Dave’s Film Festival: catching up

As you may recall, dear reader, some weeks back I began viewing selections for Dave’s Film Festival, a new event on the industry circuit that consists of me borrowing films from the local library, watching them, and giving you my thoughts on each. Unfortunately, while I’ve been keeping up with the viewings, I’ve been derelict in providing you with my analysis. And though, in the interest of time, I won’t give full recaps, I’ll play a little catch-up by telling you what was viewed, with brief summation of each (in order of viewing):

Serpico (1973) – A crime drama by director Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino. Gives the story of a hippie-loving cop who busts a corruption ring engulfing much of the New York City police force.

The Asphalt Jungle (1950) – A landmark film noir effort by director John Huston. Profiles a bank heist gone wrong, as well as the backstabbing and repercussions that follow.

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) – Another Lumet/Pacino film, outlining yet another failed bank heist. Famous for the line “Attica!”, yelled repeatedly by Pacino to stir up the crowd outside and turn the event into a spectacle, which it was.

The Conversation (1974) – Starring Gene Hackman as a surveillance man struggling with regret and paranoia, this was the film Francis Ford Coppola made between the first two Godfather pictures, and it stands tall even compared to those.

Network (1976) – One more Lumet picture, this a somewhat farcical tale of a television news program overtaken by a ratings war and general ’70s decadence; famous for the line “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it any more!”, yelled by a news anchor. While that portion of the film was entertaining, an interwoven story line about a love triangle rang hollow and brought down the entire film.

The Fearless Freaks (2005) – A documentary about Oklahoma band The Flaming Lips by Oklahoma filmmaker Bradley Beesley, this was an entertaining look at one of the more daringly creative and influential rock bands around today.

Okie Noodling (2001) – Another documentary by Beesley, this time looking at the predominantly southern art of “noodling” or “hand-fishing”, which consists of shoving one’s hand in a mud hole in hopes of enticing a large catfish to latch on. Engrossing.

Barton Fink (1991) – One of the early critical successes by the film-making team of brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. Tells the story of a New York City playwright in the 1940s who attempts to make a go of it in Hollywood.

Solaris (2002) – Starring George Clooney, this is the second film version (the first was in 1972) of a Polish novel in which a mysterious planet plagues the astronauts orbiting it.

New trailer for upcoming Scorsese film on the Rolling Stones

Barrett has once again alerted me to a very hot tip (and reminded me that this is a blog I should check out more often). He sent me an e-mail this morning directing me to the new trailer for Martin Scorsese’s upcoming rock documentary on the Rolling Stones, Shine A Light (the title is taken from a song from the Stones album Exile on Main St.).

[You can also see a more high-def version of the trailer at the film's official website.]

The film was originally supposed to come out in September, but now has apparently been pushed to April. It documents a Stones show from ‘06 at New York City’s Beacon Theater, where the Allman Brothers have also recorded a number of well-renowned gigs. Having seen the Stones last year with Marsha in Wichita, I can attest that they’re still very entertaining live, despite their advanced age (I believe Mick, Keef, Charlie and Ron are all now in their 60s), and the film trailer seems to back that up. The film also features behind-the-scenes footage of events leading up to the performance, as well as some archival clips of the band.

One slight concern — and I’m sure I’m not the only one to voice it — is the guest appearance of pop vixen Christina Auguilera, joining Mick on the song “Live With Me”. That being said, the girl has a got a dynamite voice, and she’s done some respectable work the past couple years, including a good rendition of the Leon Russel number “A Song for You” on one of Herbie Hancock’s recent albums. And to make up for any bubble gum confusion, Shine a Light also includes guest appearances from Buddy Guy — one of the last living blues legends — and Jack White of the White Stripes.

Scorsese, the filmmaker responsible for such classics as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and The Departed, also has a lot of credibility when it comes to rock docs. He made The Last Waltz, released in 1978, which chronicled the final concert of The Band, and which is often regarded as the best film ever in the genre. And in 2005, he released No Direction Home, a stellar look at Bob Dylan’s career in the ’60s. After viewing the trailer for this new film, it looks like he’s crafted another gem.

[And in case you were wondering about my opinion, dear reader: Yes, the Stones are the best rock n' roll band in the history of the world. And yes, I'm very excited about this film. I'm praying to all things holy and decent that it receives a showing on the big screen here in OKC. They still haven't brought the new Dylan film here yet, and it's not even a documentary!]

[One more addendum: As if all this weren't enough, you can also watch the new trailer for The Dark Knight, the next installment in Christopher Nolan's Batman series. Due out next summer. Looks incredible.]

Scorsese does Hitchcock

Here’s something you might get a kick out of. Current filmmaker Martin Scorsese making a short “film” tribute of sorts to legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. In actuality, the piece is an ad for Freixenet sparkling wines. But the ad itself is a nearly ten-minute segment combining documentary style scenes and an actual short film. The plot consists of Scorsese purporting to have found a “lost”, four-page Hitchcock script (with one page missing), entitled The Key to Reserva, and then shooting it “the way (Hitchcock) would’ve made the picture then, only making it now”.

While the scenario’s reality is certainly in question, the enclosed short film (about three-and-a-half minutes in length) is fun to watch, as it basically serves as an homage to numerous classic Hitchcock scenes, thereby serving as a short, loving tribute to Hitchcock himself. Heck, for that matter, the whole ad is fun to watch. It’s similar to the series of amusing American Express ads (by Scorsese and Wes Anderson, among others) in which different filmmakers take good-natured shots at their own styles and personae. Likewise, The Key to Reserva plays off Scorsese’s reputation as an obsessive curator of the history of cinema, which gives a spark of life to the thought in the back of your mind that maybe, just maybe, this is the real deal, making the ad that much more fun. (The ad’s closing scene clearly lets the audience in on the joke, in case they weren’t already).

Dave’s Film Festival, entry #3: “Dog Day Afternoon”

The next feature in the inaugural run of Dave’s Film Festival is Dog Day Afternoon, directed by Sidney Lumet and released in 1975. The film marked a reunion of Lumet with actor Al Pacino; the two had worked together a few years earlier in Serpico (the DFF opening-night selection).

Like that film, Dog Day Afternoon is somewhat of a crime drama, though the former is told from a cop’s perspective, while the latter looks at the scene through the eyes of two apparently first-time bank robbers. This film, at least its first half, is also somewhat of a dark comedy. Sonny (Pacino) leads the attempted heist of a Brooklyn savings-and-loan, but as in so many such films (see the review of the previous DFF selection), things don’t go at all as planned. For starters, the vault is nearly empty. But things really go south when, after Sonny tries to burn the bank’s register log, locals see the smoke and the police soon arrive.

The bulk of the film involves what happens next. Sonny engages the cops in a standoff for the rest of the evening and well into the night. In the process, he riles up the crowd that has assembled by taunting the swarm of cops and federal agents that have him cornered (he does so in particular by yelling “Attica! Attica!”, in reference to the Attica prison riots of 1971). The bank’s employees, mostly female tellers, start to form a bond with their captors. And eventually, we learn Sonny’s true motivation for the heist: this Vietnam war vet with a wife and several children needs money for a gender-change operation for his male companion.

At this point, the humor starts to seep out of the film, and most of our time is spent looking at Pacino’s sweaty face and wild hair (the cops have shut off the air-conditioning), so we can attempt to figure out what’s going on in this odd bird’s head.

In his review of the film, Ebert calls Pacino’s Sonny “one of the most interesting modern movie characters”, and certainly, as the film progresses, we realize that this film is not so much about a bank heist as it is a character study. This guy’s world has spun completely out-of-control; we see on his face that he realizes it in the film’s opening scene, and we see it again at the film’s end, as well as at numerous points in between.

When comparing the two Lumet-Pacino pictures screened during DFF thus far, Serpico stands out to me as the more enjoyable film. But I can’t discount Pacino’s character in Dog Day Afternoon, either; I spent the entire movie wondering what he was going to do next, and that’s a pretty good mark for any film.

Dave’s Film Festival, entry #2: “The Asphalt Jungle”

The next entry in Dave’s Film Festival is director John Huston’s 1950 film The Asphalt Jungle, considered a classic of the film noir genre, which Huston had already helped pioneer in one of his previous films, The Maltese Falcon.

The film’s plot is a story of a bank heist that goes wrong and continues to turn sour well after the job is done. Upon his release from prison, a veteran criminal, Doc, assembles a group of small-time crooks to pull off the heist. They include a vault specialist, a heavy (Sterling Hayden of Dr. Strangelove), and a driver. After problems arise during the heist itself, more trouble comes from Doc’s financiers and from a police force trying to overcompensate for its stigma of corruption and ineptitude.

Some points of the movie didn’t come across too well. Certain production aspects weren’t believable, even for a 1950s film. For instance, the driver, who is shown in several scenes, is meant to be a hunchback. But the only scene in which this was physically apparent was the scene, a good two-thirds into the movie, in which another character refers to him as a hunchback. In every other scene — even after the fact is mentioned — I did not notice he was a hunchback. Also, the plot seems to unravel pretty steadily at the film’s end; the final few scenes with Hayden’s character, in particular, seemed unnecessary. [Please keep in mind that, at this point, all the films in Dave's Film Festival are films that I've never seen before. Were I to watch them again, I might notice new layers or plot points that would alter my opinion of the whole. But at this point, this is a first-impression affair.]

All in all, I enjoyed The Asphalt Jungle well enough, though I think Marsha fell asleep toward the end. I can certainly see how the film has influenced a great number of noir pictures that have come after it, particularly bank heist movies. But if you’re wanting to see just one classic noir film, I’d go with The Maltese Falcon.

Talkin’ ’bout “The Dark Knight”, “I’m Not There”

Somehow, yesterday (I don’t remember how it got started), I found myself searching for all things related to The Dark Knight, the next installation of filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s take on the Batman series, due out next summer. For those of you who don’t think Nolan’s first effort, 2005’s Batman Begins, is by far the greatest Batman film yet, well, you’re just wrong. In fact, as a guy who doesn’t usually go nuts over superhero movies (but who is a Batman fan), I can honestly say that it’s one of my favorite movies period.

Anyway, I’m particularly interested in what will be the outcome of actor Heath Ledger’s portrayal of über-villain the Joker in Knight. Clearly, the guy doesn’t like to be typecast, seeing as how he’s portrayed everything from a heartthrob, to a skate bum mentor, to a drug addict. And there was that western he did, and his turn as Casanova immediately following in a thinly veiled attempt to let people know that he still likes girls. But forgetting all that, if you’ve seen the still frame of him as the Joker, or read some of the comments he’s made about the role, you’d agree that we have reason to expect good things.

I’m also eager to see his performance in the new Bob Dylan pseudo-biopic I’m Not There, in which he portrays an avatar of Dylan’s late-1960s, early ’70s period, during which Dylan was in extreme demand, yet became somewhat isolated from both the rest of the world and his earlier role as a voice of the ’60s. In the film, Ledger plays one of at least six different versions of the Dylan mystique. [Batman himself, or at least the actor Christian Bale who portrays him in both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, also plays one of the Dylans in I'm Not There. Crazy.]

To sum up, here’s a good New York Times article on Ledger as an actor.

Dave’s Film Festival, entry #1: “Serpico”

The first screened entry in Dave’s Film Festival is Sidney Lumet’s Serpico, released in 1973. The film stars Al Pacino in the title role of Frank Serpico, a real-life New York City police officer who helped expose a ring of corruption within the NYC law enforcement system in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

I was interested in viewing the film after seeing it referenced in the Wes Anderson film Rushmore, in which the main character puts on a stage adaptation of the film at his high school. And when watching Serpico, one can easily see many of the stylistic touches that Anderson employs in his films: distinct coloring, unique wardrobe choices, and conspicuously straight-ahead camera angles at certain key moments (such as one of the final scenes in which Serpico testifies before the Knapp Commission).

Like many Seventies movies, Serpico takes a harsh view of the world. The title character eagerly joins the police force as a young man, but soon finds that some cops play fast-and-loose with the rules in their attempts to deal with criminals. But what really gets to him are the constant payoffs that other cops take from bookies and other lowlifes. Over time, as Serpico continually refuses his share of the money, other cops become distrusting of him, and he bounces around from precinct to precinct, ostracized at nearly every turn and receiving little to no help from his superiors.

The film focuses intently on what sets Serpico apart from the other cops. The first major difference is his appearance; Serpico dresses like a hippie, so he’s more effective at fitting in for plain-clothes duty than his fellow officers. The second is his unwillingness to take payoffs, and the majority of the film’s plot documents the frustrations this causes in both his professional and personal life.

Pacino is very good in this film, in which his intensity dominates nearly every scene. His character is of either Italian or Greek heritage (I couldn’t tell for sure), and the family scenes are underscored with Mediterranean music, just like the Godfather pictures. Perhaps we’re supposed to see what could happen if Michael Corleone happened to be a NYC cop instead of a criminal.

All said, I enjoyed the film immensely. Its Seventies style was engrossing, though not overpowering (unlike many films from that decade), and actually added to its appeal, similar to some of Woody Allen’s Seventies movies. And though I had an idea about how the plot would end, I didn’t know for sure, and so I had extra reason to stick around. Recommended.

Dave’s Film Festival

With all these folks signing up for Netflix (or the Blockbuster version thereof) so they can rent more movies for less money, I’ve decided to plot a different course toward the same end. I’ve signed up with a program that allows me to rent more movies for a lot less money: namely, the Oklahoma County public library system.

No, it’s not very sexy to check out your movies from the library, and they don’t have a lot of blockbusters (no Spider-Man 3, dang). But they do have a lot of classic titles that I’ve wanted to see for a while. And they’re free (excluding late fees, which one need only exercise a sparse bit of memory to avoid). That’s still quite a bit cheaper than even Netflix.

And who knows, every once in a while, I may find one there that came out after the beginning of the new millennium.

So, in this spirit of free films, I’m launching the first ever Dave’s Film Festival. It will likely be an ongoing, sporadic affair, consisting of me and (usually) Marsha watching selected entries whenever we have the chance. And attention all you film buffs out there: Dave’s Film Festival is open to the public. In other words, if you know where I live, you can come watch the movies with me. Would Ebert extend such an offer? I think not. [Update: Marsha says to call first.]

There’s really only two criteria if you want to enter your film into Dave’s Film Festival. First, your film has to be available for free within the Oklahoma County public library system. Second, it has to be a film that I’m interested in seeing. I understand it may be difficult to know whether your film will appeal to my delicate yet preternaturally good tastes. Perhaps the best way to gauge it is to read my reviews of other entries and use your best judgment to determine how your film stacks up against the rest.

In truth, I’ve already watched the first three entries. Two, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, are Sidney Lumet pictures starring Al Pacino. The third is John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle. All three are crime dramas, yet all look at the subject from notably different angles.

Please be on the lookout for reviews of the entries in Dave’s Film Festival. Of course, I will be posting reviews of most, if not all, of the successfully screened entries right here on this blog. I look forward to your feedback.

Finally saw “Darjeeling Limited” last night

So, last night Marsha and I finally saw Wes Anderson’s new film The Darjeeling Limited, of which I’ve previously blogged about quite a bit. It’s a story about three brothers — played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman – on what’s intended to be a journey of spiritual and self-discovery through India, during which the siblings at least kind of hope to reconnect with one another; they haven’t seen each other in the year since their father’s death.

The film features a lot of the same themes as Anderson’s other movies: familial distrust, parent issues, quirky behavior. And it has many of the highly unique visual settings and very particular shots you’d expect from an Anderson film. But another of the common threads that run throughout an Anderson film has been his severely deadpan style of humor; that is, until now.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some funny moments, though few (if any) laugh-out-louders. Instead, this seems to be Anderson’s first full attempt at making a movie that is not first and foremost a comedy, but rather a true look at humans for what they are. (Here’s another review toward that end, though it’s probably even more gushy than mine. To attempt some sort of “balance”, here’s a review that’s not as kind.)

Anderson has verbalized his admiration for the French New Wave filmmakers, to whom he’s been compared stylistically. A lot of those French New Wave films, to me, seem to be not so much about events, like most movies today, but rather about being. It’s a differentiation Anderson has come close to making in his previous films, but he gets closer to the mark here. Unlike most of his past films, like Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums, redemption for the characters in Darjeeling isn’t fully realized. They don’t totally reconnect with all the people in their lives. The mom and dad issues aren’t resolved — in fact, they’re left conspicuously hanging. And the story doesn’t come to a full conclusion. But if you’re going for that French New Wave feel, it ends how it’s probably supposed to. (I said to Marsha after we left the theater, “It was pretty existential, wasn’t it?”, not so much as a question, but just to see if she agreed. She did.) 

So, all that being said, here’s the summary: the first half is kind of funny; the second half is a thinker; I really liked it; and I look forward to seeing it again soon.

[Addendum: I'd read that some of the events in the film retain even more poignancy considering Owen Wilson's recent troubles. After seeing the movie for myself, I can say that's definitely true. Incredibly enough, this recent MySpace interview of Wilson by Anderson, his longtime friend, is just as moving, though I don't know for sure that it's meant to be.]

New Dylan film looks trippy, but I still can’t wait to see it

I’ve already mentioned two of the films opening this fall that I’m eager to see: The Darjeeling Limited and No Country for Old Men. The third is the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There. From what I’ve read (particularly this article from the most recent New York Times Magazine), this is no ordinary musical biopic, like the recent films on Ray Charles or Johnny Cash. It’s kind of a trippy montage of tales about characters meant to represent Dylan in various periods of his life — six characters in all, including a young African-American boy and a woman. Should be very interesting, though I don’t know if I’ll be able to drag Marsha to see it. (I’ll be lucky enough to get her to go see those other two movies with me, and they have clear-cut story lines.)

I’m also intrigued by the lineup of artists who’ll be covering Dylan songs on the film’s soon-to-be-released soundtrack. The list includes the Black Keys, of whom I’m a big fan, as well as Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco), Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam), Tom Verlaine (of Television), members of Sonic Youth, and Willie Nelson, among quite a few others. The soundtrack also includes a number of Dylan songs by Dylan himself, in case you were wondering. This blog has quite a few good posts on the topic, including these three.