The Strangest Damned Gang (Wild Things Review, Take III)
by Adam Hirsch
(Notice: Any film that creates a real dialogue about it has really done its job. Matt’s review of Where the Wild Things Are is here. Giampaolo’s review of it is here. Also, I discuss some plot points of the film but try not to spoil anything; however, if you want to see the film fresh, you might want to read this after watching it.)
When Bonnie & Clyde opened in 1967, it was heralded as the quintessential baby-boomer film. Even though the subject matter was over thirty years old, and the script was written by a hollywood outsider, and the direction was old school (almost archaic) formalism, everything about it seemed to bear some reflection on the current social and political atmosphere.
Where the Wild Things Are, forty years later, is the new generation’s Bonnie & Clyde.
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Oct 18, 2009 | Categories: Adam, reviews, writing | Tags: Bonnie and Clyde, Childhood, Dave Eggers, Spike Jonze, Where The Wild Things Are | Leave A Comment »
Were There Wild Things? (Wild Things Review, Take II)
by Giampaolo Bianconi
(Note: Matt’s previous post on Where the Wild Things Are can be found here. Also, this review contains some spoilers on the film. Just to know.)
Simply put, childhood does not exist. Its existence is contingent on its status as memory, not as experience or reality. Childhood has value only once it has actually disappeared, only has reality in the mind of the adult who conceives of his past, its purity and its frustrations–which are so “moving” because they remain our frustrations as we grow older. This means that childhood–no matter how liberating its primal scream, is really a call for conservatism, for a construction of the past as we imagine it. It has no forward motion and denies memory: it seeks to be without place or time, yet remains only in the place of our mind and the time that has past. Childhood is not real.
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Oct 17, 2009 | Categories: Giampaolo, reviews, writing | Tags: Childhood, Dave Eggers, Full House, Mad Men, Spike Jonze, Where The Wild Things Are | Leave A Comment »
Wild Things Review
by Matt Paley
Where The Wild Things Are (dir. Spike Jonze, 2009)
The last couple of years announced the maturing and settling of a number of young, angry men. With The Wrestler, Che, No Country For Old Men, and There Will Be Blood came a motion to put basic storytelling back through its paces; Aronofsky, Soderbergh, Coen, and Anderson put their showy, ballsy styles away in search of purer substance. With Where The Wild Things Are, on the other hand, Spike Jonze loudly announces that at least one of our favorite auteurs isn’t ready to grow up.
Thank God.
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Oct 05, 2009 | Categories: Matt, reviews, writing | Tags: Dave Eggers, Maurice Sendak, Max Records, Punch Drunk Love, Spike Jonze, Where The Wild Things Are | 3 Comments »
The Company Endorsement – Sept. ’09
by Adam Hirsch
Things to do, things to see, things to read in these last weeks of summer:
Blueberries — Seriously: take advantage of globalization. Fresh blueberries practically year round? They’re sweeter than sugar and are just plain healthy to boot. Try eating just one out of the carton. We dare you.
The New Season of Mad Men on AMC — The best writing, best directing, best art design, and best acting on television comes this time each year and immerses us in New York, 1963. Sunday nights at 10/9c should be staunchly reserved for this amazing, moving series. And this season, they’re getting to cash in on developing some of the most interesting characters for two previous seasons by saying so much with so very little. We are not kidding you: sit down and watch this show.
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers — Okay, okay. We know Dave Eggers is the darling boy, the indie author leafed in gold — but this book is different. It’s not about Dave. It’s about what the horror of Hurricane Katrina looked like on the ground, a book written with details you could never imagine. If you’re an American citizen, you’re morally obliged to read it.
Caipirinhas — The national drink of Brazil. It’s made with cachaca, kind of like rum mixed with vodka, and it’s served at most bars now a days. Imagine the bastard child of a margarita and a mojito, only not served to bloated tourists at a theme bar. That’s the drink you want. For that matter…
Mixed Drinks, Outside — Ideally made at home and consumed on the porch — if you have a balcony, even better. Mixing drinks yourself — mixing them well, we should say — has now become a lost art. Bars and clubs now want $14 for a cocktail. Nine times out of ten, you’re getting ripped off. (Notable exceptions: Le Petite Bistro in Rhinecliff, NY; Drink in Boston, MA; Prohibition Room in Oklahoma City, OK … here, pay up. You won’t be disappointed.) Making them yourself takes craft, patience, and most importantly, charm. If you can tell a great story to someone, beginning it while starting to mix the drink and ending it while serving them the drink, and then imbibe it outdoors — badass does not even begin to describe you. Do it while summer’s still here.
Sep 02, 2009 | Categories: Adam, round-up, writing | Tags: blog, Blueberries, Caipirinhas, Dave Eggers, Mad Men, Zeitoun | Leave A Comment »
