tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post2667203342234161186..comments2024-03-23T21:46:50.843-04:00Comments on the passionate moviegoer: Judd Apatow's Dick Flicksjoe baltakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11467420961490314339noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-51972867522851073502009-09-26T17:32:02.490-04:002009-09-26T17:32:02.490-04:00Good call! I've been trying to get the term d...Good call! I've been trying to get the term dick flick to catch on around here. It seems such an obvious term I'm not surprised a few people have thought it up!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-28948617447684156842009-03-21T12:28:00.000-04:002009-03-21T12:28:00.000-04:00This is truly an odd coincidence, but I suppose i...This is truly an odd coincidence, but I suppose if someone uses a phrase enough and to enough people in enough different places, its bound to catch on. Some 15 yrs ago, I was at a party where the guys were getting all silly about thier favorite action flicks...The girls in the room, rolling thier eyes were accused of watching "Chick Flicks", when I in retalliation, defended us women, and called their silly action movies "Dick Flicks" much to each genders amusement. I lived in PA then, moved to New York, used it, moved to new jersey, used it upon occasion, and now in CT had used it a few times, recently again at a yet another party, and everyone laughed, said "I never heard that one before, I'll have to start using it." But that's just what I naturally came to call these macho, inane, testosterone driven, guns, car chase, kicking peoples asses, too much explosions, and an occasional set of boobs- bouncing wastes of film. So I just may have been the originator of that term, or it's just a weird coincidence. Who will ever know?...I"m kind of glad to see it HAS caught on...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-59222614563883646422008-05-06T12:58:00.000-04:002008-05-06T12:58:00.000-04:00Late reply to jbryant: I definitely get the same i...Late reply to jbryant: I definitely get the same improv feel from Apatow as I do from the best McCarey. Wonder if Judd is a piano player?<BR/><BR/>My favorite movie is "The Awful Truth." I can't even count the number of times I've seen it, but I could watch it again tonight. I managed to see "Ruggles of Red Gap" once on a late night airing on a Cleveland station, many years ago. I liked it very much, and thought Leila Hyams was utterly charming.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-24132195012689692542008-04-29T15:25:00.000-04:002008-04-29T15:25:00.000-04:00Just to bolster what I wrote above, I found this f...Just to bolster what I wrote above, I found this from a post I wrote last July in Joe's thread about Knocked Up:<BR/><BR/>"I don't see Sturges or Wilder in Apatow as much as maybe Leo McCarey, whose semi-improv style of human comedy seems like a more apt point of reference."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-27934502778914871372008-04-29T15:16:00.000-04:002008-04-29T15:16:00.000-04:00Wow, wwolfe, are you me? I've been touting Apatow...Wow, wwolfe, are you me? I've been touting Apatow as a sort of modern-day McCarey since "Virgin" as well, usually to blank stares. Nice to find a kindred spirit.<BR/><BR/>McCarey is probably my favorite director, and his "Ruggles of Red Gap" is definitely my favorite movie. I've even found lots to like in his less highly regarded (or outright maligned) films, such as Good Sam, My Son John and Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys. I have no idea if Apatow is a McCarey fan, but he certainly seems to share the man's general outlook on humanity, as well as a digressive, semi-improv style that favors performance and character over self-conscious visual style. Even the new Forgetting Sarah Marshall (which Apatow produced but didn't direct) feels McCarey-esque, especially since Jason Segel's character is a composer and pianist. McCarey's films are full of amusing musical moments, and he was known to play piano on set to keep things loose and fun (and conducive to inspiration).<BR/><BR/>Hadn't made the Knocked Up/Bergman connection, but you can bet I'll have it in mind next time I see that film (I'm overdue for catching the unrated DVD).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-1755997926913907902008-04-29T10:37:00.000-04:002008-04-29T10:37:00.000-04:00Thank you. McCarey is one of my very favorite dir...Thank you. McCarey is one of my very favorite directors. I think a good case can be made that his body of work in the 1930s was the best of any American director in that decade.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-44383708276479841962008-04-28T18:03:00.000-04:002008-04-28T18:03:00.000-04:00Astute, original opinions are never ludicrous. Qui...Astute, original opinions are never ludicrous. Quite the opposite. I like your takes on both "Knocked Up" and "Virgin," and the filmmakers who you see as having inspired those two films are especially apt. I particularly appreciate your associating "Virgin" with the works of McCarey.joe baltakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11467420961490314339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-29398058876357178422008-04-28T17:15:00.000-04:002008-04-28T17:15:00.000-04:00I hesitate to say this, because I fear it wll soun...I hesitate to say this, because I fear it wll sound ludicrous anywhere outside the confines of my own brain. But "Knocked Up" struck me as a Bergman film. Not the look of it - it was Amerian knockabout, rather than Scandinavian stark. But the relationships between the men and women in the two marriages to me had exactly the timbre of a Bergman film. As such, I didn't find it funny. Astute and accurate, but painful to experience.<BR/><BR/>"The 40 Year Old Virgin," by contrast, had all the empathy and generosity of a Leo McCarey movie. One of such scatalogical fervor that Joseph Breen would have had a stroke, but McCareyesque nonetheless.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-63430442546756542312008-04-28T13:35:00.000-04:002008-04-28T13:35:00.000-04:00"Sarah Marshall" surprised me, too, but so did "Th..."Sarah Marshall" surprised me, too, but so did "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." Not so much "Knocked Up" or "Superbad." "Walk Hard" was a good idea that was misconceived. Also, Reilly, as good an actor as he is, really cannot carry film, as this one and "Criminal" demonstrated.joe baltakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11467420961490314339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-67002207838448709232008-04-28T13:20:00.000-04:002008-04-28T13:20:00.000-04:00Funny, I was expecting Sarah Marshall to be the fi...Funny, I was expecting Sarah Marshall to be the first effort from the Apatow factory to disappoint me (well, maybe Walk Hard was only a solid "B"). Instead, it's one of my favorites; very funny with lots of heart (and other organs).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18439960.post-41939898481350392072008-04-27T13:20:00.000-04:002008-04-27T13:20:00.000-04:00Dick Flicks? I like it. I'll help it to catch on....Dick Flicks? I like it. I'll help it to catch on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com