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OT: My Favorite Film of 2021

posted 3 years ago by ecarle (14979)
42 replies | jump to latest

We're two years into the 2020s...and it sure has been hard for me to pick a "personal favorite" film for each of the two years of the decade so far.

So little was released in COVID year 2020 (I think only Unhinged and Tenet made it to theaters) that I chose the 60 Year Anniversary Re-Release of Psycho as my favorite of 2020. I DID see it at a theater, and it DID have some new footage (30 seconds worth), so...there you go. Psycho ends up being the only movie on my entire 70 or so year long list(I don't do the 30s or 40s) to land there TWICE.

I'm "mainstream movie snob" enough to say that, seventies personal best lists sure had a lot more masterpieces and/or hit great films that my 2000s list. Behold:

1970: MASH the Movie
1971: Dirty Harry
1972: The Godfather
1973: American Graffiti
1974: Chinatown
1975: Jaws
1976: The Shootist
1977: Black Sunday
1978: Animal House
1979: North Dallas Forty

vs:

2000: The Perfect Storm
2001: Moulin Rouge
2002: Chicago
2003: Love Actually
2004: Sideways
2005: King Kong
2006: The Departed
2007: Charlie Wilson's War
2008: The Dark Knight
2009: Inglorious Basterds

Well, maybe, now...I dunno...pretty good movies on both lists I guess.

Anyway, the 2020s have started with my having to "stunt cast" Psycho for 2020(where it will stay) but I got one for 2021, I think:

Licorice Pizza.

The movie attracted a lot of rather desperate ink because the maker is a bona fide auteur named Paul Thomas Anderson -- "PTA" for short to avoid confusion with the ultra-twee Wes Anderson and assorted lesser Andersons out there.

Rather like Quentin Tarantino, PTA had a low-profile first film (Hard Eight/Reservoir Dogs) followed by a big deal, Oscar-grazing Sophomore Big Hit(Boogie NIghts/Pulp Fiction)

Boogie Nights which was mainly about the porn industry, but also about the shift from the 70's to the 80s.)

With film after film, PTA "made his bones" as an auteur to be respected, and, most of the time as a maker of "art films," which means (to me) ...incomprehensible, but worth pondering and digging into.

Critics (and me) love to organize a filmakers work, and I think with PTA we get:

"The San Fernando Valley of LA Stories" (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, Licorice Pizza)

The period art films (There Will Be Blood, The Master, is The Phantom Thread period? I've never seen that one.)

and...what else? Well, Inherent VIce is set in parts of LA largely OTHER than the San Fernando Valley so...close enough.

And I can't remember WHERE Hard Eight is set (I saw it many years ago.)

I suppose when one removes the truly monumental art film "There Will Be Blood" from the mix, and The Master, and The Phantom Thread..one is left with a "quirky 70's nostalgia art films set in Los Angeles." Which is good enough for me.

Until 2021 and Licorice Pizza, none of PTA's movies were really mainstream and/or traditionally entertaining to me to make my personal favorite list.

That said, Magnolia of 1999 comes close. I remember being somewhat awed both by the beginning of the film(a treatise on real-life coincidental events) and the nutcase finale( a rain of frogs from the sky who land on the many disparate characters and change all of their lives.) I loved Aimee Mann's songs and soundtrack. Bought the album and drove around listening to it like ALL the time in 2000.

I was astonished by Tom Cruise's willingness to play a "part of the ensemble role" as the most suprisingly foul-mouthed movie star since Paul Newman in Slapshot. HIs character was a wild self help guru who could NEVER exist in real life(unless he did)...out not simply to show men "how to pick up girls" but how to sexually dominate and destroy them. Helluva character; proof that Cruise is a GREAT villain(see also his hitman in Collateral.)

But Magnolia is forever flawed to me by its Two Caterwauling Women(the movie has two of everything, it seems) -- Julianne Moore(atrocious) and Melora Waters (worse.)

Boogie Nights has a Caterwauling Woman in it, too -- Mark Wahlberg's mother played by Joanna Gleason. A weakness in that film, too.

Happily, "Licorice Pizza" has no caterwauling women in it. Its set in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles in 1973 and --because these are my PERSONAL favorite moves of the year -- that was one of my PERSONAL favorite years in my life, and I DID live in LA then and so...I'm into this thing like right from the get go(Boogie Nights saw 1979 into the 1980s...and those years were different, adulthood and paycheck-earning came along with the lifelong burden they represent.)

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

That said, other than nostalgia for the clothes and the music and the hair of 1973 and their personal connection to me, nothing else in Licorice Pizza has a thing to do with MY life so its interesting to see PTA tell a story based on the life of a friend of his named Gary Goetzman, who was once a child star(like the lead male in this movie, "Gary Valentine") and who evidently had the encounters with Jon Peters and William Holden that become not-quite-hilarious enough set-pieces in this movie, but are believable enough. Goetzman is now a producer on Tom Hanks projects so clearly the real-life guy made it big.

Evidently what is NOT based on Gary Goetzman is the stunted love story at the center of the film -- a 15 year old "boy" with a 25 year old "woman". Except he's old for his age and she's young for her age and so they meet in the middle. PTA based THIS part of the story on a time when he watched a 15 year old boy keep hitting on a 25-year old woman for a date and...voila!...merge the love story into the Gary Goetzman biography and you've got a movie. ("Licorice Pizza" means a long playing record album and yes that was a chain I bought from in the 70's , but I think Tower Records put it under before going under itself.)

About that "love story." They say that the hardest thing in making a love story is coming up with a reason to keep the lovers apart and an age difference (at an age when 10 years is a BIG gap) is a pretty big block. One watches the story, with the mutual "ache" between the two characters and just keeps applying logic: "OK, if he can hang in there 3 more years, he'll be 18 and she'll be 28, but it COULD work.) And we all know -- as adults -- that there are not only lots of marriages where the man is much older than the woman, but a growing number where the woman is older than the man(I know some and yes, there is "cougar" quality - wealthy women with boy toy men.)

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

I think it is that "ache" that makes Licorice Pizza so involving. Of course, it is my understanding that these days, a lot of15 year olds have sex and the legal risks are simply ignored. And you had Cary Grant of all people once saying that nature sets us up to have sex by 13 or so ("Grass on the field..play ball!") ...so what's the problem?

Well, the girl's older and doesn't feel right with a boy...boy friend. So there you go.

The movie is filled with the girl and the boy trying to find more age appropriate lovers and finding that their love for each other is STRONGER...its RIGHT. Which is very sweet.

But this is just PLOT. Its a PTA movie so this is also about an auteur's STYLE. Like a long one take travelling shot at a "teen business fair" that morphs into violent action outta nowhere, but in an arty, stilted way.

To the gist of it: The big deal with Licorice Pizza is the young leading lady. Her name is Alana Haim. She is part of a group of three sisters who are a pop-rock act called "Haim." Her face is not conventionally attractive. Certainly not movie star attractive. But the critics are saying stuff like "A star is born." "Natural born talent." And the classic "You can't take your eyes off her."

I will suggest that she is NOT going to be a major movie star. I figure she will end up like Hailee Stanfeld, who made a big splash in True Grit 12 years ago and is now the co-star on a Marvel TV show. THAT could be where Alana Haim ends up BUT...she's got an ace in the hole: her Sisters Girl Band is evidently quite big, playing the Hollywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden and London and all over the place.

And this: neither Alana nor her sisters are what you'd call gorgeous, but in a key music video I'll get to(I looked it up after I saw this movie) , they've got the musical talent, swagger and sexual dancing moves to become downright beautiful in that "I gotta have HER" way. (But we don't GET to have them. Any of them. They're stars.)

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Maybe I'll see a 2021 movie in 2022 that knocks "LIcorice Pizza" off its perch as my favorite, but it wins almost by default:

ONE: There was no movie by QT (and may not be, for years. He's only got one left he says, and I'm sure he wants COVID to finally end and theaters to fully open.)

TWO: There was no movie by Scorsese. (but I'm waiting for Killings of the Osage Moon.)

THREE: For the second year in a row, the movie by writer-director(but mainly writer) Aaron Sorkin started strong and busted out bad at the end. It was "Trial of the Chicago 7" last year, it is "Beiing the Ricardos" this year. His patented "people argue and yell with terrifie one liners style" is still there, but both movies end with bathetic, hyped-up, unbelievable finales. (Is it because he has gotten older, or because of the drugs?) Sorkin scripts put Charlie Wilson's War, Moneyball and Molly's Game in my Number One in their years, but something's gone wrong with the machine.)

FOUR: Clint Eastwood's historic lead as a 91-year old man (Cry Macho) was historic but somehow not really even a real movie.

FIVE: David Chase's Sopranos sequel "The Many Saints of Newark" was a painful, almost enraging bust, with no felt connection to its namesake at all, in subtlety or depth.

SIX: The Coen Brothers have a Macbeth movie out, but its actually done only by one Coen. They've landed my Number One spot in the past, but I don't see Shakespeare doing it, all due respect to the Bard.

And so...PTA...with a track record to critics of greatness, and to me of "close to greatness" (Boogie Nights couldn't beat LA Confidential or Jackie Brown in 1997, Magnolia yields to The Matrix and The Green Mile)....finally gets to the top almost by default.

Except...and this is the good part. I really LIKED it. It has really STAYED with me. I really want to see it AGAIN. So it must have something going for it.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Three clips on Youtube that I have watched since I saw the film have "sealed the deal for me." I can't link to them, but I can describe them and if you want to take a look, you can take a look. They capture the essence of why Licorice Pizza is so good. (And..there are NO SPOILERS on the movie in these clips.)

ONE: Clip one: Called "What Are Your Plans." A first date -- that isn't a date -- at the "Tail of the Cock" Valley restaurant. The boy -- Gary Valentine -- is played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's son, Cooper Hoffman, and yes -- you can see Dad in him sometimes and yes, maybe HE will become a star too, but...its a bit too early to tell. His Dad acted in 5 PTA films so I suppose Cooper has a future with PTA.

He's good in the clip but Alana Haim..she's great, in her own weird special way. Its not just her intriguing face -- is she "ugly"? Does she look good "from a careful angle" "Does she look best when she smiles?" -- no, its her VOICE(she is a singer after all) and her line readings, and her facial moves(she often turns to look off to the side before saying something, its very calculated and entertaining.)

Watch how Haim says "I don't know" four different ways, four different times. I love great line readings, and she's got it down. But my favorite line reading is in response to this question from GAry:

Gary: How do you like working at Tiny Toes?
Alana: I HATE working at Tiny Toes.

Up to that point, she's been non-committal("I don't know.") But Tiny Toes shows her inner anger. Great bit. I also like how she keeps looking away to think before speaking. I also like the clarity of her singer's voice in this scene.

TWO: The clip called "Thinker." The clip is meant to illustrate a "stunt" in this movie. Alana Haim's two famous sisters(Este and Danielle) in this clip play the CHARACTER Alana's sisters, and Alana's real dad plays Alana's dad, and Alana's real mom plays Alana's mom. So that's the "stunt." But what's more meaningful to me is how the "cool, deadpan and collected" Alana of the scene with Gary (What are you plans?) here reveals her much more raging inner emotion,the scared girl who feels trapped at home and wants to escape. Play the two clips side by side and yeah...maybe a star IS born.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

THREE: This is not a clip from the movie -- it is a music video. The song is called "Want You Back." (They are singing "I Want You Back" but that's an old Jackson Five title, so they had to change the title.) The three sisters walk down Ventura Boulevard (past locations from Magnolia) and...to my old ears, its a fun Girl Group rocker.

I hear a lot of Wilson-Phillips in their harmonies, but there is something more edgy and 2000s about the song and its anthem like over-and-over theme("Just know that...I want you back...just know that...I want you back") and their percussive back-up(evidently all of these musical prodigies are expert with drums.)

Near the end of the video, what had been little bitty "bits and pieces" of dance choreography sort of explodes into a series of "big finish" final moves that are at once endearingly amateur, surprisingly professional, rather sexy and actually kind of self-satirizing funny. Its quite a feat (and bit remiiscent of the "Happy" street dance videos of 2014.)

It looks to me like "Want You Back" is the Big Haim Hit, and I never would have known about it had not "Licorice Pizza" sent me to check out their videos. That song is from 2017! A few years back , took me awhile to catch up.

I would assume that "Licorice Pizza" will reinvigorate Haim -- folks will go to see "the movie star with the two sisters"(Alana is Baby Haim) and you put it all together -- the movie, the actress, the video, the whole FEELING -- and...that's why Licorice Pizza is my favorite movie of 2021.

So the meager list begins:

2020: Psycho: 60th Anniversary Director's Cut Theatrical Re-Release
2021: Licorice Pizza

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Some additional points:

ONE: Way back in 1972 -- 50 years ago -- as a teenager I read the rave reviews for Hitchcock's comeback movie Frenzy and spoilers be damned , I came to know that the movie would have (1) one horrific rape-murder sequence ("The elegant sheen of Frenzy is troubled by this bit of ultraviolence" wrote one critic; (2) one memorable staircase camera move("Farewell to Babs") and (3) The Potato Truck sequence.

So when I saw Frenzy , I watched patiently and sat up when each of these sequences arrived. I was primed for them, even excited for them(even the rape murder -- just how far WOULD Hitchcock go -- I wondered.) But I was REALLY waiting for "the truck scene" in Frenzy.

Well, I read some reviews of Licorice Pizza, and lo and behold , several of them said that "the truck scene" would be a big deal, the highlight of the movie.

50 years later, I'm STILL reading reviews about a movie with a truck scene -- and still showing up in eager anticipation to see it.

TWO: Reading Licorice Pizza reviews , I was ALSO revved up to see how Sean Penn as William Holden would figure in the tale, and Bradley Cooper as Jon Peters. Penn's scene came first, so I straightened up in interest to watch it. Penn is playing "Jack Holden," clearly modelled on William Holden circa 1973, and, I assume, on some real life incident in the life of the young actor who inspired PTA to write this film. "Jack Holden" enthralls customers at the "Tail of the Cock restaurant" and the young Alana by reciting lines from "The Bridges at Toko San" telling Alana "you remind me of Grace Kelly" (such a pick up line; Kelly was a natural beauty, Alana needs a little work.) The actor's real name was WILLIAM Holden, the movie was really "The Bridges at Toko RI" so there must have been trouble with the heirs. (Jon Peters is still alive and gave his twerpy villain cameo his a pproval.)

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

THREE: Oh, yes -- Jon Peters. In real life, a hairdresser who gave Barbra Streisand some sexy tough guy discipline and became her boyfriend, and then a producer of HER movies, and then(after they broke up) a producing partnership with Peter Guber(Guber-Peters) that ended up producing Rain Man and Batman and eventually running Sony. But back in '73, he was just Babs' Boyfriend and the movie has fun with that version of him -- in (ta da) the infamous "truck sequence."

---

Both the Holden sequence and the Jon Peters sequence struck me as a bit anti-climactic given the build up in reviews, but they fit nicely as "the only showbiz people in the story." Save one -- Lucille Ball is in there(under another name) and comes off quite badly. This in the same month as "Being the Ricardos."

No, Lucy and Holden and Babs' Boyfriend (and the cameoing actors who play the man) are "hooks" to the story, but the story is much more involving when it sticks to the joys of "first love" and the pain of not getting to have it.

[–] swanstep (2715) 3 years ago

This is not a clip from the movie -- it is a music video. The song is called "Want You Back." (They are singing "I Want You Back" but that's an old Jackson Five title, so they had to change the title.)...to my old ears, its a fun Girl Group rocker. I hear a lot of Wilson-Phillips in their harmonies

That track, like all the rest of Haim's stuff that I've heard, is hardly fit to park the Jackson 5 song's car! There's nothing actively wrong with Haim's track but somehow there's never enough *right* with it to really catch your ear, lodge in your memory, give you any real joy. Haim share a producer with Vampire Weekend (another relatively big indie-rock outfit of the past decade) who are better musicians and much better than Haim at writing big, joyous, summery, hooky hits when they want to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlkTVMMkCP4
(the Haim lead vocalist, Danielle, does some backing vox on the track and that's her throwing her hair around in the vid.)

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to Licorice Pizza. It might be my #1 movie of 2021 too (anything without any obvious major flaws is in with a shot at this point!). Note that I enjoyed the tv show, The White Lotus more than any movie I saw last year. Highly Recommended.

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

That track, like all the rest of Haim's stuff that I've heard, is hardly fit to park the Jackson 5 song's car!

--

Heh. Maybe they shouldn't have chosen that sound-alike title, though I suppose the Jackson Five are now from long, long ago.

I found it catchy enough and I was a bit mesmerized by the "long walk leading into sexy dance" structure of the thing. Its a "long take" film in the Rope tradition!

Indeed, "Want You Back" was rather adjacent to the Licorice Pizza clips. The song/video is from 2017 which is now a few years ago -- I found myself flashing back to whatever I was doing that year -- and I wonder if the primacy of Want You Back on their clips page makes it the "Haim anthem" or something. Their most catchy hit? (I sampled some other of their songs and found them less radio-ready to use the Old School term.)

---

There's nothing actively wrong with Haim's track but somehow there's never enough *right* with it to really catch your ear, lodge in your memory, give you any real joy.

---

Oh, I liked it better than that...it has a sort of sweet sad Wilson-Phillips harmony going on that roars into the more catchy street dancing singalong. But I'm not much for modern music. I don't know what I don't know. You've got me beat on breadth of modern day film experience(especially foreign films) but you REALLY got me beat on modern music. (I'm contemplating buying the Apple streaming service just so I can see Peter Jackson's doc on the Beatles circa 1969, THAT's my speed.)

I don't know if Licorice Pizza is REALLY going to be a hit -- its too wispy and arty for mainstream(the "big" Jon Peters and William Holden scenes aren't set-pieces of any real memorable weight )-- but I expect it has drawn enough fans to develop more fans for Haim.

I remember seeing Haim on SNL quite a few years ago and registering (1) That's interesting, they're all sisters and (2) they seem to have the chops on guitars and drums.

If you look at PTA's Imdb list between Phantom Thread and Licorice Pizza, there's no movies but there are quite a few Haim videos. He's a family friend, he really seems to have attached himself to them!

---

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Haim share a producer with Vampire Weekend (another relatively big indie-rock outfit of the past decade) who are better musicians and much better than Haim at writing big, joyous, summery, hooky hits when they want to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlkTVMMkCP4
(the Haim lead vocalist, Danielle, does some backing vox on the track and that's her throwing her hair around in the vid.)

---

I'll take a look. I don't know these people, but I should. I'm not going gentle into that good night. I want to see new movies and perhaps even hear new songs.

One thing about Haim -- their "child prodigy sisters" background gives them some musical cred it seems, and consequently they don't have to be as pretty as the members of those 80's girl bands The Go-Gos and The Bangles. But they have the sex appeal of rock and roll and they all have good bodies and ...the sex appeal follows. I like how the bass player goes ahead and makes her face real ugly ("bass face") during their sets I've viewed on video. Its a gimmick -- like the Green Hat Mike Nesmith wore in the first year of the Monkees.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to Licorice Pizza. It might be my #1 movie of 2021 too (anything without any obvious major flaws is in with a shot at this point!).

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While I have brought my "Personal Number One" discussions into board of reasons of telling the story of one movie-going lifetime, I don't feel you should be forced to follow suit, swanstep, though as I recall you have delivered to us some fine, non-mainstream titles(like The Lobster) that I for one will try to see, sometime.

"On topic" here, I personally think it is interesting that I have managed to put Psycho -- the seminal 1960 original -- on my lifetime list TWICE, and the only reason it got on there the second time is because otherwise 2020(the first COVID year) would have had nothing to work with.

But what I have really noticed in reviewing the past ten years is that my Number Ones invariably come from our key brand name but artistic filmmakers of our time: Scorsese, QT, The Coens. I threw in Aaron Sorkin for his patented ping-pong one-liners and argrument scenes, but his writing always seemed a little sit com to me even AS I enjoyed it, and I think his machine broke down with Chicago 7 and especially with the Ricardos movie this year (I guess its a spoiler so I won't reveal that the climactic big deal is so contrived and set up to work that you can see the machinery coming at you from a mile away.)

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

As for those Andersons -- Wes Anderson ALMOST got my Number One slot for 2001 with The Royal Tannebaums and PTA ALMOST got my Number One slot for 1999 with Magnolia(which remains my favorite PTA film, just watched it a couple of weeks ago) but only now, finally, with so little major completion in 2021, has PTA made the top with Licorice Pizza. Any other year, perhaps something else could have knocked it out, but the movie did what my favorite movies DO -- haunted me, created the urge to see it again(I will) and...something new...sent me to those sparse number of promotional clips on YouTube to "analyze" what works -- Alana Haim's line readings and voice, that's it.

And this: damn right certain movies are personal to us. I'm not of an age to connect to a movie about being a teen/young adult in the 80's, 90s, or 2000s, but the 70's...right THERE. And Alana Haim's hair style and clothing (various outfits but especially the dresses and vests) brought back palpable warm memories of MY first love...she looked and moved a lot like that. There I said it. I'm willing to bet Alana Haim here looks like a lot of guys first loves from back in the early seventies. (Well, maybe not the face. But the hair and the clothes.) Helps drive the emotion of the piece.

And this: the movie has a lot of 70's soundtrack songs(one is from the wrong year -- "Stumblin' In" )-- but I found myself most drawn to a little known Blood Sweat and Tears song from those years called "Lisa, Listen to Me." I had that song on a "Best of BST" album, I really liked that song -- I don't remember it being a radio hit at all. But here's PTA (who was NOT of age in the 70s_ finding it and playing it.
For me. Love that David Clayton Thomas whiskey soaked baritone. Love those horns.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Speaking of 1973, now THERE's a year which has any number of movies that I think could be my Number One of that great movie year, interchangeably:

American Graffiti
Charley Varrick
The Sting
The Way We Were
The Long Goodbye
The Paper Chase
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Westworld
The Exorcist
Sleeper
Magnum Force

and...Soylent Green (which takes place in the future year of: 2022. Worth a look this year, not that great a movie except for Eddie G's final scene of his career and his life.)

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Note that I enjoyed the tv show, The White Lotus more than any movie I saw last year. Highly Recommended.

---

I'll go looking. We have certainly reached an era where identical quality at the movies and on TV (which is pretty much paid for and has big budgets, like movies) are identical.

Not so in 1973, which had the movies above and Barnaby Jones and Happy Days on the tube(well, Happy Days came later.)

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Back to Paul Thomas Anderson.

Time, yet again, flies.

I was thinking that Licorice Pizza harkens back to his other San Fernando Valley movies of "few years ago" but no...we're talking a couple of DECADES ago, plus:

Boogie Nights 1997 (25 years!)
Magnolia 1999
Punch-Drunk Love 2002 (which has Phillip Seymour Hoffman as a caterwauling MAN to match the caterwauling women in the above two films)

In between?

The great but super-arty and period There Will Be Blood in 2007, and then a 5 year wait to:

The Master (also great and super-arty and period)

2 years to Inherent Vice (borderline Valley, very LA)

3 years to Phantom Thread (so far removed from the look and feel of Licorice Pizza as to feel like from another writer-director entirely) and now...here. Back to the Valley.

I watched Phantom Thread the other night and found it exquisitely made, exquisitely acted, exquisitely filmed....fairly well written and of no real personal connection to me at all. THAT's the conundrum of PTA. Doing this LA /Valley comedic stuff over HERE...doing this Merchant-Ivory stuff over THERE.

I suppose it is that versatility that makes PTA such a reknowned director in this era.

[–] swanstep (2715) 3 years ago

I'll go looking. We have certainly reached an era [of] identical quality at the movies and on TV

Yes, and there's *so much* TV out there too. I've missed a lot of evidently very good TV stuff in the last year or two simply because I can see the time required and just don't have it or can't face it or something. E.g., everybody seems to love Succession (yet another show about billionaire family feuds w. Brian Cox and others) these days, so that's on my list. E.g. 2 the Korean tv show Squid Game was a huge, surprise pop cultural hit this year, but I somehow haven't been able to rouse myself for it.

A shortish (8 eps?) tv show from a year or two back I can recommend that has young, strained love at its center just like Licorice Pizza is *Normal People* (from Ireland&BBC). I found it incredibly touching at the time and it has stuck with me. The main, intense couple are just amazing.

Other shows I'm intrigued by but haven't got around to yet (maybe I never will): The Underground Railroad (by Moonlight's director), Small Axe (by 12 Years a Slave's director), The Great (about Catherine the Great by The Favorite's screenwriter and starring Elle Fanning and a lot of The Favorite's character actors), Mare of Easttown (w. Kate Winslet), Little Fires Everywhere (w. Reese Witherspoon), The Queen's Gambit (w. Anja Taylor-Joy playing a Chess prodigy in the '50s-60s(?). That pile alone is hell of a lot to get through! How does anyone do it?

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

I'll go looking. We have certainly reached an era [of] identical quality at the movies and on TV
---

Yes, and there's *so much* TV out there too. I've missed a lot of evidently very good TV stuff in the last year or two simply because I can see the time required and just don't have it or can't face it or something.

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Me, too. This whole "peak TV" phemonenon has gotten out of hand. One wonders if "once upon a time," with so few studios creating product, if we just got a more manageable number of things to watch "back in the day." One or two movies at the theaters each week(you could pick one, or two, or none.)

And of course, only three TV networks with the money to produce quality shows.

That's all over now. I'm reminded of Springsteen's song "57 channels and there's nothing on." Now there 157 channels and there's TOO MUCH on.

--

After spending the 70's out at night a lot and skipping TV entirely, I recall in the 80's latching on to three "quality" continuing dramas: Hill Street Blues(cops), St. Elsewhere(doctors), and LA Law (lawyers.) The Big Three in TV jobs, well done.

But it could be done even better, as R-rated cable shows turned up that weren't censored and the writing improved massively. Poor David Kelley on ABC with his quirky legal shows (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal) looked like a grade school jokester compared to the more high level stuff on cable.

Me, I still go to thrillers: The Sopranos(Mafia) and its lesser knockoffs(Breaking Bad, sorry I DO think its lesser), The Americans, now Ozark.

The "Mad Men" hook was how it started in the year of Psycho(1960) and gave us the decade of the 60s. Nostalgia whether you were alive then or not. And again -- the writing -- head and shoulders above the rest. You want a painful comparison , watch John Slattery say his Mad Men lines and THEN watch him say his Desperate Housewives lines. Its as if the man lost IQ points.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

everybody seems to love Succession (yet another show about billionaire family feuds w. Brian Cox and others) these days, so that's on my list.

--

I'm a big Brian Cox fan (have been, ever since he was the FIRST Hannibal Lecter) and he's a great advertisement for "the Ugly Man with Great Charisma") but...I'm tiring of shows about battles among the Superrich. I tried Billions and...its just depressing. I earn what I earn. My life is what it is. THESE people? On the other hand, The Wolf of Wall Street did it up in comedy and sex and downfalls...and was over in three hours.

---
CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

E.g. 2 the Korean tv show Squid Game was a huge, surprise pop cultural hit this year, but I somehow haven't been able to rouse myself for it.

--

I tried some early episodes. It traces back to Psycho as a "slaughter show" and of course, has some things to say about societal pressures (Capitalist or Commie, take your pick.)

I saw(so far) three of the "Deadly Games" that the participants must play, and the first one ("Red Light, Green Light") was funny and gory at the same time -- SNL spoofed it with Pete Davidson in close-ups as everybody ELSE's blood kept splashing on his face; the overt removal of seeing the VICTIMS getting shot to bloody death became part of the comedy.

---

A shortish (8 eps?) tv show from a year or two back I can recommend that has young, strained love at its center just like Licorice Pizza is *Normal People* (from Ireland&BBC). I found it incredibly touching at the time and it has stuck with me. The main, intense couple are just amazing.

--

I'm jotting down these recommendation. Licorice Pizza is still on my mind, it must mean SOMETHING. The whole concept of "love with restraints" creates suspense and then satisfaction.

---

Other shows I'm intrigued by but haven't got around to yet (maybe I never will): The Underground Railroad (by Moonlight's director), Small Axe (by 12 Years a Slave's director), The Great (about Catherine the Great by The Favorite's screenwriter and starring Elle Fanning and a lot of The Favorite's character actors), Mare of Easttown (w. Kate Winslet), Little Fires Everywhere (w. Reese Witherspoon), The Queen's Gambit (w. Anja Taylor-Joy playing a Chess prodigy in the '50s-60s(?). That pile alone is hell of a lot to get through! How does anyone do it?

---

I can't imagine.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

I've been picking "series" that have definite 8 to 10 episode cut-offs. Like long novels. They END.

Mare of Eastown was OK, but it was one of those stories where EVERYBODY in the same grim Pennsylvania town was dysfunctionl with a grim family secret. EVERYBODY? That series connected me over to one called "Sharp Objects" also with a "name" female star(Amy Adams here, Kate Winslet there) and a short run-time of 8 episodes(I think). Creeped me out. I pegged the killer early on and was frankly disgusted by some graphic-enough flashback reveals of child killings at the end. This "Psycho" fellow has just about reached his limit. Kill ADULTS please.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

A return to Licorice Pizza.

Just for fun, I checked its box office to date (January 20, 2022.)

Its not doing great. About $14 million domestic on a $40 million budget.
Evidently doing around what "Inherent Vice" did some years ago for PTA.

Oh, well. In the main...he makes art films. And they seem to earn their money back somewhere, somehow. And Oscar likes them. And then give critics something to write about. And they give him a "canon."

But here I am , evidently picking as a favorite a movie that isn't earning much more than West Side Story(this year) or Nomadland (last year.)

I guess I'm an art film fan now.

PS. It looks like PTA has made more Haim videos than movies in the past decade!

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

"On topic" here, I personally think it is interesting that I have managed to put Psycho -- the seminal 1960 original -- on my lifetime list TWICE, and the only reason it got on there the second time is because otherwise 2020(the first COVID year) would have had nothing to work with.

---

I pondered this...Psycho getting Number One twice on a 70-year list(older than me)...and Psycho actually gets two other "honorable mentions":

ONE: 1979. As I've noted before, after a few years of watching Psycho only on TV, I stumbled into a "miracle" college screening of Psyhco with a full house that delivered the 1960 "full house wall to wall screaming" version of the movie --the movie Psycho truly WAS. I still feel blessed. If I hadn't gone in there that night, I never would have REALLY experienced Psycho.

So maybe, Number Three for 1979

North Dallas Forty
Alien
Psycho '' "Full House Screaming Version." (With a lot more screaming than Alien got.)

TWO: 1998.

My favorite movie of 1998 is Saving Private Ryan, which aside from its scope, emotion, and brutality, also took screen violence to a new "visual place" with that opening D-Day slaughter(visual AND sound.) And a sympathetic GI falls supine on his back to the slow stabbing of a brute Nazi in a scene that gives us "Mother atop Arbogast finishing him off" in pure graphic realism.

But Number Two? Surprise: Van Sant's Psycho. Word came out in the trade and internet in April of 1998 that Van Sant was REALLY going to try to remake Psycho "shot by shot" and I watched reports and awaited its December release with a whole year of "wondering." i recall that William Macy was listed in early reports as "the police detective who discovers the secrets of the Bates Motel" and I couldn't tell lif he would be Arbogast or Sheriff Chambers. Police.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Whereas Hitchocck's Psycho filmed November through January for a summer release; Van Sant's Psycho filmed May through July for a December release. I spent much of 1998 waiting,.wondering...reading articles, seeing photos slowly released...seeing a trailer with all the familiar shots but weird new music(rather like the Se7en credits) and then the movie itself.

It was the "movie experience of 1998" waiting for that movie.

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Returning deep into the OT topic of Licorice Pizza and its connection to the sister girl band Haim.

I KNOW this is my favorite movie of (now last year) 2021 because I've found myself following trails away from it. all enjoyable.

For instance, I've been looking at the videos of HAIM, and I find them a rather fascinating group, for fascinating reasons.

Each of their main songs I have found so far(videos) sounds like somebody else's song or style. I guess as with rappers, these gals like to "sample" other songs and then convert them to HAIM works:

One song opens just like The Eagles "Heartache Tonight."
One song opens just like Sheryl Crow "Soak Up the Sun."
One song opens -- and continues on -- like Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side.
One song sounds like Wilson-Phillips.

And yet, the girls have their own rhythm, their own voice, their own style. The internet press can't seem to make up their minds if these girls are the new Fleetwood Mac or a re-birth of the 80's.

Me -- I see some of the MONKEES in them. The girls have perfected that "group comedy cameraderie" thing we saw in The Marx Brothers, The Beatles, but especially the Monkees and their songs have a similar pop rock bounce. But the girls also make little videos where they do thing like re-stage Tenacious D's routine about bullying the workers at a drive-through burger place.

The girls -- deeply Jewish all -- also did a version of Adam Sandler's Chanukuh song and got Adam's re-tweet endorsement: "You are three badass jews!"

Speaking of Adam Sandler, I was reminded of HIS PTA movie of 2002 -- Punch-Drunk Love -- which was also a love story set in the San Fernando Valley(with sidetrips to Hawaii and Utah.)

I was also reminded that while Boogie NIghts and Magnolia are in heavy streaming rotation, it had been YEARS since I saw Punch-Drunk Love , so I ordered it up for a couple of bucks and watched it and -- you can see the "art" elements that set PTA apart from the rest.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

I determined: I like Licorice Pizza better than Punch Drunk Love, because even giving a "serious and considered performance" in Punch Drunk Love, Adam Sandler is still...very off-putting to me. Actually, i found him more funny and/or endearing in his "natural habitat" (the golf comedy Happy Gilmore) than having to be sooooo...serious. And mentally illish. For PTA.

Nope, I like the love story between Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman much better than the one between Adam Sandler and Emily Lloyd. The movie goes higher up the list for me.

I found an interview with Alana Haim in which -- unfortunately -- she is rendered more banal and "regular" than the woman she plays in Licorice Pizza. This returned me to that clip called "What Are Your Plans?" where she hits all of her lines with a very measured and controlled comic/.romantic pitch. Just letting her blab away in a promotional interview takes some the mystery away from her movie character.

Somebody snuck the final scene of Licorice Pizza on the net and I got to study it at greater length than the quick moment it hit me at the theater. Its great , and again -- Alana Haim's line readings are the heart of the whole thing.

(Note in passing: evidently Alana Haim has agreed to take on the bulk of promotional interviews rather than Cooper Hoffman. I will guess this is because Cooper has the serious and sad issue of his father's passing, and he shouldn't be out there for this so much.)

I want to see Licorice Pizza again. Its fading in my memory and I haven't "learned" it yet -- what order the scenes go in, how things play out...and where it becomes "an art film" rather than a linear storyline.

But the clip and the trailer are still enchanting. I looked at the trailer and realized that in her first scene, Alana Haim is wearing a 1973 "shorts and skirt" mix called a "skort" and yes, girls WORE those. Its swooning nostalgia.

---

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

About those Haim girls some more.

As the Licorice Pizza photographic poster shows, Alana Haim doesn't have a particularly "pretty" face in the movie star tradition. And neither do her two sisters.

But as "rock stars," these girls are doing what not-terribly-great looking MEN in rock have done for years: projecting sex (not just sex appeal) through other means. Their dance moves (in their videos). Their bodies (all fit, and often photographed in provocative poses, or in their bras, or with their pants pulled down and their guitars providing bikini cover.)

One can find Haim interviews on the net where they becry sexism in rock(and I'm sure its there), but they also seem to understand sex APPEAL in rock -- hence the various semi-nude shots for their fans(I'd assume red-blooded boys and lesbian girls.)

But they neutralize the sex thing with their sisterliness, their songs(pretty good to me), their comedy.

I note that Haim is going back on tour (post COVID, sort of) and one of their venues is the Greek Theater in Berkeley(adjacent to the UC Berkeley campus). That makes them stars to me. I've BEEN to the Greek for concerts and you have to park way far away from the venue and walk great distances to get to it. Its an event, a journey, hundreds of people go.

And hundreds of people will go see Haim. They've arrived.

I daresay that they as a band must be a bigger deal than the low earning Licorice Pizza.....

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

UPDATE:

I have now seen Licorice Pizza a second time. At a movie theater again , for a second time. At my age. Daring or stupid? I dunno. I wanted to see it a second time, and it looks like its "streaming debut" may be some weeks away.

"Back in the day"(the 70's being a key period for this), I would see a favorite movie three times in the theaters (The Godfather, Frenzy, Jaws.)

The first time was just to experience the first time. As critic Charles Champlin said "you only see a movie once" -- in terms of surprises, but that first time is really about deciding -- on instinct -- "Do I really LIKE this movie?"

Most of the time the answer is: "Its OK. I don't HAVE to see it again."

But with "the movies of my life," its been different. From the VERY FIRST TIME, something clicks and it becomes "I really like this movie; it moves me in some way, I like it start to finish. I HAVE to see it again."

Then comes viewing Number Two. This is the viewing at which "I learn how the movie works." It doesn't just flow this time, I study each scene to see why it comes where it does, how it fits the next scene, etc. I catch the lines better.

A few weeks later(back in the day) comes viewing Number Three. This was my "saying goodbye" viewing. Frenzy was a June release; I saw it the third time on Thanksgiving weekend(it came back with Ulzana's Raid) and "said goodbye." I knew the movie now, had memorized it, was ready to let go so as not to "run it into the ground."

With Jaws, viewing Number One was in June with a full house filled with folks(mainly young) who screamed all the way through it. Viewing Number Three (goodbye) was in October and -- the crowd was small and there were no screams. The movie "deflated" as an event and I remember not liking that "goodbye" showing.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

So I gave Licorice Pizza viewing Number Two last week. I'm not sure if I will be able to go to a theater for a "goodbye." It may get to streaming sooner than that. Under the new rules, I have been watching favorites on streaming (at least partially) about once a year. I've done that with The Irishman and Buster Scruggs -- neither of which are on DVD to my knowledge. Where I CAN buy a DVD, I buy one -- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I own.

How will it go with Licorice Pizza? Will a DVD be sold? Or do I have to subscribe to a streamer any time I want to watch it. We shall see.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

SPOILERS from here on about Licorice Pizza. See the movie first, or if you don't need to see it, whatever you want to do.)

--

I had a great feeling waiting for my second showing of Licorice Pizza to begin. As I sat through a group of trailers( a lot of them, the movies ARE back in certain ways),I got impatient and anticipatory. I wanted to see the movie. NOW. I started to remember what I liked about it ..very much the opening scene where Gary first meets Alana, and I felt good just thinking about it.

And then the movie started. And to my amusement, I realized, "Gary meets Alana" is NOT the opening scene.

The opening scene is a DIRECT homage to a scene in American Graffiti: Gary and a bunch of boys in the "Boys Room" at a high school, primping before the mirror and a cherry bomb blows up in the stall.

D'oh! I'd forgotten that. Here was PTA BEGINNING his film with an ode to one of the seminal teenage movies that inspired it. Oh, well, now I was learning the film.

Now the scene: Gary on line to get his high school photo taken; Alana striding with youthful purpose(and no little sex appeal) along the row doing her photographer's assistant job: "Mirror? Comb? Mirror? Comb?"

Gary (in a now famous shot) , leans out of the line , sees Alana and we've got "love at first sight." THIS boy. THAT girl. His object of affection. His obsession. (A little bitty taste of Vertigo here.)

Gary knows how to work the situation. HE asks for the mirror and comb; he knows she HAS to interact with him, has to hold the mirror for him and wait for him to comb his hair. So he has her forced attention. And he starts coming on to her, but his pick up lines are boyish, charming, interested.

She resists. The age thing immediately emerges. He asks her out to dinner. A date? Not necessarily.

She thinks she can shut it down: "How are you going to pay for this date?"

COPY

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

But that's another opening: he CAN pay for the date because he earns his own money as a movie and TV child actor.

This intrigues her. She realizes she is dealing with someone of some accomplishment, maybe even power, at a young age.

So the flirtation continues on through the entire walk up to the photograph -- her resisting but intrigued -- him polite but insistent. She won't commit to the date but when we see her adult male boss slap her on the ass and her cool reaction to that -- we realize that she WILL take that date.

In certain ways, this detailed scene(and I won't detail many more) sets the stage for the whole movie. We like him. We like her. The love story has been set up, with banter, with resistance(on her part) and with the maybe-impossible, maybe not age difference thing(they can at least be friends). We've taken in her "plain beauty" and great voice; we've taken in his boyish charm and grown-up smarts.

The movie is good to go.

CONT

[–] InvitationToLove (12) 3 years ago

Why are you posting this on the Psycho page? I'm pretty sure there's a whole board dedicated to more general film discussion...

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Oh, its something some of us do at the Psycho board. Its marked OT so its not about Psycho -- but then in a way, every movie has a connection.

I'll offer these points:

Nobody much posts on Psycho at the Psycho board. Its a pretty dead board.

Nobody much posts on Licorice Pizza at the Licorice Pizza board. Its a NEW movie (by weeks) and barely gets any posts. I guess nobody around these parts is seeing it . (Its not making much money.)

The crowd at the Licorice Pizza board is younger, a bit nastier, than here. And getting a trifle anti-Semitic.

So I post stuff like this here. Its a haven for the older viewer.

I'll offer this deal: when I'm finished posting on this HERE, I'll move it over there. I anticipate attacks or no comments at all. Which is OK.

Psycho and Licorice Pizza are connected this way.

Psycho is my favorite movie of 1960. The Psycho re-release with new footage is my favorite movie of 2020(which had few movies in theates cuz of COVID.) Licorice Pizza is my favorite movie of 2021. They made the grade and for similar reasons. They should be considered as part of a long line of movie excellence.

Place me on ignore if that helps.

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

CONT

A bit more on Licorice Pizza. SPOILERS.

Though some reviewers find the movie "slight" and not top Paul Thomas Anderson, it certainly got some raves.

I think the best review I read is from a critic named Brody at The New Yorker. The review seems to have had the paywall removed -- perhaps MGM paid for this. Because it is a rave.

And that review expresses what WORKS about LIcorice Pizza, why it is so good. It is the review I would write if I was a good, professional writer. Which I am not . (I talk here, I don't write.)

Though Brody goes a bit overboard with this comment :"Hoffman lends his driven energumen a lambent glow of innocence." Get thee to a dictionary!

This sentence is more on point: "Anderson never loses the finely woven thread of Alana and Gary's breathless, rapturous, turbulent, achingly vulnerable relationship, which, in turn, is what holds the wild array of events together..." and " a film of immense, swirling complexity" -- which I think is the REAL point because the "simplicity" of the film's impossible love story(which isn't THAT impossible) belies the complexity. (Hey, just like Psycho's "simple" thriller plot belies ITS complexity.)

Being a love story at heart, Licorice Pizza is basically "boy meets girl, boy loses girl" - over and over -- and it turns out that whether they DO or DON'T stay together at the end of the film matters very much. "There are only 7 stories" say the Hollywood wags, and this is one of them. But with nice little details along the way.

And an "arthouse sensibility." PTA has the true auteur's gift of seeing the world, and showing the world, in a different way. There's a sequence early in Licorice Pizza that plays "crazy" -- Gary is arrested for freakin' MURDER and Alana "rescues" him, that makes no logical sense but all kinds of emotional sense (in that instant, Alana is nothing but protective and loyal and deeply AFRAID for her "friend," its a scene of no logic and pure emotion.)

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

I like how the movie establishes, early on, a key "link" between Alana and Gary.

Though their relationship is "impossible" and they can only be friends, whenever one of them lands a possible more "appropriate" lover -- jealousy ensues. And we in the audience join in. "No..she shouldn't be with HIM.. she should be with Gary!" "No , he shouldn't be with HER...he should be with Alana." Real life angle: in the course of the film, more men hit on Alana than girls hit on Gary. But Alana seethes when she's on the receiving end. Its cute. Its involving. Its REAL.

The whole "1973" thing is important. A time without cell phones and "Star 69" to trace who is calling you(the boy who loves you?) A time of water beds and pinball parlors and a certain type of rock music. A time with "Live and Let Die" and "The Mechanic" on a movie marquee to lock in a summer as a memory (for those of us who were there) or a time machine (for those of you who were not.)

Sean Penn's turn as "Jack Holden"(based on William Holden) is telling. PTA merged some Holden anecdotes with one about Evel Kenieval trying to jump a motorcycle in the parking lot of a famous Valley bar but for THIS movie, the sequence makes its point: Alana rides on the cycle with Holden and escapes injury just barely -- everybody runs off after Holden, only Gary runs after Alana(to see if she is hurt.) That loyalty thing again. And the fact that movie stars have no loyalty to things other than their own egos.

And so forth and so on.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

And a segue: if "Licorice Pizza" was a gift to me as the movie that "worked emotionally" (and just at the very end of the year after some disappointments) it delivered me to a whole other "brief obsession" in its wake.

That "all girl sister act pop rock band": HAIM.

For the past decade, I barely knew who Haim was, or were. Saw them on SNL a few years back(they've been on twice) took note, forgot about them.

Well, 'Licorice Pizza" got them some press and I dunno -- the movie is a bit of a flop did it? -- the band is "hot" but not at Eagles level, is it?

On YouTube, it LOOKS like Haim is a mega-group. They've got the musical chops. I put six of their songs in a row on Spotify and its a great, fun listen. I don't feel too old listening to them -- they are all in their 30s now, hardly a teen group, and their musical talents are worthy of respect. They have cute singing voices, but they can PLAY.

I still see them as The Monkees. The Haim sisters are famously from the San Fernando Valley and all The Monkees videos were shot there, too (if not at the LA beaches.) When not singing and rocking out , the girls do comedy on YouTube, and they've created three "characters" ala The Monkees(and a little bit, The Beatles.) Este(the eldest) is perhaps the least attractive, so she pushes a bullying comedy style and while playing bass, a "bass face" that is ugly on purpose. Middle child Danielle is the true leader of the band -- the best voice, the lead singer , a guitarist and drummer, and usually "the quiet one" in YouTube comedy videos.

Alana is indeed "Baby Haim," and what struck me the most was how DIFFERENT she is as "Alana" in Licorice Pizza. PTA wrote a character for Alana Haim who is MUCH more aloof, complex, sensitive, explosive and alluring than the "party girl" joking around with her sisters in interviews. Its pretty impressive realizing how much PTA helped Alana Haim "get serious."

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Haim has a great "not quite rags to riches" story with deep family roots . (Think The Partridge Family.)

Papa Haim was a top Israeli soccer player who emigrated to the US in 1980 or so. Met Mama Haim. Two hard workers, the both of them, "The American Way": him in construction and plumbing, her in teaching (she taught art to PTA), BOTH of them musicians who immediately formed a band with some adult friends and played LA locally and Club Med.

They had their three daughters in the 80's and 1991(Alana) and eventually turned those girls into rock stars. One senses a very driven family, stage parents perhaps(one thinks: The Jackson Five). But evidently there wasn't any bullying or cruelty involved. Just a constant push, a constant practice, and the requisite years and years of Haim (the girls only, they kicked the parents out of the band) touring nowhere for nothing and then...clicking.

So now in 2022, they've got this movie, and they've got new fans and...I hope things get bigger for them. Their songs remind me of the radio songs of the 60's and 70's...every song singable and fun with a different hook.

They also like to incorporate dancing into their songs. They "saved themselves" during the COVID first days(no touring allowed) by giving 30 minute Zoom classes on YouTube where YOU can learn dance routines to four of their hits. This modern age: these major, worldwide stars look for all the world like three local overaged teenagers "putting on a show" in their living room (Alana's actually, the girls now live in separate houses ten minutes from their parents.)

Its been quite an immersion -- one great movie, one fun (and heartening and, funny, and, yes sexy) Girl Rock Band and -- and this is the good part -- I never saw any of this coming. Its fun to have the culture reach out and grab you and pull you in to something new-- at any age.

I think that's all I got here. I wanted to express this.

I hope other people start posting on Psycho.

[–] InvitationToLove (12) 3 years ago

Are you a heavy user of amphetamines by any chance?

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Three Oscar Nominations -- None for Alana and Cooper, Alas
posted a few seconds ago by ecarle (11850)

Best Picture
Best Director (PTA)
Best Original Screenplay

...probably the favorite (A favorite?) only for screenplay.

Alana got most of the buzz, but perhaps its better she didn't make it. Having a Best Actress in the family might have put undue pressure on the "sister trio." Wouldn't want it to break up the group. Alana "hopes" to act again, and her sisters might help. (Danielle's a bit shy -- though the lead singer and musical leader of the group -- but Este has the Bette Midler comedy chutzpah thing going in interviews.)

Cooper got some buzz , too (and his command of his boy-man character and his enthusiastic line readings was very good, too). Maybe he can keep moving on in his career. It took his father some years to get there.

The nominations allow for PTA to show up at the Oscars with all five of the Haim family members and Cooper Hoffman -- who, I believe, was his father's "date" for one of the Oscar shows.

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

A bit of a "Licorice Pizza" update...and a rueful one:

A movie called "Dog" came out last week. A mainstream studio film, starring Channing Tatum and a loveable German Shepard. Though it has sober roots(both man and dog are Army vets with PTSD), it is a predictable road movie that goes to a predictable end. "Studio product." And I saw it. To be nice.

"Dog" made $15 million domestic on its first WEEKEND.

$15 million is about what "Licorice Pizza" has made SINCE NOVEMBER.

So "Licorice Pizza" is not much of a hit. The big (and I mean BIG) push for "Alana Haim, young superstar" seems to have fizzled out.

Evidently, "Licorice Pizza" is fairly low on the list of PTA's grossing films. "Heavy movies" like There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread did better. Boogie Nights did better . Magnolia did better. Evidently only Inherent Vice and Punch Drunk Love did worse (though Licorice Pizza still has some more earning to do.)

In some ways, it doesn't really matter, does it? PTA is an established auteur. The movie had a lot of GREAT reviews, and three key Oscar nominations (of which I think only the screenplay has a shot at winning.)

The movie goes into the "Paul Thomas Anderson canon" and will join its forebears on the "rental list" on Amazon Prime and the like. It will likely grow fans as the years go by.

I still like it very much. As with all movies that become my favorites, I REALLY liked it the first time I saw it(without fully understanding it), and now, analyzing clip after clip after clip on YouTube, I see exactly WHY. The writing. Alana's acting. Cooper's acting. The love story. And -- sure -- as a personal matter, my own memories of the 70's and young love. I don't feel like I'm watching a love story with people decades younger than me -- I'm back WITH them, when I was their age. Personal note(why not?): The girl carries memories(clothes, hair, build) of MY high school girlfriend, AND she is reminiscent of a later sig other -- Jewish, in LA. Its a whole other culture. Also, the temper thing. Why do we boys so pursue girls with hot tempers? I know why.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

And a bit more on the Haim sisters.

I assume that their success as a musical act remains a much bigger deal than "Licorice Pizza." They are about to go on a big tour -- US AND Europe -- and I suppose that the movie promotion will help sell out the tour.

They certainly seem to be "an American success story." Their father -- a "professional soccer player"(so "a rugged jock?") immigrated from Israel in 1980, met their mother, and began a family that seems to have put an emphasis on musical instruments from an early age. Everybody worked hard(in real estate, in construction, in teaching, at the parental level) and everybody played instruments.

The eldest daughter, Este, went to UCLA and got a PhD in musicology (in two years instead of four.) Alana went to a performing arts high school, then dropped out of community college. Danielle(evidently the true talent of the family, the lead singer, the "quiet one")...seems to have jumped right in to touring with other bands before forming Haim.

Its pretty clear that someone has advised the girls on their "personalities" for interviews. Este always takes the brassy, Midler-like lead(as the oldest, she is starting to age towards seeming a bit more like a mother, not a sister.) Alana is "Baby Haim" but also ..the sexy, single one. Danielle retains her middle child quiet and her mystery. There are bets that she goes solo and becomes great.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

This is poignant: Este, the eldest, has Type I diabetes and it will evidently haunt their tours to come: can she handle the physical burden? (She has to pull up a chair and play sitting down, sometimes.) On a charming "dance class video" that the sisters made while in quarantine, Este's "diabetes pump" is attached to her leotard and falls off during a dance -- they have to stop the show to let her connect it. A "diabetes pump" is a substitute for taking insulin shots.

I had a friend from high school on -- we were born a couple of weeks apart -- who needed first the insulin shots, then the "pump." For his whole adult life. Until he died a few years ago.

I'm a little worried for Este Haim...though on the basis of my less-rich and famous friend, she has decades to live without worry. Her quote: "Its sad to think I may not get to stay here as long as I'd like to." We shall see.

Actually, I may NOT see.

[–] InvitationToLove (12) 3 years ago

You responded to me, but didn't answer the question.

Should I take that as a yes?