reviews
Short Notes on: Bad Education * Finding Neverland * Garden State
* Hero * Hotel Rwanda * I ♥ Huckabees * The Incredibles * Kinsey *
Maria Full of Grace * Sideways * Ray *
Welcome to Thanksgiving Dinner @ the Film Experience. This meal has been especially prepared by your usual host Nathaniel R (in consultation with a guest chef)
Thanksgiving Potluck |
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Of course you're still hungry. You're pacing yourself. Maybe you're just nibbling waiting for the entrée that tastes just right before you commit to huge heaping forkfuls. If nothing's too your taste, try this tip. Smother it in cranberry sauce!
Everything tastes better smothered in cranberry sauce (Bad Education). That Pedro Almodovar never disappoints. He whipped up this sweet and tart mix of gay melodrama, film noir, and murder mystery like a master chef. If it were up to me he would cook the whole friggin' meal. Like his offerings from previous years this has just the right balance of spices. And the visuals --oh, the visuals. From the beauteous Gael Garcia Bernal (in his second 2004 appearance at the movie table) to the frames within frames, to the clever screen transitions, to the dragtacular wonders...it's something special/ The deep color of Almodovarian sauce sure adds to any movie season. I'm especially grateful for it during Awards season which runs roughly from Thanksgiving to Valentines every year. Thanksgiving dinner and the awards season can be overwhelmingly bland and beige. Visually you need that ruby red punch of cranberry with any feast. Almodovar's work is never simple, though. This sauce is even wilder than his last fondly remembered masterpiece and it's more of an acquired taste. A mostly successful experiment. This world class auteur/chef specializes in underlying hints and unexpected flavors. Only in this year's dish those flavors are kicked up several notches. It's not subtle, this fruity blend, but you have to taste it's unique flavor. And even if you find it's not for you, I bet you'll still be stealing glances, since it's beauty cannot be denied. (B+)
Speaking of beauty...have you noticed the table, the place settings, the floral centerpiece, the silverware, the new paint job on the walls, the "everything" about this room (I ♥ Huckabees)? It's in the air. Thanksgiving is all around you. I know we're too focused on the food to think of the infinite nature of the space and decor, the very holiday we're celebrating. But David O Russell, filmmaker, stopped by to focus on it. He was so focused on it that he forgot there was food coming and he sort of just took off when he was done. It may look a little sloppy to some of you, but if you get what he and his crazy helpers (Wahlberg, Tomlin, Law, Hoffman, and more) were going for, I bet you're more appreciative of your meal, your life, and the human suffering of the people you're dining with... or at least you have a better sense of humor about all of those things. I'm still giggling now.(B+)
Of course, if you want to talk philosophy perhaps you've better have another glass of wine (Sideways). And another. And another. It'll keep the conversation flowing. And Sideways and its intoxicating conversations definitely enhance this meal. Whether you think of Alexander Payne's new film as a robust red, a crisp dry white, or an overrated "fucking merlot", I think you'll have to admit that it's turning into a crucial part of this season's feast. The greatest thing about Sideways, aside from its centerpiece double monologue on wine as identity, is that like the fermented grape juices it celebrates and represents for our purposes... it lubricates the mind. The more you drink it in, the giddier you feel. The drunker you get the more forgiving you are of any shortcomings this meal or this film may or may not have. Who can tell. It's intoxicating. (B+)
I suppose you're wondering about the turkey (Ray and Kinsey)? Well, we have two. We were expecting LOTS of company. The turkey is still being carved up. Why is it so freaking huge? Giant turkeys like bio pictures are rarely eaten outside of the holiday season. While they can be spectacular, they can easily be botched making for a disappointing meal. With the right care and attention from the auteur, though, they can be moist and flavorful. Biopics tend to be largely wrought and their unwieldy nature can overwhelm even the most talented director. Did they remember to baste the film every 15 minutes? Those biopics have tricky narrative obstacles. Every minute of screen time counts. Did the chef stuff his carcass properly beforehand? Those pre-production elements: the right actors, script, production team should be in place before the whole mess hits the oven.
We gave you a choice of birds. They are both perhaps too oversized for their own good. But we wanted to make sure you all had a chance to eat. Taylor Hackford's poultry, Ray, looks beautiful. Jamie Foxx does a mean Ray Charles impersonation and the other actors in his orbit also do fine and tasty work. But Hackford forgot something when this turkey was in the oven. He buttered it up nice and good with music, heaps of it. Maybe it was the cheap psychoanalyzing that distracted him from the proper basting? That's disastrous... particularly in the final stages. And we know this much. He definitely left it in the oven too long. That turkey took forever to come out of the oven. Foxx is juicy but this bird is otherwise dry and tasteless. Bill Condon's Kinsey, is perhaps less enticing in its presentation but I think you'll find that it offers a much juicier centerpiece for our meal. It's buttered with an above par screenplay, stuffed with excellent actors and basted with clever editing (interviews) that'll keep your taste buds happy. Though it also stayed in the oven too long, it managed to retain a surprising amount of flavor. (C+ and B )
And now, finally, come my two favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner.
I know that the turkey is what everyone talks about and waits for. It's the main course. But as for myself, truthfully I live for side dishes. My favorite is the stuffing (Maria Full of Grace). Stuffing comes in as many varieties as there are cooks, but all versions are based on mixture of bread (the story) and seasonings (the execution of the story). Starting with this potentially rather bland palette the cook's imagination is allowed to run wild - cornmeal, oysters, sausage, fruit. Each cook has their own version and family and friends come to rely open it religiously. Religion is something you might find watching this superbly crafted gem about a drug mule from Colombia making her way to New York City. The story is simple. A film version of this story could have been made in thousands of ways. The debut writer/director responsible for this meal's stuffing kept it deceptively simple but there's nary a misstep in his riveting servings of story, character, subplots, and arcs. You'll feel so sated after feasting on this. It's like a whole meal unto itself. (B+)
They'll have to roll us out of here, we're full to the point of bursting. Yet, I know you'll find room in your tummy for a slice of pumpkin pie (The Incredibles)! Pixar, the creative behemoth behind Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Monster's Inc. is getting as predictable in its eternal deliciousness as this classic dessert has been for decades. Carefully baked in smooth custardy goodness by super creative humans in the flaky pastry shell of super powered computers --this pie is the yummiest of yummy. Top it off with the whipped cream of inspired comedy, and you have a great family entertainment that's certain to endure in the way that most of today's animated comedies, obsessed as they are with pop-culture shout-outs as jokes, cannot. There's no dessert as perfect as pumpkin pie and there's no studio as dependable like Pixar. (A-)
You can unbutton your pants now, I know you're stuffed. But don't think you're avoiding dishwashing duty.
Happy Thanksgiving!
All reviews and commentary by Nathaniel R.
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