I am a big fan of the collected works of Paul Thomas Anderson. Bart is decidedly less so.
This makes for a fairly entertaining podcast.
His latest film, Inherent Vice, is certainly not his best work and it's easy to see why the majority of audiences would find it pretty off-putting. After all, it's a detective noir about the death of the 1960's west coast counter-culture wrapped in a mystery so dense as to be practically impenetrable. But that's part of why I found it so enjoyable. Instead of spending the (very lengthy) running time trying to figure out what happened to Shasta Fay Hepworth and why I should beware the Golden Fang, I was able to sit back and let the colors and the textures all wash over while basking in the glory of Joaquin Phoenix's doper PI, Josh Brolin's unhinged LA cop and Jenna Malone's ridiculous chompers.
I will say that I think the film suffers some pacing issues and feels like it goes on about 20 minutes longer than necessary. There's also a part of me that wishes the film's tone retained some of the lunacy and charm of that first trailer. Ultimately, the strong performances by Phoenix and Brolin were joyful enough to get me through, but I must admit that Inherent Vice didn't pack quite the emotional wallop of some of Anderson's previous efforts.
Next Week: We finally catch up with Nightcrawler and I introduce Bart to The Bourne Identity.
Last night, while I was watching the Patriots give a Monday Night Football performance worthy of a high school JV squad, the internet was freaking the fuck out over the first trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice.
That excitement is justified.
Anderson's last few movies (There Will Be Blood and The Master) are each genius level films in their own right, but they're also pretty dark and nihilistic so I understand why the majority of audiences didn't exactly find them accessible. But this looks like a return to Anderson's more populist work, exhibiting not just a lighter touch but some sheer hilarity. And the continuing collaboration between P.T. and Joaquin Phoenix makes me happier than words can express. Phoenix's work in The Master is easily one of the most underrated performances in the last five years and if we're all very very lucky, Inherent Vice will pave the way for his entry into the Marvel Universe as Dr. Strange.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend the rest of the day watching and endless loop of Josh Brolin shouting for pancakes and Joaquin Phoenix falling down.
September is an odd time at the box office. For the most part, studios tend to essentially take the month off from major releases while the American public is largely distracted by the end of summer and the beginning of yet another school year. October is all about horror and by the time November rolls around we're already talking about Oscar contenders, but there's nary a big budget franchise nor a prestige title to be found in the coming weeks.
That's not to say that there's no reason to go to the theater. In fact, there is a slew of really fascinating films that will have limited releases in the coming weeks, stuff like The Congress, Wolfcop, The Guest, Wetlands, Zero Theorem, The One I Love and James Gandolfini's final film The Drop from Bullhead director Michael Roskam. These are movies that will require just a little bit of extra effort to seek out and they might not all be home runs, but I can guarantee you that none of them will be boring. I for one am pretty damn excited.
But because that stuff isn't going to reach a super wide audience, that makes it less than ideal material for podcasting purposes. Therefore, while I'm hoping to talk about a lot of these more peculiar films, we'll also be pairing them up with some older, more familiar titles for your listening pleasure.
Episode 29 is actually a double feature of classic titles starting with Ghostbusters, which has been newly restored and back in theaters this week in celebration of the film's 30th anniversary. (If you missed your chance to see it on the big screen, you can pick up both films on 4K Blu-ray in two weeks.) Ghostbusters is our favorite movie of all time so we try not to gush over the film too much. We even swap our own personal ghost stories! We also talk The Birdcage, a movie I've never been particularly fond of and which I don't think I'd seen since the 90's. While a lot of my initial problems with the film seem exacerbated by the passage of time (some of this stuff is the gay equivalent of the laughing Sambo) there are enough moments of brutal honesty and sincere emotional connection to even out the proceedings. I can certainly appreciate why this was the movie a lot of people turned to in the wake of Robin Williams' death. I wish we had talked about this, but I think it's very telling that most of the political stuff which played as broad parody in 1996 is now simply accepted reality. The conservative senator and leader of the morality coalition is found dead in the arms of an underage black prostitute? That's a headline which would barely raise an eyebrow these days.
We also chat about the supposed "No Jokes" edict in place for DC's superhero films, Marvel's continued pursuit of Joaquin Phoenix to play Dr. Strange and some of the festival films that have us most excited, including Birdman and Rosewater.
I love it when actors are willing to go way the hell out on an experimental limb, and I have to give Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck credit, because if nothing else they definitely commit to this absurd charade and take it to the extreme.
But, no. This is fucking terrible.
My reaction is certainly colored by the fact that I knew this entire actor-turned-rapper pratfall was staged from the beginning, but then again that story broke before the film ever screened for an audience. There was such public resentment at the time that I thought perhaps being a little removed from the actual events would give me a better appreciation for Affleck and Phoenix were really going for, but such is just not the case. We all remember Phoenix's now infamous appearance on David Letterman while promoting the film Two Lovers. Even watching it just now it made me laugh, but that's mostly due to Letterman's sublime handling of his standoffish guest. ("I'll come to your house and chew gum...") Phoenix makes himself so incredibly vile and unlikable that I have to imagine his agents and publicists (who show up exasperated throughout the film) must have been crying themselves to sleep every night trying to figure out how they'd rehabilitate his image when it was all over. (His breathtaking performance in The Master certainly helped.) In fact, I had to keep reminding myself that the guy is just playing a character because his bearded alter ego is such a tremendous asshole that you actually start to hate Phoenix himself. You can be pissed at him for making a subpar mockumentary, but it's unfair to judge the real Phoenix for his contrived onscreen exploits. It's a gutsy/stupid move that probably should have backfired on him even worse than it actually did.
I enjoyed seeing Ben Stiller come over to pitch him Greenberg, and when Edward James Olmos shows up to give him emotional council, it made me wish that I could somehow convince Bill Adama to be my personal spirit animal. On the other hand, the bits where he tries to convince Diddy to produce his album just made me pity the hip-hop impresario for somehow getting roped into this awkwardly fumbled subterfuge. But the majority of the film's running time is filled with Phoenix and his two lackeys either fucking around in his giant house or whining about who may or may not be telling the press that he's faking the whole thing. By the time Phoenix is on stage in Miami and fighting with hecklers, the entire affair just feels like a tremendous waste of time.
At one point, Phoenix's disgruntled assistant squats over him in his sleep and shits on his face, so at least he knows how the audience feels after watching I'm Still Here.
If you haven't seen this movie, I'm envious.
--------------------------------------- Title: I'm Still Here Director: Casey Affleck Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Antony Langdon, Sean Combs, Ben Stiller, Edward James Olmos, David Letterman Year Of Release: 2010 Viewing Method: Netflix Instant (laptop)
