A Serious Man

Wow.

Wow.

...

Wow.

So I'm a total Coen Brothers fanboy.  It's cool, I know it's true.  If I watched movies by myself more often, I might need an intervention.  Thankfully, I usually need other people to help fuel my addiction...  Whatever.  The point is that I love their erratic story-telling style in which things often happen for no reason, totally out of the blue.  In which every character is more often than not bat-shit insane in one way or another.  In which we have iPods in the 1960s.  I mean, wait, what?

Doesn't matter.  A Serious Man is a movie about a middle aged Jewish guy in the 60s who just can't keep it together.  Through no fault of his own he just has too many things thrown on to his plate, and all of them just keep dragging him down.  It's horrible to watch, but as someone who is currently experiencing that "too many things" syndrome it was nice to watch this guy be much worse off than myself.  Really just depressing stuff, folks.  And then, in predictable Coen Brothers fashion, everything seems about to get better, then everything gets a lot worse, and then there's a smash cut to credits.  Hilarious.

I don't know, man.  What does it all mean?  I feel like they're almost parodying themselves with the dentist story.  It's this bizarre fable that clearly wants an ending, a lesson, but then provides no such thing.  The story teller just doesn't give his audience what they're looking for; in fact, the teller doesn't give the audience anything.  So what was the freaking point of telling the story?  This is what troubles me about the brothers Coen:  they keep telling these compelling stories, and I keep being unable to make any sense of them.  What were they trying to say?  If they're astute enough to make all the clever jokes that they do and to parody their own story-telling style with the second rabbi, why won't they give us some sort of closure?  "What did we learn, Palmer?"  I don't fuckin' know either.

I guess we can find some sort of moral in that tornado, and the fact that our hero gets that fateful telephone call right as he gives in right at the end of the movie.  But is it enough?  And what was the deal with the opening fable?  Why was that included?

I think I'm not Jewish enough to get all of this movie.  Still loved it a lot, though.  I'm intentionally keeping this short because this is one of the places where I actually care about spoilers (and I have to go to bed).  I'm still kind of just in awe.  If you've got stuff you want to talk about from the movie, though, let me know.  I'd love to talk about more specific stuff.

Movie Trailers #2

Once more with feeling!

Before we get started, I note that Hulu has a trailer for New York, I Love You, an obvious sequel to Paris, Je t'aime. I'd talk about the trailer, but I haven't seen the french film despite its repeated suggestion to me. To the "movies I need to see" list!

A Serious Man



New Coen Brothers! This movie was filmed partially at the old St. Olaf science building across town from me. I kept saying I was going to go over and try and be an extra, but no one told me when they were actually in town and I missed it. Lame. I know a girl who got called back for a part in this film, too. Yeah. How's that for a stretched connection.

Oh man does this movie look bleak. The premise seems to be "Jewish man in horribly bleak 60s small town / at small town liberal arts college". I'm sure the Coen Brothers will succeed in making me feel like my entire existence is boring, depressing, and pointless. I'll walk out of the theater thanking them for showing me this, but I'll be depressed at the same time. That head slamming into the wall pulse through the trailer is almost intolerable, which is the point. Life is like slamming your head into a wall over and over again. Ugh. Is there anything less depressing out there?

Adam



The story I want to tell about this preview would be in bad taste now that I've posted a link to this blog on facebook. Such a shame. Suffice to say that this movie looks okay. Nothing about this movie appeals to me more than other romantic comedies. Watching someone be awkward because of Asperger's Syndrome is not something I feel compelled to do. I don't have faith in this movie to show an above average representation of the condition, so I don't feel like I can learn anything from it in that regard. From there it becomes a totally average romantic comedy where the thing keeping our romantic leads apart is social awkwardness. Then the whole time I'm watching it I'll have a voice in the back of my head telling me that I'm going to walk out of the theater thinking I'm now an expert on Asperger's, and that I'm going to end up making a fool of myself some day when I meet someone who has it. I'd rather watch Hugh Grant learn how to love and leave the theater feeling good about myself than watch the struggles of these characters and leave the theater feeling guilty.

Brothers



I hate movies like this. Specifically, I hate movies with no sense of humor. Pure drama just can't hold me if I'm not having any fun. I don't watch movies for a brutal, relentless experience, I watch them because either I want to be entertained or I want to be entertained while thinking about a particular part of life. I know that war is horrible and that it does horrible things to the people that survive it. I know that I should be considerate to such people, and if I knew what I could easily do to help veterans I would help them. What I don't want is to watch a family get torn apart by war. That just isn't my idea of a good afternoon. I'd rather spend two hours thinking about how to help vets than to watch a movie about how shitty it is to be one.

At least it has Natalie Portman in it.

Hot Tub Time Machine

Really? Really? Do I even need to watch this trailer? I mean, I guess for posterity's sake I should before talking about it, but... really?



Is that a movie with John Cusack, Rob Corddry, that black guy from all the Judd Apatow movies, and some nerdy dude all in the same scene? If you told me those four guys were the stars I'd be there in a heart beat. But even three actors I love will have a tough time saving a movie called Hot Tub Time Machine.

...

Really? It's called Hot Tub Time Machine?

...

I might have to go to this one.

The Invention of Lying



Nothing beats a romantic comedy with a likable gimmick. The script looks good, I love the lead, and it's a premise with... well, hopefully they can milk 90 minutes out of it. I know I'll like it for the first 15, if nothing else. I'll need an excuse to go see it, though. Maybe I can find some sappy bros to go with. I've always secretly wanted a girlfriend who insists on going to see all sorts of bad romantic comedies so I have a reason to see them. This one doesn't look bad, though, so I'm sure I can sucker someone into coming along.

There's still a few more trailers left that I like the look of, but I think five is a good stopping point. Next time I'll have to check out Alice in Wonderland. All I know right now is that Johnny Depp's mad hatter poster scares the crap out of me. I had to look at it for like an hour waiting to get into the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and the whole time I felt completely unnerved. Had to avert my eyes.