For their number 9 choice for the decade's best film, At the Movies co-hosts Michael Phillips and A.O. Scott have chosen Gosford Park and 25th Hour, respectively. Once again, I'll side with Phillips, vastly preferring Robert Altman's character and actor-rich period piece over Spike Lee's overrated celebration of drug-dealing and pedophilia. Phillips has the best observation of the week when he concludes Lee shamelessly dragging the 9/11 events into his movie had nothing to do with the rest of the film and didn't fuse well. Interestingly, Lawyer forwarded me a well-written scathing view of Altman and his films. Columnist Richard Schickel is a respectable guy and has given great DVD commentary on Unforgiven and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I certainly think Altman (and especially Nashville) is overrated and Schickel's thesis is probably true (since I really haven't felt the urge to watch any of Altman's films in 5 years). But, as Schickel implied, his influence and trademarks are important and there are some great moments. Gosford Park is one of his very best (with The Player and M*A*S*H).
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Phillips-Scott Update
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My Altman antipathy all began in 1999 at the Austin Film Festival - I was geeked to get to see Nashville for the first time with Altman in attendance and doing a q & a. I tried so hard to like Nashville - but I hated it and really haven't liked any Altman films I've seen. I admit I haven't watched Gosford Park, so I'll give it a chance.
25th hour is a B, maybe a B+. Its the film that made me start hating Ed Norton. Rosario Dawson is great in it, though.
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