Throughout my adult life, I’ve been burned by artists. I enjoy a book, movie, or record, and find myself immensely disappointed by the follow-up works by the artist. Sometimes, it’s simply an instance where the first work is so singular, so arresting, that any subsequent work has to pale in comparison.<\/p>\n
Other times, it becomes clear that the artist got lucky. He caught lightning in a bottle, and will never be that good again.<\/p>\n
Years ago, the first time I phoned the critic and novelist David Gates, I asked him about the novel he was working on. He said, pretty facetiously, “I’m in a sort of bind. If it comes out like Jernigan<\/a> [his first novel, which I adored], people will say I’m only capable of writing that type of book. If it comes out nothing like Jernigan, people who liked that book will complain that this one is no good.”<\/p>\n A few years later, when I read it, I thought, “This is pretty good, but it’s no Jernigan.” I was a little embarrassed about that reaction, but hey. I read the book again a few months ago, and enjoyed it a lot more than I remembered the first time.<\/p>\n But artists have burned me. I put a lot of stock in a strong artistic vision. After Miller’s Crossing<\/a>, I was able to forgive the Coen Bros. a lot. Should I have? I kept going to their flicks, despite the recurring disappointments. Eventually, they produced a movie that I enjoyed immensely: The Man Who Wasn’t There<\/a>. But they also made Intolerable Cruelty<\/a>.<\/p>\n I haven’t seen a new Woody Allen movie in 7 or 8 years. Too many disappointments, and I was done. Can’t go back to the well too often.<\/p>\n Which gets us to I [Heart] Huckabees<\/a>. The official VM fiancee<\/a> and I disagreed about this flick beforehand. We were in agreement that, based on the commercials and trailer, it looked terrible. She dismissed it. I countered, “But it IS directed by the guy who made Three Kings<\/a> . . .”<\/p>\n I had no intention of seeing Huckabees<\/span> in the theater, but the DVD release reprised our mini-dispute over the movie. I promised her that, if I did watch it, I’d do so on a weeknight and not when she’s around on the weekends.<\/p>\n Then we found a used DVD sale this weekend, and together spent FAR too much money on movies (a combined $140, but we got 16 titles out of it, including the third season of Family Guy<\/a>). Because of the “buy 3 get 1 free” part of the sale, I went back to the bins and picked up Huckabees at $12.<\/p>\n After I brought Amy home yesterday, I sat down and watched the movie.<\/p>\n Now, like I said, I was giving it a shot because of Three Kings<\/span>. I adored that movie when I saw it in the theater with my buddy Jon-Eric. We watched it again the night before the Iraq War began. I watched it a third time during one of last year’s many trips. It should’ve been required viewing before the current war, but it probably would’ve confused both the pro- and anti-war sides.<\/p>\n Anyway, after a five-year gap, the director (David O. Russell) made Huckabees<\/span>. I’m still trying to figure out why.<\/p>\n It purports to be an existential detective story, but the opposing worldviews it offers are pretty Lowest College Denominator (“Everything’s connected!” “No, everything’s meaningless!”), and the “plot” is centered so deliberately on coincidence that nothing gets around to meaning anything. The lessons we pick up, from what I gather, are that corporations are evil, evangelical Christians are evil, jet-skis are evil, and gasoline is evil. It’s also evil for women to have to look good, for people to buy cheap clothing, and for Lily Tomlin to wear tops with circular cut-outs to accentuate her breasts. I’m not making that up.<\/p>\n So, what I’m getting at is that I was yet again burned by thinking that David O. Russell had more than one good flick in him. It’s possible that his earlier movies were good, and maybe I’ll check them out. But, holy crap, was this one useless movie.<\/p>\n BONUS TIME! The Family Guy, Vol. 2<\/a><\/p>\n I [Heart] Huckabees<\/a><\/p>\n A Night at the Opera<\/a><\/p>\n The Ladies Man<\/a><\/p>\n Moulin Rouge<\/a><\/p>\n My Cousin Vinny<\/a><\/p>\n Bonnie and Clyde<\/a><\/p>\n Army of Darkness<\/a><\/p>\n Cannonball Run<\/a><\/p>\n The Ref<\/a><\/p>\n The Man With Two Brains<\/a><\/p>\n Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special<\/a><\/p>\n Enter the Dragon<\/a><\/p>\n Ghost Dog<\/a><\/p>\n Brazil<\/a><\/p>\n
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For sticking through to the end of that post, you get the list of all the DVDs the official VM fiancee and I bought this weekend! Joy!<\/p>\n