October
6
Weekend Viewing: Appaloosa, Nick and Norah, Religulous
The younger generation--even smart cinephiles--doesn't like westerns anymore. The period is just too far away for them, they don't relate. It's a genre that isn't surviving. It had its place in American history: basically, western tropes have been absorbed into other genres like action adventures and sci-fi fantasy.
All hail the folks who want to keep this aging genre alive, and actor-writer-director Ed Harris is one of them. I went into Appaloosa with the general impression from Toronto and various reviews like this one from Todd McCarthy, that it was an okay, respectable western, slow-paced, nothing great.
Well, I adored it. Why? It's for grown-ups. It's well-plotted, based on the book by Robert B. Parker, and Harris directed the hell out of it. He and Viggo Mortensen have a wonderful, deliberate, subtle time hanging out as two "lawmen" in a world where actors actually have something to do. I'm sorry, but western heroes (and anti-heroes) are sexy.
Many critics have taken issue with the Renee Zellweger character. Clearly, she's not your ordinary Western babe. (Any western involving a significant female character is a plus.) Obviously, we have a bromance here between two men, and the woman presents a challenge to their bond. The men will never doubt each other.
Their triangle is set within the strange warped milieu they live in: uptight Puritan morality on the one hand, wild, lawless frontier on the other. In those days if a woman wasn't a virgin, a wife, a squaw or a whore, what was she? These smart actors have a fine time playing with the genre within a naturalistic context. Of course the bad guys are real bad: Jeremy Irons and the great Lance Henriksen. Actors should love this movie. Harris and Mortensen continue to amaze. Other mature sensibilities--movie critics--appreciated the pic to the tune of 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. But will anyone go see it?
This weekend's movie lineup was a bizarre to say the least. Family comedy Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Tomatometer, 46%), about cute talking dogs, beat out everything else.
Liberal gadfly Bill Maher's Religulous (Tomatometer, 64 % did just okay on 500 screens, while David Zucker's anti-Liberal American Carol went to more than 1600 and came in ninth at the B.O. (Largely unscreened for critics, the reviews came in late and good: 75 % on the Tomatometer.)
Maybe moviegoers aren't seeking to be offended by polarizing political content. (Clearly, NY Observer Press critic Armond White doesn't.) Religulous is funny. Maher whisks us breathlessly through his whirlwind tour of the world's religions, riding roughshod over any pretension to serious doc journalism. It's coarse comedy. But Maher can't help but condescend to stupid people who actually care about these unbelievable things. When he runs up against someone smart who can hold their own with him it works better. There might have been a way to make his arguments with a defter, lighter hand.
Meanwhile, I'm about to give up on At the Movies' Two Bens. They prepare their reviews carefully, but when they banter they say incredibly dumb things. When they debated Flash of Genius (Tomatometer, 68%), which one could make valid arguments for disliking, Mankiewicz posited that all biopics are fake, misleading and worthless.
Some producer has told the Bens that fighting over their reviews will make the show better. Now they're acting like they intensely dislike each other, and don't seem to be having much fun. Ebert and Roeper and their balcony sparring partners debated on a basis of some mutual respect. At the Movies is still wasting time on this ridiculous panel of talking heads (are they already trying out replacements?). This time they included an actual grey-hair movie critic, Variety's own Joe Leydon, who instantly sounded smarter than everyone else. Gee whiz.
Leydon knew to compare Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (67% Tomatometer) to After Hours. Saturday night, I enjoyed Nick and Norah at the Grove. Michael Cera is likeably bland, but he holds the screen and never delivers a false moment. And Kat Dennings was fun to watch. The movie reminded me of my night-prowling Manhattan youth. The night I first met my future husband, we wound up walking the closed section of the elevated West Side Highway in the wee hours of the night. Very romantic.
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I gave up on the new iteration of "At the Movies" after one viewing, it was that bad.
Posted by: mitkid | October 06, 2008 at 07:33 AM
I felt the same way about Appaloosa as McCarthy did. A good film, too slow paced for me in some parts but I still think that last year's 3:10 to Yuma and that Brad Pitt/Jesse James (which is very slow paced but kept my interest throughout) were much better. Still I can't knock it after all because 1) it's a western and 2) it's for adults and I know I'll be buying the DVD when it comes out. It's doing O.K. at the box office too though it's in a limited number of theaters so I have still have some hope for the genre.
And speaking of adults that why I have NO interest in seeing Nick and Nora. I couldn't give a rat ass about a movie about two confused teenagers. I didn't see films like that when I was that age. All I wanted to see were adult films back then.
No wait I take that back...I LOVED SUPERBAD. But then again that was Apatow, God's antidote for Sex in the City for guys
By the way, isn't Demme's new film Rachel Got Married just great? One of my favoites for the year
Posted by: Sergio | October 06, 2008 at 07:33 AM
I'm a longtime western buff and enjoyed APPALOOSA and am glad I saw it on the big screen. The cast is just great, the characters are interesting, esp. Zellweger's, and it has just the right feel for its time and place. This film would have played well at one of my neighborhood theaters in the Bronx back in the day. Interestingly, here are the approx. ages of the main actors in it at the time they made it: Harris, 57; Mortensen, 49; Irons, 59; Zellweger, 38; Henriksen, 67. Which seem the right ages to be making a movie like this. John Wayne was in his 60s when he was churning out westerns like THE UNDEFEATED, CHISUM, and BIG JAKE and my friends and I, in our teen years, never missed a one.
My daughter's 25 and she loved NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST. But then she's still at the age where she and her friends go out at nights to places in Manhattan and Brooklyn like those in the film. She "related" to it, while I "related" to APPALOOSA, even if I don't sit in saloons or ride along with "posses" much anymore. ;)
Posted by: Brian | October 06, 2008 at 09:59 AM
I'd love to find out precisely why audiences don't dig westerns or musicals anymore. I bet if "Grease" came out today it would be a teen sensation -- maybe it would need the right marketing push.
But "Appaloosa" is rock solid ... and decidely adult in its presentation. The relationship between Ed and Viggo was terrific -- a bromance unlike we've seen before.
Posted by: Christian Toto | October 06, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Uhm, if the "younger generation--even smart cinephiles--doesn't like westerns anymore," who cares? I don't know what the demographic was but Deadwood was a helluva hit.
Kevin
Posted by: KevinTraywick | October 06, 2008 at 11:46 AM
In response to Christian's comment about musicals, I would point out that we'll have a chance to find out how audiences respond when HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 opens in theaters later this month. I've seen the two made-for-Disney Channel HSM movies, and am curious to see what they added to make the third one big-screen-ready. Somehow I doubt it will have the edge that GREASE had. Somehow I doubt it'll have the edge that even the HSM equivalent of 1963, BEACH PARTY, had (a favorite when I was a kid). But watch for Ashley Tisdale, who plays the manipulative rich girl, Sharpay. I suspect she'll steal the movie just as she and Lucas Grabeel (who plays her brother) did in the first two HSM movies.
Posted by: Brian | October 06, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Musicals are in better shape than westerns because younger viewers still know the genre rules. The more realistic and backstage they are, the better--it's still tough to sell a "book" movie musical. But Dreamgirls did more than $100 million domestic, people seem to forget. Moulin Rouge and Hairspray did business. My daughter and her pals love musicals, which are also thriving in theater form on Broadway. So there's hope. Westerns are another story. They're strictly for grown-ups.
Posted by: anne thompson | October 06, 2008 at 03:40 PM
I really enjoyed APPALOOSA for the same basic reasons you did.
Also: everytime you use the word "bromance" an angel gets his wings. ;-)
Posted by: ProgGrrl | October 06, 2008 at 03:57 PM
Armond White is lead reviewer for New York Press, not Observer.
Posted by: Jerry Portwood | October 10, 2008 at 08:41 AM