Movie Night

LATE TO THE PARTY (Network)

Well, there aren't many movies on my Netflix queue that I could BE any later to. NETWORK is almost as old as I am (jebus!)

NETWORK might be perfect. It was made by incredibly talented people who actually gave a shit about the movie and who had some modicum of respect for their audience. Nowadays, like "quick, cheap, or good," it seems like you only get to pick two of those qualities.

It won Oscars. Good ones, not the ones INCEPTION got. It was nominated in all four acting categories - Faye Dunaway won Best Actress (and deserved it,) William Holden was nominated for Best Actor (and should have won it,) Beatrice Straight won Best Supporting Actress (with one incredible scene - she had more grace and presence on screen than almost anyone I've ever seen,) and Peter Finch was the first person ever to posthumously be nominated for and win an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor (and unlike in the only other case of a posthumous nomination, he wasn't just doing Nicholson.) Paddy Chayefsky won the Screenplay Oscar because, well, even the blind squirrels at the Academy find an acorn from time to time.

Quick Aside: If you've ever written anything, and want to do it again, you owe yourself more Chayefsky. His writing will make you feel small and untalented, but in a GOOD way.

I don't feel qualified to really say much else about NETWORK. I think this might actually be awe. The real kind, the stuff involving deities. There is SO MUCH going on in that movie, and some of it I caught and a lot I probably didn't, and I'll be watching it again soon.

One thing, though: NETWORK is more cyberpunk than THE MATRIX. And there's not a computer in it. And the subject matter is still frighteningly relevant.

ALMOST AS LATE: The Right Stuff

The best thing I can say about THE RIGHT STUFF is that that is maybe the most butch cast since THE DIRTY DOZEN or THE WILD BUNCH. Butch in a way that just doesn't happen anymore, since these days our "manly man" types are greased up body freaks. But the astronauts of THE RIGHT STUFF have a lot more to do with manliness than the 'roid freaks of THE EXPENDABLES. A five-year-old Sam Shepard could tear the junk right off Sly Stallone, and Ed Harris on his deathbed will still be tougher than Jason Statham.

Seriously, what the fuck happened? Less than thirty years ago, we get Shepard, Harris, Fred Ward, Lance Henriksen*, Scott Glenn, and Dennis Quaid to play the cream of the American crop. Fifteen years later, it was Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, and Steve Buscemi, and while I love those guys (but not that movie,) I think that marks a pretty clear decline in Hollywood masculinity.

Today's version of THE RIGHT STUFF would be more of an action movie, and it would probably linger pornographically on the launch pad explosions and other catastrophes; there would be a "bromantic" relationship between two of the characters; the wives would have at least one pool scene; and my two favorite parts would probably just not exist, or be completely ruined by MTV editing and some godawful pop rock song.

Ed Harris (as John Glenn) and Mary Jo Deschanel (as his wife, Annie) have a beautiful scene early on. We don't know much about them, except that John is the perfect military pilot, stoic, square-jawed, and forthright. Annie, barely seen so far, is silent and aloof-seeming, barely an accessory on her superman's arm. Her seeming distance, it turns out, is the result of a bad stammer, and the two share a beautifully-drawn scene of quiet conversation that convincingly creates a very loving couple. Today, it would probably involve animal crackers.

Yeager's last big scene would be toast as well. In the movie, he takes an experimental jet up and pushes it and himself right to the edge of space and death. The race to the edge of the atmosphere is beautifully shot. A lot is done with lens flares and reflections, and Yeager's fall is one of the most intense things ever put to film. A lot of that intensity comes when he falls through a cloud - and the director leaves him there for a long moment. You know, consciously, that Chuck Yeager lived long after the events depicted in the film, but still there is tension to be mined. Now, every moment from takeoff to Yeager walking across the desert would be documented in meticulous, CGI-Enhanced detail, and it'd be accompanied by Maroon 5.

I'm glad to have seen the movie finally. The performances were great, the story interesting (and whoo, the cinematography!)... but at 3+ hours, it's not one I'll be revisiting anytime soon. There are weaknesses to this movie, and they seem to get a pass because of the subject matter (and cast.)

THAT'S A WRAP

I know I sound like an old guy, bitching about how movies used to be so much better. But if we're talking about NETWORK, it really WAS so much better than pretty much anything since. It is an actual masterpiece. THE RIGHT STUFF is a damn good movie, but I've seen better (from that time period, even.) It just seems like there was a level of dedication and craft from all involved (except Philip Kaufman, director of THE RIGHT STUFF, who clearly thinks of himself more as an artist. Well, screw Philip Kaufman. He still owes me for making fucking RISING SUN.)

Anyway, I mentioned in a previous post that this would be Foreign Friday. We'll see about that. I will watch something from my Instant Queue and review it, but it may not be GDT's first couple of movies. Thanks for reading.

* If you don't know the name Lance Henriksen, he's the wiry little guy who played Bishop, the tiddlywinks champion of the Alien universe. James Cameron wanted him to play the lead in a little movie called THE TERMINATOR, but the studio balked. Personally, I want to see THAT version. And on consideration, that might be the moment that shifted the Hollywood representation of "the tough guy."