Last week I was invited to a sneak preview of Boardwalk Empire, HBO’s new show that is about giving awesome character actors lots of chances to be intense at each other, and also a little bit about Prohibition, I guess. (I am more invested in the former – I feel like in a lot of ways HBO is becoming the BBC, where limited-run shows employ excellent casts purely to make me happy.)
(Steve Buscemi, chairing a meeting of the Character Actors Association.)
From the relatively brief preview I saw, there’s a lot to like here. They certainly did their historical research, and I look forward to many montages of Al Capone sneaking Canadian Club whisky across the Detroit River, intercut with something seemingly-unrelated yet thematically relevant, as period-correct music plays. (I have nothing to say in my own defense; I am a sucker.)
(During the preview, when Michael Pitt introduces himself as Jimmy Perspectivecharacter and Stephen Graham says, “Name’s Al – Al Capone,” half the people gasped. Well done, preview editor!)
A shorter version of the preview we saw is below. Bottom line: it’s about Prohibition, jazz music, flapper dresses, Temperance, and character actors. How could I NOT watch this?
I suspect I am the last person on the entire internet to find this, but it struck such a chord with me that I wanted to blog about it anyway.
This is a self-described valentine to film noir, and man, is it EVER. Such great editing with a great selection (though in the notes she points out that she missed “The Sweet Smell of Success” and “White Heat” with the broken-spirited air of someone who has been smacked around by a million YouTube commenters). It’s just the best thing ever, basically, if you enjoy some hard-boiled black-and-white shenanigans.
You know how to make an awesome tribute video, don’t you, Steve? You just put your noirs together…and rock it.
P.S. I found this video while I was searching for a font. I love the internet.
Wow, it has been a while since I posted. Sorry! A lot of things came due at once. I’ll try to pull myself together and get back to making squawking noises about movies in the near future.
The first roach appears in the sink, mahogany-dark and glossy against the stainless steel. Jessie grabs a sponge and slams it down, listens for the crunch of wings.
The second roach is in the living room, crawling along the molding. Jessie waits with the vacuum until it’s close enough that she can suck it up. Just before it disappears into the hose, she sees it spread its wings and point its antennae backwards like it’s offended.
A warning on this one: so, so many roaches. If crawlies make you squeamish, fair warning.
Just for the record, this is not an endorsement of any kind. The movie this clip is from is a disaster. Never watch it.
That said, this clip is my go-to on a bad day, because no matter how bad my day is, Cillian Murphy going about his daily tasks while sobbing uncontrollably never fails to make me laugh. (That sounds meaner than it is. I hope.)
(Let me state again that this movie, Watching the Detectives, should never be viewed by anyone. Cillian Murphy is a very talented actor who has made some great movies. He has also made some total stinkbombs, of which this one vies for the top slot. Trust me on this. If you’re on a Cillian Murphy kick, go rent Disco Pigs or Sunshine or something.)
I have been so busy that my Netflix queue is backing up, I didn’t even watch the Emmys, and apparently this is the last day of August, a joke I find unnecessarily cruel. Hopefully I’ll have a handle on everything soon, at which point I will be able to go into detail about the filmographies of various actors with questionable taste. (Man, I am looking at SO MANY ACTORS right now.)
