What the Cats Missed This Week

Published on by D. G. Hart

Disruptions in routines this week reduced the opportunities for viewing movies. Those challenges did not prevent Isabelle and Cordelia from sleeping every night after dinner.

The week started with a Turkish movie, Distant, from Nuri Bilge Ceylan, one of Turkey’s leading directors according to The New Republic‘s Stanley Kaufmann. It is slow in the manner of a Krzysztof Kieslowski but not as full of dialogue as the Polish director’s films. Its portrayal of Turks coming to terms with modernization is understated but thoughtful. Worth seeing even if you have not recently taken a trip to Turkey.

Then we reverted to the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm — our first disk from Netflix. We had seen these six episodes before but I had not remembered them very well. They are clearly funny and their humor is all the more catchy because of the nervous tension created by embarrassment for Larry David (much like you cannot believe how impolite David Brent is in The Office). What I find remarkable is Larry David’s observations about etiquette and manners, and his defense of them in many occasions. This is not Henry James’ study of morals and manners, of course, but when Larry discusses with Jerry Seinfeld whether he needs to call back a friend after his cell signal dropped, he is putting his finger on precisely the ambiguities that lurk in so many contemporary interactions among people. (My favorite from an earlier season is when Larry is walking with Ted Danson — as if they ever walk in So Cal — and wants to put an apple core — the remainder of what he has just eaten — in a neighbor’s trash can positioned by the curb and discovers that notions of private property extend not simply to not littering on someone else’s yard but to not even having access to their trash can.)

With the Mrs. away for part of the week, I decided to give Breaking Bad another try. I thought starting with episode three of Season One would get me past the removal of the bodies. But it did not. I persisted, but the series has not yet gripped me. I do remember that it was not until the sixth episode or so of The Wire that I was hooked. So I will not give up yet. But I am doubtful.

Finally, I watched This is England, again without the better half, suspecting that she would not have much of an interest in a movie about skinheads in the U.K. during the early 1980s. I’m sure if I knew more about English history and politics, the writer’s decision to surround this story of a 12-year old boy drawn into a gang with clips from the Falkland War would have made more sense. The most I could pick up was the same kind of disapproval for skinheads as for Maggie Thatcher’s foreign policy. Without the politics, the movie might have been really good. As it was, it was kind of good.

63 thoughts on “What the Cats Missed This Week”

  1. Regarding “Curb Your Enthusiasm” season 7: Larry reminds my wife & I of her dad. I love how Funkhouser’s sister is named “Bam Bam”. Bam Bam?

    Philip Baker Hall plays Larry’s doctor (Dr. Morrison) in season 7. He was in Paul Thomas Anderson’s first three (and best three) movies – “Hard Eight”, “Boogie Nights”, and “Magnolia”.

    PTA has completed his new movie, “The Master” which I believe is basically about the beginnings of Scientology.

    If you keep posting the movies you watch I’m going to have all kind of random comments…

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  2. Have you seen Kieslowski’s Trilogy (“Red”, “White”, and “Blue”)? I haven’t but want to. Foreign movies are my achilles heel because I have to give them my undivided attention to read the subtitles. Most of the things I watch I am doing something else at the same time.

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  3. The most interesting part of “Breaking Bad” is watching how Walter, Jesse, and Skyler change over time. You have to see several episodes (and even seasons) to fully appreciate this.

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  4. I realize that this blog category is about the flicks you’ve watched this week (sans kitties, apparently), but if you have it available to you on one of the public television channels in the Irish Hills area you may want to consider watching the various episodes of the French police superintendent’s adventures, “Maigret.” These are the ones that were produced by French TV from the early 90’s through the mid-2000’s starring Bruno Cremer in the leading role. They are sub-titled, of course, but they are absolutely fantastic. I tuned in on third or fourth in a series of 50+ that were ultimately produced and I’ve been hooked ever since.

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  6. With a name like “Bilge”, it’s got to be good!

    Nice on the understated name-dropping of the original english The Office.

    Interesting, my missus & me had the same (non)reaction to Breaking Bad, we watched most of the first season and gave up. Now we’re hearing so much buzz, we’re going to give it another try. (As for the Wire though, we were hooked from ep. 1. I’m a JHU alum (as are you I understand), and was on to those dudes way back from Homicide: Life on the Street (I even read the book). Besides, it’s just great to hear the accent again, hon)

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  7. Having not seen the Wire I don’t want to find myself in a beam and mote situation but Breaking Bad is well worth watching. The first season is good-ish but 2,3,4 are a couple of notches above it. Five’s not bad either.

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  8. I tried watching Breaking Bad every once in awhile the first two seasons and was not pulled in by it either. I could tell a story of how I did get hooked on it but I know how people (particularly Calvinists, even though I am part-way one myself) hate glorified testimonies from recovering addicts. Especially those that glorify the lifestyle. I would not wish it on anybody.

    I will tell the story anyways. I got hooked on it while at a half-way house about 8 blocks from Wrigley Field in Chicago (the corner of Western and Montrosse). It got to be a ritual for about 10 straight weeks every Sunday night. We would all gather in the house living room (about 10 of us)and be glued to the TV set for about an hour. Some interesting discussions followed afterwards. One guy was an ex-Meth maker himself. I found that you can learn a lot about life from recovering addicts who are not hooked into the lifestyle anymore. It was an educational experience to say the least. I then went back and watched season 2 on my own but still have not watched all the episodes from season 1. It does definitely grow on you.

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  9. Burrowing into a retour of St. Augustine’s “Confessions” and “City of God” this week. Calvin was right to complain of prolixity. Oops, off topic.

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  10. Not sure if the prolixity (not a word) was directed at me. I don’t think I have been unneccasarily wordy (although I am a lot- not a good writer at all) probably just too many posts. I am stranded at home and I can’t get out. But I hear the rebuke and will shut up. I may not be hearing it aright though. Maybe I should just leave permanently. That might not be a bad idea anyways.

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  12. Erik,

    Maybe he was’nt- I am a bit sensitive lately. Going through some tough times. Reading and blogging helps me keep my mind occupied so I can keep a semblance of sanity. Thanks for the encouragement though.

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  13. Know that in spite of all of the conflict that goes on here the gospel truly is good news for those who struggle. God is gracious and will take you through the tough times. Rely on Christ and his kindness to us, even though we are so often undeserving.

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  14. My oldest daughter (18) got engaged to her long-time boyfriend (19) yesterday. They are awfully young but are good kids. That’s a situation in my life that is challenging me to act with grace and wisdom!

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  15. John,

    I’m no moderator here, but you’re no burden as far as I’m concerned. Keep on keeping on. A lot of people have kept their sanity by putting thought to paper or in this case keyboard.

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  16. Erik,

    I have had about 3 of these type of incidences occur to me today. I thought someone was harassing and picking on me and I was totally misinterpreting. What’s up with that? I am getting paranoid in my older age. Maybe I need some counseling. I wish I had someone like Gabriel Byrne of In Treatment to talk to. I am trying to laugh at myself now.

    Did anyone see “The Newsroom” last night on HBO? I think it is a really well done new series like many of the series have been on HBO.

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  17. At least three guys here are Confessional Outhouse guys – Could you guys set up the ability to be notified by e-mails of new posts? I have a WordPress blog and know you can do it. I would like to receive notice of new posts.

    If anyone is looking for good Reformed sermons I would recommend my pastor, Jody Lucero (yes, he’s a man) at http://www.providencerc.org. He is a Westminster graduate and two sermons a week are posted. He is a really great preacher. He’s going through the Sermon on the Mount on Sunday mornings and the Belgic on Sunday evenings.

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  18. John,

    I’ve tried to watch Newsroom twice now, and I can’t get past the ‘Redford Complex’ of it all where T.V. journalists and Hollywood actors think they know more and are more important than they really are. Neil Postman got to me early and I struggle with pictures/TV conveying complexity, much less relevance. I’m a bit of a sorehead in that way.

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  21. Re: The Newsroom. I want to see it because I like Jeff Daniels, but Aaron Sorkin’s writing can be a bit overbearing at times (although I liked “The Social Network” a lot.)

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  22. I did not mean for this to turn into a feel sorry for John session. Maybe I was inadvertantly fishing for some encouragement. Thanks though Sean, again I appreciate it.

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  23. John,

    You’re all good. Nothing but a bunch of sinners being narcissistic here. (It’s all about me).

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  24. I did not know Sorkin wrote the script for “Social Network.” That does explain his MO of interweaving a lot of relational themes in “The Newsroom.” What do you mean by overbearing? I don’t know much about him.

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  25. Sean,

    I have read Postman too (AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH) but you should give it another try. I thought the last episode (number 8 I believe) portrayed complexity pretty well. You have got to like the theme of attempting to just report the news to inform voters and all the hassles they have to go through competing in an environment where ratings and sensationalism reign. The media is a monster that is hard to tame for purposes of informing the public in ways that promote a civilized public square.

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  26. John- By “overbearing” I guess I mean he has his characters make a lot of long speeches which people don’t seem to do that often in real life (except in blogs like this, ha, ha!). If the character is a liberal it gets a bit old for me.

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  27. John,

    I’ve surrendered my entertainment choices to my better half who is classically trained(Broadway and off-Broadway). She thinks I’m too hard on T.V., she likes Newsroom.

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  28. Erik,

    It is too late for me to get any help. I turned 55 yesterday and my narcissism would take too long to cure. I’ll be dead before I will be mentally healthy again. That is why I have resigned myself to hoping for a better life in the next life and concentrating my efforts on setting my mind on heavenly things rather than earthly things. Just doing that probably makes one more mentally stable.

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  29. Erik, I just added a subscriberator to CO; I think to people who visit when logged into wp accounts, there is a “follow” button somewhere, now for anybody who is not logged in they can enter their email address for auto. updates. I called it “Ring the Bell when yer Done”, in keeping with our Outhouse theme.

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  30. Erik,

    I think Sorkin is pretty balanced in how he is presenting both the conservative and liberal points of view. You can tell he is making an effort in trying not to be too biased- although he probably does lean to the left. In my opinion though the Tea Party and the right in American politics do have numerous flaws- as Darryl Hart has pointed out.

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  31. Erik, Thanks for the tip on The Master. Magnolia is the most intense 2 1/2 hour movie I’ve ever seen. The soundtack, both score and Aimee Mann, aren’t bad either. It may be Tom Cruise’s best role.

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  32. Erik, I’ve seen K’s trilogy several times. His series on the decalogue for Polish telivision (Decalogue) is also worth seeing. When he died he was working on another trilogy, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. His collaborator saw Heaven and Hell through to production but I don’t know if Purgatory went anywhere (no pun intended).

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  34. Rube, when were you at Hopkins? Have you seen any of Barry Levinson’s movies set in Baltimore — Diner, Tin Men, Avalon, and Liberty Heights? All are worth seeing.

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  36. John Y., if your fascinated by addicts, you may want to check out David Simon’s The Corner. It was his warm up to The Wire. Put Homicide and The Corner together and you get Jimmy, Bunk, Avon and Marlow.

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  37. Sean, the classic piece on tv news is Broadcast News starring Holly Hunt and William Hurt. It’s a grown up version of Mary Tyler Moore and is very good, especially considering it’s almost 25 years old.

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  39. Darryl,

    I think addicts are the lepors of modern culture. There are a lot who would’nt care if they were used for guinea pigs or left out somewhere in the street to die. They are to be avoided and shunned. However, a website is probably not the place to talk about it. I have heard that THE CORNER is pretty good. Maybe I will check it out.

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  40. (Sigh, Rube. I’ve always thought the CO theme was less frat house potty humor and more narrow-Reformed-confessional-zigging to broad-American-eeeevangelical zagging.)

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  45. The internal conflict this sort of dweeby high school chem teacher who winds up with a drug dealer chained to a pole in the basement and he either has to kill him or let him go and risk everything… I thought that brillant. Like a Pixar movie, there are periods where it gets a little long in the tooth but I enjoy this series.

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  46. I am 0-10 on those foreign films (sigh…). Thanks for the list, though. I saw “Broadcast News” in high school in a theater in Kansas City on New Years Eve. Anything with Albert Brooks is not bad.

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  47. DGH: I was at Homewood 88-92. Coming from SoCal I thought Bawlamer was a pit. But then for grad school I moved to (cue Fred Armisen impersonating Gov Patterson)…New Jersey. I wish I had understood Charm City better during my tenure.

    I also had a near-miss with the Reformation in B’more, as I attended Faith Christian Fellowship PCA (off of Greenmount), but it didn’t really stick at the time. They cared more about church membership than my home evangelical church did, so as a transient undergrad they only gave me an “associate membership”. I joked that made me an “Associate Presbyterian”. I also remember teaching a Sunday School class of maybe 3rd or 4th graders, and coming away with “hey, this ‘catechism’ thing is a pretty good idea — you take all the important stuff about religion and distill it into a form that is easily taught and remembered!” And then there’s my (all about me) own sob story…

    For your list of movies about The City That Reads, I’ve only seen Avalon (which was good). I’ll have to have the missus add the others to the queue.

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  48. Speaking of Dominic West, look for Appropriate Adult, a british miniseries of a true murder case. West is the bad guy. Emily Watson is also fantastic as always. As good as this is, it’s worth watching just for the accent West puts on (Yorkie?)

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  49. The most interesting Emily Watson movie I’ve seen is “Metroland” with Christian Bale. It’s worth seeing but it may not be out on DVD. She also plays Adam Sandler’s love interest in PTA’s “Punch Drunk Love”. A good movie, but not a great movie. Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellent in PTA’s first 4 movies and plays a bad guy in this one. Don’t get me started on Hoffman — the best actor of our generation.

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  50. DGH – by “Maigret is in my queue” I hope you don’t mean NetFlix. I checked and it looks like the only version they offer is the one starring Michael Gambon, who is immensely inferior to the French TV version with Bruno Cremer in that role.

    The problem is that the Cremer versions are only available in a European DVD format, which is NOT compatible with players sold in the USA. I’m viewing the episodes on a syndicated network called “Worldview” (imagine THAT coincidence!) which is locally broadcast over a PBS sub-channel (digital). Since Worldview makes the network feed available to subscribing affiliates they don’t worry about any conversion – they just download and air it.

    Being out in the sticks as you are you may not be able to pick up any such channels – unless you have CATV. Hope this helps.

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  51. Rube, we may have run into each other in Eisenhower since I was commuting to Duke from Balmer on a post-doc and still using the JHU library. I may have still been playing hoops with the history department on Fridays for that matter. We moved their from Cambridge and were also worried that it would reflect downward mobility. But the city took root in our souls. Knowing journalists at the Sunpapers didn’t hurt. And then there’s Meeeeeennnnncken (imagine Homer saying “doughnut”).

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  54. Looks like a beautiful academic library. Academic libraries are great. I pretty well paid of my first house selling books that the Iowa State University library got rid of for $.25 each.

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  56. DGH – no problem. ‘Course, you could watch it, too, if you have Direct TV. It airs tonight on the MhzNetwork Worldview mystery channel at 9:00 on DTV 2183. If you don’t, cruise over to Coldwater and stop at the first bar you see. Threaten to start a riot if they don’t change their DTV channel from the Detroit-Twinkies game over to Maigret. Better yet, arrive early and order plenty’a Manhattans so they can’t refuse.

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  57. Stick with BBad Mr. Hart. I did not like it at first either. It gets better every season, though, and has become one of the most fascinating (and well composed) story-arcs that my little brain can recall. “Mr. Chips becomes Scarface.”

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  60. Barry Levinson is the executive producer on a new show that starts Sunday night on BBC America called “Copper”. It is about a policeman in 1864 New York. Dorothy Rabinowitz reviewed it in Friday’s Wall Street Journal.

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