All in all, I must say that I thought the film was great!  I know just enough German to recognize bad subtitling, but not enough for it to really bother me — unlike French and Russian, when it really does bother me and take me out of the story.  At any rate, I thought the subtitling was fine, and the native German-speaker next to me agreed!  Whew.  Frau Noel would be proud.

But in the end, these scholar types seemed really convinced that analyzing this film as though it were a documentary, or even a work of historical fiction based on real events, was the right critical approach.  Uh, Professors?  It’s not.  There’s a certain (high) level of verisimilitude, but after that we’re talking about a work of fiction.  A period piece.  For example: a young Stasi staffer tells a joke about the Party Chairman, and the senior officer in the room plays around with him, making the staffer think he’s about to get into serious trouble for it.  The filmmakers are giving the viewer a shorthanded version of power politics.  People who are old enough will bring their own experiences to it, sure.  But in 50 years, it will still serve as a way of letting the audience know about power, relationships, bureaucracy, and trust in this (fictionalized) universe. Or, one of the last shots of the film — Wiesler walks into the Karl Marx Buchhandlung, but it’s now a post-DDR bookstore — was a great example of the deftness on display here.

But the Professors seemed to confuse “versimilitude” with “real authenticity,” which made them insist that no Stasi Captain would have acted like Wiesler does.  Well…of course not.  If he were written to behave as a real Stasi Captain would have, there would have been no story.  It’s not a documentary.

And I have to add, Ulrich Mühe gave an even more subtle performance as Captain Wiesler than these scholars gave him credit for (which was a lot!): not a single one of them seems to have noticed his “Liebe auf den ersten Blick” moment!  (Vielen Dank to YR for the Deutsch there.)  That’s the reason the Sonata can have such an effect on him.  Cinematic devices don’t change, dude.

I wondered how these particular scholars would react to period pieces set in still earlier times (Restoration, say), or ones loosely based on actual events (JFK, say), or those acted-out history documentaries that are all the rage on PBS right now, or even modern reenactment clubs?

The long and the short of it is this: if you haven’t seen it, do so! Put it on your Netflix queue, whatever!  It’s a great thriller which leaves you with something to talk about after it’s over.

• Lyric of the day: “well-spoken girls in stilletos aren’t something to fear”
• Flashback of the day: Visiting Lenin’s tomb
• What’s playing now? Breaking Benjamin’s “Firefly,” off We Are Not Alone
• Photo of the day:
  

  Even Brutalist Metro stations can lighten up sometimes (crappy iPhone photo!)

Hey, all you classic film buffs out there! Hey, all you folks who enjoy seeing films set in our very own city! Tomorrow’s TCM “Road to Hollywood” event is made just for you.

As companion events to its Classic Film Festival that’s taking place in Hollywood, Turner Classic Movies has organized several one-night-only screenings around the country, with each city showing a film set there. So, Bostonians can watch The Verdict, or Chicagoans can watch The Lady from Shanghai.

But we here in DC might be the luckiest of all! Tomorrow night at the Avalon Theatre, TCM will be showing The More The Merrier (1943). This classic of the screwball comedy genre stars the always hilarious Jean Arthur (whom you’ll recognize from that other DC-based classic, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and Joel McCrea, and features an Oscar-winning performance by Charles Coburn. They’re all jammed together in one tiny apartment, when DC was stuffed full to the gills with war workers and soldiers during World War II. Naturally, hijinks ensue!  If you’ve ever lived in those thousands of housing units that popped up all over the District and its immediate environs during the war, you’ll have a special appreciation.

The More The Merrier is hilarious, but it’s all in service of a great love story. It’s famous for one of the most romantic and sexy scenes in all of classic cinema:

We’ve all had a moment like that, right?  When you don’t want to say goodbye, or hang up the phone, or close the door at the end of the night.

The screening will be hosted by TCM’s weekend host, Ben Mankiewicz and George Stevens, Jr. Tickets can be downloaded for free here, but seating is limited and first-come, first served so get there early! I know I won’t miss it.

Speaking of things my employer is putting on, they’re having another Law Movie Show soon, to feature A Few Good Men.  I think we all know how I feel about the “Awesomely Bad” genre by now, and this one certainly qualifies.  It’s up there with The Cutting Edge as a remote-dropper.

• Lyric of the day:  All of my memories are happy tonight
• Flashback of the day: Movie dates at the old Roosevelt drive-in
• As I write this, what’s playing?  Falco’s “Der Komissar,” off Einzelhaft
• Photo of the day:  (literally! I took this iPhoto at lunch)

Outside Union Station under cloudy skies

Have a nice weekend, everybody!

Batman's first cover appearance (wikipedia)

I came across this amusing blog post today, highlighting a debate among dorky lefty bloggers over which was the best/worst comic-book adaptation film of the aughts.  Personally, I liked X2, Batman Begins, A History of Violence, Hellboy.

Elektra was sort of awesomely bad.  Daredevil would have been awesomely bad too, if someone other than Ben Affleck had been in the title role.  He’s just not fast enough in a fight scene, and fancy editing can’t really make up the difference (see, e.g., Paycheck).  Instead, sadly, it slides into the just-plain bad column.  I thought Spider-Man was awesomely bad (oh come on, Cliff Robertson?  I kept expecting to see Sandra Dee at any moment.) except for the terrible decision to neutralize one of the most expressive faces in acting with a stupid, immobile green mask.  That was just dumb.  I also believe that what elevates the first Fantastic Four movie from just-plain bad to awesomely bad is the fact that Michael Chiklis was actually in a suit.  Wise, wise decision.

Most ones that were thought of as just-plain bad were ones I hadn’t seen…which is for the best!  I come at these opinions not being a comic-book/graphic novel person, but rather a fan of action films.

What do you think, dear reader?

Have you ever wondered what those noises coming from under the door of your neighbor down the hall really were?  Was he watching a Rob Zombie film, or trying to create a real zombie?  Well, the New York Times has created this awesome and engrossing interactive map of Netflix’ most rented films of 2009 to satisfy your curiosity!  You can check it out by zip code or by title.

While The Curious Case of Benjamin Button seems to have been near-universal in its appeal (that’s near-universal…it’s certainly not in my queue!), other films were…not so universal.  The different stats on Rachel Getting Married versus Lakeview Terrace, for example, provide an intriguing glimpse at the DC area’s demographics.

Truly fascinating!

Needless to say, my brain is a bit fried and it might be time for a nice break before the Snowflake Season really kicks in.  Tonight’s choices include: a) drinking; b) staying at work late to go to a law-related movie screening; and c) going home to watch my recording of last night’s broadcast of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Mom, I didn’t forget!).  Personally, I’m going with a combination of A and C above.  But, for those of you who might be more inclined to go for option B, here’s a clip:

Funny, right?  And the dialogue is pretty good, too.  (Seriously, is that outfit a classic Fug or what?!)

• Lyric of the day:  “we’re gonna play some pool, skip some school, act real cool, stay out all night, it’s gonna feel alright”
• Flashback of the day:  Doing The Rosalita in the ΦΣΚ basement (obvs).  Also, since we’re talking about fraternity-party dances here: Stomping in the living room at ΑΔΦ with Crazy Mark.
• As I write this, what’s playing? Jet’s “She’s A Genius,” off Shaka Rock.
• Photo of the day:

These Misfits are in-de-PEN-dent

However, there was one fun activity this weekend!  The DC Labor FilmFest was on at AFI, and that can only mean one thing:  a screening of Office Space!  Saturday evening’s showing included a personal appearance and post-film Q&A with Stephen Root and Gary Cole, so of course I had to go.  Who can resist Milton and Lumbergh?  So I geared myself up and made the trek through Virginia and DC, into Maryland on a rainy night.  Let me tell you, it’s like taking one’s life in one’s hands going through all three jurisdictions in one trip!  But it turned out to be worth it. Both gents were great sports and answered questions for about 30 minutes after the show.

The theatre was full of nerdy Initech-lovers, which sort of cracked me up.  I went to see the film when it was first released with a fellow cube-farmer and we had the place to ourselves; seeing the full house reminded me of that particular excursion, and that particular friend, whom I haven’t seen in a few years.  Hilariously, though, he friended me on Facebook on Sunday!  It seemed cosmically right and I have to say I laughed out loud when I saw that little “friend request” notice.  His comment on learning of my trip to AFI:  “I was Mr. Post-It Notes and the poster was of a guy covered in Post-Its”.  He seriously was — the little yellow suckers covered pretty much every surface in his cubicle.   So, welcome back PB!  I’ve missed ya!

Oh, and on the subject of high school football, turns out the game I missed was the TCW homecoming game.  Sadly, they lost, but a couple of kids were uh, shamelessly buying beer for their “afterparty” when I stopped off for some chocolate milk on the way home from AFI.  Against my better judgment, I had to chuckle.  I don’t recall much drinking going on when I was in high school…probably because my friends and I were pretty nerdy and didn’t want to be driving our country roads un-sober.  Or something.  I guess I was destined to love the nerdy cult-classic and not the raucus one.

• Lyric of the day: “Six o’clock already? I was just in the middle of a dream!”
• Flashback of the day:  Chocolate World
• As I write this, what’s playing? Cavo’s “Champagne,” off Bright Nights Dark Days.
• Photo of the day:


Gary Cole and Stephen Root, AFI Silver Theatre, 2009

Well, not really, especially considering how little sleep I was able to get lastnight.  It was toss, turn, toss, turn!  Ugh. But, I’m here and drinking my coffee so things could be worse.

The weekend was nice!  The weather was great, and I took advantage by riding my bike up to Pentagon City to take a photo of the most hilarious def-con poster ad I’ve ever seen — and I see them every day, so that’s saying something.  Then I rode back down past my house by way of Target (well, I was passing by, I couldn’t not stop…) and the newly-reopened Monroe Avenue (hooray).  All in all, a lovely Saturday afternoon.  And boy, did I ever rack up those Range Rover points*!  It was especially exciting to spot the rarely-seen Defender at Potomac Yard.  Saturday evening I got to play Takeout Taxi, by bringing a delicious takeout order of BCC for dinner with TP, NP, and JD at JDs place while packing for her upcoming move.

Yesterday, I watched Wall Street.  It’s been years since I’ve seen it, but isn’t it funny how there’s really nothing new under the sun?  Two particular things I noticed: 1) Oliver Stone sets us up with a big notice that it’s 1985 when the film starts; almost immediately John C. McGinley (better known to a younger generation of moviegoers as one of the two “Bobs” in Office Space) talks about how Gordon Gekko made a fortune by shorting NASA stock immediately after the Challenger accident.  Unfortunately the poor continuity steps all over the  joke.  2) Darien saying, “I want to do for furniture what Laura Ashley did for interior fabrics (!); produce a line of high-quality antiques at a low price.” A quick and simple way to establish her bimbette creds.  Ah, the 80s.  But really that line just put me in mind of that sign on the way to U.-Va., “antique tables made daily.”

So! Back to the present day (literally):

• Lyric of the day: “blast off to Heaven just like Moses on a motorbike”
• Flashback of the day: dye-to-match shoes (mine made my feet purple due to rain)
• As I write this, what’s playing? The Offspring’s “Can’t Repeat,” off their Greatest Hits.
• Photo of the day (hilarious!):

OMG, that slogan!!! Sadly, we can't see St Ronnie in the cockpit.

* Range Rover Points: This is a game devised by a couple of Range Rover-owning friends of mine. It’s sort of like the license plate or Punch-Buggy games you used to play on the highway as kids, but with different models of Range Rovers.  Whenever you see one on the road, call out the proper model to get the points.  Try it!  It’s fun!

• Land Rover Discovery / LR3 = 1 point
• Range Rover = 2 points
• Freelander/LR2 = 3 points
• Defender = 4 points

On the other hand, I never have understood the need for critics (or bloggers, ahem) to go in to an action film screening, with expectations that it will work in the same manner as some normal drama would. Plot will be
thinner, some scenes won’t make sense on a first viewing, character
development takes a serious back seat. Scene time can’t be used for
those purposes since it is needed for combat, chases, and sex!

Just look at the first Transporter film, wherein Jason Statham has
what, 10 lines of dialogue? But it really doesn’t matter, the purpose
of the film is for him to walk onto the screen, seduce women, drive
fast cars, kick ass, and then walk off just before the credits roll. It
is left to other films (such as The Bank Job) to establish whether or
not he can act (a separate argument) or what can be done with decent
writing or non-combat direction. Personally, I am looking forward to
spending another $10 to enjoy more of that particular awesomely bad
franchise.

Daniel Craig is a top-drawer Bond, in my view, because he has an
excellent swagger and sex appeal, does combat well, and has an
expressive face, to be used as a bonus addition to the script and its
(to whatever degree stilted) dialogue.  It’s the same combination that
Sean Connery had…we can argue about the degree. I am NOT trying to
say that Connery is not the best Bond, please don’t flame me… But,
can’t we all agree that OHMSS is the best film? Yes. We can. Good for
us. Pierce Brosnan got cast in the same sort of silly comedic movies
that Roger Moore was stuck with, after GoldenEye (EON meeting: “Oops,
Sean Bean is a better tough guy? More one-liners, fewer one-timers
then.”)

And really, guys. Am I the only one who has gotten a kick out of the
recent films’ homages? The voiceovers in the Cuban clinic were the best
thing about Die Another Day. I laughed out loud in the theatre, and I
was, in fact, the only one in the room who did so. DEPRESSING.
Jill-redux in oil on Bond’s hotel room bed. Fantastico! And, let’s not
forget, it’s nice to see an Aston again (sigh….), and the lack of
gadgetry is a good thing, in my view.