In the New Yorker...

[serious crayons]

When I finally saw the film, it was on TV. I was an adult by then, and I was still confused by the part about the apes and the black thingie.

The apes and the black thingie were the only part I liked.

That "Blue Danube" scene was incredibly boring, as I recall. But then, I thought the critically acclaimed movie Gravity was boring, too. The special effects were cool, but once you got used to those the story itself was kind of dull.

Someone should write a book about books and movies that look ahead to a specific year in the future that is now past, and compare the book/movie's vision with reality. So 2001, 1984 ... Prince's song "1999." Actually, we didn't party all that much that year. Had my mom and uncle over on New Year's Eve.

At one point that evening, my uncle asked my son, then 3, what he was going to do in the new year. "I'm going to eat a cracker!" Jack said, and we all laughed. How cute! Then Jack, smiling and completely cheerful, added, "But first, I'm going to set myself on fire and die."

  Maybe I let him watch the wrong Saturday morning cartoons or something.

[Jeff Wrangler]

That "Blue Danube" scene was incredibly boring, as I recall. But then, I thought the critically acclaimed movie Gravity was boring, too. The special effects were cool, but once you got used to those the story itself was kind of dull.

Maybe it's a guy thing, but I thought watching the spaceship move and then dock was pretty cool. Plus, I liked the music. I know "The Blue Danube" is cliched, but I recall it as what I call "the full concert version," not just some short knock-off. Plus, I'm sure I read somewhere (maybe in an earlier New Yorker article?) that "The Blue Danube" was put in as "filler" because the music that was supposed to be specially composed for the scene wasn't ready, and somebody (studio exec?) liked it so much that it was kept in.

I've never seen Gravity. I think I'd rather see that one about Jodie Foster talking to aliens.

[serious crayons]

Maybe it's a guy thing, but I thought watching the spaceship move and then dock was pretty cool. Plus, I liked the music. I know "The Blue Danube" is cliched, but I recall it as what I call "the full concert version," not just some short knock-off. Plus, I'm sure I read somewhere (maybe in an earlier New Yorker article?) that "The Blue Danube" was put in as "filler" because the music that was supposed to be specially composed for the scene wasn't ready, and somebody (studio exec?) liked it so much that it was kept in.

Well also, I was 10. So youth could have been a factor or I could be misremembering my reaction.

The movie that I think best handled famous composers' "full concert version" (I guess) music was Woody Allen's Manhattan, with its George Gershwin soundtrack. And I hate to say that because of how I feel about that movie otherwise. But Gershwin's soaring music could distract you from the fact that the movie's hero is a pedophile. (I mean, in the actual fictional script -- not necessarily in real life, though probably that, too.)

I've never seen Gravity. I think I'd rather see that one about Jodie Foster talking to aliens.

I don't know exactly what you're talking about but it sounds familiar, so I've probably seen it.

But then, there are so many movies about women talking to aliens, including the most recent Best Picture Oscar winner, The Shape of Water. That creature might not have been an actual alien (i can't remember where the evil guys found him) but close enough.

It seems like pretty much every famous actress has talked to an alien. Especially if you can stretch the definition of "alien" to include characters who aren't quite aliens but might as well be, like King Kong.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Well also, I was 10. So youth could have been a factor or I could be misremembering my reaction.

Of course I was 10, too, or maybe 11 at the oldest, so that's why I suggested it might have been a guy thing.

Meanwhile, I have no idea what to make of Anthony Lane's review of the new Avengers movie. Is he trying to be funny, or just condescending and snarky, or both?    It struck me as just condescending and snarky.

[serious crayons]

Of course I was 10, too, or maybe 11 at the oldest, so that's why I suggested it might have been a guy thing.

Well, you said you weren't sure exactly what year you saw it in school, and that you also saw it as an adult. I don't think I've seen it since, at least not the whole thing. Also, I said my memories aren't totally clear -- for all I know I did think it was cool at the time, and other parts were boring, or whatever.

Also, I don't usually think of your tastes as more "guy" than mine (and no, that's not a typo ). Arguably less so, to the extent that you can label tastes guy-ish or otherwise. For example, I've never been to a ballet. And you've never mentioned going to a major-league sports game, whereas have seen quite a few baseball games -- both in person and, when the Twins were in the World Series, on TV. (I've never watched a football game, though -- I'm not that "guy"ish.)

Meanwhile, I have no idea what to make of Anthony Lane's review of the new Avengers movie. Is he trying to be funny, or just condescending and snarky, or both?    It struck me as just condescending and snarky.

I haven't read it -- I rarely read reviews of movies I have no intention of seeing -- but now I'll look it up. Aren't almost all of Anthony Lane's reviews a combination of humor and snark? That is, unless he really, really likes a movie, in which case he might take the snark down a notch. I used to think his writing was great, but less so these days. Often I feel like he stretches too far off topic just to make a joke.

I still love a phrase of his from years ago that has stuck in my head. He was writing about some big male star in some movie. His point was that he doesn't think of the star as a great actor but he was good in this movie. So let's say it was Tom Cruise. He said, "I can't say the walls of my bedroom are shrouded with Tom Cruise posters, but in this case ..."

It must have been Tom Cruise, because that totally applies to him. Not the greatest actor of his generation, but he's good enough (as Alma Jr. might say), and in a few movies he's been genuinely really good.

[Jeff Wrangler]

"I can't say the walls of my bedroom are shrouded with Tom Cruise posters, but in this case ..."

I don't remember if this goes as far back as Pauline Kael, or if it's more recent, but my all-time favorite appeared in a capsule review of Kenneth Branagh's film of Much Ado About Nothing: "Sometimes all you ask of Shakespeare is Denzel Washington in leather pants."

 

(One professional baseball game, in our old ball park. We have "gay nights" at our current stadium, but they never seem convenient, and the complex is so huge I wouldn't want to try to find my way around it by myself. Then again, I don't have the patience to sit through nine innings--or more--of baseball.)

[serious crayons]

I don't remember if this goes as far back as Pauline Kael, or if it's more recent, but my all-time favorite appeared in a capsule review of Kenneth Branagh's film of Much Ado About Nothing: "Sometimes all you ask of Shakespeare is Denzel Washington in leather pants."

Too bad Denzel wasn't around in Elizabethan England. Shakespeare could have saved himself a lot of trouble!

[Jeff Wrangler]

Anybody else notice in the Rachel Kushner article (April 30, p. 23) that there is a bar in San Francisco, called the Pyrenees, that caters to Basque shepherds? 

FRiend Lee?

[serious crayons]

It's weird that it's in San Francisco. What are shepherds of any kind doing in SF?

My brother used to live in Elko, Nevada, and there were so many Basque shepherds around there was a Basque restaurant that of course served, among other things, lamb. (Yep, I ate the sheep, not guarded 'em.) At the time he was dating a woman whose ex-husband was a Basque shepherd.

[Jeff Wrangler]

It's weird that it's in San Francisco. What are shepherds of any kind doing in SF?

My brother used to live in Elko, Nevada, and there were so many Basque shepherds around there was a Basque restaurant that of course served, among other things, lamb. (Yep, I ate the sheep, not guarded 'em.) At the time he was dating a woman whose ex-husband was a Basque shepherd.

Too early to be sick of beans?