The Center Seat

I've had quite a few interesting political discussions with friends since I posted my review of W. yesterday. So of course, when I found this piece on Slate, I just had to share it. Click here to read Oliver Stone's thoughts on the players, decisions, and fuckups in the Bush administration (and, of course, the dramatic license he had to take).

Tina Fey said something really insightful on some talk show or other last week. I'm paraphrasing: "The thing I've realized about Sarah Palin is that she's exactly as smart as me. And I'm certainly not qualified to be the vice-president." It's true, right? I don't know about you, but I want someone in office who's way smarter than me, and who can comprehend all these complicated issues a whole lot better than I can. Seriously. Y'all are not ready for President Nayana.

That seemed to be the overriding message in Oliver Stone's new biopic about President Bush II. I think a lot of people saw Stone's name and thought, "Oh. Liberal Bush-bashing. Cool." But really, that's not what it was about. Obviously "Bushie" (as Laura calls him) is not the best president ever. Probably not even in the top 80%. But the message of the movie was that here's a regular guy, with a good heart and good intentions, who got in way over his head. Now you all know where I stand on this little election we're having (it's emblazoned on my sidebar), but I wonder... Obama gets slammed a lot for being elitist and intellectual. Now exactly what is the objection to that? I want someone who knows his ass from his elbow to represent me on the world stage. I don't think that's too much to ask for.

Back to the movie... it was really well done. The casting was fantastic, with the possible exception of Thandie Newton as Condie Rice (a tad caricaturish). Elizabeth Banks disappeared into the role of Laura Bush, Jeffrey Wright couldn't have been more compelling as Colin Powell... and Richard Dreyfuss was INSANE as Dick Cheney. That guy knows how to portray eeeeevil.

I guess it comes down to this: no matter what side of the political fence you're on, I recommend this movie as a reminder of what we want to avoid in our government. Maybe catch it before November 4. Call it election prep. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.

There are the Wes Anderson lovers, and there are the Wes Anderson haters, and then there are those of us in the middle--the moderate majority--who can enjoy a Wes Anderson film if we just get ourselves into a very Wes Anderson place beforehand.

I think that was my mistake last year when I went to see The Darjeeling Limited... not enough W.A. prep. But I was ready last night... and so Rushmore knocked my socks off.

Rushmore is the story of Max Fischer, an eccentric fifteen-year-old who, though adventurous and charismatic to the point of absurdity, happens to suck at academics. Enter the sweet first-grade teacher with the British accent, and of course Max falls hard for her. But then so does an equally eccentric Bill Murray... and hilarity ensues.

I hate to say that I may be a product of a Lifetime Movie world, but I kept expecting a little Mary Kay Letourneau action to go down. Thankfully, it didn't, everything worked out, and the film left me with a smile on my face.

One thing struck me as exceptional, however. This is one of those movies in which there is a play within the film; Max happens to be a talented playwright, and we are treated to portions of many of his productions. Recently I've seen quite a few films that fall into this drama-within-the-drama category--Waiting for Guffman, Hamlet 2, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall immediately spring to mind--but the plays in Rushmore are actually really, really great. That seems to be an exception to the rule, as crappy-ass productions provide better comedy fodder.

Oh... you're right. The Dracula puppet musical was sublime, too, wasn't it? All right, never mind. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.

---Spoilers ahead, for anyone who hasn't seen this 32-year-old movie*---

About three months ago, I took a part time job in order to help maintain my lavish (ha!) lifestyle. One big advantage of the job is that I get all kinds of time to watch movies on my portable DVD player; a glaring disadvantage is that I get a lot less theater time, and a whole lot less blogging time. Oh, well. I gots to pay the bills somehow.

In the course of my moonlighting, I get to sit in my car for hours at a time, next to an alley in a really seedy part of town. So I get to see all kinds of exciting things. Like the drug addict who passed out in the alley and was revived by police this last Saturday night. Or the haggard homeless lady who took it upon herself to do a complete wardrobe change in broad daylight, sans underclothes, in the middle of a parking lot.

Travis Bickle saw a lot of interesting shit on his job, too. For those of you who don't know, he was a cabbie who worked some of the shadier parts of New York City in the seventies... Granted, he was also a RAVING LUNATIC... but here's hoping my vocational experiences don't ever lead me to practice whipping out my gun in front of a mirror.

One of the things about having decided only recently to dive headlong into my movie obsession is that I still have not seen many cinematic essentials. Actually, Saturday night was my first ever viewing of Taxi Driver. And so I've seen all kinds of movies which have obviously been influenced by Scorsese's masterpiece, before I saw the original work. For example, when DeNiro's cabbie shaved his head into that mohawk as he was preparing to go medieval on politicians and pimps, I saw blinding flashes of Ed Norton's hardened, murderous skinhead from American History X. I'm sure this happened in reverse for everyone who saw these movies in the order they were released, but for me it was like seeing a prequel and having the pieces finally fall into place.

Also, I bet a lot of people see Jodie Foster in grown-up roles and have flashes of the little twelve-year-old hooker in Taxi Driver... for me, again, it was the opposite. She was so precocious at that young age, I just saw the adult Foster in her little face. Young Harvey Keitel weirded me out... young Albert Brooks weirded me out, too... and of course young DeNiro was weird. But smokin' hot.**

I've been really remiss in my blogging lately, but I have done my best to keep up with the "Viewed But Not Reviewed" list on the sidebar. So if any of you have been following that, you can see that I've been doing my best lately to catch up on must-sees that I've missed till now. At home now I've got Rushmore, Sophie's Choice, and Dr. Strangelove. Any suggestions as to which one I should see on my shift tonight?



*Like me, as of three days ago.
**Rowr. Yes, I'm talking to you, Bobby. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.