or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
•
"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
October 25, 2008
Cinematic Root Canal
By: Bernard Chazelle
I enjoyed 'Nixon' and, for all I know, Oliver Stone's 'W' is a masterpiece. Or a dud.
Who cares? Even the Chinese Central Bank doesn't have enough US dollars to pay me to see that movie. In fact, I can't fathom how anyone who has not lived in a cave for 8 years could even bear the thought of spending 2 hours in the nauseating company of Dubya and his cast of shady acolytes.
What's next for Stone? "The OJ Trial in Slo-Mo" ? "An Anthology of Congressional Poetry" ?
Bush may have been a dream come true for comedians, but actually he is a completely unfunny man.
Nixon was funny. Comedy writing doesn't get better than this:
"People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. I am not a crook."
Bush is not even a tragic figure. He is just a mistake.
— Bernard Chazelle
For lack of anything better to do I was going to go see that last night, but on the way to the cinima my date and I were distracted by this musical theatre number involving the life in prison of a cannibal, clown, cross dressing hypnotist, and a hamster. I was pretty sure it was at least as bad as W. would have been, but this post makes me feel better about it.
I guess it was only very much like watching the past decade flash by, instead of actually watching the past decade flash by.
To paraphrase Tallyrand: "Worse than a tragedy, it was a mistake."
Posted by: bobbyp at October 25, 2008 04:43 PMIt may be an artistic masterpiece, you know. Like Ivan The Terrible.
...Nah...
Posted by: abb1 at October 25, 2008 06:39 PMbuermann:
I have no idea if the movie you saw was as bad as "W", but it sounds like it must have made more sense, with more believable characters. Of course, W's characters are the ones that belong in prison.
buermann:
I have no idea if the movie you saw was as bad as "W", but it sounds like it must have made more sense, with more believable characters. Of course, W's characters are the ones that belong in prison.
As I said Friday, this thaw - took a while to thaw, it's going to take a while to unthaw. But it's - but the attitude here is a little different than it might have been a week ago.
-GWBush 23.Oct.08
Bush Takes Part in Roundtable Discussion on the Economy
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0810/S00484.htm
Bush is no mistake. He is our destiny.
(Sounds better in German. "Er ist unser Schicksal." )
Amen.
I disagree that Bush isn't funny though, we may just be too close too appreciate it. I think think the proper format for Bush histories would be a tragic/comic opera type thing.
Posted by: tim at October 26, 2008 02:56 AMGeorge Bush Junior's life and presidency is exceptional fodder for a scathingly funny satire, but everything I've seen in ads and such tells me that Stone's "W." is just namby-pamby crap.
I picture "W." as Scrooge from a Christmas Carol, visited by his dead sister, asking him why he likes killing so much. In another scene Lenny Bruce could offer him some blow and urge him to loosen up. The guy who made Natural Born Killers would appreciate my version, but he wasn't worried about making Obama and his accomodationism look bad.
But then again, people who hate being hated for their freedom would decry it as tasteless-- and they know better.
Posted by: grimmy at October 26, 2008 03:07 AMThe problem is that reality has devolved to the level of a Marx Brothers comedy, and the movie still tries to be a straight drama?
Posted by: En Ming Hee at October 26, 2008 06:58 AMI only wish reality were up to the level of the Marx Brother.
America, you are no Fredonia.
I still can not forget the expression on his face when he was told about the second plane hitting the WTC. He is a "Blank Page" ( in addition to all the other things he is and he is not ).
Posted by: Rupa Shah at October 26, 2008 10:14 AMMy favorite Nixon quote was always "I don't give a fuck about the lira." Don't know the context, but who cares?
Posted by: catherine at October 26, 2008 01:08 PMcatherine, my favorite Bush Junior quote is "I don't give a fuck about the dollar."
Posted by: grimmy at October 26, 2008 07:20 PM
