'Play it as it Lays'

"Play It As It Lays ironically supports conservative values by showing their utter absence in the characters' lives. We see a Hollywood society with no sense of history, of the links between then and now, and we watch this world disintegrate into suicide, abortion, sexual promiscuity, divorce, and neurotic lethargy: into nada....Maria and the other characters are cut loose from the bonds and values associated with the family, and by extension, from any sense of continuity with the past." (Brady 53)

8/10 (2nd viewing)

Ben's 20 Favorite Films

I should be posting more stuff in the future. Enjoy!

Shindler’s List (Steven Spielberg)
Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam)
Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola)
Shichinin no samurai (Akira Kurosawa)
Buono, il brutto, il cattivo (Sergio Leone)
Eternal Sunshinge of the Spotless Mind (Micel Gondry)
Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson)
Everything Is Illuminated (Lieve Schreiber)
Russikiy kovcheg (Aleksandr Sokurov)
Sjunde inseglet, Det (Ingmar Bergman)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron)
Spaceballs (Mel Brooks)
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (Sam Jones)
Cidade de Deus (Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund)
Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers (Peter Jackson)
The Truman Show (Peter Weir)
Angels In America (Mike Nichols)
Un long dimanche de fiancailles (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Rundown

I suppose some are still chewing away at Damian's faux-apologia (see: Nixon's "Checkers" speech)--how ironic was the timing of my second-to-last post--and rightfully so. My favorite bits would be "I can't do that. It's not that simple" (in reference to denying to the claims of plagiarism) or "It may seem like that should be easy to do, but when you're the one sitting in your chair staring at the blank computer screen, it can be quite a daunting task." I'm not trying to be a churlish ass; I've been guilty of my fair share of plagiarism in my lifetime (in some senses, haven't we all?) but I think I learned in the elementary school that owning up rather obvious mistakes or poor judgment is better than denying it--or worse, skirting around the circumstances and downplaying the actions. Rhetorical analysis might have gone over the American public 50+ years ago, but the film-going community is a bit less saccharine, if you will. I'm still going to keep Windmill's of My Mind's link up on my blog, but it will be more of a reminder of how side-stepping one of basic fundamentals of human nature (apologizing) really beats a horse once presumed dead.

Great article about the debasement/ascension (?) of modern film--> Here
David Bordwell proving once again that he is one of the least pretentious individuals in film criticism--> Here
That guy who has the coolest last name discussing Roger Ebert, monsters with eyes in their hands, and the underrated nature of Ebert's pre-I-own-the-AMPAS film enthusiasm--> Here
Fairly straightforward look at the general theories of Artaud--> Here
Overview of Renoir Boudu and how he really perfectionized the long-take--up to that point. Cool site, too--> Here


I'm sort of at a stalemate with my Inland Empire analysis, but I've got a good one on the way comparing My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies, discussing how each film takes a "quiet" approach to spirituality/wonderment and how tragedy evolves in each.

Just for fun:

Album of the Week: Animal Collective "Sung Tongs"
Movie of the Week: Tokyo Ga
Song of the Week: "Message of Love" - The Pretenders
Book of the Week: Pledged - Alexandra Robbins
Obsessions of the Week - 'The Office', Amy Adams, and college football
Quote of the Week: "A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five." - Groucho Marx

Well, Damn.

Plagiarism in 31 Days of Spielberg

Various updates coming soon.