Rob Christopher's Blog, page 102
July 29, 2020
3 things about Paul Thomas Anderson’s PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE
Punch-Drunk Love [2002]
1. Dusty footfalls.
2. The way Luiz Guzmán says, “Which guy in Toledo are you talking about?”
3. Twilight Mai Tais on the beach at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
Punch-Drunk Love [2002]
1. Dusty footfalls.
2. The way Lu...
Punch-Drunk Love [2002]
1. Dusty footfalls.
2. The way Luiz Guzmán says, “Which guy in Toledo are you talking about?”
3. Twilight Mai Tais on the beach at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
July 24, 2020
3 things about Andre De Toth’s DAY OF THE OUTLAW
Day of the Outlaw [1959]
1. Grisly bullet removal.
2. He doesn’t want to dance. He holds her by the shoulders and says, “I want to look at you.”
3. “I’m not doing anything special. Just taking some bad men out of a good town.”
July 19, 2020
3 things about Sergio Leone’s DUCK YOU SUCKER
Duck You Sucker [1971]
1. “Where there’s revolution there’s confusion, and when there’s confusion, a man who knows what he wants stands a good chance of getting it.”
2. His eyes complete the torn poster.
3. Incredible mobile shot detailing the carnage.
July 18, 2020
3 things about Yorgos Lanthimos’s THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER
The Killing of a Sacred Deer [2017]
1. General anesthesia.
2. Nice, clean, beautiful hands.
3. Pillowcases.
July 17, 2020
3 things about Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO
Vertigo [1958]
1. “It’s new and clean and waiting.”
2. “See? There’s an answer for everything.”
3. “I don’t think Mozart’s going to help at all.”
July 14, 2020
3 things about James Mangold’s FORD V FERRARI
Ford v Ferrari [2019]
1. A tip of the hat.
2. Wonder Bread as weapon. Llama bite.
3. Mallet to the door.
July 13, 2020
3 things about Justin Pemberton’s CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Capital in the Twenty-First Century [2019]
1. Graffiti: Liberté Egalité Beyoncé
2. Not one of the winners mentioned the fact they’d started the game with an advantage.
3. Comparing workers to horses.
What a disappointment. Wealth inequality is an urgent topic that all of us should be thinking about and discussing, especially right now, but this documentary’s pedestrian treatment does not rise to the challenge. Rather than finding new ways to illuminate its ideas it instead takes the lazy stock footage approach, throwing up endless connect-the-dots montages of ideologically charged images. Banal wallpaper. Especially galling are the many powerful moments lifted wholesale from Koyaanisqatsi; here’s hoping that Godfrey Reggio was at least well paid. It does take an international view of the problem–but, shockingly, Africa isn’t even mentioned! The moments of genuine epiphany, like a sequence involving a college study of Monopoly players, made me realize how much better the film might have been. What Adam Curtis could have done here! In conclusion, read the book or just wait till someone makes a decent podcast out of these ideas. That this documentary has garnered so much acclaim must be put down to the common practice of confusing a worthy subject with a mediocre exploration of it.
July 12, 2020
3 things about Gordon Douglas’s LADY IN CEMENT
Lady in Cement [1968]
1. A queen in motorcycle glasses and tight pants, whose bodyguard/lover is a former Green Bay Packer.
2. He asks the drug dealer how he likes his meat.
3. “Daniel Boone” playing on a TV set in a cabana at the Fontainebleau.
July 11, 2020
3 things about Gordon Douglas’s TONY ROME
Tony Rome [1967]
1. Snoozing with a Yiddish newspaper draped over his face.
2. “You shouldn’t have gotten mixed up with a family like ours.”
“This is not a family. Just a bunch of people living at the same address.”
3. Pervasive product placement for Budweiser.
