It was a hot & humid day for the latest Moofie Club but that didn’t matter because we were living it up on a nice boat, with beautiful harbour views and cool breezes!
As usual the food was delicious, including a spectacular fruit platter and some exceptional choc-coconut muffins with a lovely thick layer of icing on top. I got the distinct impression that rather than analyse films, the group would have preferred to lay back with a cool drink and siesta the afternoon away! Alas duty calls and so without further ado,
Mulholland Drive (2001)
The Moofie Club’s main complain was similar to that for Eraserhead. It was too weird, overtly weird and for no other purpose than to be weird (this is a little harsh, in my opinion). I do believe that Mulholland’s scores suffered from two mitigating factors: 1. we had just gotten over the trauma of Eraserhead two sessions ago, and 2. the day on the water was just too nice to think about it. The group had Lynch-fatigue and it showed in our scores and comments.
Writing for myself however, this was my first Lynch film and it had a big impact on me. I recall feeling like an alien-abductee, mesmerised and desperate to know what the hell just happened. Despite the confusion, the film never left me behind. There were enough clues to feel like the answers were there, if only I would think a little harder about it. In that way it was far more of a tease than Eraserhead, which had pretty quickly left me just wanting out. I was still conscious of the director’s manipulation, but the weirdness was dosed out more discretely and to greater effect in Mulholland.
There were some things that I believe all Moofie members would agree on. Naomi Watts deserves a special mention for her performance as Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn. She has spent too much time in Nicole Kidman’s shadow so it’s great to see her striding ahead in her own right recently. Her work in Mulholland Drive is often cited as her breakthrough performance and I think she deserves that recognition here. The other special mention is for the theme music. On hearing the first notes, that uneasy nervous tension hits me again, and I’m transported back to the limo winding through the Hollywood hills – the mood is set perfectly by this music.
Mulholland Drive could be Lynch’s most accessible film but unfortunately for him, 2001 was also the year of Black Hawk Down, LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring, and A Beautiful Mind. All he got was a director’s nomination at the Oscars. A pity really because if he was ever going to get an Oscar it would have been for this one (at least the French love him). It takes a certain type of mood to be receptive to a film like this. Serendipity had me on the right wavelength for my first viewing and it is now firmly imprinted on my mind. That’s why I’ll always have a soft spot for this film.
Scores
- Paul: abstain
- Sylvia: 2
- Andy 2.5
- Wendy 3.5
- Jayne 2.5
- CJ 4
Memorable Quotes:
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Jayne on reviewing another Lynch film: Why a second one!?
Jayne: This is too weird and I have to go to bed
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Jayne: Once you’ve seen it, you can’t erase what’s in your head.
Paul: That’s why I’m worried about seeing the Human Centipede!
<Paul, after you see The Human Centipede, try playing Tetris. It might help!>
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Paul on not having seen the film: I’ve wanted to – its got lesbian sex in it!
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Sylvia on Laura Harring and the lesbian sex scene: I thought her breasts acted better than she did
Andy: From the front they looked fake but side-on there was a nice sway to them
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Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
For those of you who didn’t have a clue, first thing to do is find out what happened with the sub-prime property crisis and the GFC. An excellent summary by Hamish Douglass (ASX seminar Tues 16 nov 2010) can be found here as an audio podcast. From there, just match up the fictional characters in Wall Street 2 to their real life counterparts and Robert’s your mother’s brother – you’ve got the technical background to this film. e.g.,
- Frank Langella and KZI = Bear Stearns/Lehman Bros
- Josh Brolin and Churchill Schwartz = JP Morgan/Goldman Sachs
- Susan Sarandon = millions of underfinanced Americans going bankrupt on property.
- Shia LaBeouf and Gordon Gekko = the punters and players who drive the markets up and down.
With that in the background, we also have the story of Gordon Gekko trying to redeem himself in the eyes of his daughter Winnie, despite his natural instinct to be a ruthless asshole, a la “I’m gonna tear his eyeballs out and I’m gonna suck his fucking skull!” (Wall Street 1987).
This film has problems. As a history lesson the GFC is interesting for the financially minded but for those that are not, all they’ve got left to ‘enjoy’ in this film is the Gekko family subplot. Unfortunately for the audience, that subplot is such unimaginative daytime tv fodder.
In Wall Street (1987) ‘Gordo‘ was larger than life, an edgy charismatic bad boy, with a quick wit and a smart mouth, supremely confident and with no regrets. Sensitive, repentant, old-man Gordo does NOT work! It might have been interesting if he had come back this time as the white knight, like Sir Lawrence Wildman from the first film. There could have been a titanic ‘Gordon Gekko vs Bretton James’ showdown which might have been interesting. For a short time I thought that was where it was heading, but it didn’t. Instead we got Gordo weeping in front of Winnie, and fawning over ultrasound foetus pictures. Where is the megalomaniac we all really came to see? I wanted the guy with the twisted one liners like, “Love. Diction created by people to keep them from jumping out of windows“, and, “If you need a friend, get a dog“!
Redoing Gordon Gekko must be one of the hardest jobs in acting – right up there with James Bond, and Hannibal Lecter. Michael Douglas did still have his moments so he was ‘ok’ I suppose. Shia LaBeouf was fairly anonymous, and Carey Mulligan as Winnie Gekko, cried a lot and didn’t make much sense as a character. Interesting to see plastic-faced Charlie Sheen come back as Bud Fox at the charity dinner scene, as well as Eli Wallach, and some other real life people playing themselves.
The aerial shots of New York city were great. Also worth noting that the fusion power technology that Jake Moore tries to sell to the Chinese investors is quite real, as are the implications on the oil and energy industries if that technology gets up. At least Oliver Stone made an effort to get the technical details right.
Overall Wall Street 2 was quite disappointing and nowhere near as good as Wall Street (1987).
Scores
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
- Jayne 3
- Wendy 2
- Andy abstain
- Sylvia 2.5
- Paul 1
- CJ 2
Wall Street (1987)
- Jayne 3.5
- Wendy 3.5
- Andy abstain
- Sylvia abstain
- Paul 3.5
- CJ 4
Memorable Quotes:
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On the ‘nice’ Gordon Gekko trying to play happy families with his daughter and grandchild
CJ: <The disappointment of seeing it> …was like that moment in Empire Strikes Back when you realise Luke is Darth Vader’s son, and Leia is his sister… ugh <face-palm>
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Jayne on the new, older Gordon Gekko: more of a mature dangerous vile
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Wendy on Carey Mulligan: she cried a lot!
Paul: there was so much crying in that movie
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Wendy on the Charity Dinner scene: I didn’t like that Charlie Sheen cameo
Andy: He looked puffed..
Paul: he looked so excited about being on screen..
CJ: Charlie Sheen looked plastic faced..
Sylvia: that’s because he’s got ‘internal preservation’..
Jayne: I like that party scene because there was so much surgery!
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Wendy on the 80’s fashion in Wall Street (1987): …the 80’s clothes!…
Wendy & Jayne: …Daryl Hannah!…
Wendy: all those gory horrible clothes!
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Another year of Club Moofie is coming to a close. The next session is the final for the year & also the scene of the Moscars 2010 Awards! The two films for review are Spirited Away (2001) our first animation, and the stunning sci-fi classic, Blade Runner (1982). I cannot wait for that one!
Till next time,
cj
Club Moofie 