Steven Greydanus likes Get Low.

Steve Sailer's review of Get Low is up

at Taki's Mag.

Too Hollywood for its own good?

The one thing you shouldn’t do in filming this tale is leave out all the Appalachian absurdity to render it tasteful, subdued, bittersweet, quasi-tragic Oscar-bait. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what first time director Aaron Schneider and the various screenwriters attempt.

The 79-year-old Duvall is being talked up for a second Oscar, based, apparently, on the Commutative Property of Film Appreciation. See, last year Jeff Bridges got his first Oscar in Crazy Heart, another ornery coot movie in which Duvall played the best friend. So, this must be Duvall’s turn, right? He might indeed win for Get Low, because Duvall here delivers Acting for the Sake of Acting in the tradition of Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman.

If you read beyond the critics’ blurbs, though, you’ll notice the strain of talking themselves into liking Get Low. Reviewing movies—making the basic Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down call—isn’t a terribly difficult trade … because making good movies is. Compare the execution of the last two Christopher Nolan movies, Inception and The Dark Knight, to M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender and The Happening. You may not understand what’s going on in Nolan’s movies, but you’re obviously in more capable hands.

Therefore, when reviewers uniformly overrate a film, it’s typically due to either politics—as with the mediocre lesbian sitcom The Kids Are All Right, which critics praised as if it were the second coming of It’s a Wonderful Life to heroically stand up to the Mormon Media Juggernaut—or respect and nostalgia. Get Low fails like a recent Shyamalan movie at the basic blocking and tackling of putting the camera in the right place, cutting shots at the right moment, and swelling the right chords.

If the movie presented a more faithful depiction of life in the South, even if the story is full of absurdities, would it have been better? What would mainstream critics then think?

Get Low OST

Listed here: Alison Krauss' “Burden” Is Easy to Bear | CMT Blog

Once an official video of "Lay My Burden" becomes available, I'll be sure to post it. I did find this...

Restrepo and comments on some products

PFC Juan S. Restrepo, after whom OP Restrepo was named.
(source: Sky Soldiers Killed in Action)

Friday afternoon:

The early bird special at Cinearts Santana Row isn't bad -- $6.00. (I think that's also the early bird special for AMC as well.) Cinearts Santana Row is now showing Toy Story 3. For a while I was the only person under 40 -- there were 15 to 20 other people watching the movie, but they were all seniors. Then 2 women under the age of 40 entered the theater, but they left 20 minutes or so into the movie. Why? Was it too boring? Not enough handsome men?

The glimpse that Restrepo offers us of the life of the American infantrymen serving in Afghanistan is too short. I didn't mind that there wasn't much actual war-making (combat) in the documentary -- I just wanted to experience more of what their life was like, and to become more acquainted with the men in the platoon. The documentary is a bit like the clips one sees in the 5 or 10 minute short stories shown on the news or a television news magazine program, with enough of them strung together to make a 90-minute film.

Still, I think the documentary might be revelatory for American civilians who have no idea what it is like to be a soldier in the infantry or what sort of sacrifices our soldiers have to make in executing the foreign policy decisions of the Federal government.

Is it proper for American army officers to serve as diplomats and intermediaries between local Afghan leaders and the US government? Do they have the training and knowledge of the culture to really do this? Both the CO of Battle Company, and the CO of the 173rd Brigade Combat Team carry out this role. Is it one reason why the United States is lousy at "empire-building"?



Now for some remarks on the previews and trailers they showed before the movie:

The theater showed some previews -- you know, the package of 3, usually a TV show plus a movie plus something else. The first brought a welcome sight, even though I didn't recognize her at first, and I had to concentrate and try to remember who the stars of this TV show were, as I had read about it earlier this year. Sasha Alexander is back on TV; she's starring in a new procedural on TNT along with Angie Harmon. The show, Rizzoli and Isles, is supposed to take place in Boston; Sasha Alexander is , the logical scientist/medical examiner, while Angie Harmon plays , the tomboy who goes with her gut instinct. Does this remind you of any other pairings? The first one that came to my mind was Kirk and Spock of Star Trek. The two "extremes" of male psychology transferred to female characters.





It's another girl power show. If I had cable, I might be happy to see Sasha Alexander on the television again, but I'd have to put up with the nonsense.

There was also a brief short for Scott Pilgrim versus the World, which is based on the comic books. He seems like a beta; and then there is the (extreme) female fantasy of a man fighting other men (in this case, the ex-bfs) in order to win the heart of the outcast girl. He doesn't much care for the Asian girl who has a crush on him. (Is there some sort of bias against Asian women?) So what do women think of Scott Pilgrim? A beta having to become an alpha?

Julia Roberts was interviewed for her movie Eat, Pray, Love. The main character is travelling the world (Rome, India, Thailand?Bali) to find herself. Ms. Roberts claims that we all seek to redefine our lives from time to time, and this movie is about self-examination and figuring out what you want. Of course the exotic locales are an additional appeal to those who suffer from that sort of existential crisis. What modern woman doesn't love to travel? How is getting away from one's roots to pursue a path of individual self-discovery anything but shallow, unless it somehow helps them realize that they need to become rooted at home? Hollywood's therapeutic answer to clueless women who are ignorant of their vocation, and don't know what to do with themselves. At least Ms. Roberts concedes that one doesn't have to travel the world to figure these questions out. (Is the original book this bad?)

There's a new show on USA, Covert Affairs. The show and its main character, a woman who is supposedly a CIA agent, reminded me a bit of Alias. I had to look carefully to make sure it wasn't Jennifer Garner starring. (It's actually Piper Perabo. She looks different. I don't remember her cheekbones being so prominent.) I think USA is doing better than the major networks, but soon it will be the equal of TNT with respect to promoting girl power. (Hulu has some clips and will netcast the episodes.)



The majority of the trailers became an unintended contrast to the masculine appeal of Restrepo. The noticeable exception? Perhaps the new Robert Duvall movie, Get Low. So much of what is produced in Hollywood is geared towards women. I also noted that many of the commercials were examples of how consumer goods are being marketed to women.
What would happen if women stopped purchasing so much? What would marketers do without their audience?


Related links:
For Angie Harmon, another baby, another show
Keeping her daughter away from Corpses! Sasha Alexander talks Rizzoli & Isles
Tess Gerritsen
Herc Has Seen TNT’s New Lady Cop Show RIZZOLI & ISLES!!

TED: Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity

Herc’s Seen USA’s New Romantic CIA Drama COVERT AFFAIRS!!

Alison Krauss Contributes New Recording to Get Low Film Soundtrack

Begun on July 9.

Get Low trailer