William Friedkin's The French Connection, about ruthless cops chasing ruthless drug smugglers, is a sensationally effective and vastly overrated movie, and I doubt I'll ever want or need to see it again. Continue Reading »
The House Next Door
Archive: August, 2007
Caveman valentines: The French Connection, Dirty Harry and Straw Dogs
by Matt Zoller Seitz on August 31st, 2007 at 7:00 pm in Film
Mad Men Fridays: Season 1, Episode 7 "Red in the Face"
by Andrew Johnston on August 31st, 2007 at 5:43 am in Television
By Andrew Johnston
Mad Men continues to bring the funny with an episode that furthers the exploration of Roger Sterling's personality that began last week in addition to showing us a previously unseen side of Don Draper. His possessive, macho reaction to Roger's drunken pass at Betty is consistent with the Don of previous episodes, but his revenge prank reveals a more playful sense of humor than the tendency toward dry, dark wit with which we've become familiar. Continue Reading »
Links for the Day (August 31st, 2007)
by Keith Uhlich on August 31st, 2007 at 5:19 am in Links for the Day
1. "Crowded House": Anthony Kaufman's Village Voice article on the indie-film distribution scene; his blog follow-up to the piece; and Reeler editor S.T. VanAirsdale's response.
["Gotham may be famous for its indie films, but the exhibition landscape is an increasingly contentious and competitive space, with too many movies struggling to stay alive on too few screens."] Continue Reading »
Gunslingers in Macau: Johnnie To's Exiled
by Matt Zoller Seitz on August 31st, 2007 at 12:08 am in Film
By Matt Zoller Seitz
Johnnie To is a bloodthirsty showman, but he loves people. Exhibit A is his latest film, Exiled. This tale of childhood buddies turned hit men squaring off against a malevolent gang boss in 1998 Macau—on the eve of that former Portuguese colony's absorption by China—is the kind of film where flames roar, waves crash and dropped bullets thud like bowling balls.
Mannered as it is, however, Exiled is a tonic—a film that delivers all the visceral satisfactions of a super-macho action picture (close-quarters gun battles; slow-motion Wild Bunch-style side-by-side struts) and unabashedly sentimental depictions of loyalty and tenderness as well as plot twists that are surprising, often bizarre, yet feel just right.
Death Sentence: Violence in the Name of Justice
by Matt Zoller Seitz on August 30th, 2007 at 11:57 pm in Film
By Matt Zoller Seitz
Based on Brian Garfield's novel—a sequel to the book that spawned the 1974 film Death Wish—James Wan's latest film is a middle-class white man's payback fantasy, leavened with phony references to class difference.
From the editor
by Matt Zoller Seitz on August 30th, 2007 at 11:23 pm in Film
This is the 1000th post since The House Next Door began publication January 1, 2006. I'm using it to thank everyone who reads us, links to us, quotes us and takes issue with us. I'd also like to express my deep gratitude to my co-editor, Keith Uhlich; my art director and technical troubleshooter, Jeffrey Hill; the good Samaritan known as Ed Copeland, who has stepped in during many a crisis and saved my bacon; my treasured sounding board, Sars; my wonderful roster of contributors, all of whom I'm proud to call friends; and last but not least, Hannah and James, the most patient children who ever walked the earth.
5 for the Day: Underdog Sports Movies
by Alan Sepinwall on August 30th, 2007 at 9:37 am in Film
Of the many addictions that rule my life, none has more controlling power than my chemical devotion to underdog sports movies. Continue Reading »
East-West, None Know Best: Balls of Fury
by Steven Boone on August 30th, 2007 at 8:29 am in Film
By Steven Boone
Balls of Fury looks like another sports-spoof throwaway, but it does have a piercing reason for being. American men love Eastern cultures in direct proportion to their staggering ignorance of same. They salivate over Asian women and cuisine; alternate between awe and mockery of the continent's ancient practices (religions, martial arts); snicker at their relatively petite, slender men (the same ones whose kung fu/jujitsu/karate they applaud); envy the wisdom, richness, efficiency, and industriousness of their societies. And so American fans kowtow and condescend in the same awkward motion. Charlie Chan. Kill Bill. Wax on, wax off. Balls of Fury is all about this phenomenon. It's a Chinese odyssey for people--men, especially--who call all Asians Chinese. Continue Reading »
Links for the Day (August 30th, 2007)
by Keith Uhlich on August 30th, 2007 at 4:30 am in Links for the Day
1. "Boudu": Tucker of PilgrimAkimbo on Renoir's classic film.
["For me, having just seen Boudu twice this past weekend was a revelation. It had been around 23 years since I last saw the film. The Criterion Collection DVD is a wonderfully produced copy of the film. But it is not the quality of the DVD that got to me. And it was not merely the incredible performance by Michel Simon as Boudu, as well as the rest of the cast. No, what got to me was the boldness of Renoir - both in terms of the story's subject matter and of his directorial choices."] Continue Reading »
Links for the Day (August 29th, 2007)
by Keith Uhlich on August 29th, 2007 at 4:46 am in Links for the Day
1. "Virtual Gallery Opening!": Because Klaus Kinski must always occupy the top spot.
["If I were a millionaire I'd open a gallery containing nothing but original paintings (made for posters and VHS boxes) of Klaus Kinski. But I'm not a millionaire... nor even a thousandaire. Luckily, here at Scarecrow I can browse the shelves, for free, with the hope of coming across a box cover graced with Kinski's likeness. While I'm sure our collection is incomplete (many titles that come out on DVD drop the beautiful paintings used to promote the film theatrically in favor of floating heads or gaudy Photoshop jobs that have nothing to do with the movie), at least I can scan these covers and keep them in a virtual gallery for all to see. Welcome to the Virtual Gallery of Klaus Kinski Paintings!"] Continue Reading »
Links for the Day (August 28th, 2007)
by Keith Uhlich on August 28th, 2007 at 6:14 am in Links for the Day
1. "Resignations and Assignations": Gonzales and Craig... TWO WILD AND CRAZY GUYS!!!!
["Dramatic enough in itself, the announcement Monday morning that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had resigned also set the stage for what may be one of most contentious confirmation hearings since the Senate rejected John Tower as defense secretary in 1989. ...
Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, who has voted against gay marriage and opposes extending special protections to gay and lesbian crime victims, finds his political future in doubt after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from complaints of lewd conduct in a men's room."] Continue Reading »
A sunbeam in the abyss
by Matt Zoller Seitz on August 27th, 2007 at 11:20 pm in Film
By Matt Zoller Seitz
The three words that spring to mind when I think of Owen Wilson are "generosity of spirit"—a phrase that's being returned in kind by strangers as Wilson recovers from what has been described as a suicide attempt. Continue Reading »
2007 MTV Video Music Awards: Winner Predictions
by staff on August 27th, 2007 at 6:34 pm in Awards, Music
MTV decimated whatever tiny shred of integrity its annual Video Music Awards show still had when this year's list of nominations were announced. It's not so much the nominees—the usual suspects are present and accounted for (The White Stripes, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Kanye West) and, as always, mediocre videos are being over-praised ("What Goes Around…Comes Around") while other, less popular achievements in the music video medium go unrecognized—but it's the categories that have prompted many to pronounce the video channel's yearly burlesque show completely irrelevant. As if last summer's viewer-decided winners weren't horrendous enough, this year's clusterfuck replaces standard categories like Best Group Video with the more general Best Group (which, in effect, continues to strip MTV of its ties to actual music videos) and trades genre categories for such asinine honors as Most Earth-Shattering Collaboration and Quadruple Threat of the Year. If there's an upside to these radically stripped nominations-gone-wild, it's that the discontinuation of their one-time-only Ringtone of the Year award means that Fort Minor's singular legacy will now remain officially without peer. Continue Reading »
Big Love Mondays: Season 2, Ep. 12, "Oh, Pioneers!"
by Todd VanDerWerff on August 27th, 2007 at 6:46 am in Television
Big Love's second season finale tries to do so many things at once that it periodically flies off the rails, only to find itself righted again by a single powerful scene or moment. Continue Reading »
Links for the Day (August 27th, 2007)
by Keith Uhlich on August 27th, 2007 at 5:54 am in Links for the Day
1. "Tumult at City Pages: Film Editor Axed, Cost-Cutting Memo Leaked": On the unceremonious axing of City Pages editor Rob Nelson. From the Minnesota Monitor, via GreenCine Daily.
[""Everything we know about security is wrong," reads the headline of this week's cover story. Given today's firing of film editor Rob Nelson—and considering other high-profile exits in recent months—one might get the impression the piece is about job security."] Continue Reading »
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