On tap this week:
— Giving a pass
— Crossing the Coen Brothers
— Pole Dancing
And slightly much more!
So I’m watching VH1 late at night before I move and I saw the greatest fitness product ever: Flirty Girl Fitness.
That’s right . . someone opted to turn the art of exotic dancing into a workout routine. They even send you a pole so you work it there as well as a separate chair dancing routine. HOLY BALLS, that is awesome.
You know, as much as there’s a creativity dearth in this country but wow. We have officially made it possible to exercise while turning it into a whore-ish activity. If only they could install this at Bally’s and make it so that you have to have a certain body type to use it. . .I would never leave it.
Random Thoughts of the Week
Back when we used to do monthly features here, I had a whole file of stuff set up so we wouldn’t be scrambling for ideas. But people stopped doing them, our staff shrank and well . . . I admit my laziness had something to do with the fact that regular monthly features stopped altogether outside of our end of the year specials. One I always wanted to do, but never got to do, was called “Giving a Pass.”
Some actors do one awesome movie that is so good that no matter how bad their film resume is you can still view them in a positive light. Like if Kevin Costner had guest starred in 90210 as Donna’s boyfriend who slapped the snot out of her you can totally forgive him for it because he did Bull Durham. Costner could totally pull a Ray Pruitt on a major actress in a film and he won’t get the same treatment that Jamie Walters did. Why? Because he’s in the two greatest films about baseball and two of the films that can seriously merit attention in the “Best Sports Film Ever” category, that’s why.
That led me to think that Costner isn’t the only one who gets a pass for all the bad films he makes because he did Bull Durham and Field of Dreams. I totally will give Luke Wilson a pass for Idiocracy and Old School. Gene Hackman gets it for Hoosiers and The French Connection. I could go on, but I think there’s a greater pattern going on in here. Bruce Willis has the ultimate pass, as Die Hard redeems any of his “comedies” or the span of films where he tried to be a serious actor (as opposed to an action god). Mickey Rourke basically gets a pass for 90% of his career because of The Wrestler.
It’s kind of a strange phenomenon; some actors continually assail the screens with god awful movies on a regular basis but because they’ve done one awesome role we’ll continually give them a pass because of it. I think it’s because we still think an actor who’s shown they have no taste in films will somehow manage to get on a streak wherein they pick a series of excellent flicks. We still hold out hope that Costner will pick a series of excellent roles instead of another round of films like The Postman, Tin Cup or The Bodyguard . But I can pop in The Untouchables and it’s somehow ok.
A Movie A Week – The Challenge
This Week’s Film – Miller’s Crossing
The Coen Brothers are the hardest directors to pin down because they take on so many different styles and genres. A year after they go down the dark alley in No Country for Old Men they go to the quirky comedy in Burn After Reading. They’ve done so many different types of films you can’t really peg them down like you can Michael Mann (crime films), Michael Bay (action), Judd Apatow (comedy) and other top directors. When all is said and done it makes them in a special category no one else has. You don’t see Marty Scorsese doing a film like The Big Lebowski or Spielberg behind a film like Fargo. In a sense they don’t get the credit they deserve; no other director (or directing team) is as consistently good across the spectrum as they are. They’re also willing to take major chances, as well, and Miller’s Crossing was a massive chance they took early in their career.
An homage to gangster films, it follows the story of a well connected gangster (Gabriel Byrne) and his life in the mob. Featuring what now would be considered a first rate cast, but then was another small budget indy flick, he gets Byrne (about to a fleeting moment of stardom in Usual Suspects), Marcia Gay Harden, Coen brothers’ regular John Turturro, Albert Finney and others.
Stylistically it’s very interesting, as we get to see the Coen style before it really was fully developed. Their cinematography and editing styles are still similar to what they’ve done recently, as No Country seems derivative of the style of Crossing while also refining it as well. It’s always interesting to see a great director (or in this case, a directing team) in their early stages of development.
Strong recommendation.
What Looks Good This Weekend, and I Don’t Mean the $2 Pints of Bass Ale and Northwestern University Co-Eds with low standards at The Keg
Earth (2009) – Earth day crap on the big screen or something. Morgan Freeman narrates.
Skip It – If your into the whole environmentalist screed, do yourself a favor. Clean up some toxic waste instead of wasting valuable electricity and extending your carbon footprint by watching this.
Fighting – Channing Tatum is a street fighter and Terrance Howard is his plucky coach.
Skip It – I already saw this flick. It was called Never Back Down and wasn’t worth the price of admission then. It won’t be now, either.
Obsessed – Random guy gets stuck between a psycho stalker who’s incredibly hot and a wife who’s also incredibly hot.
Skip It – Unless Idris Elba is smart enough to realize it’d be way more fun to be between Ali Larter and Beyonce in bed, there’s not a lot of reasons to see this film.
The Soloist – Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. arrive with 2008 Oscar bait five months too late.
See It – Robert Downey Jr. is on such a roll at this point that this is the second film of 2009 that was supposed to be in Oscar contention (the other being State of Play). This is your other candidate to be the Upside of Anger type of masterpiece that gets completely overlooked by the end of the year.
The Informers – Wacky shenanigans in 1980s L.A from the novelist behind American Psycho, Less than Zero and The Rules of Attraction (Bret Easton Ellis).
See It – Opening on 400 screens, it’ll be tough to find if you’re not near a major market. But apparently production was a massive train-wreck and everyone involved seems a bit embarrassed by it. That always means it’s going to be fun as hell to make fun of in the theatre while under the influence.
Do you have questions about movies, life, love, or Branigan’s Law? Shoot me an e-mail at Kubryk@Insidepulse.com and you could be featured in the next “Monday Morning Critic.” Include your name and hometown to improve your odds..
