Round-up 7: New PTA Hype

Interesting the way time flows, depending on what you’re doing with it. Last week flew by at the speed and frequency of a lightning bolt, while the present is sludging by slowly solidifying volcanic matter. Such is life, I guess. Back to the regular school coursework grind and relegated to nighttime only for movie and TV watching. The way of the average man, get used to it, kid, you’re growing up. Real-life shit.

            Having a hard time still with the rough weather but wanting to watch something new, I got myself to have a personal matinee of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice (2014). For someone as big of a fan as meandering comedies with minimal central plot, this was exactly what I was looking for. The film follows Joaquin Phoenix as Doc Sportello, a pothead private detective who gets swept up in a political conspiracy through an ex-girlfriend of his whom he hasn’t completely gotten over. She uses her charms to lure Doc into an underground world of heavy drugs, crime, and sex. What follows is a series of almost random encounters with a cast of quirky characters around Los Angeles in the 1970s, during the burning out of the hippie craze, each a bit more absurd than the last. A blast, I loved it, new comfort film unlocked.

Last week, we were blessed with the trailer for the new Paul Thomas Anderson film called Once Battle After Another this September. Immediately, I’m hooked. The assimilation of dark comedy with the thriller and crime genres is right up my alley, and with an impassioned Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role aside from some other big heavy hitters, I’m already sold. When I found out it was also yet another film by Anderson that is an adaptation of a Thomas Pynchon (his last being Inherent Vice (2014), I only got that much more excited. Inherent Vice is a standout for me amongst PTA’s work, another stoner-hangout film tied together with the themes of Pynchon’s novel. One Battle After Another is loosely based on Pynchon’s novel from 1990, Vineland. When I found out what the novel was about, and compared it to the information given in the trailer for its adaptation, I wasted no time picking myself up a copy.

            As of writing this a week later, I have already burned through about half of Vineland. Without getting too deep into summary territory, I will say that its themes around revolution, anti-Reagan politics of the ‘80s, and the changing tide of the social landscape of the ‘60s and ‘70s before them are immensely relevant to the events occurring via the Trump administration. Upon rewatching the trailer for the coming adaptation (quite sincerely, a disturbingly large number of times, so much to confirm my mental illness[es]), it comes as no surprise that PTA chose to change the era to the present day. Good Lord, am I excited for this film to come out, September cannot come soon enough. Disappointing postscript to this was getting more than halfway through reading it and being absolutely bored out of my mind. Pynchon’s writing is detailed and entertaining, but that particular novel fizzled out hard in terms of engagement after the first third or so. I can see all the pieces Anderson is using for the adaption, however, and I am still very, very excited to see how it turns out. I’ll return to this at some point to finish it out, no doubt.

            Next, I rewatched the all-time classic from 1969, Midnight Cowboys, directed by John Schlesinger and starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman in the lead roles. It follows Jon Voight’s Joe Buck, a naïve young man from Texas looking to make a name for himself in New York City hustling. He finds out pretty quickly that the reality of the city at the time was much too harsh for his lighthearted nature and becomes swept up in the figurative arms of Hoffman’s Ratso Rizzo, a street hustler himself. What follows is a timeless tale of ambition being shortchanged by reality, the two protagonist’s lives becoming entwined by chance, never knowing they were meant for each other at that moment in time, whatever that ultimately means. The film had remained a benchmark of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s era of Hollywood when the times and culture were changing, and so was the industry itself. The first X-rated film to be nominated and win Best Picture at the Oscars proves this point, though many righteously argue this X-rating was unfair to begin with.

            A rainy day Saturday had me spending the afternoon rewatching my favorite edition of the caped badass, The Batman (2022), starring Robert Pattinson as the titular role. Neck-in-neck with Nolan’s The Dark Knight, this one edges out a win with me primarily for its unique spin on the franchise instead of rehashing old material. Batman becomes a detective in this one, with clear inspirations from Se7en (1995) and Zodiac (2007) being drawn in the use of dark color palettes and heavier content in terms of violence and subject matter. Maintaining the PG-13 rating, however, it toes the line with what it shows and hides behind creative blocking and camerawork. Overall, it is an extremely well-made film that earned its stripes, not just as a “superhero” movie. Patiently waiting for the second installment following The Penguin mini-series.

Only a few episodes into The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime on recommendation from a close friend, enjoying it quite a bit so far, though. Still reeling from the conclusion of Severance season 2 and trying to fill the massive hole it created inside of me, and as much as I’d like Mrs. Maisel to fill that void, I don’t see it happening. I’m a thriller boy at heart. Other than that, I’ve started reading Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, the source material behind the Coen brothers’ adaption from a little over a decade ago. As a huge fan of the film, I’ve been beating around this paperback copy of the novel for months. Needing something more fast-paced following giving up on Vineland, it seemed like a good option.

            That’s all for this week, folks. Please engage in the comments with your own thoughts and opinions on what I’ve covered, and feel free to leave recommendations and requests! Until next time.