The flawless transfer of writer/director Alex Cox’s equally flawless cinematic story of the mutually destructive relationship between Sex Pistols’ punk rock bassist Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) and his groupie girlfriend Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb), includes a number of documentaries that examine both the film and its subjects. Our own Kurt Loder is interviewed throughout and offers up a brilliant insight. Loder points out that at night, in the dark, the punk lifestyle looks glamorous, but that in the daytime, it looks like a nightmare existence.

Loder is exactly right, which goes a long to explain why Cox stages most of his action in daylight and why the result of this alternately harrowing, beautiful, and poignant examination of two heroin addicts is the furthest thing from just another piece of Hollywood nihilism. Cox never flinches from the debasement that made up much of the life of our two protagonists. The genius of the script, though, is how the presentation of those moments is easier to take thanks to a wickedly funny and knowing sense of humor. You find yourself laughing out loud at the absurdity and outright stupidity of how these two lived their horrible lives, fed their habit, and raged in self-delusion against reality and their own self-immolation:

Nancy: I fucking hate them! I fucking hate them! ! Fucking motherfuckers! They wouldn’t send us any money! They said we’d spend it on DRUGS!
Sid: We would!

And:

Nancy: I hate my fuckin’ life.
Sid: This is just a rough patch. Things’ll be much better when we get to America, I promise.
Nancy: We’re in America. We’ve been here a week. New York is in America, you fuck.

Best of all, the story never denies its protagonists their humanity. In order to feel every moment of a slow-motion suicide, Cox makes it impossible for us not to pity Sid and Nancy, even though their many flaws are always on display. As two unspent lives swirl the drain, the glimpses we’re given into what could’ve been (especially with respect to Sid) makes these moments touching in a way that sneaks up on you.  And as destructive as the relationship was, we do know for certain that these two truly loved one another and, moreover, we are never allowed to forget how heartbreakingly young they were (he was 21, she was 20).

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MUSLIM WHINING AT ALL-TIME POP CULTURE HIGH

Hit play on both videos embedded here. After the first video plays on each player, a second set of clips runs automatically, and that’s when the crybabying really begins.

“The Muslims Are Coming!” is even harder to stomach.

Regardless of religion or whatever, self-appointed victims disgust me to no end. I’m sorry, but Muslims have no more to crybaby about than any other “group” in this country. Furthermore, other than the L, G, B, and Ts, no group is more protected, coddled, and given a pass as some sort of sacred cow.

Being a Muslim isn’t anti-American, but posing as a victim, especially on television, sure as hell is.

ARCLIGHT ANNOUNCES SIX-FILM GARY OLDMAN RETROSPECTIVE

It’s impossible to believe The Mighty Gary Oldman is not an Oscar recipient. Hopefully, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” will remedy that wrong (it’s doing well in its limited run) and this film retrospective in the heart of Hollywood will remind voters of just what a talent they’ve overlooked for decades.

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Due to obligations over the Christmas holiday, there will be no HomeVideodrome podcast this week.

For the anarchistic, screw-you attitude that comes with punk rock in movies, one need look no further than the films of Alex Cox. “Repo Man” is the greatest movie ever made when it comes to capturing the punk aesthetic, and even Cox’s lesser works like “Straight to Hell” share its chaotic mindset.

Cox’s great genre love is the spaghetti western. He can be found on the supplements to numerous DVDs discussing films by the likes of Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci. But even when he dabbles in the western in films like “Walker,” the snarling spirit of punk comes seeping through (methinks the magnificent score by the late Joe Strummer in that particular film certainly adds to it). Only once has Cox delved into a straightforward fictionalization of a chapter in the history of punk, and that’s when he chronicled the most unhealthy relationship in the history of rock n’ roll with “Sid & Nancy” in 1986.

The way Cox chose to depict his subjects caught a great deal of flak from the community it depicts, as John Lydon himself dismissed the film as “mere fantasy … the Peter Pan version,” and Clash bassist Paul Simonon decried what he saw as a depiction of Lydon as a “fat, beer-slurping idiot.

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“Carrying him around was like being with a buddy,” Gary Oldman told me about his role as George Smiley in the new drama, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.” The British actor and director Tomas Alfredson recently sat down with a group of Washington D.C. critics to talk about their new thriller, which may earn Oldman his first Academy Award nomination.

The complicated film, which also stars Colin Firth, Tom Hardy and Toby Jones, has been adapted from the best-selling novel by John le Carré and is a remake of a 1979 mini-series that starred Sir Alec Guinness. Although that mini-series was nearly five hours long, this new adaptation settles in with a running time of a little over two hours. The story focuses on Smiley, a former British intelligence officer, who returns to his agency to uncover a mole who is selling secrets to Russia during the height of the Cold War.

Although the plot sounds like a storyline from the show “24,” this film works as a quiet study of a group of characters who live in secrecy and survive by keeping their mouths shut. In fact, when Alfredson was asked what the biggest challenge of making the movie was, his answer spoke volumes. His greatest challenge was “to create as much space for silence as possible so that the audience could not just digest but also chew some of the information before swallowing and digesting it.”

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ALEC BALDWIN IS A SAD AND MISERABLE MAN:

From 2008:

Alec Baldwin, who stars in “30 Rock,” the NBC sitcom that has revived his career and done nothing to lift his spirits, has the unbending, straight-armed gait of someone trying to prevent clothes from rubbing against sunburned skin. He is fifty years old, divorced, and lives alone in an old white farmhouse in the Hamptons and an apartment on Central Park West—feeling thwarted, if not quite persecuted. In conversation, he lets out an occasional yelping laugh, but he is often wistful, in a way that is linked to professional and romantic regrets, and to a period of tabloid notoriety last year, when an angry voice mail that he left for his daughter, who was then eleven, became public. He is very conscious of what is lacking in his life—a spouse, for example, and a film career something like Jack Nicholson’s, and the governorship of New York—and his rhetoric can sometimes bring to mind a scene from “30 Rock” in which Baldwin, in his role as Jack Donaghy, a shameless but astute TV executive, stares at an equestrian painting by Stubbs and, in a growled whisper of longing, says, “I wish I were a horse—strong, free, my chestnut haunches glistening in the sun.” According to Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of “Saturday Night Live” and an executive producer of “30 Rock,” Baldwin “guards against enjoyment.” (Michaels is a friend of Baldwin’s and was a model for the Donaghy character.) “I’ll say, ‘Alec, you have one of the best writers in television’ ”—Tina Fey—“ ‘writing this part for you. It’s shot in New York, where you chose to live. You work three days a week, you get paid a lot of money, you’re getting awards. It’s a great time in your life. It’s an all-good thing. And, if you were capable of enjoying it, it would be even better.’ ” Or, as William Baldwin, one of Alec’s three younger brothers, said recently, “There’s always something for him to fucking whine about.”

The price of being a narcissist is that happiness is an impossibility. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.

THE 10 BEST CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD TOUGH GUYS

Nothing to disagree with here, especially the “special mentions.”

PIERCE BROSNAN FINDS NO COMFORT WATCHING HIS BOND FILMS

Shame, really:

Pierce Brosnan doesn’t mind leaving the James Bond-watching to his sons these days.

“I never go near them,” the actor tells Zap2it about his four rounds as Agent 007 that began with “GoldenEye” (1995) and ended with “Die Another Day” (2002). “I’m badly criticized by my boys that I will not sit and watch them with them, but I just don’t have any desire to see them. I find no nourishment in them.”

At the same time, Brosnan maintains he’s “deeply proud” of the work he did as the Bond predecessor to Daniel Craig, who will mark the movie franchise’s 50th anniversary in “Skyfall” next year. “I just don’t find any comfort in watching them. I’ll cast my eye over them, but I have to move away and say, ‘Go ahead, boys. It’s all yours.’”

Brosnan was a very good Bond. Sometimes the films let him down, but I was sorry when he left the franchise,  and after “Quantum of Bourne-ShakyCam,” I was real sorry.

In related news….

DANIEL CRAIG ON WHAT WENT WRONG WITH ‘QUANTUM OF SOLACE‘

Blame the writers strike:

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PIRATES DOWNLOAD FLOPS, IGNORE HITS

If Hollywood despised child rapists and terrorists as much as they do the 99%-ers who steal from movies and music from the 1%, the world would be a much better place.

PAGING ARMOND WHITE: ‘GROWN UPS’ SEQUEL PLANNED

This makes Armond White and me very happy. And if you’re looking for Armond these days, he’s writing over at City Arts. His “Week With Marilyn” review is a must-read: “A Giant Played By a Midget.”

[Michelle] Williams lacks the personality and lush physicality for successful prurience; she’s more Renée Zellweger than Monroe.

I don’t know what “prurience” means, but I sure wish I’d written that.

Anyway, “Grown Ups” made $271 million thanks to an amusing, easygoing story and a cast that blended together perfectly thanks to a chemistry that should serve a sequel quite well.

SO WHAT DOES DISNEY HAVE IN STORE FOR THE MUPPETS IN 2012?

Well, they’ve already attacked Big Oil and told us Newt Gingrich is “from the swamp,” so I’m guessing it will have something to do with helping to reelect President FailureTeleprompter.

THE 15 BEST SHOWS ON NETFLIX INSTANT

Doesn’t anyone write about popular culture anymore who was born before 1989? There are some perfectly fine choices on this list but the oldest listed is probably “Scrubs.” Where are “Gunsmoke,” “Columbo,” “Andy Griffith,” and “Mission: Impossible”? Where are “Wagon Train,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” and “Thriller”? One of the pleasures of writing about Hollywood is having the opportunity to introduce or re-introduce the classics. And I’m not that old. I’m only 45, and many of these shows that I’ve managed to discover were well before my time.

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Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the original “Twilight” movie, returns to the genre in the new fantasy “Red Riding Hood.” Hardwicke replaces the blood-sucking vampires of her earlier film with a murderous wolf that terrorizes a small community in this tired update of the well-known tale. Like “Twilight,” this story focuses on teenage romance set against the backdrop of supernatural forces.

Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) is the teenager caught between two boys in this story. She’s in love with Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), a local boy who has known her since she was little. Peter loves her as well and the two of them want to run away together. Unfortunately, Henry (Max Irons) is also in love with Valerie and has her mother’s support. Suzette, Valerie’s mother (Virginia Madsen), has arranged for Valerie to marry Henry despite her daughter’s wishes. As the romance plays out, a local wolf begins hunting for human flesh.

—–

The wolf isn’t a new visitor to the small town. The townspeople know it lives in the woods and lay out food for it on a regular basis. However, when Valerie’s sister turns up dead,  the locals start searching for the violent animal. Eventually, a priest named Soloman (Gary Oldman) arrives to find the wolf himself. Soloman has a history of hunting wolves and quickly informs the townspeople that the wolf is an actual person in town who transforms into the deadly beast.

Oldman is one of the very few things to like about this story. His presence alone brings gravitas to this teeny-bopper love triangle. It’s fascinating to watch a solid actor appear in a story that demands little acting from its lead actors, who look like they got lost on the way to a “Gossip Girl” audition. Even in his bland role, Oldman is still highly watchable in this melodramatic mess.

Because of the weak story, none of the actors have strong characters that they can develop. The script itself is, at times, laughably bad. Characters either say things simply to advance the plot or they spit out over-dramatic lines that would seem out of place on “Days of Our Lives.” Many viewers likely won’t care who Valerie ends up with. They’ll only worry that the wolf won’t have the appetite to swallow them both.

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The storyline of the movie The Book of Eli is a cross between I Am Legend, Fahrenheit 451, and a B-movie western. In post-apocalyptic American wasteland, a strange wanderer named Eli (Denzel Washington)—who is a cross between St Francis of Assisi and Mad Max—carries the only surviving copy of the Bible. His task is to bring it to a destination (unknown even to himself) in the West where God told him to go and where the Book is most needed.

Along his lonely way, Eli stumbles into a town resembling those of the Old West. The leader of the town is a self-appointed, ruthless leader named Carnegie, played by Gary Oldman who is simultaneously a cross between Mickey Rourke from 9 ½ Weeks and Mickey Rourke from The Wrestler, as well as the whole process of evolution between the former and the latter. Carnegie is an evil megalomaniac who sends his lowlife savages in search of the Book, convinced that possession of a copy of the now-extinct Bible can help him spread his rule and establish control over degraded humanity.

In case abusing his concubine, killing some people, and treating the rest like dirt was not enough to convey that Carnegie is a bad guy, we are shown that his favorite read is Mussolini’s biography. Yet, with all the weight of culture going against him, Carnegie is the only person who had managed to forge some semblance of a settlement with brewing elements of potential civilization.   His wild town—reminiscent of an Old West settlement but surrounded with cannibals instead of Indians—is the only semi-safe and positive place in an otherwise out-of-control and collapsed world. He is assembling a hierarchical society and he needs the Book to bring, as he thinks, “all the weak and wounded” under his dominion. His intentions are sinister and self-serving, but he seems to be the only person who understands the real power of the Book and its ability to transform and civilize the brutally egotistical and animal nature of disintegrated humanity . . . while at the same time correctly assessing any man’s, including his own, inability to re-create functioning societal interactions without a binding belief system. (more…)

“One day I heard this voice, like it was coming from inside me. It led me to a place… I found this book, buried deep in the rubble… And the voice told me to carry it west…”

Credit where credit is due… Hollywood is trying. Granted, six years have passed since “The Passion” proved we Christians can be convinced to return to a medium that has spent decades taking great pleasure in insulting who we are and what we believe; and with that clinical Christmas card of a follow up called “The Nativity” it seemed as though they would never figure it out. But between the unapologetic Christian “Blind Side” and now the down and dirty “Book of Eli,” there’s reason to hope the Pagans of the Pacific might have just moved a little closer to cracking our code.

“The Book of Eli” isn’t just Christian, it’s off-the-rails Christian … literally. Heathens might as well hit the lobby at the end of the second act because the final act is all about the faith. You’re more than welcome to stick around, but I have a feeling those of you with red strings tied ‘round your wrist will be checking your watch for the last twenty-minutes. Not we Bible-thumpers, though. That’s when it all comes together; and it’s moving and smart and best of all, not some hyper-reverent snoozer.

So, thanks Hollywood. Oh, I’ll be kicking your ass again in a sec, but for now… really, thanks. (more…)

Think of Christian films, and you might conjure up images of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” with Jesus being brutally pummeled and crucified until he dies. Or you might think of countless lesser-known movies filled with sappy storylines, bad acting and moral messages that are themselves pummeled into the audience. 

But the new movie “The Book of Eli” doesn’t fit either of those molds. In fact, this wildly entertaining, ultra-violent, post-Apocalyptic tale of a lone wanderer named Eli (Denzel Washington) who will defend the mysterious book in his possession at all costs is one of the oddest yet most forthright faith-based films to ever come out of a major studio. 

Eli is carrying a copy of the last Bible on the planet, since all other religious texts – including Torahs and Korans – were rounded up and destroyed 30 years before after religious strife was believed to have caused a devastating global nuclear war. Eli believes he’s heard the voice of God telling him to bring the Bible to an unspecified place in the West, but a ruthless despot named Carnegie (Gary Oldman) knows that if he gets his hands on the precious book, he can distort its teachings and have total control over the minds and spirits of the people who live in his empire of revived, Old West-style towns.  (more…)

 
The Mighty Denzel, The Mighty Gary Oldman, the adorable Mila Kunis, post-apocalyptic marauders with chainsaws….?

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Generally after a story has been told as a book, play, musical, numerous animated, live, made-for-TV films, and Muppets movie, its content is completely exhausted. But Disney’s latest, “A Christmas Carol,” by writer-director Robert Zemeckis of “Forrest Gump” and animated films “Beowulf” and “The Polar Express,” resurrects the classic tale through vibrant visuals while sticking to the classic story.

Briefly, “A Christmas Carol” is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey), a miser who hoards his money and pays his single employee, Bob Cratchit (Gary Oldman), the bare minimum. Scrooge lives alone in a huge, dark mansion, leading a lonely life. When his nephew Fred (Colin Firth) invites him to Christmas dinner, Scrooge berates him for being happy when he has so little money. When local charity representatives ask for support, Scrooge tells them that he supports the poor through paying taxes. “Are there no work houses? Are there no prisons?” Scrooge asks. To him, taxes are all the dues he owes to society. (more…)

Match me, Sidney.

8pm PST - Sweet Smell Of Success (1957) – A crooked press agent stoops to new depths to help an egotistical columnist break up his sister’s romance. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Marty Milner Dir: Alexander Mackendrick BW-96 mins, TV-PG

You could fill pages about the complete greatness of this film, but when all is said and done what impresses most is how so much character and so many plot turns all fit into 96 minutes. As Burt Prelutsky points out in this essay, the all important art of pacing has pretty much vanished in Big Hollywood. When raunchy sex comedies start clocking in at 126 minutes, the canary in the coalmine to warn you something’s gone horribly wrong is long, long dead. (more…)