One of my favorite first watches of the year was Happy-Go-Lucky at MoMI with Fran, where afterwards she changed the trajectory of my life forever at the Sarajevo Grill.
an indie near my old place in Seattle is currently doing a Mike Leigh series, and it's too much of a haul for me now to make the drive to each screening but you can bet I'll be there for Happy-Go-Lucky (and also Secrets & Lies, probably) -- instead I've been resorting to my couch and Criterion Channel for High Hopes (awesome) and Life is Sweet (disturbing, but an extraordinary final half-hour)
the phone thing...I don't want to fight people about it but I do kind of want to fight people about it. guy two seats down from me took a picture of the title card of Interstellar on Saturday night and I spent the ensuing 160 minutes harboring ill will towards him and his friend...Interstellar is a good cure for that though
my response to bad movie theater behavior is so entirely mood dependent (makes sense) - I've spent some screenings totally willfully ignorant of obnoxious laughers or talkers or texters, and sometimes it makes me want to jump out of my skin. seeing Interstellar re-release next week... can't wait! the Leigh I'm really hoping to catch on the big screen one of these days is Topsy Turvy, which sold out in seconds when it last played here
revisiting this having just gotten out of a not-packed screening of Secrets & Lies (maybe the best movie ever made, also maybe not even Leigh’s best) and still, the amount of gasping and nervous laughter when Brenda Blethyn lets it rip after the barbecue is the type of shit that reminds me that movie theaters are the best and no amount of bad behavior will ever surpass the feeling that was in the room tonight
I was on a Shirley MacLaine kick this year (which should be every year tbh), and this was just a fabulous surprise. Every look was amazing. And it's fun!
Haven't fully shaken off Missing since I watched it on your rec. I know it's a little more "Hollywood" than his earlier films, but to your point I noted after watching that it might be the earnestness of the movie that makes the horror even more palpable to me? Like, if I had been watching something with the tone of Z, by the time I got to the scene where they're showing Jack Lemmon all the warehoused unidentified corpses of the disappeared, I might have been a little more emotionally checked out. But because this is a movie that has, say, a not totally necessary scene featuring a duck, the nastiness of what's being done to people kind of stands out in relief.
Had a very similar reaction to Silkwood -- also very earnest, also has a gauzy 80s look, also scared the crap out of me.
I watched The Insider for the first time this year. I was hoping I'd love it as much and I did! Just in time for the 25th anniversary. Also caught Manhunter in 70mm at the Egyptian while on an LA visit (Michael Mann's personal print!)
I watched the two Viggo + Cronenberg movies this year and enjoyed them both, but Crash really blew me away. I had held off of it for years for phobia-related reasons (and also *Dean Pelton* "This better not awaken anything in me"), but I was totally on its wavelength when I watched last winter. feels like it should be illegal to watch even though in many ways- the dry affect of the protagonist, the narrative floating between scenes of sex and violence -it anticipates modern-day HBO.
also loved The Straight Story, Persona, Ricochet, Cabaret, and Todd Haynes' Safe. Wish that Joaquin + Haynes movie was still happening TBH...
Crash is one of my big Cronenberg oversights - looking forward to getting to one day but a little nervous and kind of like having it on the horizon to look forward to. Still gotta see Straight Story but have had a tough time self-motivating even though, not unlike Elephant Man, it's "normal." I feel same re: Joaquin / Haynes movie - he needs real directors getting real performances out of him again
I felt similarly to you about Crash and TSS and they both delivered! Haynes has really become one of my boys. gonna try to sell my family on a Christmas day I’m Not There viewing to pair with A Complete Unknown.
Also watched CHARADE for the first time this year & as an enjoyer of movies with just off the charts-levels of charm, it will be on my "new to me" list as well !!
Re House of Mirth: for many years (1980-2000) I did software development as a consultant or employer for the providers of the LSAT, for the sample reports I used the name Lawrence Selden (a literary lawyer) and posited a fake lower Manhattan address for the Benedick. I don't think anyone ever noticed. I felt Gillian Anderson was too obviously intelligent and "non-frivolous" to be ideal casting for Lily Bart. In the novel, the two long conversations between Lily and Lawrence are among my favorite conversations in literature. Lawrence fails in his role as a Mr Knightley/Daniel Deronda/Ralph Touchett confidante, and it is demoralizing.
I totally agree re: the nature of Anderson though I think she makes for a striking aesthetic presence in the film. I struggle to think of who might have made for better casting at that time... but I struggle to think of a lot in the first few days of a new year.
I watched What A Way To Go when it was on the Criterion Channel earlier this year and then spent the next two hours texting back and forth with a friend about who would star in a hypothetical remake (one of my favorite activities tbh)
(Also, your piece about Missing from this summer is some of my favorite film writing I've read all year. Really stuck with me.)
Who did you cast in your remake? We spent a lot of time going back and forth on this too and had Glen Powell in there (maybe as the Newman) but hit a wall trying to figure out modern day Mitchum (Jason Clarke….? too old probably) — and thank you!
We had two different versions, one that skewed a little older and one a little younger. First version had Rachel McAdams as Louisa, Bill Hader in the Dick Van Dyke role, Bradley Cooper as Newman (American Hustle-era hair non-negotiable), Colin Farrell or Kyle Chandler as Mitchum (I think Chandler is a better 1:1 fit but Farrell has more star power), Channing Tatum for Gene Kelly, Oscar Isaac in the Dean Martin part, and Paul Dano as the therapist. Second version had Ayo Edebiri as Louisa, my beloved Lucas Hedges as Van Dyke, Josh O'Connor in Zweig mode as Newman (though Powell is also a great pick), Daniel Kaluuya for Mitchum, Zac Efron for Kelly, Jesse Plemons for Dean Martin, and then Paul Dano again as the therapist because who doesn't love Paul Dano
FRAN! I just ran here totally unrelatedly to say that I saw The Order last night in theaters. Jude Law in nature. Jude Law never hotter? I randomly heard about this movie on…Instagram maybe. There should be more buzz! I’m usually worn out on Nazi and neo Nazi fare but this was a tightly coiled thriller. Nicholas Hoult stays booked and busy. I’m always begging for the return of Law School and this is no exception. Anywho!
I was also curious about how invisible the movie is.. I guess Jude has been doing regular press, but I wonder if the Hoult of it got lost in the shuffle of Juror #2 and Nosferatu. I thought there was lots to admire about The Order! need Caroline to see it soon so we can get the Law School convo back up and going..
My fav new-to-me movies this year were Seven Samurai and All the President’s Men. I love seeing universally well-regarded classics and saying “me too!!!”
I have to google image search Bradley cooper as elephant man at least once a year…incredible. Anyway my fave first watches were Phfffft (random jack lemon rom com) and Maurice
watched some of my favorite first-time watches this year were at rep screenings, which is delightful to realize. among them are The OG Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which felt like I was in church with 250 fellow freaks. saw Sunshine and Princess Mononoke in theaters as well, each totally awesome; Princess Mononoke, particularly, aligned with my view of humanity's relationship with nature more than any movie I think I've ever seen.
first-time watches that I loved at home: Crimson Tide, A Matter of Life and Death, The Skin I Live In, Opening Night, No Way Out (1987), Serpico (mentioned on The Big Picture today by Tracy Letts, who apparently saw it in theaters when he was 6), and Summer of Sam.
One of my favorite first watches of the year was Happy-Go-Lucky at MoMI with Fran, where afterwards she changed the trajectory of my life forever at the Sarajevo Grill.
Been highkey craving Sarajevo Grill lately
This!
lol hard
an indie near my old place in Seattle is currently doing a Mike Leigh series, and it's too much of a haul for me now to make the drive to each screening but you can bet I'll be there for Happy-Go-Lucky (and also Secrets & Lies, probably) -- instead I've been resorting to my couch and Criterion Channel for High Hopes (awesome) and Life is Sweet (disturbing, but an extraordinary final half-hour)
the phone thing...I don't want to fight people about it but I do kind of want to fight people about it. guy two seats down from me took a picture of the title card of Interstellar on Saturday night and I spent the ensuing 160 minutes harboring ill will towards him and his friend...Interstellar is a good cure for that though
my response to bad movie theater behavior is so entirely mood dependent (makes sense) - I've spent some screenings totally willfully ignorant of obnoxious laughers or talkers or texters, and sometimes it makes me want to jump out of my skin. seeing Interstellar re-release next week... can't wait! the Leigh I'm really hoping to catch on the big screen one of these days is Topsy Turvy, which sold out in seconds when it last played here
revisiting this having just gotten out of a not-packed screening of Secrets & Lies (maybe the best movie ever made, also maybe not even Leigh’s best) and still, the amount of gasping and nervous laughter when Brenda Blethyn lets it rip after the barbecue is the type of shit that reminds me that movie theaters are the best and no amount of bad behavior will ever surpass the feeling that was in the room tonight
What a Way To Go! hive 🙌
THIS!
I was on a Shirley MacLaine kick this year (which should be every year tbh), and this was just a fabulous surprise. Every look was amazing. And it's fun!
Haven't fully shaken off Missing since I watched it on your rec. I know it's a little more "Hollywood" than his earlier films, but to your point I noted after watching that it might be the earnestness of the movie that makes the horror even more palpable to me? Like, if I had been watching something with the tone of Z, by the time I got to the scene where they're showing Jack Lemmon all the warehoused unidentified corpses of the disappeared, I might have been a little more emotionally checked out. But because this is a movie that has, say, a not totally necessary scene featuring a duck, the nastiness of what's being done to people kind of stands out in relief.
Had a very similar reaction to Silkwood -- also very earnest, also has a gauzy 80s look, also scared the crap out of me.
that's a great comparison - Silkwood definitely one of the most upsetting movies of the last fifty years. Meryl's best????
Unfriended MENTIONED 😍
WELL THE GLITCH JUST TALKED
THIS!!
the year of bradley cooper can't stop laughing
he simply refuses to rein it in!!!
I watched The Insider for the first time this year. I was hoping I'd love it as much and I did! Just in time for the 25th anniversary. Also caught Manhunter in 70mm at the Egyptian while on an LA visit (Michael Mann's personal print!)
I need to see Manhunter again - I really enjoyed first time around but I think it would hit harder now that I've seen so many more Mann films.
I watched the two Viggo + Cronenberg movies this year and enjoyed them both, but Crash really blew me away. I had held off of it for years for phobia-related reasons (and also *Dean Pelton* "This better not awaken anything in me"), but I was totally on its wavelength when I watched last winter. feels like it should be illegal to watch even though in many ways- the dry affect of the protagonist, the narrative floating between scenes of sex and violence -it anticipates modern-day HBO.
also loved The Straight Story, Persona, Ricochet, Cabaret, and Todd Haynes' Safe. Wish that Joaquin + Haynes movie was still happening TBH...
Crash is one of my big Cronenberg oversights - looking forward to getting to one day but a little nervous and kind of like having it on the horizon to look forward to. Still gotta see Straight Story but have had a tough time self-motivating even though, not unlike Elephant Man, it's "normal." I feel same re: Joaquin / Haynes movie - he needs real directors getting real performances out of him again
I felt similarly to you about Crash and TSS and they both delivered! Haynes has really become one of my boys. gonna try to sell my family on a Christmas day I’m Not There viewing to pair with A Complete Unknown.
I am in the vague minority of pro-A Complete Unknown viewers...
I also caught The Spook Who Sat by the Door at the Siskel a couple weeks ago - absolutely incredible. I’d like to check out the book too
Also watched CHARADE for the first time this year & as an enjoyer of movies with just off the charts-levels of charm, it will be on my "new to me" list as well !!
you might really enjoy What A Way To Go! if Charade really did it for ya...
Re House of Mirth: for many years (1980-2000) I did software development as a consultant or employer for the providers of the LSAT, for the sample reports I used the name Lawrence Selden (a literary lawyer) and posited a fake lower Manhattan address for the Benedick. I don't think anyone ever noticed. I felt Gillian Anderson was too obviously intelligent and "non-frivolous" to be ideal casting for Lily Bart. In the novel, the two long conversations between Lily and Lawrence are among my favorite conversations in literature. Lawrence fails in his role as a Mr Knightley/Daniel Deronda/Ralph Touchett confidante, and it is demoralizing.
I totally agree re: the nature of Anderson though I think she makes for a striking aesthetic presence in the film. I struggle to think of who might have made for better casting at that time... but I struggle to think of a lot in the first few days of a new year.
I watched What A Way To Go when it was on the Criterion Channel earlier this year and then spent the next two hours texting back and forth with a friend about who would star in a hypothetical remake (one of my favorite activities tbh)
(Also, your piece about Missing from this summer is some of my favorite film writing I've read all year. Really stuck with me.)
Who did you cast in your remake? We spent a lot of time going back and forth on this too and had Glen Powell in there (maybe as the Newman) but hit a wall trying to figure out modern day Mitchum (Jason Clarke….? too old probably) — and thank you!
We had two different versions, one that skewed a little older and one a little younger. First version had Rachel McAdams as Louisa, Bill Hader in the Dick Van Dyke role, Bradley Cooper as Newman (American Hustle-era hair non-negotiable), Colin Farrell or Kyle Chandler as Mitchum (I think Chandler is a better 1:1 fit but Farrell has more star power), Channing Tatum for Gene Kelly, Oscar Isaac in the Dean Martin part, and Paul Dano as the therapist. Second version had Ayo Edebiri as Louisa, my beloved Lucas Hedges as Van Dyke, Josh O'Connor in Zweig mode as Newman (though Powell is also a great pick), Daniel Kaluuya for Mitchum, Zac Efron for Kelly, Jesse Plemons for Dean Martin, and then Paul Dano again as the therapist because who doesn't love Paul Dano
Plemons for Dean Martin is truly inspired
FRAN! I just ran here totally unrelatedly to say that I saw The Order last night in theaters. Jude Law in nature. Jude Law never hotter? I randomly heard about this movie on…Instagram maybe. There should be more buzz! I’m usually worn out on Nazi and neo Nazi fare but this was a tightly coiled thriller. Nicholas Hoult stays booked and busy. I’m always begging for the return of Law School and this is no exception. Anywho!
I was also curious about how invisible the movie is.. I guess Jude has been doing regular press, but I wonder if the Hoult of it got lost in the shuffle of Juror #2 and Nosferatu. I thought there was lots to admire about The Order! need Caroline to see it soon so we can get the Law School convo back up and going..
My fav new-to-me movies this year were Seven Samurai and All the President’s Men. I love seeing universally well-regarded classics and saying “me too!!!”
All the President's Men is soooo fashionista
my favorite thing about summer stock is that judy is always clutching a wall like she can’t stand up without it😭
Liza Minnelli turning on a lamp-core...
this!
I have to google image search Bradley cooper as elephant man at least once a year…incredible. Anyway my fave first watches were Phfffft (random jack lemon rom com) and Maurice
Maurice 😭😭😭😭
watched some of my favorite first-time watches this year were at rep screenings, which is delightful to realize. among them are The OG Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which felt like I was in church with 250 fellow freaks. saw Sunshine and Princess Mononoke in theaters as well, each totally awesome; Princess Mononoke, particularly, aligned with my view of humanity's relationship with nature more than any movie I think I've ever seen.
first-time watches that I loved at home: Crimson Tide, A Matter of Life and Death, The Skin I Live In, Opening Night, No Way Out (1987), Serpico (mentioned on The Big Picture today by Tracy Letts, who apparently saw it in theaters when he was 6), and Summer of Sam.
if I saw Serpico at age 6 it would have influenced my fashion choices for the rest of my life!!!