He Was a Quiet Man(dir. Frank A. Cappelo)
The thing that irks me most about this film is the tone. It's cartoonish and exaggerated, but it's dealing with this serious subject of office shootings and people being paralyzed because of it so it's lack of sensitivity to the loss of life on-screen kind of disturbs me even if it's just fictional characters. The film is basically that whole epilogue to Taxi Driver where everybody thinks he's a hero extended to feature-length with a little dab of Million Dollar Baby "euthanize me!" nonsense as well. It's a watchable little flick, but along with it's tone, it's "twist" ending is also dumb so you could definitely put this in your "to forget" bin after you watch this sucker.
** out of ****
Exiled(dir. Johnnie To)
It's essentially a modern Chinese/Hong Kongese version of The Wild Bunch with a more honorable suicidal bloodbath for a finale. This is the best action film of last year mainly because it examines male comradery in a refreshing way with some kick ass action scenes thrown in here and there. It's not quite as good as To's best film(I've seen so far), PTU, but it's still definitely one a good one to watch.
*** out of ****
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Oh 1974...
1974
1. A Woman Under the Influence(dir. John Cassavetes)
2. Young Frankenstein(dir. Mel Brooks)
3. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser(dir. Werner Herzog)
4. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia(dir. Sam Peckinpah)
5. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul(dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Need to see/rewatch: Chinatown, The Godfather Part II, Blazing Saddles, Murder on the Orient Express, The Conversation, Death Wish, Caged Heat, Black Christmas, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Phantom of Liberty, Thieves Like Us, F for Fake, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and more...
1. A Woman Under the Influence(dir. John Cassavetes)
2. Young Frankenstein(dir. Mel Brooks)
3. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser(dir. Werner Herzog)
4. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia(dir. Sam Peckinpah)
5. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul(dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Need to see/rewatch: Chinatown, The Godfather Part II, Blazing Saddles, Murder on the Orient Express, The Conversation, Death Wish, Caged Heat, Black Christmas, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Phantom of Liberty, Thieves Like Us, F for Fake, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and more...
Oh One Legged Cowboys, Ballet, and Severed Heads...
3:10 to Yuma(dir. James Mangold)
I've never seen the original film so I can't compare the two. This is just a straight-forward modern western. It doesn't try to rewrite the rules of what a western should be and in a way comes off sort of bland and clichéd because of it. The film gets more lively in it's final 15 minutes and this is definitely the point where I became more interested in the film after a long period of disinterest. It's not going to blow your mind, but I still slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
The Company(dir. Robert Altman)
It's basically a low-key version of Nashville that focuses on a Chicago ballet company instead of the Nashville country music scene. This is his most visually elegant film and it's one of his few films to be shot on digital. The gorgeous cinematography keeps you interested especially when it shows the ballet dance scenes that go on perhaps too long. I don't have an interest in ballet all that much so it's probably more my problem than the film's. The story is charming, but it frustratingly takes a backseat most of the time for the ballet. With my frustrations aside, I recommend.
*** out of ****
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia(dir. Sam Peckinpah)
It's a deranged near-masterpiece. It sort of gets silly with the whole talking to the head side of things, but for something this demented and strangely poetic, it's definitely a minor complaint. Warren Oates gives a hell of a performance in this. I might be underrating it, but I'd rather underrate something than overrate it. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
I've never seen the original film so I can't compare the two. This is just a straight-forward modern western. It doesn't try to rewrite the rules of what a western should be and in a way comes off sort of bland and clichéd because of it. The film gets more lively in it's final 15 minutes and this is definitely the point where I became more interested in the film after a long period of disinterest. It's not going to blow your mind, but I still slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
The Company(dir. Robert Altman)
It's basically a low-key version of Nashville that focuses on a Chicago ballet company instead of the Nashville country music scene. This is his most visually elegant film and it's one of his few films to be shot on digital. The gorgeous cinematography keeps you interested especially when it shows the ballet dance scenes that go on perhaps too long. I don't have an interest in ballet all that much so it's probably more my problem than the film's. The story is charming, but it frustratingly takes a backseat most of the time for the ballet. With my frustrations aside, I recommend.
*** out of ****
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia(dir. Sam Peckinpah)
It's a deranged near-masterpiece. It sort of gets silly with the whole talking to the head side of things, but for something this demented and strangely poetic, it's definitely a minor complaint. Warren Oates gives a hell of a performance in this. I might be underrating it, but I'd rather underrate something than overrate it. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
Oh DDL...
There Will Be Blood(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
I have been wanting to see this movie since the teaser trailer came out in the middle of June, which I watched practically religiously along with every other trailer/TV spot afterwards, so to say my expectations for the film were monumental would be an understatement. I was seriously preparing for what I thought could possibly be the greatest film ever made and the extremely positive reviews only factored into my excitement to finally be able to see this film and then I saw it recently and it all came crashing down. I pretty much set myself up for disappointment from the get go, but man, that teaser trailer is incredible. The film as a whole relied on Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, which has been getting all sorts of accolades and is pretty much a lock for an Oscar, but I'm not convinced that it's a great performance. It's certainly a big, showy, and amusing performance and you have to give him credit for diving into this character so wholeheartedly, but the character is such a frustrating cipher that the film never really makes up it's mind about that his performance just feels evasive of truly going deeper into this character besides skimming the surface. He's basically all grimace. While his actions are perhaps scary to some, the film's horror film texture doesn't really work with his performance. Sure, he's supposed to be scary and sinister at given moments, but he's better at garnering laughs than garnering scares. The comedic side of this film doesn't get all that much attention from reviews. Much of the brunt of the comedy comes from Plainview's reaction to Eli Sunday and his religious ceremonies. I think it's pretty much impossible not to laugh at that freak show of a baptism in the film's final hour or even the ending, which has divided viewers and critics alike, but the film's view on religion is just too negative to have this whole capitalism vs. religion boxing match work all that well. Religion is being lead by Eli Sunday, who is simply ill equipped to handle Daniel Plainview's form of capitalism, and the picture as a whole doesn't really dwell on this aspect of it's story all that much, which makes it surprising to read all the reviews that go on and on about that aspect of the film. There's probably about six scenes with him and Eli including it's ending, which I assume is primarily the reason for all this talk. The ending works splendidly as comedy, but you get a sense that Anderson wants it to ring tragic somehow. The whole final hour or so seems to be setting up Plainview as this tragic figure, but does he really deserve our sympathy? Anderson splicing in a little bit of his memory of H.W. after seeing his son seems to suggest that Plainview realizes there's nothing he can do to change his relationship with his son so he ends up severing his ties with him as a way to evade being reminded of the guilt for abandoning him and then here comes Eli to be his personal punching bag once again. Their relationship is a little shallow and is not all that stimulating intellectually. Their "boxing match" never feels like one. There's no sense that they're trying to fuck each other over, it's in a way a symbiotic(or parasitic) relationship that sometimes have one of them slap the other like say the baptism scene or when Eli asks Daniel for money after his son's eardrums pop. Paul Dano is also not an actor that could really stand a chance to Day-Lewis' because of a certain lack of conviction with his character. The performance is almost tongue-in-cheek while Daniel Day-Lewis' skirts that fine line of parody throughout the entire film until finally going there in the film's outlandish ending, you never get a sense that Daniel Day-Lewis is laughing after performing a scene like you do with Dano. Then there's the film's direction, which has been receiving all sort of accolades as well. There's some definite great scenes in the film, one found in the midpoint of the film that is the centerpiece that is probably the greatest sequence Paul Thomas Anderson has ever directed along with the silent oil segment in the film's first 20 minutes, but after that midpoint much like a film by another Anderson, it starts to decline, but unlike that Anderson's film that felt totally controlled(perhaps painfully so), it starts to wan and become more messy and less focused. Even though the film has some great scenes in it's lengthy running time, it never really adds up to anything much because we never truly grow to understand the film's central character and his actions. You could say Anderson is challenging the viewer especially with it's ending, but that's the problem with the film. It's never all that challenging morally or intellectually. The film's basic message could be summed up as "capitalism can turn you into an unsympathetic prick that is capable of killing someone with a fucking bowling pin." There's an element in the plot that if it was further developed could have made this character more complex and sympathetic, but Anderson didn't know what quite to do with it since it goes nowhere. That element was his relationship with Eli's sister, Mary. Mary could be considered the saint of the picture since there's a certain martyr-ish quality to her character for marrying H.W. and embracing Daniel after his baptism, which is the most humanistic, beautiful, and fleeting moment in the film. You could easily picture that scene being more engaging if Daniel's relationship with her was further developed outside of him making sure that she doesn't get beat by her father, which mainly came from his love and feeling of obligation to his son as a parent. The film as a whole is packed with moments of brilliance that doesn't lead to anywhere all that poignant emotionally or intellectually. As you walk out of the theater, you start to feel cold and think of what it could have been more than how great those handful of scenes were. The controversial ending is really not all that controversial if you've seen films like The Wayward Cloud and Twentynine Palms that provided endings that were great jumping off points for discussion. This ending just comes across as amusing yet totally disposable. It's there for a good laugh, but to say it's thought-provoking would be a little much. It might become more profound with a rewatch, but for now, it's far from a masterpiece. It's a rather standard story of greed consuming an individual to the point that he starts to look less like a human and more like a monster. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
I have been wanting to see this movie since the teaser trailer came out in the middle of June, which I watched practically religiously along with every other trailer/TV spot afterwards, so to say my expectations for the film were monumental would be an understatement. I was seriously preparing for what I thought could possibly be the greatest film ever made and the extremely positive reviews only factored into my excitement to finally be able to see this film and then I saw it recently and it all came crashing down. I pretty much set myself up for disappointment from the get go, but man, that teaser trailer is incredible. The film as a whole relied on Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, which has been getting all sorts of accolades and is pretty much a lock for an Oscar, but I'm not convinced that it's a great performance. It's certainly a big, showy, and amusing performance and you have to give him credit for diving into this character so wholeheartedly, but the character is such a frustrating cipher that the film never really makes up it's mind about that his performance just feels evasive of truly going deeper into this character besides skimming the surface. He's basically all grimace. While his actions are perhaps scary to some, the film's horror film texture doesn't really work with his performance. Sure, he's supposed to be scary and sinister at given moments, but he's better at garnering laughs than garnering scares. The comedic side of this film doesn't get all that much attention from reviews. Much of the brunt of the comedy comes from Plainview's reaction to Eli Sunday and his religious ceremonies. I think it's pretty much impossible not to laugh at that freak show of a baptism in the film's final hour or even the ending, which has divided viewers and critics alike, but the film's view on religion is just too negative to have this whole capitalism vs. religion boxing match work all that well. Religion is being lead by Eli Sunday, who is simply ill equipped to handle Daniel Plainview's form of capitalism, and the picture as a whole doesn't really dwell on this aspect of it's story all that much, which makes it surprising to read all the reviews that go on and on about that aspect of the film. There's probably about six scenes with him and Eli including it's ending, which I assume is primarily the reason for all this talk. The ending works splendidly as comedy, but you get a sense that Anderson wants it to ring tragic somehow. The whole final hour or so seems to be setting up Plainview as this tragic figure, but does he really deserve our sympathy? Anderson splicing in a little bit of his memory of H.W. after seeing his son seems to suggest that Plainview realizes there's nothing he can do to change his relationship with his son so he ends up severing his ties with him as a way to evade being reminded of the guilt for abandoning him and then here comes Eli to be his personal punching bag once again. Their relationship is a little shallow and is not all that stimulating intellectually. Their "boxing match" never feels like one. There's no sense that they're trying to fuck each other over, it's in a way a symbiotic(or parasitic) relationship that sometimes have one of them slap the other like say the baptism scene or when Eli asks Daniel for money after his son's eardrums pop. Paul Dano is also not an actor that could really stand a chance to Day-Lewis' because of a certain lack of conviction with his character. The performance is almost tongue-in-cheek while Daniel Day-Lewis' skirts that fine line of parody throughout the entire film until finally going there in the film's outlandish ending, you never get a sense that Daniel Day-Lewis is laughing after performing a scene like you do with Dano. Then there's the film's direction, which has been receiving all sort of accolades as well. There's some definite great scenes in the film, one found in the midpoint of the film that is the centerpiece that is probably the greatest sequence Paul Thomas Anderson has ever directed along with the silent oil segment in the film's first 20 minutes, but after that midpoint much like a film by another Anderson, it starts to decline, but unlike that Anderson's film that felt totally controlled(perhaps painfully so), it starts to wan and become more messy and less focused. Even though the film has some great scenes in it's lengthy running time, it never really adds up to anything much because we never truly grow to understand the film's central character and his actions. You could say Anderson is challenging the viewer especially with it's ending, but that's the problem with the film. It's never all that challenging morally or intellectually. The film's basic message could be summed up as "capitalism can turn you into an unsympathetic prick that is capable of killing someone with a fucking bowling pin." There's an element in the plot that if it was further developed could have made this character more complex and sympathetic, but Anderson didn't know what quite to do with it since it goes nowhere. That element was his relationship with Eli's sister, Mary. Mary could be considered the saint of the picture since there's a certain martyr-ish quality to her character for marrying H.W. and embracing Daniel after his baptism, which is the most humanistic, beautiful, and fleeting moment in the film. You could easily picture that scene being more engaging if Daniel's relationship with her was further developed outside of him making sure that she doesn't get beat by her father, which mainly came from his love and feeling of obligation to his son as a parent. The film as a whole is packed with moments of brilliance that doesn't lead to anywhere all that poignant emotionally or intellectually. As you walk out of the theater, you start to feel cold and think of what it could have been more than how great those handful of scenes were. The controversial ending is really not all that controversial if you've seen films like The Wayward Cloud and Twentynine Palms that provided endings that were great jumping off points for discussion. This ending just comes across as amusing yet totally disposable. It's there for a good laugh, but to say it's thought-provoking would be a little much. It might become more profound with a rewatch, but for now, it's far from a masterpiece. It's a rather standard story of greed consuming an individual to the point that he starts to look less like a human and more like a monster. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Oh 1976...
1976
1. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie(dir. John Cassavetes)
2. Taxi Driver(dir. Martin Scorsese)
3. Harlan County, USA(dir. Barbara Kopple)
Network(dir. Sidney Lumet)
Need to see/rewatch: Assault on Precinct 13, The Tenant, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, Carrie, Mikey and Nicky, The Outlaw Josey Wales, 1900, Jeanne Dielman, Kings of the Road, Missouri Breaks, Silent Movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, All the President's Men, Meat, Rocky, and more...
Dishonorable mentions: Welcome to L.A., and more...
1. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie(dir. John Cassavetes)
2. Taxi Driver(dir. Martin Scorsese)
3. Harlan County, USA(dir. Barbara Kopple)
Network(dir. Sidney Lumet)
Need to see/rewatch: Assault on Precinct 13, The Tenant, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, Carrie, Mikey and Nicky, The Outlaw Josey Wales, 1900, Jeanne Dielman, Kings of the Road, Missouri Breaks, Silent Movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth, All the President's Men, Meat, Rocky, and more...
Dishonorable mentions: Welcome to L.A., and more...
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Oh Oates and Carrandine...
The Shooting(dir. Monte Hellman)
I have never seen a film with expansive American desert as it's backdrop that felt so claustrophobic. The whole experience is one of disorientation with Hellman sometimes transitioning from a scene in an abrupt and perplexing manner. Much like the film's protagonist, the viewer has to always be on his/her toes since the journey is unexpected yet somehow feels entirely premeditated. The film's setting is really the star of the film and not Warren Oates, who still gives a good performance despite not being the star. It's shot in such a fashion that makes it so drab and unflattering that it makes all the recent films set in the desert look childish in comparison. The desert truly looks like purgatory, waiting to suffocate it's inhabitants. The editing of it's fatalistic ending is haunting in it's sun-drenched and off-beat rhythm. This is how you make an existential western. It's a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
Welcome to L.A.(dir. Alan Rudolph)
At first, it was sort of charming in it's romantic Altman-esque tapestry, but as it went along, you quickly realize how much of a master Altman was with juggling the characters and progressing the narratives in his films. The film just eventually became as aimless as its characters' love lives. Keith Carradine could be considered the main character and he essentially plays his womanizing character from Nashville in a less despicable manner with no mustache, just goatee. The whole film feels like a sub-par Nashville with characters that never feel wholly etched out and music that starts off fine but quickly becomes grating because of its repetitive sounding quality and it being overused past the point of tolerance. The film became repetitious and basically went nowhere. It has no idea what to do with it's vast repertoire of characters other than having them sometimes hook up with each other. It was bad.
*1/2 out of ****
I have never seen a film with expansive American desert as it's backdrop that felt so claustrophobic. The whole experience is one of disorientation with Hellman sometimes transitioning from a scene in an abrupt and perplexing manner. Much like the film's protagonist, the viewer has to always be on his/her toes since the journey is unexpected yet somehow feels entirely premeditated. The film's setting is really the star of the film and not Warren Oates, who still gives a good performance despite not being the star. It's shot in such a fashion that makes it so drab and unflattering that it makes all the recent films set in the desert look childish in comparison. The desert truly looks like purgatory, waiting to suffocate it's inhabitants. The editing of it's fatalistic ending is haunting in it's sun-drenched and off-beat rhythm. This is how you make an existential western. It's a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
Welcome to L.A.(dir. Alan Rudolph)
At first, it was sort of charming in it's romantic Altman-esque tapestry, but as it went along, you quickly realize how much of a master Altman was with juggling the characters and progressing the narratives in his films. The film just eventually became as aimless as its characters' love lives. Keith Carradine could be considered the main character and he essentially plays his womanizing character from Nashville in a less despicable manner with no mustache, just goatee. The whole film feels like a sub-par Nashville with characters that never feel wholly etched out and music that starts off fine but quickly becomes grating because of its repetitive sounding quality and it being overused past the point of tolerance. The film became repetitious and basically went nowhere. It has no idea what to do with it's vast repertoire of characters other than having them sometimes hook up with each other. It was bad.
*1/2 out of ****
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Oh 1967...
1967
1. Titicut Follies(dir. Frederick Wiseman)
2. Branded to Kill(dir. Seijun Suzuki)
3. Mouchette(dir. Robert Bresson)
4. Le Samourai(dir. Jean-Pierre Melville)
5. Belle De Jour(dir. Luis Bunuel)
6. Point Blank(dir. John Boorman)
7. The Shooting(dir. Monte Hellman)
8. Bonnie and Clyde(dir. Arthur Penn)
9. The Dirty Dozen(dir. Robert Aldrich)
Need to see: Playtime, Weekend, Scattered Clouds, The Red and the White, Samurai Rebellion, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, The Young Girls of Rochefort, The Jungle Book(rewatch), Hombre, In the Heat of the Night, Who's That Knocking at My Door, A Man Vanishes, and more...
Dishonorable mentions: The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and more...
1. Titicut Follies(dir. Frederick Wiseman)
2. Branded to Kill(dir. Seijun Suzuki)
3. Mouchette(dir. Robert Bresson)
4. Le Samourai(dir. Jean-Pierre Melville)
5. Belle De Jour(dir. Luis Bunuel)
6. Point Blank(dir. John Boorman)
7. The Shooting(dir. Monte Hellman)
8. Bonnie and Clyde(dir. Arthur Penn)
9. The Dirty Dozen(dir. Robert Aldrich)
Need to see: Playtime, Weekend, Scattered Clouds, The Red and the White, Samurai Rebellion, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, The Young Girls of Rochefort, The Jungle Book(rewatch), Hombre, In the Heat of the Night, Who's That Knocking at My Door, A Man Vanishes, and more...
Dishonorable mentions: The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and more...
Oh 1959...
1959
1. Shadows(dir. John Cassavetes)
2. Hiroshima, Mon Amour(dir. Alain Resnais)
3. Ride Lonesome(dir. Budd Boetticher)
Need to see: Room at the Top, Ben-Hur(?), Imitation of Life(Sirk), Some Like It Hot, Ballad of a Soldier, Pickpocket(rewatch), Anatomy of a Murder(rewatch), Fires on the Plain, The Crimson Kimono, The Sleeping Beauty(rewatch), The Savage Innocents, Rio Bravo, and more...
Dishonorable Mentions: North by Northwest, and more...
1. Shadows(dir. John Cassavetes)
2. Hiroshima, Mon Amour(dir. Alain Resnais)
3. Ride Lonesome(dir. Budd Boetticher)
Need to see: Room at the Top, Ben-Hur(?), Imitation of Life(Sirk), Some Like It Hot, Ballad of a Soldier, Pickpocket(rewatch), Anatomy of a Murder(rewatch), Fires on the Plain, The Crimson Kimono, The Sleeping Beauty(rewatch), The Savage Innocents, Rio Bravo, and more...
Dishonorable Mentions: North by Northwest, and more...
Oh 1964...
1964
1. Woman in the Dunes(dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
2. Pale Flower(dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
3. Dr. Strangelove(dir. Stanley Kubrick)
4. The Pawnbroker(dir. Sidney Lumet)
5. The Naked Kiss(dir. Samuel Fuller)
Band of Outsiders(dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
Need to see: I Am Cuba, Mary Poppins(rewatch), The Red Desert, Marnie, A Hard Day's Night, Blood and Black Lace, A Fistful of Dollars, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Onibaba, Kwaidan, Intentions of Murder, Goldfinger, Fail-Safe, and more...
1. Woman in the Dunes(dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara)
2. Pale Flower(dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
3. Dr. Strangelove(dir. Stanley Kubrick)
4. The Pawnbroker(dir. Sidney Lumet)
5. The Naked Kiss(dir. Samuel Fuller)
Band of Outsiders(dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
Need to see: I Am Cuba, Mary Poppins(rewatch), The Red Desert, Marnie, A Hard Day's Night, Blood and Black Lace, A Fistful of Dollars, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Onibaba, Kwaidan, Intentions of Murder, Goldfinger, Fail-Safe, and more...
Oh Bob Dylan and Some Japanese Composer...
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid[2005 cut](dir. Sam Peckinpah)
I wasn't a big fan of The Wild Bunch, which is the only film directed by Peckinpah I've had the pleasure to see. Much like Seven Samurai, a film I personally feel is overrated, it's overlong and contains a group of individuals that are never feel fully fleshed out even when all the time spent before their respective "showdown" is supposed to be time for "character development," but their characters never end up making a dent presence-wise so the time spent "developing" them mainly numbs the mind. This film, however, is simply incredible. It's the best revisionist western I've ever seen. I'd imagine seeing an earlier cut might change my mind about Peckinpah's genius with this film since this cut was made by people "following" Peckinpah's wishes even though they essentially overrode "his vision" and constructed, from what I've read, a tighter and better film. While The Wild Bunch was mainly an ugly vision of the old west, this is an elegiac vision filled with both beauty as well as ugliness, but mainly beauty. I dare anyone to watch Slim Pickens' character's death and not be moved by it's awe-inspiring poetry. The picture is nihilistic but in a more subtle and invigorating way than say No Country for Old Men. Both films focus on death, but this film's ability to make a peripheral character's death like Slim Pickens' seem monumentally tragic yet inevitable shows what's truly wrong with that film. I fucking love this.
**** out of ****
Pale Flower(dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
It doesn't come close to some of Seijun Suzuki's yakuza masterpieces, but that doesn't mean it's not invigorating and plus it doesn't even attempt to operate in the same realm as his films. It mainly plays ike Albert Camus' The Stranger with a hint of In a Lonely Place and Kiss Me Deadly set in Japan and with a yakuza instead of some French dude. I don't know why I was reminded of Kiss Me Deadly. Maybe all the car imagery? I guess In a Lonely Place is more apt with it's car imagery especially in concern with the whole speeding scene in this film reminding me of Bogart's character's speeding scene in that film except the one found here is more playful and harmless. This film is also nihilistic much like the picture above, but it's nihilism is viewed through the prism of a doomed and unfulfilled romance instead of a man trying to adapt to his harsh environment by basically selling his soul. It's not nearly as tragic as In a Lonely Place mainly because their romance never truly blossoms and disintegrates like the one found in that film, just the chance of it disintegrates. The main characters in this film and the one above both use killing almost as a form of spiritual suicide and subsequently a form of survival and coping. While the film above is more moving, it's hard to look at this film and label it as a minor work of any kind. Sure, it's not as intense and memorable as Double Suicide or the film above, but it still makes for a really good watch. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
I wasn't a big fan of The Wild Bunch, which is the only film directed by Peckinpah I've had the pleasure to see. Much like Seven Samurai, a film I personally feel is overrated, it's overlong and contains a group of individuals that are never feel fully fleshed out even when all the time spent before their respective "showdown" is supposed to be time for "character development," but their characters never end up making a dent presence-wise so the time spent "developing" them mainly numbs the mind. This film, however, is simply incredible. It's the best revisionist western I've ever seen. I'd imagine seeing an earlier cut might change my mind about Peckinpah's genius with this film since this cut was made by people "following" Peckinpah's wishes even though they essentially overrode "his vision" and constructed, from what I've read, a tighter and better film. While The Wild Bunch was mainly an ugly vision of the old west, this is an elegiac vision filled with both beauty as well as ugliness, but mainly beauty. I dare anyone to watch Slim Pickens' character's death and not be moved by it's awe-inspiring poetry. The picture is nihilistic but in a more subtle and invigorating way than say No Country for Old Men. Both films focus on death, but this film's ability to make a peripheral character's death like Slim Pickens' seem monumentally tragic yet inevitable shows what's truly wrong with that film. I fucking love this.
**** out of ****
Pale Flower(dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
It doesn't come close to some of Seijun Suzuki's yakuza masterpieces, but that doesn't mean it's not invigorating and plus it doesn't even attempt to operate in the same realm as his films. It mainly plays ike Albert Camus' The Stranger with a hint of In a Lonely Place and Kiss Me Deadly set in Japan and with a yakuza instead of some French dude. I don't know why I was reminded of Kiss Me Deadly. Maybe all the car imagery? I guess In a Lonely Place is more apt with it's car imagery especially in concern with the whole speeding scene in this film reminding me of Bogart's character's speeding scene in that film except the one found here is more playful and harmless. This film is also nihilistic much like the picture above, but it's nihilism is viewed through the prism of a doomed and unfulfilled romance instead of a man trying to adapt to his harsh environment by basically selling his soul. It's not nearly as tragic as In a Lonely Place mainly because their romance never truly blossoms and disintegrates like the one found in that film, just the chance of it disintegrates. The main characters in this film and the one above both use killing almost as a form of spiritual suicide and subsequently a form of survival and coping. While the film above is more moving, it's hard to look at this film and label it as a minor work of any kind. Sure, it's not as intense and memorable as Double Suicide or the film above, but it still makes for a really good watch. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Oh 1986...
1986
1. The Sacrifice(dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
2. Down by Law(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
3. Mona Lisa(dir. Neil Jordan)
Aliens(dir. James Cameron)
Need to see: Summer, Vagabound, Hannah and Her Sister, Platoon(rewatch), A Room With a View, The Fly, Peggy Sue Got Married, The Color of Money, Ruthless People, Top Gun(rewatch)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off(rewatch), Trouble in Mind, Sid & Nancy, Something Wild, Blue Velvet, Heartbreak Ridge, Salvador, Manhunter, Shadows in Paradise, The Green Ray, Big Trouble in Little China, and more...
1. The Sacrifice(dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
2. Down by Law(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
3. Mona Lisa(dir. Neil Jordan)
Aliens(dir. James Cameron)
Need to see: Summer, Vagabound, Hannah and Her Sister, Platoon(rewatch), A Room With a View, The Fly, Peggy Sue Got Married, The Color of Money, Ruthless People, Top Gun(rewatch)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off(rewatch), Trouble in Mind, Sid & Nancy, Something Wild, Blue Velvet, Heartbreak Ridge, Salvador, Manhunter, Shadows in Paradise, The Green Ray, Big Trouble in Little China, and more...
Oh 1988...
1988
1. Landscape in the Mist(dir. Theo Angelopoulos)(?)
2. The Naked Gun
Beetlejuice(dir. Tim Burton)
Wings of Desire(dir. Wim Wenders)
Need to see: Twins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Rambo III, Alice, Dead Ringers, Bird, The Land Before Time(rewatch), Opening Night, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Thin Blue Line, Chocolat, Tetsuo, Grave of the Fireflies, Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Ariel, Akira(rewatch), King Lear(Godard), Ernest Saves Christmas(rewatch), The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Running on Empty, Mississippi Burning, Patty Hearst, Funny Farm, and more...
1. Landscape in the Mist(dir. Theo Angelopoulos)(?)
2. The Naked Gun
Beetlejuice(dir. Tim Burton)
Wings of Desire(dir. Wim Wenders)
Need to see: Twins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Rambo III, Alice, Dead Ringers, Bird, The Land Before Time(rewatch), Opening Night, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Thin Blue Line, Chocolat, Tetsuo, Grave of the Fireflies, Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Ariel, Akira(rewatch), King Lear(Godard), Ernest Saves Christmas(rewatch), The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Running on Empty, Mississippi Burning, Patty Hearst, Funny Farm, and more...
Oh 1989...
1989
1. Do the Right Thing(dir. Spike Lee)
Drugstore Cowboy(dir. Gus Van Sant)
Mystery Train(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
Need to see: My Left Foot, sex, lies, and videotape, Say Anthing..., Distant Voices/Still Lives, A Short Film About Love, Batman, Twins, Crimes & Misdemeanors(completely), Heathers, Causalities of War, Born on the 4th of July, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Little Mermaid(rewatch), Story of Women, The 'Burbs(rewatch), Leningrad Cowboys Go America, The Wizard, and more...
1. Do the Right Thing(dir. Spike Lee)
Drugstore Cowboy(dir. Gus Van Sant)
Mystery Train(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
Need to see: My Left Foot, sex, lies, and videotape, Say Anthing..., Distant Voices/Still Lives, A Short Film About Love, Batman, Twins, Crimes & Misdemeanors(completely), Heathers, Causalities of War, Born on the 4th of July, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Little Mermaid(rewatch), Story of Women, The 'Burbs(rewatch), Leningrad Cowboys Go America, The Wizard, and more...
Oh 1996...
1996
1. Dead Man(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
2. Goodbye South, Goodbye(dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Bottle Rocket(dir. Wes Anderson)
Swingers(dir. Doug Liman)
Need to see: Beavis and Butt-head Do America(rewatch), Bound, The Cable Guy, A Summer's Tale, Lone Star, Drifting Clouds, Trainspotting, D3: The Mighty Ducks(rewatch), Breaking the Waves, Irma Vep, Fargo(rewatch), Satantango, Secrets & Lies, Everyone Says I Love You, Kingpin(rewatch), Welcome to the Dollhouse, The White Balloon, Flirting With Disaster, From Dusk Till Dawn, Jingle All the Way(rewatch), Romeo + Juliet(rewatch), and more...
Next: 1997
1. Dead Man(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
2. Goodbye South, Goodbye(dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Bottle Rocket(dir. Wes Anderson)
Swingers(dir. Doug Liman)
Need to see: Beavis and Butt-head Do America(rewatch), Bound, The Cable Guy, A Summer's Tale, Lone Star, Drifting Clouds, Trainspotting, D3: The Mighty Ducks(rewatch), Breaking the Waves, Irma Vep, Fargo(rewatch), Satantango, Secrets & Lies, Everyone Says I Love You, Kingpin(rewatch), Welcome to the Dollhouse, The White Balloon, Flirting With Disaster, From Dusk Till Dawn, Jingle All the Way(rewatch), Romeo + Juliet(rewatch), and more...
Next: 1997
Oh 1993...
1993
1. Short Cuts(dir. Robert Altman)
2. Naked(dir. Mike Leigh)
Groundhog Day(dir. Harold Ramis)
Need to see: The Puppet Master, The Blue Kite, Farewell My Concubine, Jurassic Park(rewatch), A Perfect World, The Piano, The Age of Innocence, Blue(Kieslowski), Dangerous Game, King of the Hill, In the Name of the Father, The Remains of the Day, What's Eating Gilbert Grape(rewatch), La Vie de Boheme, Riff-Raff, Army of Darkness, Carlito's Way, Cliffhanger, Cool Runnings(rewatch), Cop and a Half, The Fugitive, Hard Target, Last Action Hero, Romeo is Bleeding, So I Married an Ax Murderer(rewatch), True Romance, Wayne's World 2(rewatch), and more...
1. Short Cuts(dir. Robert Altman)
2. Naked(dir. Mike Leigh)
Groundhog Day(dir. Harold Ramis)
Need to see: The Puppet Master, The Blue Kite, Farewell My Concubine, Jurassic Park(rewatch), A Perfect World, The Piano, The Age of Innocence, Blue(Kieslowski), Dangerous Game, King of the Hill, In the Name of the Father, The Remains of the Day, What's Eating Gilbert Grape(rewatch), La Vie de Boheme, Riff-Raff, Army of Darkness, Carlito's Way, Cliffhanger, Cool Runnings(rewatch), Cop and a Half, The Fugitive, Hard Target, Last Action Hero, Romeo is Bleeding, So I Married an Ax Murderer(rewatch), True Romance, Wayne's World 2(rewatch), and more...
Oh 1990...
1990
1. King of New York(dir. Abel Ferrera)
2. Die Hard 2: Die Harder(dir. ?)
Damnation(dir. Bela Tarr)?
Metropolitan(dir. Whit Stillman)
Goodfellas(dir. Martin Scorsese)
Need to see: A Short Film About Killing, To Sleep With Anger, White Hunter, Black Heart, Wild at Heart, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp(rewatch), The Godfather Part III, Jacob's Ladder, Jetsons: The Movie(rewatch), Kindergarten Cop(rewatch), The Match Factory Girl, Miller's Crossing, City of Sadness, Miami Blues, Sweetie, Nouvella Vague(Godard), Santa Sangre, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Predator 2, Q&A, The Rescuers Down Under(rewatch), Total Recall, Vincent & Theo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(rewatch), and more...
1. King of New York(dir. Abel Ferrera)
2. Die Hard 2: Die Harder(dir. ?)
Damnation(dir. Bela Tarr)?
Metropolitan(dir. Whit Stillman)
Goodfellas(dir. Martin Scorsese)
Need to see: A Short Film About Killing, To Sleep With Anger, White Hunter, Black Heart, Wild at Heart, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp(rewatch), The Godfather Part III, Jacob's Ladder, Jetsons: The Movie(rewatch), Kindergarten Cop(rewatch), The Match Factory Girl, Miller's Crossing, City of Sadness, Miami Blues, Sweetie, Nouvella Vague(Godard), Santa Sangre, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Predator 2, Q&A, The Rescuers Down Under(rewatch), Total Recall, Vincent & Theo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(rewatch), and more...
Oh 1991...
1991
1. Trust(dir. Hal Hartley)
2. Days of Being Wild(dir. Wong Kar-Wai)
3. The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear(dir. David Zucker)
The Killer(dir. John Woo)
White Dog(dir. Samuel Fuller)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day(dir. James Cameron)
Need to see: The Double Life of Veronique, My Own Private Idaho, Point Break(rewatch), Barton Fink, Beauty and the Beast(rewatch), An Angel at My Table, La Belle Noiseuse, Ju Dou, Chameleon Street, The Silence of the Lambs, Naked Lunch, Cape Fear, The Vanishing, Poison, A Brighter Summer Day, And Life Goes On..., Lovers on the Bridge, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze(rewatch), Grand Canyon, City of Hope, Jungle Fever, and more...
Dishonorable mentions: LA Story, and more...
1. Trust(dir. Hal Hartley)
2. Days of Being Wild(dir. Wong Kar-Wai)
3. The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear(dir. David Zucker)
The Killer(dir. John Woo)
White Dog(dir. Samuel Fuller)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day(dir. James Cameron)
Need to see: The Double Life of Veronique, My Own Private Idaho, Point Break(rewatch), Barton Fink, Beauty and the Beast(rewatch), An Angel at My Table, La Belle Noiseuse, Ju Dou, Chameleon Street, The Silence of the Lambs, Naked Lunch, Cape Fear, The Vanishing, Poison, A Brighter Summer Day, And Life Goes On..., Lovers on the Bridge, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze(rewatch), Grand Canyon, City of Hope, Jungle Fever, and more...
Dishonorable mentions: LA Story, and more...
Monday, January 14, 2008
Oh 1995...
1995
1. Heat(dir. Michael Mann)
2. Lessons of Darkness(dir. Werner Herzog)
3. Clueless(dir. Amy Heckerling)
4. Dead Man(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
5. The Addiction(dir. Abel Ferrera)
Amateur(dir. Hal Hartley)
Fallen Angels(dir. Wong Kar-Wai)
Dead Man Walking(dir. Tim Robbins)
Need to see: Casino, The Bridges of Madison County, Toy Story(rewatch), Se7en, Waterworld, Cyclo, Underground, The Glass Shield, La Haine, Kids, Operation Dumbo Drop, The Quick and the Dead, Safe, Clockers, Exotica, and more...
1. Heat(dir. Michael Mann)
2. Lessons of Darkness(dir. Werner Herzog)
3. Clueless(dir. Amy Heckerling)
4. Dead Man(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
5. The Addiction(dir. Abel Ferrera)
Amateur(dir. Hal Hartley)
Fallen Angels(dir. Wong Kar-Wai)
Dead Man Walking(dir. Tim Robbins)
Need to see: Casino, The Bridges of Madison County, Toy Story(rewatch), Se7en, Waterworld, Cyclo, Underground, The Glass Shield, La Haine, Kids, Operation Dumbo Drop, The Quick and the Dead, Safe, Clockers, Exotica, and more...
Oh 1999...
1999
1. Show Me Love(dir. Lukas Moodysson)
2. Rushmore(dir. Wes Anderson)
3. The Limey(dir. Steven Soderbergh)
4. After Life(dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
5. Eyes Wide Shut(dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Magnolia(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Toy Story 2(dir. John Lasseter) need to rewatch
Need to see: The Insider, The Straight Story, Election, Boys Don't Cry, The Mission, Sleepy Hollow, Austin Powers(rewatch), Topsy-Turvy, Bringing Out the Dead, Beau Travail, All About My Mother, and more...
1. Show Me Love(dir. Lukas Moodysson)
2. Rushmore(dir. Wes Anderson)
3. The Limey(dir. Steven Soderbergh)
4. After Life(dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
5. Eyes Wide Shut(dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Magnolia(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Toy Story 2(dir. John Lasseter) need to rewatch
Need to see: The Insider, The Straight Story, Election, Boys Don't Cry, The Mission, Sleepy Hollow, Austin Powers(rewatch), Topsy-Turvy, Bringing Out the Dead, Beau Travail, All About My Mother, and more...
Oh 2000...
2000
1. Platform(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
2. The Wind Will Carry Us(dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
3. George Washington(dir. David Gordon Green)
4. Wonderland(dir. Michael Winterbottom)
5. The Virgin Suicides(dir. Sofia Coppola)
6. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
Need to see: The Circle, Yi Yi, Eureka, Mission to Mars, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, High Fidelity, In the Mood for Love(rewatch), Mission: Impossible II(rewatch), O Brother, Where Art Thou?(rewatch), Traffic, You Can Count on Me, Requiem For A Dream, The House of Mirth, Blackboards, The Yards, X-Men, Ratcatcher, Jesus' Son, Eureka, Before Night Falls, Dr. T & the Women(rewatch), American Psycho, and more...
1. Platform(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
2. The Wind Will Carry Us(dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
3. George Washington(dir. David Gordon Green)
4. Wonderland(dir. Michael Winterbottom)
5. The Virgin Suicides(dir. Sofia Coppola)
6. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
Need to see: The Circle, Yi Yi, Eureka, Mission to Mars, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, High Fidelity, In the Mood for Love(rewatch), Mission: Impossible II(rewatch), O Brother, Where Art Thou?(rewatch), Traffic, You Can Count on Me, Requiem For A Dream, The House of Mirth, Blackboards, The Yards, X-Men, Ratcatcher, Jesus' Son, Eureka, Before Night Falls, Dr. T & the Women(rewatch), American Psycho, and more...
Oh 2001...
2001
1. Mulholland Dr.(dir. David Lynch)
2. The Royal Tenenbaums(dir. Wes Anderson)
3. In the Bedroom(dir. Todd Field)
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring(dir. Peter Jackson)
Memento(dir. Christopher Nolan)
1. Mulholland Dr.(dir. David Lynch)
2. The Royal Tenenbaums(dir. Wes Anderson)
3. In the Bedroom(dir. Todd Field)
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring(dir. Peter Jackson)
Memento(dir. Christopher Nolan)
Oh 2002...
2002
1. Femme Fatale(dir. Brian De Palma)
2. What Time Is It There?(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
3. Punch-Drunk Love(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. Morvern Callar(dir. Lynne Ramsay)
5. 24 Hour Party People(dir. Michael Winterbottom)
Ten(dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
Unknown Pleasures(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
All About Lily Chou-Chou(dir. Shunji Iwai)
Need to see/rewatch: Spider, Far From Heaven, Trouble Every Day, The Truth About Charlie, Spirited Away, Minority Report, 'R Xmas, Panic Room, Gangs of New York, The Man Without a Past, Domestic Violence, Auto Focus, Narc, Pulse, The Son, Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary, Dark Blue, Insomnia, The Pianist, Talk to Her, xXx, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and more...
1. Femme Fatale(dir. Brian De Palma)
2. What Time Is It There?(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
3. Punch-Drunk Love(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. Morvern Callar(dir. Lynne Ramsay)
5. 24 Hour Party People(dir. Michael Winterbottom)
Ten(dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
Unknown Pleasures(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
All About Lily Chou-Chou(dir. Shunji Iwai)
Need to see/rewatch: Spider, Far From Heaven, Trouble Every Day, The Truth About Charlie, Spirited Away, Minority Report, 'R Xmas, Panic Room, Gangs of New York, The Man Without a Past, Domestic Violence, Auto Focus, Narc, Pulse, The Son, Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary, Dark Blue, Insomnia, The Pianist, Talk to Her, xXx, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and more...
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Oh 1992...
1992
1. Simple Men(dir. Hal Hartley)
2. Rebels of the Neon God(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
3. Close-Up(dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
4. The Player(dir. Robert Altman)
5. Hard-Boiled(dir. John Woo)
6. Light Sleeper(dir. Paul Schrader)
7. Unforgiven(dir. Clint Eastwood)
Howards End(dir. James Ivory)
Malcolm X(dir. Spike Lee)
1. Simple Men(dir. Hal Hartley)
2. Rebels of the Neon God(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
3. Close-Up(dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
4. The Player(dir. Robert Altman)
5. Hard-Boiled(dir. John Woo)
6. Light Sleeper(dir. Paul Schrader)
7. Unforgiven(dir. Clint Eastwood)
Howards End(dir. James Ivory)
Malcolm X(dir. Spike Lee)
Oh 1997...
1. The Sweet Hereafter(dir. Atom Egoyan)
2. Little Dieter Needs to Fly(dir. Werner Herzog)
3. The River(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
4. Life of Jesus(dir. Bruno Dumont)
5. Maborosi(dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
Jackie Brown(dir. Quentin Tarantino)
Boogie Nights(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Afterglow(dir. Alan Rudolph)
L.A. Confidential(dir. Curtis Hanson)
Air Force One(dir. Wolfgang Peterson)
Need to see/rewatch: Lost Highway, Kundun, Fireworks, The Eel, As Good as It Gets, The Apostle, Boogie Nights, Face/Off, Happy Together, Cyclo, Mother and Son, Career Girls, The Butcher Boy, The Mirror, Starship Troopers, L.A. Confidential, Wag the Dog, Irma Vep, Gabbeh, Donnie Brasco, Ulee's Gold, Titanic, Amistad, and more...
2. Little Dieter Needs to Fly(dir. Werner Herzog)
3. The River(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
4. Life of Jesus(dir. Bruno Dumont)
5. Maborosi(dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
Jackie Brown(dir. Quentin Tarantino)
Boogie Nights(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Afterglow(dir. Alan Rudolph)
L.A. Confidential(dir. Curtis Hanson)
Air Force One(dir. Wolfgang Peterson)
Need to see/rewatch: Lost Highway, Kundun, Fireworks, The Eel, As Good as It Gets, The Apostle, Boogie Nights, Face/Off, Happy Together, Cyclo, Mother and Son, Career Girls, The Butcher Boy, The Mirror, Starship Troopers, L.A. Confidential, Wag the Dog, Irma Vep, Gabbeh, Donnie Brasco, Ulee's Gold, Titanic, Amistad, and more...
Oh 1998...
1998
1. Henry Fool(dir. Hal Hartley)
2. The Hole(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
3. Taste of Cherry(dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
4. Rushmore(dir. Wes Anderson)
5. The Flowers of Shanghai(dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
6. The Big Lebowski(dir. The Coen Brothers)
7. Buffalo '66(dir. Vincent Gallo)
Need to see/rewatch: The Thin Red Line, Fallen Angels, There's Something About Mary, The Eel, Beloved, Out of Sight, A Simple Plan, Fireworks, Elizabeth, Velvet Goldmine, The Idiots, Mother and Son, The Apostle, Public Housing, and more...
1. Henry Fool(dir. Hal Hartley)
2. The Hole(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
3. Taste of Cherry(dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
4. Rushmore(dir. Wes Anderson)
5. The Flowers of Shanghai(dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
6. The Big Lebowski(dir. The Coen Brothers)
7. Buffalo '66(dir. Vincent Gallo)
Need to see/rewatch: The Thin Red Line, Fallen Angels, There's Something About Mary, The Eel, Beloved, Out of Sight, A Simple Plan, Fireworks, Elizabeth, Velvet Goldmine, The Idiots, Mother and Son, The Apostle, Public Housing, and more...
Oh 1994...
1994
1. Chungking Express(dir. Wong Kar-Wai)
2. Vive L'Amour(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
3. Barcelona(dir. Whit Stillman)
Hoop Dreams(dir. Steve James)
Speed(dir. Jan de Bont)
Pulp Fiction(dir. Quentin Tarnatino)
Amateur(dir. Hal Hartley)
1. Chungking Express(dir. Wong Kar-Wai)
2. Vive L'Amour(dir. Tsai Ming-Liang)
3. Barcelona(dir. Whit Stillman)
Hoop Dreams(dir. Steve James)
Speed(dir. Jan de Bont)
Pulp Fiction(dir. Quentin Tarnatino)
Amateur(dir. Hal Hartley)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Oh Upcoming 2008 Releases...
I've done a sort of most anticipating list for 2008 already, but I'll do it with Youtube videos of the trailers and possibly links to my reviews in case if I happen to see it so it'll be simultaneously be a checklist for me and a viewing guide for you(my make-believe audience). Here we go...
January 18
Cassandra's Dream(dir. Woody Allen)
It looks like something along the lines of a British Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, but hopefully, the Wood-man's film is much better than that overdramatic actor showcase.
Still Life(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
Trailer's in German, but it'll have to do. Many claim this film is his best-to-date so I got to see it.
January 25
Rambo(dir. Sylvester Stallone)
New trailer sucks. I really need to see that throat getting ripped out.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days(dir. Cristian Mungiu)
It won the Palme d'Or and actually looks good. Enough said.
February 15
Diary of the Dead(dir. George A. Romero)
BRAINS!!!
Diary of the Dead - Exclusive Trailer
Add to My Profile | More Videos
February 29
Semi-Pro(dir. Kent Alterman)
Woody Harrelson has a great head of hair.
March 7
Paranoid Park(dir. Gus Van Sant)
This trailer's second half is pretty shitty, but it still looks like something worth seeing.
March 28
Stop Loss(dir. Kimberly Pierce)
It's a message movie from Hollywood that I actually want to see? Yeah, I didn't see that coming, either...
April 2
The Flight of the Red Balloon(dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
It's Hou Hsiao-Hsien, dawgz...
April 4
My Blueberry Nights(dir. Wong Kar-Wai)
Brief appearance by Chan Marshall(aka Cat Power) + Wong Kar-Wai = Must-See.
Had to include this picture as well.
April 11
The Brothers Bloom(dir. Rian Johnson)
Liked Brick well enough. Maybe, this will turn out well.
April 28
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guatanamo Bay(dir. Jon Hurwitz and Hay Schlossberg)
Neil Patrick Harris as... Neil Patrick Harris.
April 30
Mister Lonely(dir. Harmony Korine)
I thought the trailer to Gummo was amazing and saw a little bit of it on IFC. I didn't like what I saw so much. It felt like experimentation for the sake of experimentation instead of using this experimentation to create something dramatically engaging. This film, however, looks more narratively and dramatically focused compared to his other work so maybe it'll end up beeing good. I should probably watch his other movies completely before writing them off, but I don't really have all that much of an interest in seeing them and I actually want to see this one.
May 2
Iron Man(dir. John Favreau)
I just love the ridiculous and obvious use of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" in the trailer.
May 9
Speed Racer(dir. The Wachowski Siblings?)
I don't know why, but I'm actually looking forward to this candy-colored rainbow-fest of a movie.
July 18
The Dark Knight(dir. Christopher Nolan)
Batman > Every other superhero. That's not an opinion, that's a fact.
Had to put this poster on here as well.
July 25
Step Brothers(dir. Adam McKay)
Looks beautiful.
August 8
The Pineapple Express(dir. David Gordon Green)
Looks beautiful as well.
October 3
Where the Wild Things Are(dir. Spike Jonze)
Don't remember the story much, but this definitely looks promising.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist(dir. Peter Sollett)
I think I have a man crush for Michael Cera.
Some other movies with no set release date that will likely come out in 2008:
Adam Resurrected(dir. Paul Schrader)
Guerilla & The Argentine(dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Jack and Diane(dir. Bradley Rust Gray)
Lesbians and werewolves? Sign me up... twice.
Machete(dir. Robert Rodriguez)
Mammoth(dir. Lukas Moodysson)
Two Lovers(dir. James Gray)
The Box(dir. Richard Kelly)
The Untouchables: Capone Rising(dir. Brian De Palma)
Didn't like the original all that much, but I feel I've recently become a De Palma-phile so maybe I'll dig this.
Genova(dir. Michael Winterbottom)
Hopefully, he'll redeem himself after that piece of shit called A Mighty Heart.
Happy-Go-Lucky(dir. Mike Leigh)
The Mother of Tears(dir. Dario Argento)
Go Go Tales(dir. Abel Ferrara)
Burn After Reading(dir. The Coen Brothers)
Death of the Reel(dir. Guy Maddin)
Untitled Todd Field Project(dir. Todd Field)
Even If You Walk and Walk(dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
Movies that will likely not come out in 2008, but if they do, will easily be some of my must-see upcoming films of the year:
Tree of Life(dir. Terrence Malick)
The Road(dir. John Hillcoat)
The Limits of Control(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
Something(dir. Lynne Ramsay)
January 18
Cassandra's Dream(dir. Woody Allen)
It looks like something along the lines of a British Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, but hopefully, the Wood-man's film is much better than that overdramatic actor showcase.
Still Life(dir. Jia Zhang Ke)
Trailer's in German, but it'll have to do. Many claim this film is his best-to-date so I got to see it.
January 25
Rambo(dir. Sylvester Stallone)
New trailer sucks. I really need to see that throat getting ripped out.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days(dir. Cristian Mungiu)
It won the Palme d'Or and actually looks good. Enough said.
February 15
Diary of the Dead(dir. George A. Romero)
BRAINS!!!
Diary of the Dead - Exclusive Trailer
Add to My Profile | More Videos
February 29
Semi-Pro(dir. Kent Alterman)
Woody Harrelson has a great head of hair.
March 7
Paranoid Park(dir. Gus Van Sant)
This trailer's second half is pretty shitty, but it still looks like something worth seeing.
March 28
Stop Loss(dir. Kimberly Pierce)
It's a message movie from Hollywood that I actually want to see? Yeah, I didn't see that coming, either...
April 2
The Flight of the Red Balloon(dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
It's Hou Hsiao-Hsien, dawgz...
April 4
My Blueberry Nights(dir. Wong Kar-Wai)
Brief appearance by Chan Marshall(aka Cat Power) + Wong Kar-Wai = Must-See.
Had to include this picture as well.
April 11
The Brothers Bloom(dir. Rian Johnson)
Liked Brick well enough. Maybe, this will turn out well.
April 28
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guatanamo Bay(dir. Jon Hurwitz and Hay Schlossberg)
Neil Patrick Harris as... Neil Patrick Harris.
April 30
Mister Lonely(dir. Harmony Korine)
I thought the trailer to Gummo was amazing and saw a little bit of it on IFC. I didn't like what I saw so much. It felt like experimentation for the sake of experimentation instead of using this experimentation to create something dramatically engaging. This film, however, looks more narratively and dramatically focused compared to his other work so maybe it'll end up beeing good. I should probably watch his other movies completely before writing them off, but I don't really have all that much of an interest in seeing them and I actually want to see this one.
May 2
Iron Man(dir. John Favreau)
I just love the ridiculous and obvious use of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" in the trailer.
May 9
Speed Racer(dir. The Wachowski Siblings?)
I don't know why, but I'm actually looking forward to this candy-colored rainbow-fest of a movie.
July 18
The Dark Knight(dir. Christopher Nolan)
Batman > Every other superhero. That's not an opinion, that's a fact.
Had to put this poster on here as well.
July 25
Step Brothers(dir. Adam McKay)
Looks beautiful.
August 8
The Pineapple Express(dir. David Gordon Green)
Looks beautiful as well.
October 3
Where the Wild Things Are(dir. Spike Jonze)
Don't remember the story much, but this definitely looks promising.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist(dir. Peter Sollett)
I think I have a man crush for Michael Cera.
Some other movies with no set release date that will likely come out in 2008:
Adam Resurrected(dir. Paul Schrader)
Guerilla & The Argentine(dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Jack and Diane(dir. Bradley Rust Gray)
Lesbians and werewolves? Sign me up... twice.
Machete(dir. Robert Rodriguez)
Mammoth(dir. Lukas Moodysson)
Two Lovers(dir. James Gray)
The Box(dir. Richard Kelly)
The Untouchables: Capone Rising(dir. Brian De Palma)
Didn't like the original all that much, but I feel I've recently become a De Palma-phile so maybe I'll dig this.
Genova(dir. Michael Winterbottom)
Hopefully, he'll redeem himself after that piece of shit called A Mighty Heart.
Happy-Go-Lucky(dir. Mike Leigh)
The Mother of Tears(dir. Dario Argento)
Go Go Tales(dir. Abel Ferrara)
Burn After Reading(dir. The Coen Brothers)
Death of the Reel(dir. Guy Maddin)
Untitled Todd Field Project(dir. Todd Field)
Even If You Walk and Walk(dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
Movies that will likely not come out in 2008, but if they do, will easily be some of my must-see upcoming films of the year:
Tree of Life(dir. Terrence Malick)
The Road(dir. John Hillcoat)
The Limits of Control(dir. Jim Jarmusch)
Something(dir. Lynne Ramsay)
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Oh Amsterdam & Hong Kong & Cabo & Hong Kong Again...
Ocean's Twelve(dir. Steven Soderbergh)
I thought the first one was cool and suave and the third was dumb and clumsy. This is basically(and obviously) a stepping stone between those two films and essentially a combination of the two with more smugness and less fun. It's already convinced that it's bitching so why even bother to watch it? Ocean's Eleven was a near-masterpiece in my mind and Ocean's Thirteen was a fun albeit ridiculous movie, but this one fails to ooze the cool of the first one or be amusingly silly like the third one even when it has some ludicrous bits like Julia Robert's character posing as... wait for it... Julia Roberts. A bit like this is simply incomparable to the divine majesty of Casey Affleck's character heading a Zapata-esque revolution at a Mexican dice factory. It was ultimately watchable, but it was also incredibly disposable.
** out of ****
Election(dir. Johnnie To)
The comparisons to The Godfather are apt since this is a rather low-key film about Hong Kong mobsters or Triads. Those comparisons are not exactly what one might call flattering since this film does not contain a scene quite as memorable as the baptism found in that film, but it still has some inspired moments. All the killings are wonderfully intense yet light on the blood and gore, which is actually sort of refreshing. A gun is also never fired so Eastern Promises immediately came to mind while watching this film, but this came out before that film so no need to compare the two until I get to Triad Election. It's no PTU, but this film definitely oozes style. I recommend. NOTE: I didn't realize this was also released last year.
*** out of ****
The Heartbreak Kid(dir. The Farrelly Brothers)
I happen to consider Dumb and Dumber a comedy classic, but I can't say I was expecting much from this film. I was surprised to find it bearable given the negative critical reaction, but it's ultimately not worth the effort. The sex scenes and Ben Stiller's character illegally immigrating back in the country are easily the most inspired and funniest parts, but everything else is just basically dull. The film constant bending over to please it's audience becomes quickly tiresome since Stiller's character doesn't really deserve the happy ending he receives. It's not as bad or offensive as many critics will lead you to believe, but it's also not particularly good, either.
** out of ****
Triad Election(dir. Johnnie To)
Ultimate message to this film: a thirst for power and security makes you do some crazy and nasty shit. There's some Ms .45 style meat grinding up in this motherfucker. To takes who I essentially viewed as the moral center of Election and makes him probably the most depraved character in this film, making it perhaps a little bit less emotionally engaging in comparison. It's obvious with this, Election, and PTU that To is a master at mood lighting especially during a memorable scene where some of his characters are wearing masks too silly and innocent for their tough and dark demeanors. Since this film was released last year, comparisons to Eastern Promises must be made. If I had to pick between the two, I would probably pick Promises even if this is more aesthetically pleasing and moves at a quicker pace. None of characters are quite as interesting as Viggo's in Promises. I definitely prefer this ending over the one found in Election mainly because I dig satisfyingly inconclusive cuts to black and that ending was a little too cheery and maybe too tongue-in-cheek to be satisfying. Election, however, easily beats this and Promises in quality. I'm looking forward to the inevitable third film. I recommend.
*** out of ****
Double Take(or Reassessment):
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End(dir. Gore Verbinski)
I usually don't do this, but here's a film that has simply nagged at me and has refused to leave my mind. The more I think about it, the more I think it is a near-masterpiece of summer blockbuster film making and it's perhaps one of the few if not the only film from last year to have special effects that I actually consider to be special. Like I said in my original review, I mainly enjoyed the film because Keira Knightly was absolutely ravishing(perhaps too ravishing since she mysteriously never gets a smudge on her face throughout the whole film) and pirates are coolio, but there's a certain cinematic quality to the film that is seriously lacking in a lot of today's cinema. It's one of the few recent films to strive for spectacle and actually achieve it with it's breathtaking CGI-laden locales and set pieces. The plot is a complicated and incredibly fun mess with a sort of crazy logic to make the whole enterprise feel somehow painstakingly modulated. It's a film that clearly works in the realm of cinema instead of reality because , well, it's a movie based on an amusement park ride so when the film recalls the score from Once Upon a Time in the West, it does not come across as a smug referential gesture to cinema's past, but as an acknowledgment of it's own inherent cinematic-ness. I'd imagine watching this film again would lead me to lower my rating again since that grand sea battle really bogged down the pacing to practically a halt, but it's still intoxicating in it's borderline insane(ly fun) artistry.
***1/2 out of ****
I thought the first one was cool and suave and the third was dumb and clumsy. This is basically(and obviously) a stepping stone between those two films and essentially a combination of the two with more smugness and less fun. It's already convinced that it's bitching so why even bother to watch it? Ocean's Eleven was a near-masterpiece in my mind and Ocean's Thirteen was a fun albeit ridiculous movie, but this one fails to ooze the cool of the first one or be amusingly silly like the third one even when it has some ludicrous bits like Julia Robert's character posing as... wait for it... Julia Roberts. A bit like this is simply incomparable to the divine majesty of Casey Affleck's character heading a Zapata-esque revolution at a Mexican dice factory. It was ultimately watchable, but it was also incredibly disposable.
** out of ****
Election(dir. Johnnie To)
The comparisons to The Godfather are apt since this is a rather low-key film about Hong Kong mobsters or Triads. Those comparisons are not exactly what one might call flattering since this film does not contain a scene quite as memorable as the baptism found in that film, but it still has some inspired moments. All the killings are wonderfully intense yet light on the blood and gore, which is actually sort of refreshing. A gun is also never fired so Eastern Promises immediately came to mind while watching this film, but this came out before that film so no need to compare the two until I get to Triad Election. It's no PTU, but this film definitely oozes style. I recommend. NOTE: I didn't realize this was also released last year.
*** out of ****
The Heartbreak Kid(dir. The Farrelly Brothers)
I happen to consider Dumb and Dumber a comedy classic, but I can't say I was expecting much from this film. I was surprised to find it bearable given the negative critical reaction, but it's ultimately not worth the effort. The sex scenes and Ben Stiller's character illegally immigrating back in the country are easily the most inspired and funniest parts, but everything else is just basically dull. The film constant bending over to please it's audience becomes quickly tiresome since Stiller's character doesn't really deserve the happy ending he receives. It's not as bad or offensive as many critics will lead you to believe, but it's also not particularly good, either.
** out of ****
Triad Election(dir. Johnnie To)
Ultimate message to this film: a thirst for power and security makes you do some crazy and nasty shit. There's some Ms .45 style meat grinding up in this motherfucker. To takes who I essentially viewed as the moral center of Election and makes him probably the most depraved character in this film, making it perhaps a little bit less emotionally engaging in comparison. It's obvious with this, Election, and PTU that To is a master at mood lighting especially during a memorable scene where some of his characters are wearing masks too silly and innocent for their tough and dark demeanors. Since this film was released last year, comparisons to Eastern Promises must be made. If I had to pick between the two, I would probably pick Promises even if this is more aesthetically pleasing and moves at a quicker pace. None of characters are quite as interesting as Viggo's in Promises. I definitely prefer this ending over the one found in Election mainly because I dig satisfyingly inconclusive cuts to black and that ending was a little too cheery and maybe too tongue-in-cheek to be satisfying. Election, however, easily beats this and Promises in quality. I'm looking forward to the inevitable third film. I recommend.
*** out of ****
Double Take(or Reassessment):
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End(dir. Gore Verbinski)
I usually don't do this, but here's a film that has simply nagged at me and has refused to leave my mind. The more I think about it, the more I think it is a near-masterpiece of summer blockbuster film making and it's perhaps one of the few if not the only film from last year to have special effects that I actually consider to be special. Like I said in my original review, I mainly enjoyed the film because Keira Knightly was absolutely ravishing(perhaps too ravishing since she mysteriously never gets a smudge on her face throughout the whole film) and pirates are coolio, but there's a certain cinematic quality to the film that is seriously lacking in a lot of today's cinema. It's one of the few recent films to strive for spectacle and actually achieve it with it's breathtaking CGI-laden locales and set pieces. The plot is a complicated and incredibly fun mess with a sort of crazy logic to make the whole enterprise feel somehow painstakingly modulated. It's a film that clearly works in the realm of cinema instead of reality because , well, it's a movie based on an amusement park ride so when the film recalls the score from Once Upon a Time in the West, it does not come across as a smug referential gesture to cinema's past, but as an acknowledgment of it's own inherent cinematic-ness. I'd imagine watching this film again would lead me to lower my rating again since that grand sea battle really bogged down the pacing to practically a halt, but it's still intoxicating in it's borderline insane(ly fun) artistry.
***1/2 out of ****
Oh England & Davy Jones's Locker & Washington DC...
Atonement(dir. Joe Wright)
The production values are superb, but the emotional content is lacking. The characters never become developed enough to resemble anything other than characters in a movie and when the shit hits the fan for them, it's not all that tragic. That's not to say that this movie was a bore because the production values like the costumes and sets go a long way to make this as unpainful of an experience as possible, but once the ending rolls around, which reminded me of the series finale of Roseanne, you realize that you pretty much don't care what happens to any of these characters. It was just ultimately a disposable experience.
** out of ****
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End(dir. Gore Verbinski)
I didn't bother to see the second one, but I can't imagine having seen that film beforehand would have really changed my experience with this. The film starts off unusually bleak with people getting hung for piracy including a child and if you hung around for the post-credits scene, that scene starts to look even more relentlessly dark for a summer blockbuster. The film starts off on a surprising high note with that and for some reason, I was digging the whole musical aspect of it's beginning with that scene and the scene that followed, but it got shaky with it's rendezvous with Chow Yun-Fat's Singapore pirate captain mainly because he looks ridiculous and he's not all that sinister and it's ensuing action scene that was sloppily choreographed and shot. After that, however, the film quickly exposed two things that could be dubbed my critical kryptonite: pirates and a gorgeous Keira Knightley. These two things, however, were unable to prevent me from viewing it's epic sea battle as mind-numbingly long and once Knightley takes a backseat to some of the other actors like Orlando Bloom, the film suffers mainly because Bloom is a bland screen presence and the hallucination bits with Johnny Depp were pretty lame. Geoffrey Rush was particularly good in this for what the movie was, which is essentially a mindlessly fun pirate movie, but that sea battle really screwed up the film's pacing and took it to practically a halt in comparison to what preceded it. It felt unusually quick for a two hour and forty minute long movie, but that's probably because I dig pirates and Keira Knightley. Surprisingly, I thought the action sequences were the worst part about the movie. You'd expect a summer blockbuster to have some good ones, but this film had sequences that went on for far too long and were rather sloppy in execution. The characters aren't exactly deep or anything, but they were still entertaining along with the film as a whole. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
The Walker(dir. Paul Schrader)
Paul Schrader is probably one of the most underrated directors ever. Sure, he has his flaws mainly stemming from his love for Pickpocket's ending and feeling the need to include it in every film he makes including this one, but he still remains an interesting one. This film can't compare to Mishima or Light Sleeper, but it still remains an intriguing character study even if it's not as intriguing as those films. Woody Harrelson's depiction of a gay socialite is a little stereotypical and Schrader's portrayal of homosexual love is surprisingly hands off. The couple only kiss once and it ends up being his 27th homage to the Pickpocket ending because he has them kiss through a wired fence looking thing in Carter's boyfriend's apartment. This film is disinterested in it's own mystery plot, but when it starts to put emphasis on it in order to move it's story along, it's usually for the worse since Schrader is unable to make this "grand" tale about corruption all that mysterious or thrilling. An on-foot chase also shows that Schrader is unable to direct a fairly traditional "exciting" scene and make it exciting. Thankfully, this film doesn't really dwell on such aspects all that much and instead focuses on it's character, who is interesting, but his problems with his deceased father are given perhaps too much time in the dialogue and makes him appear a little shallow in comparison to some of Schrader's other characters. Aside from these issues, I recommend.
*** out of ****
The production values are superb, but the emotional content is lacking. The characters never become developed enough to resemble anything other than characters in a movie and when the shit hits the fan for them, it's not all that tragic. That's not to say that this movie was a bore because the production values like the costumes and sets go a long way to make this as unpainful of an experience as possible, but once the ending rolls around, which reminded me of the series finale of Roseanne, you realize that you pretty much don't care what happens to any of these characters. It was just ultimately a disposable experience.
** out of ****
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End(dir. Gore Verbinski)
I didn't bother to see the second one, but I can't imagine having seen that film beforehand would have really changed my experience with this. The film starts off unusually bleak with people getting hung for piracy including a child and if you hung around for the post-credits scene, that scene starts to look even more relentlessly dark for a summer blockbuster. The film starts off on a surprising high note with that and for some reason, I was digging the whole musical aspect of it's beginning with that scene and the scene that followed, but it got shaky with it's rendezvous with Chow Yun-Fat's Singapore pirate captain mainly because he looks ridiculous and he's not all that sinister and it's ensuing action scene that was sloppily choreographed and shot. After that, however, the film quickly exposed two things that could be dubbed my critical kryptonite: pirates and a gorgeous Keira Knightley. These two things, however, were unable to prevent me from viewing it's epic sea battle as mind-numbingly long and once Knightley takes a backseat to some of the other actors like Orlando Bloom, the film suffers mainly because Bloom is a bland screen presence and the hallucination bits with Johnny Depp were pretty lame. Geoffrey Rush was particularly good in this for what the movie was, which is essentially a mindlessly fun pirate movie, but that sea battle really screwed up the film's pacing and took it to practically a halt in comparison to what preceded it. It felt unusually quick for a two hour and forty minute long movie, but that's probably because I dig pirates and Keira Knightley. Surprisingly, I thought the action sequences were the worst part about the movie. You'd expect a summer blockbuster to have some good ones, but this film had sequences that went on for far too long and were rather sloppy in execution. The characters aren't exactly deep or anything, but they were still entertaining along with the film as a whole. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
The Walker(dir. Paul Schrader)
Paul Schrader is probably one of the most underrated directors ever. Sure, he has his flaws mainly stemming from his love for Pickpocket's ending and feeling the need to include it in every film he makes including this one, but he still remains an interesting one. This film can't compare to Mishima or Light Sleeper, but it still remains an intriguing character study even if it's not as intriguing as those films. Woody Harrelson's depiction of a gay socialite is a little stereotypical and Schrader's portrayal of homosexual love is surprisingly hands off. The couple only kiss once and it ends up being his 27th homage to the Pickpocket ending because he has them kiss through a wired fence looking thing in Carter's boyfriend's apartment. This film is disinterested in it's own mystery plot, but when it starts to put emphasis on it in order to move it's story along, it's usually for the worse since Schrader is unable to make this "grand" tale about corruption all that mysterious or thrilling. An on-foot chase also shows that Schrader is unable to direct a fairly traditional "exciting" scene and make it exciting. Thankfully, this film doesn't really dwell on such aspects all that much and instead focuses on it's character, who is interesting, but his problems with his deceased father are given perhaps too much time in the dialogue and makes him appear a little shallow in comparison to some of Schrader's other characters. Aside from these issues, I recommend.
*** out of ****
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Oh Armageddon and Pregnancy...
Southland Tales(dir. Richard Kelly)
The film is undeniably a mess, but it's ambition is both dumbfounding and brilliant. The dialogue is rather juvenile and is often repeated to make it seem more "profound" than it really is. The film is basically INLAND EMPIRE mixed with Idiocracy. It doesn't quite have the sense of unease or spontaneity found in INLAND and it's future world is not as fully realized as the one found in Idiocracy, but it exceeds both in ambition or is at least on par with both. It's really growing on me, but I can understand how someone can think it's horrible since it mentions all these texts and events currently going on without really dwelling on them in any sort of intelligent way and it's either complicated as all hell or really just super simple. It drags here and there mainly because there's a portion in the middle that seems to be at a standstill narratively, but the ending quickly makes up for it in it's gonzo way. I recommend.
*** out of ****
Juno(dir. Jason Reitman)
I can't stand Juno, not the movie, the character. While watching this, the question comes up, "why does everybody love this character?" I'm not going to say it's totally Ellen Page's fault because her dialogue is easily the most overwritten out of the bunch with all it's hipster reference-ism and all that jazz and any character that deems Sonic Youth as just noise is bound to appear unlikeable to this viewer, but all the other characters are so damn likable in comparison that my annoyance with her just stands out so much more. The music was universally awful outside of the Cat Power song and even that was one of her shittier songs. I've read a lot of reviews that talked about how they were thinking about running out of the theater because of how excruciating since the beginning goes a little overboard with the quirk. I thought they were exaggerating until I saw it. The best way to describe it is if that beginning credit sequence was a living thing, I would have probably murdered. It was that excruciating in it's quirkiness, but the film, like most reviews have stated, got a lot better as it went along. I'd imagine if you love the character of Juno, you would love the movie as well, but I ended up sympathizing with Michael Cera's character more and when their romance blossoms, I was really just happy for him instead of Juno. It was decent.
**1/2 out of ****
The film is undeniably a mess, but it's ambition is both dumbfounding and brilliant. The dialogue is rather juvenile and is often repeated to make it seem more "profound" than it really is. The film is basically INLAND EMPIRE mixed with Idiocracy. It doesn't quite have the sense of unease or spontaneity found in INLAND and it's future world is not as fully realized as the one found in Idiocracy, but it exceeds both in ambition or is at least on par with both. It's really growing on me, but I can understand how someone can think it's horrible since it mentions all these texts and events currently going on without really dwelling on them in any sort of intelligent way and it's either complicated as all hell or really just super simple. It drags here and there mainly because there's a portion in the middle that seems to be at a standstill narratively, but the ending quickly makes up for it in it's gonzo way. I recommend.
*** out of ****
Juno(dir. Jason Reitman)
I can't stand Juno, not the movie, the character. While watching this, the question comes up, "why does everybody love this character?" I'm not going to say it's totally Ellen Page's fault because her dialogue is easily the most overwritten out of the bunch with all it's hipster reference-ism and all that jazz and any character that deems Sonic Youth as just noise is bound to appear unlikeable to this viewer, but all the other characters are so damn likable in comparison that my annoyance with her just stands out so much more. The music was universally awful outside of the Cat Power song and even that was one of her shittier songs. I've read a lot of reviews that talked about how they were thinking about running out of the theater because of how excruciating since the beginning goes a little overboard with the quirk. I thought they were exaggerating until I saw it. The best way to describe it is if that beginning credit sequence was a living thing, I would have probably murdered. It was that excruciating in it's quirkiness, but the film, like most reviews have stated, got a lot better as it went along. I'd imagine if you love the character of Juno, you would love the movie as well, but I ended up sympathizing with Michael Cera's character more and when their romance blossoms, I was really just happy for him instead of Juno. It was decent.
**1/2 out of ****
Monday, December 31, 2007
Oh Official 2007...
This is my "official" lists as if the end of the year was a deadline for a list or whatever.
2007 YEAR IN FILM: THE YEAR OF THE ROCK AND THE POSEY
Top 10
1. Fay Grim(dir. Hal Hartley)
Hal Hartley takes his crowning achievement, Henry Fool, and demolishes all the thematic depth that it once had to create an incredibly entertaining work. Out of all the films that deal with our current political climate, this proves to be the most insightful, displaying political allegiances as essentially complex spiderwebs waiting to be broken. It contains a signature Hartley ending, where the film ends, leaving the viewer hanging, but ultimately satisfied. It is easily the best film of the year.
2. Offside(dir. Jafar Panahi)
It could be dubbed a political film, but it is more a humanistic portrait of an issue, codes of conduct preventing individuals from achieving personal happiness, that needs to be addressed not in just Iran but essentially everywhere. The ending is deeply moving and takes it's message to profoundly beautiful heights.
3. Death Proof(dir. Quentin Tarantino)
An artistic step forward for Tarantino that essentially alienated his whole fan base because of it's lack of obvious thrills and dialogue that everybody will be quoting for years to come. Instead, he made a film marked by a profound sense of quietude and spirituality? The split nature of the film makes it strangely invigorating even if it's not totally successful. This is easily the most subtly playful film he's ever made.
4. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters(dir. Dave Willis and Matt Maillero)
The surrealist experience of the year? If we're not including INLAND EMPIRE, hell yes. The humor from the show is missing, but the craziness of it all is most definitely intact. It's incomprehensible yet brilliantly crafted in it's own strange way. It is, indeed, #1 in the hood, G.
5. Red Road(dir. Andrea Arnold)
Atmosphere, oh atmosphere. It devolves in it's final 15 minutes, but the sense of atmosphere and mood this film has created beforehand is simply impeccable. It's also easily one of the tensest "thrillers" I've seen this year and has one of the most nerve-wracking sex scenes I've ever seen.
6. 28 Weeks Later...(dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadilo)
In a year filled with dark and nihilistic dramas, it's funny to find the most appealingly pessimistic film to belong to a long neglected genre where pessimism and cynicism has been brewing for years and years now. The film's allegorical connotations aren't especially profound and maybe a little too damning when viewed through the lens of Iraq, but the emotions of a world essentially falling apart are as honest and timely as they could possibly be. It's essentially a quick succession of great set-pieces and will leave many breathless, but it's still easily the best horror film of the year.
7. Broken English(dir. Zoe Cassavetes)
Easily the best "chick flick" of the year. It's a film so hopelessly romantic that when it has an idiotic moment, it's easy to forgive it. The ending is about as perfect in it's crowd-pleasing nature as you can get. Even if it does utilize some hackneyed plot devices in order to prolong it's narrative, it's still one of the most charming and endearing films of the year.
8. Gone Baby Gone(dir. Ben Affleck)
Without it's atrociously ridiculous last third, I could have pictured labeling this as a great film. The elegiac feeling of loss that permeates the picture in it's second third is simply astounding and makes it even more frustrating when the film falls back on ridiculous plot twists to "sooth" it's audiences soon after. It also contains one of the most haunting scenes in all of cinema this year set in a "drug house." I can't wait to see what he directs next.
9. The Darjeeling Limited(dir. Wes Anderson)
A step forward for him as a director and a step backward for him as a writer. It's the writing that really sinks this one especially with it's ridiculously literal take on "getting rid of old baggage" in it's finale. It also couldn't decide on when to stop with it's narrative and ends up sort of fizzling out instead of concluding on a good note, but these issues still don't take anything away from a funeral sequence that might possibly be the peak of Anderson's still relatively young artistic career.
10. Southland Tales(dir. Richard Kelly)
Richard Kelly's film is growing on me more and more even though I understand all the negative criticism it has received. It's not as outwardly intelligently crafted as say a No Country for Old Men, but it still makes for an unusual and memorable experience.
Honorable mentions
The Wayward Cloud(dir. Tsai Ming-liang)
After Tsai's wonderfully evocative and elusive Goodbye, Dragon Inn, this comes as an almost unpleasant surprise. It's not as shocking as many will lead you to believe, but the misogynistic nature of it's finale will be extremely off-putting to pretty much everyone. It's still one of the most fascinating movies of the year since it seems to have been specifically designed for interpretation.
Redacted(dir. Brian De Palma)
I have dubbed this as The Fountain of this year, which will probably avert potential viewers from seeing it, but much like that film, it's passion and conviction is what makes it an enjoyable experience even if the film stumbles and becomes a little brain-dead from time to time. It contains one of the most shockingly abrupt deaths I've ever seen. While I don't entirely agree with how it goes about delivering it's antiwar message, it's so earnest that it's hard not to stand up and take notice.
Live Free or Die Hard[Unrated Cut](dir. Len Wiseman)
Wonderfully over-the-top and a whole lot of fun. There are some questionable moments like Kevin Smith's cameo and John McClane being particularly misogynistic with some of his dialogue, but it's still the straight-up action movie of the year.
I Am Legend(dir. Francis Lawrence)
I usually can't stand Will Smith so it was a surprise to find him giving an incredibly affective performance here even if the film is unable to match it in quality. The CGI is noticeably bad along with some of the writing in it's final third or so, but it still doesn't deter Smith's performance and the amount of sympathy he has created with it. I'd label this as my surprise of the year.
We Own the Night(dir. James Gray)
I might have jumped the gun by calling this film a masterpiece and I feel I need to revisit it once it hits DVD, but it still has some of the best set-pieces of the year with it's rain-drenched car chase and standoff in a field of tall grass. While feeling sort of indifferent to it now, it might be possible that I was, in fact, correct when I labeled it a masterpiece.
Bottom 10
Not even going to bother to order or write a blurb about these films.
300(dir. Zack Snyder)
TMNT(dir. Kevin Munroe)
Premonition(dir. Mennan Yapo)
License to Wed(dir. Ken Kwapis)
The Bourne Ultimatum(dir. Paul Greengrass)
1408(dir. Mikael Håfström)
A Mighty Heart(dir. Michael Winterbottom)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead(dir. Sidney Lumet)
I'm Not There(dir. Todd Haynes)
Wild Hogs(dir. Walt Becker)
Best Performances
1. Michael Cera, Juno
This performance is essentially the same performance he gives in everything he's been in, but he's so damn lovable in this that it's almost nauseating. His character telling Juno that she's beautiful in such an awkwardly honest way is easily one of the most charmingly beautiful moments this year. Too bad, Ellen Page wasn't able to create anything as mildly affecting with her performance. They should have called the movie Paulie instead.
2. Will Smith, I Am Legend
He really made this film what is was and it's easily his best performance yet.
3. Parker Posey, Broken English
Fay Grim is most definitely a better film, but since I consider Hartley as pretty much Robert Bresson with a comedic sensibility, mentioning her performance in that would just seem false. Her performance in this film is easily the reason why I liked it so much and is the reason for me forgiving most of it's flaws. It's also the reason why the ending is so perfect in all it's loveliness.
4. Tony Curran, Red Road
He's so sleazily charming that once that sex scene comes into play, it's at once intoxicating and horrifying. Kate Dickie's performance was a little too cold at first to conjure up some emotional engagement so once he entered the picture, he brought some much needed warmth to the film.
5. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, The Game Plan
My contrarian choice in this category? You bet. It's essentially a good-bad performance and truly made the film as entertaining as it was. He has spent his whole career developing a "bad ass" image and with this movie, he essentially demolishes it for our enjoyment. While people would usually say this about actors who take on more challenging roles, he has taken some risks with his career with this and Southland Tales and I strangely have a lot of respect for him because of it. I can't say he's exactly a great actor or anything, but he still remains an amusing one and ultimately one to watch.
Worst Performances
1. Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
J. Hoberman's review of A Mighty Heart is possibly my favorite piece of film criticism I have read all year. He spends most of his time dismantling Jolie's current image as a "great humanitarian" with good reason since the film was obviously made to uphold and support that image. There's nothing resembling a human being in her portrayal, it's just her with a fake accent, fake pregnant belly, and fake curly hair. When she starts to wail like a wounded animal, the thought that this whole damn movie is an attempt to get people to love her and not the character she is playing is made abundantly clear. It's both nauseating, infuriating, but most of all, offensive to anyone that would have actually liked this film to focus on this woman's story instead of spending 2 hours being knocked over the head with how bitching and sensitive of a human being Angelina Jolie is.
2. John Travolta, Wild Hogs
Bitchiest performance of the year. It's almost funny because his character is supposed to be all macho and he ends up coming across as such a little bitch, but when an actor starts to make Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen look like Al Pacino and Marlon Brando in comparison, you know there's a problem. It's a train wreck that at first is amusing then becomes embarrassingly depressing.
3. Sandra Bullock, Premonition
It's almost a good-bad performance, but since the film is so straight-faced, it's hard to look at it without cringing. Her schizophrenic performance filled with soft-spoken whispering and outlandishly intense deliveries is essentially a performance by Kiefer Sutherland set in a woefully mundane story filled with moments of ridiculous intensity that it's no wonder why I can't stand this movie.
4. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
I'm probably going to get a lot of shit for this, but I just find watching him in this to be intolerable. I have to say he has guts to take on this extremely unlikeable character and that's all the positive remarks he's going to get out of me. While his performance is more varied than his co-stars, it's hard to say that is a good thing since he weeps hysterically in a car, does a lot of screaming, and "tragically" pours some rocks on a table. It's the stuff of All My Children.
5. Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
It was a toss-up between Laura Linney's performance in The Nanny Diaries, Ellen Page's in Juno, and this. Laura Linney's performance is not bad per se and would have been more of a response to all the positive notices she's received for it, and Ellen Page's performance wasn't entirely her fault since her dialogue was obviously overwritten. This performance isn't entirely bad, it's just hard to really call it a performance and all the buzz she's been receiving is simply perplexing. If it wasn't for Blanchett's reputation as an actress and the whole gender-bending aspect of the role, I can't imagine she would have gotten as much attention as she has. It's just basically an imitation of Bob Dylan with no nuance or depth, but you could basically say that about the film as a whole.
Best Director
Jafar Panahi, Offside
I mainly picked him over Hartley because he got splendid performances out of his inexperienced cast, while Hartley was mainly working with actors that he's worked with before so the results aren't at all surprising.
Worst Director
Mennan Kapo, Premonition
Best Screenplay
Hal Hartley, Fay Grim
Worst Screenplay
Bill Kelly, Premonition
I just singled this out because I thought the plot overall was ridiculous especially when it came to it's conclusion.
Best Editing
Hal Hartley, Fay Grim
Worst Editing
William Hoy, 300
Best Cinematography
Robert Yeoman, The Darjeeling Limited
Worst Cinematography
Larry Fong, 300
Best Score
Hal Hartley, Fay Grim
Worst Score
Klaus Badett, Premonition
I don't even remember the score, but I just felt like continuing my bashing of it.
Need to see: There Will Be Blood, Syndromes and a Century, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Triad Election, Exiled, 2 Days in Paris, Michael Clayton, Into the Wild, In the Valley of Elah, Rendition, American Gangster, Sunshine, 3:10 to Yuma, The Host, The King of Kong, Away from Her, I Don't Want To Sleep Alone, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Atonement, The Boss of It All, Golden Door, Persepolis, Into Great Silence, 12:08 East of Bucharest, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Margot at the Wedding, The Savages, This Is England, Youth Without Youth, Smiley Face, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, La Vie en Rose, Private Fears in Public Places, Control, Regular Lovers, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Breach, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and Lust, Caution
MUSIC
1. Rise Above by Dirty Projectors
Taking one of the most angst-ridden albums ever made, Black Flag's Damaged, and making it sound soulful and strangely optimistic and be totally successful at it just has masterpiece written all over it. And it is. Too bad they didn't cover TV Party, but how could they improve on essentially the greatest punk song of all time?
Highlights: What I See, Depression, Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, Rise Above
2. The Magic Position by Patrick Wolf
The album this most reminds me of is Jens Lekman's album that came out this year, but it's not obnoxiously cloying in it's popiness like that album. Pop album of the year.
Highlights: Overture, The Magic Position, Bluebells, Get Lost, The Stars
3. Untrue by Burial
The album is fairly one-note, but when it's a note as excellent as this, does it really matter?
Highlights: Archangel, Ghost Hardware, Etched Headplate, Shell of Light
2007 YEAR IN FILM: THE YEAR OF THE ROCK AND THE POSEY
Top 10
1. Fay Grim(dir. Hal Hartley)
Hal Hartley takes his crowning achievement, Henry Fool, and demolishes all the thematic depth that it once had to create an incredibly entertaining work. Out of all the films that deal with our current political climate, this proves to be the most insightful, displaying political allegiances as essentially complex spiderwebs waiting to be broken. It contains a signature Hartley ending, where the film ends, leaving the viewer hanging, but ultimately satisfied. It is easily the best film of the year.
2. Offside(dir. Jafar Panahi)
It could be dubbed a political film, but it is more a humanistic portrait of an issue, codes of conduct preventing individuals from achieving personal happiness, that needs to be addressed not in just Iran but essentially everywhere. The ending is deeply moving and takes it's message to profoundly beautiful heights.
3. Death Proof(dir. Quentin Tarantino)
An artistic step forward for Tarantino that essentially alienated his whole fan base because of it's lack of obvious thrills and dialogue that everybody will be quoting for years to come. Instead, he made a film marked by a profound sense of quietude and spirituality? The split nature of the film makes it strangely invigorating even if it's not totally successful. This is easily the most subtly playful film he's ever made.
4. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters(dir. Dave Willis and Matt Maillero)
The surrealist experience of the year? If we're not including INLAND EMPIRE, hell yes. The humor from the show is missing, but the craziness of it all is most definitely intact. It's incomprehensible yet brilliantly crafted in it's own strange way. It is, indeed, #1 in the hood, G.
5. Red Road(dir. Andrea Arnold)
Atmosphere, oh atmosphere. It devolves in it's final 15 minutes, but the sense of atmosphere and mood this film has created beforehand is simply impeccable. It's also easily one of the tensest "thrillers" I've seen this year and has one of the most nerve-wracking sex scenes I've ever seen.
6. 28 Weeks Later...(dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadilo)
In a year filled with dark and nihilistic dramas, it's funny to find the most appealingly pessimistic film to belong to a long neglected genre where pessimism and cynicism has been brewing for years and years now. The film's allegorical connotations aren't especially profound and maybe a little too damning when viewed through the lens of Iraq, but the emotions of a world essentially falling apart are as honest and timely as they could possibly be. It's essentially a quick succession of great set-pieces and will leave many breathless, but it's still easily the best horror film of the year.
7. Broken English(dir. Zoe Cassavetes)
Easily the best "chick flick" of the year. It's a film so hopelessly romantic that when it has an idiotic moment, it's easy to forgive it. The ending is about as perfect in it's crowd-pleasing nature as you can get. Even if it does utilize some hackneyed plot devices in order to prolong it's narrative, it's still one of the most charming and endearing films of the year.
8. Gone Baby Gone(dir. Ben Affleck)
Without it's atrociously ridiculous last third, I could have pictured labeling this as a great film. The elegiac feeling of loss that permeates the picture in it's second third is simply astounding and makes it even more frustrating when the film falls back on ridiculous plot twists to "sooth" it's audiences soon after. It also contains one of the most haunting scenes in all of cinema this year set in a "drug house." I can't wait to see what he directs next.
9. The Darjeeling Limited(dir. Wes Anderson)
A step forward for him as a director and a step backward for him as a writer. It's the writing that really sinks this one especially with it's ridiculously literal take on "getting rid of old baggage" in it's finale. It also couldn't decide on when to stop with it's narrative and ends up sort of fizzling out instead of concluding on a good note, but these issues still don't take anything away from a funeral sequence that might possibly be the peak of Anderson's still relatively young artistic career.
10. Southland Tales(dir. Richard Kelly)
Richard Kelly's film is growing on me more and more even though I understand all the negative criticism it has received. It's not as outwardly intelligently crafted as say a No Country for Old Men, but it still makes for an unusual and memorable experience.
Honorable mentions
The Wayward Cloud(dir. Tsai Ming-liang)
After Tsai's wonderfully evocative and elusive Goodbye, Dragon Inn, this comes as an almost unpleasant surprise. It's not as shocking as many will lead you to believe, but the misogynistic nature of it's finale will be extremely off-putting to pretty much everyone. It's still one of the most fascinating movies of the year since it seems to have been specifically designed for interpretation.
Redacted(dir. Brian De Palma)
I have dubbed this as The Fountain of this year, which will probably avert potential viewers from seeing it, but much like that film, it's passion and conviction is what makes it an enjoyable experience even if the film stumbles and becomes a little brain-dead from time to time. It contains one of the most shockingly abrupt deaths I've ever seen. While I don't entirely agree with how it goes about delivering it's antiwar message, it's so earnest that it's hard not to stand up and take notice.
Live Free or Die Hard[Unrated Cut](dir. Len Wiseman)
Wonderfully over-the-top and a whole lot of fun. There are some questionable moments like Kevin Smith's cameo and John McClane being particularly misogynistic with some of his dialogue, but it's still the straight-up action movie of the year.
I Am Legend(dir. Francis Lawrence)
I usually can't stand Will Smith so it was a surprise to find him giving an incredibly affective performance here even if the film is unable to match it in quality. The CGI is noticeably bad along with some of the writing in it's final third or so, but it still doesn't deter Smith's performance and the amount of sympathy he has created with it. I'd label this as my surprise of the year.
We Own the Night(dir. James Gray)
I might have jumped the gun by calling this film a masterpiece and I feel I need to revisit it once it hits DVD, but it still has some of the best set-pieces of the year with it's rain-drenched car chase and standoff in a field of tall grass. While feeling sort of indifferent to it now, it might be possible that I was, in fact, correct when I labeled it a masterpiece.
Bottom 10
Not even going to bother to order or write a blurb about these films.
300(dir. Zack Snyder)
TMNT(dir. Kevin Munroe)
Premonition(dir. Mennan Yapo)
License to Wed(dir. Ken Kwapis)
The Bourne Ultimatum(dir. Paul Greengrass)
1408(dir. Mikael Håfström)
A Mighty Heart(dir. Michael Winterbottom)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead(dir. Sidney Lumet)
I'm Not There(dir. Todd Haynes)
Wild Hogs(dir. Walt Becker)
Best Performances
1. Michael Cera, Juno
This performance is essentially the same performance he gives in everything he's been in, but he's so damn lovable in this that it's almost nauseating. His character telling Juno that she's beautiful in such an awkwardly honest way is easily one of the most charmingly beautiful moments this year. Too bad, Ellen Page wasn't able to create anything as mildly affecting with her performance. They should have called the movie Paulie instead.
2. Will Smith, I Am Legend
He really made this film what is was and it's easily his best performance yet.
3. Parker Posey, Broken English
Fay Grim is most definitely a better film, but since I consider Hartley as pretty much Robert Bresson with a comedic sensibility, mentioning her performance in that would just seem false. Her performance in this film is easily the reason why I liked it so much and is the reason for me forgiving most of it's flaws. It's also the reason why the ending is so perfect in all it's loveliness.
4. Tony Curran, Red Road
He's so sleazily charming that once that sex scene comes into play, it's at once intoxicating and horrifying. Kate Dickie's performance was a little too cold at first to conjure up some emotional engagement so once he entered the picture, he brought some much needed warmth to the film.
5. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, The Game Plan
My contrarian choice in this category? You bet. It's essentially a good-bad performance and truly made the film as entertaining as it was. He has spent his whole career developing a "bad ass" image and with this movie, he essentially demolishes it for our enjoyment. While people would usually say this about actors who take on more challenging roles, he has taken some risks with his career with this and Southland Tales and I strangely have a lot of respect for him because of it. I can't say he's exactly a great actor or anything, but he still remains an amusing one and ultimately one to watch.
Worst Performances
1. Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
J. Hoberman's review of A Mighty Heart is possibly my favorite piece of film criticism I have read all year. He spends most of his time dismantling Jolie's current image as a "great humanitarian" with good reason since the film was obviously made to uphold and support that image. There's nothing resembling a human being in her portrayal, it's just her with a fake accent, fake pregnant belly, and fake curly hair. When she starts to wail like a wounded animal, the thought that this whole damn movie is an attempt to get people to love her and not the character she is playing is made abundantly clear. It's both nauseating, infuriating, but most of all, offensive to anyone that would have actually liked this film to focus on this woman's story instead of spending 2 hours being knocked over the head with how bitching and sensitive of a human being Angelina Jolie is.
2. John Travolta, Wild Hogs
Bitchiest performance of the year. It's almost funny because his character is supposed to be all macho and he ends up coming across as such a little bitch, but when an actor starts to make Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen look like Al Pacino and Marlon Brando in comparison, you know there's a problem. It's a train wreck that at first is amusing then becomes embarrassingly depressing.
3. Sandra Bullock, Premonition
It's almost a good-bad performance, but since the film is so straight-faced, it's hard to look at it without cringing. Her schizophrenic performance filled with soft-spoken whispering and outlandishly intense deliveries is essentially a performance by Kiefer Sutherland set in a woefully mundane story filled with moments of ridiculous intensity that it's no wonder why I can't stand this movie.
4. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
I'm probably going to get a lot of shit for this, but I just find watching him in this to be intolerable. I have to say he has guts to take on this extremely unlikeable character and that's all the positive remarks he's going to get out of me. While his performance is more varied than his co-stars, it's hard to say that is a good thing since he weeps hysterically in a car, does a lot of screaming, and "tragically" pours some rocks on a table. It's the stuff of All My Children.
5. Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
It was a toss-up between Laura Linney's performance in The Nanny Diaries, Ellen Page's in Juno, and this. Laura Linney's performance is not bad per se and would have been more of a response to all the positive notices she's received for it, and Ellen Page's performance wasn't entirely her fault since her dialogue was obviously overwritten. This performance isn't entirely bad, it's just hard to really call it a performance and all the buzz she's been receiving is simply perplexing. If it wasn't for Blanchett's reputation as an actress and the whole gender-bending aspect of the role, I can't imagine she would have gotten as much attention as she has. It's just basically an imitation of Bob Dylan with no nuance or depth, but you could basically say that about the film as a whole.
Best Director
Jafar Panahi, Offside
I mainly picked him over Hartley because he got splendid performances out of his inexperienced cast, while Hartley was mainly working with actors that he's worked with before so the results aren't at all surprising.
Worst Director
Mennan Kapo, Premonition
Best Screenplay
Hal Hartley, Fay Grim
Worst Screenplay
Bill Kelly, Premonition
I just singled this out because I thought the plot overall was ridiculous especially when it came to it's conclusion.
Best Editing
Hal Hartley, Fay Grim
Worst Editing
William Hoy, 300
Best Cinematography
Robert Yeoman, The Darjeeling Limited
Worst Cinematography
Larry Fong, 300
Best Score
Hal Hartley, Fay Grim
Worst Score
Klaus Badett, Premonition
I don't even remember the score, but I just felt like continuing my bashing of it.
Need to see: There Will Be Blood, Syndromes and a Century, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Triad Election, Exiled, 2 Days in Paris, Michael Clayton, Into the Wild, In the Valley of Elah, Rendition, American Gangster, Sunshine, 3:10 to Yuma, The Host, The King of Kong, Away from Her, I Don't Want To Sleep Alone, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Atonement, The Boss of It All, Golden Door, Persepolis, Into Great Silence, 12:08 East of Bucharest, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Margot at the Wedding, The Savages, This Is England, Youth Without Youth, Smiley Face, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, La Vie en Rose, Private Fears in Public Places, Control, Regular Lovers, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Breach, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and Lust, Caution
MUSIC
1. Rise Above by Dirty Projectors
Taking one of the most angst-ridden albums ever made, Black Flag's Damaged, and making it sound soulful and strangely optimistic and be totally successful at it just has masterpiece written all over it. And it is. Too bad they didn't cover TV Party, but how could they improve on essentially the greatest punk song of all time?
Highlights: What I See, Depression, Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, Rise Above
2. The Magic Position by Patrick Wolf
The album this most reminds me of is Jens Lekman's album that came out this year, but it's not obnoxiously cloying in it's popiness like that album. Pop album of the year.
Highlights: Overture, The Magic Position, Bluebells, Get Lost, The Stars
3. Untrue by Burial
The album is fairly one-note, but when it's a note as excellent as this, does it really matter?
Highlights: Archangel, Ghost Hardware, Etched Headplate, Shell of Light
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Oh Commies & Watermelons...
Stop Loss Trailer
The use of The Drowning Pool song in the beginning is flat-out retarded, but once the trailer stops with that song and the war footage, it gets better. It seems like a standard Oscar-bait movie, but there's something about it that actually makes me want to see it. Some of the dialogue is sort of sketchy, but it looks like it's going to be earnest, sincere, and not annoyingly preachy unlike other movies of it's kind. I'll probably check it out when it comes out.
*** out of ****
Charlie Wilson's War(dir. Mike Nichols)
This film thinks dressing up it's Congressman protagonist's lifestyle as rock star-ish makes for cutting satire. It doesn't have anything to say about our current political climate or about the one that the film takes place in. The film is a little too comfortable and proud of itself for it's own good given it's gung-ho let's kill some commie bastards attitude. It's similar to the The Kingdom except less offensive because it takes place during the Cold War instead of the current situation we're in right now. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is easily the best out of the principal actors, but Ned Beatty is the true standout in the picture mainly because he's one of the few actors along with Amy Adams to not deliver the lines in the smug "aren't I witty?" sort of way that the rest of the cast does. The only mildly thought-provoking aspect of the film is it's final title card before the credits roll. It's almost the equivalent of a decent punchline after a long drawn-out set-up. There are some laughs here and there, but overall, it was merely average.
** out of ****
The Wayward Cloud(dir. Tsai Ming-liang)
If I were to pick my favorite semi-recent director working today, I'd probably say Tsai or Hal Hartley so this review might not make for a great recommendation if you're not a fan of Tsai or even if you're just a mild one. It's easy to see how this film alienated audiences and critics alike especially with it's controversial finale and in a way, I sort of agree with them. Tsai is obviously not a big fan of pornography and if you read that finale as just a critique of porn's influence on individuals' conceptions of an erotic display of love, it starts to become too obvious, simplistic, and clunky, but I feel there's more at work here. This is probably the first Tsai film I've seen that seems specifically designed for interpretation since it's watermelons are used in such a way that they must mean something given the events in the narrative and how they almost have an influence on the flow of the film. Sure, Tsai used clocks in a similar way in What Time is It There?, but none of the clocks were utilized in such a way to hint that there was some underlining meaning to them outside of constantly reminding Hsiao-kang of his "love" that is spending time in Paris and maybe the time that he missed out on with her and his deceased father. Once Chen's watermelon falls to the ground and breaks, the tone of the film and Chen and Hsiao's relationship seems to change. My interpretation of the use of watermelons and the ending is fairly Catholic-minded, which might not make sense with a film directed by a Taiwanese Buddhist, but whatever. The watermelons are used in a similar way as the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. When Chen gives Hsiao watermelon juice, he decides not to drink it, hinting that he wants to stay pure and not corrupted. Also, when Chen's watermelon falls and breaks on the ground, it's as if her innocence is shattering with it since after this event, she decides to watch one of the pornos that Hsiao "stars" in. These events lead to the finale that in my mind is simultaneously a sacrifice and washing away of one's sins. Hsiao's final act is thus an extremely perverse form of communion. I enjoy the film a lot because it provides food for thought, but it's disdain for pornography, while understandable, is sometimes too clumsy or obvious in it's totally unerotic sex scenes and especially with it's finale to make for an insightful argument against porn. The editing in this film is also some of the "fastest" I've ever seen in any of his films and it disrupts the beauty and rhythm in some of his better shots in this, making it especially frustrating and then there's the musical portions of the film that serve no purpose at all. I had similar feelings while watching The Hole, but once the ending rolled around in that film, they became absolutely necessary because they were used to set up for that wonderful ending, while the musical interludes in this are just there for what I assume is entertainment/amusement value and they don't deliver in that regard as well. One could easily call this film an artistic misstep, but it's still easily one of the most fascinating movies released this year.
*** out of ****
The use of The Drowning Pool song in the beginning is flat-out retarded, but once the trailer stops with that song and the war footage, it gets better. It seems like a standard Oscar-bait movie, but there's something about it that actually makes me want to see it. Some of the dialogue is sort of sketchy, but it looks like it's going to be earnest, sincere, and not annoyingly preachy unlike other movies of it's kind. I'll probably check it out when it comes out.
*** out of ****
Charlie Wilson's War(dir. Mike Nichols)
This film thinks dressing up it's Congressman protagonist's lifestyle as rock star-ish makes for cutting satire. It doesn't have anything to say about our current political climate or about the one that the film takes place in. The film is a little too comfortable and proud of itself for it's own good given it's gung-ho let's kill some commie bastards attitude. It's similar to the The Kingdom except less offensive because it takes place during the Cold War instead of the current situation we're in right now. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is easily the best out of the principal actors, but Ned Beatty is the true standout in the picture mainly because he's one of the few actors along with Amy Adams to not deliver the lines in the smug "aren't I witty?" sort of way that the rest of the cast does. The only mildly thought-provoking aspect of the film is it's final title card before the credits roll. It's almost the equivalent of a decent punchline after a long drawn-out set-up. There are some laughs here and there, but overall, it was merely average.
** out of ****
The Wayward Cloud(dir. Tsai Ming-liang)
If I were to pick my favorite semi-recent director working today, I'd probably say Tsai or Hal Hartley so this review might not make for a great recommendation if you're not a fan of Tsai or even if you're just a mild one. It's easy to see how this film alienated audiences and critics alike especially with it's controversial finale and in a way, I sort of agree with them. Tsai is obviously not a big fan of pornography and if you read that finale as just a critique of porn's influence on individuals' conceptions of an erotic display of love, it starts to become too obvious, simplistic, and clunky, but I feel there's more at work here. This is probably the first Tsai film I've seen that seems specifically designed for interpretation since it's watermelons are used in such a way that they must mean something given the events in the narrative and how they almost have an influence on the flow of the film. Sure, Tsai used clocks in a similar way in What Time is It There?, but none of the clocks were utilized in such a way to hint that there was some underlining meaning to them outside of constantly reminding Hsiao-kang of his "love" that is spending time in Paris and maybe the time that he missed out on with her and his deceased father. Once Chen's watermelon falls to the ground and breaks, the tone of the film and Chen and Hsiao's relationship seems to change. My interpretation of the use of watermelons and the ending is fairly Catholic-minded, which might not make sense with a film directed by a Taiwanese Buddhist, but whatever. The watermelons are used in a similar way as the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. When Chen gives Hsiao watermelon juice, he decides not to drink it, hinting that he wants to stay pure and not corrupted. Also, when Chen's watermelon falls and breaks on the ground, it's as if her innocence is shattering with it since after this event, she decides to watch one of the pornos that Hsiao "stars" in. These events lead to the finale that in my mind is simultaneously a sacrifice and washing away of one's sins. Hsiao's final act is thus an extremely perverse form of communion. I enjoy the film a lot because it provides food for thought, but it's disdain for pornography, while understandable, is sometimes too clumsy or obvious in it's totally unerotic sex scenes and especially with it's finale to make for an insightful argument against porn. The editing in this film is also some of the "fastest" I've ever seen in any of his films and it disrupts the beauty and rhythm in some of his better shots in this, making it especially frustrating and then there's the musical portions of the film that serve no purpose at all. I had similar feelings while watching The Hole, but once the ending rolled around in that film, they became absolutely necessary because they were used to set up for that wonderful ending, while the musical interludes in this are just there for what I assume is entertainment/amusement value and they don't deliver in that regard as well. One could easily call this film an artistic misstep, but it's still easily one of the most fascinating movies released this year.
*** out of ****
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Oh Music Lists...
Years
2008
Decades
1980's - Songs
1990's - Songs
Musicians
Oh Bjork...
Oh Cat Power...
Oh PJ Harvey...
Oh Smog/Bill Callahan...
Oh The Breeders...
Oh Pixies...
Oh Sonic Youth...
Oh Broken Social Scene...
Oh Ani DiFranco...
Oh Wire...
Oh Shellac...
Oh Elliot Smith...
Oh Fugazi...
Genres
Overall
2008
Decades
1980's - Songs
1990's - Songs
Musicians
Oh Bjork...
Oh Cat Power...
Oh PJ Harvey...
Oh Smog/Bill Callahan...
Oh The Breeders...
Oh Pixies...
Oh Sonic Youth...
Oh Broken Social Scene...
Oh Ani DiFranco...
Oh Wire...
Oh Shellac...
Oh Elliot Smith...
Oh Fugazi...
Genres
Overall
Oh Movie Lists...
Years
Oh 1959...
Oh 1964...
Oh 1966...
Oh 1967...
Oh 1974...
Oh 1976...
Oh 1990...
Oh 1991...
Oh 1992...
Oh 1993...
Oh 1994...
Oh 1995...
Oh 1996...
Oh 1997...
Oh 1998...
Oh 1999...
Oh 2000...
Oh 2001...
Oh 2002...
Oh 2003...
Oh 2004...
Oh 2005...
Oh 2006...
Oh 2007...
Oh 2008...
Upcoming
Oh Upcoming 2008...
Oh Upcoming 2009...
Oh Upcoming 2010...
Decades
Genres
Overall
Directors
DVD/Poster Art
Viewing Tally
Performances
Oh 1959...
Oh 1964...
Oh 1966...
Oh 1967...
Oh 1974...
Oh 1976...
Oh 1990...
Oh 1991...
Oh 1992...
Oh 1993...
Oh 1994...
Oh 1995...
Oh 1996...
Oh 1997...
Oh 1998...
Oh 1999...
Oh 2000...
Oh 2001...
Oh 2002...
Oh 2003...
Oh 2004...
Oh 2005...
Oh 2006...
Oh 2007...
Oh 2008...
Upcoming
Oh Upcoming 2008...
Oh Upcoming 2009...
Oh Upcoming 2010...
Decades
Genres
Overall
Directors
DVD/Poster Art
Viewing Tally
Performances
Oh System Lists...
Top 10 lists for each console I have played.
PC
Single-player-esque
1. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
2. Half-Life(+Opposing Force)
3. Half-Life 2(+Episode 1)
4. Call of Duty
5.
NES
1. Bionic Commando
2. Ninja Gaiden
3. Megaman 2
4. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
5. Super C
6. Super Mario Bros. 3
7. Zanac
8. Life Force
9. Kirby's Adventure
10. Blades of Steel
PS1
1. Twisted Metal 2
2. Metal Gear Solid
3. Final Fantasy Tactics
4. Final Fantasy VII
5. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
6. Grind Session
7. Jet Moto
8. Wipeout XL
9. Tekken 3
10. Jet Moto 2: Championship Edition
PS2
1. Twisted Metal: Black
2. Ratchet & Clank
3. Devil May Cry 3
4. Devil May Cry
5. War of the Monsters
6. Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
7. R-Type Final
8. NBA Street Vol. 2
9. Guitar Hero
10. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Nintendo DS
1. Contra 4
2. Elite Beat Agents
3. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
4. Brain Age 2
PC
Single-player-esque
1. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay
2. Half-Life(+Opposing Force)
3. Half-Life 2(+Episode 1)
4. Call of Duty
5.
NES
1. Bionic Commando
2. Ninja Gaiden
3. Megaman 2
4. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
5. Super C
6. Super Mario Bros. 3
7. Zanac
8. Life Force
9. Kirby's Adventure
10. Blades of Steel
PS1
1. Twisted Metal 2
2. Metal Gear Solid
3. Final Fantasy Tactics
4. Final Fantasy VII
5. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
6. Grind Session
7. Jet Moto
8. Wipeout XL
9. Tekken 3
10. Jet Moto 2: Championship Edition
PS2
1. Twisted Metal: Black
2. Ratchet & Clank
3. Devil May Cry 3
4. Devil May Cry
5. War of the Monsters
6. Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
7. R-Type Final
8. NBA Street Vol. 2
9. Guitar Hero
10. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Nintendo DS
1. Contra 4
2. Elite Beat Agents
3. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
4. Brain Age 2
Oh Nazis & Street Musicians & Six Bob Dylans...
Black Book(dir. Paul Verhoeven)
I've seen it described as Showgirls meets Schindler's List and if you go into it expecting that's what it's going to be, you'll definitely be disappointed. It has some perverse qualities like one memorable moment where a man raises a gun under the covers, making it look like an erection, but it's just not pulpy enough to really come across as anything resembling what that description seems to suggest. It's actually pretty dry and is a little too prestige-y for it's own good. The film goes kind of crazy with the double crosses in the events after the war and doesn't quite deliver on the promise of a Paul Verhoeven directed movie about a Jewish woman that sleeps with Nazi(s) to help the resistance effort. I slightly recommend
**1/2 out of ****
Once(dir. John Carney)
Musical montage after musical montage, it somehow remains blandly charming up until the end, which secured it's current notch in the recommendation scale because of it's heartwarming nature. It's definitely a musical film and like musical films, if the songs don't do much for you emotionally, you're not going to be all that emotionally involved. I was relatively indifferent until the ending rolled around. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
I'm not there.(dir. Todd Haynes)
I should get this out of the way: I don't know jack shit about Bob Dylan. I just know loose details, but even without a proper knowledge of Dylan, it's hard to resist calling this film a superficial look at a life. All the film really has going for it is it's central gimmick of six actors portraying six different Dylans. There's the whole "reinventing himself" aspect of his life that makes this narrative technique seem viable, but given that the film doesn't have a profound sense of time in correlation to each of the separate Dylans, it's hard to really take this idea and run with it in an intellectual way. Interestingly, the film that this reminds me most of was Emilio Estevez's atrocious Bobby, but instead of being cringe-inducingly sappy, it's dully pretentious and much like that film, it's look at the 60's is merely a superficial history lesson and one of it's most affective moments is a brief glimpse at it's central figure in documentary footage. Another affective moment in the film happens to be a bizarre funeral/concert set in Richard Gere's storyline that contains an emotional sincerity and serenity that is truly lacking in the rest of the picture. Outside of Marcus Carl Franklin and Richard Gere, all the actors portraying a "persona" of Dylan simply employ a stylized impersonation and call it a performance. You never grow to care about any of these "personas" so the film is practically devoid of emotional engagement. This would be fine if it was intellectually stimulating since the film's construction is obviously heady, but it's not. You never get a sense of Dylan as a person by watching this outside of the brief glimpse of the actual Dylan at the end that truly shows that a documentary would have probably been a better option for Haynes, but you know, there's nothing really "genius" or "artistic" about that. As an examination of an artist, it fails and as simply an enjoyable piece of cinema, it fails as well.
*1/2 out of ****
I've seen it described as Showgirls meets Schindler's List and if you go into it expecting that's what it's going to be, you'll definitely be disappointed. It has some perverse qualities like one memorable moment where a man raises a gun under the covers, making it look like an erection, but it's just not pulpy enough to really come across as anything resembling what that description seems to suggest. It's actually pretty dry and is a little too prestige-y for it's own good. The film goes kind of crazy with the double crosses in the events after the war and doesn't quite deliver on the promise of a Paul Verhoeven directed movie about a Jewish woman that sleeps with Nazi(s) to help the resistance effort. I slightly recommend
**1/2 out of ****
Once(dir. John Carney)
Musical montage after musical montage, it somehow remains blandly charming up until the end, which secured it's current notch in the recommendation scale because of it's heartwarming nature. It's definitely a musical film and like musical films, if the songs don't do much for you emotionally, you're not going to be all that emotionally involved. I was relatively indifferent until the ending rolled around. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
I'm not there.(dir. Todd Haynes)
I should get this out of the way: I don't know jack shit about Bob Dylan. I just know loose details, but even without a proper knowledge of Dylan, it's hard to resist calling this film a superficial look at a life. All the film really has going for it is it's central gimmick of six actors portraying six different Dylans. There's the whole "reinventing himself" aspect of his life that makes this narrative technique seem viable, but given that the film doesn't have a profound sense of time in correlation to each of the separate Dylans, it's hard to really take this idea and run with it in an intellectual way. Interestingly, the film that this reminds me most of was Emilio Estevez's atrocious Bobby, but instead of being cringe-inducingly sappy, it's dully pretentious and much like that film, it's look at the 60's is merely a superficial history lesson and one of it's most affective moments is a brief glimpse at it's central figure in documentary footage. Another affective moment in the film happens to be a bizarre funeral/concert set in Richard Gere's storyline that contains an emotional sincerity and serenity that is truly lacking in the rest of the picture. Outside of Marcus Carl Franklin and Richard Gere, all the actors portraying a "persona" of Dylan simply employ a stylized impersonation and call it a performance. You never grow to care about any of these "personas" so the film is practically devoid of emotional engagement. This would be fine if it was intellectually stimulating since the film's construction is obviously heady, but it's not. You never get a sense of Dylan as a person by watching this outside of the brief glimpse of the actual Dylan at the end that truly shows that a documentary would have probably been a better option for Haynes, but you know, there's nothing really "genius" or "artistic" about that. As an examination of an artist, it fails and as simply an enjoyable piece of cinema, it fails as well.
*1/2 out of ****
Friday, December 28, 2007
Oh "Zombies" & Suicide Bombers
28 Weeks Later...(dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo)
Letting this film settle in proved to be detrimental to what level of recommendation I would have given this film most likely due to it's last bit of celluloid feeling utterly tacked-on and obviously designed to set up for a sequel. If it ended on a more satisfying note, it would have been as or maybe even more memorable than 28 Days Later..., but as it is, it's not. It could have also been because the characters were not quite as fleshed out as the ones found in 28 Days. The film's almost breakneck speed with it's quick succession of brilliant set-piece after brilliant set-piece is still certainly commendable, but it's starting to escape my memory and I'm feeling sort of indifferent to it. However, I still recommend.
*** out of ****
Day Night Day Night(dir. Julia Loktev)
The film verges on parody with it's "indie arthouse" aesthetics. There's a scene or more like a moment where it just shows the protagonist licking her fingers after eating a candy apple and the notion that this moment is supposed to be profound in it's "mundane audacity" is unshakable. There's a lot of moments like this in this film, but the film never truly grows wearisome outside of it's lack of insight on it's particular situation. The film is about a suicide bomber that happens to be what I assume is American and the "organization" that backs her is composed of members of various different backgrounds, which is probably supposed to lend an intellectually engaging vagueness, but ends up being frustratingly evasive along with it's portrayal of it's protagonist, who is simply an enigma at best. The film is similar to films like Elephant and United 93, where it's mainly an exercise in extreme empathy except it never delivers with it's central and inevitable event. The last shot is up to interpretation since it "might" be a POV shot and the film ends with a cut to black, suggesting that the bomb went off, but this interpretative quality doesn't salvage the film from being absolutely inconsequential. It's not bad, it's just utterly pointless.
** out of ****
Letting this film settle in proved to be detrimental to what level of recommendation I would have given this film most likely due to it's last bit of celluloid feeling utterly tacked-on and obviously designed to set up for a sequel. If it ended on a more satisfying note, it would have been as or maybe even more memorable than 28 Days Later..., but as it is, it's not. It could have also been because the characters were not quite as fleshed out as the ones found in 28 Days. The film's almost breakneck speed with it's quick succession of brilliant set-piece after brilliant set-piece is still certainly commendable, but it's starting to escape my memory and I'm feeling sort of indifferent to it. However, I still recommend.
*** out of ****
Day Night Day Night(dir. Julia Loktev)
The film verges on parody with it's "indie arthouse" aesthetics. There's a scene or more like a moment where it just shows the protagonist licking her fingers after eating a candy apple and the notion that this moment is supposed to be profound in it's "mundane audacity" is unshakable. There's a lot of moments like this in this film, but the film never truly grows wearisome outside of it's lack of insight on it's particular situation. The film is about a suicide bomber that happens to be what I assume is American and the "organization" that backs her is composed of members of various different backgrounds, which is probably supposed to lend an intellectually engaging vagueness, but ends up being frustratingly evasive along with it's portrayal of it's protagonist, who is simply an enigma at best. The film is similar to films like Elephant and United 93, where it's mainly an exercise in extreme empathy except it never delivers with it's central and inevitable event. The last shot is up to interpretation since it "might" be a POV shot and the film ends with a cut to black, suggesting that the bomb went off, but this interpretative quality doesn't salvage the film from being absolutely inconsequential. It's not bad, it's just utterly pointless.
** out of ****
Monday, December 24, 2007
Oh Christmas Eve...
The Kingdom(dir. Peter Berg)
More like The King-dumb. I'd imagine this film would be more offensive to individuals who easily get worked up by the war in Iraq, so I only found it to be mildly offensive. It exploits our current political climate to create action-movie thrills. It reaches it's apex of offensiveness in the beginning with some crazy jihad Muslims killing random American bystanders in Saudi Arabia. That doesn't sound all that offensive, but the tone employed to display these proceedings created a level of excitement that was simply inexcusable. I almost wanted to laugh at the horribly mismatched nature of the tone and what was happening onscreen. It, however, eventually settles on a more sober and less ridiculous tone. There's also the ending that tries to equate our American "bad ass" protagonists to the crazy Muslim zealots that we were supposed to be rooting for to die in probably the most obvious and clumsiest way possible, but you know, it shows that it's fair and balanced and stuff. It was vaguely involving at given moments and it didn't offend me too much with it's pro-American, kill all the Muslims attitude. It was also not as boring of a slog as the next film I'm reviewing. It was mediocre.
** out of ****
The Bourne Ultimatum(dir. Peter Greengrass)
The film above and this film have a lot in common in terms of aesthetics with their shaky camerawork and intense amount of editing. Both films shoot their action scenes in such a way that you can't make out what is happening and the audience is expected to get excited because of this lack of clarity. It's dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. The film above at least had a little humor, while this is just humorless and numbing. There was some vaguely affecting moments in the film above, while this film is just cold and so serious that it's impossible to have any fun or be emotionally involved with it in any way. The level of seriousness in the film above was at least a little bit understandable given that it was striving to be an action movie stripped from today's headlines, while this is just an action movie with a story that might be described as Mission: Impossible or James Bond with amnesia. I have never seen the previous two films in the series, but it's hard to imagine that seeing both beforehand would have made this a more enjoyable experience. People have also said that this could be the best film in the series so I can't imagine diving into the others anytime soon. If any critics think this is a fun little action movie, then it's pretty obvious that these critics must confuse excitement with boredom. The film is so serious that it's basically the equivalent of a comedian that would stop a gig if anybody dare laugh at one of his/her jokes. The film tries to be tense the whole time and fails miserably at trying to generate any suspense or audience involvement whatsoever. This is the future of action cinema? Fuck that. Take me back to the late 80's and early 90's immediately if that is true. It was bad. Bad bad bad.
*1/2 out of ****
More like The King-dumb. I'd imagine this film would be more offensive to individuals who easily get worked up by the war in Iraq, so I only found it to be mildly offensive. It exploits our current political climate to create action-movie thrills. It reaches it's apex of offensiveness in the beginning with some crazy jihad Muslims killing random American bystanders in Saudi Arabia. That doesn't sound all that offensive, but the tone employed to display these proceedings created a level of excitement that was simply inexcusable. I almost wanted to laugh at the horribly mismatched nature of the tone and what was happening onscreen. It, however, eventually settles on a more sober and less ridiculous tone. There's also the ending that tries to equate our American "bad ass" protagonists to the crazy Muslim zealots that we were supposed to be rooting for to die in probably the most obvious and clumsiest way possible, but you know, it shows that it's fair and balanced and stuff. It was vaguely involving at given moments and it didn't offend me too much with it's pro-American, kill all the Muslims attitude. It was also not as boring of a slog as the next film I'm reviewing. It was mediocre.
** out of ****
The Bourne Ultimatum(dir. Peter Greengrass)
The film above and this film have a lot in common in terms of aesthetics with their shaky camerawork and intense amount of editing. Both films shoot their action scenes in such a way that you can't make out what is happening and the audience is expected to get excited because of this lack of clarity. It's dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. The film above at least had a little humor, while this is just humorless and numbing. There was some vaguely affecting moments in the film above, while this film is just cold and so serious that it's impossible to have any fun or be emotionally involved with it in any way. The level of seriousness in the film above was at least a little bit understandable given that it was striving to be an action movie stripped from today's headlines, while this is just an action movie with a story that might be described as Mission: Impossible or James Bond with amnesia. I have never seen the previous two films in the series, but it's hard to imagine that seeing both beforehand would have made this a more enjoyable experience. People have also said that this could be the best film in the series so I can't imagine diving into the others anytime soon. If any critics think this is a fun little action movie, then it's pretty obvious that these critics must confuse excitement with boredom. The film is so serious that it's basically the equivalent of a comedian that would stop a gig if anybody dare laugh at one of his/her jokes. The film tries to be tense the whole time and fails miserably at trying to generate any suspense or audience involvement whatsoever. This is the future of action cinema? Fuck that. Take me back to the late 80's and early 90's immediately if that is true. It was bad. Bad bad bad.
*1/2 out of ****
Oh I Want to Be An American...
Rush Hour 3(dir. Brett Ratner)[rewatch]
I was amazed at how much I remembered from my first viewing since it really has little semblance of a plot and I've watched a ton of movies in between that viewing and this one. I guess it's true that the classics just stick with you. It wasn't quite as beautiful this time around with it's bad-goodness and I might have to dub The Game Plan as my guilty pleasure of the year now. The performance weren't as intricate and nuanced as I once remembered them to be. It's decent in a bad-good way. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead(dir. Sidney Lumet)
Had to watch the Miami Vice ending on Youtube for the 50th time afterwards just to make sure that I wasn't in a shitty mood. I don't know what to say about this. It's pretty much an (over)acting showcase so it wasn't engaging in any sort of profound way and the performances ended up being all over the place. Marisa Tomei, while getting some points for being naked in practically every scene, is simply awful in her "big" scene. The whole goddamn movie is basically a string of "big" scenes, where all the actors overact their asses off and don't resemble anything remotely human. There's nothing wrong with the notion of actors overacting if they're still able to create something that resembles a human being, but in this film, they just basically move around and be as dramatic as possible at given moments. Sidney Lumet in some interview on Variety's website talked about how he basically just let the actors work and didn't give much direction in terms of performances. This could easily be just the director being modest, but after watching the film, what he said is most likely true. He basically let his actors run amok with no sense of control or direction. There's also scenes within the film that are supposed to ring tragic but end up falling flat like Andy pouring rocks on his table and the conclusion to the film due to being unable to connect with it because of the performances. The only actor that came out of the film with any respect from me was Michael Shannon, who almost gleefully plays the burglar's sleazy brother-in-law. There's a brief patch towards the end, where the intensity of the film's activities almost matches the actors' and I would probably say this is easily the best portion of the film and then the ending quickly follows and back to feeling indifferent as ever again. The film's character problem is not a matter of them just being merely unlikeable, it's a matter of not being able to detect any sense of humanity in any of them in order to recognize them in an emotional way. I haven't even touched upon how stupid the structure of the narrative is. The film is told in a non-linear format much like a film like Reservoir Dogs. It serves no purpose and I don't understand why Lumet decided to direct this script outside of probably trying to prove that he's still hip with these crazy kids like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino. The film as a whole basically registered with a long and drawn-out thud. It was bad.
*1/2 out of ****
I was amazed at how much I remembered from my first viewing since it really has little semblance of a plot and I've watched a ton of movies in between that viewing and this one. I guess it's true that the classics just stick with you. It wasn't quite as beautiful this time around with it's bad-goodness and I might have to dub The Game Plan as my guilty pleasure of the year now. The performance weren't as intricate and nuanced as I once remembered them to be. It's decent in a bad-good way. I slightly recommend.
**1/2 out of ****
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead(dir. Sidney Lumet)
Had to watch the Miami Vice ending on Youtube for the 50th time afterwards just to make sure that I wasn't in a shitty mood. I don't know what to say about this. It's pretty much an (over)acting showcase so it wasn't engaging in any sort of profound way and the performances ended up being all over the place. Marisa Tomei, while getting some points for being naked in practically every scene, is simply awful in her "big" scene. The whole goddamn movie is basically a string of "big" scenes, where all the actors overact their asses off and don't resemble anything remotely human. There's nothing wrong with the notion of actors overacting if they're still able to create something that resembles a human being, but in this film, they just basically move around and be as dramatic as possible at given moments. Sidney Lumet in some interview on Variety's website talked about how he basically just let the actors work and didn't give much direction in terms of performances. This could easily be just the director being modest, but after watching the film, what he said is most likely true. He basically let his actors run amok with no sense of control or direction. There's also scenes within the film that are supposed to ring tragic but end up falling flat like Andy pouring rocks on his table and the conclusion to the film due to being unable to connect with it because of the performances. The only actor that came out of the film with any respect from me was Michael Shannon, who almost gleefully plays the burglar's sleazy brother-in-law. There's a brief patch towards the end, where the intensity of the film's activities almost matches the actors' and I would probably say this is easily the best portion of the film and then the ending quickly follows and back to feeling indifferent as ever again. The film's character problem is not a matter of them just being merely unlikeable, it's a matter of not being able to detect any sense of humanity in any of them in order to recognize them in an emotional way. I haven't even touched upon how stupid the structure of the narrative is. The film is told in a non-linear format much like a film like Reservoir Dogs. It serves no purpose and I don't understand why Lumet decided to direct this script outside of probably trying to prove that he's still hip with these crazy kids like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino. The film as a whole basically registered with a long and drawn-out thud. It was bad.
*1/2 out of ****
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Oh Iran Riddling You With Goals...
Offside(dir. Jafar Panahi)
It's amazing how seamless this film is in it's construction. Jafar Panahi discusses on the interview with him on the disc how he presents the material in a real-time manner and how some people actually thought he shot the whole film in one day. Since I watched the interview before viewing the film, I thought it was just people trying to flatter the director with these comments, but once I saw the film, it becomes understandable how one could think that. It's also amazing how compelling this film is given that it's mainly just a bunch of conversations with little variety in terms of setting. Richard Linklater should seriously take some notes while watching this film because this easily trumps anything I've seen directed by him. It's strange that I always end up becoming really fond of politically-tinged films since I'm pretty ambivalent when it comes to politics and I hate the notion that cinema, at least American cinema, can be viewed as "important" to society. Maybe, it's because most of the films that are labeled as "important" are usually Oscar-baiting pieces of shit. The reason I think I enjoy films like this, Battle of Algiers, and so on is most likely due to the filmmakers being passionate about what they're filming. There's a reason why shit like TMNT is shit because why would anybody give a shit about that shit? The film truly glows when it shows the celebration of the detainees along with their fellow countrymen after Iran's victory over Bahrain and perfectly drives it's message home. Why can't people just be able to celebrate together without restrictions that deny them their rights to expression and happiness? It's a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
Paprika(dir. Satoshi Kon)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force > this. It's hard not to compare the two since they're both animated mind trips, but where ATHF is bizarrely charming and engaging, this is just dull and pretentious. I don't hate anime craziness. I remember catching an episode of FLCL (pronounced Fooly Cooly to all those folks out of the loop) and being mesmerized by it's insanity. This, however, has no sense of spontaneity to it's craziness to mesmerize the viewer in any sort of way. It's much like Stardust in how the film expected the spectacle of it all to do all the work. I liked the music and it's kind of cool to look at, but in terms of containing anything remotely engaging, it falls flat. It equating film to a dream shared between a collective is interesting, but overall, it is mediocre.
** out of ****
It's amazing how seamless this film is in it's construction. Jafar Panahi discusses on the interview with him on the disc how he presents the material in a real-time manner and how some people actually thought he shot the whole film in one day. Since I watched the interview before viewing the film, I thought it was just people trying to flatter the director with these comments, but once I saw the film, it becomes understandable how one could think that. It's also amazing how compelling this film is given that it's mainly just a bunch of conversations with little variety in terms of setting. Richard Linklater should seriously take some notes while watching this film because this easily trumps anything I've seen directed by him. It's strange that I always end up becoming really fond of politically-tinged films since I'm pretty ambivalent when it comes to politics and I hate the notion that cinema, at least American cinema, can be viewed as "important" to society. Maybe, it's because most of the films that are labeled as "important" are usually Oscar-baiting pieces of shit. The reason I think I enjoy films like this, Battle of Algiers, and so on is most likely due to the filmmakers being passionate about what they're filming. There's a reason why shit like TMNT is shit because why would anybody give a shit about that shit? The film truly glows when it shows the celebration of the detainees along with their fellow countrymen after Iran's victory over Bahrain and perfectly drives it's message home. Why can't people just be able to celebrate together without restrictions that deny them their rights to expression and happiness? It's a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
Paprika(dir. Satoshi Kon)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force > this. It's hard not to compare the two since they're both animated mind trips, but where ATHF is bizarrely charming and engaging, this is just dull and pretentious. I don't hate anime craziness. I remember catching an episode of FLCL (pronounced Fooly Cooly to all those folks out of the loop) and being mesmerized by it's insanity. This, however, has no sense of spontaneity to it's craziness to mesmerize the viewer in any sort of way. It's much like Stardust in how the film expected the spectacle of it all to do all the work. I liked the music and it's kind of cool to look at, but in terms of containing anything remotely engaging, it falls flat. It equating film to a dream shared between a collective is interesting, but overall, it is mediocre.
** out of ****
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Oh 28 Days Later...
28 Days Later...(dir. Danny Boyle)
I should preface this by saying I hate fast zombies. They're the lamest trend in recent undead cinema. Yes, it makes perfect sense that when the dead rise and walk the Earth that they'd be as fast as fucking Michael Johnson, but since this film concerns itself with humans that get infected by a virus that makes them super pissed off instead of true zombies, it's much more believable and not nearly as ridiculous. The film actually doesn't really focus on the whole virus and the individuals infected by it all that much in comparison to how much it focuses on the survivors, which makes the film very engaging as a whole. It's one of the most emotionally satisfying "zombie" films I've seen and it's definitely one of the best. It's not flawless, however, especially with it's portrayal of the majority of the military characters in the film as stereotypical savages. There would be nothing particularly wrong with this if it was more fair and balanced in it's display of savagery like Day of the Dead, where it displayed most of it's scientist/civilian characters and military characters in an equally disdainful manner. Other than that, it's a near-masterpiece. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
The Simpsons Movie(dir. David Silverman)
It's a decent enough diversion, but it's particularly frustrating that it hits an emotional chord so successfully and then doesn't really follow through with anything nearly as poignant afterwards. That particular emotional chord hitting moment would be Marge's videotape, which was surprisingly incredibly affective for a movie based on The Simpsons, but you'd expect there to be some sort of change in Homer's character afterwards. I've actually changed my mind on giving it just a mere "decent" label and give it the full blown good treatment. It's probably the best animated film of the year outside of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters and almost makes me want to start watching the show regularly again. I recommend.
*** out of ****
Stardust(dir. Matthew Vaughn)
I would like to start this review with a quote.
"The stars, yeah, the stars. One shining star in the night shining brighter than all the other ones and I'm talking light years away, yeah." - Macho Man Randy Savage
What does this have to do with the movie at hand? Well, this movie is about a star that comes in the form of Claire Danes so when the opportunity strikes, you know... The best part is easily Robert De Niro playing a cross-dressing pirate. It's almost the equivalent of Ving Rhames's role in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and almost as funny just because of De Niro's stature as an actor in comparison to Rhames's, but due to a lack of screen time and being in a movie that isn't nearly as fun, it's not quite the same. The film's dependence on visual effects to create spectacle and audience engagement is easily it's biggest detriment. It doesn't really care about creating true emotional engagement through a human story, it just cares about creating overly fake images that are designed to make people go "awe" and it's not even successful at that. It should have focused more on creating flesh and blood characters instead of computer-generated images. Do yourself a favor and just rent The Princess Bride instead if you're looking for a light-hearted and whimsical fantasy film. It was merely average.
** out of ****
I should preface this by saying I hate fast zombies. They're the lamest trend in recent undead cinema. Yes, it makes perfect sense that when the dead rise and walk the Earth that they'd be as fast as fucking Michael Johnson, but since this film concerns itself with humans that get infected by a virus that makes them super pissed off instead of true zombies, it's much more believable and not nearly as ridiculous. The film actually doesn't really focus on the whole virus and the individuals infected by it all that much in comparison to how much it focuses on the survivors, which makes the film very engaging as a whole. It's one of the most emotionally satisfying "zombie" films I've seen and it's definitely one of the best. It's not flawless, however, especially with it's portrayal of the majority of the military characters in the film as stereotypical savages. There would be nothing particularly wrong with this if it was more fair and balanced in it's display of savagery like Day of the Dead, where it displayed most of it's scientist/civilian characters and military characters in an equally disdainful manner. Other than that, it's a near-masterpiece. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
The Simpsons Movie(dir. David Silverman)
It's a decent enough diversion, but it's particularly frustrating that it hits an emotional chord so successfully and then doesn't really follow through with anything nearly as poignant afterwards. That particular emotional chord hitting moment would be Marge's videotape, which was surprisingly incredibly affective for a movie based on The Simpsons, but you'd expect there to be some sort of change in Homer's character afterwards. I've actually changed my mind on giving it just a mere "decent" label and give it the full blown good treatment. It's probably the best animated film of the year outside of Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters and almost makes me want to start watching the show regularly again. I recommend.
*** out of ****
Stardust(dir. Matthew Vaughn)
I would like to start this review with a quote.
"The stars, yeah, the stars. One shining star in the night shining brighter than all the other ones and I'm talking light years away, yeah." - Macho Man Randy Savage
What does this have to do with the movie at hand? Well, this movie is about a star that comes in the form of Claire Danes so when the opportunity strikes, you know... The best part is easily Robert De Niro playing a cross-dressing pirate. It's almost the equivalent of Ving Rhames's role in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and almost as funny just because of De Niro's stature as an actor in comparison to Rhames's, but due to a lack of screen time and being in a movie that isn't nearly as fun, it's not quite the same. The film's dependence on visual effects to create spectacle and audience engagement is easily it's biggest detriment. It doesn't really care about creating true emotional engagement through a human story, it just cares about creating overly fake images that are designed to make people go "awe" and it's not even successful at that. It should have focused more on creating flesh and blood characters instead of computer-generated images. Do yourself a favor and just rent The Princess Bride instead if you're looking for a light-hearted and whimsical fantasy film. It was merely average.
** out of ****
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Oh Man Dick...
Superbad[Unrated Cut](dir. Greg Mottola)
Still feel about the same as I did when I saw it the first time, which means that I still don't buy Seth changing over night. You could make a point that he was always like that and was just being basically an obnoxious sleazeball for show, but really? He acts that way pretty much throughout the whole film even when he's with his best friend, who he should feel most comfortable around. I'll say now that I prefer this over Knocked Up because that film examined unplanned pregnancy in a too light and breezy way probably due to being told mainly from a male perspective, but this film has similar problems with it's portrayal of female characters because of it being told from a male perspective as well. This film is definitely funny, but it's hard not to feel that Seth is a sleaze and wish that Evan would find someone a little bit more decent as a friend. It's not a comedy classic like Rush Hour 3, but what is?
*** out of ****
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters(dir. Dave Willis and Matt Maillero)
As a comedy, it's not particularly good. As an avant-garde WTF-fest in a similar vein to Inland Empire, it works surprisingly well, almost too well. The plot is rather simple, it's just the trying to describe individual moments and trying to make sense of them on a narrative level that proves difficult. A movie that is filled with killer gigantic exercise equipment and cannons that make kittens explode is bound to be a little incomprehensible and the film almost achieves a sense of grace with it's insanity. It is, indeed, #1 in the hood, G.
***1/2 out of ****
Drama/Mex(dir. Gerardo Naranjo)
Raw and honest. It's almost something Cassavetes would have made if he was Mexican and into this current trend of intertwining storylines with several characters. It's essentially two movies in one and really good ones at that. It never ends up trying to unify both stories together. The characters simply visit some of the same locales and end up seeing and running into each other several times, but they never converse with each other outside of Tigrillo asking Gonzalo for a ride. The stories are rather bleak, but the film consistently looks on the bright side, which is actually sort of refreshing especially after recent bleak films like No Country for Old Men that are needlessly pessimistic. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
We Own the Night(dir. James Gray)
I don't understand this film's average rating on Metacritic. Maybe, I'm just out of touch with the critics and regular film watchers, but I think this film is impeccable. I would label it as great and I'm definitely going to. Critics have compared this film to The Departed and I personally think this film makes that film look like dog shit in comparison. It's understandable why the critics compared the two since this film's marketing and trailers used a similar font to the one used by that film's marketing and Mark Wahlberg appears in both, but that film wishes it had this film's sense of Catholic guilt and spirituality. In a similar vein(my phrase of this forum post) to Michael Mann and Jean-Pierre Melville, James Gray uses criminality as a way to examine the soul. When Bobby's brother(Mark Wahlberg) is almost killed, he feels a profound sense of guilt that is seriously lacking in a film like The Departed that revels in death. In this film, death has much more weight and isn't something to be used for mere entertainment value. Bobby's path to redemption is never as easy as it is in a film like Black Snake Moan, he actually makes sacrifices. It easily contains the car chase of the year despite me not having seen The Bourne Ultimatum yet, but I can't imagine that film's car chase(s) being as emotionally charged and transcendental as the one found here. It's a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
Still feel about the same as I did when I saw it the first time, which means that I still don't buy Seth changing over night. You could make a point that he was always like that and was just being basically an obnoxious sleazeball for show, but really? He acts that way pretty much throughout the whole film even when he's with his best friend, who he should feel most comfortable around. I'll say now that I prefer this over Knocked Up because that film examined unplanned pregnancy in a too light and breezy way probably due to being told mainly from a male perspective, but this film has similar problems with it's portrayal of female characters because of it being told from a male perspective as well. This film is definitely funny, but it's hard not to feel that Seth is a sleaze and wish that Evan would find someone a little bit more decent as a friend. It's not a comedy classic like Rush Hour 3, but what is?
*** out of ****
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters(dir. Dave Willis and Matt Maillero)
As a comedy, it's not particularly good. As an avant-garde WTF-fest in a similar vein to Inland Empire, it works surprisingly well, almost too well. The plot is rather simple, it's just the trying to describe individual moments and trying to make sense of them on a narrative level that proves difficult. A movie that is filled with killer gigantic exercise equipment and cannons that make kittens explode is bound to be a little incomprehensible and the film almost achieves a sense of grace with it's insanity. It is, indeed, #1 in the hood, G.
***1/2 out of ****
Drama/Mex(dir. Gerardo Naranjo)
Raw and honest. It's almost something Cassavetes would have made if he was Mexican and into this current trend of intertwining storylines with several characters. It's essentially two movies in one and really good ones at that. It never ends up trying to unify both stories together. The characters simply visit some of the same locales and end up seeing and running into each other several times, but they never converse with each other outside of Tigrillo asking Gonzalo for a ride. The stories are rather bleak, but the film consistently looks on the bright side, which is actually sort of refreshing especially after recent bleak films like No Country for Old Men that are needlessly pessimistic. I highly recommend.
***1/2 out of ****
We Own the Night(dir. James Gray)
I don't understand this film's average rating on Metacritic. Maybe, I'm just out of touch with the critics and regular film watchers, but I think this film is impeccable. I would label it as great and I'm definitely going to. Critics have compared this film to The Departed and I personally think this film makes that film look like dog shit in comparison. It's understandable why the critics compared the two since this film's marketing and trailers used a similar font to the one used by that film's marketing and Mark Wahlberg appears in both, but that film wishes it had this film's sense of Catholic guilt and spirituality. In a similar vein(my phrase of this forum post) to Michael Mann and Jean-Pierre Melville, James Gray uses criminality as a way to examine the soul. When Bobby's brother(Mark Wahlberg) is almost killed, he feels a profound sense of guilt that is seriously lacking in a film like The Departed that revels in death. In this film, death has much more weight and isn't something to be used for mere entertainment value. Bobby's path to redemption is never as easy as it is in a film like Black Snake Moan, he actually makes sacrifices. It easily contains the car chase of the year despite me not having seen The Bourne Ultimatum yet, but I can't imagine that film's car chase(s) being as emotionally charged and transcendental as the one found here. It's a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Oh Fighting Games...
Gonna do the same thing as my beat 'em up list. I'll do blurbs maybe later.
1. Samurai Shodown II(dev. SNK)
2. Street Fighter II: Turbo(dev. Capcom)
3. The Last Blade 2(dev. SNK)
4. Street Fighter III: Third Strike(dev. Capcom)
5. Garou: Mark of the Wolves(dev. SNK)
6. Samurai Shodown IV(dev. SNK)
7. Vampie Savior: Lord of Vampire aka Darkstalkers 3(dev. Capcom)
8. Street Fighter Alpha 3(dev. Capcom)
9. Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution(dev. Sega)
10. World Heroes 2 Jet(dev. SNK)
1. Samurai Shodown II(dev. SNK)
2. Street Fighter II: Turbo(dev. Capcom)
3. The Last Blade 2(dev. SNK)
4. Street Fighter III: Third Strike(dev. Capcom)
5. Garou: Mark of the Wolves(dev. SNK)
6. Samurai Shodown IV(dev. SNK)
7. Vampie Savior: Lord of Vampire aka Darkstalkers 3(dev. Capcom)
8. Street Fighter Alpha 3(dev. Capcom)
9. Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution(dev. Sega)
10. World Heroes 2 Jet(dev. SNK)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)