Skip to main content

I Lost It at the Movies

If you aren't yet listening to "The Rewatchables," please know that my obsession grows and grows. Even just skimming the list of movies selected is a pleasure:

*Notting Hill
*While You Were Sleeping
*The Dark Knight
*The Sixth Sense
*Remember the Titans
*Training Day
*Election
*Zodiac
*Michael Clayton
*Edge of Tomorrow
*Fatal Attraction
*Silence of the Lambs
*Gone Girl
*The Town
*Contagion
*Scream
*Godfather I and II
*Field of Dreams
*The Social Network
*The Talented Mr. Ripley
*Collateral
*The Insider

....and on and on and on.

Can you really say that you wouldn't enjoy rewatching those films? Literally every title above is a title I'd rewatch without complaint.

I especially admire the group's refusal to kowtow to critics. For example, "Being John Malkovich" comes up. This is a movie adored by newspapers. But the podcast says: Nope. Not really rewatchable. And it's true. When I try to watch BJM a second time, my mind wanders.

Among many great features of this podcast: a passionate, semi-serious worship of movie stars. The praise directed at Denzel Washington is one example. "If you knew your wife had a chance to costar in a Denzel movie, and the script involved a major love scene, what would you do?" "Could you envision Denzel in CAST AWAY?" "Could you envision Jamie Foxx in TRAINING DAY?" And so on.

The series focuses on specific line readings: "Why so serious?" from DARK KNIGHT. "I will not be *ignored* .....Dan....." from FATAL ATTRACTION. Anthony Hopkins mocking Jodie Foster's accent, in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

The series also gives air time to Wesley Morris, the guy who is now making a name for himself at the New York Times. Morris sees mainstream cinema as part of a great timeline. He can write, and speak, persuasively about major changes in movie-making and movie-watching habits, and he can draw connections others might not draw. (Check out his wacky, fun essay on the movies of April 2002--and find yourself recalling the Ben Affleck vehicle CHANGING LANES--in the NYT this weekend.)

"The Rewatchables" could win a Pulitzer for its coverage of Ben Affleck alone. Watch Ben score a major early success with GOOD WILL HUNTING, then appear in all genres, always, with great discomfort, then sink down after GIGLI, then resurface with ARGO, then climb higher with GONE GIRL, then sink yet again with the Batman fiasco. Mesmerizing.

There's also extensive coverage of Matt Damon--and a persuasive argument that his weird triumph in TALENTED MR. RIPLEY doesn't really get the attention it deserves.

I'm not sure if I'm becoming a better person as I listen to these podcasts--but, at the least, the time flies whenever I start an episode. It's a great treat to have these guys on when you're cooking. Years from now, when I remember this unusual interlude, I might think of "The Rewatchables."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...
3 comments
Read more

The Death of Bergoglio

  It's frustrating for me to hear Bergoglio described as "the less awful pope"--because awful is still awful. I think I get fixated on ideas of purity, which can be juvenile, but putting that aside, here are some things that Bergoglio could have done and did not. (I'm quoting from a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of the Church.) He could levy the harshest penalty, excommunication, against a dozen or more of the most egregious abuse enabling church officials. (He's done this to no enablers, or predators for that matter.) He could insist that every diocese and religious order turn over every record they have about suspected and known abusers to law enforcement. Francis could order every prelate on the planet to post on his diocesan website the names of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric. (Imagine how much safer children would be if police, prosecutors, parents and the public knew the identities of these potentially dangerous me...
1 comment
Read more

Raymond Carver: "What's in Alaska?"

Outside, Mary held Jack's arm and walked with her head down. They moved slowly on the sidewalk. He listened to the scuffing sounds her shoes made. He heard the sharp and separate sound of a dog barking and above that a murmuring of very distant traffic.  She raised her head. "When we get home, Jack, I want to be fucked, talked to, diverted. Divert me, Jack. I need to be diverted tonight." She tightened her hold on his arm. He could feel the dampness in that shoe. He unlocked the door and flipped the light. "Come to bed," she said. "I'm coming," he said. He went to the kitchen and drank two glasses of water. He turned off the living-room light and felt his way along the wall into the bedroom. "Jack!" she yelled. "Jack!" "Jesus Christ, it's me!" he said. "I'm trying to get the light on." He found the lamp, and she sat up in bed. Her eyes were bright. He pulled the stem on the alarm and b...
1 comment
Read more