"I tried to stand up and fly straight, but it wasn't easy with that son' bitch Reagan in the White House. They say he's a decent man so I dunno...maybe his advisers are confused."
- HI McDunnough (Nicholas Cage) RAISING ARIZONA (1987)
We Here at film babble salute Ronald Reagan - as actor.
He was quite an actor from '37-'64. Man whatta body of werk! He also was involved in politics or something I dunno. I just love his acting in classics like HELLCATS OF THE NAVY and of course the immortal BEDTIME FOR BONZO. Method actors take note - this is the real shiznit!
Some new DVD Reviews by the film babble blog :
ALONG COMES POLLY (2004) Dir. John Hamburg. Along comes another stupid Ben Stiller-as-punching bag romantic comedy. They seem to appear every few months. This time he's a risk management analyst who falls for a flakey artsy Salsa loving Jennifer Aniston and of course wackiness unsues. Not exactly high concept. At least there's a above par supporting cast - Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, and Bryan Brown make this at least a notch above DUPLEX. Hoffman provides one of the only reasons this movie is not a complete waste of time playing a washed-up almost ran brat pack actor. To make the most out of a routine best-friend part in a routine formula comedy is quite a feat.
- Bertie Shafer
TRAINSPOTTING (SPECIAL EDITION DVD) Dir. Danny Boyle.
"Small time wasters with an accidental big deal"
This British cult classic from the mid 90's is now done right by a domestic DVD release that contains extras long available on overseas formats. It's about freakin' time! The commentary recorded in '96 has Ewan McGregor, director Danny Boyle, screenwriter John Hodge, and producer Andrew MacDonald is a funny insightful listen. Struggling with heroin addiction, Renton (McGregor) and his scraggly crew slum through episodes of petty theft, nasty squalor, and refusal to take part in any part of normal society and it's a stone cold blast! A few then and now retrospectives, scratchy deleted scenes, and Cannes film festival interviews round out this essential package. Essential that is if you don't have an import version that has this stuff on it already.
- Daniel Cook Johnson
LIVE FOREVER - THE RISE AND FALL OF BRIT POP (2003) Dir. John Dower. Mostly covering Oasis, Blur, and Pulp this loose documentary also touches on the Verve, Stone Roses, and Radiohead. Oasis makes their TV debut just weeks after the death of Kurt Cobain heralding the end of the grunge ara and start of the Brit pop period. Just as new Prime Minister Tony Blair represented a new way of government these shiny updated slices of Beatlemania re-ignited English culture if only for a moment. A well sequenced thesis but sadly lacking more on-screen identifications of the interviewees - is that a member of a Oasis tribute band or is it an actual member of Oasis? I'm not sure. The humor and pretensions of the key players especially during the Blur Vs. Oasis chapter make this a worthwhile watch.
- Anderson Moran
I forgot how much I liked :
BARFLY (1987)Dir. Barbet Schroeder.
Tully: Why don't you stop drinking? Anybody can be a drunk.
Henry: Anybody can be a non-drunk. It takes a special talent to be a drunk. It takes endurance. Endurance is more important than truth
Charles Bukowski's loser poet lifestyle made for great drunk cinema by way of Mickey Roarke and Faye Dunaway in this unfortunately overlooked gem. Frank Stallone holds his own as well as a bartender Roarke is in constant battle with. Funny at parts when it's trying to be serious and severely stoic in sequences in which it's trying to be funny BARFLY is nevertheless a great movie.
More later...
is the Green Art Nail
