Tuesday's Things to Click On (3/30/10)

No snappy intro this week - lots to get to, though. Send your March to Box Office Madness entries and vote on the Ladies/Dudes of the 80s polls. That is all.

Movies watched for the first time (non-theatrically) since last week:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Yes, another in the Sheila Broflovski Memorial "What WHAT WHAT?!? You haven't seen that??" line of movies that it took me forever to watch. Truth is, it was another one of those that I felt like I'd already seen, what with having seen so many clips here and there over the past three decades. Throw that in with the fact that I actually have seen the last 15 minutes intact and I got the jist. Still, I'd been wanting to sit down and watch it from start to finish once and for all and got the opportunity, so I took it...and was neither pleasantly surprised nor disappointed. That's not a bad thing - it was the same reaction I had when I finally watched Jaws some months back (for that, I had a legitimate excuse for avoiding it - the whole fear of sharks thing). Each film simply reaffirmed what I already knew: Steven Spielberg is far and away the best director of the last 35 years, and has an ability (to make an intelligent blockbuster...consistently) like no one else I can think of. It's easy to get caught up in the referential brilliance that is Tarantino or the technical genius of Darren Aronofsky, but no one's been more influential over the course of my life than Spielberg (even if Indy 4 was awful).

Rocket Science - Speaking of influences, it was difficult to watch this and not be constantly thinking "Rushmore Rushmore Rushmore," but it's a kind of nice film in its own right, even if it never gains all that much traction and ends on a kind of "Oh...hmm...ok." note. I was mesmerized by Reece Thompson's terrific, breakout performance, as well as by Anna Kendrick's fluctuating weight, and Vincent Piazza's (he plays the older brother) eerie resemblance to Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Speaking of Kendrick, I've not seen any of the Twilight pics, but for those that saw Up In the Air and couldn't stop themselves from saying something like "Wow, so someone from Twilight can act!," I'll instruct you to watch this film, which came out a year before the vampire saga and earned her an Independent Spirit award nom for Supporting Actress.

Two other final thoughts: always nice to see Fargo's own Mike Yanagita (Steve Park), here showing up as a step-father of sorts. Also, for anyone that was ever involved with high school debate - is the point really to be a friggin' speed reader? What was portrayed as being great debating seemed awful to Mrs. Fletch and I.

Music I'm currently obsessed with:
* Nothing new, though like anyone else in the world on Twitter that's over the age of 17, I'm sick to death of the name J_st_n B_eb_r, for whatever that's worth. Thankfully, the only singing I've ever heard him do was his 5-second bit in the updated "We are the World" that ran during the Olympics.

Book I'm currently reading:
Still reading "The Year of Living Biblically," a yearlong journal of a secular guy (born Jewish) attempting to live according to the rules of the Bible (all of them, no matter how minute) for 365 days. Still pretty interesting and mildly amusing.

Finally, the Things to Click On:
* Whitney's husband Scott, posted an array of his "type" of ladies. Well, turnabout is fair play, and her choices are what you might call...abnormal.

* The Reel Whore has put out an official Tinsel Alert for an actress that's gone missing. May she return to screens big and small soon. I, for one, miss her smarm and charm.

* It's pretty much done raining in Phoenix for the next 4-6 months (save for perhaps one last hurrah later this week), but in case you're in need of some rainy day pop culture activities, Brian of The Film Cynics has the prescription for your ills.

* Travis hits his 300th post after barely more than six months, and does so by contributing to Andy's Desert Island DVD blog-a-thon (that I'll be a part of as well). I don't know where this kid gets the time or money (he did state that he had a connection at a theater, which helps explain the money side), but I'm impressed (or scared - one of the two). Meta-linkage FTW!

* This is a bit late, but I just want to give a nod to the way Hokahey's thinking. Not content with the results of the Oscars, he's taking matters into his own hands!

And then...

CAGEFEST: The Nic Cage Film Festival - Raising Arizona

CAGEFEST wants to have a child, too. For previous entries, click here.

Raising Arizona had to be included as a part of Cagefest. Had to. Though, it's not surprising that, of all the films you've seen talked about over the last couple weeks, this is the only one that didn't attract anyone for the CON position. As such, Rachel from, appropriately, Rachel's Reel Reviews (a kickass no b.s. review site and an old-time LAMB) will be the owner of the sole opinion levied today. Who am I to argue? Raising Arizona is not only one of the Coens best, but it's almost without doubt Cage's best film, made in the prime of his acting days.

PRO
My mom is really into the British author, Jasper Fforde. She says he is to literature what the Coen Brothers are to cinema: they look at the world sideways. I can’t think of a better way to describe the Coens, and one of the best examples of this assessment is their second film, Raising Arizona.

In what other world would the audience truly root for a couple who kidnaps a toddler? Only the Coens can draw out the compassion for such people. A convict falls for a cop, whom he gets to know better with each arrest after his many failed attempts of robbing convenience stores. She in turn falls for him too. Already the quirkiness begins. He finally gets out of prison and they get married. The next logical step is to have a baby, but as luck would have it they can’t. Adoption is out of the question due to his prior conviction record. What options are left? Steal a baby from the richest family in town that just had quintuplets, of course. Hilarity ensues.

Raising Arizona is full of scenarios that would never happen in reality, but that are done so well that to accept them in this strange world of H.I. and Ed is almost as easy as breathing. It all just flows brilliantly, from beginning to end, never once feeling contrived for oddball characters such as these. The actors flawlessly deliver the laughs through snappy dialogue, facial expressions and eccentric actions. Each performance contains the right amount of farce to keep you in stitches, but holds enough back to keep from dissolving into blatant slap-sticky rubbish.

And even through all the laughter, the characters of H.I. and Ed are so painfully tragic, that you can’t help but feel sorry for them. After all is said and done, when H.I. is having his final dream of sitting down with their children and grandchildren to a beautiful dinner, this is when you realize the true frailty to this married couple. All they wanted was a family and it really isn’t fair that “some should have so many, while others should have so few.” This very human quality in H.I. and Ed is the heartbreaking piece of reality that the Coens flipped sideways to create this exceptionally funny, and touching, cult classic.

And then...