San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Reader says ‘Black Panther’ put him to sleep.
Howdy-Do Mick: Every decade or so I feel compelled to watch one of these superhero movies that are all the rage. Last night, my wife and I watched “Black Panther.” I nearly fell asleep several times. All in all, it was a two-plus-hour slog that I barely made it through. It’s me, isn’t it?
Leonard Stegmann, Half Moon Bay
Howdy-Do Leonard: It’s you for not recognizing that “Black Panther” is a good example of its genre. It’s not you for thinking that the superhero genre is fairly weak even at its best. Dear Mick: Is there such a thing as a perfect movie? If so, which ones would you consider?
Tom Ryan, Sausalito Dear Tom: The short answer is no. The longer answer begins with asking how you define perfect, but that’s boring, so we’ll skip that part. The larger question is whether perfection is even desired. Maria Callas once said that she recorded an aria, and it came out perfect, so she did it again. Art is human expression at its most full and rarefied, and as such, it almost can’t be perfect and shouldn’t be. Usually, when we say that a work of art is perfect, we really mean that it’s good in all the ways that matter, such that, whatever is wrong with it, we don’t notice or care. That’s really the whole ballgame — to be good in the ways that matter and to persuade whoever is receiving the art that the things you think matter are the things that actually matter. That second part is particularly difficult. But if we’re talking about perfection in a colloquial way, Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” and “Before Sunrise” are pretty close. So is the silent movie “Lady of the Night,” but I’m practically the only one who’s seen it. Dear Mick LaSalle: If one has not seen a Kim Novak, Humphrey Bogart or Bette Davis movie, then it is obviously a new movie to that person, fresh as the day it was made.
Ron Jackson, San Diego Dear Ron Jackson: Well, half of that is true. If one has never seen Kim Novak, then Kim Novak will be a new experience. But unless a person is from another planet, with no knowledge of contemporary life, a movie from 1955 will seem at least vintage, if not old. Now if it’s an especially good movie, it might seem as good as ever — or maybe even better than it ever did, because some classics benefit from the passage of time. More likely, the movie will seem a little worse than it did when new because time has a way of revealing the lies and false assumptions that every era lives with and somehow doesn’t see. In any case, good or bad, this new experience won’t seem fresh, any more than a Gregorian chant sounds fresh. But freshness isn’t everything — which is, I suspect, what you’re really suggesting. Dear Mick: I always look forward to any movie made on, and about, a submarine. What are your all-time favorites?
Alan Rossi, San Anselmo Dear Alan: My favorite is the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie “In Too Deep” (1990), in which Arnold plays the American-born skipper of a World War I submarine, and no one in the crew ever asks him why he talks like that. I also like “The Last Valkyrie” (2002), with Tom Cruise as a German U-boat captain who tries to defect to the Allied cause but gets tied up by Nazis and has to steer the boat through enemy fire with his teeth, while hanging upside down. And, of course, we can’t forget the comedy “Don’t Let in the Water” (2006), about a divorced couple (Jennifer Aniston and Dermot Mulroney), forced to work out their problems when an exhibition submarine, which they happen to be visiting, slides off the museum dock and remains underwater for a rollicking, laugh-packed week . ... But, alas, those movies don’t really exist, so I guess I have to go with “Das Boot” (1981) and “The Hunt for Red October” (1990). “Yellow Submarine” (1968) isn’t bad, either.
Have a question? Ask Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com. Include your name and city for publication, and a phone number for verification. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.