635. Muppet Christmas Carol

or...Never Send a Michael Caine to do a Muppet's Job

This is among my favorite holiday movies and my favorite version of Dicken's classic though horrendously overdone tale of a cranky old guy and his slow trek towards not being a douche. So, what makes this version a Christmas Carol better than the others? It's most likely the Muppets and a little Michael Caine for good measure, but mostly the Muppets.

Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat are great as the narrators. They work with a lot of the original Dickensian text and put a decidedly Muppetatic (I'll make this a word) spin on it. Also, I love Rizzo. This is especially surprising considering the latter of the Muppet's was a recent addition to the cast who aside from Bean have failed miserably at new additions into the Muppet cast (Pepe, need I say more?). Yes, this was probably the last movie the Muppets made before they became relegated to horrible TV movie-style schmaltz and obnoxious featured guests (as seen in the painful exercise of the Muppet Wizard of Oz). This movie was ALMOST ruined by the sappiness for sure. The songs are mostly an exercise in futility though Michael Caine can surprisingly, carry a tune.

This song i kinda like (though there is no Michael Caine singing)

i hate this frickin song. so sappy

Kermit and Piggy are naturals at depicted the Kratchit family and Fozzy was born, well, made to play Fezziwinks (or Fozziwinks). Sometimes, the Muppet roles are forced but in the case of Muppet Christmas Carol, the integrations are seamless. There is heart and some genuine laughs which recent Muppet movies have been devoid of.

My in-law's family watches this every Christmas eve and though I need a break every few years I continually find this a cute and enjoyable film. There aren't many contemporary Christmas movies that I can stand but this one stands out though apparently, I can't think of anything remotely inciteful or interesting to say about it. hmm...um...the ghost of christmas present is funny. he is big and eats a lot. Um...Merry Christmas?

About the Top 800 Project:

Using the They Shoot Pictures Starting List of 8800 films (LINK) and my Netflix ratings, I sifted through the list and of the 4500 films I’d seen, I selected a random number of films I liked more than the others. The list was about 812 films. I kicked off 12 to get an even 800. The list chronologically goes up to 2009. Each blog entry will list ten films, one of which will be discussed in detail. The ten films will then be posted toThe Top 800 Master List, a Google docs file compiling them. When the countdown finishes in what will be probably be a really a long time, I will begin discussing random films that I didn’t get to before.

revisiting my VERY first memory of film snobbery

when i was 12 years old, my friend justin and i were driven to our local video store to rent a movie. my choice was BARTON FINK. it was 1992 and i was reading 'entertainment weekly' like it was the bible and i read great reviews of fink and that it had won the palm d'ore at cannes. so i rented it and of course i didnt understand it. the film was a mediation on the dangers of pursuing cash windfalls rather spiritual and creative fulfillment. at the same time, it was a scathing indictment of creativity and how its stifled, inspired, clogged, and sold as commodity. barton fink is probably one of the more unaccessible coen brothers movies so this was definitely a little heavy for a 12 year old.

when my mom picked me up from justin's house, i told her we rented barton fink. she asked what would ever inspire me to rent it. i told her it won the big prize at CAN-NEZ (yes i pronounced it CAN-NEZ). this was my earliest memory of being a film snob.

and that was the last time i saw the movie until last week. because im into silly completionist tactics, i marked it as seen on 'lists of bests,' crossed it off the 'they shoot pictures' top 1000 spreadsheet, and gave it 2 stars on netflix but i had never ever seen the movie.

i actually liked the movie but not a lot and feel that my 2 star rating was a bit premature. i mean, i was 12. in reality...i gave it THREE STARS! however, i can walk away from the movie feeling good knowing that i watched, understood it, and even when i was 12, wasnt enthralled with it. in reality, its probably one of my least favorite coen brothers movies. im not sure it should have won anything at cannes (pronounced kahn. or sorry KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! yup, i just threw in a cheap, unrelated, and nonsensical star trek reference FTW. the 12 year old michael would be proud.

the hit or miss films of Eric Rohmer

eric rohmer is one of the last living directors of the french new wave and alongside claude chabrol and jacques rivette, represent the last link to the golden age of cinema in france. rohmer, like chabrol and rivette have had incredibly prolific careers that have consisted of some masterpieces and some uninteresting stuff.

in terms of rohmer specifically, one of my movie 09 goals was to watch more rohmer. i watched every film in his comedies and proverbs trilogy where i will quickly summarize:

Comédies et Proverbes (Comedies and Proverbs):

1981 La Femme de l'aviateur (The Aviator's Wife) — good, flirty, idealistic, and at times humourous films

1982 Le Beau mariage (A Good Marriage) — cant remember anything about it...must not have been very good

1983 Pauline à la plage (Pauline At The Beach) — fantastic! will discuss later!

1984 Les Nuits de la pleine lune (Full Moon In Paris) — meh

1986 Le Rayon vert (The Green Ray/Summer) — i saw this a while ago and consider this a worthy entrance into rohmer's catalog though not deserving in they shoot picture's top 1000 films of all time

1987 L'Ami de mon amie (My Girlfriend's Boyfriend/Boyfriends and Girlfriends) — worst of the bunch but not horrible

last week, i watched A SUMMER'S TALE (CONTE D'ETE) and absolutely loved it. this was a part of his his series of films; the seasons series.

plot: musician falls goes to south of france to meet girlfriend who doesnt show up. he falls in love once and then again. there is a romance, melancholy, and music; all the things i love in life.

the common link Summer's Tale and PAULINE AT THE BEACH is Amanda Langlet, the cute, intellectual, and engaging star of Pauline and Summer's Tale. In each of them, she plays a wise beyond her years teen confused by love and baffled by relationships. she has an incredible charm, sophistication, and spunk that is decidedly french but not the somber sort exemplified by sandrine bonnaire.

its movies like pauline and summer's tale that make me wish i was a french teen in the late 80s/early 90s. i totally want to hang out with french hipsters in skinny jeans listening to british music. i started that sentence quite genuinely but now it seems really silly. ok, i will change that too. i wish i was french and had a time machine to go back 20 years. i already have the hipster, jeans, and music part taken care of. on a related note, i did put this lego version of the eiffel tower together in the last few days.

so yeah, in summation, rohmer has some pretty good films and in the spirit of echoing past blog sentiments, know your movie type.

like watching paint dry without the thrill of closure

this evening, i watched HOWARDS END. wow. ive seen some outstandingly boring movies in my day but this one is EPIC. i knew this would be boring going into it but i couldnt even comprehend the sheer dullness of it. just to clarify, this is the 1992 merchant/ivory film with anthony hopkins, helena bonham carter, and emma thompson. yeah, thats a damn good cast and they arent wasted. in fact, they perform their roles perfectly. after all, this is an EM Forster novel. twilight, it aint.

however, howards end was so boring that it seemed like it was trying to alienate the audience. 90 minutes in, the characters kept on prattling without a raised voice or anything to break up the monotony of subtle british attitudes. i felt like ismael merchant was saying, 'youre still watching up? alright, lets take out the any of sly comedy of manners bits.'

2 hours in, i was loading the dishwasher and realized that i never wanted michael bay to take over directing a movie so much. in his um...unique hands, the movie would not have ended with a sweeping shot over the grounds of howards end.

and um...megan fox would replace emma thompson...and helena bonham carter...and anthony hopkins. now THAT i would watch.

90s indie films...or whatever man, im totally not even trying to make a movie right now

ever since i started blogging my various movie adventures, ive been trying to group films into themes so i can discuss them together. upcoming, i have rohmer's comedies and proverbs to talk about and i plan on getting into early godard masterpieces. before the frenchness takes back over, i wanted to write about richard linklater's SLACKER and noah baumbach's KICKING AND SCREAMING

NOTE: the aforementioned kicking and screaming is a comedy-drama from 1995 about young people drifting aimlessly in their post college grad years, not the crime against soccer will ferrell movie.

NOTE TO WILL FERRELL: STOP MAKING SPORTS MOVIES!!!

these two films were pretty important in terms of the 'quirky indie dramedy without a plot' genre and like the mumblecore movement of today's indie films, the early stuff wasnt that great (IMHO). first off, i downright hated slacker. of course, i didnt really care for waking life either and only kept watching because of the amazing visuals. i guess that the stream of conciousness conversations are a bit too much for me. of course, i loved coffee and cigarettes (all the vignettes! esp the ones involving wasabi peas) so maybe i just need them to be interesting. i pretty much forgot every line of the film save for the scene about madonna's pap smear (that was awesome) and the opening scene where i didnt realize that it was 100 minutes of random conversations. for a supposedly intensely quotable film, i am devoid of snooty lines to drop into my daily life to sound elitist.

i liked kicking and screaming a little better as it was sort of about something. granted, the film took the narrative of random conversations but at least there was academic snootiness and some wit to go about. plus, it had eric stoltz right after his 'sleep with me' days which reminded me of the conversation he has with tarantino regarding top gun as a film about gay subculture---but i digress. again. i digress a lot dont i?

noah baumbach went on to make some good films though i never really found him as brilliant as others. margot at the wedding was ok and i sorta liked the squid and the whale. he is the even more thinking man's wes anderson (which makes sense given that they work together). of course, richard linklater is one of the most respected indie directors working today (though in my mind his image took a beating over the bad news bears remake).

come to think of it, im not entirely sure it was tarantino and stoltz that had that conversation after all...

ADDENDUM:

this week's STRONG BAD EMAIL discusses the differences between indie and independent film. it is SPOT ON and heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelarious

a short blog entry about killing

thats a kieslowski reference bitches!

two films to discuss in this one. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and The Honeymoon Killers. i think the link between is obvious (serial killers natch) and of course IMHO neither of them were very good. in fact, they both sucked...pretty hard.

Henry is a tale of a couple white trash serial killers and their innocent and unknowing sister/lover and Honeymoon is about a fat chick and a swarthy italian swindling people out of money and occasionally killing them.

Henry is a prime example of the poorly acted early 90s low budget independent film genre and Honeymoon is a prime example the poorly acted early 70s low budget independent film genre. and both films were directed by people who didnt really have much of a career afterwards though honeymoon had the distinct honor or NOT being scorsese's first feature length film. he was fired after spending too much time filming master shots (shots of the whole scene which are usually shot before close ups). of what could have been.

the early 90s and early 70s both marked returns to independent cinema. with cassavettes in the 70s and soderbergh/hartley in the 9s0, there was definetely a solid movement back to simpler character driven films. unfortunately, these were not the best of the genre