of-the-art digital restoration with the original 1927 orchestral score by Gottfried Huppertz -- at 8 p.m. Sept. 5 - 7 at Moore Auditorium as part of the Webster University Film Series .
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See A Killer Bargain at 7 p.m. Sept. 30 in the Moore Auditorium as part of the Webster University International Year of Human Rights Film Series . As this is also part of the regular Webster film series, there is a charge for all but Webster University students.
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Dying to Tell the Story airs at 7 p.m. Sept. 9 in the Moore Auditorium as part of the Webster University International Year of Human Rights Film Series . From $6 to free for Webster University students..
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Blood Diamond shows at 7 p.m. Sept. 2 in the Moore Auditorium as part of the Webster University International Year of Human Rights Film Series . It's free.
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- TV
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Janis Ian: Live From Grand Center, a one-woman concert featuring Grammy Award-winning singer/composer Janis Ian (“At Seventeen”) and produced by St. Louis public television station KETC/Channel 9, will be distributed nationally in October by the National Educational Telecommunications Association. The television special combines a retrospective of Ian’s hits with her most recent compositions.
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Were part of the fireworks for the Olympics' opening ceremony computer generated? That's the rumor. | James Fallows, The Atlantic
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Look through the Lens
Cinema St. Louis' The Lens is a multi-contributor blog aimed primarily - but by no means exclusively - at local cinephiles. The Lens will have a specifically St. Louis perspective when relevant - and will preview Cinema St. Louis events - but because film encompasses the world, the blog will offer material on every aspect of movie culture, with no ties to a particular place.
Visit The Lens , or for a more complete introduction, read the inaugural post by Cliff Froehlich.
Voices
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In the News
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch announced more cuts in content Monday, but is still covering politics aggressively. That's a good thing, Beacon contributing edtior Dick Weiss tells McGraw Milhaven on the McGraw Show on KTRS (550-AM).
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In the News
How much is show? How much is substance? How do you recognize spin? Does age matter? All the things you learned to think twice about when watching stylized ceremonies and twirling gymnasts will be useful as you observe the demonstrations and think about the hype.
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Editorial Cartoons
Nothing like a convention to sharpen the pencils of editorial cartoonists. From the contrast between Biden and Obama to the steadfastness of Hillary Clinton suports, Mike Thompson, Scott Stantis, John Sherffius, Gary Markstein and Chris Britt have plenty to say.
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Law Scoop
The Obama campaign claims that Ed Martin's anti-Obama group violates federal election law. Election law experts say that the group may violate the law, but that federal election authorities won't do anything about it until after the election.
The Lens
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Who's the leader of the club that sues for excess use?
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