Hip Hip…
Oh wow! Oh boy! Oh golly! A party? A birthday? Who’s birthday? No, it’s not the cast of Friends…but hey, there are six of them, so who knows. Alright, happy birthday David, Courtney, Jennifer, Matt, Matt, or Lisa. Whichever one of you has a birthday coming up soonest…congratulations.
No, no, no, no, this isn’t about them! What you see up there is just a picture I used. It’s about me, as usual. More specifically, it’s about this blog! Cinema-Rant is officially one year old!
Please contain your excitement! So what should Cinema-Rant feature for its one year anniversary? Should it be a post about a birthday related film? What about just sticking to classics; an old dependable film that everyone feels safe with? No…
So what’s the opposite of a dependable classic film? An exciting fresh Tv-show! See how I segued into that? It’s a good thing this blog isn’t fuelled by wit.
See, someone i know recently came to me “on this, the day of my blog’s birthday”, and asked for a favour…a plug. Actually, it was a generic Facebook message with my name slotted in…but damn it I take these things personally! I figured, why not pay it forward? (Pay It Forward, also the name of a film released in 2000. Good movie, cute idea, and one of the last Haley Joel Osment performances where his head wasn’t too big for his face.) Why not use this vast audience I have…of about 4 people…to shamelessly advertise an up-and-coming independent project. Who knows, what I’m about to show you might become the next great Aussie sitcom. It’s…
Mind the Gap is coming to YouTube! I’m guessing that means it’ll be free, as if anything online these days isn’t, which leaves you with no excuse for not seeing it. The show has been described as such:
“Mind the Gap is about a group of Australians living in London on working holiday visas.”
Wait, no, that’s a terrible way to sell it. We’ll try again:
“Mind the Gap is an ensemble sitcom set in West London. It follows a group of six Australians who band together in order to survive the dog-eat-dog nature of the British capital.”
There we go! To me it sounds a little like an Australian Benidorm, which can only mean good things.
I’d love to be able to say that I’m recommending this show on account of having seen it myself, but I can’t because it hasn’t been made yet. In fact, that’s what’s so exciting. You can follow the creation of the show online via its facebook page. It’s like watching an egg hatch!
Or maybe more like one of those little digital Tamagotchi things, for people who want pets but don’t like pets.
Not only should you follow the making of the show, but also give your seal of approval with a click of the ever-so-crucial “like” button. Remember that from the eventual disaster that was Kony 2012? Relax, in this case I feel fairly certain that it won’t end in the continued evasion of an African war criminal followed by the widely publicised arrest of a naked crazy man doing stretches in the street while possessed.
…actually, no. I shouldn’t promise that, I have no idea where the plot will go.
But that’s why we should all follow it and find out. Don’t you want to be part of concocting something new instead of just chewing all things old? It’s important to support new independent shows and movies so that they have a chance to become good ol’ classics. Wouldn’t you love to be able to say “I was one of the people who first helped Friends get off the ground!” or “I was one of the first fans of Seinfeld, before it went big.” Ok, perhaps you’re not that vain, but it’s still a good thing to do. Support new art, new entertainment, and new ideas! Keep your eyes peeled for the first episode on Youtube. I, for one, am excited to see how it’ll turn out. So now, it’s…”to the facebook page!”
Ignoradamus Vol. 2
Welcome to the sequel! Last time here on the blog I gave my predictions for the 2013 Oscars. Now they’re over and the results are officially in!
How did I do? I’ll tell you in a moment, but first let me just congratulate the Oscars on once again being a totally mixed bag of awesome, awful, and awkward. Seth McFarlene’s jokes were best described as “hit and miss” but some were delightfully witty and sufficiently rude. The audience was terrible; hardly laughing at all, and Seth…my man…you really shouldn’t giggle so much at your own gags. It looks really desperate, especially when everyone else in the room is just quietly ‘ooo’ing and ‘aww’ing.
I lost count of how many times I cringed at little mistakes. There were some few but noticeable examples of mispronounced words, false notes, and worst of all; pointless moments. Why did we need to see a live rendition of songs from Chicago and Dreamgirls, who cares about the long pauses between Melissa McCarthy and Paul Rudd, and how weird was it when Mark Wahlberg needed to assure the crowd that his announcement of two nominees tying was “no B.S.”? Still, stranger things have happened at the Oscars than just that and Jennifer Lawrence tripping over her dress.
For Best Costume Design I placed my bets on the costumes in Les Miserables winning. How did that go?
Alright, off to a bad start. The actual winner was Jacqueline Durran for Anna Karenina. Well, I wasn’t expecting a 100% success rate anyway, so it’s not really bad news yet.
The definition of insanity is repeating the same action twice and expecting different results…so this time I went for Les Miserables again!
…and it payed off! Aha! Who looks crazy now Rita Mae Brown? Mwahahaha!
So…Best Art Direction is apparently actually listed at the Oscars as Best Production Design. So, right off the bat, it’s a fail for the title. Still, I predicted The Hobbit would win…so who knows, I could still be…
…damnit! Lincoln won. Bastards.
And I suppose I’ll fail the next one too…
Ey? Interesting. Best Sound Editing was a tie between Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall. I’m…going to go ahead and count it as a win.
Alright, things are looking up now. Surely my Best Sound Mixing bet for Skyfall couldn’t possibly be beaten by…
…aaaaahhhhgh! Screw you Les Miserables!
I was a little worried about this one. After predicting Life of Pi, I started to think that The Avengers could really take the statuette at the last second.
But thankfully I stuck to it and I was right! (queue moonwalk!)
The editing in Life of Pi was so impressive, so spectacular, and so creative that it couldn’t possibly lose to something like…
…Argo? Really? Don’t get me wrong, I like Argo a lot, but Best Editing?
Fine, Life of Pi clearly isn’t winning all the technical awards. So, Best Cinematography? I don’t know…Skyfall?
No…of course not. Now it’s Life of Pi. Typical!
I had only seen two of the documentaries in this category, so I wasn’t entirely certain of this…but I placed my bets on Searching for Sugarman. You really have to see it to know why I said that…it’s just so undeniably good.
The Academy, like me, clearly loved it!
I really didn’t know about this one, nothing stood out to me. I picked Anna Karenina because the score incorporated real-world sounds, like many of Joe Wrights other films.
The real winner was Life of Pi. I’m starting to see a bit of a pattern here.
But Life of Pi, despite being set in India (and at sea), cannot win the Best Foreign Language Film. It was pretty obvious which one would.
Congratulation to Michael Haneke.
Right, now this one really pisses me off. Clearly Wreck-It Ralph was the most deserving winner. Great animation, a wonderful story, and it was full of important messages both for kids and adults.
Which film really won? Brave! Is The Academy mental? What’s wrong with you people? What a snub!
Honestly, I really thought Lincoln was going to pick up the Best Adapted Screenplay oscar. It seemed like such a safe bet. It was historical, patriotically american, important, and simply fantastically written.
The winner was Argo. I guess, in hindsight, it won for all the same reasons. How did I not pick up on that?
Here is my masterpiece! My best prediction of the night! No one seemed to know what was going to happen in this category, but I did!
Yeah! I’m not so certain that it really is the best original screenplay of the year, but I f-ing knew that The Academy would think it was. Now I’m just going to lay here in my self-loving soup of arrogance. Mmmm sooouup!
And I totally knew who was going to win this one as well. It was definitely going to be…
What? Who did win? Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained? That’s amazing! He already won once before for a very similar role. Ok, now I know…The Academy is mental.
But as mental as they may be…
…they were never going to get this one wrong.
Nor this one…
I mean, come on, they were obvious. I can’t take much credit for getting them right.
This one, however, was hard as hell. There were so many women who deserved to win that it could only be described as a free-for-all. I thought that the winner would be chosen politically, with the golden man going to either the oldest or the youngest person. In the end I chose the oldest.
But no, it was Jennifer Lawrence! How exciting! She’s shot right to the top in just a few years, from Winter’s Bone…to The Hunger Games…to Silver Linings Playbook. I’m so happy for her, and her little trip on the way up to the Oscar stage only made her more human and loveable. Well done, Jennifer! I’m not even totally upset that I got this one wrong…not totally.
Oh no. Oh boy. Oh jesus. I don’t know what to say here. No one had any idea who was going to win this one. That’s my defence! I took a stab in the dark…
…and I totally missed. Ang Lee won for Life of Pi, which I think is fair considering that Ben Affleck wasn’t nominated.
Still, to make up for Ben Affleck’s indefensible director snub, the winner of Best Picture was…
It could have been Les Miserables, but it wasn’t…and here’s the reason.
The entire society of filmmakers out there love to, incorrectly, think that their work is somehow changing the world; that a great film will shift the tide of human history. That’s why when a movie like Argo comes out, which depicts filmmaking actually playing an important role in humanitarian and political aid, it automatically get’s a standing ovation from The Academy. Movies about moviemaking, and specifically about how amazing moviemaking is, will always get a huge boost.
Regardless of the motives, I do still think Argo was the best film in the category. It earned the oscar fair and square, but enough about the Oscars…
…what about me? How did I do? Do I win the award for Best Oscar Winner Predictor, or will I have to “quit the biz” to save my honour? What’s the final score?
No no, don’t worry! I’m not going aaaaaanywhere!!! I’m going to stay right here writing this blog, probably forever, yaaay!
I said I hoped to get at least one third of my predicted wins correct, and that I did. Well done me! Oh, why thank you, me!
– Oscars Over!
Ignoradamus
Alright, it’s time for Hollywoods annual pat-on-the-back-athon. Ah yes, that yearly celebration where filmmakers of all kind hand each other golden statues in recognition of how globally important their recent work was. We all know that playing pretend and getting paid millions of dollars for it really does change the tide of human history, but there also needs to be an excentrically glamourised award show to hammer home the point. I’m of course talking about…
I don’t love The Oscars, especially since I disagree with them on so much. Still, I’m always excited to see what the nominations will be and, eventually, who takes home a nude little golden erect man. It’s a night or stars and sparkles, who can hate it? (No, I’m not gay…I’m a cinephile.)
After tonight I will give you my list of 2012 cinema favourites with my own little award show, but for now we must let the Oscars have their moment. Poor Oscars, they only get about 37 million people watching them every year. Not like my blog, which gets upwards of 15 – 40 views a day!
So let’s have a look at what the nominations are tonight:
Let’s be honest, nobody cares about awards like “best short film”, so I cut out the filler and narrowed it down to 20 categories. Still, even with some cruel Darwinistic trimming- it’s still a long list. No wonder the ceremony takes forever. Every year the Academy struggles to keep it under three hours and they constantly fail. Maybe if they spent less time trying to entertain us with gimmicks and songs, they’d have more than 45 seconds for the acceptance speeches.
Well, there are some good choices in there. I’m happy to see that Argo was nominated, but Ben Affleck got no love. Katheryn Bigelow and Tom Hooper, two recent winners, were also shunned whilst their movies weren’t. Meanwhile, as Emma Stone and Seth McFarlene pointed out in their announcement, every nominee in the “Best Supporting Actor” category has won before. Strange, but I digress…
Everything is set and the Oscars are happening mere hours from now. Here are my predictions:
All the nominated costumes, it seems, are period costumes. Great, the academy doesn’t exactly make it easy for themselves, do they? Jesus, such similarity. Tick tock tick tock…
Ok, ok! Mirror Mirror and Anna Karenina are certainly the most insanely overdone. The costumes in Lincoln, however, don’t distinguish themselves enough for me to put money on it. In the end I think…
…will probably walk away with the award. Why? Well, I think the love for Les Miserables will trump any sort of rational decision making. The grand scale of that film will no doubt have blown everyone away. It’s simply fixed in the judges minds. Personally, I’d like to see Anna Karenina get the award.
I will admit that the transformation of Anthony Hopkins into Hitchcock was magically impressive. Still, it’s a showcase example, meaning that I don’t think it’s enough to rally the full support of the Academy. The Hobbit is the exact opposite; an entire cast transformed…and not a small one at that. Still, I think the love for…
…will prevail once again. If I could choose, it would be The Hobbit.
But will that Les Miserables love diffuse into the Art Direction category. I’m going to put my balls on the line and say ‘no’. I think the Academy has too much of a conscience to let…
…walk away without an artistic award. After all they did give the the third in the trilogy the Best Picture award several years ago. Life of Pi and Lincoln will lose entirely I think, as well as Anna Karenina – even though that’s the one I’d like to see get it.
Hmmm, sound editing; the editing together of sound recorded on set. It’s a tough one, but I think…
…will beat Argo, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, and Skyfall. Why? Well, Zero Dark Thirty is a very gritty real-world film. It’s very unpolished, so the use of real sounds becomes all that more apparent and influential when watching it.
Sound Mixing, on the other hand, totally goes to…
This nomination almost always goes to action films of some kind. I mean, these are the academy awards that the Transformers movies took home for goodness sake. I could see Life of Pi possibly getting it, but Lincoln and Argo have very little chance. I don’t even understand why Les Miserables is in this category, since the original audio that was recorded on the set is all anyone has talked about when it came to this movie. Oh well.
Ok, now it gets interesting. In this category we have The Avengers and Prometheus making an appearance. Those are some serious contenders, and probably have more chance than The Hobbit or Snow White and the Huntsman – simply by virtue of the fact that those films didn’t resonate much in peoples memory. However, anyone who has seen…
….will bet their teeth on it. Ok, maybe not your teeth, but I can’t see how this ultra-visual spectacle of a movie can go home empty handed in this category.
This is where is really gets tricky. Argo and Zero Dark Thirty have some very similar editing, with very precise trimming together of handheld shots. Lincoln feels out of place here, as does Silver Linings Playbook. I’m going to say that…
…will get the editing award. The creative use of transitions in that film impressed me, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it’ll impress the Academy as well.
Anna Karenina and Django Unchained, right off the bat, are out. I give them little chance of winning. Life of Pi and Lincoln, however, make for some serious competition. Still, everyone loves Roger Deakins, so it’s going to have to be…
….and it will be interesting to see what happens afterwards, if I’m right, considering that Skyfall was shot digitally after Deakins finally “converted”.
There’s only one documentary that people are really seriously talking about this year. No, it’s not How to Survive a Plague, though that one may possibly end up being the winner. It’s…
One of the most beautifully and meticulously crafted documentaries I’ve ever seen. It needs to win, and I think it will. There’s your hint.
Hmmmm, yes hmmmm. I mean gee, hmmm. I don’t really know about this one. Nothing really stands out to me. Skyfall feels wrong, because it’s just so typically “bond”. Lincoln is boring, because the John Williams score seems so typical of Spielberg. Life of Pi’s musical score was moving, but unremarkable. Argo was….nothing to me in terms of music. I have to say…
…because he uses the sounds of the everyday motions and objects to his advantage, incorporating them into the score.
Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god, will it be Kon-Tiki? Can my native country of Norway finally win an oscar? …no. (Incidentally, No is also the name of the Chilean nomination for Best Foreign Language film)
And appropriately so. Kon-Tiki is good, but not great. The same goes for every other film, like A Royal Affair and War Witch. But not…
Amour will win. How can it not? It’s also nominated for Best Picture, for crying out loud.
This is where my personal feeling come into play. I would love to see ParaNorman win. If it did, the Academy would have gained some serious respect from me and my blog. I don’t think it will, though. I also don’t think Pirates: Band of Misfits, or Frankenweenie will either. It seems, to me, to be a toss up between Brave and Wreck-It Ralph. I’m going to go for…
Everything just seems to click with Wreck-It Ralph. It’s a genuinely good movie that kids and adults both loved, along with critics. The animation is also new and slick, instead of retro and unpolished.
I won’t waste your time. I’m pretty confident on this one. It’s going to be…
Look, everyone loves Lincoln’s speeches. How could a movie that consists of him speaking for hours not get the win? Silver Linings Playbook and Argo might be in with a shot, but I’m not too hopeful for Life of Pi and Beasts of the Southern Wild.
It could very well be Amour. It may indeed be Moonrise Kingdom. But if you push me, I’ll have to say…
…simply because it feels like his year. Django Unchained was loved by so many, and frankly his competition this year feels weak. Tarantino won the golden globe, so his chances are good. I hope, or dare I say ‘expect’, to see him up there with his giant head (literally and figuratively) – giggling geekishly over his hard earned statue.
There’s a lot to discuss here. Robert DeNiro recently had a breakdown during an interview with Katie Couric when talking about his experiences with bipolar disorder and how it influenced his decision to take the part in Silver Linings Playbook (believe me, that will play a part in all of this). Philip Seymour Hoffman is my pick to win, and has delivered the must underrated performance this year in The Master. Alan Arkin played such a memorable comic relief character in Argo, and Christoph Waltz was so grandfather-like and adorable in Django Unchained. Christoph will not win, however, on account of the fact that his performance too much resembles Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds – which he already won the oscar for. The winner, I very much suspect, will be…
….but god knows how happy he’ll be about it. He wasn’t exactly buzzing at the Golden Globes.
You’ve heard everyone say this. The undisputed best actress in a supporting role this year will be…
I’m not even going to list the others. If she doesn’t get the award there will be a major upset. Everyone is expecting to see Anne’s beaming eyebrows and teeth up there bawling out of happiness, not in the front row faking a gracious loss.
And naturally it follows as well that…
…will win in this one. It’s all anyone is talking about. At this point there’s no way I can imagine anyone else on that stage.
But this one is hard. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zero Dark Thirty‘s Jessica Chastain snatches this thing up at the last minute. A strong female role in a historically important film might just be the thing needed to sway the judges. Jennifer Lawrence winning for Silver Linings Playbook would be a great surprise, especially considering her influential status with the Hunger Games crowd. Quvenzhane Wallis winning may quite possibly be the most inspirational moment in oscar history, given that she’s the youngest person to ever be nominated. It really is anyone’s game…
…except Naomi Watts in The Impossible. She won’t win.
And I’m gonna stick my neck out there and say…
…the oldest nominee ever in this category, age 86. She’s someone everyone respects merely for the fact that she’s still alive and kicking. This is her last chance to win it, so they’ll give it to her. Congratulation Academy, you can sleep at night once you do this.
And now we have the category that’s making everyone’s head spin. No one knows what’s going to happen here. Ben Affleck and Tom Hooper, the two biggest favourites this year, aren’t nominated.
Michael Haneke, director of Amour is an underground favourite. Also…he’s very old.
Silver Linings Playbook‘s David O. Russell is a vicious prick who’s not looked upon too favourably by the Academy, or anyone else for that matter, on a personal level. That will no doubt play a factor. If you want to see why I called him a prick, you can find out here.
Beasts of the Southern Wild is the first film Ben Zeitlin has ever directed, so I certainly wouldn’t put him down as a sure thing. Imagine, though, how exciting it would be for him if he did win. The Academy is only human, so it must be on their minds too.
Ang Lee did such a spectacular job of putting together Life of Pi in a breathtaking and yet comprehensible manner. It won’t go unnoticed, that’s for sure. I wonder, however, how much the sensitive edgeless nature of it will add or detract from its strength in the category.
I think in the end the Academy will go for…
He’s safe, he’s strong, and it’s an important piece of work.
And finally, it’s the big one.
Firstly, let me say that Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook don’t have a fucking chance. Good, got those two out of the way.
Zero Dark Thirty is a very unlikely win because of it’s striking similarity to The Hurt Locker.
Amour and Beasts of the Southern Wild are both tiny indie favourites…but I don’t have high hopes for them.
The real contest is between Life of Pi, Lincoln, Les Miserables and…
I’m saying it. Argo will win Best Picture this year. I’ve been a fan of it since it was brought to my attention, and I think the story works so beautifully for every audience.
Les Miserables is its biggest nemesis, and it wouldn’t be shock to my system if I turned out to be wrong, but Argo will beat it. I think it deserves to win, and when it does…not if, when…The Academy will know once and for all that they robbed Affleck of a well deserved award.
Alright, it’s now 3 AM here in Scandinavia so the awards are just about to start. Talk about “last minute”, but I think it’s still important to have these prediction on record. Afterwards I’ll let you know how I did. I’m hoping to get at least 1/3 of them correct. If I bomb completely…do I reconsider careers? Clearly I’ll be out of touch with the industry…that can’t be a good thing.
– Rant Over….Awards Begun…
Valentines Day
Hey everyone, it’s that time of year…the anniversary of amore, the traditional heart throbbing, the celebration of sweetness. It’s time for the ol’ VD!
No, not that kind of VD! Valentines Day! Although, one can lead to the other. Be safe…always use protection.
So Valentines Day is tomorrow, and by now everyone is scrambling to buy their significant other flowers, chocolates, and other materialistic expressions of their mutual affection. A cynical person who, oh…I don’t know…hasn’t had a girlfriend for years might say that Valentines Day is a con thought up by card companies to exploit the neuro-chemical phenomenas experienced by people entering into the biological ceremony of procreation. A positive individual, on the other hand, might simply say “dawww, wurv is so wurvley!”
Well, I’ll have you know that I am not the cynic! At least not entirely, but I’m not the drooling fool either. I understand the appeal of love, and I’ve even felt it tearing on my heartstrings plenty of times before. Still…buying your girlfriend chocolates and flowers? Dude, how lame are you? Don’t do what everyone else does…it’s so…plain. I once cooked whale meat for a girl I loved, try beating that! Of course she wasn’t my girlfriend at the time, nor any time after. Hmm, I wonder why. Anyways, that’s a story for another time.
I’ve never actually spent Valentines Day with a significant other because none of my relationships have ever lasted long enough to enter February, but as a daydreamer I often wonder what I would do. What would I provide for my girlfriend on such a special occasion?
Oh calm that filthy mind of yours. Yes, the day of love itself can’t end without a passionate physical session of it – but before that…what do we do to get in the mood? Watch a romantic movie! Most people opt for the classic Rom-Com, awesome people go for a Zom-Rom-Com, and the absolute cream-of-the-crop moviegoers reach high up on the shelf for something even more…special.
So right here, on these grey pages of mine, I’m going to colourfully recommend to you the two movies that I would choose to watch with my imaginary spouse on the day of love. These are my two favourite romantic movies. If you haven’t seen them, maybe it’s about time you give em’ a go.
Now don’t worry, I’m not going to go all sub-textually out-of-the-box on you. I’m not going to recommend movies like Fight Club, Top Gun, or Heavenly Creatures because of their homoromantic undertones. These will be romantic films in largely the traditional sense of that word. We’re sticking to the conservative Shakespearian ‘boy-meets-girl’ notion of romance.
If you’re looking for a wacky slapstick laugh-out-loud comedy with a warm adorable ending that simply ticks the boxes, but does so admorably well, then get hold of a brilliant little Canadian film called Just Friends. It’s smart, witty, very funny, and ultimately quite sweet. Plus…it has Ryan Reynolds in it. Ryan Reynolds in a good movie is an unfortunately rare thing that needs to be supported. But that’s an aside note…
The first film I want to talk about follows the typical structure of a Rom-Com, but substitutes the typically broad elements for something much smarter…
The poster for Chasing Amy makes it look really generic when it’s actually anything but. It seems to imply that the four males pictured at the bottom are all in love with the same girl, Amy…wrong! In fact the girls name isn’t even Amy…so now you’re totally confused, right? IMDB will help you…
Holden (Ben Affleck) and Banky (Jason Lee) are comic book artists. Everything’s going good for them until they meet Alyssa, also a comic book artist. Holden falls for her, but his hopes are crushed when he finds out she’s a lesbian.
– IMDB
We’ve all heard of being ‘friend-zoned’, and wonder what could possibly be worse. Well, your crush having a different sexual orientation than you seems to be the answer. I can’t even begin to imagine the internal hell that Ben Affleck’s character goes through in this film, knowing that he can literally never be with the woman he loves. I mean, I’ve had unrequited love before, but I’ve never had totally impossible love.
This movie is described by most critics as a ‘sex comedy’, and sex is certainly the favourite subject matter of all the main characters. Still, those wouldn’t me my chosen words if I was trying to accurately represent the atmosphere of Chasing Amy. It’s directed by Kevin Smith, of Clerks and Mallrats, so you’re not getting a typical Love Actually‘esque romantic fling here. It’s actually full of deep perspective-revealing dialogue around the differences between love and sex. Where does sex and sexual orientation fit into a relationship, how does it change it? Is it possible for someone to love someone of the same gender and not be gay? Similarly, is it possible for someone to love someone of the opposite gender and maintain that they’re a homosexual? What defines straight and gay? What defines love, what defines sex, and ultimately where is the line between being friends and being lovers?
So I guess you could say that Chasing Amy is more of a philosophical romantically oriented sex comedy. Still no comprende?
Perhaps the trailer will do a better job of explaining it…
Wow, so the trailer completely removes all mention of the fact that she’s a lesbian. I’m sure it was an interesting marketing hook at the time, and I’m sorry if you feel like I spoiled something big, but to be honest you can’t plug this film into google without having that element ruined…so too bad so sad. It’s not even really a spoiler, since we find out within the first 30 minutes. The rest of Chasing Amy centeres around Holden struggling to manage his feelings, and that’s where it ends up being better than almost all other so called “romantic films” out there.
Oh, Ben, don’t stroke your hair and waft your “what?” at me. Look, here’s the deal…
Love is nice…but it’s also shitty. I imagine everyone reading this has experienced both ends of the rifle when it comes to relationships. A traditional romantic comedy, for lack of a better simile, is like emotional porn. It does what you need it to do. Two characters fall in love in the first act, have a couple little fights during the end of the second one, and then hook up spectacularly by the end of the third. The shaky bit in the middle is worrisome, but it’s nothing that a little heartfelt speech can’t fix. Boring! I want a movie about a relationship to actually make me feel like I’m watching a relationship. Not in a creepy way, just in a believable way. Holden and Alyssa’s up-and-down friendship is something that I can really identify with on multiple levels, and I think many of you will too.
“So, wait…You still didn’t say why it was called Chasing Amy.” Oh, didn’t I? Hmm…I guess you’ll just have to watch it if you want to know. For now, it’s on to the other half of this lovely duo…
795 words ago I told you that I wasn’t going to pick anything that was ‘out-of-the-box’. Punch-Drunk Love isn’t ‘out-of-the-box’, but it’s definitely pressing up against the lid. It’s very very hard for me to describe this movie to you, and IMDB really doesn’t help.
A psychologically troubled novelty supplier is nudged into a romance with an English woman, all the while being extorted by a phone-sex line run by a crooked mattress salesman, and purchasing stunning amounts of pudding.
– IMDB
See? Right now there’s a neurological current warping its way through your brain that will ultimately form the words “what in the world?”. I know, believe me I know, when I first read the synopsis I thought the same. I’ll try to break it down for you:
Adam Sandler plays Barry Egan. Barry Egan is a strange man with weird mannerisms and even weirder ideas. He most likely has asperger syndrome, autism, or something similar. He doesn’t connect emotionally with others the way the rest of us do, finding the world to be a big, loud, and scary place. However, he also has a hidden secret. Inside him he has a hulk-like violent rage, which reveals itself occasionally in a damaging an disorganised manner when he feels threatened. One day a dodgy crook, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and his gang of thugs begin to blackmail him for utilising their sex hot-line, continually exploiting his fragile psychological state. That is…until Barry falls in love, and finds it to be the help he needs in order to channel his emotions.
It occurred to me that the character of Barry Egan is a lot like Punch-Drunk Love itself; if you can get past the quirkiness of it…it’s absolutely adorable underneath. The director, Paul Thomas Anderson, is such an brilliant artistic genius that I would never have though he’d make a romantic comedy. It just didn’t seem to be his style, but alas all the greatest writer-directors ultimately prove their quality with one thing; versatility.
I remember watching this movie and not quite getting it for a long time. Sandler’s character is so cold for the first half of the movie that it almost makes you want to turn the film off. Please refrain from doing that! Everything is redeemed, and then some, in the second half. There’s been a lot of analysis of Punch-Drunk Love since it came out. Everything from the simplified colour palette to the disjointed soundtrack has been dissected and inspected for symbolism by various cinephiles and film-critics. There’s a lot to discuss, but to me…this movie is an unauthorised and personalised remake of a famous cartoon.
Just watch the movie, and think about it.
Oki doki, there you go! You now have two superb choices (if I do say so myself) for romantic movies you can watch with your spouse. I apologise in advance if you don’t like them…but…you still have a girlfriend or boyfriend. That’s more than a lot of other people can say. And on that bittersweet note, have a lovely Valentines Day.
– Rant Over!
Cinema Rant 