D'oh! That Damn Bee Overtakes The Gangsta! That And A Couple Of Docs

"Movie? Who's talkin' about a movie? This is not a movie - this is my fuckin' LIFE!!!!"
- Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) THE COOLER (Dir. Wayne Kramer, 2003)

The news is: BEE MOVIE just hit #1 over not just AMERICAN GANGSTER but even beating out movies that opened last Friday (LIONS FOR LAMBS and FRED CLAUSE). Well that kinda deflates my post from about a week ago. I wanted to see LIONS, which Tom Cruise is already bitchin' about flopping, but just about every critic is telling me not to - though I probably still will. Looks like the real prestige (or Oscar wannabe) picture season has not yet begun.

I thought I'd clean out my notebook and post a few documentary reviews - a couple of new release DVDs that deserve some words:

CRAZY LOVE (Dirs. Dan Klores & Fisher Stevens, 2007)

The saying "love is blind" has never been so chillingly played out than it is here. A tale torn from old New York Post headlines about prominent lawyer/mogul Bert Pugach's wooing gone wrong of young beauty Linda Riss is best described by veteran journalist Jimmy Breslin: "It was a big story...3 black guys throw acid in a white girl's face on behalf of her spurned boyfriend - a white lawyer in the Bronx ...sensational! The 3 blacks will go away forever, now we'll get the white lawyer - he'll go...and we'll sympathize with the woman forever." That sums up the first engrossing amusing half - the second half (which is just as engrossing) is where it gets weird. After 14 years in prison (the prison was Attica - where the titanically tumultuous 1971 riots occurred, mind you) Paguch is released and lo and behold, gets back together and actually marries the blinded bewigged Linda Riss! I can't say that this scandalous story, told in interviews with Pugach and Riss as well as a bunch of their old acquaintances - all in heavy make-up, is a "you've got to see to believe" spectacle because I've seen and still don't believe. Paguch is well spoken and has some charm but not enough charm to pull off this deal - most women would consider hired goons throwing lye in the face to be a deal breaker but what are you going to do? Woody Allen said something once about the heart being a resilient little muscle - I just never have seen it so blatantly displayed as something only about the size of the rock on Linda Riss's finger.

MANUFACTURING DISSENT (Dirs. Rick Caine & Debbie Melnyk, 2007)

A documentary about a documentarian. There have been many works that have criticized Michael Moore * and his methods, in books like "Michael Moore Is A Big Fat Stupid White Man", counter-point documentaries like CELSIUS 41.11, MICHAEL MOORE HATES AMERICA, MICHAEL AND ME and FAHRENHYPE 9/11 as well as numerous anti-Moore websites like Moorewatch (which was featured in SiCKO) so what's another? Well, this sober overview of Moore's career and the premise of what really is accountable in docu-journalism presented here is far above the before-mentioned mostly manufactured by the right wing product. Many who haved worked with Moore are interviewed and many reputable talking heads (including Roger Ebert, Errol Morris, and Christopher Hitchens) make pretty damning statements while at the same time praising his ideals and his piercing place in pop culture. In the spirit of ROGER AND ME, Debbie Melnyk tries futilely and exhaustingly to get an interview with Moore - she actually corners him a few times in 2004 but he's elusive, preoccupied with getting Bush out of office, and at one point he smarmingly gets her to hug him for a photo-op, which in her narration she regrets and is obviously embarrassed by. The background on Moore being fired from his Mother Jones magazine editor gig, his famous fudging of the getting a gun at the bank in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE timeframe, and his dissing of Ralph Nader are seriously things to ponder in this new light.

A lot I can excuse and laugh off because I believe Moore is fighting the good fight - idealistically he's got the goods but one thing that's increasingly hard to get over is the account of the backstory of ROGER AND ME. I've known since a Premiere Magazine article in 1990 that he actually spoke to Roger Smith (there's a full transcript of the interview) prior to the film but that he allegedly tried to talk friends into denying it had happened so he could retain the "I could never get to him" premise really gets to me. But then this is just another biased documentary that should be taken like a grain of salt as well. If I believe everything it says - Moore is a backstabbing asshole and I don't believe that's true. He seems not to be a film journalist at all - more like a comedian who hi-jacked the documentary format in order to stage his routines. MANUFACTORING DISSENT has many valid statements and necessary views on Moore and his oeuvre - some are revelatory and provoking as Hell - but it's not nearly as funny or as entertainingly in your face as Michael Moore's movies are. Therin lies the rub.

* As film babble readers know I've written quite a bit about Moore - like last summer's post The Evolution Of Michael Moore (June 26, 2007) and I went with my family to see him speak in person at the Carolina Theater in Durham - A Night With Michael Moore 4/3/2004 - so yeah, I admit I'm way biased.

More later...

The Beatles Music In The Movies (Not their own movies, mind you)

"My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!" - James Bond (Sean Connery) in GOLDFINGER (Dir. Guy Hamilton, 1964)



As it has been well reported all over the internets the soon-to-be released ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (Dir. Julie Taymor, 2007) is fully comprised of Beatles music - all cover versions sung by the actors who all have names (Jude, Lucy, Lovely Rita, Jo Jo, Sadie, etc. - wait where's Michelle?) based on Beatles songs in scenes thematically suggested by Beatles material - yep, the Fab Four through and through. I know Beatle fans who are opposed to the project - and yeah it looks like it could be cringe-inducingly cheesy but I'll reserve judgement for now. In the meantime let's take a look at the Beatles music as it has appeared in soundtracks in the almost 40 years since they disbanded.


The catalogue is mostly owned by Michael Jackson who after famously outbidding Paul McCartney for ownership of ATV Music Publishing in 1985 has angered hoards of Beatle purists time and time again. First with his licensing of "Revolution" for the Nike spots of the late 80's and most recently for the currently running "All You Need Is Love" Luvs diaper ads. 

The use of an original Beatles recording in a movie can be incredibly expensive - that's why so many cover versions have appeared throughout the years. Even the Simpsons had to resort to using a sound-alike cover band for a HARD DAY'S NIGHT parody scene. Actual Beatles music has appeared sporadically over these last several decades but that have been some notable uses in the movies starting with:

SHAMPOO (Dir. Hal Ashby, 1975) Set in 1968 with a soundtrack full of 60's gold (Beach Boys, Jefferson Airplane, The Monkees, Simon & Garfunkel) 2 major Beatles tracks appear - “Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band” and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”. I guess the rights weren't as expensive pre-Jackson era. Either that or Warren Beatty and Hal Ashby had more clout than previously believed. Check out this Shampoo Montage somebody made on YouTube to get some of the flavor of said film.


I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND (Dir. Robert Zemekis, 1978) There's more than a little of that coming-of-age in a single day AMERICAN GRAFFITI thing going on here. With the premise that the single day in question is February 9th, 1964 - the Beatles' Ed Sullivan American TV debut. An ensemble cast of teenage fans (including Nancy Allen, Wendie Jo Sperber, Bobby Di Cicco and Marc McClure) all scheme to get into CBS-TV Studio 50 to see the historic broadcast. The soundtrack of the film contains 17 Beatles songs (including "She Loves You" twice) and since, of course, none of the actual Beatles were involved - stand-ins were used as Wikipedia best puts it:

"Stand-in Beatle-look alike doubles, dressed in identical attire and holding the same type of musical instruments in a similar manner, were seen mimicking the group's performance of the song from that show while being shown on the stage floor, albeit from a distance so as not to see their identities, while the actual footage of The Beatles on The Sullivan Show of 02/09/1964 was revealed from the camera operator's point-of-view. These two elements were combined together, along with reactions from the studio audience to recreate a brilliant moment in time."

A brilliant moment in time indeed. Sorry, just became James Lipton there. Incidently the IMDb doesn't give credit to the stand-ins but this cool UHM post revealed that the "George" was filled in by monster mask-maker (he designed the Captain Kirk mask used in the HALLOWEEN movies), actor, and horror-movie director Bill Malone - seen above between director Zemekis on the right and an unknown "Lennon" on the left.




THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP (Dir. George Roy Hill, 1982) In the opening credit sequence as "When I'm 64" plays a baby is bounced upwards into the clear blue sky in slow motion. McCartney's soothing nursery rhyme vocal is perfectly suited here to the baby's (Infant Garp credited to Brandon Roth - not to be confused with Brandon Routh - the new Superman) happy expressions. This may be the best and most original scene in the canon of Beatles-synched cinema. But, wait what about:



FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF (Dir. John Hughes, 1986) After somehow commandeering a parade float in downtown Chicago to lip synch to Wayne Newton's "Danke Schoen" Ferris (Matthew Broderick) gets down to the Beatles cover of Phil Medley and Bert Russell's immortal "Twist And Shout". The entire crowd dances as a marching band provides horns that weren't on the original recording. Despite the fact the song re-entered the charts at #21 that summer (also because of its use in the Rodney Dangerfield college comedy BACK TO SCHOOL) McCartney criticized the addition of horns to the track. Pretty picky Sir Paul - I mean it was a parade!



WITHNAIL & I (Dir. Bruce Robinson, 1987) Now is a good time to bring up George Harrison's Handmade Films. Formed in the late 70's to back Python related projects, Handmade made a handfull of interesting films in the 80's and 90's. One of the best was WITHNAIL & I - a hilarious cult classic mostly taking place around a country cottage with Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann at their tawdry best. At one point a portion of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is heard - it's safe to assume that since George was one of the producers it seems like this was probably given some kind of significant discount.


BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (Dir. Michael Moore, 2002) Can see why Moore would pay the extra buck to get the original song - no other would do the same job. As I wrote in a post about Moore's movies as a baby-boomer era hit song "The Beatles' 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' made an obvious point". Lennon's vicious vocal snarls in such a manner that benefits a montage of kids with guns, a blind man with an assault rifle, and a smattering of public execution-style killings.

Some Other Honorable Mentions in the Beatles Music in the Movies Sweepstakes:

COMING HOME (Dir. Hal Ashby, 1978) - "Hey Jude" and "Strawberry Fields Forever".

MASK (Dir. Peter Bogdanavich, 1985) Although the soundtrack in this under rated biopic about Roy L. "Rocky" Denis (played by Eric Stoltz) who suffered from a cranial enlargening disease was dominated by Americana like Springsteen, Bob Seger, Gary U.S. Bonds, and even 4 Little Richard songs - there were 2 seminal Beatles standards present - "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Girl".

FIVE CORNERS (Dir. Tony Bill, 1987) "In My Life" plays during the end credits - again, Harrison's Handmade hook-up helped out. He was executive producer to be more exact.



PRICK UP YOUR EARS (Dir. Stephen Frears, 1987) - "A Day in the Life."



CAN'T BUY ME LOVE (Dir. Steve Rash, 1987) Can't remember what song was featured in this one but man I bet it was effective!



A BRONX TALE (Dir. Robert Deniro, 1993) An impressive - obviously Scorsese influenced (as if that's a bad thing) soundtrack to Deniro's directorial debut includes the Kinks, Wilson Pickett, Miles Davis, various Rat Packers, etc. But the inclusion of the original "Come Together" gives it full cinematic cred.



So - that's all for now. One day I'll get around to the Beatles covers in the movies - especially since ACROSS THE UNIVERSE adds to the universe of soundtracks full of Beatles covers like the infamous flop - SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (I've given many shout outs to Nathan Rabin of the AV Club's Year Of Flops series but particularly his entry on Sgt. Pepper's should not be ignored) and I AM SAM - a horrible movie but a good Beatles cover oriented soundtrack all the same.



More later...

The Evolution Of Michael Moore

“…oh and remember let’s defeat the terrorists over there so we don’t have to fight them here.”
- Michael Moore (SiCKO, 2007)

So Michael Moore’s latest event movement movie-doc is opening Friday at my local hometown theater The Varsity but like many folk here on the internets I watched a copy online. I'll still see it at my theater and urge everyone I know to do so 'cause as my review below sez it's a keeper. Since Moore and me have had our ups and downs through the years I thought It would be cool to look back over his movies (this is film babble blog so I'm not going to discuss his books or TV programs) and break them down a bit.


A formula of sorts emerges when we look at the basic ingredients in a Moore movie - first though we must look at one of his principle inspirations. In April of 1986 shortly after General Electric bought NBC, David Letterman - the top-rated late night talk show host at the time - on his old 12:30 broadcast Late Night With David Letterman did a camera remote film piece in which he took a fruit basket as a welcoming gift to GE's corporate headquarters in New York. Letterman kept a good game-face as he was told to leave and his director scolded to turn off his camera. This bit which should be regarded as a TV classic (I'll settle for the "memorable moment" status that Wikipedia has granted it) is the template for Michael Moore's entire schtick. You can see the bit here. Moore took that bit and ran with it as far as his fat ass can take him. Moore even acknowledged it as a huge influence on The Late Show With David Letterman when promoting FAHRENHEIT 9/11 in 2004.

You've got to have more than invading corporation lobbies and harrasing the staff that to make a full fledged documentary so let's look at :

5 MICHAEL MOORE MOVIE METHODS

Yep, one can't imagine Moore's films without these tried and true stylistic devices -

1. Idyllic 50’s stock footage - In the first third of all of Moore's films we see archival footage depicting a supposedly simpler time. Public service films, shots from grainy newsreels, bits of TV commercials, clips from forgotten drive-in fodder, sometimes even Moore's own childhood home movies are presented to put us in a Leave It To Beaver-Father Knows Best mindset before showing us a series of modern atrocities. This definitely shows the influence of Moore's mentor and cinematographer Kevin Rafferty *. Rafferty's own documentary made of likewise footage - THE ATOMIC CAFE (1982) is another huge piece of the Moore movie puzzle.

* Incidentally Rafferty is a first cousin of President George W. Bush. Thanks again Wikipedia!

2. Baby Boomer Era Hit Songs - The precedent was set in ROGER & ME when auto worker Ben Hamper talks about the groove (yes, groove) he had trouble working up listening to The Beach Boys's "Wouldn't It Be Nice" on his car stereo after telling his employers he couldn't take it anymore. The song plays as shots of boarded-up houses, abandoned storefronts, and a TV report about the rat population escalating after the factory closing in Flint, Michigan rolls by. That groove resurges in the well known songs by the Animals whose "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" - in FAHRENHEIT 9/11 serenades the sequence of planes taking off to drive home the point about the Bin Laden family being given the privilege to fly in the days after 9/11, Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World" played at the end of the same film, The Beatles "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" made an obvious point in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, and most aptly Cat Stevens' "Don't Be Shy" is used to great effect in SiCKO.

3. A Megaphone - In SiCKO we see Moore in a boat in Guantanamo Bay with a group of 9/11 rescue workers after learning that terrorist detainees are getting top notch medical treatment. With trusty megaphone in hand Moore yells "we just want some medical attention - the same kind the evil doers are getting!" This should be no surprise to Moore movie-goers because he employs the same tactic in almost every movie. This also can be traced back to Letterman - he disrupted a taping of The Today Show from a window above Rockefeller plaza with a megaphone. Of course Dave's agenda wasn't political - "this prime-time program was my idea and I'm not wearing any pants!"

4. Stern Evil Unemotional Old White Men - Of course General Motors President and inspiration for Moore's first film - Roger Smith is the archetype but throughout his canon we have more old money villains who apparently rule the world than we know what to do with. His book Stupid White Men confirms this premise. It's as if the Cancer Man (sorry Cigarette Smoking Man) and his elite friends from the X-Files have truly an identity and source of blame that we can finger. 'As if' indeed.

5. Bringing It All Back Home To Flint, Michigan - Moore's hometown has a pivotal place in all of his films (oddly not SiCKO - this is the only method on this list that isn't used) even the wide-ranging Global kaliedoscope that is FAHRENHEIT 9/11 has the story of Lila Lipscomb a Flint resident and proud flag waver whose son Michael was killed in Iraq. I would make some lame pun about Flint 'sparking' the whole Moore-apolaza but I digress...

Now let's look at the movies themselves :

THE BLUEPRINT – ROGER AND ME (1989) - "My mission was a simple one. To convince Roger Smith to spend a day with me in Flint and to meet some of the people who were losing their jobs." So it was, a young aspiring documentary film maker centers on the legacy of his hometown. The devastation that occurred after major auto factories laid off thousands of workers then later closed down. The evictions and fat-cat revisionisms that plagued normal workingman's schedules and laid bare the prospect of America at its outsourced greediest. It's all here in this grainy wet behind the ears debut. Though it has been noted that while Moore documented his struggle to get behind closed doors to interview General Motors President Roger Smith - he did actually talk to him before the film was made - in a question-and-answer exchange during a May 1987 GM shareholders meeting (seen in the doc MANUFACTURING CONSENT). The backlash was just beginning.

THE MISFIRE – CANADIAN BACON (1995)

"Canadians are always dreaming up a lotta ways to ruin our lives. The metric system, for the love of God! Celsius! Neil Young!" - Gus (Brad Sullivan)

After the success of ROGER & ME it's understandable that Moore would want to try his hand at making a fictional funny film. He had a great premise - an unpopular US President played by Alan Alda tries to get a polling statistic bump and votes by starting a fake war with Canada. Years ahead of WAG THE DOG and with a great cast including John Candy (his last film by the way), Rip Torn, Kevin Pollack, Rhea Perlman and Steven Wright how could you go wrong? Well, it went really wrong and became a slapsticky forgettable mess. The unfunniest of Moore's films despite a few random laughs CANADIAN BACON now stands as an oddity in his career. Thankfully he went back to non-fiction and wiped his hands clean of this mess.

THE P.R. PIECE – THE BIG ONE (1997) Moore, not yet a household name but finding himself with a best selling book Downsize This! Random Threats from an Unarmed American he decided to film his publicity tour across America. Pretty fluffy but still has some sharp segments - especially a meeting with Nike CEO Phil Knight (the only such corporate head that would meet Moore on his tour) is an essential bit that can not be easily dismissed. When Moore asks why his companies shoes are made abroad and not here - '' But what about Indonesia's genocidal practices against minority groups?" Knight uncomfortably responds "How many people died in the Cultural Revolution?'' An incendiary moment in an otherwise glorified infomercial.

THE RELOADING:
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (2002) This re-established film going folk to the Moore method. Few film makers would attempt a pop doc about gun control but Moore brought such sweaty passion to the subject that it could not be ignored. Sure it maybe plays around with facts (Moore had arranged the "free gun when you open a bank account" transaction weeks in advance, and that customers have "a week to 10 days waiting period") and the showdown with a senile but still grand Charlton Heston was misguided and more embarrassing than point making but overall BOWLING deserved the Oscar it won for best documentary. Visiting With Timothy McVeigh's brother James Nichols and hearing out his militia views, Moore asks: "Why not use Gandhi's way? He didn't have any guns and he best the British Empire." Nichols blankly replies: "I'm not familiar with that." Right there - that's America caught on film.

With just a few allusions to 9/11 and the administration's ties to the Saudi family the gun-site was almost completely in line:

THE GUNSHOT HEARD AROUND THE WORLD: FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (2004) Moore's controversial (can't write a piece on Moore without using the word "controversial") Oscar speech really set the bar high for this one. Beginning with the grossly mishandled 2000 election and dogging President George W. Bush's every stupid move, Moore's movie won him a lot of movie fans and he became a world wide celebrity but at the same time he became a divisive personality. FAHRENHEIT 9/11 has aged a bit badly - it creaks with sloppiness at times - understandably it was rushed into production to have an impact on the election in 2004 -and some of its conclusions are speculative at best but the bottom line as stated in the Oscar speech referred to above "we live in fictitious times, with a fictitious president who was elected with fictitious election results and we’re fighting a war for fictitious reasons” is pretty damn effectively played out.

And now, the new one :

SiCKO (2007) The most focused and funniest of Moore's films by far. SiCKO has little by way of manipulative editing or Moore's particular brand of muckraking - it just simply presents people and their stories - for the most part. Sure, most people will be cynical about the objectivity here - which in a way is the point - but the basic facts about Canadian, then French, then most surprisingly Cuban healthcare is enough to make even a Moore hater raise their eyebrows. The irrefutable facts like - "And the United States slipped to 37 in health care around the world, just slightly ahead of Slovenia" and the testimony of Dr. Linda Peeno, a former medical reviewer for the health insurer Humana in which she admited :"I denied a man a necessary operation" are just a few of the examples that brought tears to my eyes. Yes, there are liberties taken and many will label this as propaganda (but what documentary isn't?) most likely dealing with the close to the ending bit where Moore sends a 12,000 dollar check to one of his most out-spoken critics Jim Kenefick (Moorewatch.com) whose wife was sick and his web site needed funding or had to shut down. SiCKO may be Moore's best film - don't let biased naysayers tell you otherwise.

Moore In Other's Mediums :

As a celebrity - a household name, a well-known entity, a figurehead, and most aptly a target Michael Moore has really arrived. A few examples :

TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE (Dir. Trey Parker, 2004) Apparently them there South Park guys thought their appearance in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE was mishandled and the cartoon in said film was too much in the style of South Park (Parker - “We have a very specific beef with Michael Moore. I did an interview, and he didn’t mischaracterize me or anything I said in the movie. But what he did do was put this cartoon right after me that made it look like we did that cartoon”), so yeah Moore had this coming - he appears as a hot dog eating jerk who straps explosives to his body to blow up the heroes of the film's title - as reported on MSNBC - The puppet was reportedly stuffed with ham when it blew.

Family Guy (1999-when the show is no longer profitable) Now I'm Pro-Simpsons Anti-Family Guy but this bit should be noted even if it is a bad fart joke - "like that time I outfarted Michael Moore" Peter Griffin (voice of Seth MacFarlane) recounts then we see him and Moore in a Men's room enter parallel-walled toilets. Then the farting begins. Actually maybe this shouldn't be noted. Oh well.

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Moore later...

No! I meant :

More later...

A Few New Reviews & Doing The Wright Thing

"I went to the video store and asked if they had the movie with Nicolas Cage and Hayley Mills. It was shot in black and white on color film. It was the one where they lost the war because they made all of the submarines out of styrofoam. Then I realized that wasn't a movie, it was a dream I had. Then I thought how cool it would be to rent your dreams. The guy says, "that's not a movie, that was a dream you had." I said, "how did you know that?" He said, "you tried to rent it last week. "I said, "well, let me know when you get it in.""
- Steven Wright

Thanks for everybody's comments and suggestions on my last post - 20 Great Modern Movie Cameos. I'm compiling the best reader's picks and will post them soon so please stay tuned. This time out a few movies now playing at a theater near you and new DVDs as well as a local live review of one of the greatest comedians (and sometime film actor) ever so please read on -


SWEET LAND (Dir. Ali Selim, 2005) This film has been around for a bit but only made its way to my local home town theater The Varsity this last week accompanied by the director who said this was his last stop on his publicity tour. Based on William Weaver's touching short story A Gravestone Made Of Wheat dealing with immigration issues and small town prejudices that delays the marriage of a German mail-order bride (Elizabeth Reaser) to a Norwegian immigrant farmer (Tim Guinee) in the days after World War I - SWEET LAND aims for a loving lyricism that for the most part it achieves. One of the only mis-steps are John Heard's Priest character who seems a bit off in tone to fully fit into the mechanics of this period piece - his "but I saw them dancing" dialogue feels a bit forced but Reaser is extremely beautiful (though her makeup is a bit much) and so is the Minnesota scenery. Remarking on the oft made comparisons to DAYS OF HEAVEN at the Q & A after the screening last friday night, director/writer Selim said "you can't shoot a field without people thinking you're referencing Terrence Mallick". Good point though for a first time film maker to be placed in such lofty company should make him as proud as he should be for this solid absorbing debut.

Also in theaters :

PARIS, JE T'AIME (Directed by 18 different directors including the Coen Bros, Alexander Payne, Wes Craven, Gus Van Sant, Tom Twyker, Alfonso Cuaron, and Isabel Coixet) In 1988 NEW YORK STORIES featured 3 short films made by master directors Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola that collectively formed a valentine to the grand city. Multiply that by 6 and add a bit of LOVE ACTUALLY change the locale to Paris and you've got PARIS, JE T'AIME (translates to Paris, I love you). Much like its predessesors it's a mixed bag but with nearly 20 movie makers how could it not be? At its effective best it's as good as movies can get particularly the Coen Brothers-Steve Buscemi as a tourist in a subway segment which is the best thing the Coens have done since THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE.

Other successful bits are "Place des fêtes" by Oliver Schmitz which has a dying man falling in love with his paramedic and Alexander Payne's gorgeous "14e arrondissement" also about a tourist enjoying a profound day sight seeing. Even the misfires are interesting - Sylvain Chomet's "Tour Eiffel" about mimes in love is too cutesy but it's breezy enough and "Quartier de la Madeleine" by Vincenzo Natali with Elijah Wood and Olga Kurylenko is only useful if you've ever wondered how vampires make out. The Maggie Gyllenhall and Natalie Portman portions are annoying but then maybe it's just them that's annoying - I can't decide.With it's amazing photography and ratio of good material over bad PARIS, JE T'AIME deserves to be seen in theaters though it will also be fun later to skip and choose the best bits from the DVD platter. It's the tastiest anthology film I've ever been served.

Just released on DVD -

THE GOOD GERMAN
(Dir. Steven Soderbergh, 2006) Shot in black and white with its white washed exterior shots and rear projection when driving scenes THE GOOD GERMAN achieves beautifully the exact aesthetic of a film shot in 1945 so much that you may forget it's a current release and think you are watching Turner Movie Classics. Its got the look down but unfortunately it doesn't feel authentic. Soderbergh regular George Clooney plays a journalist who arrives in Berlin just after World War II has ended but the shadows and treachery still linger. He finds out that his scheming motor pool driver (Tobey Maguire) has been seeing Clooney's former lover (Cate Blanchett)- a prostitute with a complicated dark background. Well if you've read my reviews you know I'm not one for detailed plot descriptions so that's all you'll get. Overlong and undercooked with a cast that is as stiff as Mount Rushmoore (with the exception of the overacting Maguire who is completely out of his depth here), this film adds nothing to the great noir genre and left me feeling afterwards like I saw a bad CASABLANCA cover band. I'm sure after they were finished with this sober straight faced old school exercise I bet Clooney and Soderbergh were dying to get trashed and party it up OCEAN'S style.

A write-up of a live performance by a comedian? Isn't this supposed to be a film blog? Well I think Mr. Wright's connection to the world of movies is pretty undeniable especially since he's won an Oscar damnit! (For the short film THE APPOINTMENTS OF DENNIS JENNINGS - 1988) So hush your bitchin' and let me babble on :

"When I was a little kid I wish the first word I ever said was the word 'quote' so right before I died I could say 'unquote.'"

STEVEN WRIGHT live at the Carolina Theater, Durham June 6th, 2007 - I've seen Steven Wright before - in 1985 at Memorial Hall here in Chapel Hill and it was one of the funniest performances of stand-up I've ever seen. With a load of new material and a reputation from years of movie appearances (see below) and TV guest shots Wright walked onstage to thunderous applause early this month. Although the audience was familliar with a lot of his act (a recent Comedy Central special and DVD release When The Leaves Blow Away documents the new stuff) just about every line killed and it was fascinating to see him experiment with some lines that were obviously works in progress. He did about an hour and 40 minutes never losing momentum and I believe he only used a handful of jokes he had done 22 years earlier (pretty sure "I got arrested for scalping low numbers at the deli" and the bit about Harry Houdini locking his keys in his car were repeated) but these one liners are like classic crowd pleasers so that's not really a criticism. He even played 2 songs on the guitar - one was introduced as a song he wrote when he was three years old - "the kittie's trying to kill me". So nice in these stupid celebrity obsessed times to have a non-topical apolitical clever crafty comedian still going strong and gaining new generations of fans. Can't wait to see him again in 2029!

Wright was considered for my Cameos post last time out but didn't make the list so I thought I'd take this occasion to pay tribute to the great man with this handy dandy list :

5 Great Wright Roles

1. NATURAL BORN KILLERS (Dir. Oliver Stone, 1994) Maybe the closest to a dramatic part as Wright's ever done, uh well no not really. Dr. Emil Reingold is pure Wright through and through. When told by Robert Downey Jr. - "Mallory Knox has said that she wants to kill you."He responds in a matter of fact manner - "I never really believe what women tell me."

2. HALF BAKED (Dir. Tamra Davis, 1998) Uncredited and only known as The Guy On The Couch Wright has very few lines - "is it January?" he asks at one point but everybody always remembers his part in this aptly named pot comedy. Well, at least all my stoner friends do.

3. CANADIAN BACON (Dir. Michael Moore, 1995) Quite possibly the only legitimately funny part of Moore's only non documentary flop comedy Wright appears at his laconic lucid finest as "RCMP Officer at Headquarters". Thinking that there's a war with Canada angry American invaders (John Candy, Kevin J. O'Connor, Bill Nunn) are further angered by Wright's Canadian tongue - "I don't know what you're talking aboot, eh?" Bill Nunn yells in Wright's face - "Aboot! It's ABOUT! And what's with this 'eh' business?!!?

4. COFFEE AND CIGARETTES (Dir. Jim Jarmusch, 2003) In the opening short film "Strange To Meet You" Wright meets Roberto Benigni for a cup of coffee and yes cigarettes. Fimed in 1986 the scene is relatively meaningless beyond its basic description but there is a palatable amusing sense of awkwardness when these guys styles mix - Benigni sure doesn't get Wright's caffeine popsicle bit. Credited as Steven he has one energetic moment - "I like to drink a lot of coffee right before I go to sleep, so I can dream faster." You can see the clip here.

5. SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER (Dir. Thomas Schlamme, 1993) Another near lame movie saved from complete lame-ocity because of a Wright appearance. As a pilot of a small plane he scares the Hell out of passenger Mike Myers with his admission that he has never flown at night and when pointing at the instrument panel he says "that's the artificial horizon, which is better than the actual horizon."

Notable mention goes to his DJ voice-over in RESERVOIR DOGS, his take on the infamous naughty joke in THE ARISTOCRATS, and his film debut in 1984 as Larry Stillman D.D.S. in DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN (which was Madonna's film debut too by the way).

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Keeping Our Fingers Crossed - Movies To Look Forward To In 2007

“I do not understand this compulsion of mine for seeing movies, it almost seems as if movies are ‘in my blood’”
- Ignatious Reilly (from the novel Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole) 



Hey kids - here’s some things to look forward to (and get our hopes too WAY up for) in 2007:

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (Dir. David Silverman) – Yep, I know there are a lot of cynics out there ragging on the alleged declining quality of the show and forecasting the worst for this long awaited project but I’m a hardcore fan of the Simpsons and I love the trailers and animatics clips that have leaked out and I’m psyched as Hell because of statements like these: "Since 2001 we'd been working to get a script that would be worthy of people actually paying to see the Simpsons" - Matt Groening

(Simpsons Creator and Guru) 



"I can absolutely guarantee that this film will far exceed the wildest expectations of every Simpsons fan. Start lining up at the theater now, preferably in costume." - Al Jean (Simpsons Executive producer) 



So there's that and the promised guest appearances of Albert Brooks, Joe Mantegna, and Kelsey Grammer (of course as Sideshow Bob) I’m pretty damn confident that this won’t be a big “D’oh!” 



I’M NOT THERE (Dir. Todd Haynes) – Yep, I know that this movie looks weird – I mean that's Cate Blanchett there as Bob Dylan during his 'goes electric' phase. So 6 different people (Blanchett, Christian Bale, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw) all act as Dylan throughout the various stages of his life - a trippy narrative professedly in the spirit of Bob’s most surreal songs. 



Many a cynic are already protestin' but I’m a hardcore fan of Dylan’s …oh wait I already played that hand. I’ll just say that I’ll be there for this movie’s opening and at the very least it shall be interesting.

SPIDERMAN 3 (Sam Raimi) – The trailers are dark, very dark with Spidey (Tobey Maguire again) in a black tar like parasitic suit. With Topher Grace and Thomas Haden Church joining on - who so totally (okay I'm going to refrain from italics the rest of this post) look to fit seemlessly into the Spiderman world. 



Not sure what exactly is happening plotwise in this one but an operatic spooky trilogy-concluder looks pretty assured.


BE KIND REWIND (Michel Gondry) – The Plot outline as presented on IMDb :

“A man (Jack Black) whose brain becomes magnetized unintentionally destroys every tape in his friend's video store. In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films, which include Back to the Future, The Lion King, and Robocop.” 



On the IMDB message board someone by the handle of iloveduckie asks – “am i the only one who thinks this sounds awesome?” No you certainly aren’t.



 INDIANA JONES AND THE RAVAGES OF TIME AKA INDIANA JONES 4 (Dir. Steven Speilberg) – Can this really be happening? I mean Harrison Ford is 65 and the series seemed nicely tidied up with LAST CRUSADE (1989 - that's right 18 years ago!). 



Well come to think of it Ford still has the rugged deal goin' on and the promise of the return of Sean Connery, Karen Allen, and John Rhys-Davies (Sallah) does sweeten the deal. Still I know I’m not alone in praying those guys know what they’re doing. 



FILM BABBLE BLOG DVD PICK OF THE MONTH:





WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE – A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS (Dir. Spike Lee - HBO with a limited theatrical release, 2006) – More than halfway through watching this I half-assedely remarked to a friend over the instant messenger that it was “essentially a 4 hour version of Kanye West’s famous quote." * After watching the deal in it's entireity I must say that was a cheap statement on my part



A glib crappy sound-bite like quote like that might be acceptable from Entertainment Weekly or MediaMaggot but not from FILMBABBLE - yes, that's right I do have standards of some sort. Ill-defined as they are.

WTLB is a powerful heart breaking work that floors me over and over. 



It's great that there's no Michael Moore agenda setting narration from Lee - he just lets the citizens and officials speak (and do they speak) about the injustices done from the non-preparation and the non-reaction to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. 



In addition to material he filmed from September 2005 shortly after the flood onward - Lee Utilises coverage from all the major networks, CNN & other cable outlets, police camera footage, text from bloggers, home made videos, BBC (in the commentary Lee exclaims "why was this story on the BBC? We weren't seeing this in the States!") and every other source you could think of. If you think this is biased - man, I 'd like to see what someone would put up as a 4 hour counter-point. Actually, no. I wouldn't like that prospect at all.

* If you have to ask what Kanye's 7 word remark after Katrina is maybe you shouldn't be reading this blog. 



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10 Election Year Poli-Docs That Are Just About To Become Irrelevant

For no other reason than that election day is five days away, and these movies will lose their relevance almost immediately afterwards here's a list of 10 anti-George W. Bush/anti-Iraq War documentaries that are just about to lose their luster.

I'm hoping they had, or will have, an impact on voters, but, from from the polls I'm seeing it's not looking so good. Regardless, watch 'em while they still have some meaning:

1. FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (Dir. Michael Moore, 2004)

The leader of the pack. Newly released on DVD, this powerful if wildly uneven call for the ousting of George W. Bush from the White House sure makes a convincing case. But, yes, it's a strong case of preaching to the choir. 

2. GOING UPRIVER: THE LONG WAR OF JOHN KERRY (Dir. George Butler, 2004) 

This is being considered a last ditch effort to clarify how Kerry's Naval tour of duty in Vietnam and his activism to ending that war really went down, but it's a solid well-made and moving documentary that ideally should help get out the vote. Yeah, I know, dream on.

3. OUTFOXED: RUPERT MURDOCH’S WAR ON JOURNALISM (Dir. Robert Greenwald, 2004) Compelling and funny but in an unnerving way. Part of Greenwald’s series of "UN" poli-docs (either as Director or Producer), the others being:

4. UNCOVERED: THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR IN IRAQ (Dir. Robert Greenwald, 2004)

5. UNCONSTITUTIONAL: THE WAR ON OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES (Dir. Nonny de la Peña, 2004)

6. UNPRECEDENTED: THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (Dir. Richard Ray Perez & Joan Sekler, 2002)

7. BUSH’S BRAIN (Dir. Joseph Mealey & Michael Shoob, 2004)

8. BUSH FAMILY FORTUNES: THE BEST DEMOCRACY ONEY CAN BUY (Dir. Steve Grandison, 2004)

9. HORNS AND HALOS (Dir. Michael Galinsky & Suki Hawley, 2002)

10. BREAKING THE SILENCE: TRUTH AND LIES IN THE WAR ON TERROR (Dir. Steve Connelly & John Pilger, 2003)

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