Progressive Wednesday

The TGIF Movie Review: Margot at the Wedding

(Editor’s note: Sorry about the delay. I’ll blame it on the snow. Yeah, that’s it: it was the snow’s fault!)

Margot at the Wedding is a film written and directed by, go figure, writer/director Noah Baumbach, and this is his follow-up after his Oscar-nominated flick The Squid and the Whale. Like the aforementioned flick “about” a cephalopod and a cetacean, this movie centers around families gone just a wee-bit haywire, marriages on the rocks, affairs, kids caught in the middle, and the forces driving people together and apart.

The film stars Nicole Kidman (equal parts biting, subtle, and heart-breaking) as Margot Zeller, a fiction writer, who takes her son in tow by train, boat, and car to her sister’s pad (Pauline, played by the beguiling Jennifer Jason Leigh) for a weekend. Pauline is set to marry Malcolm (Jack Black), an unemployed artist/writer/rocker, and the Zeller clan is getting together for the first time in a long time for the event. Secrets get shared and hidden, Black pulls off some laugh-out-loud hilarity in the midst of a relatively serious flick, and the tenderness that can be shared between those who love one another gets shot all to hell.

While I didn’t go all “Rah! Rah!” for The Squid and the Whale, I dug this flick because there’s hope hidden beneath the surface callousness of the players. Baumbach creates more believable characters by way of a looser script, which allows the actors to move organically through scenes. In much of his previous work (particularly the Wes Anderson directed flick, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), the characters are so affected you feel like you’ve been left out of a story told by old Ivy-League roommates. Here, though, I buy the conflicts, I buy the back-stories, I buy the surprises, I buy the love that nearly gets expressed. (And maybe that’s the up-shot of the flick: love, at best and at worst, can only be nearly expressed).

But you don’t need to buy it. Just rent this sucker.

The TGIF Movie Review: Into the Wild

As I mentioned this past Monday, I adore the film Into the Wild, the inspired-by-a-true-story flick Sean Penn directed and scribed based on the book by the same name. It’s a must-read, a book written with a deft hand and kind heart by Jon Krakauer. More importantly, as far as this Friday is concerned, Into the Wild is must-see. For the first time in Progressive Wednesday history (yes, we’re history makers here), I’m reviewing a piece of cinema still in the cinemas. Why? Because this is a beautiful work of art, a combination of powerful acting, an original soundtrack written and performed by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam fame, and visuals that will leave your mouth agape.

So, Matt, what’s the story? Oh, the story. The story is about Christopher McCandless. In 1992, after graduating with honors from Emory University, Chris dropped off the face of the earth to those who knew him. He donated his savings to Oxfam, burned his cash on-hand, cut up his driver’s license, and abandoned his car. He hoofed, hiked, kayaked, and hopped trains all over the country for two solid years. He worked when he needed some money for equipment or meager amounts of food and drink, but he led a tramping life, one of solitude and revelation ending in Alaska. I’m going to give something away: Chris dies. The end isn’t what matters: the why and how of the way he viewed life matter.

This is a story about new friendships, enthusiasm for solitude, male identity, and a consumer culture gone haywire. This is about a world that drives some to drink, others to hit the open road. This is a film about the only two things meaningful: how we live and how we die. This movie makes you want to get off your ass and do something, anything, before the final period is typed and our stories come to close.

So do something for me: watch this film. And then? And then do something you’ve always wanted to do: if only for a few moments, be free.

The TGIF Movie Review: Moulin Rouge!

Okay, okay, okay, okay, and okay. I know, I know. Every week since we revved up Progressive Wednesday like the fair-minded and well-meaning Harley that it is, I’ve reviewed a flick that recently made its way from the silver screen to DVD, and this week, if it wasn’t already clear from the title, I’m cheating a bit, but for a bunch o’ good reasons.

First off, Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! is one of only five movies that I’ve ever seen in the theater twice (since you asked, the others are The Shawshank Redemption, Rushmore, I [Heart] Huckabees, and Lost in Translation). Second off, Moulin Rouge! is one of the best musical movies ever made, and it is, without a doubt, one of the most daring films to ever pass this man’s eyes and ears. Third off, I just watched it again a few days ago so the sucker’s pretty fresh in my noggin.

So, for those of you not in the know, Moulin Rouge! tells the story of Christian (played by Ewan McGregor) a fresh-faced writer who lands in Paris and joins a group of Bohemian artists trying to raise money for a musical of their own. Partially because of a case of mistaken identity, he ends up pining for then falling in love with Satine (played by Nicole Kidman), a courtesan at the Mouline Rouge club. A rich Duke fights for Satine’s love using brute force, his wealth, and the promise of fame. Satine, it turns out, is dying from TB, but keeps her illness a secret from Christian, who she ends up loving in return. Conflicts rise and fall from there, but the film essentially culminates with the production of the musical. I won’t lie: the plot isn’t filled with many surprises. But plot isn’t really want people look for in musicals. The surprises here come in the form of pyrotechnic editing reminiscent of music videos, and the use contemporary songs in a film set in 1899.

To pinpoint highlights in this movie is to pick out your favorite Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in a sack of those delicious suckers. But select I will. Some of my fave moments include the only original song in the flick, “Come What May.” Much like in traditional musicals, this big “number” closes out the first act, and it’s reprized at the end of the second act. It manages to capture the big-heartedness expected of musicals, and yet steers clear of the sentimentality often expected and accepted in this genre of art.

Other keister-kicking moments include: the unexpected and inventive use of Elton John’s “Your Song;” a hilarious scene where the Bohemians pitch a musical called “Spectacular Spectacular;” and our introduction to the Moulin Rouge cabaret, which fuses together the songs “Lady Marmalade” and Nirvana’s big-amped alternative anthem, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

But the creme de le creme of this movie is, without a doubt, what’s dubbed the “Elephant Love Medley,” a melding of thirteen 20th century rock and pop songs mixed together seamlessly and precisely. The result is the salvation of some not-so-great numbers, and the reinvention of some contemporary classics. What carries this medley, though, are the delicate vocals of Kidman and the lift-your-heart pipes on McGregor. Tunes in the medley include:

• “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” by KISS
• “Pride (in the Name of Love)” by U2
• “Love is Like Oxygen” by Sweet
• “All You Need is Love” by The Beatles
• “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Thelma Houston
• “One More Night” by Phil Collins
• “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing” by Frank Sinatra
• “Lover’s Game” by Chris Isaak
• “Silly Love Songs” by Paul McCartney and Wings
• “I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton (made waaaaaaaaaay too famous by Whitney Houston)
• “Up Where We Belong” by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes
• “Your Song” by Elton John
• “Heroes” by David Bowie

The kicker for me, though, is the last on the list: the use of “Ziggy Stardust’s” masterful “Heroes.” And I ain’t afraid to say that that moment in the medley gives this man exhilarated shivers.

For my money, this flick is as much about the place where realism and romance meet as it is about the creation of art (characters create a musical within this musical), and maybe more than that, it’s a flick about falling in love–gloriously, effortlessly, ultimately–with music. Get ready to rock….
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I keep talkin’ this tune up to those around me, so I’m not sure I could live with myself come Saturday morning if I didn’t give you a taste of “Heroes” performed live by Mr. Bowie. I mean, how can you go wrong with these lyrics: “I, I can remember/ Standing by the wall/ And the guns shot above our heads/ And we kissed/ As though nothing could fall/ And the shame was on the other side/ Oh, we can beat them, for ever and ever/ Then we could be heroes/ Just for one day.” You can’t go wrong. You can’t.

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And I’d be seriously remiss if I didn’t include the “Elephant Love Medley.”
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The TGIF Movie Review: Weeds, Season 2

I’ve reviewed the television show Weeds once before (click here to check the review, yo), but Season 2 of this appropriately raved show just came out on DVD, and this seemed like just the right time to urge you all to live a look-see to the best show, hands up and down, on the idiot box.

Here’s a refresher:

Weeds is a Showtime original series centered around the Botwin family. As is revealed during Season Numero Uno, Jonah Botwin, the father of the clan, has kicked ye ole bucket, and this proves to be an immeasurable conflict for the rest of the family. Nancy Botwin, played innocently and wryly by Mary-Louise Parker, has a choice to make: either continue living in Agrestic, an upper-class, SoCal, suburban neighborhood, and maintain the lifestyle she and her two boys, Silas and Shane, have come to expect and appreciate, or not. For now, she chooses the former. And how, pray tell, does she plan to pull this off? Not by selling dandelions. No, a different weed — flower tops, mary jane, meggie, gong, blaze, chronic, kaff, sweet lucy, and my personal favorite bit o’ marijuana nomenclature, zambi.

So, sell pot she does — to the denizens of Agrestic, to college students, to friends of friends. She battles her own concerns about her safety, the safety of her children, and how to hide the money from the tax-man. Of course, she battles the law, but this problem intensifies in Season 2 because she starts dating someone she eventually learns is a DEA agent. He discovers her secret, and they concoct a plan to cover both of their posteriors.

This show is so good — hilarious, heartbreaking, oh-my-gosh-ing, and tender — I can hardly stand it. I’m telling you, unlike marijuana, this show is addictive my High-Timers and teetotalers. Season 2 focuses more on the business end of breaking the law, teenage love and learning, race, and the constant threat of the government even when we’re playing by the rules.

Take a toke of it…. (Be forewarned — these clips seriously ain’t safe for work or your wee ones. I honestly can’t believe the second one — God, I love cable. And the third one? Well, it features my favorite word several, several times.)

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The TGIF Movie Review: Fur

Okay, I’ve got to start by saying this about Fur, an imaginative portrait of the life of photographer Dianne Arbus: this is one of the weirdest movies, maybe the weirdest, that I’ve ever seen. For that reason alone, I have to recommend it this week.

Fur, as I’ve already mentioned is capital-”L” Loosely about Dianne Arbus (played by Nicole Kidman), a 50s and 60s portrait photographer attracted by the oddballs and outcasts in our sometimes cruel culture. So, the plot. Well, it goes something like this…. Dianne is stuck in a fairly humdrum life as her husband’s photography assistant, setting up backgrounds for commercial picture-clicking. She also has two children. She’s also bored out of her freaking gourd. Then, a new neighbor (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) moves into the apartment directly above hers. She’s instantly interested in knowing more about this person. Why? Because he wears a mask. After a series of almost-meeting-each-other moments, they meet, and she learns that he hides because he suffers from hypertrichosis. This is a genetic condition sometimes called “werewolf syndrome” wherein the afflicted grow hair over their entire body. How rare is this? 1 in 340 million have it. Her interest in him, and his interest in her, only grows and grows as the movie progresses. I think I’ll leave it there for fear of giving any of this film’s intense bizarreness away.

What is this film really about? Banal, useless, cliche lives. People wanting out of their skins. Dreamscapes and escapes. Stifling home lives. Fears desired. What do we learn? Well, I was walked away with this: we’re all reflections in funhouse mirrors looking for other reflections as awkward and lovely as us.

So, see it. It’ll be worth it just to be able to tell your friends….

The TGIF Movie Review: An Inconvenient Truth

Editor’s Note: I just watched An Inconvenient Truth for the second time, and I realized, all over again, how important this documentary is to our culture. It’s a gift. A scary one, but one that brims, ultimately, with hope. If you haven’t checked it out, maybe this review will get you high-tailin’ it to Blockbuster.

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To say that global warming is “inconvenient” is the only exaggeration (in this case, understatement) made in this entire film. Early on watching this movie, I got the sense that whether or not we listen to the film's facts will directly determine if anyone will be around to call it a classic or not. (Check out our Wednesday topic for more related videos.)

An Inconvenient Truth opens with gorgeous video of a river and the forest lining it. This simple image makes what follows all the more heartbreaking, as we see the beautiful innocence of our only home being destroyed. In case you're unaware, the documentary is essentially a slide-show presentation that Al Gore has given around the world over 1,000 times, explaining the incontrovertible facts of global warming through the use of imagery, raw data, and tragic current events. He effectively destroys the myth that global warming isn't real and isn't caused by humanity. He does this with information about glaciers, human population, bird migration, the life-cycles of insects, hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, cyclones, drought, temperature rates, soil evaporation, the extinction of species, vectors for emerging infection diseases, and coral reef bleaching. You can't help but be convinced, because to still doubt global warming would be as ridiculous as doubting that the planet exists.

What makes all this even more interesting are vivid videos and photographs, Gore's self-effacing humor, and his light jabs at political rivals. We also learn about Gore's life, both personal and professional, and his upbringing, all of which adds a texture of honesty to the picture.

One of my writing professors in graduate school once told us that “all nature writing is elegy.– Thankfully, An Inconvenient Truth is no fatalistic final words. Instead, it removes the myth that the problem is too big for us to make a change. Doubters, Gore says, tend to go from denial to despair. But we needn't. The film asks viewers to go to ClimateCrisis.net to learn ways to lessen their impact on our already thin and vulnerable atmosphere. To paraphrase a pretty damned famous politico — we have a choice: we are the enemy; we are either for us or we are against us.

I thought about what I'm about to write closely and carefully and frequently since seeing this film for the first time. I'm done thinking about it because I believe my final sentence to be true as the sky is blue. This is the most important film ever made.