Going to the movies to escape the mobs
My last week has involved recovering from hernia surgery and getting into fights with people about the use of the word "mob." I'm not sure which was more painful at the time, but one left me with scars and the other left me with thousands of new Twitter followers. It turns out, getting into fights about politics is good for business. Who knew?
Speaking of the surgery, they don't tell you how hard the recovery is going to be. I was put under for two or three hours during surgery, and I kind of underestimated the toll that would take. So I took a few days off from podcasting and TV, and tried to take it easy.
My first big event out was going to see A Star is Born with my wife. Surgery was on Thursday, so I figured that sitting in a reclining theater seat for three hours on Saturday night wouldn't be too heavy a lift (pun intended). That part worked out pretty well. What I didn't anticipate was how affected I'd be by one of the main premises of the movie: Bradley Cooper portraying a drug-addled singer who keeps pulling out prescription drugs to take (or, in a couple of instances, snort).
Here's the thing: I had a bottle of narcotics in my pocket that looked exactly like the one he was pulling out. I imagine it's similar to someone in the military watching The Deer Hunter the night before deploying to a war zone. I walked out of that movie vowing never to take another Vicodin, Percocet -- or whatever the hell I was on, it's all pretty foggy, and I'm too lazy to go look at the bottle. I immediately switched to over-the-counter medication. (My wife tells me I can't even sell the pills I saved to Shaky Eddie, the guy who hangs out around the coffee shop in my neighborhood and who always seems kind of itchy for some reason. What country is this, Russia?)
Anyway, "A Star is Born" has some amazing scenes. The stuff where Bradley Cooper is drunk or high is especially well done. And Lady Gaga probably deserves an award for her performance. The same could be said for Andrew Dice Clay, who makes a surprising appearance as her dad (though they Academy would never give him one).
But the movie itself isn't really very good. Sometimes, I can tell when a column I wrote really needed another two or three rounds of editing. That's what watching this film was like. There are some brilliant moments, but there's way too much going on. It's not tight.
In contrast, on Monday night, I went to see a special preview screening of First Man. This was one of those things where you watch the movie and then get to talk with some of the filmmakers and actors. It's basically the only part of the job that is actually the glamorous stuff you hoped this job would be when you signed up.
The reason they wanted to show us the movie was to pushback on the notion that this film is somehow unpatriotic. (Remember that stupid controversy about not showing Neil Armstrong planting the American flag on the moon?)
Let me stress that this is BS. This movie has a ton of flags. There's a lot of patriotism. And the reason that they don't show that iconic moment is because the filmmakers clearly decided that this particular part of the story was "about" Armstrong grappling with the loss of his daughter. That was a debatable artistic move, but once you commit to it, anything else distracts from the narrative has to go. First Man kept this in mind, while A Star Is Born forgot it.
First Man fails on another front though. Ryan Gosling decided to actually pretend to be Neil Armstrong, which is to say that there is no compelling or charismatic hero in this film. Buzz Aldrin is made out to be a complete ass (apparently, he signed off on this and was OK with this portrayal), and Gosling-as-Armstrong is a moody and (understandably) depressed character who isn't a good husband or father (to his remaining children). He's a workaholic, but it's unclear why he is so driven. It's hard to root for someone this unlikable. And THAT (not the absence of some missing patriotic scene) is the fundamental problem with this movie.
Enough about my week. I finally taped some podcasts for you. Don't miss my discussion with National Journal's Josh Kraushaar about the upcoming midterm elections, or my talk with T.K. Coleman about why priorities are more important than passion. Make sure to rate and review the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher, and please continue to support us on Patreon.
Guess what folks, that's the newsletter, and I am OUTTA here!