Pour Some Chigurh On Me

Tonight we went to see the opening of “WALL E” through the kindness and generosity of Cabel Sasser of Panic, ie Mike Merril’s boss. Panic bought up more or less the entire theater and then gave tickets away to friends (and friends of friends). I don’t know Cabel and did not get a chance to say thanks after the show, so…thank you! The movie was awesome as we have all come to expect from the folks at Pixar. And, as always there was a killer short to open the film up. The short was fantastic as well and I think sets a great precedent that all studios should follow: start your feature with a short or two. People love short films. And there are tons of really great ideas that need not be hashed out into a feature film, but can be realized in ten minutes or less. It’s awesome.
Last summer we saw “Ratatouille” in the theater and I thought it was the best film I had seen in a very long time. Not the best animated feature or anything like that: the best film. I still think it should have won the Oscar for Best Picture. I say this as someone who loves me some Coen Brothers. The Brothers Coen are responsible for a good fifth or so of my sense of humor and story telling (The Far Side, The Simpsons, Raymond Carver, and my father are more or less responsible for the rest). And I liked “No Country…” a great deal as well, though I thought the last quarter of the film is no where as good as everything leading up to it.
I have to say I was a little surprised by all the praise heaped on the film, especially by those who are serious fans of the Coens. I’m guessing at least some of that praise and excitement is due to the relief that they made a film better than “The Lady Killers” and “Intolerable Cruelty” and one that feels a bit more familiar thematically at least. Still, I don’t think that’s any reason to vault “No Country” up to best status. Not only that, but it’s unfair to their films that are more or less flawless: “Fargo”, “The Big Lebowski”, and “Miller’s Crossing.” Strangely, I more or less agree with David Denby from the New Yorker on this–though he doesn’t include “Miller’s Crossing”–which surprising because usually I think he’s way off and pretty boring to read. If we’re going to laud the Coens’ imperfect masterpieces, I’d take “Barton Fink”, “Blood Simple” or “Raising Arizona” over “No Country” any day.
What struck me about “Ratatouille,” is how thoroughly realized the story is. Anyone I’ve talked to who has ever worked in a kitchen talks about how accurately they depict the back of house of a restaurant. The filmmakers created this super accurate environment and then used it to have all kinds of chases and excitement you’d expect from an animated film. The conflict, the love story, the characters all ring true in a way that only stems from a really well written screenplay. It’s exciting to see a filmmaker like Brad Bird who is totally on top of his game. (“WALL E” is not written or directed by Bird, but made by Pixar). You know that whatever he does next is going to be great. It’s a little bit like the Coen Brothers about ten years ago.