June 21, 2006
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WEDNESDAY MOVIEA Prairie Home Companion
Robert Altman is 81 now and honest-to-god has to have a back-up director on hand in case he croaks while working on whatever is his current film. (And I thought I felt rickety!) I figure at least part of his secret is the joy he gets at a job he obviously loves and has mastered. He’s the king of ensemble drama and overlapping dialogue (like real people talk when they butt in right over what you’re just saying). I haven’t been a huge fan, though I really liked Gosford Park, Cookie’s Fortune, and of course Nashville and MASH. The radio version of Prairie Home Companion is another thing. I came to it late on my car radio
on Sundays where there really wasn’t much other choice. What drew me in was the hypnotic sound of Garrison Keillor’s voice, the humorous news of life at Lake Wobegon in faraway Minnesota, and Guy Noir-Private Eye. Keillor has been heading up this charming program for 37 years (there’s a great site here if you want more info). So I was intrigued to see what Altman would do with this beloved piece of radio history. I guess I’d say I had a mixed reaction. On the plus side, the cast was big-time (duets by Meryl Streep and Lilly Tomlin, duets by John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson, Kevin Kline as Guy Noir, plus delectable cameos by others), cinematography primo, atmosphere smokin’. On the minus side, the plot was pretty darn thin (another Altman trademark) and there wasn’t anywhere near enough Keillor humor for me. But all in all, it was a lark and a gem. Rock on, Sir Altman.
Deep Thought: “It seemed to me that, somehow, the blue jay was trying to communicate with me. I would see him fly into the house across the way, pick up the telephone, and dial. My phone would ring, and it would be him, but it was just this squawking and cheeping. “What?! What?!” I would yell back, but he never did speak English.”
Today I am grateful for: License plates.
Guess the Movie: “All right, if the applicant is young, tell him he’s too young. Old, too old. Fat, too fat. If the applicant then waits for three days without food, shelter, or encouragement he may then enter and begin his training.” Answer: Fight Club, 1999.
Winner: buttermelon.
Gore’s “Truth” Needs to Be Acted Upon Now
by Judy Ettenhofer
When “Fahrenheit 9/11,” the Michael Moore screen diatribe against our current president, arrived in Madison theaters shortly before the 2004 presidential election, people sympathetic to its message couldn’t get enough of it. They flocked to screenings and breathlessly implored their friends to see the movie that bolstered all their reasons for hating George W. Bush.
It is my profound hope that the same kind of passionate evangelism occurs as a result of a much, much more crucial film that arrived at Westgate and Eastgate cinemas last weekend. (Rest of article here.)
Comments (23)
the trailer for this movie really got my attention. what a cast! but then i realized linsey lohan was in this movie. how does she fit in?
Thanks for this review of the Prairie Home Companion. I love Keillor and I’m looking forward to the movie!
that’s an awesome quote. i read “fight club” before seeing the movie. i thought the book was better.
I’m not a huge Altman fan but I’m looking forward to seeing this movie. Anymore, I wait for the DVD release, at 9 bucks a pop the movie theater is too expensive for me.
Fight Club gets the blue ribbon!
I’ll have to check this one out!
We really enjoyed the movie. I think my favorite part was listening to GK spin the intros and the duct tape sketch with sound effects.
I really want to see A Prairie Home Companion. I hope to go very soon if I can free up a weekend.
I really like PHC, enough to listen to it on Saturday nights when it plays on NPR here. The funniest thing about it is when the sound effects guy does the barking dog, my dog goes up to the radio to see where the dog is. I also like the Lutheran jokes because I teach at a Lutheran high school. I will wait for the DVD or HBO debut because the price of going to the movies is way too much.
Thanks for your posts, they always have good information. I’m pretty bad at guessing the movies, though.:) Sent you an email a minute ago, hope you got it. ~lea
I love listening to PHC, here on Saturday evenings, when I am not working. I love the music, and Lake Woebegone. Somehow, before I saw Garrison on TV, I expected him to look like a small, timid little man with this voice of his, and there he is, . . . like 6’4″ or something, . .not what I expected.
Hmm….Fight Club?
we really enjoyed phc, even my teenage kids. the plot was thin, but the antics were great. didn’t really get the whole woman in the white coat bit and tommy lee jones’ part was also kinda weird. altman, though, wow. did you know that his then 14 year old son wrote the lyrics for the MASH song – suicide is painless, it brings on many changes…? yeah.
It was the Ketchup Advisory Board that hooked me. Now whenever I find PHC on the radio, I cannot change the station. Not physically possible. Sometimes, I can’t get out of the car when I reach my destination.
Oh c’mon. It was fun, but forgettable. yawn
wink
I am fan of Altman. I just saw MASH the movie for the first time and I have to say that is a great flick.
I reviewed this movie in similar fashion — wonderful star turns but a weak story line — but it got lost inside of a blog about something else, I forget what.
Altman is one of my least favorite directors. Though it’s natural-sounding, I have trouble hearing two or more voices at the same time (same trouble in real life, for me), and so that always puts me off.
The one Altman movie I DID like (okay, I liked MASH also) that you didn’t mention was “A Wedding,” which featured Carol Burnett and Virginia Vestoff. Virginia sat next to me in sixth grade before she left our school in the middle of the year in order to take advantage of NYC’s School for the Performing Arts. Virginia was also in “1776.” Except for those two movies, I’ve never seen her in anything else. Anyway, Virginia and Carol may be the reason I liked “A Wedding” so much.
I saw the movie over the weekend as well. And I totally agree with you. It is a fun movie and a great get-away but the story and plot development was rather weak. But I certainly think it’s worth seeing…especially for Kevin Kline- he was MAGICAL!
I should read that, especially the part about cross-generational friends. My close friends are all much younger than I am. I can’t seem to make friends my own age or even close. That is weird to me.
Thank you for the lead.
I am hoping to see the movie soon–I love Robert Altman’s work.
Prarie Home Companion…I used to listen to that every now and then. Not much anymore…but I did enjoy it.
John
i wanna see it!
Garrison Keillor is so far beyond cool…
I just love listening to him.