village voice > film > Taking Off: Taking Off by Vadim Rizov

Links (43)

Links for the Day (June 18th, 2008)
Published 6/18/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... : That's exactly what J. Hoberman thinks Get Smart is. And our own Vadim Rizov takes a look back at Milos Forman's Taking Off. ...

Taking Off.
Published 6/18/2008 at GreenCine Daily
... , it remains his best film in and about America," writes Vadim Rizov in the Voice. "Whether Taking Off is caricature or dead-on is, presumably, all a matter of perspective and distance, and I can't resolve it - I wasn't even embryonic at the time. But it's definitely hilarious." ...

"Indie 500": David Bowie, The Spirit of Space/Taft, The Dodos, video round-up
Published 6/30/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... worth of people in a very nice acoustic version of "Creep." It's very cute to watch near-contemporaries with comparatively little staying power cover their longer-lasting contemporaries' only massive single, and I bet if you recorded this version with a decent mic it'd be revelatory. The song co-written with fans, however, is shit. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

Lichman & Rizov "Live" at Grassroots Fourteen, Ep. Tavern: "We've Got Vadim's Number: An Armond White Tale," with Michael Tully & James M. Johnston
Published 7/3/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... file. (TRT: 41 minutes, 18 seconds) _________________________________________________ John Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

Fearless But Clueless: Full Battle Rattle
Published 7/9/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... people out! I'm simplifying a bit. Rattle has slightly more insight than filler, though most of the insight comes from the courageous interviewees rather than the easy narrative format the co-directors latch onto. That they're using the army's formula to mount a critique is theoretically clever; in practice, though, it's just another war movie. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

Lichman & Rizov "Live" at Grassroots Tavern, Ep. 15: "BeyondSexnology.com," with Andrew O'Hehir
Published 7/10/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... file. (TRT: 58 minutes, 43 seconds) _________________________________________________ John Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

Wild Reed: The Key
Published 7/12/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... comparison with Leone's Western towns. The naval battles are even better: when a line connecting the tug-boat ships to the sinking ones goes tight, you can see the sudden white fall-out in the water and hear a thud that feels absolutely authentic. I've never thought of Reed as a master of spectacle, but, at its best, that's what The Key offers. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

"Indie 500": Bonnie Prince Billy, Titus Andronicus, halftime round-up
Published 7/15/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... by any means, and "Hang Them All" is a strong candidate for Song Of The Year. The back half's a mess, but the first half is gold, and if we're living in the post-album age (as I seem to keep hearing), well, just delete the rest off your iTunes. 5) Girl Talk, Feed The Animals—Eh, let's just say this for now and deal with it later. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

Lichman & Rizov "Live" at Grassroots Tavern, Ep. 16: "The Extra Rape (Rapecore) Edition," with Andrew Grant & Aaron Hillis
Published 7/16/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, ...

Benten Films #2: Quiet City/Dance Party USA, or M*****core is dead: Aaron Katz's diptych
Published 7/25/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... a complicated back-story but basically is a nice travesty of m*****core's alleged hallmarks, mocking a movie that wasn't even ready to be seen yet. There's two essays as well, by Ray Carney and Ray Pride; they're both interesting, even if Carney's comparison of Katz to Ozu seems premature. All tech aspects are, of course, immaculate. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

Baghead
Published 7/26/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... themselves back up to a mainstream narrative that'll fulfill all conventional expectations without making a single emotional false step. Baghead is twice as complicated as Puffy Chair and only a little less rewarding, but it's also gotten them one step closer to Robert McKee's narrative, except with character truth still on their side. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

Lichman & Rizov "Live" at Grassroots Tavern, Ep. 17: "Robert Rodriguez=Guy Maddin," with Adam Nayman & Andrew Tracy
Published 7/29/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... (TRT: 1 hour, 6 minutes, 11 seconds) _________________________________________________ John Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

"Indie 500": Fleet Foxes, Girl Talk
Published 7/30/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... surprisingly academic experience of watching exactly how it all patches together. What I wonder—and this is something someone other than Gillis will have to figure out, given that his disks are basically prep for allegedly awesome live shows—is if there's a way to take this hyper mash-up style and make it express more than one emotion. Someone step up. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

Suggested Reading List: The Dark Knight—Take 2
Published 8/7/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... about anything) revel in the simplistic appropriation of philosophical problems recycled as trite dialogue; they should give audiences a suggested reading list on the way out. Ironically, for a film touted by fanboys, this is easily Nolan's most Nolan-like film yet. [And yes, it's extremely entertaining. Crazy fanboys give me a break, huh?] _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

Lichman & Rizov "Live" at Grassroots Tavern: Ep. 18, "This Podcast Gets A 48," with Mike D'Angelo
Published 8/13/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... file. (TRT: 49 minutes, 36 seconds) _________________________________________________ John Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

"Indie 500": Coldplay, Beck, Re-Up Gang
Published 8/14/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... in check with dazzling links of logic (I dig the moment on "Still Got It For Cheap" where they claim the colors of their bling are so vivid it seems to come out of an REM dream state) that link standard, imaginatively expressed boasts. Whether they'll continue to be rap's coldest-blooded (and most distanced/conceptual) nihilists remains to be seen. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

Landmark Parable: Macario
Published 8/22/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... contain). If I'm let down by the film's ending, it's because it retreats back to where it began: away from satire and back into the mystic, refusing to validate Macario's all-too-understandable impulses. It's like Ace In The Hole got garbled with a sincerely told folk tale, but the sheer audacity of the experiment makes it well worth attention. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

Scattershot Inspiration: Sukiyaki Western Django—Take 2
Published 9/2/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... where the climax is basically random mayhem punctuated by a dude firing a Gatling gun with the crazed laughter of a kamikaze pilot sounds appealing to you, you'll get exactly what you want in consistent doses. Which is more than can usually be said for Miike; for once, the thought of watching another of his movies doesn't make me feel completely weary. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

Glitzy Dirt: The Pope's Toilet
Published 9/7/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... and music-video pacing. It's impossible to overstate how distracting all this is: with a void where character out to be, it's all glitzy dirt. I certainly don't believe poor people's lives are automatically trivialized by fantasy and flash, but, in this case, form doesn't equal function and neither side of the equation is particularly pleasant. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

Shoot The Piano Player—Take 1
Published 9/7/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... of control, female characters that are nobody's mystery muse (no matter how much they appear so to the hapless males who love them), formal dexterity, working with children who aren't cloying. Breathless has the seeds of every cranky autodidactic trait that would increasingly drive Godard's work away from everyone except the completely devoted. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

HND@Grassroots: Season 2, Episode 2, "Moving Midway," with Godfrey Cheshire (Transcript Included)
Published 9/12/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... Good night everybody. GC: Bye-bye. _________________________________________________ John Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

David Lean x 4
Published 9/15/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... in the moment. Sound Barrier isn't exactly great filmmaking—its domestic scenes are heartless—but it's a compelling specimen all the same. Lean's work dances around its relationship with the Empire at the best of times, an ambivalence that was never really resolved; Sound Barrier is as much a part of the puzzle as Lawrence. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

NYFF 46 (2008): RR, Happy-Go-Lucky
Published 9/16/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... than anything in recent memory—but one-on-one, so deftly it may not even register. There's not much to summarize: Leigh's tour of London and outlying suburbs (aside from a stagy confrontation with a homeless schizo, seemingly imported from an allegorical student film) has nary a false note, even as it delivers all its humanist revelations on schedule. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

NYFF 46 (2008): The Class, Wendy and Lucy, The Windmill Movie, shorts, housekeeping
Published 9/18/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... out of financial necessity, to much smaller venues (and without them, I'd certainly never have seen The 10th District Court: Moments Of Trial, which would have been tragic). Like Bruce Wayne on Harvey Dent, I believe in NYFF (not to mention the always cooperative, helpful and friendly people at Lincoln Center), and I want to make that clear. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

NYFF 46 (2008): The Headless Woman and Tony Manero
Published 9/21/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... for old-school record-store culture (complete with a perfect B-side joke), is probably completely insufferable if you're not a fan of the song. Directed by Sam Taylor Wood, who presumably one of these days will stop messing about with shorts and music videos and blow everyone away, this is a toss-off from people who can aim higher, and it's delightful. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

HND@Grassroots: Season 2, Episode 1 (19), "Summer Sátántangó, Part 1"
Published 9/24/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. Keith Uhlich is editor of The House Next Door. Jeremiah Kipp's writing has appeared in Slant ...

NYFF 46 (2008): Gomorrah, Afterschool
Published 9/24/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... stated in so many words, but his ambition suffuses every scene—is, in its own way, as half-assed as the utopian visions of liberal politics resurgent through TEH INTERWEBZ in Diary Of The Dead. Whatever it is, I'm not convinced. I neither learned from nor recognized anything in this movie. How it resonates with others remains to be seen. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

"Indie 500": Sparks, Lil Wayne, Belle and Sebastian
Published 9/25/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... in some of the gaps about where they came from. Not much more to say, except serving notice that—for reasons that will eventually become clear—this column may be a little anachronistically heavy on Britpop for a while. It's either that or writing about The Strokes over and over, because that's been getting way too much play in my house. It never dies. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

HND@Grassroots: Season 2, Episode 3 (21), "Ar Ar Ar—The New York Film Festival"
Published 9/29/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. Keith Uhlich is editor of The House Next Door. Glenn Kenny is the man, the myth, the legend. ...

HND@Grassroots: Season 2, Episode 1 (19), "Summer Sátátangó, Part 2"
Published 9/30/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... (TRT: 45 minutes, 53 seconds) _________________________________________________ John Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

HND@Grassroots: Season 2, Episode 1 (19), "Summer Sátátangó, Part 3"
Published 9/30/2008 by Keith Uhlich (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... (TRT: 22 minutes, 52 seconds) _________________________________________________ John Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

NYFF 46 (2008): Chouga, Four Nights With Anna, Bullet In The Head, shorts
Published 10/7/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... to executing the title, but I thought anyone who even half-paid attention to the news would think the last problem here is "silence." But whatever. I walked out and I don't regret it one bit. There's the kind of formalism that can alienate those who still need a little obvious narrative, and then there's this: a politicized challenge with no reward. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

NYFF 46 (2008): I'm Gonna Explode, Tulpan, Let it Rain, It's Hard Being Loved By Jerks, and Tokyo Sonata
Published 10/22/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... with someone explaining "when the dots touch, they're destroyed"), as his rhythms. Tokyo Sonata is as crisp and latently menacing a film as he's ever made. It's pure sensual pleasure, and what it's "about" is irrelevant to me. Which is good, because that marks the last film I saw at NYFF, and now I can finally stop typing. Til 'next year. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Published 10/23/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... jocks and blondes who automatically conceive of romance as part and parcel of the good life, Upper East Side style, we have an equally shallow group of signifiers. This is the movie 16-year-old teens who call themselves "indie" deserve, and there's nothing wrong with that; it's just a different kind of shallow. My inner 16-year-old was gratified. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

HND@Grassroots: Season 2, Episode 5 (23), "Night and Fog in Krakow," or "No Sheep's Vagina," or "Bring On The Empty Sheep"
Published 10/24/2008 by Keith Uhlich (keithuhlich@gmail.com) at The House Next Door
... Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. Dan Sallitt is the writer/director of Honeymoon and All the Ships at Sea, and the proprietor of Thanks for the Use of the ...

"Indie 500": Jellyfish, The Walkmen, Crystal Castles
Published 10/30/2008 by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... stand out. It makes me feel old, but I wish they would calm the fuck down and not worry about being so "confrontational." They sound like 13-year-olds trashing open night at a sloppy art gallery. There is much more to spit out opinions on, but I fear it'll have to wait til next week. This may be weekly for a while as I catch up. Stay tuned. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

HND@Grassroots: Season 2, Episode 6 (24), "Waiting for Jürgen"
Published 24 days ago by Keith Uhlich (keithuhlich@gmail.com) at The House Next Door
... Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. Keith Uhlich is editor of The House Next Door.

HND@Grassroots: Season 2, Episode 7 (25), "Oscar (sic) Schindler's Cock Glove"
Published 18 days ago by Keith Uhlich (keithuhlich@gmail.com) at The House Next Door
... Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Faisal A. Qureshi's got an Amazon profile. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. Keith Uhlich is editor of The ...

It's Clarity: A Christmas Tale
Published 17 days ago by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... that, you can begin to live with the trauma for the rest of your life. Late in the film, cousin Simon (Laurent Capelutto), confessing to a long-deferred love, insists that everything he does—dressing, talking, whatever—is for his lost love. "My painting is for myself," he clarifies. Desplechin's familial trauma is constant, but his art is for himself. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

HND@Grassroots: Season 2, Episode 8 (26), "That's true, but not what Armond means."
Published 13 days ago by Keith Uhlich (keithuhlich@gmail.com) at The House Next Door
... D'Angelo looks like this. John Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. Keith Uhlich is editor of The House Next ...

HND@Grassroots: Season 2, Episode 9 (27), "The Heeb Film Festival Podcast, or Get Off My Ass, Death!"
Published 11 days ago by Keith Uhlich (keithuhlich@gmail.com) at The House Next Door
... Film Festivals. She's also gorgeous, dahling. Eric Kohn loves his Blackberry. John Lichman is a freelance writer who contributes to The Reeler, Primetime A&E [print only] and anyone with cash. He works odd jobs to afford his vices, sleeps on couches and can drink Vadim Rizov under a table. Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others. ...

"Indie 500": The Broken West, Prodigy, TV On The Radio, Grand Archives
Published 4 days ago by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... sounds kinda like a wussier bar band, which is cool too. (Preferable really.) Predictable but very well-crafted, Grand Archives is my guilty pleasure of the year for the sheer margin between actual merit and number of times played (it's one of my ten most played bands for the last three months). Not exactly slept-on, but undervalued all the same. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.

Transporter 3
Published 29 hours ago by Vadim (noreply@blogger.com) at The House Next Door
... 2 understood that to be completely over-the-top, you also need to be clear on what exactly is happening.) In its dreary "characterization," Transporter 3 forgets what I (and presumably everyone else) came to see: not the time-filling drama of bad network TV, but the limitations of movement in Earth's gravity defied every two minutes. _______________________________________________ Vadim Rizov is a New York-based freelance writer. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Onion AV Club and Paste Magazine, among others.