Intolerable Cruelty

In class we talked about how Intolerable Cruelty wasn't worth watching, we were right. It has several of the key Coen Brother elements such as backstabbing, lying, and human greed, however it lacks memorable dialgue. The whole plot revolves around Miles' (George Clooney) and Marylin's (Catherine Zeta-Jones) awkward relationship and cutthroat business practices. Both characters are so driven by greed and the desire to one-up the other that the viewer cannot identify with either of the characters. Money is the primary motivator in the film, like it is in several other Coen Brother's films, but in this case it overwhelms the plot and makes the story seem trivial. Here is a review of the movie from Roger Ebert.

Altman Blog

Out of all the Altman films the Long Goodbye is my favorite. It was reminiscent of the film noirs we watched from Art of Film I, without taking itself too seriously. It was fun to watch a movie that sort of openly admitted that it was a movie. (Or at least that was the impression I got. The "Hooray for Hollywood" song played at the end of the film seemed to be Hollywood celebrating another good film). The main character was funny, the story made sense, and it moved along at a good pace. I can't necessarily say that I enjoyed the other films as much. The Player kept the audience aware that they were watching a movie throughout the whole film, but the story that it presented had no one the audience was rooting for. The main character is a murderer and has no qualms about cheating on his girlfriend. I felt that this sort of stopped the audience from investing in the story. The Player in a way reminded me of Crash. Crash is a a film similar to Nashville in as much as it is focused on the lives of several characters, but I also feel that it is like The Player because it is not plot driven. Instead it preaches the evil or racism while The Player preaches the evils of Hollywood and human greed. Nashville was also not plot driven, instead it was sort of a montage of everyday life scenes from people who were loosely connected. While every scene on its own is an interesting study of human character, without a plot or central driving character the audience seemed to loose focus.

One of Altman's techniques that I really liked was the constantly moving camera in the Long Goodbye. Every time it moved or panned it would refocus the audience's attention and keep it on the movie during long dialogue scenes. It reminded me of that small step forward people always should take before saying an important piece of information in a speech.

Big Fish

The movie Big Fish (Burton 2003) is about the life of Edward Bloom (Ewan McGregor) as he told it. Edward is a charming story teller and everyone but his son loves his tall tales. It is a series of fairy tales about Edward as he grew up. The viewer also gets an insight into the personality of Edward’s son Will who is not enamored with these fanciful tales but wants to know the truth about his dying father’s life.

Overall this film follows Tim Burton’s signature style with a blurring of the line between fantasy and reality. However, unlike most of Burton’s films the underlying mood of the story light and comedic. It does not contain dark, gothic scenes and is more of a feel good movie. One of the darkest scenes in the movie is when the young Edward Bloom confronts an old witch who lives on the edge of town. In her glass eye the kids see how they were going to die. The scene is done in all low key lighting with eerie music and a close up on the “creepy” glass eye, but it fails to instill any sense of discomfort in the viewer as most of Burton’s horror scenes due because of the characters’ either comic fear or acceptance of the witch. To watch the youtube video of this scene go here (for some reason it has prohibited me from uploading the video directly).

Burton has a strong visual style and his images stick in the mind and help tell Edward’s fanciful stories better than the nearly constant narration. One that particularly sticks in my mind is when Karl (Matthew McGrory), a gentle giant that Edward helps find acceptance in society, and Edward are walking off to meet their destinies. The looming, but hunched over and awkward giant is juxtaposed sharply with the confident but much smaller Edward. Somehow they seem to be walking together in harmony as if they belonged with each other and the idyllic background. This picture encapsulates the relationship more than the narration could.

Burton also makes a reference back to his other movie Eduard Scissorhands (in addition to both main characters having the same name) with the town of Specter, a town that Edward accidentally stumbled across on his way to the city. This town is a lot like the city in Eduard Scissorhands with vibrant green lawns and a seemingly perfect small town life where everyone is happy and idyllic. Both Edward and Eduard are unable to find happiness there and move on, leaving behind one who loves them.

The film does include several typical Tim Burton themes like the child’s imagination of fantasy and horror. This particular theme is actually the basis for nearly the entire movie which includes such memorable scenes as a man turning into a fish, the stopping of time, and a werewolf. Also like a lot of Burton films it relies heavily on special effects. However it doesn’t include a central character that is ostracized from society and a dark and mysterious undertone as a lot of Burton films do. It also fails to answer or even to forcefully get the viewer to consider the question of what is better the truth or an exciting story?

Overall I agree with the film critique by Arran McDermott. The film takes a while to really get interesting, but once going it is very relaxed and a funny collection of tall tales. A lot of what the film relies on is the absurdity of the tales bringing a smile to the viewer’s face and this sense of surprise and disbelief may be lost on repeat viewings. However, I do believe that it is worth seeing at least once.