So Long, 2008

I have no recommendations for films to watch on New Years eve.  Of course, you should watch something with Meryl Streep in it, but unless I get really industrious I doubt I am.  Last year I went to see Enchanted with my parents and I don't remember what I did the year before.  I do remember one New Years party with friends where we watch Monty Python and Mars Attacks.  Classics.

I don' think it really matters, it's mostly a holiday for getting plastered anyway.  I very much doubt that I'll be getting plastered tonight, but I do believe in the power of champagne.  Maybe my friends and I will watch a movie, but it's more likely we'll play a lot of DDR and have pizza.  If we were watching a movie, here's what I'd chose:  

Postcards from the Edge - This was one of the first Meryl Streep movies I saw and I love it.  It's not always happy, but it's bitingly funny and has a phenomenal story.  It also has one of my favorite lines ever for a movie: "I think I'm going to go weave a basket now."

Mars Attacks - It's really stupid, and I like stupid.

Modern Times - I saw this movie with a live orchestra once and I don't think anything will ever top that, but it's still an awesome movie.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - For one night and one night only, the NBC peacock meets God!

Happy New Year.

The Originals

We didn't watch television when I was growing up.  Hell, we didn't even have a TV until I was four.  It's the same one we have now.  It lives in a cart thing that my dad built with wheels on it so it can be pushed back in the closet when it's not in use.  From this it's possible to discern my parents' general attitude towards the whole television concept.  TV was fine, but there were better things to do.  Our TV has never played channels.  Once my dad dug up an ancient antenna and we watched a very fuzzy winter Olympics.  When I was little I got to watch one movie a week.  We would go to the movie store on Friday after school and I would agonize over which movie I'd watch.  The major problem in the whole system was that when I really liked a movie I didn't want to see anything else.  I watched Hercules so many times that my mother just gave in and bought it.  But that wasn't the first one.  First it was Doctor Dolittle.  And this was long before the Eddie Murphey version, this was the old school Rex Harrison musical.  I thought talking to animals would be the coolest thing ever.  Week after week that was what came home from the movie store.

My parents got sick of Doctor Dolittle much quicker than I did so in order to save their sanity they got my started on Swiss Family Robinson.  I loved that movie.  It started a continuing adoration of tree houses.  There was also pirates and climbing in trees and jungle creatures.  What not to love?  I was never a big fan of the whole brothers in love with the same girl story line, mostly because at that age romance was still an overrated concept.  But the rest of it was fantastic.

I don't remember what was after Robinson.  Either Hercules or Star Wars.  High quality entertainment.  Movies were a big deal in my house.  I didn't get to watch cartoons on weekends, I did that at other peoples' houses, I watched movies.   And I think I treasured them because they were so rare.  To my parents credit, their regime of one movie a week didn't last very long, but it still made an impact.  As I got older I outgrew movie Fridays and watching the same movie continuously.  I've seen a lot of movies, and they stick with me better than most things.  Film is one of the few topics where I feel I can hold my own in conversation.  Unless it's about porn, I still haven't seen Zombie Strippers staring Jenna Jameson.

Happy-Go-Synecdoche

I don't remember what my first movie was.  Some kids do, they can recount the first time their parents sat them down in front of the strange black box.  It's usually Disney or one of the classics like The Sound of Music or The Wizard of Oz.  I don't think my first was The Wizard of Oz, but it must have been one of the earlier ones because I can distinctly remember an absolute terror of the Wicked Witch of the West.  At my daycare when I was three we used to stage frequent productions of The Wizard of Oz in the living room.  On those days I was forced to play the Wicked Witch that way I couldn't be frightened of myself.  Mostly all that was required of the role was sitting in the corner while clutching the disgusting broom from the kitchen.  The whole experience was an early indicator that I was not meant to be an actor.

Movies were a big deal at my daycare.  Once a month or so all the parents would meet for secret discussions the children weren't privy to.  We would get pizza and cram into the tiny back room in front of the TV.  I don't really remember watching movies at these gatherings.  I remember long arguments about what movie we should watch and long stretches when the TV was having technical difficulties.  During one of those waits one of the older kids told us that the black and white static on the screen was teams of black and white ants racing.  Every few minutes we'd get to ask which team was wining.

On Friday I saw "Happy-Go-Lucky" and last night I saw "Synecdoche, New York."  HGL I really wanted to like, but it fell short.  I think the main problem was I could never really like the main character, she always kind of bugged me.  So I watched all of her exploits with mild irritation.  Then none of her exploits were resolved in the end.  They just kept introducing story lines and none of them were completely wrapped up.  

Synecdoche on the other hand.... wow, that's a trip.  It's written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, the guy who did Adaptation and Being John Malkovich.  I'll watch Adaptation at some point, Meryl Streep's in it, and Being John Malkovich is one of my favorite movies.  I went in expecting something pretty trippy, but still brilliant.  That was what I saw, but the trippy really outweighs the brilliant.  I felt like I was trying to process a new way of looking at everything while trying to keep up with the story and multitude of characters.  James over at A Blogwork Orange says it's a film that must be seen twice.  That would probably help.  It's quite the creative work and the performances are incredible.  But it fucks with your mind.