09.16.11 Too Hard On The Beaver?
I’ve always been a believer in separating life from art, and naturally, from film in particular. The movies of Leni Riefenstahl should be preserved, no one should be made to feel guilty about seeing a film from Victor Salva or Roman Polanski, and folks such as Charlie Sheen, Tom Sizemore, and even Lindsay Lohan, no matter how troubled they may be, deserve to have careers as long as they can keep it together for production. Therefore, in light of recent events surrounding the off-camera persona of one Mel Gibson, I was extremely interested in checking out his much-maligned new film, co-starring and directed by Jodie Foster, The Beaver. A total box office flop, taking in under a million bucks (even though its release was limited, which also could have had something to do with Gibson’s actions), The Beaver was considered a complete mess of a movie upon its unveiling. But, I couldn’t escape the feeling that much of the reason for this negative response was the result of ill-timed events that had nothing to do with the movie itself (despite its wacky premise) and people’s dismissal of Gibson. The actual reviews were widely mixed, with even those who had positive things to say refusing to give it full praise. So, with the film recently coming to DVD, I decided to take a look at it, to determine whether the panning of The Beaver is fully deserved.
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In 2008, the Library of Congress chose to preserve 
Yes, it’s summertime, which means it’s the season for the big blockbusters such as Captain America: The First Avenger, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and the latest Harry Potter movie. They’re grandiose, popular movies that everyone knows about and that many people will see, just like all the big-budgeted, powerhouse films that have preceded them throughout the years from Gone With The Wind to Avatar. That’s all well and good. Many blockbusters are fine films. However, there are literally thousands of films produced every year that a lot of folks will never know about that are truly worthwhile productions. They don’t become popular for a variety of reasons, like a limited theatrical run (or none at all), a lack of support in the media, or just that there’s a modicum of bona fide big-name “movie stars” in the release. But, that doesn’t mean these films are necessarily any less vital or entertaining, regardless of what some people may believe. Therefore, from time to time I’m going to point out some films that may not be in the general public’s consciousness that were truly solid offerings. Here are a few under the radar gems that I discovered only recently: 
Remember in elementary school when everyone would come back from summer vacation, and the teacher would make all the students either write an essay or give an oral presentation on how they spent the previous months free of having to worry about long division, the capital of Pennsylvania, or the gross lunch lady with the mole on her face? Well, that’s kind of the idea here, but this little feature will be a preface, not an epilogue. That’s right, at the conclusion of business on July 15, yours truly will be on vacation for the first time in 2 1/2 years. What will I be doing? Will I travel to exotic locales such as the Caribbean? Miami? Las Vegas? Boise…? No, film fans, I will most likely be sitting on my couch catching up on my stories. What that means exactly is that I will be spending a majority of the week indulging in my favorite pastime: watching movies, of course. 
OK, so this could be considered part two of my tribute to director 
Hello, film fans. We’re fresh off of the Memorial Day weekend, and yours truly needs to get something off of his chest. It has been almost two months now since the passing of industry luminary, Sidney Lumet, one of the greatest directors in the history of film… in my ever so humble opinion. He may not have had quite the reputation or track record of a Scorsese, or a Spielberg, but he was a true master and he deserves to be mentioned right up there with them. Unfortunately, with the exception of a fine tribute on the TCM channel, Lumet’s career and impressive body of work has not been met with much… well, fanfare, since his passing. Sure, it was reported amongst all the usual news outlets. A google of his name will result in the usual obits from The New York Times, etc. But, unless it’s just my imagination, there really hasn’t been a proper celebration of his films. It just bothers me that, even before his death, Lumet never really got the credit or press I felt he deserved. He would always be discussed as a brilliant filmmaker, don’t get me wrong, but it even took the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences until 2005 to award Lumet an honorary Oscar, which to their credit they appropriately called a “consolation prize for a lifetime of neglect.” Therefore, I’ve decided to pay my respects to the late grand auteur with this little piece. However, this time, instead of just running down a laundry list of his incredible work, I’m going to briefly discuss a pair of Lumet’s films—that I got acquainted with over the holiday weekend—that he did with one of his biggest collaborators, Sean Connery. 
Quite a while back, yours truly went on a mini-rant to tell Hollywood that it was officially 
Yes friends, it’s time for another list, and it’s bound to be a grand and verbose one at that. I’m just kidding… kind of. But I promise I’ll try to be as concise as possible. Anyway, writers write. At least, that’s what people tell me, and over the course of my tenure writing for this blog, I’ve done a fair amount of punching the keyboard. It has made me begin to relate to the whole mindset and process that professional and renowned wordsmiths go through. Furthermore, it got me to thinking about the various authors, both real and fictional, that have been covered in films. Therefore, I decided to dig through the archives to discover the best of the bunch and was a bit surprised to find an embarrassment of riches. It was actually incredibly difficult to whittle the list of worthwhile movies on the subject down to a manageable number, and I wasn’t even able to see every film that I wanted to experience! However, once I set this little project into motion I really didn’t want to abort the mission. So, it’s with that in mind that I would like to present ten of the best productions dealing with artists of the written word (maybe with a few extras thrown in). 
Believe it or not, yours truly actually had this planned well before the unfortunate passing of Ms. 
OK, so