A Medium Blizzard In A Moral Universe

Well I haven't seen any new movies in the last few days. I've rewatched a few flicks between writing and other life crap : ABOUT SCHMIDT - 'cause a friend had never seen it and ROMEO IS BLEEDING 'cause it seemed to fit my mood late in the weekend.

I was reminded that Scott Tobias really nailed SCHMIDT in his Onion A.V. Club review:

"In one of the many simultaneously funny and heartbreaking scenes in Alexander Payne's wonderful About Schmidt, recently retired Omaha insurance salesman Jack Nicholson steals away to a local Dairy Queen and orders a medium Blizzard. That he has to sneak off from his wife (June Squibb) to do it is telling enough; that he treats himself to a medium instead of a large speaks volumes about his character's diminished sense of self-worth."

Medium Blizzard seems to really sum it up. So much so that Tobias brought it up again in his reviews of Payne's Schmidt follow-up SIDEWAYS:

"Payne (Election) defines his universe through these sorts of wry behavioral observations; in his last film, About Schmidt, Jack Nicholson's order at an Omaha Dairy Queen says more about him than reams of dialogue would have accomplished."

Yep, that medium Blizzard really made an impact on Tobias. As well it should - the most effective devices in character presentation are the tiny seemingly meaningless day-to-day decisons and off the cuff behaviour that speaks volumes as Tobias says. 'Life is in the details' one expression goes. I however prefer the quote - 'the Devil is in the details'.

I'm still making my way through the 4th season of SIX FEET UNDER which is a good example of the little-things-say-so-much deal I was just babblin' 'bout. One particular intense episode involving Fisher Funeral-home family member David being abducted by a crackhead con man - "That's My Dog" which originally aired last summer struck me as both outrageously manipulative and wickedly brilliant. I know it can be seen as an extremely geeky process but I watched it a second time with the commentary track by director Alan Poul and I'm glad I did. He addressed viewer's negative reactions, told me things that were intended as fantasy but I wrongly interpreted as reality, and pointed out an excellent article written by Emily Nussbaum in New York Magazine that anyone with even a passing interest in the show should check out :

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/tv/reviews/9579/

At one point during his insightful and economically worded commentary Poul also touchingly said :

"You put stuff out there in order to get a reaction from the world with the best of intentions and what you get back is often not what you expect or deserve or even consider to be an answer. There is such a thing as a cry that goes unheard but all that added up does not mean we're not living in a moral universe."

That immediately brought to mind this Woody Allen quote -

"An artist creates his own moral universe" - Sheldon Fender (Rob Reiner) BULLETS OVER BROADWAY 1994

Definitely heady stuff, though on the other hand - in it's glib quick wham-bam style an episode of FAMILY GUY that aired earlier tonight had a jab at SIX FEET UNDER :

"You know, I'm 3 weeks old, my world view spans no further than the walls of this dog's intestines and I still find Six Feet Under pretentious." - an intestinal worm

Take that Alan Ball! From an astute New York Magazine appraisal to some TV criticism voiced by a cartoon worm everyone seems to have their say.

Anyway I need to go and get a medium Blizzard. Actually maybe just a small one. Depends on if I can steal away I guess.

More later...