Due to technical difficulties, we will NOT be live blogging from the Academy Awards this evening. Sorry for the inconvenience.
The Doubledays
I have not yet seen “Youth in Revolt” and am not in any rush to do so, but what I want to know is:
Is Portia Doubleday related to Abner Doubleday?
For those of you who don’t know, Abner Doubleday was rumored to be the inventor of baseball and sports one of the most awesome hairstyles of all time.
Anyone know of a relation? I couldn’t find anything online.
Extract’s Discontinuity
I just noticed a nice continuity error at the opening credits of Mike Judge’s latest film, “Extract”.
One of the factory workers is getting ready to wrap a pallete of “Reynold’s Extract”. As he enters the frame, there are two corner supports on top of the product. He is carrying the other two. In the next cut there are no corners on top, but still two in his hands.
In the next shot, three corners are covered, with one in his hand. Then he does a fancy spin with what should be the last corner.
He must have then dropped the corner (not seen) because in the next shot he’s seen placing the corner and almost gets whacked in the face by (mysteriously reappearing) fourth corner.
The only reason I noticed this is because it looked like the guy was going to get smacked by the reappearing corner. So there you have it…
Larry David’s Finale Curse
I think Larry David is an absolute genius and thoroughly enjoy “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. Having said that, the man has a major problem when it comes to writing a solid finale.
We all know the Seinfeld finale was a major bust. Most recently the Season 7 finale for Curb was also one of the most disappointing episodes of the season. In addition to rehashing scenes of the Seinfeld reunion from previous episodes, his big plot element was a ring stain on wood furniture. Come on.
Mocha Joe’s beef with Larry was pretty ridiculous and Jerry Seinfeld was reduced to background fodder. At least give Seinfeld a couple of funny lines.
Another thing that bothered me was the scene when Larry investigates Jason Alexander’s shaking car. He suspects his ex-wife to be romping about with Alexander and can’t see because of the tinted windows. He flings open the door (unlikely to be unlocked) and discovers that it’s Jason’s two dogs. So here’s what I was thinking: Would Jason Alexander really leave his two beloved dogs in a car in the sun with the windows all the way up? No way. The windows obviously had to be up for the gag to work, but rarely is Mr. David so sloppy.
Here’s hoping for a season 8, like I said I do love the show. At the very least, it will give Larry David a chance to make up for not fulfilling the promise of season 7.
Of Billy Bob Thornton And Burned Bridges
Last night on Real Time with Bill Maher, Billy Bob Thornton told a pretty long-winded story about not being able to smoke in an Irish Pub. The backdrop for his story was a set of an undisclosed movie for which he was in New York City. He added that the movie was just a paycheck and that it was really bad. Now, I ‘ve heard other actors like Christian Bale mention similar situations, but I always think it’s kind of tragic to hear.
Regardless, being the film sleuth that I am, I tracked down the film which fits into the location and time frame Mr Thornton describes. Tell me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure it’s “School for Scoundrels” (2006). I have not yet seen this movie, but it is strangely enough directed by “hot” director Todd Phillips. This guy has “The Hangover” in theaters now, and I do find it rather odd that Thornton would choose to dis their work together.
Maher also got Thornton to belittle “Eagle Eye”. Also strange since it was a vehicle for Shia Labeouf, currently one of the biggest young actors in the business. Thornton sure does like to burn bridges.
Woody Allen, EW, and Kvetch
Was just reading the review of the new Woody Allen film “Whatever Works” in the latest Entertainment Weekly. First thing I noticed was that they gave it a “C”, pretty disappointing given that I love Larry David and like Woody Allen.
A few sentences into the article and I see they use the (very academic) term “kvetchy/funny” to describe Mr. Allen’s typical protagonist. Go EW! I obviously like this because our site is called Film Kvetch. In case you weren’t aware, “kvetch” is a yiddish word which more or less means complain. We kind of like to think of it as criticize.
Love to see the word “kvetch” in a major publication, hate to see “Whatever Works” get a poor review.
Lovett on the Tonight Show
After a pretty long hiatus, I checked out a few recent episodes of The Tonight Show. I think Jay Leno is a great entertainer. I was just watching Lyle Lovett and his “large” band finish off the May 25th show. Now I know you see this with a lot of teen acts like Jonas Brothers and (back in the day) Hanson, but Mr. Lovett had someone in his accompanying band playing the exact same thing on guitar. And he was standing right next to him!
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen something quite like that with someone as seasoned as Lovett. Slightly hard to see in the picture, but comment if you can prove otherwise.
“Rachel Getting Married” Oh My
I thought this film was very misguided. Its protagonist Kym (Anne Hathaway) is practically without any redeeming qualities. Certain scenes (such as the wedding rehearsal dinner speeches) run on for an interminable length of time. The jittery camera work on display throughout is definitely passé.
Also, not to say that Tunde Adebimpe is a poor actor, but if you know of his band, “TV On The Radio”, you’ll inevitably be thinking, “Hey, that’s the guy from that band”. I’m pretty sure he’s wearing the exact same glasses he wears in the band. You would think the costume people would have picked a slightly different frame. I suppose filmmaker Jonathan Demme is of the opinion that most people won’t know who he is.
And the wedding is propesterous. Here we are in Connecticut, probably the whitest place on Earth and we have an interracial couple getting married wearing Indian garb with folk music playing. It’s like, “Look how open we are! Our white daughter/sister/relative/friend/whatever is marrying an African American man and we also dig jazz music and Indian clothes and everything non-white.” I don’t have any stats about interracial marriage in Connecticut, but I think that would have been striking enough to give the movie a bit of extra flair. The saris and fiddlers are just over the top. For a film which is supposed to look so realistic and drag in places where life drags, I just was stunned by this lapse.
There are two bright spots. Rachel, played by Rosemarie DeWitt, is quite good. I also think she has the kind of interesting nose you don’t see often these days on film. I really liked that. Hope she doesn’t change that. (See Jennifer Grey from “Dirty Dancing”).
Debra Winger is also very good as Rachel and Kym’s mother. I’m a big fan of her work in “An Officer and a Gentleman” from all the way back in 1984. Even when she’s quiet she has a very powerful presence.
In conclusion, I won’t be recommending this movie to anyone. Unless, that is, I really don’t like them.
“The Untold Story” Which Isn’t Really
Just got the new Entertainment Weekly in the mail and was pleasantly surprised to see that Heath Ledger was on the cover. Unfortunately, the story itself didn’t seem to shed any new light on his tragic end, nor was it, as claimed, “The Untold Story”.
Particularly distasteful in my opinion was a comment by cinematographer Nicola Pecorini. The article hints that Ledger’s pill-taking (and subsequent death) were the result of sleeping problems. Pecorini chimes in that these sleeping problems were solely the result of his separation from Michelle Williams and their child Matilda. Put two and two together, and you have Pecorini blaming Williams for the death of Ledger. Even if this is true, that’s a pretty low thing to say in print. There’s sort of an unspoken rule about that kind of thing.
The lastest Entertainment Weekly also disses the new episode of Burn Notice, to which I was looking forward after a several month long hiatus. Thanks for that…
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