There were no Raisinettes, Milk Duds or (my favorite) Hot Tamales. But there was a candy section that contained scores of bulk candies. You could get either Hagen-Daasz or Ben and Jerry’s. here are some shots of the movie food.
French Movie Food
Rants and Ruminations
Going to the movies in France
I recently went to the movies in Paris, the world’s greatest movie town. I bypassed the most famous movie palaces and hit the multiplex – the 20 screen UGC at Les Halles.
The French show American movies in version originale (V.O.), which means in their original English with French subtitles. The multiplexes were showing Iron-Man 2, Kick-Ass, Green Zone, Greenberg, Alice in Wonderland and I Love You, New York. The metro was full of posters for Iron Man 2, Robin Hood and the latest Freddy horror movie. And Russell Crowe was shilling the upcoming Robin Hood on French infotainment TV shows.
Julie Delpy was directing and starring in La Comtesse, a period drama. And there were several new French comedies that look interesting. Unfortunately, my French is only workable enough to order excellent food and wine.
There was a ticket window with humans and also automatic ticket vending machines.
The large theater drew in about 75 viewers for a Monday 2 PM show of Iron Man 2. The audience sat silently before the film, and then fled the theater rapidly during the closing credits.
Iron Man 2 got lots of laughs from the French crowd, especially when Sam Rockwell was completely baffled by some questions in French and bumbled away cluelessly. However, the French speakers didn’t seem to get how funny Samuel L. Jackson is, because so much of his humor is in his inflection. “Cheerleaders” was subtitled as “les pompomgirls“.
Funniest character of the decade
You just can’t top Fred Melamed as Sy Ableman in A Serious Man. Melamed creates a hilariously pompous and blatantly manipulative character. He is the guy who seduces the protagonist’s wife and then expects the hero to bend over backwards to make everything convenient for them. I’ve never seen such an earnestly self-entitled character.
And here is Fred Melamed discussing Sy Ableman:
Playing right now in Paris
I’m in Paris, and the multiplexes here are showing Iron-Man 2, Kick-Ass, Green Zone, Greenberg, Alice in Wonderland and I Love You, New York – all in version originale (v.o.), which means in their original English with French subtitles.
Julie Delpy is directing and starring in La Comtesse, a period drama. And there are several new French comedies that look interesting. Unfortunately, my French is only workable enough to order excellent food and wine.
And Russell Crowe is shilling the upcoming Robin Hood on French infotainment TV shows.
To the Last Drop – A Movie in Waiting
Occasionally I read a book and immediately visualize the movie. That’s the way it was with To the Last Drop, the smart and bitingly funny story of Texas invading New Mexico for its water. I’m sure that someone is going to pick up this screenplay and deliver a film like Wag the Dog – although the novel has more of the tone of Dr. Strangelove (etc.).
Here’s Wice describing his tale of Lone Star liebestraum – you don’t need to listen to the whole hour to pique your interest
Why I'm Pushing The Girl with Dragon Tattoo
This is the third straight week that I’ve been recommending The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I’ve gotten some initial resistance, primarily from women who have read the Stieg Larsson novel; one of those women went to the movie anyway and loved it. Here’s why you should see it before it leaves the theaters.
First, the movie is centered on Lisbeth Salander, the best new crime drama character since Helen Mirren’s Inspector Jane Tennyson. And Noomi Rapace creates a Lisbeth Salander who is a lethal mix of damage and drive. Noomi Rapace’s Lisbeth, as a tiny fury of a Goth hacker, is only 90 pounds, so she will lose a fistfight with a man; but she prevails with her smarts, resourcefulness and machine-like relentlessness. Lisbeth is always mad AND always gets even.
Second, the Scandinavians have already made all three movies for the Stieg Larsson trilogy. They’re all in the can with the same stars. Movie #2 is The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, which has already been released in Scandinavia and is in wider European release now. Movie #3 is The Girl Who Played With Fire, to be released in Scandinavia in September. American Stieg Larsson fans will be will be able to see all three movies soon, in theaters or on Netflix.
Third, Hollywood is going to remake this movie. I doubt that Hollywood is going to remake the whole trilogy, so this may be your only chance to see the trilogy. There are rumors about casting George Clooney or Brad Pitt, so male lead will likely be enhanced at the expense of the story. The movie will likely be dumbed down to make Lisbeth more of a stylized action hero . And, of course, Hollywood is not going to cast Noomi Rapace in the lead, so you would miss the film’s essential performance.
Oscar Dinner
Every year, we watch the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. For example, we had sushi for Lost in Translation and cowboy campfire beans for Brokeback Mountain – you get the idea.
Last year, Frost/Nixon and Milk were stumping me until I realized that they were set in the 1970s. So we had celery sticks stuffed with pimento spread, pigs in a blanket and Tequila Sunrises.
This year, the growth to TEN nominees has challenged us. But here is tonight’s Oscar Dinner:
Airplane bottles of liquor for Up in the Air. Obvious.
Prawn Cocktail Exotique for District 9 and for An Education. “Prawn” is the South African slur for the aliens in District 9. And a shrimp cocktail would fit into the fancy 1960s dinner out in An Education.
KFC chicken for Precious and The Blind Side. OK, the fast food chicken in Precious is from a diner, not from KFC, but it comes in a bucket.
Scrambled Eggs for Avatar. This references the scene where Jake Scully powers through his breakfast before getting back into his avatar control module. Plus we didn’t want to dye any food blue.
Fatayer bi Sabanekh for The Hurt Locker. It’s the Arab version of spanokopita, the spinach and feta turnover. Had to go Middle Eastern.
Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man. A Seriously Jewish Brisket.
Haricot Vert for Inglorious Basterds. It takes place in France, and we needed a vegetable.
Ice cream for Up. Ours isn’t from Fenton’s Creamery. but, hey, we don’t live in Oakland.
Some Pre-Oscar thoughts
Best Supporting Actor: Christolph Walz completely deserves to win Best Supporting Actor – and he will. Me and Orson Welles’ studio made a huge mistake and pushed Christian MacKay for Best Actor instead of Supporting for his amazing performance as Orson Welles; MacKay belongs among the nominees here. And the funniest performance as a Supporting Actor – maybe in the decade – is Fred Melamed as Sy Ableman in A Serious Man; Melamed creates a hilariously pompous and blatantly manipulative character as the guy who seduces the protagonist’s wife and then expects the hero to bend over backwards to make everything convenient for them; I’ve never seen such an earnestly self-entitled character. Woody Harrelson is also great in The Messenger.
Best Documentary: The Cove is nominated for Best Documentary, and I’ve heard that it is very, very good. But it’s been a strong year for documentaries. My favorite,
Stranded: I’ve Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains, may actually be a 2008 release. But I think that Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 and Tyson are nomination-worthy. Other goods documentaries this year include Outrage, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, The September Issue, More Than a Game, The Way We Get By, It Might Get Loud, and Thrilla in Manilla.
Best Animated Feature: Just saw The Secret of Kells, and I have no idea why it has a high Metacritic score or why it is nominated for Best Animated Feature.
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Nine, but her better performance was in Broken Embraces.
Best Foreign Language Film: And why wasn’t Broken Embraces nominated for Best Foreign Language Film? It was one of my top five films of the year, and the Academy loves Almodovar. I am rooting against The White Ribbon – a brilliantly made film that tells a disappointingly shallow story. The White Ribbon is a depiction of a village in which every father is emotionally, physically and/or sexually abusive, all of the kids are very creepy and a mysterious someone is doing some very, very bad things. That could all work toward a good film, if the message were something a little deeper than “Germany’s WWII generation had very mean parents”.
The Most Fun Oscar Pool
Here’s our Oscar Pool. If you’re worried about who’s going to win Best Sound Editing or Best Animated Short, you’re taking this too seriously.
1. Number of winners cut off by music.
2. Number of winners turning the wrong way to leave stage.
3. Number of winners who thank their parents.
4. Number of presenters/winners wearing dresses with very daring cleavage.
5. Number of presenters/winners wearing dresses that expose lower back.
6. Number of gawd-awful ugly dresses (by consensus of those in the room with you).
7. Number of references by Alec Baldwin to his nude scene in It’s Complicated.
8. Number of times that Jack Nicholson is on screen.
Tiebreaker #1: Total Oscars for Avatar.
Tiebreaker #2 (if necessary): Number of minutes the show goes over time.