At The Movies

Third Tuesday Movie Day

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Movie of the Month: Last of the Mohicans (1992, Michael Mann)

I didn't just see this movie. I probably saw it the year it came out, and many times thereafter.

As would be obvious even if you guys didn't know I was an aspiring writer, if a script doesn't capture me, I generally bail. This seemed like an interesting study to me specifically because I greatly enjoy this film despite a script that's just pacing death.

Most of this movie crawls painfully slowly, but every shot is art, the lead acting is beyond reproach (ask me who my favorite actor is, and on many days I'll say Daniel Day-Lewis) and the soundtrack boasts an unforgettable theme that I spin on a regular basis, particularly while writing.

A script is many things, however: I think a lot of laymen (I would never accuse the Citizenry to be among this group) tend to think of a script solely as the words that the characters say - and to be sure, there are some funny ideas out there, such as the one where some folks think that TV writers only write for one character - but of course, Michael Mann can't just produce a good film out of thin air. He's got style in spades, but the script still had to provide goals, motivations and characters worth investing in to work. I desperately think this script needed a rewrite, but I really like the film nonetheless, and use it to remind myself that there are a lot of ways to make a great movie.

What have you seen?

75 thoughts on “Third Tuesday Movie Day”

  2. Watched season one of Justified last month. My gosh I love me some Boyd Crowder. I don't think there has ever been a TV character who consistently was forced to wear such unflattering, ill-fitting costumers as Bo Crowder. The only problem is that I kept waiting for him to say, "Just give us the boy."

    Also watched Babel. A few thought-provoking or interesting scenes mixed with a lot of "meh" in which the audience is supposed to feel good about observing the rest of the world. Way too openly manipulative for my tastes. I also saw The Help when Sheenie picked it up off Netflix. Again, it seemed too manipulative and completely unsubtle.

  3. Anyone else watching Downton Abbey. MiL provided us with Series 1 and 2 on DVD, (which is so odd as the last episode of Series 2 first aired on PBS on Sunday night, hours after she got it to our house, and she had already watched them all). We're through episode 4 of Series 2.

    So many things are great about this show. Sometimes I need to rewind just to take in how the shots were framed: characters in the background or unfocused foreground are doing things, too, and it is relevant to the story, although I haven't noticed until re-watchings.

    The energy of the servants has helped inspire me to be more helpful to my wife as she heals from the C-section.

    1. The missus and I just finished Season (that's right, I said season) 1. Now I wish I had DVR'd the 2nd season as it was going on because it doesn't appear the TPT is running a marathon anytime soon.

      1. You can watch season 2 on PBS.com. That's what my wife did to get ready for Sunday's season Finale.

      2. Right there on the case of the DVDs, it says "Series ..." Well crap, "Season 2", as if it's a US show.
        We checked imdb or wikipedia last night to make sure that our set had all of the episodes, so that's why I'm thinking "Series".
        Also, it says "Original UK Edition" but then Laura Linney's telling us how awesome it is at the beginning.

  4. Oscars on Sunday - Of the nominees, I've seen:

    The Help
    Tree of Life
    Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
    Rango
    The Muppets     (best song)
    Planet of the Apes (visual effects)

    oof, apparently I missed a few good movies this year.

  5. I finally started watching Parks and Rec. I'm about 25% through season 2, but Ron Swanson's hernia was maybe the funniest television I've ever seen. But, in between doing that we watched a documentary on Pixar and I realized there's a few I haven't seen and some I haven't seen in a long, long time. So I watched Finding Nemo last week and Monster's Inc. this past weekend. I had a phone interview the other day and at the end, they asked me what the last movie I saw was, then laughed and asked if alcohol was involved when I said Finding Nemo. I found that..... interesting.

    1. I love, LOVE Pixar movies, but despite 4 or 5 times watching it, I really dislike Finding Nemo. Not sure why but it just never ever worked for me.

      1. I thought the lead character was pretty weak, but enjoyed the most of the rest of it. It isn't my favorite, certainly.

        1. I don't like the main characters in Finding Nemo, but I enjoy the story. I'd be a little worried about working for/with people who think you have to be drunk to watch it, though.

    2. its crazy how Parks and Rec has changed from the first season to now. I enjoyed Season 1 and The Pit problem, (Im in a minority opinion about season 1) but the retooled Season 3 is just killer tv. The Community/Parks and Rec combo is my favorite hour of television. As much as S3 was rocking, the ambitions/creativity of S2 Community slides that show on top of my 'favorite tv shows' list

  6. Saw Deliverance a couple of weeks ago. I'd seen it of course, but many many years ago. Talk about a tense, taut thriller. Even though you know what happens, the movie just draws you in. Highly recommended.

    I also saw Velvet Goldmine a couple of weeks ago and thought it was great. About the glam rock scene with some pretty obvious references to David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, etc. The story was a little disjointed but the set musical pieces and costuming were great (I think it won an Oscar for costumes).

    Finally we saw the oscar nominated live action shorts a week or so ago. If you are in an Oscar pool I would go with the film from Denmark. Stay away from the two Irish nominees.

  7. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Better than I expected. I can't imagine many people enjoying it who haven't read the series. Laughed a lot, but I felt like they spent more time cramming in references from the book than giving the story any heart.

    Y Tu Mama Tambien: Don't know if this was a Netflix thing or what, but the subtitling was in bright yellow, never moved from the bottom of the screen, even if the background was yellow or white. With my glasses I have 20/10 vision and needed to be 3 feet from the TV to read the damn thing. That aside, I quite enjoyed the film. While I wasn't particularly moved by any of the characters, they felt like real human beings. And they made me laugh several times.

    A Fish Called Wanda: I'm not a huge fan of farce, but this is how you do it. Strong performances all around.

    1. Lots of people who HAD read the books hated HGttG. Adams did have a hand in the screenplay, so it's not like someone hacked it after Adams died, but people still think the movie did Adams an injustice. I thought the movie was fine, and it DID have Zooey in it.

      1. Injustice? That makes the movie sound way more important than it should be. I think Adams would have enjoyed it. FWIW, I don't personally know anybody who hated the movie.

        1. I know a couple who walked out on it, and think it was the worst movie they'd ever seen. I bite my tongue and don't go there.

          So many people are annoyed that every different presentation (radio, BBC series, movie, book) are different, but they don't realize that Adams was involved with them and how they evolved. They seem to think someone else made those changes, maybe against his will or something.

          1. Reminds me of Where the Wild Things Are, which I saw. (But did I mention it last month?)
            Had I not known that Sendak was involved, I would have been ticked with the liberties taken.

            Still:
            1. There should have been a Sea Monster before he got to the land.
            2. "Let the Wild Rumpus Start!"? WTF???

            Overall, it was good, but not as good as I wanted it to be.

            1. I would have been ticked with the liberties taken.

              I think moviegoers, as a rule, would be well served by setting this aside. A filmmaker has no obligation to the writer - he only has an obligation to the audience. I know that's putting it coldly, but that's really the way it's taught.

              1. Where the Wild Things Are is what, 15 pages long with about 7 words on each page? Clearly some liberties need to be taken to turn that into a viable movie. I have a very love/hate relationship with the guy, but I thought that Dave Eggers did a pretty good job with the WtWTA script (although I'm definitely with AMR on the start/begin thing, why would you even think to mess with the most iconic line in the book).

              2. I generally agree, but I think this and a few other children's books (Dr. Seuss) would be an exception to this, or should at least be treated more carefully.

                1. Despite their successes, Harry Potter and The Girl Who... series will be seen more by moviegoers than read as books. But Wild Things and Grinch, etc. will probably never be as watched as read.
                2. Being short books with illustrations, there isn't a question of how to get the whole story done in 150 minutes or less, but how to expand it to 85 minutes or more.
                3. Even for the adults watching it, there's more fondness for the original as it was.
                4. Being illustrated gives the filmmakers a rough idea for a few storyboards.

                I might expand my list of four, but I should get back to work.

                BTW, I absolutely loved how the opening was re-worked, and would have whether Sendak was dead, involved, or bought out and absolutely opposed: it didn't feel artificial. But on the island, the story was expanded in such a way that it was more like: Where the Wild Things Are 2: Return to Spooky Island.

                I've not watched the film versions of Seuss that were popular a decade-plus ago, as they looked horrible, and Wild Things wasn't as jarring as I've assumed those movies were. [Edit for clarification:] Likewise, Wild Things is not like Disney's milking its established franchises dry via their straight-to-video crap like Cinderellas 2 and 3 and Lion King 1.5.

                I hope the same people would go after "In the Night Kitchen", but that'd probably require too many underage penises.

                Still wanted just ten seconds of sea monster. Why did you let me down Spike Jonze?

                1. Related: I think Disney's done a decent job with the Pooh movies, but I think the books have a lot of jokes that are missing.

                  I think that the way the first movie started (as a featurization of several extant shorts) kindof required that if they weren't going to re-tell some of the stories, everything they'd have to do from that point

                  I'd love it if someone else could try a Pooh movie or two, more faithful to the source. But I know that Disney owns those rights now and won't let them go.

                  I've thought too much about this stuff: I want someone to attempt movie versions of Wanda Gag's books: Millions of Cats, The Funny Thing, and Nothing-At-All. What Jonze did with Wild Things would be the best I could imagine actually being made for the Gag books. Although in my mind, I want it to be three half-hour movies collected as one feature, with little additional dialogue, but I can't imagine anyone with the money to do that being willing to go a long with such a concept as likely to be commercially unsuccessful as all that.

                2. Whoa, In the Night Kitchen... I haven't thought about that book in years. I would love to see that airplane made of bread on the big screen. Although yeah, the bizarre amount of full-frontal nudity would be a major stumbling block.

        2. I know a lot of people who hated the movie, but sci-fi fans are hopeless dorks who have already decided they're going to hate a movie based on a book they love long before they see it. There were endless threads on how Ford couldn't be played by a black man, as if that was somehow important to his character.

          I just don't think Hitchhiker is all that accessible to film. Anything was going to come off as an "injustice" because the wit and fun is in the narration, and that's not the kind of thing you can film for two hours, although the movie put in as much as it could.

        3. I love the radio series and the books, and I thought the movie was fine. Not perfect, and not one of the greatest movies of all time, but fine. I don't know how much of it was changed or added after Adams passed away, but it seemed true enough to the spirit of the thing, and I have to think Adams would've approved of the final product.

  8. I love Last of the Mohicans. I have the soundtrack as well, it's my favorite CD. Although the movie spends too much time with people running through beautiful scenery and has too many longing glances set to great music, I really like the entirety of the movie. Great battle scenes, good backstories, good ending.

  9. I found some great deals on a couple of TV series. I bought Seasons 1,2,3 of NewsRadio on Amazon for a total of 15 bucks. I had totally forgotten about Stephen Root's 'Mr. James' character on the show. He cracks me up. Then I was at Dollar General the other day and happen to come across S4 of Seinfeld for $8

    As for movies, I havent watched too many of note lately, but I have The Cincinnati Kid (Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson) lined up in queue.

  10. The movies I've seen in the past month...

    The Edge - Yeah, I hadn't seen it. When my buddy cam eover for the weekend, this was th emovie he picke dout of everything in the netflix instant stream library. I didn't ge tit, either. It was okay, pretty damned self-satisfied, though.

    The Grey - Later that weekend, my buddy thought going to a movie would be fun, so we went to... another movie about being trapped in the Alaskan wilderness. To be fair, this one's a lot better, and has some pretty decent scenes. Weirdly, the main thing they're trying to hype this movie on (Liam Neeson punching wolves) ends up being the least interesting part about it.

    Crazy Stupid Love - This is the movie my wife insisted on that weekend. It was better than I thought it would be, mostly because of Gosling.

    Water For Elephants - Linds insisted on this one for Valentine's Day. Meh.

    Drive - Very very stylish. It broods and broods, only to be punctuated with shocking violence. I loved it in places, thought it a bit lacking in others. I get that Gosling (who's excellent in it) is supposed to be the silent type, but a couple of the scenes feel like the silence is tacked on, like a gimmick instead of a character trait. Overall, I really enjoyed it, though

    Also, Chuck ended. Sad.

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    1. I think The Edge is extremely underappreciated. Great performances, and some amazing dialogue. With Mamet, you'll always get "self-satisfied," though.

    2. I'm crazy about The Edge. Love every freaking minute of it. And what a brilliant, understated ending.

  11. It's been almost solely TV for me this month. There are times when I just don't feel like a movie will sate my appetite for a well-told story for some reason, and the last couple of months have been like that.

    Battlestar Galactica: after the middle of season two hit a horrible lull, it ended with a bang and season 3 has been exceptional every step of the way. I want to see how it ends, but I dread actually getting there. This is probably one of my three or four favorite dramas of all time.

    Monk: a couple of nice episodes at the beginning led to some very obvious, poorly-constructed mysteries in the next few episodes. I assume it gets good again and Tony Shalhoub is always a joy to watch, but the writing is just killing me right now.

    Arrested Development: it's just as awesome on another viewing. I just got to season three last night.

    Futurama: I've watched the first two episodes of season (or is it "volume?") six, which just went up on streaming. They're attacking bigger themes than ever and doing as much absurdist comedy as ever. I'm not rolling on the floor or anything, but it's pretty decent.

    I saw the first episode of Justified. I really wish it was on streaming. The pilot was exposition hell, but still told with style, and the characters are engrossing.

    High School of the Dead: an anime about zombies. It's a popular misconception that every anime glorifies violence and shamelessly objectifies its characters sexually, and that drives me crazy. This show, however, does those things to an unbelievable level. It's so remarkably stupid that I almost have to see it through. I think it's intentionally parodying itself, but it's hard to tell because wit sometimes doesn't translate well.

    Lilyhammer: This is a Netflix series starring Steven Van Zandt as a goombah snitch who chooses Lillihammer for his witness relocation. I've only seen the first episode, but it was good. The humor works, and I think the tension will too, when there's more of it.

    Twin Peaks: Slow going here. I'm past the big reveal now, so I'm heading into the part where the show becomes directionless.

    Father Ted: a BBC comedy about three priests relocated due to various misdeeds, suggested by a friend at Casa de Leche. A little broad for my usual tastes, but it's fun enough.

    1. The episode towards the end of season 2 of Battlestar

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    2. Lilyhammer: This is a Netflix series starring Steven Van Zandt as a goombah snitch who chooses Lillihammer for his witness relocation. I've only seen the first episode, but it was good. The humor works, and I think the tension will too, when there's more of it.

      My dad recommended this series to me. My dad's got a great sense of humor, but it doesn't usually run to this type of show. Now that spooky's given it a rec, I'm even more interested. Glad I just got Netflix!

  12. I finally, finally got around to seeing Black Swan over the weekend. I watched it while severely hungover on the flight back from Las Vegas, which may not have been the wisest option. I'm sure I don't have anything to say about it that hasn't already been said, but I did like it a lot.

    My Netflix account is used almost exclusively as a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine delivery system these days, which satisfies incredible amounts of nostalgia.

    New Gal and I are also slowly working through season 1 of the Wire, which we have both already seen so we are in no hurry. But she has never seen seasons 2-5, so I'm very excited to watch those with her.

    1. Black Swan remains one of last year's noms that I haven't seen, along with True Grit, The Fighter, 127 Hours and The King's Speech. Grit and The Fighter are on streaming. Perhaps I should try to kill that list before I start thinking about the next one. Those first five were out of the way before the Oscars even happened last year, I think.

  13. I have watched a lot of stuff in the last month.

    • Moneyball: I found this to be fairly enjoyable. I haven't read the book, but I assume they go more in depth into things. I found the scenes where they were working on trades to be unintentionally hilarious (but obviously it would be boring to make these any longer).

    • Drive: I watched this twice because it was so good. Everything about the movie was so cool; the cinematography, the soundtrack, that scorpion jacket. I loved how deliberate the movie was with everything, while still remaining suspenseful. Recommended highly.

    • The Future: Somehow, I liked this even more than Drive. I adore Miranda July's first film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, so I was excited to see this. I went in knowing just the basic plot: a couple decides to adopt a cat, and wants to enjoy the month before they pick the cat up from the shelter as much as possible, before their lives change. It was a much less optimistic film than M&Y&EWK, and a bit more challenging (July's style can be grating on some, but I really like it), but definitely just as rewarding. I hope I don't have to wait 6 years for her to make another film.

    • Contagion: I'll watch just about everything Soderbergh does, and I was very eager to watch this. It was quite good. I loved how realistic it was. It certainly made the film a lot more haunting. It's not a fun film by any stretch of the imagination, but it's very interesting and well worth watching.

    • Redline: This movie was awesomely over the top in every way. It's an animated film from Japan that was delayed for years, and must've cost a fortune with all the awesome (supposedly hand drawn) animation. It's loud, brash, and overwhelming at times, but god it's fun. I've heard people say it's like an animated counterpart to the recent Speed Racer movie. Anime, and heck, animation fans in general, should give it a whirl.

    I also watched a couple of TV seasons, too. I watched season one of Party Down last time I was in Winnipeg. I liked it a lot. My favorite episode was the high school reunion. I'm very eager to watch the second season. I also watched the last few episodes of the 2011 Beavis & Butt-head last week after getting the Blu-Ray. It's really, really good. There are a couple of episodes I didn't like all that much, but they were balanced out by some really excellent episodes. I was really surprised at just how good it was. I hope they do another season next year.

  14. I watched Battle: Los Angeles (Aaron Ecklund, not the Sci-Fi network dreck) and it wasn't bad. Also been watching season 2 of Shawn the Sheep and Important Things with Demitri Martin.

    I've passively been watching some of Downton Abbey (in the room while my wife watches it), and while it's rightly pegged as a soap opera, it's very well done. Nice to see it getting the attention it deserves.

  15. I took the kids to The Secret World of Arriety - the adaptation of The Borrowers. I had pretty high hopes for it but was pretty disappointed. It was slow and the ending missed the "what if?" From the book.

    I finished my 2nd watching of season 2 of the wire. I liked it better the second time. I had trouble getting into that one.

      1. It might be my favorite season of The Wire. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is. I don't dare do a rewatch of the series to confirm, though.

        1. I think it's my least favorite, but even if that's the case, it's just my "fifth favorite." I love it. The Sobotkas are the perfect family for the show's shades of gray.

          Season four, in the school, is my favorite.

          1. An acquaintance of J's absolutely hated season 4. I don't understand why. I, too, liked it a lot, despite the fact I was a complete wreck at the end of the season.

            I guess I'd rank the seasons 2 > 3 > 4 = 1 > 5, but like you, I love all the seasons. The first season is just my fifth favorite.

          2. Have you re-watched, spooks? Season 2 is absolutely tremendous on the re-watch once you truly understand the big picture. My appreciation for the season grew a hundred-fold.

            1. I haven't rewatched anything yet. This ginormous tax return might change that, though, since the only reason I haven't rewatched is because I figured I'd own it rather than Netflix it again.

              Chrome spellchecker update: "rewatched" is not a word, but "ginormous" is.

      2. The problem I had on first viewing was that I had just invested so much into Season 1 learning all the characters, etc. that it seemed like I needed to start all over again. And it took a long time to understand where it fit. It didn't help that I watched the show on the treadmill and would occasionally miss something that was said quietly.

        Upon second viewing, there was no learning curve so I could just enjoy it.

        I don't think there was a single season of The Wire that I didn't like but there were some story lines that bothered me. I won't mention it here but one of the story lines in Season 5 really bothered me.

          1. In Season 5 of the Wire, the part that bothered me was:

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              my ranking of wire seasons is probably 4, 5 (more because of the last few episodes than the whole), 2, 1, 3. and like spoonto said, 3 isn't the one i like the least, it's just my 5th favorite.

              1. I agree on the last few episodes of 5. I tought the finish was great and really drove home the point of the entire series.

      1. Ponyo isn't that close to "The Little Mermaid", further than, say O Brother, Where Art Thou? from The Odyssey, or Avatar from Pocohontas. It's got all the awesome random magical things that Miyazake does so well. Two weekends ago, we watched the first half in Japanese.

        Also, I think you'll enjoy the score.

        1. It's also so charming it almost hurts. It was one of the weaker Ghibli films, but I still couldn't stop smiling through the entire film.

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