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RECENT PICTURES...
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL!
INSIDE MAN!
THE MATADOR!
I always hated Tom from Tennessee William's play, 'Glass Menagerie' because he was one of those people who spent his adult life watching motion pictures. I've never gotten the hang of suspending my life for a few hours to sit down and escape into someone else's vision, but the last three movies I've seen in theaters have all been pretty good.
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ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL
my old copy of the opening panel of the original strip | I remember I was a senior at the Kansas City Art Institute when a tattered, folded up photocopy of Dan Clowes' four page satire of art school ended up in my hands. Working at the library at the time, I passed it along to all my friends and we all shared a good laugh pointing out the archetypes we'd shared classes
with for four years. I gritted my teeth a bit when I heard the sublime strip was being made into a movie, and then soon found myself enthusiastically waiting its release.
The movie was pretty true to the comic, almost stubbornly following the inside jokes and on-liners at the expense of timing and moving the plot along. The movie also didn't waste time adding in a sickened melancholy wrinkle about a serial killer about campus, which alternated between driving characters and slowing the movie down. The schizophrenic nature of the story - alternating between the art school satire of the odd, narcissistic desire to become a great artist in a sea of narcissistic mediocrity, and the mounting
death toll of the serial killer left the movie with an uneven feel.
There were plenty of scenes and roles in the movie stripped from my own experiences as an art student - from the obviously gay student explaining his girlfriend's absence to art school mom, and the freaks, geeks and castoffs that would never fit in elsewhere all struck chords with me. The teachers and classes were spot on, but the most true to life character was the old caustic art school grad, living a solitary, bitter life in a pent up rent control apartment who openly calls the serial killer running rampant as the greatest
artist of all time. I know an old painter who answers the same question with "Harris and Klebold", the kids who shot up Columbine. And of course, the Kansas City Art Institute housed its own serial killer.
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Of course, the movie dwells on the absurdities of art school and is good for a bunch of laughs throughout, and the closer to the scene you are, the more you'll laugh. The fundamental questions of art school, and art and the art world - talent, vision, and drive all come crashing together by the end of the movie in such sardonic fashion that the ending, however unseemly and set up as it was, retrieves the movie from mediocrity and shows the decadent and hollow art world and art schools in a rather unflattering but
absolutely true light.
THE INSIDE MAN
I never watch previews for a movie, and am one of the few people who really don't care to know anything about a movie before I end up seeing it. So its odd that I got suckered into watching this movie after getting hooked after watching the preview. The movie didn't let me down at all - it was a simple bank robber movie that all of a sudden wasn't so simple. You get the sense throughout there is no resolution, and can't help but root for the clever crooks against the hapless cops and the corrupt members of high
society lurking on the fringes of the robbery.
It's a tense movie, but a lot of fun too. But it's a whole lot more than just a regular shoot 'em up cops and robbers bank robbing movie. Spike Lee, who doesn't let his ego or style get into the way of the movie, interjects some sly commentary on the social and political issues of the day with a cast of hostages, bystanders and New Yorkers at their finest. The movie has a few twists and turns, doesn't lie to its audience, and includes a pretty tidy ending that lets you start breathing again before you leave the
theater.
THE MATADOR
This was a movie I absolutely enjoyed. Slick, well produced and paced with an efficient and jovial bounce in the step, it keenly reminded me of 'Catch Me If You Can'. Pierce Bronson, fresh off his role as James Bond, plays a professional killer who's falling to pieces. Movie boob Greg Kinnear (whose best role still is Captain Amazing from
the Mystery Men) plays the straight business man who crosses path with the lewd, crass, and somewhat sad killer in Mexico City. I heartily laughed anytime Pierce Bronson told a vulgar or improper joke - and the pacing of the movie, filled with crisps cuts and edits, vivid colors and a smooth soundtrack, played one scene into the next until a whitey-tightey and boot clad Bronson purposely struts through the hotel lobby before descending to the bottom of the hotel pool.
At this point - the plot of the movie evolves, the characters go their own ways and Kinnear's star rises and Bronson's hits the skids. The two find themselves at an impromptu late night reunion at Kinnear's stifling life in Colorado, and his wife adds a nice touch to the film as the bored housewife with an interest in the danger of Bronson's life. Throughout the movie, it's great to watch the characters devolve and evolve, and by the end, the viewer can't help but be taken in by this small little movie.
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