Midnight Cowboy

1969 Best Picture

Rating: 18/20

Plot: The titular cowboy moves to the Big Apple to make it big as a gigolo. He struggles until he runs into a two-bit criminal named Enrico Rizzo, and then he winds up struggling even more. Regardless, the two strike up a friendship and become roommates.

Everybody who knows me well knows of my affinity for Harry Nilsson, and I could hear "Everybody's Talkin'" 14,000 times without getting sick of it. Actually, I'm pretty sure I did hear it 14,000 times during the first half hour of Midnight Cowboy. Here's a classic that is not without its share of problems--the oft-imitated style makes it feel dated, as does the drug and sex and late-60's counterculture references. I'm not sure I care about the artsy-fartsy flashback sequences, but the experimental choppy editing gives this an almost nightmarish vibe that I really like. It keeps things ominous even though there's a sad humor just below the surface, almost like these two characters could have been plopped into a wacky sitcom in the late-70s and been just fine. Those characters? This movie's as much about New York in the late-60s just as much as these two, but it's a study of an unlikely friendship that never makes a lot of sense but is nonetheless touching. Voight's wide-eyed outsider, naivete dripping from his boots, keeps him likable even though he's too stupid to root for and is tough to pin down. Is he angry? He should be. Does he really think he's going to make it? He shouldn't. Hoffman creates this limping barely human character that you also like even though he gives you no real reason to like him. I like the nuances with his character--the reaching for the spare change in every pay telephone coin slot, the persistent coughing without a single covering of the mouth, the darting eyes. He's almost street smart, and you almost wonder what the circumstances were that put him in the situation he's in. And you almost believe him when he tells us that the two basic ingredients to sustain life are sunshine and coconut milk. The famous "I'm walkin' here" that leads into a pedestrian's shocked "What's that?" is pure 1960's movie magic. Voight and Hoffman are both great playing these characters who really should clash, but they have this weird chemistry and the friendship they develop is touching in a very strange and ambiguous way. This is a movie made of a lot of fine moments, a couple that work almost like little short stories. Buck's "I want to see the Statue of Liberty" come-on line that leads to a rendezvous with a cougar and a remote control ends in irony that might have been from an O. Henry story that never made it past the censors. And I just love the expression on the dog's face after that plays out. The movie's also got a great tragic ending. All Dustin Hoffman movies should end on a bus, I think. And hey, that's Bob Balaban!

Punch-Drunk Love

2002 romantic comedy, P.T. Anderson style

Rating: 17/20 (Dylan: 14/20)

Plot: A guy with a blue suit and a business that makes novelty toilet plungers witnesses a car accident, has a harmonium delivered to him, and meets a new friend all in the same morning. It's a lot for the guy to handle since he just wants to focus on how to take advantage of a Healthy Choice foods promotion to get frequent flyer miles. The secret--pudding cups. Meanwhile, he gets in a little trouble after calling a phone sex line. The world's just not an easy place for poor Barry.

I love this movie, and it's not just because it made me change my mind about Adam Sandler. In fact, I'm not even sure that's a good thing. He's good in this though, and the only scene I'd pitch in the whole Sandler-heavy movie (he might be in every single scene) is one where he breaks character and does a little dance in a supermarket. This one caught me by surprise back in '02, and I actually watched it three times in a two-week period because I had to show it to people. Great cast. Emily Watson's pulls off normal-but-with-an-barely-perceivable-not-quite-right so well, and Philip Seymour Hoffmann is great in the limited screen time he gets. Jon Brion's score is an adventurous harmoniumicious affair, and he uses mutant pop sounds to perfectly parallel what must be going on in Barry's head. Most of all, I think this movie's really funny. I like my comedies, especially my romantic ones, to have a generous helping of quirk and discomfort, and this one's got plenty of both. I'm not sure how realistic Barry's autism or borderline personality disorder is, but I sure enjoy laughing at it! And sure, it's nice to watch the guy overcome whatever issues he has to get the girl in the end. The story's simple but a sprinkling of oddities distract from a lot of Anderson's genius. Shots are perfectly framed, and there are some really cool extended shots with this amazing character choreography. Anderson set out to make a much simpler and shorter and easier to swallow movie than the opus that is Magnolia or even Boogie Nights, but that doesn't mean he got lazy with this one. Is Paul Thomas Anderson, by the way, America's best contemporary director? I'm asking that question without thinking about it. Discuss.

Dylan had to do a psychology project where he watched a movie with a mentally-ill character. I picked this for him. We almost watched the equally-hilarious Awakenings though because the scenes where the patients catch the tennis balls make me laugh uncontrollably. They're also really fun to imitate.

Lenny

1974 biopic

Rating: 17/20

Plot: The life and career of controversial comedian Lenny Bruce, a guy who liked to say words like "poop" and "boobs" and "pee-pee" on stage a lot. He marries Lex Luthor's assistant, struggles to get ahead in his career, finally makes it big, gets in trouble for using the words "banana" and "parakeet" in inappropriate contexts, has a baby, and struggles with temptations. Penis!?

I realize I grabbed an image of the poster that shows creases, and I'm glad I did. It really seems appropriate since this is a Bob Fosse movie that isn't afraid to show its creases. A story that is anything but black and white is told ironically in this gritty black and white, so suitable for this world of night clubs and strip joints and cheap hotel rooms. It's a story of a funnyman, but a story clothed in gray and bathed in dim lighting, and the stark scenes draw the focus to the characters and the actors who play them. And what performances those are! The fact that the gorgeous Miss Teschmacher and her glorious bosom (actually the glorious Valerie Perrine and her glorious bosom) isn't completely submerged beneath the performance of Dustin Hoffman as the title character says something. She plays wife Bunny, a challenging and brave role with a nice range of emotions and plenty of chances to get a little naked. She pulls off manic, troubled, broken, ecstatic, wounded, and more in this roller coaster of a performance. Hoffman's as good as I've seen him, his Lenny Bruce as spot on as Jim Carrey's "tragic" "comic" in Man on the Moon. I don't recall seeing footage of the actual Lenny Bruce and therefore can't judge the body language, but Hoffman definitely had the cadence and stand-up delivery down. I liked the structure, almost a pseudo-documentary approach with after-the-fact interviews with Bunny and Bruce's manager and lots and lots of footage of Hoffman on stage delivering Bruce's "jokes" and banter. The stage scenes were woven within the narrative structure, helping to transition from point to point in Lenny Bruce's life. I'm not a huge fan of the Lenny Bruce recordings I've heard, by the way, but I can't argue the influence he had on comedy. And his story, or at least this particular telling, is thematically layered and moving, the end scene a perfect interrobang that drives home a near-profound point. I came away caring about and respecting Lenny Bruce a lot more. If that was Fosse's goal, he succeeded. If is goal was just to entertain with a good story, he succeeded there, too.

That's right--interrobang.

Pirate Radio

2009 comedy

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Somewhere off the English coast, some hell raisers broadcast bloody rock 'n' roll for the masses. A handful of politicians want to put a stop to it.

I thought this looked decent when it came out, heard that it wasn't decent at all, and was pleasantly surprised. Pirate Radio has lots to love. There's a great ensemble cast which includes the versatile Philip Seymour Hoffman, that one guy, that other guy, the always-hilarious Rhys Darby (Yes Man and The Flight of the Concords), that one guy who did the funny bit in that one movie, and Rhys Ifans (another Rhys; that might break my record for most actors named Rhys in one movie). Seriously, I kept seeing actors I nearly recognized in this movie, people I knew had been funny in other things. This was almost like a more raucous Wes Anderson movie. It's narratively uneven, perhaps a little too episodic. The scenes often seem like a collection of jokes, and not all the punchlines are that funny. But for the most part, this cheeky little movie sails along quickly enough and entertains with its caricatures, its irrelevancy, and its loose-goosey, playful structure. And that soundtrack? It's packed to the gills with the rawk! I might be a bit of a sucker for movies with lots of characters who don't do much of anything except talk over each other (see: lots of Robert Altman movies), and Pirate Radio is about the most entertaining a movie about characters being bored out of their minds can be.

Little Big Man

1970 big little epic

Rating: 18/20

Plot: A 120 year old bag of wrinkles shares his life story--raised by Indians, lived with a preacher and the sultry Faye Dunaway, worked with a snake oil peddler, drank with Wild Bill, became a gunslinger, married an immigrant, lost his wife, married an Indian, became a hero, became a drunkard, and was the lone white survivor at the Battle of Little Bighorn. But he might be fabricating a bit.

You know, it just occurred to me when I typed the above that the climactic moment takes place at Little Bighorn and Dustin Hoffman's character is Little Big Man. I love this epic Western funk despite some flaws. Every time I see this, I laugh the first time Hoffman's character speaks in the flashback. His deep, nasally voice just doesn't seem to fit his appearance. I'm not sold on his old man voice either exactly, but even kind of pulling off playing the same character as a teenager and a 120 year old is impressive. One could accuse Little Big Man of being too episodic or a little jumpy, but the narrative structure works as it lends credence to the idea that Jack Crabb could be making the whole thing up. Plus, there are plenty of parallel episodes to pull it all together by the end. Little Big Man is often very funny and often very poignant and sometimes both simultaneously which really makes the movie special. As much as I love what Hoffman is doing here, it's Chief Dan George who really steals the show as the wise and goofy grandfatherly Cherokee chief. It seems like every single line he has in this movie is either hilarious or beautiful, delivered with perfect timing and cadence and hitting you just right. I loved his reference to "the black white man," his inquiry about whether Hoffman's white wife shows "pleasant enthusiasm when [he] mounts her," and his explanation of why he calls his snake wife Doesn't Like Horses. But my favorite line in this (and maybe any movie) is when Chief Dan George says, "There is an endless supply of white men, but there have always been a limited number of human beings." Beautiful. Oh, I also like how General Custer pronounces the word gonads, but that's just because I'm immature.

I gave this movie a gonads bonus.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

2007 family film

Rating: 11/20 (Emma: 17/20; Abbey: 19/20; Dylan: Missed 1st 20 minutes and stubbornly refused to rate)

Plot: Approaching 250 years of age and on his last pair of shoes, the title proprietor of a magical toy store is ready to leave the earth. He's passing his legacy to the store's manager, Natalie Portman. But will the departure of Magorium cause the store to lose its wonder? Can a little kid who collects hats and a workaholic accountant help save the store?

There are things I really wanted to like about this. Lots of potential. Unfortunately, it ended up looking like a strangely half-assed production, extremely predictable and trite. I'm most offended by the terrible puns and schmaltz, but there are also some special effects that were just embarrassing. The movie also jars you with whimsical but pointless dopiness butted up against forced poignancy and reflective bits of dialogue. The scene that typifies the movie? Natalie Portman's character laughs at Dustin Hoffman's character as he dances on bubble wrap for approximately twenty minutes. I'm not sure if I'm exaggerating or not, but exaggerating doesn't seem like something I ordinarily do. After that twenty minutes, different music starts up and they have a conversation about death. Then it's time for another scene, probably something involving a monkey, a giant ball, or something that is funny because it's moving around in a way that it shouldn't move around in. There's also a lack of character development that actually distorts the movie's central themes. Natalie Portman's character and the little kid don't grow; the accountant's character changes far too abruptly. I actually was optimistic about this one but it's another one of those films that is not as good as its opening credits. It really reminds me of Jumanji or, especially, the sort-of sequel Space Jumanji, and that is not even close to a good thing.

Kung Fu Panda

2008 animated kung-fu movie

Rating: 12/20 (Jen: 13/20; Dylan: 6/20; Emma: 5/20; Abbey: 20/20)

Plot: The title panda is the (adopted?) son of a soup cook who just happens to be some sort of bird. He enjoys eating. His dreams involve him evolving into a kung-fu master alongside his heroes, the Furious Five, who I believe got their name from an 80's rap group. When the turtle and mouse decide that it's time to pick a dragon warrior, all the villagers flock (some hop) to the top of a mountain to find out who it will be. The panda is (perhaps mistakenly) chosen, much to the chagrin of the monkey, the tigress, the snake, the stork, and the bug who have trained all their lives in order to someday become action figures and get their visages on boxes of fruit roll-ups. Meanwhile, a deadly kitty cat breaks out of prison and threatens to steal a scroll. Can the chosen panda be trained in time to defeat the deadly kitty cat? Oh, snap! He's too chubby!

Well, I like the idea of the movie better than the movie. As expected, it borrows heavily from traditional kung-fu movies, but it does so fairly clumsily, and the lack of character develop leaves me not really caring about what happens to any of them by the end. The movie looks fine even though the action sequences sort of blitz by and lack any of the real beauty of real martial arts movies. I was really hoping for an homage rather than a parody; unfortunately, this feels more like the latter too often. It's got that Dreamworks feel, but it at least doesn't have a bunch of unnecessary pop culture references. I'm not really sure what the problem was with 2/3 of my children although I do know that one of them is in a pretty bad mood and the other is always surly. Two of them are currently practicing their kung-fu while the third is making fun of them. One of them broke a tiny Christmas tree with some kind of rolling kick thing. Jen thought there were too many similarities between this and the Star Wars movies, but I think that might be more because of the similarities between the Star Wars movies and Kurosawa's samurai movies.

Ok, this makes 365 movies for the year 2008 alone. The Big Lebowski was the 365th movie from last December 27th. Take your pick with which movie completes my goal.

The Graduate

1967 romantic comedy

Rating: 17/20


Plot: 20 year old Benjamin graduates from college and faces malaise and uncertainty. He naively and reluctantly enters an adult relationship with Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's business partner and friend of the family. Lots of off-screen coitus occurs until, after his father forces him to go on a date with her, he falls in love with Mrs. Robinson's daughter.


Cute talent with the female leads, both seeming perfect for the roles, especially Anne Bancroft who walks a thin line between sexy and dangerous. Hoffman, in his first big role, doesn't seem great at all for the first 1/4 of the movie, but his character grows on you. This was such a tight script, often self-referential, and stuffed with classic lines. Very well written. It's the smart man kind of funny. A lot of the shots and film tricks are dated, and during one ten minute span, "Scarborough Fair" could be heard 3 1/2 times. ("Sound of Silence" was in the movie at three different times, I believe. I did like the Simon and Garfunkel music, however.) The realism of the first half of the film shifts to the overly fantastic in the second half while Benjamin attempts to hook up with the daughter, but there's some nifty parallelism going on between those two halves. And I especially liked the ending. It's an ending that is about as perfect as an ending could be.


Note: Bonus points given for a hilarious use of a midget and for the casting of Norman Fell, Three's Company's Mr. Roper. Interestingly enough, he was also a landlord in this.