FilmMonthly » Nathan Baker-Lutz

Sleepwalk with Me

Nathan Baker-Lutz — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:22:21 +0000

When Ira Glass is your producer you aren’t making a blockbuster. That’s alright. Mike Birbiglia knows his story is better told over time in local bars, drinking Yuengling between Passion Pit tracks. The less this sentence makes sense the more you’ll like Sleepwalk with Me.

Mike writes, directs and stars in his own true story about long-term relationships, humble stand-up beginnings and a rare sleep disorder. It’s simply told and owes a lot to Annie Hall. In fact, I started making a list of all the things they have in common and I stopped at number eighteen: You don’t want him to succeed.

The first 17 things were easy. He is an unattractive comedian in New York. He is constantly worried and his abundant self-defeat drags down his singing girlfriend. Mike goes his own direction in Sleepwalk with Me, though, when he concedes to not being worth watching. That’s when I stopped adding to my list.

You don’t have to like Mike. He’s a comedian. He’s used to it. What makes Sleepwalk with Me worth watching his awareness to the issue. He is open and honest as he retells his story directly into the camera (#4 on the afore mentioned list). He shows his regularly scheduled failures and admits they are mostly his fault (#12). Yet he still doesn’t entirely give in to them. He shows flashes of diligence just often enough to make you want to keep listening. Then he jumps out a second-story window.

In fact, his battle with what is eventually diagnosed as REM behavior disorder are some of the funnier parts of the movie. He integrates them well visually, supporting his unique style of story telling. He shows you what he hopes you are picturing while he does his stand-up routine.

This perspective becomes a prevalent one. Mike is in almost every scene and is always talking. It’s clear he is most comfortable in his own head and with his perspective alone. His other characters are one dimensional and are portrayed as Mike sees them (#14). Mike is selfish (#6) but shines knowing you’ve paid to listen anyway.

Sleepwalk with Me is not for Michael Bay, Coors Light, Coldplay people. Mike’s story is too personal. Too absurd. It’s a unique story you want the honor of telling to your friends for the first time. It’s worth protecting, sharing carefully with people who will appreciate it like we do so often with our craft beers, our local pubs and the newest unknown acoustic techno duo from Sweden.

Yes Sir!

Nathan Baker-Lutz — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:29:09 +0000

Verne Lundquist couldn’t contain his excitement. He has long covered the 16th and 17th holes at August National Golf Club, and when Jack Nicklaus came to his holes that Sunday, April 13th, 1986, even he couldn’t resist an exclamation after Jack made birdie. “Yes sir!”
Just six days earlier, a local writer described Jack Nicklaus as old and rusty with nothing left in the tank. Even Nicklaus himself couldn’t argue. He hadn’t won a golf tournament in two years, he hadn’t won any of the four majors in six years, and was ranked around 160th on the season’s money list. He admits to going through the motions with no expectations, even when he started Sunday’s final round.
Now one of the greatest days in golf history, A&E has released a DVD commemorating the 25th anniversary of Jack’s historic win at Augusta with a vast array of footage from the tournament and brand new interviews with Jack himself, as well as his competitor that day, Greg Norman. They’ve also included interviews with greats like Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, and Gary Player, all Masters champions. The story is narrated perfectly by Jack’s son, Jack Jr., who was caddying for his dad during the week and had a front row seat to the now mythical performance.
Jack came out of nowhere. The television crews weren’t covering him, the press didn’t attend his pre-tournament press conference, and Jack himself felt out of sorts. He was stumbling into the 1986 Masters, but Jack would stand up one last time, even if he didn’t know it.
He came to the back nine holes on Sunday four shots back, but birdies at 9, 10 and 11 put him on the top page of the leaderboard. His presence there struck fear into his competitors and started a roar in the crowd. He had just birdied the three most difficult holes on the golf course and later hit a four-iron within eight feet for eagle on the iconic 15th hole at Augusta to pull just one shot behind.
A&E perfectly unfolds the story with interviews unraveling the mind of a golfer and the thoughts in his head. Their collected footage gives life to the story as the momentum grows beneath Jack and the fear overwhelms his competitors, like Norman and Seve Ballesteros. The DVD captures the awe of the story and the legend of Jack’s final run at Augusta.
He would go on to birdie holes 16 and 17, putting him in the lead for the first time. The whole way the crowds were growing, running from hole to hole, abandoning the other golfers and joining the herds that now cheered for Jack louder than has since been heard at the Masters. He finished with a par on 18 and then sat and watched. Seve, the brash Spaniard, made bogey at 15, ending his run. Another of the world’s best, Tom Kite, missed a birdie putt on 18 to tie, and after back-to-back birdies of his own on 16 and 17, Norman came to the 18th needing just a par to tie.
It could not have been written any better. Jack, 46 years old and well past his prime, had just played the greatest 9 holes of his life with his oldest son on the bag. They shared a hug after his final putt and were now watching with the world as Greg Norman hit is approach to the 18th green. The shot sailed far right into the crowd of people, now in the thousands, and dashed Norman’s hopes. He failed to make par and Nicklaus had become the oldest player to ever win a major.
This is a story that has been retold more than any other in golf for the last 25 years, and now A&E has documented the day with a presentation befitting the performance by Jack himself. Nothing too fancy or bold, but a focus on an old man, worn out and rusty, and his son grabbing the attention of the world for nine holes of golf.
Yes sir, indeed.

Highlights of the 2011 Masters Tournament

Nathan Baker-Lutz — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:16:30 +0000

The Masters golf tournament, held every first weekend in April at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, is arguably the greatest golf tournament in the world. Some rank it even higher, among the greatest annual sporting events of our time along with the Kentucky Derby, the Super Bowl, and the Indy 500. As you watch the 2011 Masters Tournament, presented on DVD by A&E, and see the lush green fairways and the blooming azaleas, and then hear the roars and cheers echoing down through the Georgia pines, you start to understand why.
The Masters is a magical event that every professional golfer dreams of winning. They all tell stories of watching the greats of the past, like Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, win the prestigious tournament. They play as children, slipping on their fathers’ suit coats and pretending it is the coveted Green Jacket, awarded every year to the winner. This was once again the case with the players in 2011.
Among those players, three stand out as the greatest storylines of the year. First, the ever present Tiger Woods. Coming off nearly 18 months of personal struggles and injuries, he had returned to Augusta National hoping to restart a new career. He played strong rounds of golf and when he sank an eagle putt on the par five 8th hole on Sunday afternoon, he brought back roars in the crowd that are reserved only for the legends of golf. He posted a front nine score of 31, tying for the lead but would fall short on the back nine and wind up in 4th place.
The second player, who’s story is probably the most memorable from the 2011 Masters, is Rory McIlroy. Barely 21 years old, Rory had already been amazing crowds and just last summer had fallen just short of becoming one of the youngest ever winners of the British Open. He held the lead in the 2011 Masters at the end of each of the first three days and started the final day, the special Sunday at the Masters, with a 4 shot lead. He would keep that lead for only 31 minutes, as early bogeys and an early eagle from our final storyline yet to come, erased his early cushion.
Then Rory came to the difficult 10th hole. It plays as one of the toughest holes in all of golf and it came alive on Sunday afternoon to swallow Rory’s dreams of winning. Nerves got to Rory has he hit his tee shot way left, amongst cabins that most TV viewers didn’t know existed. He would end up making a triple bogey, taking 7 shots that bounced off trees and screamed across the green. This was the beginning of his final round score of 80, which left him with no chance to win. He went from the favorite to win to one of the greatest chokes in the history of sports in just seven shots. Fifteen minutes on a Sunday afternoon was all it took.
Charl Schwartzel, though, would not let the nerves crush his hopes of putting the Green Jacket around his shoulders. Teeing off just before Rory, the South African holed out his second shot from the fairway on the 3rd hole for eagle and erased his young competitor’s lead. He would then play steady golf and watch players like Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, and Jason Day move up the leaderboard. Then Charl caught fire and put on the most impressive showing of golf that year at Augusta National.
It’s long been said that the Masters doesn’t start until the back nine on Sunday, and Charl Schwartzel couldn’t agree more. As the greatest players in the world were sending echoing cheers all across the golf course, Charl made birdies on the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th holes to secure his victory in a way no other golfer had ever done before: with birdies the last four holes of The Masters. Few people knew his name as the tournament began early Thursday morning, but by sunset Sunday afternoon, he was wearing that Green Jacket and remembering all those times he had dreamt this before as a child.
Among all these great stories, A&E, along with the footage from CBS and in partnership with Augusta National Golf Club, presents the 2011 Masters on DVD brilliantly. They share all the traditions of the Masters, from the par 3 tournament, to the opening ceremony, with the same elegance and grace of the original broadcast. Jim Nance has covered this tournament for many years, and he narrates the DVD with the same passion and excitement.
It’s a great introduction to the tournament for any new golf fans and one that will make you want to watch the 2012 Masters live on television. It is truly a remarkable event, one that I set aside time to watch every spring, and A&E’s presentation of the 2011 Masters makes me wish winter would come and go so I can see those azaleas in bloom again and hear the roars of Augusta.

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

Nathan Baker-Lutz — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:36:15 +0000

Amidst the much debated, complex culture of our nation’s food and weight issues, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead is a touchingly simple tale.
Growing up back and forth between Australia and the States, Joe Cross, the creator and star of this low-budget documentary, becomes a self-made man in the Australian stock market and quickly lives the part. Vacations, cars, drinks and food were taken in excess and Joe began to pay. To make things worse, Joe developed an extremely rare auto-immune disease, which he described basically as “chronic hives.” It is soon impossible for Joe to ignore that the combination of medications and side effects has ballooned him to 100lbs. overweight and continue with his lifestyle would kill him before he turned 40.
This is when Joe decides to travel to America and begin what he calls a “reboot.” After talking to multiple doctors, dieticians and family, he decides that he is going to perform a 60-day “juice fast” and film the experience for the world to see. He intends to spend 30 days in New York and the second 30 traveling the country with the hopes of spreading the message of rebooting the body. Along the way, Joe remarkable meets Phil, a 430 lb. truck driver who has the exact same disease.
Joe gets lucky. Up until this point in the film, you can tell he lacks the clear goal it takes to create a moving documentary and a heavy dose of animation makes it feel a bit like an after school special. His wealth is also hard to ignore. Fasting for 60 days and drinking only juice would be much harder working full-time and living on a budget.
Lacking a goal, he wanders. He does the cliché public-opinion, person-on-the-street interviews and begins down the road of so many before, like Supersize Me, Food Inc. and No-Impact Man, to show the ugly and extravagant side of America. When Phil comes along, Joe’s movie is saved and his goal is powerful and clear: Save Phil’s life.
From here, Joe and Phil discover through a series of medical tests that it is literally do or die. They work together to get Phil on his own re-boot and juice fast while Joe continues to lose weight and heal his body. We start to see the soul that I expect most people struggling with weight have: the desire to be healthy in the face of addiction. We meet Phil’s family and hear his ambitions and Joe’s film finds its voice. The campy animation and band-aid voiceover are forgotten and Phil’s survival is front and center.
The changes that both Phil and Joe make over the course of this film are nothing short of remarkable. In fact, they are down right frustrating. How can these two men, after struggling most of their adult lives, make such a sharp turn? What is stopping the rest of our country from healing itself like Joe and Phil? Joe answers these questions during honest interviews with normal Americans and the courage and strength that Phil and Joe have quickly become abundantly special.
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, more than the shock and awe docs mentioned before, puts a face to the epidemic and forces us to consider the consequences of our food choices. The film makes the issue personal. It isn’t corporate or theatrics but instead it’s private and revealing. The message is painfully simple: Small changes can save your life.

A Thorn in My Heart

Nathan Baker-Lutz — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:25:47 +0000

If nothing else, A Thorn in my Heart is a look into the soul that fuels a brilliant mind. Michel Gondry’s personal documentary about his Aunt Suzette and her life as a traveling teacher in France is as much as you want it to be. It gives a personal connection to an enigmatic director, a sensitive insight into the life of a normally grand woman and a touching look into to world that shaped one of the most nostalgic directors of my generation.
The story starts amidst a quaint French supper and Aunt Suzette sharing a tale of too much sauerkraut and her late husband, Michel’s uncle. From here Michel tells a simple tale, told through Aunt Suzette as she tours her old classrooms, of a woman who balanced the comfort of teaching with a dying husband and an anguished son.
This documentary is truly flexible, which speaks to Gondry’s modes of storytelling. As it started I was slightly bored, wondering what made Gondry think I cared about his aunt. Then I realized that all he wanted to do was show you that HE cared about his aunt and, from that moment, I was captivated. He is also the same old visionary. He installs quirky animations and brings fun along with the camera, giving the film his magical signature.
The film is also very raw, however, both very intentionally and perhaps also lazily. Occasionally the boom operator is in the shot, but he casually steps back and Gondry keeps rolling. At another point, Aunt Suzette misses her queue and continues in a conversation on the other side of a door. Michel walks into frame, peeks in the door and, seconds later, Aunt Suzette walks through and just keeps talking. Maybe Michel Gondry gets a break for being lazy but it is a simple way to add character to the film.
Another element that makes the film burst is his use of old Super 8 footage in harmony with his new footage. Some of Michel’s new footage is digital and crisp but he also shot on film with multiple lenses. Without an obvious plan, he cuts to and from any one format and, by constantly changing his frame, creates a movie that shrinks and grows. A metaphor for Aunt Suzette’s life and relationships that is much clearer now as I write.
A Thorn in my Heart shows Michel Gondry still obsessed with memory and how the heart and soul can effect the past that we keep in our minds. Gondry uniquely tells a story of mother and son, family and friends and husband and wife that is personal and universal. Give it a watch and if you don’t want to call your mom afterwards, give it a day and try it again.

Dinner for Schmucks

Nathan Baker-Lutz — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:36:26 +0000

Let’s be honest. If you sit through the first 15 minutes of Dinner for Schmucks and don’t know how it’s going to end, well, you’re a schmuck. That’s not so bad; it greatly increases your chances of liking the movie.
Schmucks is a formulaic and mediocre glimpse into self-destruction. It’s the story of Tim, played by Paul Rudd, who is balancing his professional aspirations with a long-term girlfriend. When a chance arises for him to prove his corporate worth, Tim stumbles upon mouse-modeling Barry, played by Steve Carell, and invites him to his corporation’s monthly dinner for idiots. Along the way, a naïve and positive Barry leads Tim down a nearly irreversible path of destruction as Tim tries to win back a disapproving girlfriend and still land the big account.
The movie is less about an actual dinner and more about Tim learning that the costs of so-called success do not outweigh the rewards that come from doing what is right. I told you it was formulaic. But let’s not get into that. That’s too deep. No one saw this trailer and said, “Hey, that movie looks like it could inspire me” or “That movie looks moving”. They probably said “I love Steve Carell and that Rudd guy wasn’t bad on Friends.”
What’s left is a movie with comedic range but it doesn’t deliver piled-on laughter. I found myself laughing alone occasionally and along with the theater and mostly at Steve Carell. He carries the movie, playing the love-child of Michael Scott and Brick from Anchorman. It’s a Carell that people love, of course, but has he begun to wear thin? He plays the buddy bits well and nails some throwback slapstick.
Schmucks fails at its foundation. Tim brings his entire trouble onto himself, which creates a lack of sympathy. He has a beautiful girlfriend and a steady career and the story would have you believe that the threat of wasting away at his current job is so great that he’ll do whatever it takes to become something better. Unfortunately his consequences are too small and so is his change in the end. But, again, I am looking too deep into it. Rudd manages the character well. His relationship with Barry takes some getting used to but they eventually find a successful rhythm.
Dinner for Shmucks will have you laughing and Carell excels at making you really feel for Barry, but don’t expect more. It’s not an emotional investment or an eye-opening, self- analyzing movie. There are gratifying moments and each character gives something unique but, in the end, it is hard to forget that everything is Tim’s fault.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Nathan Baker-Lutz — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:18:29 +0000

Based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley
I stood alone in line for nearly 2 hours to see a screening of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World tonight. Fanboys abound as I read the latest issue of Wired. I ate before I left to save the hour’s wage the theater would suck from my wallet. I thought I’d come prepared.
I hadn’t. Scott Pilgrim is a hilariously spectacular overload of everything 20-something and living in your parent’s basement. Full of tasteful oddities and perfectly random quotes from action and anime, Scott Pilgrim manages to be full of nerd without having to include them in the movie. Scott, played by Michael Cera, is FINALLY not a sputtering, pathetic coward, and neither is his gay roommate, William, played by a forgotten but respectable Caulkin. Kieran, I think.
The trailer left me perplexed. The same shaggy-haired Cera wielding a beaten bass and fighting off evil ex-boyfriends, mixed with the purple Batman “Thud” and “Wham!” comic book action. What do you know, you are bombarded with just that from start to finish, but Edgar Wright (director, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead) brings a perfect sense of hilarious violence. He has turned violence and style and humor into a perfect bit. A slapstick lesbian battle and a vegan mind reader wire fight are witty and clean but then gone with perfect timing.
Most surprisingly, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has a depth of story-telling rivaling films that don’t include bad guys producing coins upon destruction. Cera plays a strong hero whose fault is ignorant love. He battles, very literally, the past of Romona Flowers, played effortlessly by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and his own relational mistakes towards an understanding of what love is. I know it sounds cheesy and cliché but so much of this movie isn’t and it works.
In the end, this is a story of what will test a heart. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World subtly and absurdly preaches that everyone is required to deal with their past of love before they can keep it. It’s funny how a movie using comic-like information graphics and is only about battling ex-boyfriends can be subtle. It is so easy to get lost, however, in the rolling jokes and the fun that it must have been to make this movie that nothing is too obvious. Not even that his name is Pilgrim.
*Note: I am unfamiliar with the graphic novels but the movie includes multiple animations in the same style, along with exact scenes and dialogue.

Holy Rollers

Nathan Baker-Lutz — Thu, 20 May 2010 20:01:35 +0000

Holy Rollers is a unique and gritty departure from the redundant drug dramas that Hollywood has been spewing for nearly fifty years. Based on true events, the film tells the story of 20-year-old Sam Gold, played by Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland), who becomes doubtful of his Jewish family’s direction and finds understanding in the drug-smuggling older brother of his best friend living next door.
The unnatural balance of strong Jewish tradition in late 90’s Brooklyn, Sam’s battles with being let down by his faith and the drug scene in Amsterdam gives Holy Rollers a captivating perspective. The idea of using Hasidic Jews to smuggle drugs into America, not to mention honorable virgin Hasidic Jews, is one of those “you couldn’t make this up” storylines that keeps you fascinated.
Eisenberg continues to rise playing a young man, being pushed into being a Rabbi, who is fed up with his father’s attitude towards life and money. Moreover, the parents of the girl he dreams of marrying, and is even arranged to marry, back out and leave him heartbroken. Eisenberg has constantly played this anguished teen that never gets the girl that hides his disappointment in awkward smiles and quick jokes. This is finally a role where instead of the jokes, he gives you pain and it gives the film its depth.
A solid supporting cast and well-chosen locations gives Holy Rollers a finishing touch. It’s a well-directed film that made me feel, for the first time, that a movie set in the late 90’s was a period piece. At times it did feel as though it was missing a few edits and shots here and there, maybe missing a close up or changing an angle, but I could easily have seen an unfinished product.
Holy Rollers is an indie film, no glitz or glamour, with serviceable dialogue and great delivery, that tells a unique and interesting story that you need to hear more of. It doesn’t try and give viewers perfect moments but instead gives the perfect moments for the characters. It was kept honest and uncompromising, another characteristic lacking in the latest Hollywood spew.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Nathan Baker-Lutz — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:07:14 +0000

Absurdity has become a mainstay of comedy. I suppose it has always been there in the Marx Brothers and Mel Brooks but lately it is appearing as part of a new equation in laughter. We have begun to find that either a serious absurdity or an absurd seriousness often results in hilarity.
The Men Who Stare at Goats is the latest release to enact this math and it is due out on DVD the 23rd of March, 2010. A surprisingly all star cast of Oscar winners like Jeff Bridges, George Clooney and Kevin Spacey ride along with Ewan McGregor as a recently up heaved reporter who stumbles upon a strange story of military training involving physic powers, which include, obviously, staring at goats.
Director Grant Heslov and adapter Peter Straughan took pride in this absurdity, which is compounded by accounts of these things actually being true. Through interviews and research, Jon Ronson wrote a book by the same name exposing actually military work that included a multitude of jedi-like physic activity. The film then plays with the mind of the audience; disclaiming the movie with the warning “You wouldn’t believe how true this actually is.” This naturally leaves you wondering about every strange occurrence in the movie and the idea that if it could maybe be true it would be absurd and that is hilarious.
The film falls short being very heavy in dialogue, which includes large parts of narration by McGregor’s character, Bob Wilton. Serious absurdity is most funny when absorbed raw with no caveat. Too often characters pushed through too quickly with their next line. It’s ironic, too, when you think of the characters that made these actors famous: The Dude, Lester Burnham and Danny Ocean. These are all characters that were methodical, smooth and purposeful. Together in Men Who Stare they are rushed and on the nose.
The film does something quite bold, however. You find yourself at a crossroads for multiple characters, each of them beginning their own journey but at the same time playing roles that support the journeys of others. Lyn Cassidy, played by Clooney, is an ex physic operative who, after once being at the top of his class, is now washed up and seeking redemption through one last black op mission. Bob Milton (McGregor) happens upon Lyn at the beginning of his own journey. Being newly divorced and feeling obliged to be inspired, Cassidy becomes his mentor as he unravels and translates the stories of the physic ops. I’m not saying it’s never been done before and I wouldn’t at all be surprised that it’s been done better, but the parallel arcs made for good story telling and interaction between absurd characters.
Thelma Adams of US Weekly is quoted quite largely on the back of the box saying “reminiscent of the Coen Brothers at their most unhinged.” Sorry, Thelma. Heslov lacked a patience and reflection that make Joel and Ethan Coen so marvelously absurd. I am only left to dream of what they would have done with this movie.
The Men Who Stare are Goats is a funny movie about funny, and apparently true, events and real people that will keep you watching and asking yourself “Would our government really do that?” Probably.

2000-2009: A Decade of Comedy

Nathan Baker-Lutz — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:42:37 +0000

Comedy, to me, is a bit like cleaning out under the cushions of your couch. Some things you know will be there but are still surprising to see. There are things that you have never seen before, didn’t even know you had, but are glad you found. Occasionally there is something there, precious and grand, that makes you piss your pants.
All these things exist under the cushions of the last ten years of comedy. We would all be better if Mike Myers had drowned in his bathtub before writing The Love Guru. (I hear he writes in the tub, if that’s less morbid.) We are all happy we found movies like The Hangover and Shrek and we are shocked and encouraged with Amelie, The Royal Tennenbaums and Little Miss Sunshine.
Before you all run to clean out your couch, let’s prepare for what you might find if your couch is anything like the last decade of comedy.

My Favorites
I can’t decide if I want everyone to agree or disagree. I think agree. Or maybe not.
I consider myself a comedy person. Any movie recommendations start with Annie Hall, It Happened One Night and Duck Soup. The last 10 years have given my recommendations a new relevance. Amelie (2001) may be the greatest comedy of the decade, and is among my favorites in any genre. The wit and delivery are magical and the pace of the comedy, combined with imagery that is truly unique, creates a film that will resound with anyone who is blessed to enjoy it.
Another one of my favorites, Garden State (2004), was the beginning of my love for indie films. In may not be the best one now, but it captures the awkward tension and sarcastic dialogue that is synonymous with the micro-genre. It was also one of the first soundtracks I bought, which turned me on to bands like The Shins and Iron and Wine. (500) Days of Summer is the latest film to be complimented by a defining soundtrack.
Other favorites from the decade include Pineapple Express, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Little Miss Sunshine, Snatch and Hot Fuzz. I constantly quote these films, re-watch them and am thankful everyday that I found them between the cracks of my couch.
The Cornerstones
You’ll understand when you own a house.
Think of your movie collection as your home. You need a toilet, outlets and running water. You will one day have a whirlpool tub, surround sound and room for your car in the garage. You will regret painting the guest room purple, letting your dog chew the kitchen cabinets and installing your own garbage disposal.
The following movies MUST appear on your shelf at home:
Ghost World
High Fidelity
The Big Lebowski
Amelie
Snatch
The Hangover
The Royal Tennenbaums
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Following movies WILL appear on your shelf as years go by:
The Life Aquatic
In Bruges
O’Brother, Where Art Thou?
Punch-Drunk Love
Shawn of the Dead
Death to Smoochy
The following movies REGRETFULLY appear on your shelf:
Anchorman
Napoleon Dynamite
Superbad
Dodgeball
Borat
Team America: World Police
Juno
And the purple looked so pretty on the sample, didn’t it? Trust me, the people who move in after you, and the rest of time, will paint over it.
The Bury in a Landfill
Do you smell that?
These are smell-sensory movies that make you clean out your couch. Some of these movies are already listed as regretful above, but those are slightly more personal and more difficult to defend then the list below.
The Adventures of Pluto Nash
Mailbu’s Most Wanted
Juwanna Mann
The Love Guru
Year One
Kangaroo Jack
Land of the Lost
I don’t apologize if you liked these movies but only that I have certainly left some off. If anyone out there is wondering why he or she didn’t get that second date, you either saw one of these or mentioned it casually. I pray that you are not mildly intrigued by the movies I have just mentioned and are now wondering if you should see what makes them so bad. If you must, head to Wal-Mart and look for the movies propping up the backs of TV’s and holding the break room door open.
The Deaths
It’s only a coincidence that these men are also getting old.
This is a sad category. These names will go down in history as some of the greatest of comedy but if you are less than 20 years old you will have no idea why.
Mike Myers spent too much time inhaling fumes from fat suits and prosthetic make-up. We are 15 years removed from So I married an Axe Murderer and Wayne’s World and he has left us with the previously mentioned Love Guru and The Cat in the Hat. Please, Mike Myers, do not party on.
Robin Williams has become the person Mike Myers is thinking about when he says, “it could be worse”. RV, Old Dogs and License to Wed are the death rattle of a once great comedian. The only thing that has kept hope alive is Death to Smoochy.
Robert De Niro is a man that will likely regret a lot of things when he gets his lifetime achievement award. He deserves one. Let’s just hope they don’t mention his attempts at comedy. Meet the Parents, I’ll admit, isn’t bad, but the run of sequels will become a reoccurring pimple on the butt of his lifetime Oscar.
Settling to the bottom of the cup, though, is Eddie Murphy. Beverly Hills Cop and Trading Places are being devoured in the shadow of Norbit, Daddy Day Care and Meet Dave. These comedians all have one thing going for them: My mom is still sitting alone watching them in the theater. I should tell you it’s mostly for the popcorn.
The Evolved
There are only two masks, comedy and tragedy, but it is difficult to wear both.
15 years ago, Adam Sandler was walking of the set of Happy Gilmore, after the success of Billy Madison and likely working on The Wedding Singer. Let’s face it; he was making millions to make funny faces and say, “poop.” Now, as we move to the next decade of comedy, he has become a diverse comedian who can make grown men weep. (I saw Big Daddy in theaters, trust me.) Punch-Drunk Love, Reign Over Me and Funny People are a brand new Sandler that is brave, confident and refreshingly passive.
Jim Carrey has been down almost the exact same road. It was all the same: The Cable Guy, Dumb and Dumber and The Mask. Those have become Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. There are more goofy than serious movies with Carrey still, but Eternal Sunshine bought him a few years of credibility that are valuable at his age.
Lost in Translation, along with his brilliant partnership with Wes Anderson, has made Bill Murray a new man. His sarcastic and dysfunctional roles have created an image that no one could have anticipated. He has become one the most respected comedians of the last decade as a deadpan loner after building an empire as a slapstick goofball. No other comedian has better adapted himself to the changes in comedy and the evidence is littered between Groundhog Day and The Life Aquatic.
The Saviors
Wes Anderson will save us all.
This decade has produced a set of filmmakers and writers that will carry my hope in comedy for a long time. The Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson are making films that make us laugh in way that we have never laughed before. We laugh at the ironic, strange and surreal because of them. We expect depth and demise in our comedy and we are better off for it.
Joel and Ethan Coen have snuck in the back door of comedy. Starting with Raising Arizona, they now create some of the darkest comedy yet. Fargo and The Big Lebowski leave you laughing about murder and extortion, which are not funny. It’s a pleasure to laugh at their obscure characters and atypical settings. They are boldly capturing moments of hilarity in worlds of depression and isolation.
Wes Anderson is the most unique filmmaker of this decade in comedy. He is using an extremely cinematic expression of reality to portray classic slapstick and innuendo comedy. Never have actors smiled so little in a comedy. Steve Zissou is vengeful, Royal Tennenbaum fakes his death and The Darjeeling Limited portrays a family darker than the Corleones. Somehow, though, I laugh hysterically and am there on opening night.
Other filmmakers, like Michel Gondry and Spike Jones, are making dark and cerebral comedies that are not for the faint of heart. I suppose they might be making movies that aren’t comedies at all but I laugh and smile too much to think otherwise.
The Elders
Where would we be without them? I am glad I don’t know.
There is a group of comedians that, over the last decade, have taken chairs in the boardroom of hilarity. They are the incumbents that no one dares run against.
Woody Allen is a marathon man. He may be wheezing and coughing and walking slowly with a limp, but he has been at it far too long to quit now. In 10 years he released 11 films, most notably Vicky Christina Barcelona, which brought multiple award nominations. Obsessed with death and the love that is found in the strangest of places, Woody Allen has been making people laugh for a lifetime and it’s not stopping anytime soon.
Along with Woody, Steve Martin is now the Silver Fox of comedy. After rising to the top of comedy in the 1980’s, Martin has now become legendary. His roles in the last decade may be scarce, but his presence is still felt now as he pushes 65 years old on shows like 30 Rock and It’s Complicated.
Maryl Streep and Diane Keaton have also become surprisingly iconic in comedy this decade. Forever my Annie Hall, Diane Keaton has put Something’s Gotta Give near the top of a resume that has been built over the last 30 years. And Streep, she was just nominated for multiple Golden Globes for Julie & Julia and It’s Complicated. The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia, along with Adaptation, are comedies that are essential to the last decade. Even if she is seen as a dramatic, powerful woman, she gets people laughing.
The Animated
Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive. Walt Disney
2000-09 was certainly the decade of animation. Pixar and Dreamworks have pushed the limits of computer animation and Disney has continued to create computer, and now hand-drawn (The Princess and the Frog), feature length movies that are an ever presence at the box office. Three of the top 10 movies of 2009 were animated (Up, Monsters Vs. Aliens and Ice Age 3) and in 2004, Shrek 2 led all films with $450 million dollars domestic. In the last ten years, only 2000 didn’t have an animated movie break the top 10 and only twice did the top 10 domestic grossing films of the year only have one animated movie. Convincingly, in 2001, the Academy Awards added categories for both feature and short length animated movies.
Most of these movies are comedies. They are family pictures with fluffy morals and laughs for all ages. But in this short 10 years animation has begun to evolve. With the release of films like Coraline and Pesepolis, along with Triplets of Belleville, 9 and The Fantastic Mr. Fox, we are seeing the maturation of animation. These animated comedies have adult themes and might even go over the heads of a young audience. There isn’t even dialogue in Triplets of Belleville.
The Next in Lines
Expectations are high and so are the writers.
With the start of a new decade, there are men and women who are creating plenty of great things that will fall in the cracks of my couch. Tina Fey and Amy Adams are becoming women who are powerfully funny and provocatively clever. Judd Apatow has been behind some of the benchmark comedies in the latter half of the decade. He has brought us Superbad, Knocked Up and, most recently, Funny People and has been behind a multitude of Steve Carell and Will Farrell works. Seth Rogan, Johan Hill and Leslie Mann are at his side as he paves the way for the raunchy and painfully hysterical.
Tyler Perry is a renaissance man. He is acting, directing and writing a lot of his work and has become predominate in the second half of this decade. He has taken the reigns of African-American comedy and will usher it into the next 10 years with a lot of class and dignity.
Vince Vaughn, the Wilson’s and Ben Stiller are also pushing comedy into the next decade. Their brand of veiled perversion and tacked on romance has proven to have mass appeal. The Mockumentary has also become a part of the comedic landscape with Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat. Cohen is a man who has no lines to cross and no lack of matches for burning bridges. He has a rare comedic courage and a versatility that was born for Vaudeville.
The Parody, Sequels and Re-Makes
Thank you, Mel Brooks.
Comedy has become cutthroat. No one is safe, especially yourself and the people you admire most. It pays to make fun of movies that earn money. Scream and I Know What you did last Summer have breed Scary Movie after Scary Movie (There are 4 now). She’s All That and Can’t Hardly Wait spawned Not Another Teen Movie. This is not going to end. As long as movies are made, there will be profit to be had for making fun of them.
We have also seen the unfortunate rise of remakes in the last decade. Land of the Lost, Bewitched, Dukes of Hazard and Scooby-Doo have all been modified and millenified. These are not good movies and are remakes of shows and movies that weren’t great. If the book is always better than the movie, then it’s not unfair to say that the original wasn’t as bad as the re-make.
The One-Trick Ponies
The Awkward Sarcastic Teenager: A Michael Cera Story starring Michael Cera as an awkward sarcastic teenager.
I once heard Matt Damon say on The Late Show that he wants people to not see him, but to see his character. For example, he would fail if I said, “Will Hunting was typical Matt Damon.” There were a few people in comedy this last 10 years where not only did I say they were typical, but it appeared as though the subject matter had no bearing on the actor’s portrayal.
Michael Cera is always himself, playing the same person. Superbad, Juno and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist are all Michael Cera as George Michael (Arrested Development) playing someone that is probably like Michael Cera. Recently he teamed up with Jack Black in Year One, which might as well have been the two sitting on a bear skin rug in Jack Black’s under furnished, dark, funny-smelling apartment. (I assume.)
How many times can a man make millions of dollars for singing like a cat in the bathtub, wiggling his fingers and kicking his chubby leg up in the air? It has already happened at least a half a dozen times so I assume it will happen again. I think it is time for someone to cut Jack Black’s hair, take away his comedy card and put him to work actually cleaning couches.
It seems, looking back, that perhaps a decade is too long to wait when cleaning out a couch. More time is spent with a vacuum under the cushions then laughing on top of them. I would rather suffer a few funny smells and sticky fingers that dug for the remote then not have a couch, though. Our new couch is going to get a lot dirtier (in more ways then one thanks to Apatow, Cohen and the likes) but we are going to spend a lot more time thinking on the couch then we did during the last 10 years and we are going to be better for it.