Tuesday, September 20, 2011
A few notes on some movies we have seen recently.
My Uncle Fred was in town over the weekend, which means that there was an opportunity to watch stuff that people otherwise might not sit still for. He didn't bring anything, which is unusual, so we watched Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye one night, and The Sugarland Express the next.
I love the Altman Goodbye, which deviates from the plot of Chandler's novel, but is completely true to its spirit. There is always something new to see in an Altman movie: I'd never noticed how Marlowe was depicted as a complete anachronism before: his car, his manner of dress, and even the fact that throughout the movie he is the only one who smokes. (He smokes constantly, and lighting matches is a bit of schtick throughout.) I also hadn't noticed that Arnold Schwarzenegger has a bit as one of the henchmen. It isn't credited, but there he is. (Also uncredited is Morris the Cat.)
Steven Spielberg's Sugarland Express was his first theatrical release. My first thought as we watched it was to compare it with George Lukas' American Graffiti, released a year earlier, I guess because for a period back in the 70's and early 80's it was natural to think of the two classmates and friends together, and because they are both road movies. It is still fun to compare the two, but Sugarland looks more like a Spielberg movie than Graffiti resembles subsequent Lukas work. It is a remarkably well composed work, particularly for a first film, and Goldie Hawn in particular made me glad to have kept the disk on top of the teevee for the last month or so while we waited for everyone to be in the mood for it.
Last night I was in the mood for junk, and as it happened the last Netflix disk in the pile was Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.This may be the greatest scene in cinema history, and the giant octopus is pretty good too. The weirdest part of all, for me, is that Debbie Gibson plays the female lead. She looks good, too, and absolutely plays younger than 40.
My Uncle Fred was in town over the weekend, which means that there was an opportunity to watch stuff that people otherwise might not sit still for. He didn't bring anything, which is unusual, so we watched Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye one night, and The Sugarland Express the next.
I love the Altman Goodbye, which deviates from the plot of Chandler's novel, but is completely true to its spirit. There is always something new to see in an Altman movie: I'd never noticed how Marlowe was depicted as a complete anachronism before: his car, his manner of dress, and even the fact that throughout the movie he is the only one who smokes. (He smokes constantly, and lighting matches is a bit of schtick throughout.) I also hadn't noticed that Arnold Schwarzenegger has a bit as one of the henchmen. It isn't credited, but there he is. (Also uncredited is Morris the Cat.)
Steven Spielberg's Sugarland Express was his first theatrical release. My first thought as we watched it was to compare it with George Lukas' American Graffiti, released a year earlier, I guess because for a period back in the 70's and early 80's it was natural to think of the two classmates and friends together, and because they are both road movies. It is still fun to compare the two, but Sugarland looks more like a Spielberg movie than Graffiti resembles subsequent Lukas work. It is a remarkably well composed work, particularly for a first film, and Goldie Hawn in particular made me glad to have kept the disk on top of the teevee for the last month or so while we waited for everyone to be in the mood for it.
Last night I was in the mood for junk, and as it happened the last Netflix disk in the pile was Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.This may be the greatest scene in cinema history, and the giant octopus is pretty good too. The weirdest part of all, for me, is that Debbie Gibson plays the female lead. She looks good, too, and absolutely plays younger than 40.
// posted by Bill @ 5:21 PM 
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