Happy Holidays

A movie about holidays for the holidays. Except Jules et Jim is about different holidays. French people in countries like Europe and England go on holidays which is to say that's what they call their vacations there. These are usually 3-4 day trips that involve staying in cottages, singing songs, and awkwardness. In France, class is designated by sweaters. Everybody is a writer or musician. And women are not to be trusted. This is what I've gleaned from Jules et Jim. Happy Holidays.

love triangle, schmove schmiangle

allow me to put my hating cap on real quick, for jules et jim is not on point.


there's a love triangle going on here between jules jim and catherine. and they're all idiots.

Jim: congratulations Jules on your new life and marrying the girl of your dreams.
Jules: she no longer likes me, you want her?
Jim: ok.

Catherine: please come over.
Jim: but you're married to my best friend Jules and you pulled a gun on me last time.
Catherine: but i'm really lonely.
Jim: ok wait right there.


the one highlight for us was when catherine serenades her men. even though her diddy's in french, it translates into english while still maintaining its rhyme scheme. best part by far.
J&J had some ill coats too. as do most of the male leads in the Criterion thus far.
we'll see how this compares to our next selection which is also from the land of france, band of outsiders. a bien tot.

I'm Afraid of this Movie

it's been two weeks after we first saw the man who fell to earth and i'm finally almost ready to revisit it.what i took away from bowie's vanity project was that if i saw it when i was 5, i would not be the same person i am today.

like there's this one scene where, on a whim, bowie's character locks himself in the bathroom and removes all of his hair (and eyeball covers) and then reveals himself to this poor woman who just wants him to stop watching his 15 tvs every now and then and who, upon seeing that her skinny, androgynous lover is actually a nipple-less martian freak, proceeds to pee her pink miniskirt.

after this scene, TMWFTE gets all 70's on us and we feel like we're intruding on something that we don't even want to be a part of anyway. but there is this one song near the beginning when rip torn's character is introduced that is so freaking amazing i wish i remembered how it went.

Life on Mars

ARI
Two words. Asian Horror.
(hands him a script)

VINCE
I don't know Ari. I don't do
horror.

E
(less than amused)
Come on, Ari. A Japanese remake?
Don't you think Vince is beyond that?

ARI
I would agree, E, if it wasn't
being directed by one of the greatest
English directors of our time.
Turn to page five.

VINCE
(turning a page)
Nicolas Roiyg?!

ARI
Boom!!

VINCE
Bad Timing? Don't Look Now? I had
nightmares about David Bowie
until I was thirteen after
The Man Who Fell to Earth.
Roiyg is a genius.

VINCE
What do you think E?

They all wait on E to say something.

E
Looks like we're going to England.

HEAR song 2 by Blur.
End Credits.

Never duplicated

Before i go into the final altman selection, Secret Honor, i have to bring up something.
While looking for our page on google, we found out that some dude in california had the same idea as we did.
nice work.

ok so due to scheduling conflicts i watched secret honor, which is a faux-reality account of a post-watergate Nixon, with my right hand girl Jonna. she was asleep for 80% of it. and i was jealous. you see, this movie is kind of like a play...with one set..annnd one actor. it made me feel young. and invariably restless.

btw we're nowhere to be found on google...yet.

pud intended.

Short Cuts. 2nd Altman (RIP) flick thus far. And it's a doozy, replete with comas, phone sex, jazz, and Tom Waits. And Fred Ward. It's too bad that this film is so frequently lumped in with ensemble pieces like Crash, and SC simulacrum "Magnolia." What separates this film from the latter is the fact that it's not nearly as heavy handed or into itself.

Altman's feminist bent is present in droves. Bare vages seem to be of thematic significance as is the interplay between sexually potent females and pudenda obsessed men. Julianne Moore is forever NSFW, for better or worse. Tim Robbins as a traffic cop kicks game to a woman in a clown costume.

Short Cuts is a skewed and twisted slice of life that explores failed and failing relationships, death and denial, and drinking in the city with a cast that rivals any in recent memory. Altman handles his biz. I don't care what anybody says, PT Anderson bit this movie hard and is clearly the Quentin Tarantino of overlong multiplot.

Criterion Collection is oversexed.

Sociables

the menu screen for 3 Women is scary. shelly duvall is saucy. and sissy spacek was carrie.

altman (rip) shares with us his interests of pool mosaics and food snacks.

this movie is rated R, which is weird cuz most of it takes place at a spa for senior citizens, but then you get to the 2nd-to-last scene and you understand.

It's All Happening

Billy Liar is one that slipped under our radar, scooped at the local West Coast Video based solely on the dope cover art and the criterion stamp. It's fresher than a 40 year old film should be.

Billy is 20-something and wants to be a writer but would rather be sleeping. It's fun and familiar without being predictable. And Julie Christie is a dime.

ya like dags?....then watch Straw Dogs

if you are a fan of mysterious plotlines....capable actors (read: Dustin Hoffman, pre Meet the Fockers).....aggressive sexuality.....and strange locales, then peep Straw Dogs.

microphone check 1,2..

...what is this

good question. one without an answer, maybe. or perhaps one with more answers than we'll ever know. who cares. what we do know is that we are going to be watching a lot of movies--at a comfortable pace.

thank you for your bloggership (?)

note: this intro is a little misleading because we've already started The Criterion Project (TCP) about 1.5 months ago. immediate subsequent posts will be hazy recaps.