This interesting documentary on the fascinating and private writer has a few slow spots but overall Jack and I liked it much more than the majority of critics (who didn't). With a few photos of the camera-shy subject, the movie is filled out with lots of interviews, many who can speak with some authority on the man, footage of the time periods covered, and some over-arching music (lugubrious for sad parts or loud and strident for WWII). A number of famous and not-so-famous actors and writers also weigh in briefly. Director Shane Salerno (co-writer of Savages) made the acclaimed doc Sundown: The Future of Children and Drugs (1991) when he was 18, and this is his second, with other writing gigs along the way.
Here's my personal story. In May of 1970, when American colleges went on strike against Nixon's invasion of Cambodia, I jumped at the chance to ditch my campus and traveled up to Dartmouth to stay with my then-boyfriend Lewis. He and his friends were as anti-war as I, and we canvassed in the area around the Connecticut River to convince people that our way of thinking had merit. One nice lady we met near Cornish NH said, "You kids should go see J.D. Salinger. He lives right over there up the hill." So the two of us knocked on his door and he invited us in! To prove the point made by two people in the movie who said Salinger thought every person's story was important, he encouraged Lewis to talk about his own challenge, which was that his father was upset about the strike, and was considering withholding Lewis' college tuition (that ultimately did not come to pass). I don't remember much else--1970 was a LONG time ago--except that when I introduced myself as Babs, which was my nickname at the time, he said, "Oh. Babette," which did blow me away since most folks assumed my name was Barbara. After seeing this movie and seeing the youth of the women to whom Salinger was attracted, I imagine that the reason he didn't flirt with me was probably that he respected Lewis too much to do so, and possibly I was so naive I might have missed the signs if there were any. But I did recognize the outside of that house in Cornish when we watched the movie on Wednesday.
The author Salinger died in 2010 at 91, before Salerno had finished editing the documentary, causing Salerno to return to several interviewees and flesh out their stories and, of course, changing the ending. If you loved any of the great author's work, you should see this.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Elysium (2013)
We enjoyed this taut, violent, science-fiction tale of class warfare with a ripped Matt Damon, a tense Jodie Foster, and a fitting follow-up to director/writer Neill Blomkamp's District 9. In a dystopian 2154 all of earth is a slum and the rich live on the titular space station a short rocket ride away. Damon (last in these pages in Promised Land) is believable as Max, the man with nothing to lose and everything to gain. I commend the casting director on choosing Maxwell Perry Cotton (Rachel Griffiths' son in 82 episodes of Brothers & Sisters) as the young Max. Foster (most recently in Carnage) is perfect as the uptight French-speaking executive Delacourt, a role that was originally written for a man. Speaking of language, it's nice that so many are spoken, reasonable that all of future slumlike Los Angeles would speak Spanish, but odd that the characters sound like teachers, i.e. they speak Spanish so slowly and carefully I could understand them and my Spanish isn't good at all. Alice Braga (covered in On the Road) is sweet as Max's love interest Frey, as is Diego Luna (last in Casa di Mi Padre) as his buddy Julio. Unrecognizable from his mild-mannered role in District 9 (other than his native South African accent) is Sharlto Copley as contract killer Kruger.
Composer Ryan Amon provides appropriately suspenseful music in his feature debut, You can listen to the entire soundtrack, over an hour long, at this link. And there are plenty of songs, including the string quartets on Elysium. I commented to Jack that they had better music--rap, techno, and the like--on earth.
The cinematography by Trent Opaloch (District 9) is a serious inducer of Motion Picture Motion Sickness (MPMS). Not only is the camera operator clearly running without a steadicam, sometimes it seems that the camera is being shaken just for fun, like a dog's toy. I had to move to the back row and still look away to the exit sign occasionally.
Elysium is doing well, seventh at the box office after five weeks, with critics averaging 68% to audiences' 65 on rottentomatoes. There's a high body count and plenty of gore, so this isn't for the faint of heart. Jack and I aren't particularly squeamish, so we thought it was pretty good.
Composer Ryan Amon provides appropriately suspenseful music in his feature debut, You can listen to the entire soundtrack, over an hour long, at this link. And there are plenty of songs, including the string quartets on Elysium. I commented to Jack that they had better music--rap, techno, and the like--on earth.
The cinematography by Trent Opaloch (District 9) is a serious inducer of Motion Picture Motion Sickness (MPMS). Not only is the camera operator clearly running without a steadicam, sometimes it seems that the camera is being shaken just for fun, like a dog's toy. I had to move to the back row and still look away to the exit sign occasionally.
Elysium is doing well, seventh at the box office after five weeks, with critics averaging 68% to audiences' 65 on rottentomatoes. There's a high body count and plenty of gore, so this isn't for the faint of heart. Jack and I aren't particularly squeamish, so we thought it was pretty good.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
We're the Millers (2013)
We expected to like it some but laughed a lot all the way through at this farce about four losers pretending to be a clean-cut family to score a big payday importing marijuana from Mexico. Jason Sudeikis (last blogged in The Campaign) leads the pack as the small-time weed dealer, then he recruits his neighbor who happens to be a stripper, played by Jennifer Aniston (last in Wanderlust), then a local runaway played by Emma Roberts (last in The Art of Getting By), and lastly a naive teenager whose parents are away, played by Will Poulter who is now 20 years old. When he was ten he was wonderful in Son of Rambow (he's on the left in this photo), and, by the way, he's 100% British but his character Kenny in We're the Millers is 100% American. Kenny, being the sweet boy he is, doesn't get a makeover like the others do. More laughs are provided by supporting cast members Nick Offerman (last in Smashed), Kathryn Hahn (also in Wanderlust), and Ed Helms (last in Jeff, Who Lives at Home).
We were pleasantly surprised that a script with four writers (it was begun by the writing team of Bob Fisher & Steve Faber (Wedding Crashers (2005)) and then continued by Sean Anders & John Morris (Hot Tub Time Machine)) could turn out as well as this one. That's a credit to the cast and to director Rawson Marshall Thurber (I didn't see Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) nor The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (2008)). He's no relation to humorist James Thurber--I checked with sources who know.
There are two collaborators on the soundtrack--Ludwig Göransson (most recently blogged for composing Fruitvale Station) and Theodore Shapiro (last for The Campaign)--plus the usual long list of songs.
Critics are not as enthusiastic as we are, averaging 47% on rottentomatoes to audiences' 76, but the studio must be happy that it was fourth at the box office last weekend in its fifth week of release.
There isn't exactly a bonus but a blooper reel at the end credits is pretty funny and includes a musical gag. This is R-rated (for sexual innuendo, language, drug material, and brief nudity played for laughs) lightweight entertainment, with almost no violence (though some is threatened) and a satisfying ending.
We were pleasantly surprised that a script with four writers (it was begun by the writing team of Bob Fisher & Steve Faber (Wedding Crashers (2005)) and then continued by Sean Anders & John Morris (Hot Tub Time Machine)) could turn out as well as this one. That's a credit to the cast and to director Rawson Marshall Thurber (I didn't see Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) nor The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (2008)). He's no relation to humorist James Thurber--I checked with sources who know.
There are two collaborators on the soundtrack--Ludwig Göransson (most recently blogged for composing Fruitvale Station) and Theodore Shapiro (last for The Campaign)--plus the usual long list of songs.
Critics are not as enthusiastic as we are, averaging 47% on rottentomatoes to audiences' 76, but the studio must be happy that it was fourth at the box office last weekend in its fifth week of release.
There isn't exactly a bonus but a blooper reel at the end credits is pretty funny and includes a musical gag. This is R-rated (for sexual innuendo, language, drug material, and brief nudity played for laughs) lightweight entertainment, with almost no violence (though some is threatened) and a satisfying ending.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Prince Avalanche (2013)
Jack and I would watch Paul Rudd in anything and this leisurely character study of two men painting road lines through a burned out Texas forest is well worth watching. Rudd (last blogged in Admission) brings his inner nerd to a new level as the senior member of the duo with Emile Hirsch (most recently in Killer Joe) as his naive colleague. Lance LeGault (luh-GO), who was once Elvis Presley's stunt double, has a wonderful cameo as the truck driver, and then died last year at age 77. Notably, the woman in the hat is not an actor but is speaking the truth in her first scene.
On Letterman the other night Rudd explained that director David Gordon Green (I liked Snow Angels (2007), hated Pineapple Express, and didn't see any of his others) thought up the title in a dream and was already planning to adapt the Icelandic movie Either Way (Á annan veg - 2011) which was directed and written by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, so he tacked that inscrutable name onto his adaptation. You can read his comments here.
The location is spectacular--an actual burned park in Bastrop Texas, near Austin, Green's home. Apparently the whole movie was shot in 16 days and was kept a secret until its release at the Sundance festival in January 2013.
You can listen to the entire ethereal soundtrack here by clicking on the next track after each one is finished. David Wingo (Mud) collaborated with the band Explosions in the Sky to compose it. They're all from Austin.
Critics are with us on this one, averaging 83% on rottentomatoes to audiences' 69.
A word of warning: it's a possible motion picture motion sickness (I have made a list of MPMS movies) inducer. I looked at the exit sign on the wall whenever the camera started bouncing too much.
On Letterman the other night Rudd explained that director David Gordon Green (I liked Snow Angels (2007), hated Pineapple Express, and didn't see any of his others) thought up the title in a dream and was already planning to adapt the Icelandic movie Either Way (Á annan veg - 2011) which was directed and written by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, so he tacked that inscrutable name onto his adaptation. You can read his comments here.
You can listen to the entire ethereal soundtrack here by clicking on the next track after each one is finished. David Wingo (Mud) collaborated with the band Explosions in the Sky to compose it. They're all from Austin.
Critics are with us on this one, averaging 83% on rottentomatoes to audiences' 69.
A word of warning: it's a possible motion picture motion sickness (I have made a list of MPMS movies) inducer. I looked at the exit sign on the wall whenever the camera started bouncing too much.
Clear History (2013)
A must-see for Larry David fans, this HBO movie about a marketing executive who loses billions over a hissy fit is probably a must-miss for those who dislike Mr. David's brand of humor. David reprises many of his usual gags but Jack and I, who are fans, didn't mind at all. You may have seen the poster of David (covered in Whatever Works) in long hair and a beard. On a talk show recently, he admitted that, although it may have made more sense for his character to start with short hair and end up with long when making a new life for himself, he asked to have short hair in the "new life" so he wouldn't have to spend so much time in wigs and contacts. Also familiar to fans is J.B. Smoove (a regular on Curb Your Enthusiasm, last blogged in We Bought a Zoo, and then mentioned for his cameo in The Dictator) and his accusing David's character of racism. Jon Hamm (most recently in Friends with Kids) plays it straight as usual as the object of David's ire, Kate Hudson (last in Nine) is adorable as Hamm's wife, and Michael Keaton (my favorites include Night Shift (1982), Mr. Mom (1983), Gung Ho (1986), Beetlejuice (1988), Clean and Sober (1988), Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), The Paper (1994), Multiplicity (1996-LOVED it), Jackie Brown (1997), and Toy Story 3) and Bill Hader (last in Men in Black III) are hilarious as deranged accomplices in the hijinks. Danny McBride (This Is the End), Eva Mendes (The Place Beyond the Pines), Amy Ryan (Jack Goes Boating), and the band Chicago all figure in as well. Set mostly on Martha's Vineyard, it was actually shot in various gorgeous northern Massachusetts locations.
Director Greg Mottola (Adventureland) works from a script by David, Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer (the latter three all worked on The Dictator, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Seinfeld, and each has individual comedy credits). But, in another usual Larry David practice, much of the dialogue is improvised.
Ludovic Bource, who won an Oscar for the jaunty music of The Artist, provides jaunty music here that will also remind you of the theme from Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Because this is a TV movie, rottentomatoes doesn't give an average for audiences, only for critics at 56%. With my only quibble being the title--"Clear History" suggests that computers are integral to the plot and they are not--we still enjoyed it a lot.
Director Greg Mottola (Adventureland) works from a script by David, Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer (the latter three all worked on The Dictator, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Seinfeld, and each has individual comedy credits). But, in another usual Larry David practice, much of the dialogue is improvised.
Ludovic Bource, who won an Oscar for the jaunty music of The Artist, provides jaunty music here that will also remind you of the theme from Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Because this is a TV movie, rottentomatoes doesn't give an average for audiences, only for critics at 56%. With my only quibble being the title--"Clear History" suggests that computers are integral to the plot and they are not--we still enjoyed it a lot.
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