Monday, August 13, 2007
Am I losing interest? Seems to be that way, doesn't it? No post since Thursday evening. Every time I thought that it might be a good idea to get back onto the computer, I found good reasons not to. Cleaning the house. Watching the TV. Listening to music. Going to the cinema. Wandering around town. Really kind of lame.
Well, I'm here now. I suppose that it's a start.
On Saturday I went to see "Waitress".
Jenna (Keri Russell) is a waitress working in a small town diner. Jenna is a pie making genius. She is able to think up new recipes for pies, based on her state of mind at the time (I-Hate-Myself-And-I-Want-To-Pie, anyone?), seemingly at will. But Jenna has problems. She is married to a boorish and self centered man that she hates. She is accidentally pregnant by him. She is resigned to bringing this new life into the world, but finds no joy in it. Jenna is attracted to the new Doctor in town, but all she can see are her dreams of escape slowly withering and dying. There is no way out. Or maybe there is?
The Cineworld on Broad Street in Birmingham was quiet. ("Waitress" is hardly Summer blockbuster material.) I had the entire back row to myself, except for two old ladies sitting a couple of seats away from me. When "Waitress" had finished, one of the old ladies turned to the other and said
"Wasn't that a really nice film?"
Hey! Who am I to compete with that? "Waitress" really is a nice film. It is a very sweet, very cute and dryly funny comedy drama. Lovely performances by the whole cast (Keri Russell just glows), especially from Jeremy Sisto as Jenna's terrible husband Earl. He manages to turn what could have been a pretty one dimensional character into a full fledged study of cruelty and self centeredness, based on terrible, deep down insecurity. It's just an extended cameo, but I think that it is a great performance.
If it hadn't have been for the Adrienne Shelly's notorious death, and the resultant publicity, "Waitress" may never have got the reasonable distribution in the UK that it is getting. That would have been a shame. I'm glad that I saw it. If you are of the cynical bent, stay at home, but if you aren't, go and see "Waitress". You will like it.
On Sunday I went to see "Transformers".
Er... Well...
Lorraine wanted to see the latest Harry Potter epic, but the Showcase on Kingsbury Road had fucked up the start times. So, rather than wait for an hour, Lorraine agreed that "Transformers" was an OK substitute.
So we bought tickets and went in. The adverts came and went, so did the trailers. The lights went down and the film started. It was then that I noticed the smell. I looked around. I sniffed here and there. Couldn't place it. I looked at Lorraine. Had she farted? No. I sniffed some more. The smell was getting worse. Then it dawned on me. The smell was coming from the fucking screen!
I thought "Transformers" was absolutely awful.
Maybe it's me. My Brother (37 years old) has seen it twice. He loved it. My Nephew (11 years old) has seen it twice. He loved it. Two male work colleagues (21 and 30 years old respectiviely) say that they loved it. A female work colleague (26 years old, blonde, nice figure, likes to lick her lips, cheeky smile...) thought that it was "not bad".
What do they know? They know nothing.
If you are into a whole military hardware, scientific geek fest celebration, then there are things to enjoy in "Transformers" (some of the miliatary hardware sequences are great), but there is also really, really bad and predictable comedy featuring, a geek on whom the whole future of the human race depends (who you just know is going to get the hot girl despite the fact that she seems to have been dipped for hours in perma-tan), comedy parents, comedy black ops operatives (John Turturro hold your head in shame), irritating Jar Jar Binks stylee robots (Bumblebee and the other villainous little robot, all squeeks and R2D2isms) and a greatest-hacker-in-the-world (Tm) who is an overexcited, fat, black dude who eats too much. Give me strength...
I'm also starting to suspect that for a (generally considered by some?) top action Director, Michael Bay has no idea how to direct a coherent action sequence. "Transformers" suffered from exactly the same too close approach that ruined action sequences in "Armageddon" and "The Island". Too much happening and it was happening too fast. For God's sake, Michael, pull back and let the audience see what is going on. You don't have to be right in the middle of it all of the time.
I never watched the original series. Should I have done? I feel that I've missed out on something.
By the way, Lorraine liked "Transformers" a lot. She said that it was a fine, Summer movie. (Fume. Snarl. Growl. Spits in disgust.)
We are going to see "The Bourne Ultimatum" on Thursday evening. Please, please, please, God-Of-Film, let it be great!
Well, I'm here now. I suppose that it's a start.
On Saturday I went to see "Waitress".
Jenna (Keri Russell) is a waitress working in a small town diner. Jenna is a pie making genius. She is able to think up new recipes for pies, based on her state of mind at the time (I-Hate-Myself-And-I-Want-To-Pie, anyone?), seemingly at will. But Jenna has problems. She is married to a boorish and self centered man that she hates. She is accidentally pregnant by him. She is resigned to bringing this new life into the world, but finds no joy in it. Jenna is attracted to the new Doctor in town, but all she can see are her dreams of escape slowly withering and dying. There is no way out. Or maybe there is?
The Cineworld on Broad Street in Birmingham was quiet. ("Waitress" is hardly Summer blockbuster material.) I had the entire back row to myself, except for two old ladies sitting a couple of seats away from me. When "Waitress" had finished, one of the old ladies turned to the other and said
"Wasn't that a really nice film?"
Hey! Who am I to compete with that? "Waitress" really is a nice film. It is a very sweet, very cute and dryly funny comedy drama. Lovely performances by the whole cast (Keri Russell just glows), especially from Jeremy Sisto as Jenna's terrible husband Earl. He manages to turn what could have been a pretty one dimensional character into a full fledged study of cruelty and self centeredness, based on terrible, deep down insecurity. It's just an extended cameo, but I think that it is a great performance.
If it hadn't have been for the Adrienne Shelly's notorious death, and the resultant publicity, "Waitress" may never have got the reasonable distribution in the UK that it is getting. That would have been a shame. I'm glad that I saw it. If you are of the cynical bent, stay at home, but if you aren't, go and see "Waitress". You will like it.
On Sunday I went to see "Transformers".
Er... Well...
Lorraine wanted to see the latest Harry Potter epic, but the Showcase on Kingsbury Road had fucked up the start times. So, rather than wait for an hour, Lorraine agreed that "Transformers" was an OK substitute.
So we bought tickets and went in. The adverts came and went, so did the trailers. The lights went down and the film started. It was then that I noticed the smell. I looked around. I sniffed here and there. Couldn't place it. I looked at Lorraine. Had she farted? No. I sniffed some more. The smell was getting worse. Then it dawned on me. The smell was coming from the fucking screen!
I thought "Transformers" was absolutely awful.
Maybe it's me. My Brother (37 years old) has seen it twice. He loved it. My Nephew (11 years old) has seen it twice. He loved it. Two male work colleagues (21 and 30 years old respectiviely) say that they loved it. A female work colleague (26 years old, blonde, nice figure, likes to lick her lips, cheeky smile...) thought that it was "not bad".
What do they know? They know nothing.
If you are into a whole military hardware, scientific geek fest celebration, then there are things to enjoy in "Transformers" (some of the miliatary hardware sequences are great), but there is also really, really bad and predictable comedy featuring, a geek on whom the whole future of the human race depends (who you just know is going to get the hot girl despite the fact that she seems to have been dipped for hours in perma-tan), comedy parents, comedy black ops operatives (John Turturro hold your head in shame), irritating Jar Jar Binks stylee robots (Bumblebee and the other villainous little robot, all squeeks and R2D2isms) and a greatest-hacker-in-the-world (Tm) who is an overexcited, fat, black dude who eats too much. Give me strength...
I'm also starting to suspect that for a (generally considered by some?) top action Director, Michael Bay has no idea how to direct a coherent action sequence. "Transformers" suffered from exactly the same too close approach that ruined action sequences in "Armageddon" and "The Island". Too much happening and it was happening too fast. For God's sake, Michael, pull back and let the audience see what is going on. You don't have to be right in the middle of it all of the time.
I never watched the original series. Should I have done? I feel that I've missed out on something.
By the way, Lorraine liked "Transformers" a lot. She said that it was a fine, Summer movie. (Fume. Snarl. Growl. Spits in disgust.)
We are going to see "The Bourne Ultimatum" on Thursday evening. Please, please, please, God-Of-Film, let it be great!
# posted by Pynchon @ 9:24 pm 
Comments:
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I really like the juxtaposition of the Waitress and Transformer photos. You are a true Renaissance man, Pynchon.
I really, really enjoyed Transformers. But on the other hand, It was never going to be a masterwork like 'the Wicker Man' was it?
I really want to see the new Bourne movie. No interest at all in Transformers. I didn't really have any before, but thanks to your forewarning it is now a film I will probably never bother with. Even if it turns up on TV at some point.
Waitress looks good, though.
Waitress looks good, though.
katyola: All an accident, I assure you.
graham: You are not the only one. I got into a heated discussion with a dwarf at work who thought that it was the best film of the year. I made some crack about fearing for the future of good movies if the kids think that "Transformers" is a good movie start to make movies in the future.
skywolf: You really shouldn't take any notice of my opinion. Nobody else does and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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graham: You are not the only one. I got into a heated discussion with a dwarf at work who thought that it was the best film of the year. I made some crack about fearing for the future of good movies if the kids think that "Transformers" is a good movie start to make movies in the future.
skywolf: You really shouldn't take any notice of my opinion. Nobody else does and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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