The Siskel & Ebert balcony archives have opened. Witness Roger Ebert dismissing Full Metal Jacket as “too little and too late” and lesser than Platoon. And recycled basic training scenes? Not visually exciting? WTF? (And here they are on Blue Velvet.) (via Hollywood Elsewhere)
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (Bat Segundo interview with Murphy)
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (Bat Segundo interview with McClear)
Wow – I seem to recall agreeing with Siskel more than Ebert, but he really hated “The Big Lebowski”. This aggression will not stand, man!
I’m glad they opened up the Balcony Archives-now we don’t have to rely just on YouTube clips to remember the good old days of Siskel and Ebert. The best part of watching those two were the fights about the films and one of the pleasures here is looking back some of their reviews and saying “Were you serious?!” Ebert hates the new HP movie but loved The Golden Child(which is a so bad it’s good kind of movie)back in the day,which makes you say”huh?”
It would be interesting to know if Ebert has any regrets or second thoughts about some of those old reviews, like those of “Blue Velvet” or “Full Metal Jacket” (which seem even more mistaken as time goes by.)