The Weekly Review: 01/07/2012

A weekly round-up of what I have been watching, listening to and discussing. Rather than just posts about film, this is a bit more all-encompassing as I think my interest in cinema and art crosses over and between a variety of sources...

Again, a slow-week in terms of film-watching. Partly due to the football dominating the screen in the flat (not my choice mind you) but also, my re-organisation of my Google Reader has been all for the best. Lots of commenting = not much film-viewing. I will address the balance this week.


Highlight of the Week:

Wimbledon 2012: Every year I attend. One year, Jo and I even recorded our podcast whilst watching a match. It seemed appropriate as, if I recall correctly, we discussed Woody Allen's Whatever Works and, amongst other aspects, Match Point came up on numerous occassions. This year, we managed to camp out from Friday to Saturday and get into the grounds at 9:30am. We watched Ana Ivanovic take out Julia Goerges first, before taking a brief break on Henman Hill. We then made the decision to watch Croatian Marin Cilic tackle the American, Sam Querrey. For 5 and a half hours. The second longest game in Wimbledon History. It was fascinating to see both players not give an inch ... until the end (The picture above was on the BBC and Sarah and I are both, in striped tops, behind Cilic). We hoped to see the Williams sisters play a doubles match, but this was moved when this match continued for so long. To finish the day, a re-sold ticket for £10 managed to get us into Centre Court to watch Andy Murray take on Marcos Baghdatis. We managed to see a hours worth of great tennis - and Andy Murray nab the lead. When it started, I didn't think Murray had a chance (I personally believe Murray is way overrated), but he turned things around and won the match within the short time left of the night. I cannot recommend Wimbledon highly enough - if you are a fan of tennis, get to London in July 2013.

DVD's/Blu-Rays/Cinema

Since watching All Quiet on the Western Front, for the Classic Columb, last week I have not watched a single film. Absolutely awful. Again blame Wimbledon and an effective Google Reader. And Football. Always blame football.

Music/Podcasts

The Hollywood Gauntlet: Controversially, The Hollywood Saloon, ended earlier this year. Both hosts, Andy Siems and John Jansen, have decided to release their own podcasts. The Hollywood Gauntlet is John Jansen's. The first episode is four-and-a-half hours long and, even now, I haven't managed to listen to all of it. I recommend it though, as it has [so far] detailed to importance of a bunch of films in 1982. Conan the Barbarian, E.T: The Extra Terrestrial, Poltergeist and many, many more. I do miss Andy - I think the differing approaches to cinema always provided a great balance, but this is definately 'Johns' thing. We shall see how it goes ...

Reel Insight: I managed to catch up on their two-year anniversay show and its crazy to think that I remember a time when this podcast didn't exist. A weekly podcast is tough enough at the best of times - but for two-years! Madness. And I mentioned to Jess on the blog that any 'episode' dedicated to Hugh Jackman, I believe, will be a bit more than simply an analysis of the actors career. From what I understand, most women think of Hugh Jackman as more than an actor...

Eminem: 'Stan' is a masterpiece. It really, truly is. And I'm not a big hip hop fan.

TV/Theatre/Art Galleries/Books/Misc

The Simpsons: Season 8 continues. This week managed to include Sherry Bobbins. Which I have not seen before. And yes, it is great. Favourite Episode so far? I don't think so ... it's a very strong season.

Man, I [Don't] Love Genre Discussion

I have recently caught up on a number of LAMBcasts and Reel Insight podcasts - and have visited the all new Dylan/Kai Combo-Blog Man, I Love Film and it has brought up a few talking points.

Primarily the topic of Genres. The Rom-Com discussion on the LAMBcast highlighted how films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Groundhog Day feature as Rom-Coms - the same genre as Leap Year and The Proposal and that the term 'Rom-Com' is generally applied to crap Romantic Comdies opposed to actual Rom-Com's. In the same way, akin to the Man, I Love Film Blogs "Top 5 'Westerns'" or "Top 5 'Vampire Films'", they equally use Genres to summarise their points. Finally, the talk of Ryan Gosling's roles in The Notebook  - categorised as primarily a 'romance' whilst Blue Valentine is categorically a 'drama' ... or an anti-romance, I guess.

Westerns, Sci-Fi, Gangsters, Romance, Comedy, Horrors, B-Movies, Drama (what is that?), Torture-Porn, Porn... they all count as Genre's. Then you have your genre combo's - Rom-Com, Zom-Rom-Com, B-Movie Horror ... etc.

Many years ago, in Sight and Sound magazine I read an article which, in passing, noted how the use of genre as primarily of commerical gain and not of any academic of artistic merit.

Comedy - for example - almost always features in a film. But that sure doesn't make it a comedy. Forrest Gump is incredibly funny ... but it isn't a comedy. Horror, I guess, is something scary ... but you have that slim line between Horror and Thriller ... to Crime and so on and so forth. Genre is a way to categorise films - a simpliciation of a simplistic category. Westerns are set in the dusty-scapes of America whilst Horrors 'have a kill within the first act' - ensuring the films remain within their codes and conventions. These are not set in stone though and, nowadays, the fact that they are not set in stone means that people play with the conventions - Scream, Grindhouse, No Country for Old Men, etc.

Genre is akin to the boardroom simplicity - Jan De Bont with "Its Die Hard but on a bus!" or D.J. Caruso with "It's Rear Window but updated, for kids!".

How often do you find yourself saying - "yeah, I didn't really like X thing in film - but, y'know, thats what [insert genre cliche here] involves". It doesn't have to. It could be anything you want it to be. As people have shown! Rom-Com's can be profound - see Woody Allen and Co. Rom-Com's can be surreal - see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Action films can explore the dreamscape - see Inception and Sci-Fi can be littered wiith a wide variety of philosphical musings - see The Matrix. Heist Films don't even need to show heist! (See Reservoir Dogs)

With all the 'meta' films and film-literate cinema currently out in the world, the use of genre to categorise films is redundant. If anything, if a film manages to stick successfully to genre tradition, then it clearly lacks originality because, by definition, it has been 'done' before. So lets put Genre to one side and hope that filmmakers expect more from their audience - because, seriously, I don't go to the cinema to see the guy always getting the girl or the butch guy always saving the day, I don't need the guns-in-the-air-slow-motion-sequence that manages to kill everyone in sight or even see see the big-breasted girl running from the guy with a knife ... I go to see a bloody good film and the genre don't make a blind bit of difference.

Favourite Film Faces #9: Jason Lee in 'Enemy of the State'

Having just listened to the Reel Insight podcast with Rachel and Jess and they briefly mentioned Jason Lee - having played a small part in a Sigourney Weaver/Gene Hackman film HeartBreakers - and I thought ... oh yeah. Jason Lee ...

Now I'm not a big Kevin Smith fan and I haven't seen a single episode of My Name is Earl so unlike some people, I am in no-way a big fan of Jason Lee, but I always remember him in Enemy of the State. And that ties in with the [ridiculous] possibility of Tony Scott directing the new Superman movie.

Jason Lee's brief role in Enemy of the State is unforgettable (and he reminds me of Ryan Reynolds...). As is the fire truck. And then there is the incredible cast! Jack Black, Seth Green, Barry Pepper, Jamie Kennedy - "I though it was a training op'-, Tom Sizemore and obviously the leads: Will Smith and Gene Hackman. And theres more... Jon Voight! who else ... What a great film! I may watch it soon following this post...

And before anyone says it - I haven't seen The Conversation yet...