Blast from my past: "The Overly Qualified Critic: Esquire's National-Security Expert on the New Film 'In the Loop'" (2009)

 

The Overly Qualified Critic:  Esquire's National-Security Expert on the New Film In the Loop

by Thomas P.M. Barnett

Esquire, August 2009, p. 27.

In the Loop, by veteran British satirist and first-time director Armando Iannucci, is a deadpan farce that wickedly echoes the joint Anglo-American sales job on the Iraq invasion. Imagine dueling diplomatic versions of The Officecolliding at the United Nations over a proposed war resolution, with the decisive press leak sheepishly offered up by a two-timing British bureaucrat to his enraged Foreign Ministry girlfriend as evidence that his bedding an American counterpart was nothing more than an "antiwar shag."

The Brits are fronted by a peace-seeking but tongue-tied cabinet minister (Tom Hollander), who says things like "To walk the road of peace, sometimes we need to be ready to climb the mountain of conflict," triggering the prime minister's press flack (Peter Capaldi) to retort, "You sound like a fucking Nazi Julie Andrews." The warmongering Americans are captained by a Rummy-esque übercrat (David Rasche) who favors live hand grenades as desktop paperweights and pontificates to baby-faced aides, "In the land of truth... the man with one fact is the king."

The film, which slips in an effortless turn by James Gandolfini (above) as a foulmouthed U. S. general, contains enough fucks to qualify for the Tarantino award at Sundance, where it premiered in January, yet it's the script's many accurate details that earn this former badge-holder's praise, to include: the ubiquitous acronyms whose actual meaning nobody knows, the constant backstabbing among careerists, senior officials who float their resignations with less thought than they give their office decor, and the vigorously hedonistic lifestyle of D. C.'s young single staffers.

Which makes it a hilarious and helpful primer for anyone new to Washington.

Movie of My Week: Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

When I first heard about Sergio Leone completing his dream project after 12 years of labor, I was ecstatic to see it, being a huge fan of his "dollar" trilogy with Clint Eastwood.  I always found his style so dreamily stylized as to be otherwordly, projecting quintessentially universal stories against iconic American imagery.

The earliest reviews from Europe were fabulous, but then I read about how the film had been altered from its 227-min original form to a much-shorter 139-min version that was chronologically ordered instead of told in flashbacks.  As a result, the film came off rather choppy, skipping from here to there.  I remember thinking it was good, but odd and almost Frankensteinian, like all the good parts were sliced out for a TV audience and you could spot the zippers.  I fell in love with the romantic music, though, and felt like it was a troubled classic that I would someday hope to see in its European version, but being in the before time, the only way you could see that is if you caught it at some art house theater.

The outcome seemed tragic:  Leone was heartbroken--literally, and died soon after.  Enrico Morricone's amazing soundtrack was never registered for Oscar consideration, and so didn't win, despite its "Doctor Zhivago"-level quality.

Then, years later, I finally got ahold of the original cut on VHS and was astounded at how it all worked so beautifully.  I had come across other director cuts, but frankly, the differences in just about all were minor (save Ridley Scott's scotching of the narrative by Decker in "Blade Runner").  But this was an entirely new film. 

Still, the two versions competed in my head.  Until, years again later, I watched the remastered DVD version in my home theater--instead of on a modest TV, and I have to tell you, this is one of the best films ever made. There are scores of fabulous scenes and performances, and the set design is gorgeous.  A long list of great performers:  DeNiro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern (in arguably her best role), a young Jennifer Connolly (who sticks in your mind even then), Danny Aiello in a screamer cameo, Joe Pesci, Treat Williams, Tuesday Weld, and so on and so on.

It was the quickest, nearly 4-hour movie I've ever watched, and I would watch it again in a heartbeat.  

Vonne said she thought it was as good as "Godfather," and I put it in the same class.

Movie of My Week: "Spartacus" (1960)

Watched it with son Jerome in home theater, and I must say, it's really worthwhile to get the blu-ray version, because the restoration is just lovely to look at.

Tons of stars, almost all of whom overshadow Kirk Douglas's wonderfully understated performance.  This movie, produced by Douglas with a firm grip, was originally directed by Anthony Mann, who Douglas forced out, only to give to his friend (and then still largely unknown), up-and-coming Brit director Stanley Kubrick, with whom he had worked three years previously on the antiwar classic, "Paths of Glory."  Kubrick and Douglas fought incessantly during production, and it killed their relationship forever.  It was the only movie Kubrick ever directed without his usual control, all of which lay with Kirk.  Interestingly enough, it won four Oscars, including the only one ever for a Kubrick actor (best supporting to Peter Ustinov).

It remains one of my favorite Laurence Olivier movies ("I'm not after glory!  I'm after Spartacus.").

Movie of My Week: "Inception" (2010)

No, I won't be giving away any plot details, because I respect Christopher Nolan's artistic ambition too much to do that.  Saw it Friday night with my spouse and we were gasping and questioning each other throughout. Have no illusion, this is a complex film with a narrative that demands focused attention.  I suggest going light on beverages to avoid the confusion that will come with 1-2 bathroom breaks over this 2:38 film. Then be prepared to be haunted long after by several of the expansive concepts pursued in the film--several of which have informed nightmares throughout my life.

Surest sign that I loved it:  I purposely didn't bring any kids along, because I want to go back with them individually and see it again. This is coming from a guy with a better home theater experience than what I can get in theaters, so it takes a great film for me to go back more than once.  A clear best-pic nom and multiple others, to include best original script (one that has been bouncing around in Nolan's brain for a decade).

[Note added late Saturday night:  I did indeed go back and see it for the second night in a row, something I've done with maybe 5-6 movies in my life, the first being "Apocalypse Now."  I was surprised at how well my ten-year-old could follow it, but he's awfully smart in that way--thanks I think to a lot of good books and complex narrative navigation in videogames.  I liked it EVEN BETTER the second time!]

What I liked:  A bit of return engagement for DiCaprio, meaning similar to his role in "Shutter Island," but he does that sort of stuff so well (confused character with tortured soul) that he's a joy to watch as he ages.  Ken Watanabe also fun to see, and Ellen Page likewise great.  I especially liked the Brit, Tom Hardy, who's a glorious character.  Michael Caine in a bit role, and Marion Cotillard frighteningly luminiscent.

This film has horror, psychological tension galore, action sequences to match a Bond film, head-spinning visuals, but most of all it has a brain.  Nolan delivers something incredibly rare in moviemaking:  you really are pushed to examine yourself and reality throughout.

The film should be viewed in light of his previous efforts ("Memento" and "Insomnia") to explore the theme of sleep, perception, reality, etc.

Nolan is this era's Philip K. Dick and he should be appreciated as such.

Movie(s) of my week: The "Futurama" oeuvre

My kids and I have been watching and rewatching this quartet of “Futurama” movies as we waited for the resumption of my favorite TV series on Comedy Central.  To me, “Futurama” is much better than “The Simpsons” and beats the crap out of “Family Guy,” which has gone way downhill lately (while “The Simpsons” is still great).  “Futurama” is, of course, made by the same guys who do “The Simpsons.”  I just like the characters so much better and think the writing is just a bit sharper and more bitingly political.  I especially love how “Futurama” can basically have anybody from history on in the form of a preserved “head.”

Of the characters, I like Bender least (too crass) and perhaps Dr. Zoidberg and Farnsworth the best in terms of good lines.  Fry is pretty good, but generally plays the neutral center.  I love the women especially (Amy Wong and Turanga Leela), and will confess a deep thing for the one-eyed pilot, in part because she’s hot as all get out and in part because I love Katey Sagal’s voice (going all the way back to her back-up singing days with Bette Midler).

This is how much I love Futurama:  my trick for relearning how to fall asleep after my years of sinus infections consists of watching episodes over and over again on my iPod til I doze off.  I am therefore the world’s leading expert on the first 5-10 minutes of each episode of the entire series.

I have the entire 72 episodes from 1999 through 2003 (the last 16 comprise the four movies released from 2007 to 2009) on my iPod and plot to get the new episodes on as well.   My maven-son Kevin turned me on to “Futurama” (and “Lost” and . . . ), so it’s a passion we share.

Naturally, we are in hog heaven with the resumption of the series.

The movies are all great, but I like the last one the best.

Movie of My Week: Shutter Island (2010)

Hard not to like or be intrigued by anything Scorsese does, but I've really liked him more and more over the years, as I found the early stuff just TOOO gritty and dark.  So big fan of "Goodfellas," "Casino," and especially his remake of the Asian films ("Infernal Affairs" series) in "The Departed."

Being a fan of Hitchcock, I felt this was going to be Scorsese' homage in that direction, and I wasn't disappointed.  I didn't see this in theaters, although my wife and daughter did, so I came at it totally fresh (no knowledge of Lehane novel) in my home theater last week, and I simply loved it--almost frame by frame. Thelma Schoonmaker, as always, is the film editor, with Robert Richardson as cinematographer. From the opening shot, I fell in love with the texture, the crisp lighting, the swooping camera work (there is an opening shot as DiCaprio approaches the facility in a truck that is textbook stunning), and especially the eye-popping clarity of the shots--all very Hitchcock. Music sometimes overwhelmed but was nonetheless fascinating, because it was all pre-recorded stuff adapted--a Scorsese trademark but here a lot of classical and some Brian Eno tossed in!

DiCaprio is a worthy muse for Scorsese, and I've liked everything they've done together (incl. "Aviator").  Mark Ruffalo was at his best, and totally sold the time-frame (1950s).  Kingsley and Sydow their usual fab.

But again, it was the way the film was shot that really grabbed my attention, right from the start. It had a dream-like quality to it that served the film's purposes incredibly well.  

My advice: get and watch but learn nothing beforehand about the plot, because it's worth all the surprises and guessing. Having now seen it and been blown away by all the plot twists, I still want to view it again, just to drink in the look and feel and the acting--a sign of a classic.

I have no idea why the film wasn't embraced more by audiences, although it did well. To me, the best film I've seen so far this year.

Movie of My Week: Moulin Rouge (2001)

I love all Baz Luhrmann movies like I love all Danny Boyle movies, although I will confess that I have yet to see "Australia"--his homeland epic. Vonne was so impressed with "Moulin Rouge" that she subsequently went to see Luhrman's Broadway staging of the opera "La boheme," which thrilled her to no end.

I just re-watched this with my older daughter and my mom, who got up about ten minutes into the viewing and said, "I thought this was the one with Jose Ferrer!" and then stomped out.  My daughter Em loves the movie so much she can sing almost the entire soundtrack, which I can find annoying in the home theater.

Anyway, what I love:

• I love Jim Broadbent in the ringmaster role; I smile every second he's on screen;
• I think this was the one that Nicole Kidman should have won her Oscar for; she was perfect here;
• I like Ewan McGregor in almost all things (the great Boyle-Luhrmann bridge!), but found him especially appealing here--to include his heartfelt singing.
• But most of all, I loved how Luhrmann re-imagines the modern musical as a sampler of recent songs and I especially loved all his cinematographic trickery here; he is a showman of the highest order--Sergei Diaghilev caliber.

I hope the guy never gets bored with film.

Movie of My Week: The Doors (1991)

Oliver Stone movies are definitely an acquired taste, and many don’t age well, but this one does.  To me, it is the closest you can come to feeling stoned without smoking pot; Stone just does that good of a job of making it trippy throughout, increasingly hallucinatory, and totally intertwined with the music.

As a rule, Stone’s use of existing music is pretty weak, but here he’s masterful—almost like he’s putting on a masters class (he appears in a cameo as a UCLA film school prof, with pretty fake-looking beard).  Then again, The Doors’ music is unusually well-suited for sampling and segues, because they often start out with such strong and percussion and bass (which always got me, because they never show anyone playing bass for the Doors and I guess I always assumed it was Manzarek on the recordings).

Stone’s penchant for weird film effects fits here too.  In short, the guy’s in his element.

I love the performances throughout, and especially admire Val Kilmer’s actual singing everything that’s done on-screen.  I’ve always like Meg Ryan (before the face change), and like her here in a role she made her own.  Lots of strong supporting people throughout, like Michael Madsen and Crispin Glover.

Yes, Stone goes in big on the Indian spirit story, and probably gives Morrison’s “witch wife” too much play, and the fun Jim known to so many intimates rarely appears, but these are the choices one makes in a two-hour retelling of even this short life.

Watch the featurettes because they really do capture the tension between the various survivors, estates, and Stone himself.  He admits that what’s up on screen is his version, and his voiced doubts about certain aspects being fair or not are really engrossing. 

I hadn’t watched it for years, and was pissed when I did recently with my elder son, because my Blu-Ray took the DVD and spit out that shrunken letterbox that sometimes happens with older-style DVDs of a certain age.  The music really deserves the Blu-Ray quality capture too, because it’s so good.

But these bitches only heighten my realization of how much I love the film; a lesser film wouldn’t have elicited the same dated DVD dissatisfactions. 

The promos call The Doors America’s greatest-ever rock band and it’s a defensible claim in my mind.  So while admitting my clear bias, this is still my favorite music-based biopic.  If anybody suggest we should watch something like that, this is the one I instinctively reach for.  The only thing I like more is the Beatle’s Anthology, just because they’re all so entertaining when they discuss their careers.

Movie of My Week: Contact (1997)

I love this movie so much, I even put it ahead of "Close Encounters," which I love for Spielberg's kind take on the government's response (i.e., good people trying to do the right thing--however secretly).

I saw the movie before I read the book, and I've always thought it was Jodie Foster's coolest performance, because her lead character is so compelling and so strong that I just love showing it to my daughters because such films are still maddeningly rare.

I also think it's Robert Zemecki's best film, even better than "Forrest Gump," which is cloying in many places.

Specific things I like: 

• That stunning opening sequence is a mind-blower (pulling back from Earth and giving you a sense of the reach of radio waves);
• I love the early sequences with the daughter and father, and how they're used to set up later stuff (I'm also a huge David Morse fan);
• I love Arroway's obession with her work and especially her sales scene at Haddon industry, when she loses it;
• I like the long-distance, irregular love story with Matthew McConaughey's spiritually opposite character (a bit didactic, but neat);
• I love the scenario of the discovery, especially the way Zemecki's paces it and make a mere sound seem so dramatic;
• I love the scenario of the unfolding of the building of the machine and how the whole discovery of life freaks out the planet in religious terms.
• I love the Japanese bargaining on the systems integration work and the whole long-term duel between Foster's character and Tom Skerritt's nasty bureaucrat;
• I love James Woods as the national security adviser and his reasonably justified fears ("Why is it always the consensus of the eggheads . . .");
• And I especially love John Hurt's "S.R. Haddon" character (both appearances are thrilling [his "Wanna take a ride?" line sends a chill down my spine] and I still cannot understand why he did not receive a supporting actor nomination); and finally,
• I love how Zemeckis did the whole journey across the universe bit at the end.

I've watched the movie maybe 20 times, and just watched it again this week in my home theater with my eldest son, who declared it the best scifi movie he's ever seen--on the spot!

Kev then threatened to watch it again with a friend he had over and--if he had--I probably would have watched it yet again.

I don't have on Blu-Ray, but will get it eventually.  And yet, watching it on my Blu-Ray machine and my HD projector, I was stunned at how good the print looked. The cinematography on this film, in my opinion, is as good as it gets.

Movie of My Week: Serenity (2005)

I have never connected on the whole Joss Whedon thing, but I've been long attracted to the work of Nathan Fillion (particularly his work in "Waitress" and "Castle").  So my sister Cathie visits a while back for son Kevin's confirmation and she insists, if we like great series like "Lost" etc., we have to watch the 2002 single season of "Firefly"--his beloved Western in space  (14 episodes, several of which were never aired due to early cancellation).

So after she gets home, she sends us the series DVDs and the follow-on movie from 2005 ("Serenity," named for the "firefly" style ship in question, which in turn was named by its captain Malcolm Reynolds (played by Fillion in his most handsome period) in honor of a losing battle in which he fought for the losing side--the rebels against the "alliance").

We watch the series and I'm hooked maybe three episodes in, especially because the women are so interesting and so hot!  Gene Roddenberry, with his original "wagon train to the stars" Star Trek could have learned a thing or two about casting and employing women in strong roles from Mr. Whedon (although Gene did far better in ST: The Next Generation).  I especially fell for Morena Baccarin, who now plays the lead alien on "V" (which I may have to start watching as a result).

The great bonus!  Ron Glass back from "Barney Miller" in a sweet role that any actor of age would love (very Obi Wan). 

But frankly, I lived for the moments when Inara was on-screen.

Anyway, a great frontier backdrop with space travel added in, the stories are right out of "Gunsmoke" or "Wild Wild West"--just done with tremendous flair, a rare discipline on the lack of sounds in space, and that amazing Whedon ability on dialogue, which here celebrates pioneer/Western language.

To wit, from the Wikipedia entry on the show:  

Whedon developed the concept for the show after reading The Killer Angels, a novel chronicling the Battle of Gettysburg during theAmerican Civil War. He wanted to follow people who had fought on the losing side of a war and their experiences afterwards aspioneers and immigrants on the outskirts of civilization, much like the post-American Civil War era of Reconstruction and the American Old West culture.^[8] He intended the show to be "a Stagecoach kind of drama with a lot of people trying to figure out their lives in a bleak pioneer environment.

How could I not love this?

So we finished the series and then teed up the movie.  It was fantastic:  suitably darker and faster paced and with the principals in greater dangers, it tied up the series nicely and even had the decency to kill off the most annoying character--in my opinion.

Good sign:  I watched with kids on night when Vonne was busy, but I'm really looking forward to watching it again with her before sending the whole kit and kaboodle back to my sister, who is understandably proprietary about the discs.

I include a bonus movie poster just for the neat sight of Inara packing heat (far left):

Movie(s) of My Week: Bette Davis at her apogee

Just a couple I caught with Vonne last week, pulling them out of a 4-pack of remastered films on DVD.

First is "Now, Voyager," where she really plays three characters: 1) the young Charlotte Vale before her nasty, old-School Boston brahmin mom kills her spirit; 2) the crushed 40-something spinster who finds salvation with a psychiatrist's help (Claude Rains at his smooth best); and 3) the revived Charlotte who has a tragic, distant love affair with Paul Henreid (also at his best).  She is simply amazing throughout.  Plus there's a gloriously sophisticated camera movement during her first lunch with Henreid that is truly breathtaking.  Very modern look for a 1942.  She was nominated but did not win for Best Actress.

Yes, a chick flick, but it ages amazingly well.  To me, it reminds that people were not all that less sophisticated back then, and they tended to behave with a lot more authenticity and genuineness than today.  It is a sarcasm-free world, by comparison.

I had seen the movie many years ago and delighted in it again this time around, so much so that we teed up another in the series, "Dark Victory," a tear-jerker without peer.

But, it's got Davis in her prime (right after the Oscar-win with "Jezebel" in 1938), even if her performance was lost in the incredibly year of 1939 ("Gone with the Wind," "Oz," etc.).  The doctor in question (this a medical story) is awfully good (George Brent), plus you've got Ronald Reagan in a light but charming role as a society drunk.

I've always had a thing for Davis in her prime.  She reminds me of a good friend/lover from my youth.

I will confess to watching "Dark Victory" with a big martini, and I welled up more than once.  But I was struck--again--by the relative sophistication and honest emotion conveyed in the film.  I found it melodramatic alright, but--again--incredibly genuine.

Movie of My Week: The Beat that my Heart Skipped (French)

Watched this with Vonne in the home theater.  She was psyched because the same director (Jacques Audiard) does "The Prophet," which all sorts of critics are raving about.  Will let you know when I see that one.

Plot summary (no spoilers!):

A young man is torn between loyalty for his family and the angst-driven need to express his own emotional core in order to redeem himself from a violent lifestyle...

See the entry at IMDB.

Me? I just loved the gritty presentation of Paris, and I was mesmerized by the lead, Romain Duris, a sort of young French Mick Jagger.

His past is that his mom was a concert pianist and he has tons of talent too, but he's not living that life now and wants to reconnect.  The way  this guy's passion for the piano is conveyed is really amazing.

The film has stuck with me for days after seeing it.  And the best thumbs up I can give:  I would love to talk somebody else into watching it with me again in the theater.