Warning, long, bored at work post about movies and what not. I lost my digest, but someone was talking about Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Wes Anderson, Etc. I remember someone saying Bottle Rocket was 'strange'. I don't know if I would call it strange, but it is not your typical plot-driven movie so some people don't really see the point that the meat of the movie is in the underlying themes.. which aren't themselves very deep or hard to catch.. Dignan sums it up at the end when he says something like, "Funny you were in the nut house, now I'm in Jail".. how they were both not normal people or didn't want to conform and how you can end up.. and how that's not so bad.. and how maybe Anthony lost some of his craziness and gained some sanity and Dignan helped him with that by taking the rap for what they did... reminds me of, uhm, Midnight Cowboy, how Dustin Hoffman (Rizzo?) saves John Voight from himself but he himself loses (I won't spoil anything if you haven't seen it). A funny thing Wes Anderson said on IFC about Bottle Rocket... and he is a really funny guy.. was that the script to bottle rocket was not very well written and they really didn't know how to write one.. but when some critics liked the movie they called it 'character driven' instead of 'lacking plot'. I appreciate his self deprecating attitude, however he knows Bottle Rocket came out really great because not many movies walk that territory of being such fun character studies that don't have much of a plot to get in the way of that. Rushmore had both.. well drawn characters and some plot movement.. it's hard to pick my favorite between the two though.. I think in the long run Bottle Rocket would win out.. because it doesn't have so much plot.. if I watched them both 5 times Rushmore would probably get old because the plot is a bigger part and you know the plot so well it wears thinner faster. Which brings me to my last, and final point, about how much I love DRY MOVIES. I've got a little list in my head of my favorites and never have written them down but I should before I forget them. The driest movies you can watch are these: Paris, Texas - the scene where Harry Denton Stanton confronts his estranged wife, Natasha Kinksi will make your heart stop for about 15 mins which is about how long the scene seems to last where they look at eachother though this glass window of a peep-show booth. Fargo - Blood Simple is fairly dry, but Fargo is the driest thing the Coen Brothers have done. It could be drier than it is, but it's perfect the way it is so I can't complain. This is near the bottom of my dry films top ten list. Stroisek / Aguire the Wrath of God - Both by Werner Herzog, both really dry and foreign. One about a guy who come to American looking for a better life.. he buys a big American color TV. and trailer house on credit then gets it all taken away. Aguire is an outstanding movie also, it has Germans who are playing Spaniards. There is a scene that seems to be lifted from one of my favorite books, the original Tarzan story. It ends much like Stroisek.. one of the most incredible endings of any film ever created. If this is EVER on the big screen it must be seen. Panic in Needle Park - one of Al Pacino's first movies and one of his best. VERY, VERY dry movie. I don't think there is even a soundtrack, just cold grey streets and dingy apartments and sad people doing heroin. Lots of great performances in the film from people who I don't know their names. I think the female lead went on to play the nanny in the exorcist. Watch this when you want a dry one. Oh yeah, it's sort of a love story too. Almost. American Job - Chris Smith's first movie before his great documentary American Movie. This is dryer than dry, like me and Elwood Blues like their toast. It can be painful to watch, but it's also hilarious at the same time. I bet EVERYONE can relate to at least one of the jobs this guy has.. food service.. phone work.. a job you have to work late hours... 2001 / Barry Lyndon - Movies you can watch over and over. I've only seen the second half of Barry Lyndon (it's 3 hours), but I've seen it 3 times. I will finally get to see the first half in the theater soon. Eyes Wide Shut was certainly dry, but so.. inextricable? As not to be as much fun to watch, if indeed you do consider watching 2.5 hour dry movies fun like I do. Maybe if I figured it out I would include it. Bad Lands - Great dry movie! While no one could draw a bead on Thin Red Line, everyone should consider Bad Lands a masterpiece. It's a movie that you watch it a few times and you can think in your mind of most any scene and see it perfectly.. because unlike most movies now it's not composed of thousands of cuts.. it's very minimal in that aspect and it's beautiful and it so much does not follow the formula for road movies that was created by the various Bonnie and Clyde films. There is a short but priceless scene where Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen dance in the dirt on their makeshift tree house farm. Most any Jim Jarmusch movie - Really the only guy working whos specialty is dry movies... it takes a while to see how great these movies are because you are so used to watching normal movies where it's all about making these points about story, and dialogue, and scenes, and cuts.. his movies are more about the space in between the dialogue and the reactions the characters have to each other and their surroundings. They are like 'anti-movies'. I like most all them, but I think Down by Law is my favorite because I like the characters best and Roberto Benini is a real talent and a funny guy but people think he's a goof since he did that wacky oscars thing. I guess that's all I can think of. If anyone has any dry movies they would recommend, please do. My roommate is always saying, "River's Edge! River's Edge! It's real dry..! And Funny!" and the proceeds to do so-so imitations of Crispin Glover and spoils all the good lines I haven't seen yet.
