Sunday, September 30, 2007

Oh Ida & Rachel & Mira...

On Dangerous Ground(dir. Nicholas Ray)
It started off slow and was rather cold much like it's main character, but that quickly changed once the character gets relocated and meets Ida Lupino's character. She brings warmth and grace to the main character as well as the picture as a whole. The film is rather unsatisfying when it tries to please it's crowd with chases and the score becomes obnoxiously bombastic during these sequences. The score, however, is rather hypnotic when it's quiet and serene. I think I've put off saying this long enough, but this has to be one of the most moving experiences I've had in all of cinema. The last ten minutes are simply breathtaking. This film is fucking fantastic.
**** out of ****
The Fountain(dir. Darren Aronofsky)
Heartfelt, but somewhat brain dead. It's almost embarrassing in it's emotional sincerity and it is at given moments (Jackman's Spanish character gulping down the tree "jizz" all crazily made me LOL). It's a strange combination of grace and cheese. The film works best when it dwells on the feelings of lost one feels after a loved one dies and the film works worst when it dwells on it's spiritual mumbo jumbo. A majority of the scenes set in Izzy's story felt like filler while the future sections complimented the present story fairly well with it being a manifestation of Jackman's character's emotions. The whole thing could be deemed silly and at some points, it is, but there's something to be said about a film that was made with such conviction and compassion. Some of his stylistic touches seemed unnecessary and some scenes spelled things out a little too clearly for the audience, but there's still something here to marvel. The score was excellent and the film was visually stunning at points(mainly the future scenes). This isn't a great work of art, but it's a heartfelt one.
*** out of ****
Barcelona(dir. Whit Stillman)
I wasn't digging this in the beginning. I felt it was the perfect example of the Honkeys with Money and Problems genre and didn't give a shit about the characters. I took a food break and came back and I guess I gave into it somehow. It quickly became amusing in it's apparent trivialness. Mira Sorvino and Turska Bergen were smoking and you sit there wondering how were these self-obsessed intellectuals able to get these girls to go out with them? Some dialogue in the end attempts to answer that question rather amusingly. The movie as a whole was a highly amusing experience. I highly recommend seeing it.
***1/2 out of ****

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Oh Erika Oda...

After Life(dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
I have similar feelings to this as I do to Maborosi. It's a fairly non-narrative film and then it starts to become more "conventional" and less satisfying. While Maborosi remained fairly non-narrative up until the end, which slightly demystified the experience for me, this became more narratively focused more subtly and less abruptly. It's a joy to watch a character's joy in discussing his/her most beloved memories and when the film moves away from those type of moments, the film becomes less of a joy to watch. It still remained highly enjoyable, it just wasn't the same after that. The "scene" in the screening room would have been a better ending than the one that was decided upon, but that one's no slouch either. It's abrupt nature was rather refreshing and suggested that much like life, after life goes on... I highly recommend checking this out.
***1/2 out of ****

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Oh Jack Nicholson...

The Passenger(dir. Michelangelo Antonioni)
Riveting in it's portrayal of existential funk. L'Eclisse, while a worthwhile viewing, felt too blunt and obvious in it's portrayal of disillusionment and detachment. This film is thankfully more graceful and intriguing. The sub-plot with the wife was unnecessary and hurt the flow of the film. Why would the audience care all that much about his wife's quest to find him? It's not given enough screen time to be involving yet it's given enough screen time to be distracting. That sub-plot adds conventionality to a relatively unconventional film. Jack Nicholson delivers a fine performance. Maria Schneider definitely looks good, but doesn't deliver as fine of a performance as Jack's. The famous window shot while amazing on a technical level was slightly excessive in terms of length. The end was slightly dull and contrived, but I can‘t really think of ending it in any other way. It was still pretty unsatisfying. If Antonioni had cut off the narrative fat that was the sub-plot with the wife and concluded the narrative better, this would have been a lean mean masterpiece, but as it is, it's a slightly fatty near-masterpiece.
***1/2 out of ****

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Oh Hal Hartley...

Fay Grim(dir. Hal Hartley)
It's always hard to articulate my thoughts on his movies due to the fact that it's such a personal experience for me and usually consists of me feeling "god, this is fucking perfect." Sure, no movie is perfect, but some of his movies are as close to perfect as you can possibly get at least with their material. This film took me by surprise. I expected it to be disappointing since the reviews for it have been fairly ho-hum, but this could possibly be his best. Every time I see one of his movies, I say that one is his best even though it's probably due to the fact that it's fresh in my mind and gut. It's amazing at how he basically demolishes Henry Fool in order to make this an enormously satisfying sequel since sequels are usually used to reinforce the film that precedes them. While this film makes Henry Fool perhaps more thematically shallow, you can still watch that film and pretend to be ignorant to the events that happen in this film. I wouldn't quite say this film is as thematically deep as Henry Fool was because it doesn't give the audience much to think about, but there's still some aspects that are fairly thought-provoking mainly how foreign relations are displayed as a confusing web-like mess. Most of the characters seem to be acting on past experiences much like how foreign policy usually is. Henry Fool, the character, probably should not have been shown in this film at all until the end mainly because he's too "big" of a character to have such little screen time. It took a whole feature-length film to really warm up to the character and having a five minute scene with him thrown in the narrative just halts the momentum of the film. The ending is one of those classic Hal Hartley endings where it ends ambiguously and almost unsatisfyingly until the music and credits roll and you sit there and think "god, that was fucking perfect." I could see how some of the stylistic touches like the Dutch angles and the slideshow shoot-outs could be off-putting to some people, but to me, it seems more honest. Hartley always seemed to point out the artifice in his films and employing these stylistic aspects makes the self-deconstructive nature of his work more upfront and accessible to new viewers in my mind. This is easily the best film of the year so far.
**** out of ****

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Oh Michel Gondry...

The Science of Sleep(dir. Michel Gondry)
Having seen some of his music videos prepared me for this craziness. The film is definately more reminscent of those music videos I've seen than Eternal Sunshine. This film contained a child-like charm to it, but it was also as immature as it's main character with some of it's scenes. It's innocence was infectious. Gael Garcia Bernal's performance was quite remarkable since his character could have easily been portrayed in a rather unlikeable and unbelievable way. Some of his dreams seemed "too" goofy and some of his actions were frustratingly immature near the end, but I guess if you're a man-child, immaturity comes with the territory. It was whimsical and charming. I really enjoyed this.
***1/2 out of ****

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Oh Tony Curran...

Red Road(dir. Andrea Arnold)
Wasp is one of the best short films I've ever seen mainly because it didn't rely on a gimmick to be enjoyable and actually had a compelling narrative so I had to see this. The film starts off slow, but quickly picks up in it's last half hour or so. The film's biggest problem was withholding information that would have made the experience much more engaging and tense throughout, but dramatic reveals are the craze today. The dramatic reveal is actually handled in a rather straight-forward matter, it just seemed unnecessary to withhold that information up to the point even though it was fairly predictable information, but it didn't matter all that much since the rawness of the film's pivotal sex scene got me wrapped up into the film before the big reveal even occurred. The sex scene isn't exactly erotic or even pleasant, but the amount of drama and tension it creates is astonishing. The end seemed a "tad" too hopeful for it's own good. With such a bleak film, I guess it had to end with an unnaturally happy ending to make it satisfying to most audiences. It seemed like the film could have ended about 5 minutes before it actually ended and would have be far more satisfying. I could easily see how Jackie's act of vengeance near the end could be off-putting because it's slightly presposterous and it's definately unnecessary. I highly recommend seeing this film.
***1/2 out of ****

Monday, September 10, 2007

Oh Tao and Jeff...

The World(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
The film's message could be summed up as "this is your brain on capitalism." While that statement makes the film seem preachy and didactic, it's actually rather subtle and intelligent. It's just too long. I was enthralled by the whole thing, but I grew increasingly restless as it went on. It's commentary on how capitalism and globalization can ruin a culture and people's lives was interesting due to the fact that it was handled in a rather subtle way and the message is understandable coming from a man who grew up in and lives in a communist society. The scenes with Tao and Anna were quite lovely. The film's "affair" plot was pretty predictable. The animation seemed rather unnecessary even though it was kind of amusing. The ending was a little too grim and heavy-handed, but the last couple of seconds made it more bearable. This was the first film directed by him I've seen and now I want to check out some more of his work. I recommend.
*** out of ****
The Lookout(dir. Scott Frank)
It was relatively decent. For a caper, it wasn't all that exciting and the robbery was rather mundance. There are some good performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, and Matthew Goode. The script was pretty predictable and had some laughably bad dialogue ("I'VE GOT THE POWER!"), but the actors were able to make the film rather compelling despite the flawed material. I'm amazed by how Isla Fisher keeps getting casted as the "cute girl" in movies since she isn't the least bit attractive. The ending was a little too happy, but it was pretty much expected so it didn't seem that bad. I mildly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Oh Parker Posey...

Henry Fool(dir. Hal Hartley)
A masterpiece. It's hard to articulate my thoughts on this film. It's easily his most darkest film I've seen and his most Bresson-esque. His other films have Bresson qualities like how the characters act and talk in a fairly deadpan way almost like a comedic version of Bresson's signature non-acting and his characters usually at the end of his films attain a sense of grace. This film seems more Bresson-like mainly due to some shots of hands and body parts that were a staple to Bresson's visual grammar and some of the characters reminding me of some of the characters from his films like Simon Grim reminds me of the main character from Pickpocket, Simon's mother reminds me of Mouchette's mother with her being ambiguously ill, and Pearl definately reminds me of Mouchette. The film's world was also a cruel place much like the world in some of Bresson's films. This film has one of the most bizarrely moving moments I've ever seen. The moment consists of Henry Fool taking a massive dump a la Dumb and Dumber Harry Dunne-style and Parker Posey's character Fay Grim comes in and starts kissing his hand (another Bressonian touch) because he proposed to her. At first, the moment just seemed ridiculous and juvenile with Henry alone shitting on the toilet, but Hartley was able to morph the scene into something awkwardly and amazingly beautiful. Another memorable moment and probably the funniest was when Simon ends up barfing on a woman's bare ass cheek. She was forcing him to kiss her ass so the barfing on seems deserved. It's disgusting yet hilarious. This film deals with art. Henry Fool is a self-proclaimed brilliant struggling writer, but like his name implies, he's in fact a fool. Simon Grim lives a grim life and when Henry comes into his life, he is inspired to write "poetry." Some reviewers including Gene Siskel say the film should have shown Simon's poetry or at least gave some lines because the poetry is so controversial and is a major focus in the narrative, but that would have been just silly. The reactions to the poetry are what important, not the poetry itself. If the audience knew what the poetry was like, they would immediately come up with their own opinion of it. If they weren't left in the dark, the reactions that the audience don't agree with would seem unreasonable especially with the heated labels the poetry receives like pornographic. The narrative is driven by Henry's and Simon's quest to get his work published so the world can see it and cherish it. Henry also has his own work that he wants published once he's finished that he feels will change the world. This is were the foolishness of Henry Fool comes into play. Henry is overly grandiose and pretentious with his artistic endeavor. Everyone that eventually reads his work think it's garbage, but only 2 people in the film read it, which brings another point up: if Simon's work was only read by 2 people and the 2 people disliked the work, would he be in the same place as Henry? Henry could have easily became what Simon becomes if he had someone like himself in his life rallying his work. Hartley hits on this point near the end with Henry switching places with Simon to escape the law and this also hints at the notion that Henry and Simon are equally foolish, it's just that Simon had Henry to inspire him and help show off his work. The end also shows the sacrificial selfless nature of being an artist. Sure, you got to have a little Henry in you to want to make art, but once the work is out there, it's not yours anymore, it's the audience's. Simon takes a beating in this film literally and critically, which hammers the point of having to suffer for your work even further. There's still many layers to this film and I could probably spend even more time writing about it, but I think I've written enough. It's his best film that I have seen. It doesn't have as moving of an ending as Simple Men or Trust, but it's his most consistently great film. The endings in those films made me overlook some of their flaws, while this is practically flawless. I could see how someone thought it went on for too long, but I thought it's pacing and length was pretty much perfect. Gotta see Fay Grim now. Don't be a fool, see Henry Fool.
**** out of ****

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Oh Craig T. Nelson...

Blades of Glory(dir. Josh Gordon & Will Speck)
It's not exactly ground-breaking, but it's still fun seeing Craig T. Nelson flex his muscles and show his range as an amazing actor. He needs to be in more movies. I thought it was better than Talladega Nights, but it's definately not in the same league as the comedy masterpiece, Anchorman.
*** out of ****

Monday, September 03, 2007

Oh Charles & Dieter & Yu & Hal & Kirk...

The Ex(dir. Jesse Peretz)
A lot of reviews talk about how it doesn't have the balls to make fun of crippled people, but it's trying to. I don't know. It's seems like this comedy wants to be almost a live-action cartoon like how Scrubs can be, but just doesn't pull it off. It doesn't have the sense of detached playfulness of a Naked Gun or Anchorman, two cherished and unquestionable comedy classics. Zach Braff basically channels his JD character from Scrubs into this relatively unlikeable jerk, who's only mildly likeable due to the fact that he's the only character who hates the jerkiest jerk in the picture, Jason Bateman. Jason Bateman is almost charming as the asshole in the wheelchair, but his character is ultimately not insidious enough to be all that likeable. His most devious pranks are taping over a videotape that could land Braff's character some street cred and putting gay porn on his laptop. Not exactly an evil mastermind. The most memorable character was the father played by Charles Grodin, who makes the movie watchable with his amusingly overly optimistic line readings. The mother played by Mia Farrow seemed like an escaped inmate from the local asylum and wasn't amusing, but creepy and out of place. I don't like stories that have one character that's a jerk that everybody loves except for the hero because they always feel false and contrived especially when the hero isn't that likeable of a guy either. All the most horrible things that happen to Braff's character are usually his fault. Starting a fire. Riding a bike into a car. His character is also a jerk for not taking the blame for some of his actions and terrorizing a kid. It was ultimately watchable, but it wasn't a totally pleasant experience.
** out of ****
Little Dieter Needs to Fly(dir. Werner Herzog)
Dare I say he's a better documentary filmmaker than a narrative one? Dieter Dengler is a charming person, but there's something definately off in the way he describes his story. He seems to be emotionally detached from the tales he tell even though he experienced them and probably the most disturbing aspect is that he almost seems to enjoy telling them. I guess it's good for making conversation being a POW and all, but still feels off. Herzog luckily openly critiques Dengler's detached nature through his narration and it's easy to see why, but if Dengler wasn't emotionally detached from those events in his life, the picture would have either not been made or have not turned out so well. When you see pictures of a young Dengler after being rescued crying, it's almost cathartic due to the present Dengler's almost robot-like nature, which comes to light especially during portions of the film where he does voice-over narration and tries to describe his emotions during some scenes almost as a way to tell the audience that he's still human. The end is emotionally overwhelming. You get a hint of what made Dengler wanted to fly as his Herzog's camera glides over rows and rows of airplanes. It's a truly beautiful cinematic moment. The fact that Herzog updated his film with some footage from Dengler's 2001 funeral shows that he had the upmost respect for the man. Like Dieter, this film flies. It's a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
Hana & Alice(dir. Shunji Iwai)
OhmyNews writes, "While the story is thin and feels stretched over 135 minutes, Iwai's subtle delineation of character and insight into adolescent life makes "Hana and Alice" a film to cherish." I ultimately agree. I might have to rewatch All About Lily Chou-Chou because I have a feeling I was overly critical of it. I wasn't sure of whether to give this film *** or ***1/2 because it was overlong, but after reading some reviews and serious deliberation, I feel it has enough beautiful moments in it's duration to make up for it.
***1/2 out of ****
The Unbelievable Truth(dir. Hal Hartley)
For a debut film, it was impressive. For a Hal Hartley film, it wasn't quite that impressive. It was good, but it's definately not in the league of Trust or Simple Men. This film doesn't feel as emotionally sincere as those pictures especially due to the fact that this film seems to put more significance on it's plot than it's central romance so it's not as hopelessly romantic and beautiful as those two films. It was good, but it's pretty forgettable. It's definately not as bad as Surviving Desire, though.
*** out of ****
The Bad and the Beautiful(dir. Vincente Minnelli)
Dug it up until the third story told by the screenwriter. There's something utterly wrong with a person trying to persuade a man that a guy isn't all that bad when he is partly responsible for killing his wife and when the guy tells him about his role in her death, he tries to justify it by saying she was just a nuisance anyway. That should have been cut out of the script and the film in general since it makes that character ultimately unlikeable for not being sensitive to that character's dislike of the studio head that he is trying to defend especially given the fact that his wife was played by Gloria Grahame. Hubba hubba. Gloria Grahame is miscasted as the interruptive wife because she's too sexy for that type of bit role. It's obvious between this and Ace in the Hole that Kirk Douglas is excellent at playing sons of bitches with a snake-like charm. A climatic scene performed by Douglas in this film is probably the greatest acting I have ever seen in a motion picture ever. The scene afterwards was particularly memorable for the audacity of it. Lana Turner is driving away from Douglas's mansion as an emotional wreck and almost gets in a car accident. The camera is in the car and it keeps rolling even as Turner's character spins car out and practically has an emotional breakdown from almost getting hit by a car and from the event that happened at Douglas's character's mansion. It's a melodramatic moment, but it's also a memorable one. The film wears out it's welcome with it's screenwriter's story because that man has every reason to hate Douglas's character's guts. The ending with the characters thinking about making the picture with his character seems ultimately false due to everybody's emotional baggage, but it could be read as a critique of Hollywood conditioning normal people into greedy bastards. It was still good despite it's flaws.
*** out of ****

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Oh Bob from Bottle Rocket & Chris...

Idiocracy(dir. Mike Judge)
It starts off fine with it's concept, but once it hits about the 40 minute mark, it started to become redundant and became a drag. There's something to be said about a comedy with a future world this fully realized, but as the planet earth in the movie became stupider as time went on so did the movie itself. You realize that all the dumb characters are essentially going to be played in a certain way the whole time so there's not much variation to create interest. The president character that was a former wrestler was pretty ingenius among all the bland idiots. The film is, thankfully, on the short side and I think the ending redeems it slightly for it's overt cheesiness. Judge criticizes idiotic behaivor well, but it became repetitive. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
I Think I Love My Wife(dir. Chris Rock)
Dare I say I was really liking it until a show-stopping gag? The gag in question is a gag about an erection. The film has other gags that were juvenile, but that one derailed the movie. It didn't derail it completely, but it was hard to get back on track especially with scenes like the sing song finale. Most of the humor in general seemed pretty unnecessary and the film probably would have benefitted if it was just a relatively serious comedy instead of trying to have to make an attempt at being humorous with juvenile antics. How the conflict is resolved is kind of too pat, but as this is a comedy, it's acceptable. I slightly recommend this uneven movie.
**1/2 out of ****