Seth Rogen kills

February 27, 2012 10:30 AM

Bored by the ho-hum nostalgic Oscars last night? Enjoy Seth Rogen's edgy/funny 15 minute opener to the previous night's Film Independent Spirit Awards.
posted by mathowie (87 comments total)

Well, they're feeding the audience, so of course they're laughing.

(Seriously, this is cool. I tortured myself with the whole Oscar broadcast last night, hoping it would get better.)
posted by maudlin at 10:50 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

From now on, I will call him the Anti-Crystal.
posted by DigDoug at 10:51 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Bored by the ho-hum nostalgic Oscars last night

God yes. Is it unacceptable thread drift to bitch about it for several hundred comments? Because i think some of us may need the catharsis...

Oh, and "I bet Brett Ratner really wishes he was organising the Grammys, because they seem more forgiving altogether" - ouch!
posted by Artw at 10:57 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is it just me (my headphones?) or the venue (some weird wind tunnel/echo in the tent?) or...is everyone just sort of talking and carrying their own conversations over Rogen while speaks?
posted by windbox at 10:58 AM on February 27, 2012

Aw, I didn't think the Oscars were that bad. At least, compared to James Franco last year. (Anne Hathaway was okay, but she's just adorable in general.)

....I should probably admit that I was in an Oscar pool and was paying more attention to whether I was up or down in my ranking anyway.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:00 AM on February 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

2012 Independent Spirit Awards Winners - Complete List
posted by Artw at 11:01 AM on February 27, 2012

I haven't seen many movies at all this year, but I loved last night's Oscars because I got to see Bret from Flight of the Conchords, the Dean from Community, and the star of the French James Bond parody OSS 117 win.
posted by MegoSteve at 11:01 AM on February 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

Short version.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:01 AM on February 27, 2012 [4 favorites]

I have to say, I like this weird other universe where Drive actually exists.
posted by Artw at 11:02 AM on February 27, 2012 [6 favorites]

The Oscars waited a whole 15 minutes before showing the "I'll have what she's having" clip. I think that showed incredible restraint.
posted by Gary at 11:03 AM on February 27, 2012 [11 favorites]

I like Seth Rogen's awkward charm. It works for him. Billy Crystal was only given a chance to host because it was the safe bet.

What irked me most is that Chris Rock's presentation was better than the entire opening monologue.
posted by Fizz at 11:05 AM on February 27, 2012 [4 favorites]

heh. I love how that reel started with Forest Gump and Titanic, pretty much shows you where their heads are at.
posted by Artw at 11:05 AM on February 27, 2012

Bret...Bret...Bret


(glad he won at the Os)
posted by edgeways at 11:13 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure the Academy can ever skew young, given that it's mostly composed of older white men.
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:13 AM on February 27, 2012

I wouldn't say he killed (Chris Brown joke being the exception) but that was helluva lot better than the industry-masturbation that is the Oscars.
posted by pyrex at 11:14 AM on February 27, 2012

I didn't watch the Oscars last night. For the first time in years. Probably an outgrowth of my not caring to see any films in theaters anymore. And, honestly, though Crystal probably tests high in my age group, he was an anti-attraction to me. I really don't find the guy that funny without a good script from someone else.

Rogan was pretty funny here, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:16 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

> I wouldn't say he killed

Yeah, far from killing it, really. What was up with all the pointless "fucking this" and "fucking that"? Is that supposed to be the audience's hint that this is edgy and adult entertainment? That kind of affected swearing is the resort of nervous teenagers.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:19 AM on February 27, 2012 [5 favorites]

What was up with all the pointless "fucking this" and "fucking that"?

It's "independent".
posted by Thorzdad at 11:20 AM on February 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

> I'm not sure the Academy can ever skew young, given that it's mostly composed of older white men.

If it's any consolation, John Waters is one of those old white men.
posted by mrzarquon at 11:21 AM on February 27, 2012

As to the Oscars, they where talking on the radio last week that some reporter actually tracked down the majority of people who vote of the Oscar winners. They are {drumroll} old white men by and large.

blander and blander
posted by edgeways at 11:25 AM on February 27, 2012

I say "kills" because I couldn't believe how boring the Oscars was last night. The one moment that was the epitome of lame safe comedy was Billy Crystal doing the fake voiceovers of live shots of stars (something that feels like a rip from Leno or Conan's shows) and they ended it with the dog and a joke about the dog's (lack of) balls.

That summed up the entire Oscar telecast: lack of balls. Seth Rogen's set was stellar compared to what I saw last night.
posted by mathowie at 11:29 AM on February 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

Let's make a pact, shall we? Everyone who was bored stiff by the Oscars last night, everybody who found them stodgy and dull, everyone who found the jokes stale and predictable....let's all watch them again next year amid about 30 Oscar post on mefi, mkay?
posted by telstar at 11:37 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

mathowie, "to kill" by standup comedian definitions usually refers to an objective sense of positive feedback; getting big laughs and possibly applause for most/all jokes and having to pause. A bit like Carrot Top playing to his fans. In this sense, I wouldn't say Seth killed because in a relative sense he didn't get the same reaction for all his jokes as he did the Grammy joke.

In a subjective sense, however, I definitely agree with you that Seth's material was most probably (haven't watched the Oscars in years, and if Crystal was hosting again I can already imagine the boredom) 100x better than Crystal's.

TL;DR: "kills" has a definition in the standup world, but I agree with you that Seth > Crystal :-D
posted by pyrex at 11:42 AM on February 27, 2012

I enjoy Seth Rogen!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:48 AM on February 27, 2012

So, a friend got tickets to the Oscars and went. I can't ask, really, but does that mean they know somebody, or are somehow part of the business, or can random people off the street get in?
posted by maxwelton at 11:51 AM on February 27, 2012

How the Oscars work
1. put on a show every year.
2. lots of people will watch
3. all papers, blogs , and critics will tell us the next day ow terrible it was this yearl
4. everyone will watch the same bad show the following year.
5. rinse and repeat yearly
posted by Postroad at 11:52 AM on February 27, 2012 [8 favorites]

Weird. Admittedly I only watch the Oscars every few years, but last night's show seemed significantly less boring and annoying than the last time I happened to watch it. Billy Crystal is Billy Crystal, sure, but he was nowhere near as annoying as I thought he was going to be when I realized who the host was. Though watching I also realized that I had seen none of the movies or performances nominated for any award. (We almost went to see War Horse one sleepy afternoon but my gf was afraid her sentimentality about noble horses would make her cry in public.)

Also, Seth Rogan's compulsive need to swear like a teenager hanging out with his buds was just embarrassing to watch (particularly with the snorty laughing at his own jokes, come on) and only a handful of his jokes were actually very funny -- really his batting average was no better than Crystal's, if you think about it.
posted by aught at 11:54 AM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yes, Postroad. Honestly, that routine is much more tedious than the actual ceremony.
posted by girlmightlive at 11:55 AM on February 27, 2012

And then there's this.
posted by girlmightlive at 11:57 AM on February 27, 2012

I have to say, I like this weird other universe where Drive actually exists.

Oh FFS, I should not have let my curiosity get the better of me. I don't watch many recent films these days, but on an off chance the two I saw was War Horse, and Drive. My whole family, including my sister who raised horses since a young girl, thought the horse movie was a huge waste of time. Drive, otoh, was brilliant.

Apparently, we live in the one fucked part of the multiverse where War Horse gets nominated 18 ways from Sunday, and all Drive got was a mention in Best Sound or some bullshit.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:01 PM on February 27, 2012

The one moment that was the epitome of lame safe comedy was Billy Crystal doing the fake voiceovers of live shots of stars (something that feels like a rip from Leno or Conan's shows)

Actually he was ripping off himself from the 2000 show. Michael Clarke Duncan was thinking "I see white people!" and Judy Dench was thinking "This thong is killing me!" etc.
posted by yoink at 12:02 PM on February 27, 2012

Actor and screenwriter Seth Rogen has berated the absence of genre films Drive and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol from this year's Oscars shortlist. Is he right to attack the Academy?
posted by Artw at 12:09 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Seth Rogen's "I am a teenager" thing does get a little old but I get the feeling he's just really like that most of the time. It sucks to have to give any sort of a monologue when people are actively eating and I think he did pretty well considering. Better jokes than the Oscars and more fun to look at the crowd also.
posted by jessamyn at 12:13 PM on February 27, 2012

On a side note, who convinced Emma Stone wearing a huge neck ruff was a good idea and how can we stop them before they kill again?
posted by The Whelk at 12:16 PM on February 27, 2012

Didn't watch but I'm looking forward to the Rogen clip when I get home.

I am so disappointed Gary Oldman didn't win, although (a) the performance wasn't Big and Eyecatching and (b) Oldman and the rest of the people involved in "Tinker, Tailor" aren't Hollywood royalty. I would have been less disappointed had Clooney or Pitt won.
posted by Currer Belfry at 12:18 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Given some of the stuff that did make the bets picture list it's kind of amazing that Tinker Tailor didn't. And I;ve no idea what the lack of representation for Dragon Tattooo is about.
posted by Artw at 12:19 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

But hey! Rango won! That's something to be happy about!
posted by Artw at 12:20 PM on February 27, 2012

Oldman and the rest of the people involved in "Tinker, Tailor" aren't Hollywood royalty.

Oh oh, my favorite part of the Oscars was when they SPOILED Tinker Tailor on the red carpet... I mean I guess they figure everyone has seen it by then.
posted by jessamyn at 12:20 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

I didn't watch the Oscar's so was unaware until now that Drive was ignored. It is a strikingly good film in multiple dimensions: a tight screenplay, soundtrack, great lead and supporting cast (Albert Brooks and Bryan Cranston). Maybe the score, too. It should have had multiple nominations.
posted by zippy at 12:28 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's also an old book and semi famous TV series, maybe they assumed it was more well known?

Or they're thoughtless pricks, both work.

But yes, this was the worst Oscars I've seen in a long time, I mean it's always cheesy self congradulatory fluff, but it was way up it's own ass even by Oscar standards and what the fuck is up with the pep talk they give the best actor/actress nominees now?
posted by The Whelk at 12:29 PM on February 27, 2012

> Oh oh, my favorite part of the Oscars was when they SPOILED Tinker Tailor on the red carpet... I mean I guess they figure everyone has seen it by then.

They spoiled "The Artist" also.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:32 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Seth Rogen's awkwardness wasn't charming, but it was winsome. It didn't feel fake or manufactured. It tried a just little tiny bit too hard to be edgy, but Rogen did a really great job of not alienating his audience. His recovery instincts are spot on.
posted by Xoebe at 12:35 PM on February 27, 2012

I hadn't even heard of the Film Independent Spirit Awards until I saw this post, and while not usually drawn to awards shows, after watching Seth's easygoing monologue I felt curious enough to go looking for more clips. Have to say I was pleasantly surprised, especially at such honest acceptance speeches as Michelle Williams'.

As for the background noise of the crowd present in every clip I watched.. I somehow find it a bit relaxing; a bit of white noise to diffuse the situation - like they're all just kind of hangin' out, having dinner and noting some high points of the past year.

All in all, my own cynicism about the industry was alleviated by what I saw.
posted by pyrex at 12:35 PM on February 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

The Soundtrack nominees were abysmal. Not one but TWO utterly generic Williams scores?
posted by Artw at 12:36 PM on February 27, 2012

They spoiled a lot of things...I watched maybe 20 minutes altogether of the Oscars and the preshow, and I swear every time they referred to The Help, it was via a pie joke.
posted by mysterpigg at 12:36 PM on February 27, 2012

Also, Drive was one of my favorite movies this year. It had this timeless sort of quality to it. The soundtrack, cinematic style, etc, could have come straight out of the 80s, or even the 70s for that matter, and the only thing that gave it away as something newer than that is the publication date of the book it is based on and the actors starring in it.
posted by mysterpigg at 12:42 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

the only thing that gave it away as something newer than that is the publication date of the book it is based on and the actors starring in it.

And the graphic on-screen violence. The way that woman's head exploded was really not something you'd see in a mainstream movie from a few decades ago. I loved the movie but I wish they'd stayed more true to the genre and not gone for modern CGI gore. I can't remember the last time I covered my eyes at a movie but Drive had a few points where I did that. Otherwise a terrific movie and I liked what Rogen said about it "The Jews in this movie were so evil I thought it was done by Mel Gibson"
posted by jessamyn at 12:51 PM on February 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

I liked "The American" better than "Drive", but they're like first cousins.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:56 PM on February 27, 2012

I can't believe Moneyball went home empty-handed.

On the bright side, War Horse was likewise snubbed.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:57 PM on February 27, 2012

Magical special battle pony demands all the sugar cubes you have!
posted by The Whelk at 12:58 PM on February 27, 2012

Eh, I had trouble with Moneyball. It's basically the Social network but with baseball, which isn't as inherently interesting to me, and without all that much drama. The whole "genius method is failing because no-one is giving it a chance" section dragged on FOREVER as well.

I dunno, maybe grim 70s British spy dramas are similarly uninteresting to other people.
posted by Artw at 1:03 PM on February 27, 2012

I'm very, very, very, VERY happy Hugo didn't get Best Picture.
posted by Artw at 1:04 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

I actually quite enjoyed the Oscars this time because it was the first time I can remember where, out of the films nominated, the film I thought should win Best Picture won.* It's a smart comedy that manages to take a very simple basic idea, a silent film about the birth of sound cinema, and use it to say a lot about the nature of film and the business of film. My second favorite, out of the nine nominated, was Midnight in Paris, another smart comedy with more to say than any reasonable human should expect. They'd make for an interesting double bill, dealing as they do with the dreamtime of two cities, LA and Paris.


* With the caveat that I thought that Return of the King deserved its Oscar, but more as a recognition for the Lord of the Rings project, rather than as an award for an individual film.
posted by Kattullus at 1:09 PM on February 27, 2012

People still watch the Oscars? I thought the Internet killed it.

Eh, I had trouble with Moneyball. It's basically the Social network but with baseball, which isn't as inherently interesting to me, and without all that much drama.

I have no clue how those two made-for-TV scripts got commercial release.
posted by mrgrimm at 1:10 PM on February 27, 2012

> I have no clue how those two made-for-TV scripts got commercial release.

Sorokin. Plus, Pitt had to shop around and retool Moneyball for years before they were able to commit to filming.
posted by Burhanistan at 1:18 PM on February 27, 2012

I dunno, maybe grim 70s British spy dramas are similarly uninteresting to other people.

Those people aren't worth knowing anyway.
posted by The Whelk at 1:18 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

If it's any consolation, John Waters is one of those old white men.

One out of however many old white men in the Academy is not a consolation, it's a sop.
posted by blucevalo at 1:21 PM on February 27, 2012

You know, my beef with The Artist is that it's all frosting and no cake, it has literally nothing to say about anything.

And Midnight In Paris only got in there cause people where shocked that Allen had made a movie that wasn't completely unwatchable.
posted by The Whelk at 1:21 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Sorokin. Plus, Pitt had to shop around and retool Moneyball for years before they were able to commit to filming.

I almost think him being a big sports fan counted against him here - with Social Network he was an outsider to the source material and had to find ways to make it interesting, with Moneyball he just kind of assumed things were interesting to everyone which really weren't. The SPOILERS agonizing over whether to go to the Red Sox at the end for instance - who gives a fuck? And yet it drags on for 15 minutes.
posted by Artw at 1:22 PM on February 27, 2012

Bored by the ho-hum nostalgic Oscars last night?
Well, Dujardin managed to say "YEAH! FUCK! GREAT!" in front of millions of blissfully unaware Americans. That part was not too boring.
posted by elgilito at 1:25 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

The most interesting thing to me about Moneyball [which I found a decently watchable movie, though too long] was the part about how the Jonah Hill character needed to be made into a composite because the guy who it was based on basically didn't give his okay to be portrayed. So you have Billy Beane, real person, and then Peter Brand, not real person but closely based on Paul DePodesta. Non-baseball doofs like me wouldn't care, but we also had to Google the Red Sox shit at the end to figure out what even happened there.

I like how Michelle Williams admits she's not even wearing her own underwear. And this photo of Bryan Cranston.
posted by jessamyn at 1:29 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's a smart comedy that manages to take a very simple basic idea, a silent film about the birth of sound cinema, and use it to say a lot about the nature of film and the business of film.

Didn't Singing in the Rain do this fifty years?
posted by bittermensch at 1:30 PM on February 27, 2012

The way that woman's head exploded was really not something you'd see in a mainstream movie from a few decades ago.

Not really, no, but plenty of slasher films from the 70's and 80's had goriness just like that. I was just re-watching a bit of Lynch's Blue Velvet the other day and there is a scene just like the one you mentioned. That's not to say Drive didn't have a lot of gore, because it did. Not to get too far into it, the gore was important for a couple of reasons. The objectification of the characters, which happens on several layers through their names, to the lifelessness they lead, to the stark lighting, to the indictment of the audience (dancers watching) participation, the mask(s)...

I could go on about that movie for hours.
posted by P.o.B. at 1:37 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Drive was ok. I am a huge fan of the "Insanely competent master criminal with odd rules who gets into hot water by being forced to work with amateurs" genre. The book on the other hand is an exploration of the psychology behind what would drive a master criminal towards his own destruction. Drive is certainly stylish, but much of it is a straight up homage to Thief, from the title font to the compulsion towards self-destruction of the protagonist.

As for Refn, both Bronson and Valhalla Rising are on netflix instant. Bronson reminds me of The Young Poisoner's Handbook.
posted by Ad hominem at 1:52 PM on February 27, 2012

Some great audio interviews about Drive and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy over at The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith.
posted by Artw at 2:00 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm very, very, very, VERY happy Hugo didn't get Best Picture.

I liked Hugo, right up until we got to the movie within a movie. I didn't sign up for a hour-long documentary about the early history of cinema.

I knew we were pretty safe from a Hugo win when it started sweeping the early awards. Those old white voters are nothing if not predictable, and they don't seem to throw everything at one movie any more, and give the minor awards as a second place.
posted by graventy at 2:55 PM on February 27, 2012

homage to Thief

Meh, that font was common in films back then, and it's not quite the same either. Homage or not, I suspect it was supposed to be a specific 80's-neon-pink-glitz-and-glam-materialism-of-LA reference.
posted by P.o.B. at 2:56 PM on February 27, 2012

I liked Hugo, right up until we got to the movie within a movie. I didn't sign up for a hour-long documentary about the early history of cinema.

I think this is one case where slavish adherence to the book didn't really work for the movie. The automaton should have unlocked the fantastic world of 3d steampunk we'd seen hinted at in those early station tracking shots, only turned up to 11. Instead it unlocked the heart of an old man who was sad because he wasn't famous enough.

/raspberry
posted by Sparx at 3:23 PM on February 27, 2012

Seth Rogan is at least three guys I grew up with.

not gone for modern CGI gore
Sort of what made it though. I'm the type of guy who eats orange slices watching autopsies, but Drive worked that way. Everything is bland and low key and 'BLAM.' So it was shocking.

Also The Driver, etc. etc. You really almost have to be literate in that specific element of noir to get it.
Although I think the opening scene sets up the director saying "whatever you see it's not by accident" so whatever works or doesn't, it's not a sloppy picture.

And until Albert Brooks did it, I've never seen a realistic depiction of someone killing someone they like. Hate, yes. Love, yes. Regret, yes. But someone you feel for, but not passionately...wow. Brilliant.
When's the last time you saw a good Jewish bad guy in an American film. Dark Helmet maybe? Magneto. Same Rothstein in Casino. Not too many who aren't both sympathetic and actually evil and scary.

If it's any consolation, John Waters is one of those old white men.

For your review: "Transvestite Bulimic Vespa-riding Dildo Cake Sluts"
Process of elimination though.

Critic A: 'X'
Critic B: 'NC-17'
Critic C: 'NC-17'
Critic D: 'X'
Critic E: 'G'
Critic F: 'NC-17'
etc.
posted by Smedleyman at 3:54 PM on February 27, 2012

He'll always be Ken Miller to me.
posted by unliteral at 3:57 PM on February 27, 2012

I wish Hugo would have won everything, because Hugo was the most fun I've had in theaters for several years. Everything about it was magic. It was like reading a Harry Potter book for the first, second, and third times. And I would have liked Sacha Baron Cohen getting a nod for his performance, which was one of the most nuanced acts of clownery I've seen in a film.

Drive should have gotten a few nominations for its sheer style, but the script got pretty bad. Up till the first shot got fired, I was really excited, because it seemed to be setting up something tasteful and human and terrific, and Ryan Gosling was damn good. But there was utterly no suspense to anything past that failed stick-up. Two good gory scenes, but it sucked that the first half of the movie seemed to promise something much better than actually existed.
posted by Rory Marinich at 4:04 PM on February 27, 2012

And I would have liked Sacha Baron Cohen getting a nod for his performance, which was one of the most nuanced acts of clownery I've seen in a film.

I they ever remade the Pink Panther movies he'd be a great Inspector Clouseau.

They would never do that though so forget about it.
posted by Artw at 4:39 PM on February 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

Drive reminded me of Le Samouraï, and didn't do well for the comparison. It was a good movie, but I can understand its failure to win awards. I thought its villain was its strongest point. "Shh... it's over. It's over. There's no pain."
posted by sonic meat machine at 5:08 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ingmar Bergman doesn't need your stinking "Oscars".
posted by Artw at 5:29 PM on February 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

Sonic: yeah, Brooks' character's kindness there was really compelling. He really doesn't want to be a villain (he wants to get into car racing!): but he has learned to put himself first, and will do what he has to do. Even his (apparently) gratuitous attack on Gosling at the end makes sense in the context of avenging the death of his partner.
posted by leotrotsky at 5:42 PM on February 27, 2012

people were shocked that Allen had made a movie that wasn't completely unwatchable.

Hell, Uwe Boll could make a movie about 1920s Paris and it wouldn't be completely unwatchable.

I had an absolute visceral anger at that movie—specifically the ending. Up until the final scene I thought it was a typically self-indulgent pseudo-intellectual Woody comedy, complete with the strawiest of straw men imaginable in the characters of the fiancée, her parents and the pedantic professor. And really, ’20s Paris is the last resort of someone plum out of ideas. Look, my alter-ego character is hanging with Hemingway, Picasso, Man Ray and Dali! Art! I felt bad for Owen Wilson, even thought Woody was borderline making fun of him, he was so out of his depth in that milieu and miscast in the role.

But the end, the final scene, just infuriated me, because after all that Woody Allen ended up just playing out the absolute most repugnant aspect of his own personal pathology.

/Rant over
posted by stargell at 6:05 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Well, Dujardin managed to say "YEAH! FUCK! GREAT!" in front of millions of blissfully unaware Americans. That part was not too boring.

I watched OSS-177: Lost in Rio the other night on Netflix, clueless that it was the actor and director of The Artist. After realizing that it wasn't shot in the '60s—really, the recreation is amazing—I was just dumbfounded, mostly in a good way, at the movie. It's funny and wildly inappropriate, borderline offensive. One of the running gags is that the boorish, ever-laughing American CIA agent sometimes breaks out in in the most stunning English vulgarities, entirely out of the blue. "Cocksucking asslicking motherfucker!" Hard to know what to make of it, other than brilliant!
posted by stargell at 6:12 PM on February 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

But the end, the final scene, just infuriated me

Here's what the last line of Midnight in Paris should have been:

Antique-store woman: Yes, Paris is lovely now. So much better than it will be in 2071!

posted by Harvey Kilobit at 6:55 PM on February 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

Homage or not
Ok the font is slightly different. Check out the opening scene of Thief. Some the the elements are exactly the same, driver sitting outside listening to the police scanner, use of underpasses and urban landscape to obscure movement. Only the focus is different. One explores the role of the driver and one explores the thief.

I ain't saying Drive isn't good, I'm saying it is referencing the whole of Mann's work.In my mind that isn't a bad thing.
posted by Ad hominem at 7:18 PM on February 27, 2012

That may be true, and there are worse directors to reference your work from, but that would mean at least the last three Refn films are essentially Mann films(?) I haven't gotten around to the Pusher Trilogy, or Bleeder, but Drive, Bronson and Vallhalla Rising are very similiar in many ways. Each with subtle differences that attribute to a different trajectory for the characters, but not hard to see how they are all essentially dealing with the same subtext.
Homage isn't really my nit that I would pick, Tarantino does nothing but homage and he isn't making bad films at all. It's the 'all style no substance' conjecture that some are claiming.

because it seemed to be setting up something tasteful and human and terrific,

That was your first mistake. The main character is completely sociopathic, and is trying to keep it together. The extreme violence is not when he loses it, but when he fully allows himself to be what he is. Love, as ineffable as it is, does what it does, and unbinds him. It locates him in the odd position of putting himself where he doesn't want to be, and breaking all the rules he obviously had in place for very good reasons. The shell of a man that he is, although he doesn't totally recognize himself as that, slowly fills in...

Drive has a lot going for it, if you can get past the splattered heads.
posted by P.o.B. at 9:07 PM on February 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

I watched OSS-177: Lost in Rio the other night on Netflix, clueless that it was the actor and director of The Artist...I was just dumbfounded, mostly in a good way, at the movie. It's funny and wildly inappropriate, borderline offensive.

Borderline? That movie leaps over the border. And have you noticed that the American's French accent gets worse as the movie goes on? It's a deliberately awful parody.

Also, please watch OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (Le Caire, nid d'espions) next. «Cette histoire de kiki!»
posted by zippy at 9:30 PM on February 27, 2012

Oh dear. I thought that was sort of painful, actually. I like the bits about Drive and Lars von Trier, though. Also, Little Whatshername Olsen is pretty adorbs.
posted by naoko at 12:50 AM on February 28, 2012

Mark Kermode's take on the 2012 Oscars. I basically agree with him.
posted by Kattullus at 8:17 AM on February 28, 2012 [2 favorites]

Was the 1970s the best decade for the Best Picture Oscar?
posted by Artw at 3:43 PM on February 29, 2012

Was the 1970s the best decade for the Best Picture Oscar?

Easy answer: Yes, of course!
posted by mrgrimm at 3:55 PM on February 29, 2012

Is that a mathowie doppelganger at 11:25 on the YouTube clip?
posted by flex at 4:12 PM on March 1, 2012

That's Zachary Quinto and yes.
posted by Gary at 5:14 PM on March 1, 2012