The Lake House
24/02/10 19:18 Filed in: Drama
The Lake House (2006)
Reviewed by Mike Attebery
‘The Lake House’ is a decidedly ridiculous movie, with two stars I neither hate, nor make any regular effort to seek out, but there’s something about this impossible movie, with its absurd premise, that makes me want to rewatch it every couple of years.
Steph was out of town last weekend, so that left the window open for some truly shameful indulgences. I fixed a White Russian, collapsed on the couch, and fired up the Blu-ray for this 2006 eye roller. And let me just tell you, it was as fun as ever. Well, maybe fun isn’t the right word, but it was certainly enjoyable in all of its innane ‘Lake House’ ways.
So then, what’s the premise? Lets just say it involves two people, one apparently time-traveling dog, an impossibly cool (but most likely quite drafty) home suspended on stilts over what looks to be a rather unpicturesque lake. Oh, and lets not forget the time portal mailbox through which these two characters, Alex Foster (Keanu Reeves) and Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) exchange increasingly candid and lovelorn letters. You see, how do I put this, the mailbox appears to be a portal between Alex’s life in 2004, and Kate’s life in 2006. The bond between the two is this nutty lakehouse, in which the two of them lived, just two years and dimensions apart. So thats it, the ultimate twist on the epistolary novel turned movie.
Why do these two fall in love? I don’t really know. What do they have in common, aside from this house, which for all intents and purposes, we really don’t see all that much of? I really can’t say. Hell, we don’t even know if they have the same taste in anything, even architecture or paint chips. But they write, and they write, occasionally they kneal before the mailbox and wait for the red flag to magically go up or down, then they breathlessly compose another note and send it on its way through the mystical, postage free mailbox. There are impasses, speed bumps, the occasional death here and there, and then the movie ends. Does it end happily? I won’t say. Is happiness the ultimate destination for either of these two? I don’t know. But still I watch this time and again.
So what do I like? I like the cinematography. I like the scenes set in Chicago. I like the touches of architectural information peppered throughout. And yes, I even like the performances of the film’s two leads. Maybe I’m just a simpleton, or maybe I just have house envy, but this is like a chicken soup movie for me. When the weather gets cold, the light goes down, and the house grows quiet, this is just one of those movie I tend to put on.
Do I think it’s worth checking out? Yeah, it’s interesting. Would I badger you relentlessly if you didn’t add this to your pile of must-watch movies? Not at all, but if you’re game, you might check it out and see what you think.
Office Space
15/02/10 19:39 Filed in: Comedy
Office Space (1999)
Reviewed by Mike Attebery
Unless you’ve worked in a soul-deadening office environment like the one in Mike Judge’s 1999 film, you’re bound to have a hard time understanding where exactly ‘Office Space’ is coming from. Unfortunately, I had the misfortunate to work in the customer service department of just such a hell hole, not to mention other high security detention centers/workplaces, with carpeted three foot high cubicles, telephones/unblinking-punch card-tracking-stations, and micromanaging managers/control freaks who displayed an inexplicable passion for tracking their employee’s bathroom time, coffee breaks, and vacation plans, with the obsessively controlling tendencies of a puppeteer jerking at the strings of her favorite marionette. In short, as the tagline says, in some places, work really does suck.
So then what of ‘Office Space?’ Well, like I said, if you’ve ever worked in a place like Initech, you know exactly what the characters are going through, and that even the most seemingly unbelievable elements of oppressive control are all too real. In fact, from my experience, the elements that don’t ring true are the ones that show the characters as having any sort of freedom whatsoever during the workday. Working in the corporate offices of America’s favorite drug dealers, I would never have gotten away with taking a midmorning break to grab coffee with my coworkers at a place like Chotchkies. Hell, I couldn’t even go to the bathroom there without entering a special bathroom code on my desk phone! Which I think is the reason this movie strikes me as alternately hilarious and chilling. The first time I saw it, I felt as if it had been made just for me. This was the fate I was suffering through, while literally asking myself “what happened to my life?” as I walked into work each day. Once I found an escape route from that place, I watched the film again and felt cold sweat springing to the back of my neck as the hell of the working class masses jogged long-repressed memories hidden deep in the recesses of my brain. Then I saw it again, and somehow it all seemed funny again.
Having just come back from two days of meetings in the type of work environment I have long since said goodbye to, and taking note of the mild panic that set in as soon as I sat down in my temporary, three foot high, carpeted fattening pen, next to the very same brand of phone I was forced to use as a self-tracking punch card system all those year ago, I was immediately reminded of the hell far too many workers must endure on a daily basis as they feel their dreams being wrenched away, only to be replaced with water bills, electric bills, overtaxed pay stubs, and horror of horrors, electronic workday punch cards. ‘Office Space’ gets all of these indignities just right. The micromanaging boss. The nearly silent, yet screamingly repetitive office sounds. The truly defeated employee. The hopeless ones. The maddeningly unpredictable office machines. They’re all there. All so perfectly rendered as to give you nightmares. Don’t watch this on a Sunday night.
But there are also so many moments with the power to inspire change. My favorite sequence is the montage reminding us how good it is to be a gangster. I love it. I just love it. If you’ve ever broken free of such a place, watch that segment just to remind you of the freedom you’ve found. Hell, I just may go fishing tomorrow.
If you haven't seen this, just blind buy it and watch it tonight (unless tonight is a Sunday).
The Blu-ray of ‘Office Space’ offers great video, surprisingly nice sound, and all the extras from the previously released special edition DVD. This one if highly recommended. Pick up a copy today, you gangster you.
Almost Famous
Almost Famous (2000)
Reviewed by Mike Attebery
“You CANNOT make friends with the rock stars. That's what's important. If you're a rock journalist - first, you will never get paid much. But you will get free records from the record company. And they'll buy you drinks, you'll meet girls, they'll try to fly you places for free, offer you drugs... I know. It sounds great. But they are not your friends. These are people who want you to write sanctimonious stories about the genius of rock stars, and they will ruin rock and roll and strangle everything we love about it.” – Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman)
“Write what you want” – Russell Hammond
Cameron Crowe made one too many movies with Tom Cruise, and it ruined him. ‘Jerry Maguire’ was a touchstone film for me. I can still remember walking out to my car at night after seeing that movie and thinking, “Wow.” It was inspiring in terms of writing, in terms of filmmaking, and in terms of life. Before Maguire, there was ‘Singles,’ which I hated but I guess others enjoyed. Before that, there was ‘Say Anything’ which to this day remains Crowe’s money in the bank. I’m proud to live down the street from the 7-11 where Lloyd Dobler kicked the glass, and which sits across from the park where he later held the boombox aloft while Peter Gabriel sang “In Your Eyes.” ‘Say Anything,’ though slightly jumpy in its storyline, is as close to perfect as a teen romance, or any romance for that matter, can hope to get. Crowe is a talented writer and director. When he’s writing about people and places close to his heart, he’s at the top of his game. Unfortunately, he has a tendency to bloviate (listen to any of his lectures on the “must-hear bootleg recordings” of such-and-such a musician and you’ll see what I mean). I feel he could be one of the great filmmakers if he’d stay in Seattle, live the life of a stay at home father, and come up with scripts based on real life. Sadly, Crowe seems to hunger for the jet set, L.A. lifestyle, hob-knobbing with celebrities, talking at length about obscure recordings and insider hoopla, and worst of all, collaborating with Tom Cruise to produce really out of touch, epic disasters like ‘Vanilla Sky’ a film that severely damaged his good will, before he wound up critically bankrupt with 2005’s ‘Elizabethtown.’ Despite the impression left by Crowe’s insufferable director’s commentary track on the ‘Vanilla Sky’ DVD, neither film is worth a second thought. They’re dreadful. But what’s most upsetting about the director’s sudden collapse, is that the film before ‘Vanilla Sky’ was a little project originally entitled ‘Stillwater,’ which ultimately became the second best film of the man’s career: ‘Almost Famous.’ That film is most definitely worth a look.
Rock stars have hypnotic powers. How else can you explain their ability to entrance entire stadiums of concertgoers with their music? They’re bigger than life figureheads of art and rebellion, who embody many of the qualities the rest of us only wish we could convey. Rock stars live the clichéd lives of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and get PAID to do it. Paid quite well in fact. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has thought, “I wouldn’t mind having that life.” But the thing is, if given the opportunity, I think I’d rather have a more low-key life, like the one of Crowe’s alter ego, William Miller, a fifteen year old kid who gets the chance to travel around the country with one of his favorite bands, living the life, befriending the players, all the while putting together a cover story for Rolling Stone.
Yeah, being in the band, hanging with the girls, doing what you wanted, where you wanted, whenever you wanted, that would be pretty cool. But writing about it, and getting to experience that life from the edges, while avoiding the more unpleasant temptations that come with rock god celebrity, that would be good too. Hell, if I could follow Crowe’s career path, writing for a magazine like Rolling Stone, then writing books, then screenplays, then directing movies from my own scripts, if I could take that path, well, that would be BETTER than any rock star’s life. I think William would agree with me on that.
‘Almost Famous’ is one insightful movie. From the opening credits, filled with keepsakes and memento from Crowe’s real teenage journalist days, it’s clear this is a nostalgic movie that sees the past with just enough clarity to prove bitter and sweet.
You feel for the kid. You share his excitement when he gets backstage for his first show. You feel the pain of his unrequited love for Penny Lane. You feel his panic when dealing with the ugly aftermath of a rock star romance gone sour.
This is a funny, touching, delicate coming of age movie. It hits all the right chords.
So that brings me back to Cameron Crowe. What went wrong? Why are his movies and his director’s commentaries so TERRIBLE these days? Unfortunately, I think he’s forgotten Lester Bangs’ advice and once again made friends with the rock stars. I hope he finds his way home soon. Maybe Frances McDormand can knock some sense into him.
There are actually two DVD versions of ‘Almost Famous.’ The original 2001 DVD release, and the December 2001 director’s edition: ‘Untitled: The Bootleg Cut.’ While the extended version has numerous deleted and extended scenes, the theatrical cut is still the better version. The extended cut is just too long, too unwieldy, and at times, a little too slow. It’s great to watch the new scenes and learn more about the production, but to get caught up in the movie itself, I’d go with the original. Get your copy here.
American Beauty
American Beauty (1999)
Reviewed by Mike Attebery
“Both my wife and daughter think I'm this gigantic loser, and they're right. I have lost something. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I know I didn't always feel this... sedated. But you know what? It's never too late to get it back.” – Lester Burnham
This movie’s been given a lot of undeserved guff.
Yeah, it’s got the plastic bag. The moody guy in the hat. All that stuff that people like to use for easy ‘Scary Movie’ punch lines and Saturday Night Live skits, but the reason those references have proven such juicy fodder for mockery is that the movie succeeded so phenomenally on so many levels.
I seem to go through a phase every three years or so where I blink, look around, and go, “My God! I’m in a rut. I’m trudging through misery, eating handfuls of unhappiness, and in need of exercise, sunlight, and a major attitude change.” When this movie came out, I had just finished my latest “rehab,” and was doing my best to keep on track and get serious about my writing, my filmmaking, and my life. As a recovering film geek, life came first. So the story of Lester Burnham really hit home for me. I related. I could see where he was coming from, and I was trying to keep on the road to where Lester himself was going. Lester Burnham turned to pot, running, and lustful fantasy for his inspiration. I suppose I turned to White Russians, exercise, and a social life for mine. When I saw this movie I was happy. Since by the end, Kevin Spacey’s character was utterly content, his ultimate fate never struck me as a tragedy. It seemed like the perfect way to go.
This is a story about the ways in which people lose themselves. Whether it be to their dreams, their careers, the ideas of wealth and success, or just through simple isolation and misery. Every character is struggling with a one of these issues, either despairing at what they’ve lost, the chances they didn’t take, the things they thought would make them happy, or the desires they feel but cannot bring themselves to act upon. Every natural tendency has been sublimated into something else. The cubicle slave. The real estate assertiveness training nightmare. The Nazi fetishist. The misguided plastic surgery believer. None of the misplaced interests are dealing with the characters’ real problems, and in some cases, they are simply feeding dark secrets that will bring everything crashing down around them. Throughout it all, the one person whose thoughts we know entirely, is Lester. He’s narrating the film, letting us in with smiles and twinkles in his eye, and as he comes alive, we the audience come alive too, along for the same ride. Lester is like the teenager who’s suddenly realized that rebelling against society gives him a charge, and in his case, rebelling against society will save his life, albeit it ever so briefly. A fixed period of happiness is better than a limitless stretch of despair.
I like this movie. I love the characters. When it came out it felt like a secret. Then people caught on and it won Best Picture. Then it became a bit of a joke.
Maybe people have forgotten it now, and it will feel like a secret again. Either way, it’s time to give it a shot again. Pick up your copy here.