Come Anticipate (Robert Altman's) "A Prairie Home Companion"

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I don't know how much in common with the show itself this thing is going to have, and maybe the meeting of different sensibilities isn't going to work, but it certainly sounds promising.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 09:09 (nineteen years ago)

Altman & promising don't really go together.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 09:16 (nineteen years ago)

is lindsay lohan in this? cos *that's* promising.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 09:24 (nineteen years ago)

yes, and she's supposed to be pretty good

i suppose yhis is going to answer this question. but will the film provide an accurate picture? i kinda doubt it.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 09:54 (nineteen years ago)

Altman-tone is quite different from Keillor-tone, andI imagine it wins out

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 09:55 (nineteen years ago)

fingers crossed.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 10:07 (nineteen years ago)

I should say I like Keillor a lot more than Altman, as an artist at least

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 10:12 (nineteen years ago)

It's like "The Company" only it's about NPR! I expect awful.

― dave's good arm (facsimile) (dave225.3), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 10:44 (nineteen years ago)

one of the most overrated directors of all time.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 10:45 (nineteen years ago)

jesus christ i hate keillor. i'm looking forward to this movie because altman might actually take keillor's wholly invented small town jus' folks bullshit (which sells so well to both liberal urbanites and their suburban counterparts -- that's keillor's "art") and give it, if not a point or grounding in reality, at least an actual joke or two. plus it's all set in beauitful St. Paul, because whatever fucking town was the basis for ~~Gopher Prairie~~ ~~Grover's Corner~~ Lake Woebegone is now either strip malls and unemployed iron miners or mansions and lake houses for attorneys and bank VPs.

the show is Hee-Haw for midwesterners, without the charm.

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 11:36 (nineteen years ago)

ISTR that Lohan was all upset about being denied club entrance in MN for being underage.

― suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:14 (nineteen years ago)

plus it's all set in beauitful St. Paul, because whatever fucking town was the basis for Gopher Prairie Grover's Corner Lake Woebegone is now either strip malls and unemployed iron miners or mansions and lake houses for attorneys and bank VPs.

Keillor claims it was set in St Paul (in the theater where APHC is more often than not produced) because Altman didn't want to go out into Keillorland

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

also, what planet are you on if you think Keillor is after some sort of rural social realism?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:23 (nineteen years ago)

the same planet from whence people will shortly be arriving on this thread to complain about the lilywhite casting

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:30 (nineteen years ago)

I prefer "milky"

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:33 (nineteen years ago)

As long as we all understand that APHC is simply a charmless Hee Haw for midwesterners it's okay.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

Up next on ILE:Film, we bitch about Spinal Tap fans and why that makes Christopher Guest a prick who should die.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:49 (nineteen years ago)

i think my primary problem is just that that Jack Elam-looking motherfucker isn't funny.

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:50 (nineteen years ago)

TS: pretentious film snobs vs. pretentious humorists whose stabs at being hotshot expat novelists failed, forcing them back to the safety of selling condescending ma and pa kettle nostalgia to public radio listeners.

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

why is this a movie

― ath (ath), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:56 (nineteen years ago)

or pretentious humorless internet dickfarts who have nothing better to do than go on someone else's thread about an upcoming movie to let everybody know they don't get the jokes and shovel in some ad hominem about liberals with careers while they're at it

btw I don't think you're funny in the least but you don't see me telling all your friends how much you suck

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:00 (nineteen years ago)

i'm looking forward to the movie, actually. i like altman.

also, i am a liberal with a career.

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

Lake Woebegone is now either strip malls and unemployed iron miners or mansions and lake houses for attorneys and bank VPs.

Isn't Lake Woebegone fictional?

also, what planet are you on if you think Keillor is after some sort of rural social realism?

OTM. APHC can be pretty corny sometimes, but I think it's all fairly self-conscious: Keillor's a smart guy.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:04 (nineteen years ago)

(which sells so well to both liberal urbanites and their suburban counterparts -- that's keillor's "art")

I can't defend APHC from much of the criticism offered above, but while this may be a significant demographic, I should note that almost all the people I know who love APHC are socially conservative and within two generations of living on the farm. It definately appeals to the sentiment of small town MN expatriates. All of the liberal urbanites I know despise the show.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

and Spider John Koerner's in it!

i remember in pre-production that Tom Waits and Lyle Lovett were supposed to play the Woody Harrelson/Tommy Lee Jones roles, which would've been awesome.

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

i remember in pre-production that Tom Waits and Lyle Lovett were supposed to play the Woody Harrelson/Tommy Lee Jones roles, which would've been awesome.

Oh, what could have been! Perfect. Damn.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

i think liberal urbanites in Mpls and St Paul (which is my background, i'm a cliche, etc.) despise it, but I think it's very beloved in places like NYC (where they do huge sold out shows every year), where the audience is typical NPR, not convervative or rural. i can tell you that all my friends my age who are actually from genuine down-home heartland rural MN can't stand it.

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

(my age = no-nothing punk kid) (i think their parents probably have less disdain for it)

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:15 (nineteen years ago)

Woody Harrelson/Lyle Lovett for me

i think my primary problem is just that that Jack Elam-looking motherfucker isn't funny.

I have a problem with the concept of "funny," or at least people who confuse "funny" with "humor."

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's very beloved in places like NYC (where they do huge sold out shows every year

huge? like at Madison Square Garden? yeah, they have some solid runs in NYC, the show's (and Keillor's) second home (and a massive metro area), but I don't see why this makes the show urban vs. rural (not that I have anything invested in its realness).

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:22 (nineteen years ago)

Keillor was on Charlie Rose the other night and posited that the show's ironic-pessimistic undertone was something that appealed in common to upper midwesterners and New Yorkers

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

Homer Simpson shaking set when Prairie special is on: "Come on, TV! Be funny!"

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:28 (nineteen years ago)

keillor is an educated urbanite who writes about simple heartland country folk in a way that i find condescending. that's all. i should probably get back to work and stop arguing about A Prairie Home Companion on the internet.

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:30 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I think realness isn't a necessary factor. Keillor created his own kind of contemporary rural Minnesotan mythology.

I just got back from a labor day weekend that included worship at a 100-year-old white-washed Lutheran church, walleye dinner at my cousin's farm, lemonade and white cake at the legion with my father's cousin who fought in Okinowa (after a two-block parade of white-haired legionaires, the ladie's auxilery, the boyscouts and the junior band), pitching horse shoes with another cousin (who plays in the local tournement) and lots of conversations with aging Norwegian Lutherans, many of whom still speak a little of the mother tongue.

And, I have to tell you, while Keillor isn't a realist, his mythology definately comes from the well-springs of my origins.

I love that Wobegon shit.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

Tom OTM. APHC became a part of the Minnesota heritage industry almost upon its inception and EVERYBODY knows that. So what? Garry Keillor has never REPRESENTED for anywhere other than Crocus Hill, really! Which is fine; you wouldn't kvell about urbanite Sinclair Lewis writing up rural Main Street because you'd then OBVIOUSLY know this is a big fucker of a trope in Midwest literature. Setting it in Keillor's manor might just be a stroke of genius as that's where he was when he started it in the first place.

― expat urban minnesotan, above average child (suzy), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:39 (nineteen years ago)

My few encounters with APHC have left me stonefaced, but Keillor did a very funny version of Casey At the Bat (with Casey as an abused visiting player).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:41 (nineteen years ago)

i think it's funny that the two major movies filmed in St. Paul last year were "A Prairie Home Companion" and Charles Bukowski's "Factotum"

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:41 (nineteen years ago)

arguments like this are exactly why ILX is no fun anymore. I await the great purge wherein you are all fired for trolling the internets while you wrk

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

Mike Nelson's Death Rat!, a very Minnesota novel, trashes Keillor in amusingly comprehensive fashion. I should dig up some quotes...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:47 (nineteen years ago)

keillor is an educated urbanite who writes about simple heartland country folk

so country and/or heartland folk are simple and uneducated? Anoka, MN where he was born was urban in the 50s and 60s? Yes, he now lives much of the time in NYC, at least when he isn't on the road. and he writes about small town life, not country folk.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

the official site

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

it's ridiculous the way TOMBOT acts all reactive as if everyone is shaping up for a fight then brings up the topic of racism himself (before anyone else has) in response to (I guess?) Pareene's perfectly reasonable objections. & to what end?

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:03 (nineteen years ago)

to the end that posters who bring up the straw man of imaginary fans of a work who spend all their time looking down their noses at minorities and/or country folk (cf thread after thread about nearly any film you'd care to name on this board), as encouraged by the "educated urbanites" producing said works, are driving me fucking insane.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:15 (nineteen years ago)

ROFFLE @ teh Lohan doing Frankie & Johnny on teh sndtrk

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:16 (nineteen years ago)

If you like Garrison Keillor, you'll LOVE Mark Russell. Now that guy is HIGH-larious. White people be funny! And that Car Talk, those guys are so wacky!! Can't wait for that movie, directed by Martin Scorsese.

― timmy tannin (pompous), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:16 (nineteen years ago)

Car Talk is great and you suck for not liking it.

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

pareene's argument as encapsulated by gabbneb's quotation above is essentially no different, to me, than the same accusations of bigotry that go flying about when people mention the portrayal of the latino family in Napoleon Dynamite, and the list goes on and on at this point.
There's no other word for it but fucking tiresome, especially since in pretty much every case the posters acting like some "educated urbanite" is shitting on the little oppressed guys of America are 1. educated urbanites themselves 2. spend most of their time on non-film threads shitting on the little oppressed guys of America for the way they vote/buy groceries/raise their kids.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

If you hate Car Talk you should change your username to "pompous"

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

i'll give you point number 1, but point 2 isn't true of me at all. also, your description of what i'm doing sounds a little like keillor's political columns.

i like car talk. it's funny.

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

yes, it's true, I hate fun and I suck, and NPR programming and its listeners are beyond reproach. Forgive me.

― timmy tannin (pompous), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

tombot otm - 'edgy', apathetic, 'liberal' in words/reactionary in 'action' nu-nu-nu-ilx can go fuck itself.

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

TOMBOT and blount i don't follow film threads but maybe if you guys named names this thread could be about the film and not some fucking beef you have with, oh i dunno, dr morbius.

otherwise this attack on evil liberals-who-are-reactionaries-in-scare-quoted-action-yet-also-apathetic-somehow who dare to say they don't like a radio show lacks specificity.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:32 (nineteen years ago)

In fairness, he didn't just "say [he doesn't] like a radio show."

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:35 (nineteen years ago)

And gabbneb and Tom are making the exact same point, so why not lump gabbs in with them too?

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

well pareene you just happened to be passing through when it became time for me to unload a lot of shit that's been stewing for a while at a broadly-defined group of people that may or may not completely overlap with your personal venn diagram (or garrison keillor's for that matter)

Morbius may be a total hypocrite and a bit of a mysoginist on film threads but he's never pulled a Shakey Mo on a movie to my knowledge

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

anyway, this film looks awful.

― dave's good arm (facsimile) (dave225.3), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

name names? read the thread moron - timmy tannin, pareene, other clueless 'edgy/apathetic' nu-ilx fuxx. to be fair they're all better than crypto-tories.

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:39 (nineteen years ago)

I think this film looks great. I'm not necessarily looking forward to Kevin Kline as Guy Noir, at all, in fact I expect that to be relatively painful, but Lohan + Woody should be able to cover just fine.

My issue is more with the argument itself than specific people who use it a lot, anyway. I've agreed with Shakey himself on a number of points.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:41 (nineteen years ago)

why not just admit that you are you guys are addicted to these film thread furore's and if it doesn't manifest itself you'll manufacture it?

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:42 (nineteen years ago)

Of course when I say I think this film looks great keep in mind I don't actually like Altman.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:42 (nineteen years ago)

Wow you guys, it's sunny out.

― Dan (Go Get A Decaf Coffee Or Something) Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

nuke thread from orbit

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

yeah blountie, the old days were something else, weren't they? go shout it out of a car window.

― timmy tannin (pompous), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

you should blog that

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

more witty takes on items of the now plz leno

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

Car Talk is AWESOME. This is not a matter of taste. NPR isn't above reproach and neither is APHC.

Altman is hit-or-miss in my book, but his dark, dry, style of parody may work perfectly for APHC.

Also, I think I'm beginning to understand TOMBOT. He may be a little reactionary, but he pretty much nailed the "urban sophisticates looking down their noses at the little guy" baloney I keep hearing about ad nauseum.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

did someone call me?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

hands up who's been 'liberal-in-action' today.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

i'll admit that i totally share with garrison a smug sense of superiority and patronizing attitude toward the unwashed masses, but i still can't quite figure out just where i became the personification of everyone wrong with liberals/ilx.

kevin kline might be ok, but i think the guy noir character is sorta unworkable no matter who's playing it.

are people being ironic with the Lohan love? or is it eye candy? (that is a sincere question -- i can't remember if i've seen a Lohan movie and for all i know she might actually be a charming and funny actress)

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

There is no irony in Lohan. Just Ratner

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:51 (nineteen years ago)

btw I am a GYNOPHOBE!

ILX "hypocrite" = contradicts things he never said

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:52 (nineteen years ago)

As long as they do a ketchup commercial, I'm set. That shit is gold.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

People liked Mean Girls. Surprised?

― suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno if I wanna see this movie or not - I've never liked Keillor or APHC (my parents always had it on the radio, along with Mark Russell, but I never found either to be really engaging and never elicited anything from me but the occasional minor chuckle). On the other hand Altman is one of my favorite filmmakers. I'll wait for someone else here to see it (s1ocki? Morbs?) and report back...

However, I can see that TOMBOT is mad that I think the Napoleon Dynamite/Nacho Libre filmmakers are unfunny, smug, and racist assholes, but that's a separate point that has nothing to do with Altman or Keillor and we can argue about that somewhere else.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

andrew plz to rehurry rewriting code plz plz plz

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

Can we focus on La Lohan, please?

― Baaderonixx immer wieder (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

"Lindsay hung on Meryl almost like a mentor," recalls Altman, a director known to love actors and barely tolerate the media. "And she was very respectful of all the people she worked with. It's the press that makes news of all that other stuff. But I think she's great and I'd work with her again. She's a great talent with a really sexy voice."
...
Streep says she was convinced Lohan would be "perfect" for Altman's film, even before meeting her. "I think I'd seen Freaky Friday maybe seven times," she says. "I have three daughters, and it's the Lindsay Lohan fan club at my house. I thought—I think—she is a terrific actress. It's something that you could see even when she was little-bitty."
Streep, as if adopting her maternal screen role, is mildly defensive when asked if Lohan's party exploits ever interfered with her work on the set.
"Lindsay knew her lines better than we did," she says firmly, then continues in a slightly more indulgent tone. "She's very young. It's a great sort of coin to have, a wonderful time in somebody's life. I'm aware of the tabloid stuff because my kids tell me—but I don't read it, and frankly, I couldn't care less. When they say 'Action,' Lindsay is completely, visibly living in front of the camera, and that's all anybody really cares about."
She compares Lohan with, of all people, Cher as a young performer. Both actresses have a brazenly confessional manner that leads them to fling away intimate secrets. And yet, Streep says, both are unexpectedly self-contained, and Lohan's psyche, like Cher's, has deeper contours than some would expect—guarded places that serve as her storehouse of creativity.

"She's in command of the art form," Streep says with high seriousness. "Whatever acting is—I don't know what it is—she's in command of it. I think she could do anything she puts her mind to."

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

Lindsay Lohan gives off all appearances in her work of being a very talented young actress. I think she could do more serious films than she's done, and do them well; hopefully this will prove the underlying rumors correct and she will start getting more serious work, and less Disney pictures (though I do note that her next film after this is a rather terrible looking rom-com so whatever).

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:00 (nineteen years ago)

I saw Freaky Friday on a plane, it was okay I guess. I can't imagine wanting to watch any of her other films or the Disney ones, since I'm neither a 12-yo girl nor a pedophile... I mean, why should I? That "Just My Luck" movie looks dumber than a bag of hammers.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

See, that's funny, I always assumed you were a 12-yo girl.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

i'll admit that i totally share with garrison a smug sense of superiority and patronizing attitude toward the unwashed masses

Garrison is a small town guy who has a love/hate relationship with his heritage, a relationship that encompases all the shame and guilt and pride and nonsense that goes with being a nobody from nowhere with a big love for all the great things that nowhere can be.

Sure he's smug and a little condescending, but as a fellow descendent and current member of the unwashed mass he is patronizing, let me tell you we will rise above it. Get over it.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, snap!

― Baaderonixx immer wieder (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

god, i have to start using winky-faces or scare quotes. i was just trying to say that tombot's strawman version of me is a sorta true.

"unwashed masses" in my post = my parents, grandparents, most of my family. smalltown minnesota! it's very pretty!

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:17 (nineteen years ago)

everyone here hates Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, right?

― p@reene (Pareene), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:18 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's very beloved in places like NYC (where they do huge sold out shows every year), where the audience is typical NPR, not convervative or rural.

i know NPR is popular in new york, but in all my years living there i never knew ANYBODY who was a keillor fan, devout or otherwise. maybe these audiences were driving in from connecticut?!?

― helix aspersa (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

it's gotta be fogeyish older people driving in from the exurbs.

― helix aspersa (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

that's a hell of a way to characterize mayor bloomberg

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

here we go again

― helix aspersa (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:33 (nineteen years ago)

yeah it's def old fogey audience - basically works as morning zoo mancow/stern type thing for an older generation, more puns less fart jokes. for a very npr show i'm guessing it appeals to alot of people terry gross or whoever doesn't. i can't remember if my granparents listened to it or just listened to stuff like it. maybe cross the great tom joyner radio show with the somewhat baffling tom joyner tv show, remove the politics and make it lilywhite (hi TOM!) and you get the closest other thing out there in the mainstream culture.

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

actually i don't know what i'm thinking - the closest other thing out there in a 'our listeners do LOTS of crossword puzzles', smug/corny/'witty'/friendly behold the power of the (portable) RADIO is 'this american life' right?

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

"she goes for arts & leisure... i go for the magazine!"

― helix aspersa (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

Wait Wait Don't Tell Me can die a slow painful death.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 15:57 (nineteen years ago)

suddenly I have no idea what any of you are talking about. Wait Wait Don't Tell Me? This American Life? Mayor Bloomberg is an old fogey from Connecticut?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

I have always liked if not loved wait wait don't tell me

"she goes for arts & leisure... i go for the magazine!"

[insert Alex-in-NYC-rage here]

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

the closest other thing out there in a 'our listeners do LOTS of crossword puzzles'

is it a coincidence that this movie is being released within a week of 'Wordplay'?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

It's like Hollywood squares Paula Pondstone and P.J. O'Rourke.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:09 (nineteen years ago)

haha! color me curious about wordplay actually. xpost

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

ILX the little message board that time forgot; where posts are weak, the threads tiresome, and the trolls below average

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

I'm actually looking forward to the movie... If anyone could poke a hole in the pseudo-memory bubble of "the good ole days" as imagined by both urban NPR-listeners and reactionary conservatives like James Lileks it would be Altman.

Then again, I'm imagining the Altman of the 1970s taking this on and not the current one so there's the potential of it being a hayseed Gosford Park. Entertaining while watching, but nothing more than that.

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

somehow i knew this was a gabbneb thread.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

gosford park is one of altman's best movies. and i'm looking forward to this

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

gosford park = so good i even saw it with jaymc

no interest in this tho. i hate keillor and by corolary (sp) all rural white american folks.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:40 (nineteen years ago)

new angle for y'all - on charlie rose, altman described it as a movie about death

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

rofflz

Gosford Park was his last really good one, no doubt.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

I liked The Company better than Gosford Park, oddly enough. (Hstencil had nothing to do with this, btw.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

Gosford Park was his last really good one, no doubt.

I didn't dislike Gosford Park, but it didn't really have a lot of staying power with me. For last best, I'd vote Cookie's Fortune

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:49 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't listened to enough PHC to know how I feel about it for sure. The stuff I have heard didn't do much for me, but I can see why others might find it appealing.

And Altman, while one of my favorite directors (possibly my favorite), is incredibly uneven and has been throughout the bulk of his career because he takes chances rather than simply rehashing a formula that's worked for him. Which I totally respect.

That said: I don't think the subject matter really matters all that much w/r/t one's enjoyment of an Altman film. I'm going to see PHC in hopes that it's classic instead of dud, but I'm prepared for either.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

Gosford Park and The Company were both quite good. Dr. T And The Women, not so much. He still has the potential to rock and to suck.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:53 (nineteen years ago)

I have yet to "get" The Company. And I like Altman, generally/most of the time.

― dave's good arm (facsimile) (dave225.3), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

yeah altman's unevenness is something you just gotta accept

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:09 (nineteen years ago)

one of the most overrated directors of all time.

He could be that and still be one of the best directors currently working. (I do wish I could've snuck my way onto the set to see just how much justification there is to the PTA rumors.)

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:19 (nineteen years ago)

Dave, The Company is one of the Altman movies that you just sit back and let wash over you. Alternately: it's a film about the creative process. It's nothing thrilling or overly profound, but I found it very beautiful.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, I agree.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:35 (nineteen years ago)

PTA rumors? Paul Thomas Anderson? Parent Teacher Association?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:36 (nineteen years ago)

Paul Thomas Anderson is the most overrated director! i can confirm! no need to sneak on set!

― chaki (chaki), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

Rumor = Altman is so frail that PT Anderson was hired on to oversee production and take over in case something happened to Altman. (Which then has led people to speculate how much Anderson was involved, period.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:39 (nineteen years ago)

interesting.

I hate PTA.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

He's credited in IMDB as "stand-by director" for APHC.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

now i'm definitely not seeing it. not that i was gonna before, but still.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

on Charlie Rose, Altman was only head and shoulders and seated, but he didn't sound frail at all (tho i think he might have repated himself once)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

yeah insurance companies are understandably wary of elderly heart-transplant directors so the last few have had other 'name' directors attached just in case he kicked it - frears with gosford park, i forget who with the company, the new one pta was on set, maya rudolph's in this, there's word pta's fingerprints are visible. dude's obv a huge altman 'fan'.

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

xxpost - I thought some of the scenes were beautiful, but I don't know why I would choose this movie over an actual ballet. And all the 'behind the scenes' in a dance company stuff seemed really incidental - and not too different from its use in Prêt-à-Porter or even Showgirls.

(OK, I've only seen about 15 minutes of Showgirls.)

― dave's good arm (facsimile) (dave225.3), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

the pta thing was just an insurance requirement (iirc they did the same thing on "the company"). i'm sure he didn't secretly direct the film.

xp w/blount

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:48 (nineteen years ago)

Lindsay Lohan gives off all appearances in her work of being a very talented young actress. I think she could do more serious films than she's done

I'll second the love for Freaky Friday (and I'll just mention Jamie Lee Curtis).

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:49 (nineteen years ago)

Freaky Friday is pretty amusing actually, I forgot I had watched that.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

i liked freaky friday!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:06 (nineteen years ago)

i haven't seen the lohan one, but the jodie foster one is CLASSIC

― helix aspersa (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:08 (nineteen years ago)

i dunno, i was on the fence with lohan before, but ever since that poor girl's "firecrotch" incident i've had a hankering to rent ALL of her movies. mean girls was obv really good.

― helix aspersa (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:20 (nineteen years ago)

It's great! I think she has a lot of potential but in the last couple of years she's been pretty terrible at choosing movies to work on (the one with Jared Leto about Mark David Chapman sounds godawful).

― Bluebell Madonna (Ex Leon), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

Mean Girls would have been a lot better if it was as mean-spirited as Heathers (or whatever your favorite bitchy teen comedy might be). The end was just tedious after the catfighting of the first 90 minutes.

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

John just reminded me that we have friends in PHC: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=11755591

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

(this is good, I really enjoyed it)

― remy (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know which earth it is where you can hit Rachel McAdams with a bus and that seems tedious. The epilogue could've been 20 minutes shorter but dude, they ran over bitch with a bus, that simply does not happen often enough. Sorry if I spoilered that for anyone, btw.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

Well, yeah, the bus crash was awesome. Everything after that, terrible, and some parts just before that, not very good.

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

They shoulda just ended with the bus thing and not the lesson thing, seriously.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

lessons are for gifted youngsters

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:12 (nineteen years ago)

which brings me to my idea that they should do a couple spin-offs of X-Men just set at the Xavier Institute in the John Hughes vein.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

But yeah, Robert Altman. He's old.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

a mutant Can't Hardly Wait would definitely be better than X3.

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:15 (nineteen years ago)

Of all the films to pick, you pick "Can't Hardly Wait"?

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

Jesus Christ milo you are from another goddamned planet.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

though frankly CHW would be okay if they got rid of the main characters and stuck to all the side stories. It's whatsisface and fieveltits that leave you feeling cold and dead inside.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

FIEVELtits?

"Somewhere out there
Beneath the pale booblight..."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

Ned you react with shock and giddy every time someoen bring up her resemblance to the great Russki mouse.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

Uh that wasn't supposed to have that many typos in it.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sure I have done but since I've completely forgotten when I did that last I'll take your word for it.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

Ok, a mutant Bring It On. Better?

A Wolverine/Frasier buddy comedy would be tops, though.

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

No dude, I'm not really a Bring It On person either. Sigh.

I don't want to ruin this thread any more than it's been ruined...

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 20:35 (nineteen years ago)

Errr, may I ask what exactly was the "firecrotch incident"?

― Baaderonixx immer wieder (baaderonixx), Thursday, 1 June 2006 07:19 (nineteen years ago)

He could be that and still be one of the best directors currently working. (I do wish I could've snuck my way onto the set to see just how much justification there is to the PTA rumors.)

-- Eric H. (ephende...), May 31st, 2006.

he could be if his recent films were any good!

discus.

for my money 'punch drunk love' >>>> 'gosford park' but maybe i'm just crazy.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Thursday, 1 June 2006 08:36 (nineteen years ago)

also 'magnolia' > 'short cuts'

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Thursday, 1 June 2006 08:36 (nineteen years ago)

see, now you're crazy.

― p@reene (Pareene), Thursday, 1 June 2006 11:09 (nineteen years ago)

'popeye' > 'magnolia'

― p@reene (Pareene), Thursday, 1 June 2006 11:12 (nineteen years ago)

yeah i agree with that.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Thursday, 1 June 2006 11:13 (nineteen years ago)

'long goodbye' > 'popeye' > all other altman films i have seen

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Thursday, 1 June 2006 11:14 (nineteen years ago)

oh, you reactionaries. all this idle talk when you could be out there being a liberal in action.

― timmy tannin (pompous), Thursday, 1 June 2006 11:53 (nineteen years ago)

I kinda think there'll be less condescension toward smalltown folk in this film than there is COOL perpetuation of '70s racial stereotypes in the films of the world's most famous ex-video clerk.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 1 June 2006 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

what kind of statistician are you?

condescension toward smalltown folk -- 4,500
COOL perpetuation of '70s racial stereotypes -- 6, 750

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:04 (nineteen years ago)

I don't even understand what you're trying to say.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

Errr, may I ask what exactly was the "firecrotch incident"?

-- Baaderonixx immer wieder (baaderonix...), June 1st, 2006.

This is one of those "if you have to ask..." things...

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:12 (nineteen years ago)

I have to ask too, I'm not as up on La Lohan as the rest of you...

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

i'm just trying to parse dr m's comparison of two entirely different properties in two filmmakers who don't exactly spring to mind as being similar in any way.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

Firecrotch:
http://www.gawker.com/news/lindsay-lohan/brandon-davis-expresses-himself-on-the-matter-of-lindsay-lohan-174466.php

― p@reene (Pareene), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:28 (nineteen years ago)

*sighs*

Here, I will do the homework for you all. Hi, I read Defamer too, etc.

http://defamer.com/hollywood/paris-hilton/lohanhilton-catfight-update-brandon-davis-uses-nuclear-option-officially-upgrades-tiff-to-war-174451.php

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:29 (nineteen years ago)

I don't read Defamer and wasn't about to google "Linday Lohan firecrotch" at work! Thank you both, that's hilarious!

Enrique, I understand now. I apologize for my confusion! Tarantino is his strawman, he rants out references for no apparent reason all the time and for no benefit to his own argument, but you know this.

I'd rather wait 'til seeing the film before I pass judgement on the stereotypes laden within.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:33 (nineteen years ago)

sndtrk listing:

Disc: 1
1. Tishomingo Blues – Garrison Keillor
2. Gold Watch & Chain – Garrison Keillor & Meryl Streep
3. Mudslide – The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
4. Let Your Light Shine On Me – Garrison Keillor, Robin & Linda Williams, Prudence Johnson
5. Coffee Jingle – Garrison Keillor & Jearlyn Steele
6. Summit Avenue Rag - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
7. Guy’s Shoes - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
8. Whoop-I-Ti-Yi-Yo – Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly
9. Coming Down From Red Lodge - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
10. You Have Been A Friend To Me – L.Q. Jones
11. Old Plank Road – Robin & Linda Williams
12. My Minnesota Home – Meryl Streep & Lily Tomlin
13. A Bunch of Guys - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
14. Slow Days Of Summer – Garrison Keillor
15. Frankie & Johnny – Lindsay Lohan
16. Waitin’ For You - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
17. Jens Jensen’s Herring - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
18. Red River Valley – Garrison Keillor & Jearlyn Steele
19. Strappin’ the Strings - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
20. Goodbye To My Mama – Meryl Streep & Lily Tomlin
21. Bad Jokes – Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly
22. The Day Is Short – Jearlyn Steele
23. Atlanta Twilight - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
24. Red River Valley / In The Sweet By And By – Cast Ensemble
25. Guy Noir - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band

Disc: 2
1. My Minnesota Home – Meryl Streep & Lily Tomlin
2. WHOOP-I-TI-YI-YO – Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly
3. Slow Days Of Summer – Garrison Keillor
4. Coming Down From Red Lodge - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
5. I Used To Work In Chicago (Take 1) – Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly
6. I Used To Work In Chicago (Take 2) – Woody Harrelson & John C. Reilly
7. Softly And Tenderly – Meryl Streep & Lily Tomlin
8. Waitin’ For You - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
9. Atlanta Twilight - The Guys All-Star Shoe Band
10. Catchup (And Then Some) – Garrison Keillor

MASH nurses have no strawmen.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

Gore / Lohan 2008

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:46 (nineteen years ago)

If you'd care to explain your argument, or its relevance, people are listening.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:46 (nineteen years ago)

LIDSNEY LOHANTZ FOR PRESIDETN

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:47 (nineteen years ago)

FWIW I love Woody Harrelson but him singing "WHOOP-I-TI-YI-YO" is fucking atrocious. I wish it had the "Kelly" song from Cheers instead.

― mummy wrapped in bacon (nickalicious), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

yay for john c reilly.

but i'm still more stoked about 'talladega nights' than this.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Thursday, 1 June 2006 13:52 (nineteen years ago)

MASH nurses have no strawmen.

WAHT DOES THIS MEAN

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Thursday, 1 June 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

i only just worked it out.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Thursday, 1 June 2006 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

he called ally a slut. for asking him to clarify a point.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 1 June 2006 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

My Minnesota Home – Meryl Streep & Lily Tomlin

I'm excited to hear this. Is it just a rewritten "My Idaho Home"?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

for my money 'punch drunk love' >>>> 'gosford park'

No, that's not crazy.

also 'magnolia' > 'short cuts'

But that is.

I'm not saying Altman's recent stuff (that I've seen) is much better than Woody Allen's recent stuff, The Company aside. Hell, Short Cuts might've been the last great movie from him before that one.

But it's hard for me to fathom him as being overrated when even his defenders usually call him "uneven."

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:19 (nineteen years ago)

Didn't Paul Anderson Direct Magnolia? I understand why people compare the two, but interweving seemingly isolated stories into a master narrative wasn't invented by Altman, right? I mean Magnolia and Shortcuts are very different types of movies. Magnolia is better in a lot of ways, but Shortcuts wins out for Julianne Moore getting more naked and less weepy.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

Weving is like weaving, but more efficient.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

i loathed "short cuts". magnolia knocks it into a cocked hat.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

I don't like Magnolia much at all.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

Tho Fluffy Bear is OTM that it's kind of a facile, though oft repeated, comparison, PT Anderson to Altman. It's kind of the same realm as the Spike Lee/Scorcese comparisons; it's obvious one is influenced by the other's work but to present them as dichotomies, or (poss. worse?) as "modern day" versions of the old (never mind "the old" are still working!) is a disservice to both. The things that are good about Anderson's best bits are different in my mind than Altman's.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

i agree.

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:50 (nineteen years ago)

WHATS THE ALTMAN MOVIE ABOUT ELLIOT GOULD HAVING A REALLY BAD DAY EVEN LOSING HIS CAT? THAT MOVIE IS GOOD.

― chaki (chaki), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

Teh Long Goodbye, no?

― Sons Of The Redd Desert (Ken L), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

i loathed "short cuts". magnolia knocks it into a cocked hat.

Reminds me of the phrase, "knock his cock into his watch-pocket," which makes no sense in this context, but there it is.

I like shortcuts quite a bit, but Magnolia has an emotional depth that Altman cannot touch.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Thursday, 1 June 2006 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

Actually I really like both Short Cuts and Magnolia. If PTA tries to ape the Altman template and fails, it's in Boogie Nights.

I like shortcuts quite a bit, but Magnolia has an emotional ~~depth~~ hysteria that Altman cannot touch.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 1 June 2006 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

Is it just a rewritten "My Idaho Home"?

I wondered the same, but it appears to be credited to Keillor, no Ronee Blakley.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 1 June 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

But it's hard for me to fathom him as being overrated when even his defenders usually call him "uneven."

I don't think he's particularly highly rated at all. Maybe by some critics, but probably not even by the majority. I'm sure the average joe on the street has no clue who he is and would probably only recognize a few of Altman's films if you rattled off a list.

I'm a fan of Altman's process as much as (if not more than) the finished products. I can appreciate the parts even when they're radically superior to the whole. I'm more interested in rewatching some of Altman's lesser movies than I am in rewatching some movies that I've actually liked.

And, yes, I am aware that this probably places me in the minority.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Thursday, 1 June 2006 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

nah I'm totally in the same camp Deric - I really dig Altman's method and his work ethic. Like Woody Allen, even when the results suck I am still curious to see what he's trying to do and whether or not there are good ideas in there somewhere.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 1 June 2006 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

"If PTA tries to ape the Altman template and fails, it's in Boogie Nights."

I thought it was more of a "Goodfellas" rip myself.

― Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Thursday, 1 June 2006 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

"boogie nights" was definitely a goodfellas rip. difference being that while scorsese was actually making a film about life in the mob, pta wasn't really interested in the porn business at all, it almost seemed to be used just because it was a world/unused setting that one could easily transpose the goodfellas formula/template onto.

― gear (gear), Thursday, 1 June 2006 21:24 (nineteen years ago)

gear OTM. also you Magnolia lovers are nuts.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 1 June 2006 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

short cuts > grand canyon > magnolia > crash

― remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 1 June 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

Everything ever >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Crash

I feel pretty much the same way about P.T. Anderson and Altman. Well, I like them both, if for slightly different reasons. I think Anderson is really talented and I appreciate what he tries to do. Boogie Nights is fucking awesome (nuts to all haters), but it doesn't seem like he's had much focus since then. Maybe he needs to put out a movie every year or two like Altman. He probably spends way more time than necessary fucking around and doing blow or whatever instead of making stuff. Do that shit on set, like Altman, dude!

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Thursday, 1 June 2006 23:29 (nineteen years ago)

In other words, Anderson needs to emulate Altman's work ethic more than his aesthetic (which, TBH, I don't think he does to that great of an extent).

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Thursday, 1 June 2006 23:30 (nineteen years ago)

who cares about "process" when the results are weak?

fwiw i'm not *that* big on 'magnolia' but i simply don't see the point of 'short cuts'; why go to carver if all you're going to take is the "plots"?

PTA is so vocal in his altman love that he almost wills the comparison -- but indeed 'boogie nights' is total 'goodfellas'.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 07:27 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, maybe it is. I sort of snoozed through a lot of Goodfellas.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 2 June 2006 07:46 (nineteen years ago)

WTF!!!???

i've seen that film about 28 times.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 07:53 (nineteen years ago)

why go to carver if all you're going to take is the "plots"?

this is OTM but not just that: why transpose the bulk of the stories to wealthy urbanites? do they not carry enough weight for you if they are about working class blue collar types? it's offensive, frankly. carver's work is totally tied up with the social class and background of his characters. the one section that is fairly true to carver is that chris penn section.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 09:36 (nineteen years ago)

To be more like Altman, Anderson would have to make films about people instead of camera movement and pop tunes.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 12:11 (nineteen years ago)

I keep geeting the impression from the Altman fans that, to be more like Altman, Anderson would have to make films about process.

And Schwab.

SCHWAB!

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Friday, 2 June 2006 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

altman's films are too often 'about' actors.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 12:23 (nineteen years ago)

I see nothing in PT Barnum's film's but process (except for Hard Eight -- that had some life in it).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 12:38 (nineteen years ago)

i see pta and his concerns refracted through most of his characters, which is in some ways a failing, i guess, but he seems more engaged with the material than alt.man. i like that they're a bit gauche.

i don't know how you measure the life-content in films tho :-(.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 12:42 (nineteen years ago)

pret a porter>>>>>>>>>short cuts

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Friday, 2 June 2006 12:44 (nineteen years ago)

act like you know, rico

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

So are we now working on a schematic where if a film has lots of characters, we should compare them?* Where does X-Men 2 fit into this? Mean Girls has lots of people AND Lindsay Lohan!

* The Boogie Nights/Goodfellas one is interesting tho

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

the 'short cuts'/'magnolia' comparison comes down to big cast / LA / interlocking stories / julianne moore, but also just PTA talking up altman.

in terms of sensibility he's nothing like altman or scorsese, but 'goodfellas' and 'boogie nights' share a "80s = EVIL" thing, and stuff like dirk going back to burt reynolds at the end is just done v similar to henry going back to paulie (though there's no happy end there).

and the travelling shots + pop music thing (opening shot of 'boogie nights' is a lot like the 'then he kissed me' shot in 'goodfellas') but well, ya know, it's all good, they're both great bits of filmmaking.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

who cares about "process" when the results are weak?

I guess if you're only in it for a good time, there isn't much point in investing in Altman. I'm interested in the process because Altman works more instinctively than (or at least differently than) most Hollywood directors. His lack of predictability doesn't always offer up an awesome movie, but the results are almost always interesting.

I like Altman's attempt to create a sense of naturalism even within his more stylized films. I like that he relinquishes a measure of control to the actors, and I like the way that this imbues multiple facets upon his films. If multiple actors are on screen at a given time, they are often doing/saying a number of different things specific to their respective characters rather than just standing around and filling the background. Forgive me for momentarily munching granola, but I really dig that communal approach to filmmaking, maaaaan. Things like that make Altman's movies richer. They seem more immersive to me than most films, and they reward multiple viewings more often as a result.

For the record, Short Cuts isn't one of my favorite Altman films. But, for anyone who's familiar with the way he uses a script, it shouldn't be surprising that he's ditched most of the source material. Altman is an actor's best friend and a writer's worst enemy, and any writer that works with him should know by now (given his track record) that their original script is not going to make it to the screen without some serious alterations. For what it's worth, Carver's widow is one of the few people who've professed satisfaction with Altman's translation. I guess you could argue that it doesn't matter since she's not the actual writer. I would argue that, knowing Altman's track record, it's kind of silly to even compare Short Cuts with Carver's work (despite the great lengths that Criterion went to to make the link). Expect Keillor fans to be up in arms v. soon.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:47 (nineteen years ago)

pret a porter>>>>>>>>>short cuts

OTM

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

it's kind of silly to even compare Short Cuts with Carver's work (despite the great lengths that Criterion went to to make the link).

this is ludicrous.

Pret A Porter is one of the worst films ever made.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

CAPRA VS LYNCH

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

i'll take writers over actors, usually -- and i'm a pretty good actor!

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:54 (nineteen years ago)

LANG VS JACKSON

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:54 (nineteen years ago)

uh, lang.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:55 (nineteen years ago)

No, jed, it actually isn't all that ludicrous. Look at Altman's history with writers and source material. If you go to an Altman film expecting a straight adaptation of anything, you can prepare to be disappointed. So it really is better to just consider it on its own terms. Or dismiss it entirely. Whichever you so choose.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 13:57 (nineteen years ago)

but the plot is made from bits of carver. if you fuck with it, you risk losing the point of the stories. now you *might* gain something, or you *might* make a comment on the source (as with 'the long goodbye'). but you might also just end up with lots of bits of business that don't really communicate anything, so far as i can see.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:00 (nineteen years ago)

"Ludicrous" is going through the Carver-centric materials in the Criterion disc and trying to discern how on earth Short Cuts is meant to be an adaptation of his work.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:00 (nineteen years ago)

Pret A Porter is fucking horrible, what the hell?

― elmo argonaut (allocryptic), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:02 (nineteen years ago)

I'd argue the same thing, Enrique. I think he would've done better to make a similar movie that was all his own rather than transposing and linking the plots of those particular stories.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:02 (nineteen years ago)

My favorite Pret-a-Porter related thing, because it was so awful -- a reshot video for "Here Comes the Hotstepper," which was tacked onto the soundtrack about a year after it was a hit, featuring Ini Kamoze horribly blue-screened into bits from the film. He looked embarrassed to be involved.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:04 (nineteen years ago)

Regarding Short Cuts (again): I'm guessing that Altman was just a little too keen at the time to make a BIG movie again and he inadvisably leapt on the first thing that came his way.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:05 (nineteen years ago)

enrique OTM. carver's stories actually don't have very much to them, if someone gives you a basic sketch of one of them, so they only gain meaning from the specificity of the characters lives and social positions, if you decide to set one of them in the hollywood hills... well. why would you!?!?!!!!

it's kind of silly to even compare Short Cuts with Carver's work (despite the great lengths that Criterion went to to make the link).

haha. oh boy. that's quite a stretch. great lengths indeed.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pbBwKoZlFg&search=here%20come%20the%20hotstepper

HERE COME TEH HOTSTEPPER

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

that's something i never thought i'd hear again.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

the diff b/w altman and pta is a sizable one: altman makes movies about the subject matter and pta makes movies about himself. boogie nights, magnolia and punch drunk love (not so much hard eight, which was just pta in his old = cool phase) are all movies about him and his family and the many nuances of his ego. i like these movies in a general sort of way -- pdl most of all and sections of boogie nights -- but they really don't interact with their characters/subject matter all that much. morbs sez derisively "camerawork + soundtrack" but that's just the gussing up of what his movies really are which is public psychoanalysis/self-fellatio. and again i can't fucking judge him for this cuz i mean who wouldn't do the same? but altman still has that hired gun mindset, i think, coming up in that weird cusp b/w old hollywood and "new hollywood" (not to be confused w/ pta's nu-hollywood) and just making movies how he wanted whenever he could get the cash and letting people label him an auteur after the fact. altman's movies are often shit for sure, but still he's one of my three or four favorite filmmakers thanks to mash, long goodbye, three women, mccabe, short cuts, etc. and eric is right to bring up boogie nights in relation to short cuts cuz doesn't boogie nights have several overlapping dialogue scenes ie the easiest altman pastiche known to man?

also i fully expect prairie home companion to be boring and provincial but i'll prolly see it eventually anyway despite being physically frightened by garrison keillor's face (like gary sinese in men in black only like 500,000,000 years older).

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

jams otm mostly.

i don't think altman invented overlapping dialogue though, and i don't think there's much of it in 'boogie nights'.

also re. subject vs self-fellatio -- this is some tricky shit. is 'mash' really about korea, or about army hospitals? is 'the long goodbye' about private detectives? i think it's good -- up to a point -- that pta makes films with a high level of personal investment. it gives an element of truth to the exchanges between dirk and his mom, for example.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

Jams, you're not on the list for a screening, already? ;)

I don't understand what "personal investment" is; I've seen lots of art that someone's 'poured their heart and soul into' that's just terrible. I wish they'd just stick with a therapist or confessor.

The last scene of Boogie Nights = last scene of Raging Bull + dildo.

I will take Cookie's Fortune or The Gingerbread Man over most directors' output.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

I don't understand what "personal investment" is; I've seen lots of art that someone's 'poured their heart and soul into' that's just terrible.

WAY TO GENERALIZE

I will take Cookie's Fortune or The Gingerbread Man over most directors' output.

oh ok, why didn't you just say you were on the crack in the first place?

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

haha

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

I detest Beyond Therapy and O.C. and Stiggs, mmkay?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:27 (nineteen years ago)

jed, are you going to actually read what I wrote in response or just keep quoting and mocking the same line over and over?

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

I had to go to IMDB for Gingerbread Man, 'cause I couldn't even remember it. Turns out that IMDB is a little confused about which film it is, too.

As to Goodfellas, Scorsese is maybe the one director where I end up just getting bored by all the showboating... and Goodfellas is the apex of this malady. And I say that as a big De Palma fan.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

Oh wow that IMDB link is priceless.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

If reading Carver's stories is a prerequisite for dismissing Short Cuts, then I guess I'm glad to have not read his stuff yet.

Top 4 Altmans (chronologically): The Long Goodbye, Nashville, 3 Women, The Company

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

i see that it had famke jannsen in it, so could be worth re-visiting, but afai remember it was pretty standard-issue grisham stuff with some 'off-key' character business from branagh and downey jr.

i can't imagine not liking 'goodfellas' so cannot engage with you on that point.

xpost

carver = ROXOR

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

(err... that should've read "top 4 Altmans in addition to Short Cuts," but I guess that was implied)

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

i can't imagine not liking 'goodfellas' so cannot engage with you on that point.

Or many others, afaik.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:39 (nineteen years ago)

deric, i read it. you can't get away from the fact that the film in a carver adaptation & it's asking too much that i just ignore that. short cuts was trumpeted as an adaptation from the off and altman did a fair bit of publicity at the time talking about carver. as enrq says, why even bother doing it if all you're going to keep is the plots? they're the least interesting bits of the stories. also it's not a stretch in any way to compare the film and the stories, it's all there, in terms of action, just in completely the wrong way. the idea of andie macdowell and matthew modine as carver characters is preposterous and also lazy.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:39 (nineteen years ago)

(x-post) Sorry, don't mean to flame (should be packing since I leave in 45 minutes), but I have a vague recollection of you dissing many of my favorite directors, Sirk, et al.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

yeah i know :D

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:41 (nineteen years ago)

Not that I'm one to hold a grudge, or anything.

i.e. I'll read those Carver stories someday.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:42 (nineteen years ago)

xxxpost

I'm not disagreeing with you, jed, and I'm certainly not saying that much was gained by Altman's tweaking of Carver's work. I'm just saying that none of this should've come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Altman's history with his source material.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

maybe you don't have to read carver to dismiss SC, i'm sure it's quite possible to do it without but it's been 12 years since i saw it and there's no way i'm revisiting it.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

hi guys, if you want to talk about Altman generally, there is a thread for that

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

i'm not a mahoosive scorsese fan, just have childhood attachment to 'goodfellas' innit. i could see its flaws if i wanted to, i guess, but until there's a pressing need...

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

xxxpost (this thread is filling up!)

And that there isn't much to be gained (aside from frustration) by comparing an Altman film with the original source.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

i remember the film provoking a very strong reaction (against) in me, so maybe that's a good thing. FWIW i really like "3 Women" & "Vincent and Theo".

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

I think this discussion is relevant, gabneb. It's a prelude to the Keillor fans complaining about how much Altman's movie departs from the radio version of PHC.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:48 (nineteen years ago)

i'm trying to figure out if 'popeye' would even make sense w.out knowledge of, you know, popeye!

like "what the fuck is it with this guy?!"

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

that is one weird movie.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:51 (nineteen years ago)

Popeye would hardly make sense if you're infinitely familiar with the character.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, I'm an APHC fan. but i don't see what 3 Women vs. Short Cuts has to do with this movie

anyway, i am interested in the question of how Keillor fans react to the movie (and how Altman fans react to APHC). did that issue come into the filmmaking explicitly? did Keillor offer himself up wholly to Altman or were concessions made? are the actors using Altman for their vehicle? was it more of a game of chicken?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

Gingerbread: Not having read Grisham i dunno, but "pretty standard-issue grisham stuff" seems unthinkable (ie, Altman didn't care about the plot and I was grateful).

Eric and I are opposite re 'showboating' in De Palma and Goodfellas -- Scorsese uses the dazzle to seduce, and it's the story of a seduction. (tho I finally saw Carrie and liked it)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

if you didn't know altman had directed it 'the gingerbread man' would've gone under your radar (and rightly so).

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Friday, 2 June 2006 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

I'd be interested in hearing Keillor's side of things. This is one of the few occasions when the writer of one of Altman's projects has been intimately involved in the process (the only other one I can think of off the top of my head is Tanner '88 / Tanner On Tanner). It seems, therefore, that the chances of it lining up with the original is better than usual. Or: Keillor is super-cool with Altman fucking up his world.

I guess it's all just speculation until someone sees the thing. Is the release date today? Next week? I'll look it up.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Friday, 2 June 2006 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

I like shortcuts quite a bit, but Magnolia has an emotional ~~depth~~ hysteria that Altman cannot touch.

-- Eric H. (ephende...), June 1st, 2006.

OTM, is there a character in Magnolia that doesn't break down sobbing?

― Edward III (edward iii), Friday, 2 June 2006 15:17 (nineteen years ago)

if you didn't know altman had directed it 'the gingerbread man' would've gone under your radar (and rightly so).

Yeah, but one could say the same of APHC -- so? I like cloak & dagger shit when someone takes an offkilter approach too, like Apted's Gorky Park, but I'd never read one of those novels. Maybe Altman should've done a 007 film.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 June 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

when Altman described it as a movie about death, Keillor described it essentially as a light comedy and musical revue, a collaboration by the participants. it was unclear, however, whether they actually differed, though, or whether Keillor was coming up with better ad copy.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 2 June 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

did Short Cuts really transplant Carver's characters to upscale environs? Most of the characters I remember from the film - Buck Henry, Lily Tomlin + Tom Waits, Chris Penn + JJ Leigh, Huey Lewis, Tim Robbins' cop, Lyle Lovett - are all pretty working class...? Tho I will readily concede that Altman otherwise took massive liberties with the source material, as is his modus operandi as noted by Deric.

and yeah Boogie Nights = Scorsese, obviously. There are certain scenes (the long tracking shot intro of the characters, the 80s coke montage, the final mirror monologue, etc) that look and feel like their directly cribbed from Scorses. Menace II Society takes a similar tack (ie, lifting from Marty and just setting it in a different milieu)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 2 June 2006 15:21 (nineteen years ago)

possibly when you get to altman's age every movie you make would be "a film about death".

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

most things are about death.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 2 June 2006 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

"and yeah Boogie Nights = Scorsese, obviously. There are certain scenes (the long tracking shot intro of the characters, the 80s coke montage, the final mirror monologue, etc) that look and feel like their directly cribbed from Scorses."

There's even a deleted scene from Boogie Nights (The sequence w/"Tusk" wherein Dirk wrecks his Vette) that's practically a parody of the Helicopter sequence in Goodfellas.

― Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Friday, 2 June 2006 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

gear nailed it elsewhere: paul harvey pisses all over keillor.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:29 (nineteen years ago)

true dat. GOOD DAY

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

wow, Ed Lachman (Far from Heaven, The Virgin Suicides, The Limey, Desperately Seeking Susan) was cinematographer. That excites me.

Stuart Klawans: "the bounciest, cheeriest musical I've ever seen on the subject of death and failure."

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 5 June 2006 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

this is his Eyes Wide Shut?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 8 June 2006 21:04 (nineteen years ago)

I will take Cookie's Fortune or The Gingerbread Man over most directors' output.

The other day a friend and I remembered the great throwaway scene in which two women at a bar, watching Robert Downey, Jr being called away, look at each other and say, "Is he coming back?" and promptly start making out.

The best scene in movie history.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 8 June 2006 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

nuke thread from orbit

-- s1ocki (slytus...), May 31st, 2006.

otm, it's the only way to be sure.

― latebloomer's potater chip of the proletariat (latebloomer), Thursday, 8 June 2006 22:45 (nineteen years ago)

str8 to nerd lolz

― latebloomer's potater chip of the proletariat (latebloomer), Thursday, 8 June 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.tribute.ca/tribute_objects/images/movies/total_recall/totalrecall2.jpg

― chaki (chaki), Thursday, 8 June 2006 23:16 (nineteen years ago)

Garrison Keillor's review of Harper Lee's biography was very funny. Funny in the sense that you could imagine him speaking it and in the sense that it was the perfect low key, even handed rejoinder to the other review that I read, perhaps also in the Times, but I'm not sure.

― youn (youn), Sunday, 11 June 2006 01:11 (nineteen years ago)

Okay, I saw it tonight. Still not sure how to react. I mean, I guess I enjoyed it -- I'm a Keillor fan -- but it was a pretty strange beast. Essentially it felt like a film of the radio show. The "narrative" felt pretty thin and the characterization was typical for Keillor, I'd say: "caricaturization." Then there was the weird death thing running through it, which mostly didn't work (I am reminded of a Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, which also ran a strange surreal thread through an otherwise normal film, but did so more successfully.) I'll have to think about what was Altman-esque about it tomorrow... too sleepy now.

P.S. I was also about 15 years younger than anyone else in the theater, and I'm not that young.

P.P.S. Lindsey Lohan remains quite attractive when she's not caught up in her real life.

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Sunday, 11 June 2006 01:56 (nineteen years ago)

As noted above, I acknowledge (despite being a huge fan) that Altman's films can fall anywhere on the continuum between brilliance and shit. Also, I'm not really the biggest fan of Keillor's stuff. That said, I went in with no expectations and was very pleasantly surprised. It was a lovely film and one of the few Altman movies that I'd recommend to the uninitiated.

Now that I think on it, Altman hasn't had a dud since Dr. T & The Women. I'd like to see him continue this winning streak (was pleasantly surprised to discover today that this won't be his last film, assuming that he survives to finish his Hands On A Hardbody adaptation).

Mitya, the narrative anemia is as Altman-esque as it gets. I can't think of more than a couple of his films that operate on anything resembling traditional three-act narrative terms. His films usually operate more as extended vignettes than novels. Basically, Altman isn't interested in clearly defined plotlines or arcs and I don't think his films can be faulted for that lack. It's hard to fail at something you're not attempting to achieve in the first place. I can't tell if you meant that as a criticism or not, but I thought I'd just point that out.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Sunday, 11 June 2006 05:23 (nineteen years ago)

P.S. I was also about 15 years younger than anyone else in the theater, and I'm not that young.

I saw it last night and noticed this too (and I'm 40!)

I guess I enjoyed it also... I'm neutral about Keillor - I don't mind him, but his implied non-sentimental sentimentality gets on my nerves. Just for once, I'd like to see him pull a Jean Shepherd and really flip out about something, but I suppose that's the difference between the weathered wood-paneling of St. Paul now and a cigarette-filled NYC of the 1960s.

Altman always has some off-screen voices going - the PA system in M*A*S*H, the radio/television broadcasts in Brewster McCloud, the guy in The Player ranting about Touch Of Evil and the PHC movie is all that. Like Mitya mentioned, the death characters (Jones, Madsen) didn't really flow with the rest of the movie.

I want to hear a full-length Dusty & Lefty record now.

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Sunday, 11 June 2006 23:34 (nineteen years ago)

I saw this last night at a very large, packed theatre. The screenwriter is from here (Columbia, MO) and was in attendance. After giving away a poster signed by the cast and a blanket used in the film, the film played. Afterwards, the screenwriter answered questions...I'm trying to think what was memorable.

He said that despite the fact that the film was relatively cheap and had a star-studded cast, they didn't get the full green light for the film until Lindsay Lohan joined. Also, Michelle Pfeiffer was going to play Virginia Madsen's part, but filming was pushed back so far that she couldn't do it.

― Tape Store (Tape Store), Monday, 12 June 2006 04:56 (nineteen years ago)

I can't tell if you meant that as a criticism or not

I was just kind of thinking aloud. I guess the lack of a narrative per se doesn't bother me, but rather -- speaking from the vantage of the closing credits -- the way they tied Death and The Axeman together at the end made it seem like that was somehow the "plot," and it wasn't very good.

Somehow it seemed obivous, even while the film was in production, that Lohan was key to the business aspect of the film. She did fine, though, except perhaps for her solo scene with Keillor, when I cringed a bit.

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Monday, 12 June 2006 08:56 (nineteen years ago)

I guess I should be sad that Altman "needs" Lohan to make a movie today, but I know he "needed" Neve to make The Company...

To say nothing of that 30-year-old's heart he also "needed."

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 12 June 2006 15:55 (nineteen years ago)

There was a good movie buried in amongst the Keillor screentime, if you eliminate half the musical numbers. Death alone would have worked (esp. with the ending) but Axeman was completely irrelevant (what was the point of him listening and then getting killed?).

― milo z (mlp), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 00:43 (nineteen years ago)

shows that some things are inevitable no matter who you call upon for help -- even death

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 00:59 (nineteen years ago)

milo: poll screwup and Spoiler King.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 12:27 (nineteen years ago)

The Death character was really, really poorly done, in my opinion. I'd rather she be left out; there was only one scene she was in that seemed at all interesting or even well thought out (the one with Keillor). It just didn't flow at all with the movie, and I guess if I had to choose which movie I preferred out of the multiple strands of movies, it wasn't the one with Virginia Madsen and Kevin Kline.

― Allyzay will never stop making pancakes (allyzay), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

The character of Death was almost as poorly executed as Guy Noir. The only thing fun about the movie were the musical numbers and the watching actors enjoy the banter and the rambling stories. Also, the shortcut joke was good.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

Ooh and the penguin joke killed me. Ha!

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

Oh haha yeah that was pretty good actually. The whole bad jokes song was great, I'd probably watch a whole movie of the Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly characters.

― Allyzay will never stop making pancakes (allyzay), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:15 (nineteen years ago)

Oh Morbius btw it's not really much of a spoiler. The film is pretty slight, first of all (that isn't meant as an insult), what there is of a plot per se has already been mostly spoiled by many reviews. And the Axeman character is actually pretty minor, only very briefly in the film. Though yeah still party foul posting it up like that.

― Allyzay will never stop making pancakes (allyzay), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:20 (nineteen years ago)

Death improved when I imagined Keillor narrating the story as if written for radio. The scenes about actual death and the other character's reactions to death were fine, but much of what Keillor attempted didn't translate to the screen. It was much better when characters just told the stories, you know, like radio.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:25 (nineteen years ago)

And that's when Altman's style worked best, too.

― Fluffy Bear (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 20 June 2006 13:26 (nineteen years ago)

I am decidedly not a Keillor fan. It was an agreeable, minor work, on the Cookie's Fortune scheme of things. Best bits: Woody and John C. Reilly's dirty jokes skit, Kevin Kline (whose character begins as an irritating conceit, until you're charmed by the polish of his performance) at the bar, Streep and Tomlin reminiscin' about their momma.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 23 June 2006 01:12 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

Fluffy Bear generally OTM. This was more than OK, with Streep/Tomlin and Harrelson/Reilly esp compensating for Kline and the heavyhanded Death stuff, but it's no Gingerbread Man.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

I love this movie unreservedly.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 04:05 (nineteen years ago)

if you think Kline/Madsen were in the wrong movie, you missed the whole point

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 04:09 (nineteen years ago)

or you're Lindsay Lohan's age

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 04:10 (nineteen years ago)

I kept coming back to Xgau-on-Lucinda "Death is how she knows the world is sweet" (more contempo than "gather ye rosebuds") until the very end when I was reminded of Xgau-on Bruce "finally acknowledges that among other things, getting old is a good joke."

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 04:15 (nineteen years ago)

I needed my friend to point out that Altman didn't want to be put in a museum.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 04:16 (nineteen years ago)

anyway, Lohan was wonderful (maybe only 98% on-point but that's sorta the idea)*, Harrelson and Madsen perfectly-cast, Streep and Tomlin almost regal in bearing, and I actually liked-not-just-appreciated Reilly for once. all I could have asked for was 5 more minutes of Robin and Linda Williams.

*though serious props (ha) to whichever production person created her composition book margin notes

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 04:26 (nineteen years ago)

I admit it helped to watch the Charlie Rose in which among other things Keillor talked about the disappearing rural radio stations you hear over the opening credits.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 04:35 (nineteen years ago)

shut up, gabbneb, I agree with Dr Morbius for the first time in the historyof the human race

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Saturday, 22 July 2006 08:49 (nineteen years ago)

I would like to thank Robert Alman for making Woody Harrelson sexy.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 22 July 2006 12:09 (nineteen years ago)

since when is Dr Morbius right about movies?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 13:39 (nineteen years ago)

gabbneb in 'Mainstream' Dem Loves Keillor SHOCKAH!

c'mon Tombot, we both loved Kung Fu Hustle!

Woody Harrelson has ALWAYS been hot, Alfred. (seen The Hi-Lo Country? THAT shoulda been the Gay Cowboy Movie.)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 22 July 2006 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

the down-low country!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 22 July 2006 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

wait, that WAS brokeback mtn.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 22 July 2006 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

Eh. The closest thing he came to sparking me was in White Men Can't Jump, and Ron Shelton, a normally clever man, allowed him to hook up with Rosie Perez instead of Wesley Snipes.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 22 July 2006 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

can we talk more about woody harleson being hot

― anthony easton (anthony), Saturday, 22 July 2006 16:21 (nineteen years ago)

Are you sure you're not talking about The Cowboy Way?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 22 July 2006 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

I think what I like about the movie has as much to do with RA as it does with GK, DM

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

Dave Matthews?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 22 July 2006 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

Des Moines?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 22 July 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

dying men?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 22 July 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 22 July 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

dr. Morbius, will you watch Gabrielle again?

― youn (youn), Saturday, 22 July 2006 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

oui

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 24 July 2006 12:14 (nineteen years ago)

Thinking Kline/Madsen was poorly done/acted/written is not the same thing as "missing the point."

― Allyzay will never stop making pancakes (allyzay), Monday, 24 July 2006 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 24 July 2006 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

I know Kline is pushing 60, but his pratfall over the bar was really clumsy. His perf was irritating in a similar way to his Falstaff I saw onstage a couple years ago: haughty, detached and self-congratulatory.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 24 July 2006 13:30 (nineteen years ago)

The conceit was foolish, but even the pratfall was done with finesse.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 24 July 2006 14:00 (nineteen years ago)

I wish GK had done the same thing at some point in the film.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 04:59 (nineteen years ago)

I keep thinking that Wim Wenders directed this movie.

This is a fun thread!

I grew up listening to Prarie Home Companion and I loved it. I didn't understand a lot of it, but I loved it anyway. Not understanding stuff was probably a big reason why I loved it, actually. So it was a little like Mad Magazine that way. So, really, being Lindsey Lohan's age would not be a hindrance to loving PHC, I don't think.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 09:05 (nineteen years ago)

Actually I mainly liked it because they did fake advertisements, and so did Mad Magazine sometimes, and so did I, with my friends, with a tape recorder.

"The Deep Valley Bed - our center trough makes it easier to clean up the cracker crumbs"

Do they have the Powdermilk Biscuits theme song in the movie, or do they use "You see me comin, down the avenue" or whatever?

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 09:53 (nineteen years ago)

They use the intro and a fair number of other elements from the show. Powdermik biscuits are mentioned but not sung about, some things are sacred.

When I say 21 year olds might not get it, I'm echoing movie themes about getting old and disappearing ways. That doesn't mean they wouldn't enjoy it.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 10:43 (nineteen years ago)

I just figured you were holding true to the "It Wouldn't Be An ILX Film Thread Without SOMEONE Making A Horrifingly Condescending Remark" maxim, actually.

― Allyzay will never stop making pancakes (allyzay), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 14:02 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know whether it's condescending or not; it might be. But I do think that the movie is about old age and old traditions and seems to say via Lohan that your average young person is from a different world. It's not saying that young people are bad.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 25 July 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

eleven months pass...

new angle for y'all - on charlie rose, altman described it as a movie about death

Boy howdy isn't THAT true: it just keeps winding through every single thing here.

I was going to say more about that, but after skimming the thread I'm more amazed by this idea that APHC is in some way about the "unwashed masses" or somehow "condescending." For a second I thought maybe you just had to be part Midwestern to follow the tone (geez, NYC feels like more of an "unwashed mass" to me than what GK shoots for), but no, that's not necessary at all: surely MOST people have some experience of a quaint regional culture? To which most people react with the same kind of fond joshing and deep-down loyalty that goes into this stuff. And the same fond joshing and deep-down loyalty you direct toward the elderly and out-of-touch and funnily-behaved in your own clan, which is just one of about a hundred reasons the death stuff maps so neatly onto this.

― nabisco, Sunday, 1 July 2007 01:57 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

i think the death element is fairly apparent, and incredibly moving.

boy if this movie ain't the best way to wake up in the morning :)

― you have to forgive me (surm), Friday, 19 February 2010 14:12 (fifteen years ago)

eight years pass...

There’s this grim serious stuff, encroaching death, and then Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly come out and do their “Bad Jokes” song and that’s how it works.

― ... (Eazy), Saturday, 4 August 2018 16:16 (seven years ago)

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