Newmark's Door

Two on movies

"Can the Romantic Comedy Be Saved?" I, for one, won't miss 'em.

"Defending Judd Apatow's midlife crisis". I'm unconvinced, but I haven't seen the movie yet. 

"6 Factors That Decide The Makings Of The Perfect Bond Girl"

The Door, bringing you the information you need to know.

Another instance of the huge differences in how people see the world

Manohla Dargis, reviewing the forthcoming film Zero Dark Thirty in the New York Times:

The abuse scenes are crucial to “Zero Dark Thirty” because they serve as a claim — one made cinematically rather than with speeches — that these interrogation methods are unreliable when it comes to producing actionable information. The second session ends with the screaming, babbling, weeping Ammar insisting that he doesn’t know about a coming attack as he is sealed in the box. The final moment is shot from his point of view, and what follows is a scene of a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia. This juxtaposition of the abuse and the massacre suggests, in cinematic terms, that torture does not save lives. It is only later, when Dan and Maya lie to Ammar, sit across from him at a table, talk to him like a human being and give him food and a cigarette, that he offers them a potential lead.

Kyle Smith, reviewing the same movie in the New York Post:

The turning point of “ZD30” comes when a terrorist whose name once appeared on a wire transfer to one of the 9/11 attackers reveals to Maya and fellow spook Dan (Clarke) some of the other terrorists he has worked with. He gives up this information freely, over a casual lunch. So, harsh interrogation is unnecessary, right?

Wrong. In the opening scene of the film, the same prisoner is shown undergoing treatment the left keeps erroneously calling “torture.” The prisoner is sexually humiliated. He is kept awake for long periods of time (up to 96 hours) and strung in manacles. He is stuffed in a small box, he is led around on a dog leash and he is waterboarded.

Only after all of this has happened do we get to the lunch scene. When asked who he worked with, the al Qaeda financier answers, “Some guys.” Dan says that isn’t good enough and threatens to take him back to the interrogation room for more harsh treatment. Only now does the terrorist crack: He gives up three names, one of which, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, is new to Maya. Further, the terrorist reveals that Abu Ahmed was carrying a message from bin Laden. . . . 

The soft treatment only works because of the nasty stuff. The guy eating lunch wants to stay at the table, badly, and knows what the alternative is.

"Parental Guidance"

Coming Christmas. Starring Billy Crystal and Marisa Tomei. Looks like it could be good.

(Though Hollywood has perfected the art of trailers: recently it seems the best two minutes of movies I've seen are all in the trailers.)

The kids are alright

Some of them, anyway. (Apologies to The Who.)

"I'm not here to get second": Brooklyn Castle. 

"The Most Interesting Teenager In Silicon Valley".

"How This 12-Year-Old Has Already Created 98 Online Games".

"Gross misunderstanding: What journalists miss about the movie business"

Who would have guessed? They miss a lot.

(Link via Seth's Blog.)

"The 32 Greatest Unscripted Movie Scenes"

Brando with the cat, Julia laughing when Gere snaps the lid shut, and others. 

Art imitates life

Remember Jack in A Few Good Men?

And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall.

Here's Mitchell Cain, USMC:

“I live in liberal Washington,” he said, where neighbors, and especially dates, are often aghast at what he does for a living. “So when people ask me what I teach in the Marine Corps, I just tell them ‘Battlefield Survival Statistics.’”

“The liberal part of our population — God bless ‘em — they want the job done. They just don’t want to know how it’s done.”

Walken, Walken, Walken

Christopher has a new movie out and his PR people seem to have worked overtime. Here are three separate gatherings of some of his notable scenes from Man on Fire, True Romance, The King of New York, Annie Hall, and Wedding Crashers, among others. (There is some very politically incorrect and NSFW language in these clips.)

"YouTube Hall of Walken".

"Christopher Walken’s 10 Most Insane Performances".

"Ranking Christopher Walken’s Eleven Most Psychopathic Roles".

"The 10 Most Damaging Chick Flicks Ever Made"

I object to Clueless being included. But the rest seem fine.