Uncouth Reflections

Quote of the Day

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes:

Because they’re paid to read, the aspect of books which literary critics forget to focus on is whether or not they’re boring.

— Alain de Botton, via his Twitter feed.

Posted in Books Publishing and Writing | Tagged Alain de Botton, literary criticism | 1 Comment

“She reaped almost none of the profits . . .”

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Glynn Marshes

Glynn Marshes writes:

Before 1820 American readers and publishers preferred to import or pirate their books from England, because English texts were at once less expensive and more fashionable. For want of copyright protection for imported works, it was cheaper for American publishers to reprint English works than to pay native authors. Indeed, although Susanna Rowson’s Charlotte Temple (1791) sold phenomenally well, she reaped almost none of the profits, because it was originally published in London and then pirated in America. Moreover, English novels offered more romantic characters and exotic settings — lord and ladies in castles or grand estates — than seemed possible in common and commercial America. Professing themselves a people of equality and common sense, Americans doubted that their society could ever inspire a novelist. So doubting, they continued to read the imports. Consequently, the most promising American novelist of the previous generation, Charles Brockden Brown, had failed to support or sustain himself.

— Alan Taylor, in William Cooper’s Town, explaining why it would never have occurred to James Fenimore Cooper (William’s son) that he could make a living by writing novels.

Posted in Books Publishing and Writing | Leave a comment

Ads Everywhere

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Paleo Retiree

Paleo Retiree writes:

America — the country that never met a surface it didn’t want to adorn with an ad:

Posted in Commercial art | Tagged ads evereywhere, Advertising, class, hertz | 11 Comments

Monetary Reform, Again

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Paleo Retiree

Paleo Retiree writes:

The monetary-reform case in a 3 minute nutshell:

Bonus links

Here’s the website of Positive Money, a good UK-based monetary reform outfit.
Here’s someone’s attack on the Positive Money case.
Here are links to a three-part series recounting my own adventures trying to educate myself about the current financial crisis.

Posted in Politics and Economics | Tagged monetary reform, Positive Money | Leave a comment

Some Oscar Counterprogramming

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Sax von Stroheim

Sax von Stroheim writes:

I was thinking of writing up a snarky take on the Academy Award nominations, but then decided I didn’t really want to participate in that even as a joke. (I believe the official Uncouth Reflections editorial policy on the Oscars is, “Who cares?”). So here’s my list of five movies from last year that (a) I enjoyed immensely and (b) were in no danger of ever being nominated for any kind of award.

Contraband (Baltasar Kormakur, 2012)

An American remake of an Icelandic thriller, directed by the star of the original movie. It combines the best parts of Euothrilllers – a lack of sentimentality, muted melodrama, a sense of place – with the best parts of Hollywood thrillers – flamboyant bad guy performances (here given by Giovanni Ribisi and Diego Luna) and Mark Wahlberg.

Resident Evil: Retribution (Paul W.S. Anderson, 2012)

Egghead reason: a formally playful exploration of the way contemporary 3D/CGI technology has infected the way we think about the world. Non-egghead reason: Milla Jovovich in bondage gear killing zombies.

Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2011)

Lanthimos made a film called Dogtooth that a lot of folks other than me liked. Dogtooth, a European art house movie, made in 2009, took a daring and controversial stand against the bourgeois patriarchy (like just about every European art house movie from the last 60 years). Alps, though, moves beyond sociology to something really dangerous and daring – the idea that even our most intimate relationships might be built upon theatrical play-acting. It’s weird and wrenching.

End of Watch (David Ayer, 2012)

This is a very good Joseph Wambaugh-type look at police culture, with lots of funny/true observations and some exciting action scenes done in a well-executed version of the contemporary shaky-cam-heavy style. Most movies about L.A. police officers are about corrupt L.A. police officers, but here they’re presented as working/middle class heroes. Not perfect ones, maybe, but guys and gals driven by a desire to help people. The movie’s subject is how crime in L.A. is becoming more like crime in Mexico, and what that change is doing to the police force that’s trying to fight it.

The Vow (Michael Sucsy, 2012)

Magic Mike is the Channing Tatum movie liked by audiences and critics alike. This is the Channing Tatum movie liked just by audiences, but I think it’s the better movie. It isn’t actually based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, although it’s genre still seems to be “Nicholas Sparks Movie”. Having said that, it’s quite moving and it (surprisingly) doesn’t smooth out all of the emotional wrinkles. I’m still waiting for someone to come along to be the new Douglas Sirk – i.e., a guy or gal who turns Hollywood weepies into world historically great art. Michael Sucsy isn’t it, but in this movie he comes closer than anyone else has in quite a few years.

Posted in Movies | Tagged movies | 5 Comments

Moviemaking Linkage

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Paleo Retiree

Paleo Retiree writes:

How much cocaine can one movie consume?
What’s it like to direct Lindsay Lohan?

Posted in Linkathons, Movies, Performers | Tagged cocaine, drugs, John Belushi, Lindsay Lohan, moviemaking, The Blue Brothers | 2 Comments

“Since You Went Away,” a Culture’s Dreams, and the Agee-DOS Dosado

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes:

“Since You Went Away” doesn’t have a great reputation among filmbuffs, and it’s not hard to see why: it’s broad, sentimental, and downright propagandistic in its treatment of small-town American life (at nearly three hours, it’s also looooonnnngggg). This is the sort of movie that often gives intellectuals the heebie jeebies; they tend to regard it with a derision normally reserved for Sunday church services or the paintings of Norman Rockwell. But when I caught up with it recently, via the excellent DVD put out by MGM, I had no trouble being impressed by it, my own set of smarty-pants hang-ups notwithstanding. Written and produced by David O. Selznick, from a book by Margaret Buell Wilder, and directed by a host of DOS lackeys, the movie deals with the female-centered home life of the Second World War. In making it one assumes Selznick intended to give a cozier, more contemporary spin to the Scarlett-preserves-Tara sections of “Gone With the Wind,” as well as to evoke the cloistered mood of “Little Women.” He was pretty successful on both counts: as emotionally pickled as the movie often is, it feels faithfully drawn from particulars, and it holds you tight within its frame of reference.

Continue reading →

Posted in Books Publishing and Writing, Commercial art, Movies, Performers | Tagged Agnes Moorehead, Claudette Colbert, David O. Selznick, Hattie McDaniel, James Agee, Jennifer Jones, movies, Shirley Temple, Since You Went Away | 6 Comments

Not My Favorite Horse Racing Movie

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Sax von Stroheim

Sax von Stroheim writes:

Dead Cert (Tony Richardson, 1974)

It looks more exciting than it is

Something the Brits do pretty well: take their decent-to-classic mystery novels and turn them into solid-to-great TV programmes and movies. It’s rare to come across one that doesn’t have at least a few redeeming qualities. So that’s why it was surprising, if not stunning, to see one, made by a “real filmmaker”, that’s so sloppy. I have no idea what drew Richardson to this material: it doesn’t seem to fit in with his other work at all. He may have been hoping it would be a hit, but he just doesn’t have the touch for this kind of thing. Dick Francis’ novel is, at best, a light entertainment: full of shallow characters and predictable plot turns. Its main virtue is its backstage tour of English horseracing. The characters are too thin for Richardson to make their inner lives very interesting (a Richardson specialty in his other movies), and he flubs a lot of the basic set-up, which makes it a pretty poor tour guide. There is some good footage of horses racing and jumping, but the editing is so jumbled that I never got a sense of what was supposed to be happening in the races themselves. The movie is spatially confused throughout, though: Richardson cuts back-and-forth from close-ups to crowded, Altman-like long shots in such a way that I was always left wondering exactly who or what I should be looking at in any given scene.

Posted in Movies | Tagged British mysteries, movies, mystery, Tony Richardson | 4 Comments

Today’s Blockbusters . . . Yesterday!

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Fenster

Fenster writes:

A funny and entertaining re-imagining of modern blockbusters had they been done in the 1950’s.

Posted in Movies | 1 Comment

Fear of Movies

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Sax von Stroheim

Sax von Stroheim writes:

Two new movies, both good, by any reasonable objective standard, in that they seem to successfully achieve what they set out to achieve. But one betrays a fear of commitment, a fear of failure, while the other risks kitsch to reach something sublime.

Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012)

This way to whimsical poignancy

It may seem ungenerous of me to criticize this small, idiosyncratic, formally playful movie for a fear of taking risks, but that’s, ultimately, how it came across to me: the whimsy and the formal playfulness standing in for a need to actually commit to making a movie – a commitment that leaves you open to failure, to looking foolish, but also makes it possible for the kind of success that doesn’t feel contrived or calculated. Gomes indicates emotion rather than attempting to express it, giving Tabu the same push-pull feel of some of Wes Anderson’s movies. Having said that, this is much better than most cover-your-ass film festival favorites: it has a sense of humor, some good performances, and a few genuinely poignant moments. I suspect high brow cinephiles have embraced it, in part, because it remains “aesthetically correct” while still delivering some basic movie pleasures.

Life of Pi (Ang Lee, 2012)

More survival movie than feel good fantasy

A big budget, effects-driven movie, based on a popular novel that might have been chosen for Oprah’s Book Club. It’s never far from being kitsch, and could be aptly described as Avatar meets the Tree of Life. I think it ends up not being kitsch, though, because (a) Ang Lee’s direction is nuanced and sensitive and (b) it’s really fucking terrifying. This is a rare kind of movie today: a fantasy movie that looks squarely at mortality: by the end it feels closer to the Liam Neeson survival movie The Grey than it does to standard Holiday feel-goodery. Tangentially, I really appreciated that it seemed to take religion seriously, and without any kind of condescension.