More Everything!

Stop looking so smug!!!

She was a junkie for the printed word. Lucky for me, I manufactured her drug of choice. ~ Grady Tripp

Wonder Boys is a pleasant film. But, I am not really using ‘pleasant’ as a compliment, more like an apathetic desciption. It sort of floats around from one nice scene to another. Everyone in it does a good job and seems to be having fun and then it’s over and you feel nice and warm and happy that you watched it.

The film follows an English Professor at a small liberal arts college in Pittsburgh through a few hectic days in his life as he deals with his literary agent who is hounding him to finish writing a follow-up book to his fame making masterpiece, an affair with the Dean’s wife, and watching over a brooding student who is probably a better writer than he is.

That being said, I feel like there was a really good film in there trying to get out. You have all of the right components: Great Lead Actors (Michael Douglas, Frances McDormand), really great supporting actors (Robert Downey, Jr., Tobey Macguire), circa-2000 Katie Holmes, a great Director, Curtis Hanson, following-up his greatest critical and commercial succes (L.A. Confidential), a top-notch writer, Steve Kloves, a great cinematographer, and much more.

All of these components should be able to craft a really great film. Instead, we end up with a pleasant film that just moves through its paces and gets from the beginning to the end. I am not sure where it went wrong. I imagine that with talent like that both in front and behind the camera, there was a severe shortage of constructive criticism on this project. I mean, who is going to second guess Curtis Hanson? Or Scott Rudin? Or Steve Kloves? And then this is what you end up with. Which, surprising enough, is still better than 90% of the other films that came out that year! It still just that it feels too comfortable for its own good.

I can’t help think about the what could-have-beens! How about a scene showing what went on in the bedroom with Downey, Jr. and Maguire. Or a scene building some tension when they are at Tripp’s soon-to-be ex in-law’s house. Or a scene that makes Katie Holme’s character seem talented or wise beyond her years, why should Tripp listen to her advice? Or or or or…I feel like I could go on and on and on. I can see myself watching this film again every few years and trying to challenge myself as to what I would have done differently. But, that is exactly what Netflix is for! DISCARD.

As I previously mentioned, here is the list of DVDs I am considering purging and links to what I have reviewed so far:

1. Storytelling (d. Todd Solondz) DISCARD
2. Good Night, and Good Luck (d. George Clooney) DISCARD
3. Punch-Drunk Love (d. Paul Thomas Anderson) DISCARD
4. Timecode (d. Mike Figgis) DISCARD
5. The Fountain (d. Darren Aronofsky) DISCARD
6. American Splendor (d. Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman) KEEP
7. Your Friends & Neighbors (d. Neil LaBute) DISCARD
8. Wonder Boys (d. Curtis Hanson)
9. Way of the Gun (d. Christopher McQuarrie)
10. American Beauty (d. Sam Mendes)
11. The Princess and the Warrior (d. Tom Tykwer)
12. Amores Perros (d. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)

Mary: Life is complicated. It’s a funny world. People can’t communicate. And you couldn’t keep your erection.

I came away from my viewing of Neil LaBute’s ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ with a few observations:

1. Ben Stiller looks like David Mamet’s twin (and I really wish he had written this movie).
2. This movie reaffirms my belief that Catherine Keener hates all men.
3. Aaron Eckhart really has range. To go from his character in ‘In the Company of Men’ to this, is such an huge change. It’s hard to believe this is the same guy.
4. Nastassja Kinski was really cute, why hasn’t she been in more movies lately?
5. I am convinced that Amy Brenneman’s Mary is supposed to be the same person as her character in Daylight, so this film is really a prequel to the Stallone Tunnel Collapse movie (which is one of my guilty pleasures!). The actions in YF&N are what drive her to finally try and leave New York in Daylight!
6. Jason Patric was convinced he would get an Oscar nomination for his ‘Steam Room’ speech in the movie (probably why he produced the film, too). The speech is written so well, but his delivery seems so self-aware. Like he knows how crazy it sounds, and is thinking ‘I’ll see you on stage next February!’ Instead, he didn’t work again for 4 years and his most recent film is entitled, ‘The Losers.’
7. The film goes in a circle and by the end, I really didn’t care what just had happened. I really didn’t care what happened to the characters or where they were going. I was just happy it was over.
8. I guess I must have enjoyed this movie more the first few times I watched it, but more likely, I liked saying I had a collection of Neil LaBute films.
9. I am going to DISCARD this DVD.
10. I am going to watch Daylight again (I think it streams instantly on Netflix). That scene where Stallone punches the C-4 into the wall of mud, while holding himself with one arm is sooo cool!

Here is the list so far (you can read my thoughts in the entries below:

1. Storytelling (d. Todd Solondz) DISCARD
2. Good Night, and Good Luck (d. George Clooney) DISCARD
3. Punch-Drunk Love (d. Paul Thomas Anderson) DISCARD
4. Timecode (d. Mike Figgis) DISCARD
5. The Fountain (d. Darren Aronofsky) DISCARD
6. American Splendor (d. Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman) KEEP
7. Your Friends & Neighbors (d. Neil LaBute)
8. Wonder Boys (d. Curtis Hanson)
9. Way of the Gun (d. Christopher McQuarrie)
10. American Beauty (d. Sam Mendes)
11. The Princess and the Warrior (d. Tom Tykwer)
12. Amores Perros (d. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)

“I felt more alone that week than any. Sometimes I’d feel a body lying next to me like an amputee feels a phantom limb. All I did was think about Jennie Gerhardt and Alice Quinn and all the decades of people I had known. The more I thought, the more I felt like crying. Life seemed so sweet and so sad, and so hard to let go of in the end. But hey, man, every day is a brand new deal, right? Just keep on working and something’s bound to turn up.”

Wow…I had completely forgotten what a great film, American Splendor really is. It so rare to find a completely original film, that just grabs your attention and keeps hold for 101 minutes. It is really hard to describe the film, but I guess I will go ahead and do it anyway: The film is a look at Harvey Pekar, a hospital file-clerk from Cleveland, who decides to start writing underground comic books about his life. No super powers, no costumes, just everyday life, since “Ordinary life is pretty complex stuff.”

Paul Giamatti plays Pekar during most of the film (I say most, since there are some quasi-documentary parts that involve the real Pekar and also some animated sequences that are torn from the pages of the comic books) and he nails it. No matter what Giamatti is doing in this film, you want to see what happens next. Hope Davis also stars, as his 3rd wife Joyce. She so gets this complex role, that she turns this odd woman into such a lovable person, you are willing to embrace and accept her.

The film has such a unique look and moves seamlessly through its different styles. I give lots of credit to the two directors and am sad that they really haven’t worked much since the making of this film (The Nanny Diaries?!?!).

I had such a good time watching this film that I kept thinking, I can’t wait until my son is older and I can show him this movie and tell him that not all movies are about giant robots and caped crusaders. Some of them are just about living life, but they are still just as exciting!

My first DVD that I am going to KEEP.