almost ENTERTAINMENT: April 2022

ALMOST ALTERATIONS - SECOND EDITION.

Firstly, the First Edition can be found here:

http://almostentertainment.blogspot.com/2021/04/alterations.html

Now. Here we find ourselves living another April. Which, in addition to being the cruellest month, is when I started this blog. So perhaps I’ll make this a yearly tradition: tidying up the dangling chads of this domain.

There continue to be so many things I wish I could fix in the posts of this blog. Typos galore. Facts that just aren’t. Endless woulda, coulda, shouldas. But you can’t rewrite the past. Well, in this instance, I could - but won’t. What I will allow myself to do, however, is make alterations. Maybe they’re better off being labelled “additions”, actually.

Here are a bunch of things that did not originally appear on their respective list for various reasons…

FUNNIEST FIFTY.

original post:

http://almostentertainment.blogspot.com/2020/04/funniest-fifty.html

In the First Edition, I confessed to leaving “Arthur” off this list because I thought of it as funny and sweet (aka romantic). Somehow I let the latter diminish the former. The very same goes for this movie, which I shall now (with apologies) honour by deeming it the fifty second funniest movie I’ve ever seen.

DIRECTORS, TOO.

original post:

http://almostentertainment.blogspot.com/2020/04/too-watch.html

I left this first person off this list for the most ridiculous reason imaginable. I couldn’t find a high-res photo of her to my liking. Stupidest reason ever, right? I have since found one that lives up to my silly specifications and was able to make the graphic of my dreams. Regardless - sorry, Rebecca.

What has she directed that I might know?

PAPER YEAR (2018)

Why should we be talking about her?

Because I envy her. She basically did everything in her twenties that I didn’t. Look where she is and… well, yeah. Anyway, I’ve been jealous of her success for a long time. So when she wrote & directed her first feature, I sat down to see it with my arms crossed, very ready to hate it. But sometimes something is so good your jealousy dissolves. I liked her movie more than I ever imagined I would. It was by far one of the best I saw that year. It not only disappoints me how few people have seen it, but that it wasn’t too well received by “critics”, either. Addleman continues to march forward in television, which is awesome, but I for one am hoping she makes another movie soon.

This person initially didn’t make the list because I’d never heard of her when I made it. But I’ve since become a huge fan and I want to celebrate her in some way. So I’m adding her here.

What has she directed that I might know?

NINE BEHIND (2016)

IT’S HIM (2017)

PUMPKIN MOVIE (2017)

GRANDMA’S HOUSE (2018)

NORMAN NORMAN (2018)

IN DOG YEARS (2019)

REMEMBRANCE OF JÓZSEF ROMVÁRI (2020)

STILL PROCESSING (2020)

Why should we be talking about her?

Because she’s brilliant. This woman was born to make movies and she’s making movies. And, generously, they are hers. They couldn’t be made by anyone else. Her work is that personal. It's also that rare marriage of subtle, simple style and grand, rich substance which so many filmmakers chase. Theirs will always seem fake. Hers will always be genuine. I love all her shorts. I love that they are shorts. I love that, despite her “artsy” style, they carry zero pretension. Any Chantal Akerman comparisons are apt - and that’s high, high praise.

Every title mentioned above is currently available on The Criterion Channel.

THE DAD WHO LEARNED SOMETHING.

original post:

http://almostentertainment.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-dad-who-learned-something.html

This movie did cross my mind, but I thought, “He doesn’t have any kids in that movie…”… turns out he does. So it absolutely belongs on this list. I apologize for its initial omission.

TERRIFIBLE.

original post:

http://almostentertainment.blogspot.com/2020/05/terrifible.html

I never really stopped adding to this list in my mind. It continues to grow and grow. So, for the very few curious, here’s what would come next…

VIDEOS OF MUSIC, VOL 1.

original post:

https://almostentertainment.blogspot.com/2020/04/videos-of-music-vol-1.html

If this music video had been around when I picked these six, it would have definitely been an honourable mention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWdjDwYuejI

DISC TWO DOCS.

original post:

http://almostentertainment.blogspot.com/2020/05/disc-two-docs.html

I simply forgot the first two. It happens. But I wrestled with including the third. Over and over. Because this list is only supposed to consist of full making-of documentaries. But the special features on the “Knocked Up” DVD are broken up into little making-of vignettes. Therefore I left it off. But now I feel silly about having been so strict. So I’m tacking it on here… and will finally be able to sleep at night again.

BEST BIT: So many. One of them being Fincher being on set and running into an actor who worked one day on the movie early on in the shoot. It was something like seven months later. He asks Fincher what movie he’s making. Fincher is confused and says, “Benjamin Button…?” The guy asks/declares, “You’re still making this movie!?”.

Wait… what am I talking about? That’s from the commentary track. Oops. Oh well. Let’s just say you should watch this to simply see Fincher work. And learn, learn, learn. At one point they’re filming the big “backwards clock” reveal. Fincher is found saying he’d love to have a little light bounce off the edge of a character’s glasses, ‘causing a slight gleam. But he just shrugs and says something about not being able to get every little thing he wants. That’s a lesson right there: when to go again and when to move on.

BEST BIT: Lana Wachowski telling Carrie-Anne and Keanu that, as the Sentinels are about to kill them all, Trinity will pull the giant-needle thing out of Neo’s head at the last possible second and yell “Now!” or something so that Morpheus can fire the EMP, killing the Sentinels. Keanu asks, “So should my eyes burst open so that she knows I’m back?” Lana says “No. She just knows.” Keanu: “But… how?” Lana: “She just knows.” Keanu: “Oh, ok… but-”

“She just knooows, man!”

She’s being jokey but also saying, “Trust me. I know what they need to see.” She’s also making a good point: sometimes when you’re in love you can just feel things and don’t need to literally see them. In the final movie there is no shot of Neo’s eyes opening and it works fine. More than fine. Because Trinity just knows!

(Knocked Up)

BEST BIT: They’re at the amusement park shooting segments for the opening montage that establishes the guys’ camaraderie. Judd, standing in front of a giant rollercoaster and eating an orange, slice by slice, says: “Apparently Jay [Baruchel] is really afraid of rollercoasters and I’m not sure that I care.”

OFFICIAL TEASER.

original post:

http://almostentertainment.blogspot.com/2020/05/official-teaser.html

This is one of the best teaser trailers I’ve ever seen. It feels weird not acknowledging that somehow, even if just as a post script here.