My brain isn't firing right. I can get about 3 pistons going at a time, but it's not like they're in sync. I'm glad I drove back from the big city late last night, but getting in at four and the late night-caffeine hangover is brutal.
CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981) - d. Desmond Davis
First thing I watched this afternoon was 'Clash of the Titans'. I've seen it so many times that I don't really watch it when I watch it anymore, so I've got very little new to say. It's too bad that it would be impossible to get a movie like this made now. Studios and cash cows have totally lost their sense of humor.
Harry Hamlin: An ass-clown. He went to Cal-Berkeley and was on the swim team. He was on 'LA Law' and married that skinny blond with the nose from 'Falcon Crest.' They were a perfect couple. He doesn't know how to act. His hair in this movie is awesome; he looks a little bit like Tony Alva might if he ever discovered a comb. Or not...
The big reason everyone loves this movie so much - and rightly so - is because the Harryhausen stop-motion monster animations are amazing. They f'in rock. And then there's Bubbo. The world needs more mechanical owls.
STIR CRAZY (1980) - d. Sidney Poitier
It was a good afternoon on cable today. I've never seen this all the way through. I've caught the start a bunch of times and chunks of the middle, but I was lucky to be bored enough to stick it out. I really know nothing about Sidney Poitier, man, myth or legend, but I'm still surprised that he directed it. It's a good movie, really funny, but it's totally in that 'any R-rated comedy needs plenty of titties' mode that was so popular in the early 80s.
This is the second of the three Pryor/Wilder buddy comedies. I'm not all that big a fan of the original, 'Silver Streak,' and the less said about 'See No Evil, Hear No Evil' the better, but the chemistry between the two is great, and it's nice to see this, which represents the two of them at their collective peak. Wilder's film career outside of these buddy vehicles was really successful, but it's sad that Richard Pryor never really set the big screen on fire.
The way I look at it, he really got screwed by being the first black comedian who worked 'blue' to great popular effect. Without him, Eddie Murphy wouldn't have been allowed to cuss his way through '48 hrs.' and 'Beverly Hills Cop'. There also wouldn't really be a precedent for black comedians as film stars (the one arena that Cosby never conquered). I'll go to my grave believing that, pound-for-pound, Pryor was the greatest comedic talent of those three. It's too bad that while Eddie got all the shine in the 80s, we saw the real Richard Pryor in so few features. There was crap like 'The Toy,' 'Brewster's Millions,' and 'Critical Condition,' but no quality. And, no, the fact that I loved those movies as a kid doesn't justify their existence. Short of his stint in 'Superman III,' there wasn't much more Richard Pryor to enjoy on the big screen after 'Stir Crazy.' Sad.
Last night, I saw...
BIG ANIMAL (2000) - d. Jerzy Stuhr
This one I actually saw in a theater. It was the last movie I'm going to watch in New York for a long time. I wanted to see something at Film Forum, which would've felt like greater closure, but the list of stuff on display was uninspiring, except for 'Battle of Algiers' which I'd already seen. 'Blind Shaft' came and went too fast. I have a feeling I'm never going to see it. Oh well.
I'd never been to Anthology Film Archives before (for reasons which shall remain my own), so at least I went out with a unique experience. I'd compare seeing a movie there to watching a film at the YMCA. I half expected the smell of chlorine when I walked through the door. On the upside, seeing movies in crappy theaters feels like a throwback to the old-days of watching foreign films in porn houses (an experience I'm thankfully too young to have shared) and, more importantly, my ticket was $8 instead of the traditional $10. I still can't believe that Loews is charging $10.25 now.
The movie itself was fun; nothing special, but it's just the type of awkward creature I respond to. The screenplay was written by Krzysztof Kieslowski back in the mid-70s, and his favorite actor, Jerzy Stuhr, finally took it out of mothballs about four years ago and turned it into a little black and white film which has the look and charm of a different era. The story's a bit like a fable: a camel - part of a traveling circus - is left behind in a small town in the Polish countryside and wanders into the yard of a middle-aged couple, bringing the pair tremendous joy, at least until the townsfolk weigh in with their opinions. It doesn't surprise me that Stuhr can direct a film, he's such a great actor. What did surprise me was the style of the filmmaking, which was very, very stripped-down retro. It looked - barring some clearly modern signifiers - like it could've come straight from the 1950s or 60s. It's not just the black and white. Everything from the set design to the camerawork (a lot of it beautiful, gliding camerawork) has a considered, classic edge which really brings out the best in the performers and the story.
The film ultimately feels like a dialogue between Stuhr and Kieslowski. The way the characters struggle to maintain themselves in light of the sometimes petty, often troubling meddlings of the communist bureaucracy is a hallmark of Kieslowski's early narrative work. On the flipside, you don't see one of his movies and expect a barrel of laughs, and this film is constantly amusing. Stuhr is a terrific comic actor, and here he directs a film filled with clever and consistent laughs. It may be a minor footnote in Kieslowski's legend, but signifies that Stuhr the filmmaker is someone to keep an eye on. Good stuff.
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