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Spring Breakers 2013
The second movie I've seen in as many weeks where I knew a few dozen people who worked on it. While not shot in Nashville, I knew quite a few people who followed the production down to Florida. And it still feels like a Nashville movie to me. The sleaze, the unlikeable characters, the ambitious editing that seems to fight against the narrative drive that the movie genuinely has. This is the kind of movie that would never get a…
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As Long as You've Got Your Health 1966
A collection of four (or five including a short film) separate episodes. The timing here is remarkable. During the movie (particularly scenes with crowds coming out of nowhere and swamping Etaix) I thought it was like a live action Looney Tune. And then, in the last episode, he shows up with a shotgun hunting rabbits and ducks. It's surreal and over-the-top and flat out bizarre in places. The routines have a precise sense of timing that feels believable this time…
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Le Grand Amour 1969
Le Grand Amour is the last full length narrative film that Pierre Etaix directed. And it serves as something of a direct rebuttal to his full length debut, The Suitor. In this movie, Etaix plays a man who rushes into marriage only to find himself longing to get out of it ten years later. His eye constantly wanders to younger women - causing him to question what it is he really wants.
There was a realist cynicism to this film…
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Cane Toads: An Unnatural History 1988
This is fucking weird.
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The Suitor 1962
This was an incredibly frustrating film. Most of Etaix's comedy routines involve absent-mindedly picking up the wrong thing and doing something goofy with it. Like picking up a cup saucer, spreading jam on it and taking a bite. This happens numerous times throughout this movie and I don't get why anyone would think it's funny. It's an early form of cringe humor, but there's no insight. There's no physical prowess.
The story involves an amatuer astronomer who is told my…
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Leviathan 2013
Hypnotic and abstract and brutal to watch - even if you don't give a rat's ass about the feelings of fish. There were more than a few times I couldn';t figure out where the camera was, and all shot against the pitch black of a night sky in the middle of the ocean.
Absolutely beautiful. And while it only played a few days here, I'm kind of astounded by how many conversations I've had with people about this movie. I had no idea it was on some many folks' radar.
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Olympus Has Fallen 2013
About half way through this, it dawned on me that I'm seeing a movie about a bunch of evil Asian dudes with my Asian dude friend. And suddenly I became super worried he would find it offensive because of this. Granted, his nationality is completely unrelated to the terrorists in this movie, but I was irrationally worried nonetheless. When the movie was over, he just bitched about how lame the fight scenes were. How Asian of him.
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Smashed 2012
The acting is great, but the story is pretty rote. Someone has a drinking problem. It strains their relationships and jobs. There are some humiliating drunk episodes. This person seeks help. A bare bones story that doesn't really add anything to the social problem genre of alcoholic films. It's serviceable, but nothing new.
