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 ****