"Kenneth Mars, 'Young Frankenstein' Actor, Dies at 75." Here he is in a scene from one of my all-time favorite movies, What's Up Doc.

The Machinist. Eh.

Sooo. . . the Machinist-- I grabbed this from the library since I've been wanting to see it since it came out. I remembered reading all the reviews and the articles about Christian Bale dropping like 50% of his body weight-- which, by the way, he's a total nutter, right? I mean, dedicated? On a Daniel Day-Lewis scale?-- though he's much more subtle actor than Daniel D-L.

This movie was fine; it was okay. I was expecting something on the level of Momento, in terms of the mindfuck/creative narrative, and something on the level of Kontroll in its treatment of mindfuck/insomnia and the surreal elements that come from such things. It does deliver on the atmosphere and look that those two expectations would promise; if this movie did one thing well, it was mood. In fact, halfway through, we paused it to put our dishes in the kitchen or something and I looked out and there was a green jeep-thing parked in front of our house with a plastic-wrapped Christmas tree on top of it. Which is weird at the end of January but mega-creepy if you're watching a creepy movie at the same time. So it was a mood that sticks to you while you're watching the film.

Throughout the film there are some nice visual hints-- the cigarette lighter in the car and the clock at 1:30 were good notes-- and the parts of Christian Bale's character cleaning things, included his bare hands, with some hard-core chemicals (lye, bleach) adds to the themes of destructive absolution that, it turns out, make up the core of the story.

Which is part of my quibble. By the end of the film, the reveal felt like too much all at once mostly because there was just one answer for all the little things, and the sense of mystery-- the atmosphere, the visuals, the paranoia-- didn't have the impact that would have made this a film that lingers. Granted, it all makes sense, and the fable-like arc of repressed memories and self-inflicted doppelgangers is something I like in theory, but the ending, much like in the film's referenced-Crime & Punishment, doesn't feel like something that is necessarily built up to, despite the constant baby step hints we get throughout (again, the cigarette lighter, for example), but instead is dropped in our lap all of a sudden, a big huge reference at the end that then simply inspires a game of who-can-spot-all-the-hints in retrospect, that isn't as satisfying as the build-up of so many hints would suggest.

The other part that brought the film down was that before the ending, there were certain parts that were clearly in his mind. Christian Bale's character becomes convinced of a conspiracy against him after he is the inadvertent cause of a gruesome accident; unfortunately, the film makes it immediately clear that this is a product of his exhaustion and paranoia, rather than keeping it a matter for the audience's speculation for any amount of time. There wasn't that unsettling uncertainty that a film like, say, Shutter Island, had (in spades-- my problem with Shutter Island is that they never give a statement about the film's reality--what was fake; what was real-- something I have a problem with on a theoretic and narrative level.) The Machinist does keep some of those aspects in question until the end, but not as a whole, which seems a missed opportunity.

Stuck in the Middle With You

Heard about this on NPR the other day while driving to the mall, I think. Wow, yeah, good idea, driving in early January near the mall. Stealers Wheel vocalist Gerry Rafferty had passed away, and honestly, I had no idea he was associated with the band, a band I don't know by name, but like many people my age are instead intimately familiar with thanks to that Michael Madsen scene in Reservoir Dogs. So I felt a little guilty, especially because the other song they played by him made my toes curl (that 80s sax passive-aggressive synthesized sort of thing.) But on the other hand, this track is a perfect little rock track, so we can blame the 80s for that other one, and it's hard not to get the urge to cut someone's ear off bogey a little when you hear it.

Here is a much more knowledgeable posting on Mr Rafferty's passing from Berkeley Place, along with some covers of his work.

" And they sort of enjoy that they are the great showdowns."

I want to show you all of them right here right now! but I can't so here are a few favorites. Go check out the rest, from 12 Angry Men to some Big Trouble in Little China at Mr. C's Great Showdowns. You can also see his other devastatingly cute & clever works at his blog.

odds n ends

this is a print that you can purchase on Etsy from letterhappy.

Just some stuff--

1. Why is the notorious Michiko Kakutani writing Family Guy fanfic? I didn't get a goddamn thing out of this review (check out this one instead) except that it's narrated by a dog. Plus, I don't even like Family Guy. (Is this controversial?: I think American Dad is a lot better.)

2. Vulture has 7 steps on how to on hate the Beatles, who are now available on iTunes. I don't quite get the point but it is kinda amusing in that you could apply it to not liking anything that is generally popular.

5. Don’t have some big overarching narrative about baby boomers or technology or anything. The point here is that you’re amazing people by not enjoying the Beatles’ music, not Western history. Don’t start trotting out complex arguments about the cultural influence of baby boomers or the role of legendary bands in a “narrowcast” culture — you’re disliking a band, not writing a trend article for Wired [. . .]

7. Remain calm and amused. Hey, you just happen to not enjoy the Beatles — it’s everyone else who’s getting weirdly worked up about that. Maintain a sense of bafflement, as if you’ve been immersed in a glorious world of music way better than the Beatles, and are slightly confused that all this is happening[. . .]

We’d be remiss not to note, though, that any environment in which these tricks really work is probably not a fun one for you to be around in the first place.

Anyway, I have a one-point rebuttal on why you should love the Beatles: this. Oh yeah.

han solo seriously had too much of that blue milk, which looks totally harmless but apparently is not.

I kept hearing about this interview but never watched the video mostly because I figured it couldn't be that bad. Harrison Ford couldn't be so high that you could tell! Who does that on TV! He's like 80, 80 year olds don't do that! People are just being mean! And so forth!

Okay, well guess what, he is-- you just have to see him walk onstage & sit down and you can figure it out-- & the big scoop: he dishes on exactly why he is going to make another gawdawful Indiana Jones movie. And it's exactly the reason you'd guess.

• Watch "Harrison Ford was High as Shit on Conan Last Night" from Splitsider

lee marvin is clearly the man charles bukowski wanted to be.

Another record dropped on the stereo. "When it comes to 'Clair de Lune,'" he said, "I have to go pass water. Tinkle, is the expression. Oh, sweetheart, do you think this day will soon be o'er? I have a hangover. We had fun last night. Went up to the corner, had a few drinks, told a few lies."

From Roger Ebert's Esquire interview. Speaking of which, I finally read the Esquire Chris Jones Ebert profile-- definitely worth a look, as is Ebert's response to it.

Everyone knows Eartha Kitt, but usually for different reasons. Most know her for "Santa Baby" and/or as Catwoman. I know her as the batshit lady in the Emperor's New Groove. Whatever it is, she's awesome.

The animators, by the way, got her to a freakin' T.

your new favorite website.

oh yes. [image of Martine Carol via starlet showcase cos ps HOW SAUCY is she?]

Prohibition was crazier than we thought.

"During Prohibition, however, an official sense of higher purpose kept the poisoning program in place. As the Chicago Tribune editorialized in 1927: "Normally, no American government would engage in such business. … It is only in the curious fanaticism of Prohibition that any means, however barbarous, are considered justified." Others, however, accused lawmakers opposed to the poisoning plan of being in cahoots with criminals and argued that bootleggers and their law-breaking alcoholic customers deserved no sympathy. "Must Uncle Sam guarantee safety first for souses?" asked Nebraska's Omaha Bee."

Read a TIME article from 1927 about the poisoning of alcohol.

young indiana jones was awesome ok?

thursday afternoon hijinkery.

so here's (one of) my problem with your elite PC school.

The wee kiddies told me yesterday that they are learning about "the New Year" this week and celebrating it to boot. Oh, you mean Chinese (Oriental Lunar) New Year? There are. . . there are no Asian kids in your class. I mean, I love Chinese New Year-- food, money, new clothing, family. Blar blah blar. I also love Mulan. Yeah!

Continue reading!

(See, I do.)

So this school, supposedly secular but stuffed so full of hysterically sensitive people that the kids aren't allowed to wear a Middle Eastern-type hipster scarf to school (a legit & quite beautiful one the father brought back from a business trip in Dubai or somewhere) because it's anti-Semitic, is using "ethnic" holidays to replace things like Christmas, Easter, etc as excuses to have parties in class or whatever. Which is fine, whatever, do what you want-- but don't ignore that these "ethnic" holidays have roots in religion and philosophy. It's not something quaint that slopey-eyed people do because they aren't white. On the other hand if exoticism is your goal than that's fucking weird. SO then how you gonna explain ancestor worship to these kids, hmm?

I remember in 1st grade we learned about Columbus. This was a public school in SoCal in the early 90s. When my father asked me what I had learned, I said something about how Columbus had kidnapped Indians. Because that was the only thing they had stressed. He was pissed, and I understand now what his point was. And I agree. Just telling that one side is as obscuring and damaging no matter what side. Columbus discovered America yay. Ok. Not enough. But it's the same as Columbus came to America and kidnapped Indians boo. Ok. So what. Still not enough. Tell kids why things are important. They're not stupid. And don't tell them the fucking world was flat then. It wasn't.

Or, how about-- a few weeks ago, teaching my nanny-kids gospel songs in an ostensibly secular school because black people sang it during the Civil Rights movement & Martin Luther King Jr is (was) next week. Doing so devalues the lyrics and their power and makes it seem, again, like something those wacky brown people just, you know, do, because it was "then" and they were "them." Taking things out of context is a dangerous thing to do. It is a form of censorship and infantilization. Not what I'd want to get out of 24K/kid/year. Religious, or in general, holidays-- including Christmas, Hanukkah, jeeze, even Kawanza-- are really interesting to learn about. Shying away from dicussing the background is cheating kids out of a real chance to learn about something they would otherwise not have the opportunity of exposure.

You know what? Speaking of awesome? Go look at the rest of this picture by MS Corley-- who PS has an Etsy page. Than go see Night Watch. I am rather ashamed that this movie completely slipped my mind when I was doing the best of the decade-- Night Watch is in like Flynn, yaddamean. Great action sequences, strangely moving stories, beautifully shot. Fabulous antihero. Completely confusing but equally awesome sequel. Most amazing subtitles ever-- really wish that style had been picked up by more studios.

So I was trying to figure out why I like this dress-- it's named after Winona Ryder's character in Beetlejuice, Lydia Deetz. And while I love the film & the characters, anyone inspired by Miss My Whole Life is a Dark Room makes me want to run the other way. THEN I realized that the dress recalls Rosalind Russell's outfit in His Girl Friday! Case solved, article written, court adjourned. I no longer have to secretly covet it.

harrison ford. you are wrong.

Says he--

I think it would be interesting to deepen the relationship between he and his son [Mutt, played by Shia LaBeouf] and play on that relationship. .... It's full of opportunity.

Nooo. No, it would not be interesting. Nobody wants (wanted) to see the relationship between Rebels & Ewoks deepened, or the relationship between Jar Jar Binks & the Jedi deepened-- or the relationship between JJB & Ewoks with the audience deepened. . . unless it involves a lightsaber. Ha-ha. Or maybe a Blastech E-11? Which is where I stop?

So, maybe it is safe to announce that there is no hope. Though I do love what Sean Connery thought of the new movie-- "rather good and rather long." Aww, he's just being nice, and he always knows what to say. Just try to fuck with that man.

But I think in the end, the problem was, really-- all the good that was in Indy IV was not good enough to make up for how failure-y the failures were. Much like that sentence.

is it, like, ok to make zoolander jokes again? because i think that's what these people are, like, doing?

"'We're going to burn everything, it's like opening Pandora's box,' Kate said. . . The result would offer an antidote to 'high gloss, high fashion, glamour, put-together, shiny, perfect-- everything too exact,' as Laura put it."

From the New Yorker. Rodarte dresses go for astronomical prices. I thought high prices were supposed to mean, like, well "put-together," maybe even "exact." (That's the point of Ikea, right? They are priced low because they are not "exact.") I understand their pieces tend to be highly detailed by hand, but the philosophy they are pushing is the same one behind ripped jeans.

And then this from Erin Wasson:

"The people with the best style for me are the people that are the poorest. Like, when I go down to Venice beach and I see the homeless, like, I'm like, 'Oh my God, they're pulling out, like, crazy looks and they, like, pulled shit out of like garbage cans.'" [via the Cut]

Like the guy who used to sit outside our apartment with his shirt off and pick at the seams? Because he had bugs? From pulling shit out of garbage cans? The guy wearing mismatched sweatsuits? I thought it wasn't cool to say this anymore, no matter what Brooklyn keeps vomiting out.

i want i want i want. . . to see this!

* Ray Winstone as a British gangster and jealous husband
* Ian McShane as Meredith
* John Hurt as Old Man Peanut
* Tom Wilkinson as Archie
* Stephen Dillane as Mal
* Joanne Whalley as Liz
* Melvil Poupaud as Loverboy [source wikipedia]

My Favorite of the Decade that I Can Actually Remember

1. The Proposition. Everything about this film is perfect. The look, the music, the themes perfectly delivered by Nick Cave's script, but especially the outstanding cast.

2. Kontroll. A subterranean fairytale that switches between truly frightening to truly funny to truly touching. It leaves a residual feeling that's hard to shake off, even if you've seen it five times before.

3. Breakfast on Pluto. Another fairytale-type, this time set in 1960s and 1970s Ireland. Based on a book by Patrick McCabe, it also has a badass soundtrack.

4. Infernal Affairs. Tight and thrilling. I usually can't describe films like that, but Infernal Affairs, which was remade as The Departed, was able to deliver. Tony Leung excellent, as always.

5. Sexy Beast. Not only a good crime caper but also featuring an outstanding cast. One of my favorite parts of this film was that it featured older, mature characters rather than slick People's Hottest People of the year. Not because those people are necessarily bad actors, but rather because it brings life to a somewhat worn-out genre. Another film that earns the descriptor of "menacing."

6. Eastern Promises. This film was exactly the right length, not just because it clocked in at 100 minutes. A controlled and succinct plot, punctuated by moments of violence that were all the more starker for their scarcity, resulted in a tight film that doesn't waste any time but is never rushed.

7. Momento. When a film is as good as everyone says it is, it's kind of a big deal.

Best Genre: I usually eschew this as a category, and you'll notice mostly genre (crime, thriller) above, but I want to mention these separately for what they did for their respective genres-- fine films on their own and also hopefully models for future genre films.

Sin City. Nobody had seen a film that looked quite like it til it came out. But it wasn't pretty empties. The plot was exciting and it pulled off pulp noir in a way that you don't see a lot.

Serenity. Great cast, great script, a nice dystopian anti-government ending which is most remarkable for featuring a dark ending that wasn't trying to show off its own daring the way other films try to do when they decide to involve deep scary plot twists to show how they're not genre.

King Kong/The Mummy Returns. These two films really show what you can do with the genre-- the Saturday matinee, B-movie vibe-- something that Indy IV stunningly failed to do.

Best Made a Funny: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy. Strangely, this film was a return to Monty Python & Marx Brothers' type absurdity, from 2004 before we were sick of Will Ferrell.

Best Animated Film: The Emperor's New Groove-- self-aware and still hilarious.

What about you guys??