Here are all the movies in my database: Welles, Orson Chimes at Midnight --> Rating: 8.00
Brilliantly filmed and terribly dubbed, Orson Welles took on the Henry IV cycle from Shakespeare and blended it into this coherent but sometimes archaic masterpiece, starring himself, and Jeanne Moreau and John Gielgud and other assorted stars, and wonderfully filmed amid castles and forests and snowy landscapes in Spain. Falstaff is the man of monumental size and appetites and recklessness and greed, and Prince Hal, heir to Henry IV's throne, loves hanging out with him, with the women and the liquor and the contempt for all civilized and lawful things. The heart of the story is Hal's conversion to Henry V, the good king, and his shocking rejection of Falstaff when it is time to assume his kingly role. But this about a man filling a role or history rewriting itself to glorify a patron? Falstaff really is disgusting: he robs and plunders and drinks and mocks, and the affection with which is generally held by his friends and friendly audiences is a bit bewildering. Hal, of course, is right to separate himself from his old irresponsible ways and its personage-- if you believe in it-- but everyone seems to think we still love the Falstaff's of the world-- except in real life. Then they, like Lucy, are merely annoying.
2017-12-30 Showalter, Michael Big Sick --> Rating: 8.10
Kumail's Pakistani immigrant family is old-school: they want to arrange a marriage for him with a nice Moslem, Pakistani girl, and have made it clear that compliance is expected or Kumail will be shunned by the family. So when Kumail meets a friendly heckler at one of his stand-up routines, Emily, he's got a problem, which seems solved when they break up after Emily discovers that he has been meeting numerous eligible women as his mother tries to marry him off. But then Emily has a health crisis and Kumail, the closest thing to a relative, is called to the hospital to help. When Emily's parents show up, greater complications ensue. Holly Hunter, as Emily's mother, Beth, seems incapable of giving an uninteresting performance. Even Ray Romano as her husband Terry is more than acceptable: he finds the right tone for his character and brings along unexpected revelations that liven the proceedings. As you might expect-- or might not-- a comedy featuring a stand-up comedian features a lot of funny lines (how 9/11 was a "tragedy" for this Moslem: we lost 19 of our best). But the chemistry between Kumail and Emily is believable and funny and the dynamic between Kumail and her parents sparkles with life, especially after they attend one of his stand-ups and encounter a heckler. "Big Sick" is like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" without the coy self-satisfaction or glib ethnic humour. Directed with restraint and taste-- a fine movie.
2017-12-29 Layton, Bart Imposter --> Rating: 8.00
Fascinating documentary about a young boy, Nicholas Barclay, in Texas who disappears. And then reappears, in Spain. And is taken back in by his family who, it appears, are, in turn, taken in by him. The million dollar question is why doesn't his family immediately recognize that this young man is not their missing son? And that's what makes "The Imposter" so intriguing. What is really going on?
2012-06-01 del Toro, Guillermo Shape of Water --> Rating: 8.00
A film that does almost everything right and yet never really won me over. Elisa is a janitor, a mute, working in some nefarious government facility where a creature-- who bears a strong resemblance to the "Creature from the Black Lagoon"-- is brought for analysis. Elisa strikes up a covert relationship with the creature, feeding him eggs, and playing him music, while supposedly doing her janitorial chores in the room. In the meantime, a Russian spy who is ordered to extract the creature-- at first-- is also charmed by it, and by Elisa's relationship with it. It is intelligent! It can communicate! When he finds out what the military has planned for it, he steps in and inadvertently partners with Elisa. All of this is set in dreary late 1950's world of greasy streets and dark furnishings and shabby buildings. Elisa's neighbor is a lonely, gay artist who was fired from his job for drinking and now freelances. And he is the key to understanding what del Toro is after here: loneliness. The creature and Elisa and Giles, the neighbor, are all exceedingly lonely: they are misfits, homely, and lacking the glib social skills of the people around them. But in this story, those social skills are toxic, used as a club, intended to mask evil. "Shape of Water" is well-acted, well-directed, and often compelling. But it also resorts to cliche in the end, a showdown that was wholly predictable, and careless: why does Dimitri feel compelled to tell Strickland about Elisa? He has no rational reason to do it, and every reason to lie. Refreshingly, Strickland doesn't waste a lot of time talking in the inevitable scene wherein, in most movies, there is a lot of talk-- to build suspense, and to provide cover for improbably plot developments. It feels like del Toro gave in to the urge to provide the big bang ending in spite of himself, and it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. A second more serious flaw: for all the hype about his performances in these types of roles, Doug Jones was not very convincing as "Amphibian Man". He walked and moved too much like a human and often looked exactly like a man in a costume.
2017-12-28 Amiel, Jon Copycat --> Rating: 7.80
Dark thriller about a agoraphobic psychologist who specializes in serial killers being stalked by-- of course-- a serial killer. Above average. Maintains good tension throughout and Holly Hunter's original portrayal of a gritty female detective, M.J. Monahan, is unfussy and fresh. Dr. Helen Hudson is tiresome and boring, and unfortunately represent the classic Hollywood cliche of the mythic psychologist who amazingly really understands how psychologically disturbed people think. In this case, we have a psychotic killer who has made it his life's work to recreate the modus operandi of famous serial killers. Each of his attacks copies the technique of a different notorious murderer. There is a grisly scene near the beginning that doesn't totally make sense in a physical way, and we immediately understand that the scene is being extended artificially to add suspense-- so it's not really suspenseful. There are reasonable nods to believability-- M.J. does call for backup before entering the labyrinthine college campus-- and some due diligence. So it's a superior thriller that won't leave you feeling as cheated as most of them do.
2017-12-16 McDonagh, Martin Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri --> Rating: 8.20
Mildred Hayes' daughter, Angela, was raped and murdered and she is not satisfied with the police efforts to find the culprit. On a whim, she rents three billboards outside of town and announces her dissatisfaction to the world. Sheriff Willoughby takes exception, and his deputies are angry: Willoughby is not a well man and they feel Mildred is being unfair. The elements of stereo-types float through this movie and all of them are subverted by McDonagh's clever, literate plot. The music is funky, alt-country. Peter Dinklage makes a tasteful cameo and everyone resists caricature. "Three Billboards" is about intemperate anger and impulse and the disasters we cause when we think we are seeking justice, and the judgments we make when we let emotion guide our perceptions. Superbly acted all around, well-edited, well-filmed-- surely an Oscar candidate in three or five categories-- this is a rich, thoughtful, provocative film that deserves far more attention than it has received so far.
2017-12-18 Franco, James Disaster Artist --> Rating: 8.00
Think of a person you know with absolutely no talent, no judgement, and poor taste. Imagine this person with millions of dollars available and the sudden urge to write, direct, and produce a feature film. In 2003, a strange man with a vaguely Eastern European accent met an aspiring actor named Greg Sestero in San Francisco. After months of frustration trying to advance their movie careers as actors, Tommy Wiseau decided they would make their own movie. The result was the legendary "The Room", which made $1800 in its debut only to resurface, zombie-like, as a comedy, a film so bad that it was ridiculous, and in its ridiculousness, hilarious. "Disaster Artist" fudges some of the facts (audiences did not openly find it as hilarious at the start: it took a while, and it was because some astute film-goers began to promote it as hilariously bad) but it's main flaw is the way it neglects the really interesting issue of how a failed artists perception can so drastically mismatch the reality. I doubt that Wiseau ever really got what was so funny about his film, but he learned to embrace it, the way William Shatner learned to embrace the campiness of his character in the original "Star Trek". There is a lot of examine there, especially given the current state of politics, in which a large segment of the voting population embraces a braggart as President without a clue as to why sensible people correctly regard him as a vulgar, tasteless, poseur. This is an entertaining movie but could have been richer. And Franco's direction convinces one that he should be an actor.
2017-12-11 Gerwig, Greta Lady Bird --> Rating: 7.50
Incredibly, this film broke the record for favorable reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. But the previous record holder was "Toy Story 2", so what does that mean? It's an acerbic story about a rebellious teen, Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson, who is at loose ends about her future as she nears her high school graduation. She is angry and impulsive and delusional (she thinks she might get into an Ivy League College), and constantly at odds with her nasty mother, who does love her, and punches are pulled as they resolve their issues. She gets a boyfriend who we figure out long before she does that he's gay, loses her virginity in an awkward scene in which it was decided that she would not remove her bra, and secretly applies to a college in New York against her mother's wishes, but with the active approval of her dad. Nobody is exactly caricatured here: it's refreshing to see teachers and other adults portrayed fairly realistically. They are caring and thoughtful, for the most part. But Christine's anger seems unfocused and sometimes aimless. She has some artistic pretensions, but we never see anything really promising there. She's sharp but not studious or ambitious, really. The movie would have improved a lot if they had been able to dramatize a shift in her personality and confidence after she does move to New York. Instead, we get a certified cliche. She hears a choir singing in a church and suddenly misses her home and her mother. It must be acknowledged that "Lady Bird" is too hip, too sophisticated to adopt the "Breakfast Club", "Pretty in Pink" tropes of glorious adolescent masochism. It's failures are mainly artistic and conceptual: I'm not sure there is really a story in this story. The film it most resembles is not those confections, but the sassy "Wish You Were Here" with a young Emily Lloyd navigating the same confusing waters.
2017-11-29 Betts, Margaret Novitiate --> Rating: 8.40
You would not have expected Cathleen to want to be a nun. Her mother smokes and drinks and has men over (her father has abandoned the family). She swears and mocks and embraces worldly amusements. They go to church once because they had nothing better to do that day and Cathleen's mother wants her to make her own decision about religion. But it is enough for Cathleen who becomes intensely curious about religion, mesmerized by the statues and ritual, and fascinated by the idea of being a bride of Christ, of being in love, and loved, personally, by God. So, against her mother's wishes, she signs up, at a very strict convent, and is introduced to the severe Reverend Mother who gives them a welcome, asks for questions, and then remonstrates with a girl who dares to ask one: "postulants don't have questions". "Novitiate" follows this class of young girls as they struggle with identify and self-discipline and devotion, and try hard to repress natural desires that sometimes can't help but overflow towards each other. Cathleen, brilliantly played by Margaret Qualley, observes and absorbs: she's one of the better prospects, with good self-discipline. Other girls are humiliated or evicted with cruel relish by the Reverend Mother. In one powerful scene, one of the girls, Evelyn, is forced to kneel in the center of the group and confess to her weaknesses. Untidiness is not sufficient for Reverend Mother: let's get the real dirt! But Evelyn ends up expressing painful doubts about her own mission. The scene is so well directed, her expressiveness so naked, you feel awkward for the actors. The postulants are not allowed to touch anyone, of course, and we see some of them, desperate for some affection, make furtive gestures towards each other, or more. In the middle of all this, Vatican II emerges, and Reverend Mother rages against the changes, convinced, not completely incorrectly, that it will mean the end for her order, especially since a core component of Vatican II was the idea that nuns are no more beloved by Christ than other Christians.
2017-11-20 Haynes, Todd Wonderstruck --> Rating: 7.00
Disappointing effort by Todd Haynes about a young boy who leaves his unhappy Minnesota home to travel to New York, and parallel story of young girl who leaves her unhappy New Jersey home to go to New York. They are obviously meant to be connected in some wonderful, mysterious way, which only turns out to be a rather obvious, lame circumstance. There are no revelations here so much as bread crumbs, all of them rather random and unconnected. Why does Ben go deaf? Why does Jamie attach to Ben so easily and quickly, with any of that easy banter or playfulness boys of that age thrive on? The actors are weak, the cinematography mildly artistic, the music a bit over-bearing: why did this get such glorious reviews? Because it is, at least, somewhat original and fresh? The last twenty minutes are pompous and over-bearing, just aching to let you in on some profound piece of ART, only to pile on sentiment: it's telling the viewer to feel, rather than evoking feelings with drama or expression.
2017-11-19 Foster, Jodie Home for the Holidays --> Rating: 7.00
Uneven, occasionally vivid Thanksgiving story about an art expert who is fired from her job at the Art Institute of Chicago, hears from her daughter that she is planning to lose her virginity that very weekend, and travels home for an ordeal of a Thanksgiving holiday with her dysfunctional family. Holly Hunter is an exceptional actress but even she can't save this from the occasional descent into caricature-- without wit or invention-- and the gratuitous happy ending which is jarringly out of sync with the tone of the rest of the film. Her brother Tommy is a passive-aggressive practical joker that grates on the viewer. Claudia's sister deserved better than this meanspirited portrayal: she's kind of right about the family. And Claudia's love interest in something of a stalker which, in this scenario, almost pleases her. Her father-- poorly played by Charles Durning-- is harmless, but his big scene, recalling a moment at the airport when Claudia was very young, fizzles, because he can't find the tone. Better than average, perhaps-- there's some rawness and spirit to the proceedings-- but pales behind an achievement like "Junebug".
2017-11-18 Baker, Sean Florida Project --> Rating: 8.50
Incredibly charismatic performance by Brooklynn Prince as a 6 year old girl living in a seedy (though freshly painted) motel in Florida, near Disney World, but utterly apart from it. Moonee and her friends wander from hotel to hotel, to ice cream stands, nearby farms, abandoned condos, and the detritus of shattered American dreams as their mother struggles to assemble the rent, and under the casual protection of the building manager, Bobby-- a refreshingly reliable and wise male character. Prince gives an absolutely stunning performance: she is mouthy, amused, energetic, insightful, bubbly, and cynical. She is loyal to her mom who is more of an irresponsible playmate than a mother, and respectful of Bobby who keeps an eye out for her, but is reaching the end of his tether at her mothers' shenanigans. Most of the adults relate to the kids realistically: annoyed but indulgent, impatient, sometimes, sometimes nurturing. But don't overlook the bleakness of this landscape. Moonee and her friends are largely abandoned by failed parents, and by a society that is more interested in hyper-gratification at Disney World than in the problems of a dissolute young woman and her child. There are no great moments of resolution here, or climatic conflicts, other than the intervention of the authorities at one point. Just a vivid portrait of life on the underside of our empty culture. "The Florida Project", incidentally, was the original development name for Disneyland. Some scenes were clearly shot guerrilla style, without the consent of civic or corporate authorities.
2017-11-13 Berninger, Tom Mistaken for Strangers --> Rating: 8.00
Intriguing documentary filmed by Tom Berninger, brother of The National lead singer and songwriter Matt Berninger, who works out his own feelings in inferiority and envy while filming the National on a tour, while he is supposed to be one of the roadies. Unusually intimate-- he engages with band members and his brother in a familiar, casual tone, and sometimes searing, when he gets fired, and Matt gets exasperated with his mistakes and failures. What we see is the self-pitying Tom trying to resolve his own position in this world: a hugely successful older brother (his parents, though, thought he was the more talented sibling), and glib, comfortable parents who still think he will be a success on his own someday, perhaps as an artist or film-maker (some of the most unexpected scenes occur at his home as he engages his own parents in assessing himself and his brother). The film-making itself is decent-- fairly good shots and good audio-- and he manages to edit his hours of video into a fresh, vivid encounter with a charismatic band (Aaron Dessner comes across as very interesting, and miraculously tolerant of Tom's requests for poses and actions), and himself.
2017-11-11 Fellini, Federico I Vitelloni --> Rating: 8.20
Vital, energetic, and sophisticated portrait of five young Italian men in a small Italian village in the 1950's. Unemployed, bored, living with their families, they live to hustle women and hang out together, until one of them, Fausto, gets a girl, Sandra, pregnant and leaves for a honeymoon in Rome. Fellini was open about the biographical elements of the story-- it's the story of his youth in Rimini. You can see why his films appealed to American critics: it's far more adult and sophisticated than almost anything from Hollywood at the time, and is more comparable to film like "Slackers" much, much later. Nobody with the exception of Moraldo is admirable in any serious way. They all live with their mothers and become weepy when thinking about how much they have sacrificed for their darling boys. Leopold is a writer: when a famous actor comes to town for a performance he unexpectedly considers one of Leopold's plays and then leads him on a strange, even more unexpected walk. Alberto likes wearing dresses and goes wild at the annual carnival-- a vibrant scene directed with gusto, and provides the movie with late momentum.
2017-11-10 Kwan, Dan Swiss Army Man --> Rating: 7.50
Wildly inventive at times, but also seriously flawed-- Radcliffe plays a corpse that washes up on an island just as Hank (Dano) is about the kill himself out of loneliness. The corpse is seriously flatulent relieves himself almost constantly until Hank literally puts a cork in it. Good comedy can and should be transgressive but not everything that is transgressive is good comedy. And there is a manipulative streak of gay evangelism here: why don't you just come out, Hank? Why don't you acknowledge that you should have sex with me? Why are you resisting? Inevitably, it's because you're uptight and repressed. And what is the geography of this place anyway? They are on an island, then in a redwood forest, then in suburbia-- but it's not magical-- it's just confusing in the way inadequate writers insist is really quite meaningful when it's not. The music, by Manchester Orchestra, is at least interesting at times
2017-11-08 Wright, Edgar Baby Driver --> Rating: 5.00
Edgar Wright, it is said, was sitting on this idea for a film for many years-- since 1995. I have no idea what idea they are talking about: "Baby Driver" has no ideas. It's a long chase film, with a few minor variations on the usual cliche'-ridden cast of tough guys and sexy dolls and master minds. We are given to believe that Baby is more honorable than the others because he pouts when they kill people. He doesn't leave. He doesn't turn anyone in. He just pouts. Director Wright brags that almost none of the film was CGI-- except for about 450 shots. Does converting the Subaru's to rear-wheel drive so they can peel away from crime scenes count as "authentic"? We are supposed to be excited by this. As we are excited when, trying to depart from a robbery location without attracting attention, Baby guns the engine and lays rubber, spinning and smoking his wheels, until, hell yes, the police notice which car the robbers are in. The chase scenes are edited to give the impression of action but fail because the cuts are often arbitrary and even ridiculous. Edgar Wright interviewed some ex-convicts before making the movie. Why? To avoid doing anything that might be construed as believable? Worst of all, we are treated the contemptible rehash of the dead villain springing back to life, not once, not twice, but three times. Wow. I'll bet you were surprised. As surprised as you were by Baby getting an incredibly light sentence after being involved in the violent deaths of several police officers? Or the inconsequential results of Bats killing the arms dealer? Some of the actors expressed how thrilled they were to be watching Kevin Spacey do his magic. This is what happens when actors like Dustin Hoffman, Jaime Fox, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Lawrence, and so on, once did good work. They get a reputation. Then they start playing unchallenging roles demanding caricatures of their earlier work, and certain people fall over themselves with wonder.
2017-10-24 Campos, Antoinio Christine --> Rating: 8.10
Grim but effective drama about the last few weeks in the life of Christine Chubbuck, a TV reporter in Sarasota, Florida, who killed herself on-air in July 1974, after a series of disappointments and personal trials. Christine was depressed, particularly at the fact that she was almost 30 and still a virgin. She had some medical problems. And she found out that two of her colleagues, but not her, had been promoted to a new station in Baltimore owned by the owner. Filmed in muted colours that look as though they had not been corrected-- in fidelity to 1980's television-- but beautifully edited and paced, and displays a deep knowledge of the workings of a local television station, the politics, and the mechanics of the technology at the time. A fine, moving film.
2017-10-20 Villeneuve, Denis Blade Runner 2049 --> Rating: 7.40
It's 30 years later and "K" is a known replicant out doing his job killing rebellious replicants when he encounters a strange tree and possible hidden compartment. He finds the skeleton of a woman who appears to have died during a C-section in child-birth, which arouses the deep concern of Lieutenant Joshi, because replicants are supposed to be able to replicate. K tries to solve the mystery because, well, a number of absurd coincidences make it really, really important for him to do that. He tracks down Gaff in an old age home, and meets a sort of witch replicant who provides him with ridiculously specific details about Deckard, and then he tracks down Deckard who appears to me to have been waiting 30-years for K to show up and ask him some questions, but first, let's have a fight scene, with a convenient struggle that allows us to have dialogue so I can change my mind about killing you and we can be interrupted by the arrival of the evil corporate hack's agents, who want to send Deckard somewhere to be questioned more seriously, but really, to carelessly allow K to try to rescue Deckard.... It just piles on. It doesn't do enough to keep you distracted from all the holes in the plot, and certainly doesn't do enough to make you care about this story line. Unlike the first "Blade Runner", no case was made for why a replicant having a "soul" would be any different from a replicant without one, which is what, notwithstanding the method acting, K is.
2017-10-14 Kobiela, Dorota Loving Vincent --> Rating: 7.80
Everything is in place for a spectacularly brilliant movie: 65,000 oil paintings used to animate Vincent Van Gogh's paintings and bring the story of his last few days to life. One of the most interesting personalities in art history. And then the writers got to work and create a remarkably lame story about the son of the postman, Roulin, setting out to deliver Vincent's last letter to Theo, at the insistence of his father. He is reluctant. Why? To advance tension in the plot is the only explanation. And everyone around Vincent seems to see into the future when a Van Gogh sells for $93 million: they all know that he really is a genius even though at the time he had only sold one painting and most people thought he was merely mad. Theo, of course, is dead by the time Armand Roulin arrives in Paris, so he has to seek out other people from Van Gogh's portraits, including Pere Tanguy, and Dr. Gachet, and his daughter Marguerite. It's all sophomoric and presented with the unpleasant tone of adolescent self-pity: Armand even binge drinks to accentuate the depths of his despair. And eventually we don't really find out anything more about the mystery of Van Gogh's suicide other than it likely was suicide. But the animation of Van Gogh's paintings-- in oils!-- is stunning and worth the price all by itself.
2017-10-15 Haskin, Byron War of the Worlds (1953) --> Rating: 7.80
The original film version of H. G. Wells classic. The most clever thing about the approach to the material is the avoidance of over-explanation. As it would be in real life, the people don't know very much about the alien invaders. It is sudden and devastating, perhaps reflecting Cold War paranoia about Russians and Chinese. And the story focuses on individuals reacting to the crisis, sometimes heroically, sometimes with selfishness and fear.
2000-01-01 Spielberg, Steven War of the Worlds (2005) --> Rating: 7.70
Reasonably tight SciFi drama about a separated man who, suddenly in charge of his two children, must navigate the invasion of Earth by aliens who use gigantic tripod like ships to annihilate humans and human weapons. Ray Ferrier uses his wits and ingenuity to escape various tight fixes, including a mob who take his car, and the sinking of a ferry, to try to get back to Boston. Along the way, his son, Robbie, insists on joining the marines to attack the invaders. This is a Spielberg film so we know what the ending is: the family must be reunited. And as is also typical of Spielberg, the action sequences are well shot and sometimes thrilling.
2017-10-15 Clark, Zach Little Sister --> Rating: 7.40
Interesting film if only for the fact that at least it's about real people with familiar issues (the brother who returns from Iraq severely mutilated, the goth girl who goes straight, the disillusioned parents). Colleen Lunsford, who was a goth rebel in her youth, is now a novice in a convent-- the "Sisters of Mercy". When her brother comes back from Iraq with serious burn wounds and holes up in the family's guest house, she returns home to try to reach out to him. She reconnects with a high school friend, fences with her mother, and makes it clear that she has no romantic interests in anyone. It's a bit off-kilter and fresh, but not nearly as well developed as, say "Blue Jay", and not as mature or provocative. Consistently weak performances throughout. At one point, Colleen prays, and looks skyward-- are you kidding me? She never, at any point, conveys the conviction or passion of religion, or that sense of comfort within her own faith.
2017-10-13 Lehmann, Alex Blue Jay --> Rating: 8.50
Jim and Amanda had a great high school romance going 20 years ago. Now both of them happen to be back in the California town they both left and they bump into each other at the supermarket, and carefully, almost reluctantly, agree to have a coffee together. And so begins a delicate dance fraught with emotional peril, and layers are peeled until we begin to approach the core event that drove them apart, and their regrets and ambivalence about it. Consistently startling and disturbing-- you almost wish you could step in and steer them away from exposure-- Jim and Amanda recreate the extraordinary rapport they had to the point where you almost expect them to fall in love. They role-play and dance and convincingly narrate their own myths, but are inevitably driven to the unresolved tensions they also created. Neither of them are perfect-- Amanda clearly has it more together than Jim-- but you can understand how they might easily have married and settled in together, if not for the mistakes. Beautifully acted-- mostly improvised-- by two leads who develop an extraordinary rapport with each other. They are obviously compatible and funny and they obviously adore something about each other. Which makes the story all the more tragic. Riveting. Nothing like it out there-- complex, adult, almost frightening in its acute dissection of how relationships work and fail.
2017-10-07 Knight, Travis Kubo and the Two Strings --> Rating: 8.10
Mythic, stylish, imaginative tale told with gorgeous stop-motion animation (with substantial use of cgi and other techniques). Kubo is a young boy who has lost his father and is losing his mother. Every day, he strolls into town to earn a few coins by playing his shamisen, a three stringed traditional Japanese instrument, which magically animates sheets of paper into living origami, including a delightful fire-breathing chicken. Kubo has only one eye: his evil grandfather and two aunties took one, and are looking for him: they want the other one. We later learn some mythic significance to this, but the myth-making, in the end, gets soggy and sentimental and concludes that families are important and memories are important. Which is odd, because the animation is so fresh and vivid and original-- all put into the service of the most conventional message imaginable. Kubo's mom becomes a bit of a nag, and his father is manly and brave, and they only exist to provide and care for Kubo and have no personality beyond that. Voices and music are excellent.
2017-10-06 Plotycl, Pierre The Penguin Who Peeked Too Early --> Rating: 4.00
The thrilling 1924 rescue of sixteen stranded mimes off of Puget Sound in the Arctic who survived a shipwreck for four weeks by eating others others imaginary shoe strings.
2017-08-07 Aaron, Coppy Mockingpenguin --> Rating: 4.00
Dramatic recreation of the story of prejudiced Eskimo girl who learns that her father kills polars bears for his quilt.
2017-10-02 Harley, Horkilina Winter Explorations of Shirley Jones --> Rating: 8.00
Messy. Water buffalo! Who thought of that? What a film! Remarkable! And joyful. An excuberant celebration of horrible table manners. Excellent. And so charming.
2017-09-21 Horky Evanescence, Eddie Frantic Excellent Water Buffalo --> Rating: 7.00
Water buffalo! Who thought of that? What a film! Remarkable! And joyful. An excuberant celebration of horrible table manners. Excellent. And so charming.
2017-09-19 Carney, John Sing Street --> Rating: 7.80
Amusing and sometimes charming story of a young high school student who forms a band in order to get the beautiful girl he sees smoking across the street from his school one day. The songs are pretty good, the performances quite good-- it looks like the kids can really play. There's the predictably repressive Catholic brothers who run the school, and the ending is implausible and rather disturbing in a bad sense-- do they really want to leave us wondering about their future given the dubious plans they have?
2017-09-30 DaCosta, Morton Music Man --> Rating: 7.50
Typical of big Hollywood productions of the era, glittering sets, elaborate, deeply rehearsed musical/dance numbers, and relatively intelligent, cleverly written script. But it's still a musical-- what to make of it? "Professor" Harold Hill is a con man, a shyster, who takes on an allegedly resistant Iowa town to try to sell them musical instruments, lessons, and uniforms, and then abscond with the money before the lessons begin: he really can't teach a note. So not the most convincing fraud: they still get their instruments and uniforms. But he meets his beautiful nemesis in librarian Marian Paroo, who instantly identifies him for what he is. To the movie's credit, Marian is an interesting, complex character. You keep expecting her to turn him in but she doesn't: why? She would have us believe that Hill's exuberant embrace of spontaneous gratification appeals to something in her. I would argue that the fact that Jones was pregnant at the time was a factor in her performance: she is insouciant at times, sensual, and amused, even while outwardly dismissing him. The rest of the town are mostly affectionate caricatures, based, as is known, on Mason City, Iowa. Shirley Jones is a peach. Like most musicals, it's a bizarre confection of massive stagey dance numbers with literate, sometimes subtle-- and sometimes subversive--drama. Between the lines, Hill and Paroo obviously have a one-night stand (at one point she tells him that she knows she can't expect a traveling salesman to offer "more" than something, but doesn't, of course, say what that something is). It belongs to an era in which expectations of the audience were much higher than they are now.
2017-09-30 Horky Evanescence, Eddie Frantic Excellent Monkees --> Rating: 6.00
What a film! Remarkable! And joyful. An excuberant celebration of horrible table manners. Excellent. And so charming.
2017-09-26 Horky Evanescence, Eddie Excellent Darned Monkeys --> Rating: 6.00
What a film! Remarkable! And joyful. An excuberant celebration of horrible table manners. Excellent.
2017-09-26 Horky, Harry Darned Monkeys --> Rating: 4.00
2017-09-25 Howard, Kenny Howard's "End" Ing --> Rating: 11.00
Testing Howard's Ending. Hoo Haw! "Hoo" haw! with quotes.
2017-09-25 Diddlywack, Dom Blather Willing Pies --> Rating: 4.00
What? What? Are you kidding?
2017-09-25 Buffalo, Bill Doris's "birthday" cake. --> Rating: 9.00
Happy happy, joy moy.
2017-09-25 Michell, Roger My Cousin Rachel --> Rating: 7.80
Phillip is orphaned when very young, in 19th century Cornwall, and adopted by his adult cousin, Ambrose, who takes ill and goes to Italy to recover where he meets another cousin, Rachel, whom he decides to marry. Then something goes wrong and he sends a number of hidden, coded scripts to Phillip blaming Rachel, before he dies. Phillip expects the worst but when Rachel arrives at the estate he stands to inherit, he is smitten, and Rachel gives no indication of seeking to profit from her relationship with Ambrose. Which is exactly how she proceeds to profit from her relationship with Ambrose. Phillip-- perhaps too credulously for us to buy into-proceeds down a path that looks disastrous, especially to his god-father's daughter whose sole purpose seems to be to provide a virtuous alternative to Rachel. But we're left wondering because it appears that many if not all of Phillips suspicions are unjustified. What rescues the film is Holliday Grianger's carefully calibrated portrait of Louise who flashes something like a smirk at just the right moments to raise doubts about the purity of her motives. She clearly expects Phillip to marry her eventually and Rachel is clearly a threat, but you have to wonder about her too. The conclusion is total Victorian melodrama and implausible-- why not ... well, why not anything but that.
2017-09-22 Arteta, Miguel Beatriz at Dinner --> Rating: 8.10
Very unusual, intelligent story of a holistic health practitioner who ends up joining a party hosted by the ambitious husband of a customer. Kathy's daughter went through a diagnosis of cancer and Beatriz was an indispensable part of her recovery, so Kathy relishes the opportunity to show gratitude by including her at their dinner when her car breaks down, though Beatriz doesn't appear to have much in common with the acquisitive, Trumpesque guests. They are celebrating the acquisition of a property they can develop that will make them all a lot of money, but which has incurred some community disapproval and protests. Beatriz is a spiritualist who sees their exploitative practices as deeply harmful to the earth and to the poorer families who are dispossessed by these transactions. It's personal for her: her own family had to relocate after the property they were on was handed over to rich developers with the backing of the local authorities and police. But Doug (the Trump-like mastermind) is no caricature. He's smart enough to be nice to Beatriz even after she explodes at him. And he credibly articulates a view of life that makes sense to him, if not to Beatriz or to us. Hayek may be a bit too humorless as Beatriz, but she also sustains a feeling of gravity and humanity, in contrast to the joyful exuberant aggression of the other guests. Not convinced by the ending, but entranced by the rest of the movie. By the director of "The Good Girl", another surprisingly caustic take on American capitalist culture.
2017-09-23 Cretton, Destin Daniel Glass Castle --> Rating: 6.50
The book by Jeannette Walls was-- literally-- unbelievable. Jeanette grew up in a highly dysfunctional family that hit the road when bills became due or overdue, or the police began poking around, and wandered the country sleeping in the open, or in abandoned houses, avoiding school and jobs, and responsibility. Rex Walls was a hopelessly impractical dreamer, a highly intelligent man who was unable or unwilling to hold a steady job, and gradually took more and more to drink, neglecting and starving his family. His parents were violent and creepy. Mom Rose Mary was an artist who didn't seem all too concerned either. The book was a compelling read because Walls writes well, if not stylishly, but this movie is a disaster. Scenes are static and dull, and none of the characters really comes to life at all. Watts and Harrelson give sub-par performances and Brie Larson is never believable. Did they not rehearse? There's no tension here really-- why is the film so focused on Jeannette's desire to leave home, as if that was some kind of meaningful crisis? A reconciliation scene so cringe-worthy, I think I actually shriveled up a little watching it. "Glass Castle" was so bad I began to believe I needed to re-read the book to elucidate more clearly in my own mind what a lousy story this is. The younger actors playing Jeannette are better than the adults but still suffer from poor direction: Jeannette as a young girl often sounds like the adult projecting herself back in time, rather than a flesh and blood character. When Rex declares that he is going to build a glass castle, the young Jeannette sounds more like an older Jeannette illustrating that she believe him, than a child actually believing him. This is a consistent flaw in all the performance: everyone's trying to set things up for the big finale, which is itself rather grotesque: is that really all it takes to make it all okay?
2017-09-06 McCarthy, Colm Girl With all the Gifts --> Rating: 7.80
Melanie is a young, black girl who is infected with the zombie virus-- as given in this story-- and should be attacking and eating humans. For some reason, she is different, and, in a dark, dystopian lab, a scientist, Dr. Caroline Caldwell, thinks she might have the key to the cure for the zombie virus, a pathogen fungis. The plan is to eventually kill her and dissect her brain to retrieve the antibodies necessary for a cure to save all of mankind. Like most movie scientists, we are asked to believe that Dr. Caldwell's theory is 100% correct, and she is assumed to be generally rational. We are to assume that other scientists don't disagree with her theory, or that teather Justineau wouldn't argue that the science isn't conclusive. Justineau likes Melanie and wants to save her. Melanie still can't resist going after a living creature occasionally, but she cooperates with Justineau, and Sgt. Eddie Parks, and when they are forced to escape the compound they are in and make their way through zombie infested regions, she is a big help-- because the zombie know she is one of their own and not a target. It's a somewhat compelling story until some glaring inconsistencies arrive-- a convenience for certain plot devices. The zombies initially attack without hesitation, in a mad splurge for flesh, but at other points they behave quite differently-- giving the director time to have a crisis scene among the principles. And Melanie doesn't seem all that alarmed when Dr. Caldwell-- who is in a convenient crisis of her own at the moment-- tries to persuade her to cooperate with her own evisceration. Yes, one does wonder about he child actors in the film. The children in the last scenes have no reason to be wearing clothes-- in fact, given the established story line, it is absurd. But you can't have that. But you can have them tearing humans apart and eating them? Tearing bloody flesh with their mouths? But the actress, Sennia Nanua, is a gift to the director: she is amazing. In an early scene, where the infected children are taken to class in restraints, her facial expressions are a marvel: this is someone who knows and accepts the routine (as a child would), and doesn't like it, but wants to ingratiate herself with her adult minders.
2017-09-04 Taylor-Johnson, Sam Nowhere Boy --> Rating: 7.80
Intriguing biopic of John Lennon's early life-- just before the Beatles rocketed to success, co-written by his halfsister, Julia Baird.. Like "Backbeat", it smartly ignores the traditional pop star tropes in favor of a more convincing portrait of a troubled artist as a young man. Lennon lives with his aunt Mimi and seems unaware of the fact that his biological mother--Mimi's sister, Julia-- lives just short distance away. Their meeting creates tensions between Mimi and Julia, and John struggles with feels of having been abandoned. Julia tries very hard to win John's love, now that he is an adult, while John's growing passion for music begins to give him more independence. Well-acted, well-written, and snappy and entertaining, if not always accurate. Indeed-- it's a bit of a mess in that respect. McCartney met the director, a friend, to discuss the film, and insisted that Mimi was not the unpleasant character originally portrayed. Yet details of her relationship with John-- complaining about only receiving as much money from him as Cynthia Powell's mother, and that he hadn't signed over the house he gave her to her name-- and her well-known disapproval of John's girlfriends, indicate otherwise. Is McCartney just trying to be nice?
2017-09-02 Desplechin, Arnaud My Golden Days --> Rating: 7.50
Desplechin tries very hard to attach SIGNIFICANCE to this rambling, sophomoric exploration of just how interesting he is, because he has fond memories of a sexy young girl, took part in helping some Jewish Refuseniks escape Russia, trained in Anthropology with an older black woman. That is, I assume Paul Dedaulus is the stand-in for Desplechin: he lives in that adolescent masochistic world in which young writers or artists or gay men really believe their sufferings make them special. Paul has a traumatic child-hood-- his mother appears to be psychotic and his father beats him for getting lousy grades at school. So he goes to live with an aunt for a time, and then from couch to couch, while he inexplicably doesn't seem to consider getting a job, until he enrolls in University. Esther is the girl who is not nearly as charming or witty or funny as Paul seems to think he is, and, actually, not really as beautiful as he things she is either. She's certainly as selfobsessed as he is. It is a mystery as to why, near the end, Paul laces into a former friend, Kovalki, for having hit on Esther at a time when Paul was living far away and didn't seem to care enough about her to drop by occasionally and see her, while, we are given to understand, she in despair at his absence. Or maybe she was in despair at the thought of herself being miserable without him. It's hard to tell, at times, if this is well-acted or not: the actors spend so much time being fussy about their own misery.
2017-09-01 Almodovar, Pedro Julieta --> Rating: 6.00
Based on Alice Munro's stories and looks like it could have been excellent if directed with the slightest cleverness. Unexpectedly static and schematic and poorly rehearsed and poorly directed.
2017-08-07 Morrison, Bill Dawson City Frozen Time --> Rating: 8.00
Daring documentary about the trove of old films, over 500, found in a frozen, filled-in swimming pool in Dawson City, the Yukon, in 1978, and the city of Dawson itself. The films ended up where they did because Dawson City was the last on the long line of cities to receive films in the early 20th century and it didn't pay to return them to the movie distributors. So the theatres just stored them in unused buildings until they were finally told to just dispose of them. They then dumped them into a swimming pool that was being covered over to make a permanent ice rink. Thus preserving 500 films that are otherwise completely lost to history. Morrison mixes in clips of the old films, especially if they pertain to life in the Yukon at the turn of the century, with photos and text, to tell the story of the gold rush, the city that exploded for only a year or so, and the tragedy of boom and bust cycles on the citizens-- the downtown burned down 9 times in the first 9 years-- and the indigenous peoples of the north. The score, by Sigur Ros collaborator Alex Somers is heavy on electronic and effects but combines with the black and white footage to provide a mesmerizing gloss on the past and present of Dawson, even when-- or especially when-- the film footage is damaged: Morrison unabashedly lets it run, scrapes and scratches and all, and it's beautiful. Nothing like it.
2017-08-05 Miller, Rebecca Maggies Plan --> Rating: 7.00
Maggie wants to have a baby, and considers using the sperm from a local pickle merchant named Guy (an offhand allusion, I think, to "Crossing Delancey"). She doesn't want the sex-- it would complicate things-- so she is asking him to put it into a bottle. In the meantime, she meets and falls for repressed novelist John, whose wife, Georgette, appears to be a frigid bitch. Her friend, Tony, a former boyfriend, gives her advice, which consists mostly of contradicting her poorly thought-out plans. John and Maggie move in together, but what if this was a mistake? What if John and Georgette should really be together? Minor-league Woody Allen, really, with elements of "Crossing Delancey" thrown in, and resolution you could see coming a mile off. The biggest problem is that Julianne Moore, who plays Maggie's rival, was born in 1951, and plays a -- well, what is it? Danish? German? Swedish? Dutch? Whatever it is, she misses the accent badly. Greta Gerwig was born in 1983. Ethan Hawke was born in 1970. It just is not believable-- in fact, it's kind of revolting-- that a 65-year-old woman would be a credible alternative to lucious 35-year-old Gerwig, for 45-year-old Hawke. It's ridiculous. However, I will give them extra points for a bizarre and very funny French-Canadian rendition of Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark".
2017-08-04 Miller, Rebecca Maggie's Plan --> Rating: 7.00
Maggie wants to have a baby, and considers using the sperm from a local pickle merchant named Guy (an offhand allusion, I think, to "Crossing Delancey"). She doesn't want the sex-- it would complicate things-- so she is asking him to put it into a bottle. In the meantime, she meets and falls for repressed novelist John, whose wife, Georgette, appears to be a frigid bitch. Her friend, Tony, a former boyfriend, gives her advice, which consists mostly of contradicting her poorly thought-out plans. John and Maggie move in together, but what if this was a mistake? What if John and Georgette should really be together? Minor-league Woody Allen, really, with elements of "Crossing Delancey" thrown in, and resolution you could see coming a mile off. The biggest problem is that Julianne Moore, who plays Maggie's rival, was born in 1951, and plays a -- well, what is it? Danish? German? Swedish? Dutch? Whatever it is, she misses the accent badly. Greta Gerwig was born in 1983. Ethan Hawke was born in 1970. It just is not believable-- in fact, it's kind of revolting-- that a 65-year-old woman would be a credible alternative to lucious 35-year-old Gerwig, for 45-year-old Hawke. It's ridiculous. However, I will give them extra points for a bizarre and very funny French-Canadian rendition of Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark".
2017-08-04 Nolan, Christopher Dunkirk --> Rating: 7.90
The idea is to create a montage of sequences, using faster and faster cuts, to gives singular impression of the drama, the story to the audience, with some clips actually melding into each other-- water, the clink of bullets on steal, men struggling in water, dodging bullets. Does it work? I'm not sure. The sustained drone of the soundtrack-- music combined with effects-- became annoying at a point, like a perpetual tease of suspense before any actual climax. There is no actual climax, no narrative propulsion in that sense. Just a mad jumble of impressionistic moments. But give Nolan points for avoiding Spielbergesque grotesqueries, like Schindler weeping after the war is over for not having sold his ring to rescue even more Jews, or the weeping soldier, Private Ryan, questioning whether he was worthy of Captain John Miller's (Tom Hanks) heroism, with his family, at Miller's grave. There is progress here: soldiers don't volunteer to give their lives for others-- civilians and airmen do. But Nolan doesn't give you the big moment in which we all celebrate our vicarious virtues (aside from one regrettable scene in which soldiers on ships applaud the flotilla arriving to rescue their comrades). Instead, he makes it clear that survival was a matter of luck and good fortune. Interesting trivia: Charles Lightoller, of the Titanic, was one of the sailors who took his yacht over to Dunkirk. Incidentally, Nolan has stated that without the successful evacuation, Britain would have been "defeated", but Churchill had already made up his mind to continue fighting--with the unanimous agreement of his cabinet-- days earlier.
2017-07-29 Minnelli, Vincente Meet Me in St. Louis --> Rating: 7.50
A musical (though the songs are sparse, and sometimes integrated into the action) about the romances and disappointments of the four Smith daughters, Tootie, Agnus, Esther, and Rose, in the year leading up to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. Rose and Warren are nearing a dramatic step, while Esther dreams of John Truett next door; little Tootie buries her dead dolls and engages in various mischief (as did Margaret O'Brien, who played her). Poor Agnus doesn't get much to do at all. Some surprisingly dark sequences-- like the Halloween night where children light a bonfire and heave furniture on it, and knock on doors and scream "I hate you" and hurl flour into the faces of neighbors. More than a little strange. Based closely-- apparently-- on the memoir by Sally Benson about her own upbringing, in St. Louis, and the house was recreated to her exacting specifications. Judy Garland was beginning her decline, just as this film thrust her into the front ranks of Hollywood adult stars. She spent hours in her trailer while the other actors and crew waited. Her performance in this film is fair, but she is over-shadowed by the brilliant Margaret O'Brien, perhaps the best child-actor of her generation, who was able to weep on cue, and easily commands dialogue when called upon. Stunningly, she was seven when "Meet Me.." was filmed.
2017-07-28 Jarmusch, Jim Paterson --> Rating: 8.10
How do you describe a film like this? A bus driver poet meets various people, listens to them, watches them, over-hears their conversation, encounters them, and goes home every night to a loving, loyal, charming wife, and annoying dog. And again and again. And that's it. Laura, his wife, has an obsession with black and white, and wants to learn guitar and become a famous country singer, expressed in a conversation that has a nearly comic tone, but is acted straight, without self-amusement. There is a moderately intense subplot about a couple breaking up, and a Japanese poetry fan gives Paterson (the poet with the same name as his city) advice. But "Paterson" is about the poetry of life itself, of noticing details of existence, and paying attention to every moment. And reflection and amusement and curiosity. Understated performances and nothing flashy about the direction-- which I liked (no handheld, jerky camera, or fast cutting). Just a quiet, poetic, entrancing film about poetry and love. There is a wonderful moment when Paterson meets a young girl waiting for her mother and sister and finds that she likes poetry and she reads one for him. She is amazing.
2017-07-16 Palmer, Ben Man Up --> Rating: 7.40
All the elements of the traditional Hollywood romantic comedy are there: the quirky, funny guy, the lonely, clumsy, attractive but unattractive girl, the losers, but there are enough fresh elements here to keep it entertaining. Nancy, through a reasonably developed sequence of events, ends up meeting Jessica's blind date, and, after some hesitation, decides to go along with the confusion. She and Jack, the date, have a great time, of course, before complications ensue. The rapport between the two leads is convincing and entertaining, and the secondary characters are mostly surprising and more dimensional than usual. There's almost a little heartbreak before that bizarrely English tradition of the very public-- and to my mind, humiliating-- confession of true and eternal love (see "Love Actually" or "Four Weddings and a Funeral" for previous incarnations). Mostly fun and amusing if not very unpredictable after all.
2017-07-14 Troell, Jan Hamsun --> Rating: 8.50
Norwegian poet and novelist Knut Hamsun won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1920 but nursed a vitriolic grievance against the English for their complicity in the massive starvation in Norway during the first world war. As such, he welcomed Hitler to power and continued to support him to the bitter end, while acknowledging some ignorance about his treatment of the Jews. He went from Norway's poet laureate to a despised, completely marginalized personality after the war. Yet he remains acknowledged as a major influence on writers such as Isaac Singer, Henry Miller, Hermann Hesse. "Hamsun" is about the man-- manifestly-- but also about marriage and family, and his maddening inability to provide his own children and wife with love and support. He met Hitler-- according to the movie, disastrously, when he insisted on Norway's preeminent role post war greater Germany, and objected to some of Terboven's harsh responses to resistance. His wife, Marie, however was a more enthusiastic, less reserved cheerleader for the Germans and toured Germany extensively reciting Hamsun's works. He didn't really repent of his views and famously wrote a fawning obituary for Hitler after he died.
2017-07-08 August, Bille Best Intentions --> Rating: 8.30
Ingmar Bergman wrote this biography of the early years of his parents' marriage, their struggles against familial disapproval and class differences (Henrik was poor, Anna was from a rich family), and Anna's struggle to adapt the austere environment of a rural norther town where Henrik has been appointed pastor. Beautifully filmed and acted and heart-breaking-- August's sensitivity to delicate scenes of intense emotional weight is unparalleled. Conversations sometimes sear and then both sides draw back in the palpable fear of permanently destroyed relationships. Anna flatly tells her mother that she will never forgive her for reading a letter she secretly sent to Henrik, which had been intercepted by her father. Yet "Best Intentions" always steers within the plausible, the realistic contours of family relationships. We are always surprised--as in real life-- at the compromises people make to preserve relationships when it may be all they have, or, at least, the most important thing in their lives.
2017-07-07 Troell, Jan Everlasting Moments --> Rating: 8.60
Maria Larsson is married to a brute, Sigfrid, a hard-working but hard-drinking man with traditional views of the family and a volatile temperament. Before they were married, she won a lottery, with a ticket purchased by Sigfrid, for a camera. She discovers, with the help of a sympathetic local professional-- who is immediately fond of her--, that she has a knack for photography, even developing her own prints. Later, with hard times, she discovers that she can eke out a bit of a living by photographing locals, store-owners, even the body of a young girl who committed suicide, partly because of an act of cruelty by Maria's daughter. Sigfrid joins a worker's union, becomes implicated in radical terrorism, serves in the army, and eventually serves time for his abuses of Maria, but, surprisingly, isn't all bad. There will be no comeuppance in this subtle, sensitive, beautifully crafted film-- a mature Jan Troell displaying his gifts with patience and generosity. What shines most brightly is the remarkable character of Maria Larsson, her determination, and endurance, and curiosity, in the face of discouraging prospects.
2017-06-28 Tyldum, Morten Passengers --> Rating: 6.70
Starts out well, with a reasonably well-developed idea of a space ark carrying thousands of humans to a new world, and Jim's crisis when he discovers he has been awakened 81 years early. And then descends into absolute ridiculousness, reaching a moment that must have been inspired by the "I know Unix" line in Jurassic Park. We found the problem. We can fix it. We don't know anything about space ship technology or engineering, but we are going to fix it with an incredibly daring space walk that will solve the problem at the last possible second. And you throw all of the credibility of the characters' relationship out the window as well because they must affirm their love for each other-- wonderfully monogamous and traditional, in this scheme-and live happily ever after, even though Jim essentially murdered Aurora. The first film in which I began to wonder if Lawrence has been wasting her talents so steadily lately that she might not have any left. For $20 million would you do a turkey? Sure. As for Chris Pratt, he convey's all the emotional development of Peewee Herman Librium. And Laurence Fishburne method acts himself into a quick exit for which he should be eternally grateful. Incidentally, an earlier draft had a far more interesting ending: the space ship, the Avalon, erroneously ejects all 5,000 passengers into space before it arrives at the new homeland, and the only people to exit the craft are the descendants of Jim and Aurora. But I think the producers began to believe their own press and got carried away with the romanticism of it all. Definite echoes of "The Shining", "Space Odyssey", and "Aliens". The real good twin of this movie is Wertmueller's "Swept Away", and "Passengers" would have been far more interesting if their positions, after Aurora discovers the deception, gradually reversed.
2017-06-22 Jia, Zhangke Touch of Sin --> Rating: 7.50
Over-rated Chinese anthology of four stories about various individuals "touched by sin", who are corrupted by the experience, alienated, and destroyed. The first is a man who is angered by local corruption involving government officials and the owner of a coal mine. The second, is a hired killer who returns to his family to visit his mother on her birthday: his family doesn't want him there, and his wife wishes he would stay. (We are shown the same man earlier killing three gangsters who try to rob a truck-driver). The third is about a woman having an affair with a married man who issues him an ultimatum and then is confronted by the aggrieved spouse. In the final story, a young boy works at a factory, takes a job in a high end bordello, falls in in hopeless love with a prostitute, and then returns to his factory job. All are marked by a sense of dreary fatalism, and the odd embrace of American cliches about violence and sexuality: the "good" prostitute appears reluctant to do her job, I assume because the directory doesn't want the audience to disapprove of her too much. Many of the sequences are unconvincing-- does nobody ever hear gunshots in China? There is value in this film: the stories are taken from the headlines in China (especially a suicide of a factory worker and the corruption of the local official) and it gives us a glimpse inside the dislocating Potemkin village of community that China has made into a national culture in it's desperate lust for American-style prosperity. These characters are all alone, wandering, unfettered, and disconnected. We are left with the haunting image of a man uselessly beating his horse because it won't pull a load that is too heavy, on wheels sunk in the dirt, echoed when a man at a salon uselessly beats the receptionist with wads of cash because she won't give him a hand-job. He almost speaks for the culture: why the hell not? What is it about this world we live in that allows you to refuse to do what I ask for money?
2017-06-15 Linklater, Richard Everybody Wants Some --> Rating: 8.10
An echo film, of Linklater's "Dazed and Confused" (1993): Jake and the boys are Mitch and the boys headed for college. "Everybody Wants Some" takes us through the first three days as young freshman, Jake, a pitcher on a scholarship, meets his new room-mates and moves into a house reserved for baseball players, to the first moments of the first class-- during which the exhausted ball players fall asleep. They drink and chase women and party and talk about everything, but mostly baseball and girls. Each of them is a distinct, well-drawn character, portrayed with depth and conviction, from Jay, the demented, hyper-aggressive pitcher who thinks he is Nolan Ryan, to the quietly brilliant hitter, McReynolds, who humbles him at the first scrimmage, to the home-boy who thinks his girlfriend might be pregnant, to the over-aged hipster who cons his way onto the roster. Linklater's strength is his ability to create convincing characters and have them play out scenes so naturally and amusingly that we don't always mind the improbably luck they have (a disproportionate number of women are gorgeous and eager). Throw a few brilliant scenes into the mix, like the punk band playing the theme from Gilligan's Island, or the artsy girl who takes an interest in Jake. It's about male bonding (the way Jake insists his baseball mates are welcome to the Theatre Arts party he was invited to by the artsy fartsy girl), and, in Linklater's world, they take an interest in the artsy girls and the artsy girls take an interest in them, and Jake seals the deal with Beverly by telling her about an essay he wrote on the Myth of Sysyphus. These are not bad males. They are boorish and irresponsible but you also know they are going to end up married and with good jobs and this is a world they will always be nostalgic for.
2017-06-14 Linklater, Richard Dazed and Confused --> Rating: 8.60
One of the best high school movies of the lot, Richard Linklater's fine sophomore film dissects the last day of school in May 1976, as seniors set out to paddle the next year's freshmen boys on the day they graduate, and the senior girls humiliate the freshman girls (we are given to understand that this is an annual ritual-- a hazing). The structure of the film seems free-wheeling and episodic but actually reflects a fine-tuned sensibility of graduated experiences, mainly seen through the eyes of Mitch, a freshman, who is unsuccessful at evading the punishment, but is then taken in by a few seniors, escorted around town in a car, taken to the local games emporium, and introduced to dope and beer with the in-crowd at a late night party. Linklater--we should all be grateful-- uses actors who are close to or at the age of the characters they play. They may not be as smooth as older professionals, but they are far more convincing: part of being that age is the awkwardness, the desperation to be cool, to fit in, and that comes through in spades, as when Tony and Sabrina stand next to each other, obviously interested, but silent. Mitch is a gem: a nice, decent kid, who handles his new social network with quiet grace, partly thanks to the kind, basic civility of Pink, who is refusing to sign a pledge to abstain from all drugs so he can play football next year (he's the star quarterback and his team-mates are not pleased at his reluctance). He makes allies of the seniors by buying a six-pack for one-- looking very cool for a 14-year-old-- and having the guts to show up at the party when some might still be hunting for hazing targets. You can see why a couple of girls take an interest in him. There is a striking honesty about drugs and beer, drinking and driving, dangerous stunts, fighting and bullying. None of it is approved or disapproved: this is not for your edification. It's a pretty authentic take on high school in the 70's, and the feeling of being on the brink of some new part of life without the conviction that there is any clear plan forward, or any meaning to it beyond having a good time and getting laid. A really remarkable, lovely film, even if the soundtrack consists mostly of exactly the kind of music most of these kids would been listening to: Kiss and Aerosmith and Sweet. (There is even one Dylan tune: Hurricane.) Draws comparison with the earlier "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", but "Dazed and Confused" is the real thing, a superior film. Incidentally, Linklater has stated that he wanted to make something the opposite of the John Hughes films.
2017-06-13 Harvey, Anthony Lion in Winter --> Rating: 8.40
Brilliantly written evocation of the tensions between Henry II and his three surviving sons, and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, during Christmas, December 1183. Henry-- who is slippery and cunning-- appears to favor his younger son John as his heir, to the displeasure of Richard. Geoffrey makes an accommodation: he wants the Chancellorship if John becomes king. John is a weak, vacillating putz, while Richard is virile and decisive. Eleanor favors Richard and attempts to out-maneuver Henry on the issue. Indeed, the substance of the movie is the moves by all characters-- including King Phillip of France-- to get their way. They often openly acknowledge their plotting to each other, which is just another expression of their cleverness. At one point, Henry seems to sincerely promise his mistress, Alais, Countess of Vexin, (who is Philip's half sister!) to Richard, but later we realize he never intended to follow through. Alais had been promised to Richard earlier as part of a package including the region of Berry. In background: in 1173, Henry's first son, Young Henry, rebelled against his father and attempted to seize power, supported by Richard and Geoffrey. Eleanor supported Richard. Henry prevailed but was generous in victory and allowed his sons increased powers and tax revenue, including giving tax revenue from Aquitaine to Richard. In 1183, Young Henry tried again but was defeated by Henry with Richard and died of a fever. And so this fictional meeting at Chinon of the remaining male family members and Eleanor. Goldman compresses a number of historical events into a dramatic sequence taking place over few days. Most of the incidents and developments are based on fact-- at least, what we know of them-- and interpretation of the characters involved. For example, John did not betray Henry until much later than 1183. The relationship with Alais is founded on popular rumor and might well have been true. She was raised in Henry's household and betrothed to Richard but he never married her. The script is brilliant: witty, insightful, evocative. Most of the acting is superb, even the usually over-rated Katherine Hepburn appears to be fully committed to her role. Katherine Hepburn was the same age Eleanor of Aquitaine would have been during the events in the story.
2017-06-10 Zahler, S. Craig Bone Tomahawk --> Rating: 8.00
Sheriff Hunt is competent, sensible, and rational, which immediately puts him outside the stereo-type of American Western heroes. He has pretty good judgement, knows when to give, and is willing to let stupid people insist on being stupid as long as it doesn't endanger others too much. So when the local wife is kidnapped, along with a miscreant who transgressed a strange tribe's burial ground, and a deputy, and the injured husband insists on joining the rescue party, he gives in. He also has the sense to allow a bigoted Indian-killer join: he's the most competent of the bunch. And he takes his rather dippy backup deputy along, because the deputy really, really wants to come. They get direction from a local Indian who refuses to lead them there-- this tribe (he calls them troglodytes) are too scary for him. And, he gives us to understand, they are not "really" Indians. And off they go to rescue the beautiful girl and the deputy and the miscreant. Yes, strikingly similar to "The Searchers", but far better, actually, except for one critical aspect: the troglodytes seem customrendered to mute the question of racism: had they been a recognizable Indian tribe-- and they could have been(read about the Iroquois raids)-- the film would have been accused of indulging in antiquarian racist stereotype. By making them this bizarre, unrecognizable, tribe of primitive cannibals, "Bone Tomahawk" sidesteps the issue. This is unfortunate because it removes the story from a meaningful narrative. Some Indian tribes did indeed commit horrible atrocities. So did white settlers. It's Samantha who observes that evil in the West is most often caused by idiots, not savages or nature. It is to the lavish credit of the film that I cared a lot about the girl. We meet her lecturing her husband about falling off a roof when she told him to be more careful; she tends to his injured leg, and then they make love even with the broken leg, to his conspicuous discomfort. It's terrific expansion of her character: she is kind but she's not prissy, and she can be hungry without being needy. And then she is called upon to act as a doctor and extract a bullet from the miscreant in jail, because the regular doctor is drunk, and she has a fair bit of medical knowledge (she works as the doctor's assistant). The relationship works on screen, and she emerges as an attractive, competent, physically engaged presence. You get why her husband is deeply alarmed, and insistently determined to get her back: she's a treasure. And Brooder is a lot more fun than John Wayne's Ethan Edwards in "The Searchers". He's witty and honest and knows more about himself than Ethan ever did. They set out on the rescue and encounter a few obstacles, including a couple of Mexicans who may or may not have been intending to rob them, and then someone unseen who steals their horses. Their final encounter with the troglodytes is disastrous. The outcome is not as satisfying as the rest of the film. Just a tiny quibble with the direction, which was, in most respect, exemplary: when Arthur catches up with the rest of the men and confronts a troglodyte and shoots him, he suddenly becomes totally focused on a particular task at hand and doesn't even look around to make sure any more of them are not closing on him-- after all, he fired his gun. I got anxious watching him-- "look around, dammit!" A small lapse, perhaps, and forgivable given the film got so many other things right. "Bone Tomahawk" is a superior character study, and always amusing, and very well-written. There is some shocking violence-- the troglodytes are savages-- and a suggestion that the only way to confront savage evil is with equally savage ruthlessness, but even that idea is undermined by the random luck that eventually results in some escape, and the timid determination to isolate the troglodytes from the narrative of the American Western.
2017-06-10 Jenkins, Patty Wonder Woman --> Rating: 6.50
Much has been made of the fact that Wonder Woman is directed by a woman-- Patty Jenkins-- and, allegedly, is a hit, proving that women can direct block-busters. If that is what women want to prove, so be it, but Wonder Woman is a boring, mediocre film that is poorly acted, poorly directed, and poorly written. Diana is raised on an Amazonian island of Themyscira somewhere in the Mediterranean; when World War I allied flyer lands on the island with Germans in hot pursuit, she is compelled to leave paradise and join the war effort. Why are the allies portrayed as righteous and noble and the Germans as -- well, Nazis? I have seen no explanation, but the movie clearly wants to suggest Nazis repeatedly (gas, buildings, barbed wire) as if the World War I Germans were just as evil and the allies just as righteous. It's not really very clear, either, what Wonder Woman's powers are: they just seem to materialize when convenient for the director. The fight scenes are awful: quick, short clips of initial action, followed by rapid fire cuts of crashing bodies, flashes, explosions, whatever-- I really didn't care after a few seconds. The fight scenes were cheap and boring. There were a few scenes that were a little charming, as Diana learned about human behavior-- but the sexual titillation of her sudden experience of male interest was muted by the gutlessness of the block-buster movie genre: something really distressing to mainstream America must be permitted on the screen.
2017-06-09 Malick, Terence Knight of Cups --> Rating: 7.10
Travelogue of Los Angeles, gorgeous steadicam cinematography, beautiful women (though only the unknown actresses are nude), striking music-- mostly classical-- and mind-numbing method whispering pompous overladen narratives mark this disappointing entry by Malick. The dialogue is tediously and irredeemably sophomoric (it was mostly improvised by the actors): what is life? When I was a child... Where is love? Who am I? What does it mean? There are allusions to Malick's personal history (a brother committed suicide, a demanding father), but mostly incredibly rich, tediously contemplative, bored and boring actors wandering around incredibly lavish apartments and houses or distressingly vacant streets and warehouses, with the odd beach or rocky scene thrown in. Like "Song to Song", more of a sequence of images with music than a story. And rather bizarrely obsessed with the idle rich: no character in this movie ever does anything, like prepare a meal, cut grass, clean, organize, or any kind of work or task. They stand around or frolic while "thinking deep thoughts". And I was never more disappointed at the introduction of a character than I was with the introduction of Cate Blanchett's assiduously bland and blank character, as Rick's first wife, or with Natalie Portman's vacuous presence as another lover. There is a nominal suggestion in the film of a journey-- Pilgrim's Progress is read from at the beginning-- from purgatory to salvation, through suffering. Some scenes appear to have been shot in Joshua Tree Park, or nearby, and were definitely shot in Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, including the Japanese gardens and the pogoda! So some people involved with the film assert that the actors are drawing on something deeper than script: real experiences. It's hard to credit Malick with this concept-- what does he think he is? Just why would he believe actors would be able to take real experience and translate it into drama or narrative or even poetry? Why did he give up on the idea of having an artist write his stories and dialogue? Did he really have no idea why "Thin Read Line" or "The New World" or "Days of Heaven" or "Badlands" were such good films? The Times A. O. Scott rightly observes that it's "hard to trust his (Rick's) anguish": he's wallowing in self pity, tormenting himself over the superficiality of the life he willingly leads. It's disingenuous and boring to watch a man wander these parties while acting as if it's all beneath him-then why don't you leave? It's us who should be bored with you, and we are. Really interesting comparison to "The Great Beauty", a not dissimilar movie. "The Great Beauty" builds an idea using disparate scenes (the artist's events, the tour of the closed museum, the choir, the dancing, the austere nun) that ultimately connect through the artist's unending quest for authentic beauty. There no such discernible thread through "Knight of Cups" and what there is of one is infantile at best.
2017-06-08 O'Haver, Tommy An American Crime --> Rating: 7.70
Praised film dramatizing the true story of teenager Sylvia Likens (Ellen Page, who was 20 at the time of filming) who, with her younger sister Jenny, was left by circus worker parents in the care of a stranger for a few months who monstrously abused and murdered her. It's the 1960's-- a different era. Her parents, Betty and Lester, didn't appear all that interested in the quality of care. Gertrude has her own health and marital problems: she was currently having an affair with a 18-year-old. Gritty and deeply disturbing but, perhaps, not always as the film-makers intended. Ellen Page is a talented actress but her performance is rather writ and schematic: all suffering and victimization without life. Scenes are shot with close-up, meandering camera work, perhaps to avoid a more shocking, graphic realization. Gertrude's other children, and children from the neighborhood, participated in the abuse. The most genuinely disturbing aspect of the story is the number of neighbors and acquaintances who were aware or should have been aware but did nothing, including the family pastor. Badly acted and directed, even by the over-rated Ellen Page. Nor does Keener bring much credibility to her performance as Gertrude. Where is the sadistic energy coming from? She tries-- mostly linking it to stress or frustration-- but never convinces. The most artistic moment is Sylvia's fantasy of escape back to her circus parents, who then return her to Gertrude's home where she discovers herself dead. It's clever but can't overcome the unsophisticated drama of the rest of the film. The most dramatic moment (and apparently true): when her younger sister Jenny told an investigating police officer that she would tell them everything if they would only get her out of there. The movie had to wait until the real Jenny was dead: she was violently opposed to any dramatization while she was alive.
2017-06-08 Siegel, Don Beguiled --> Rating: 7.90
Fascinating story about a seriously wounded civil war Yankee soldier who stumbles into the hands of Miss Martha's Seminary for Young Girls. They take him in and nurse him back to health but his presence is unsettling to the girls. Carol frankly lusts for him, Edwina is in love with him, Martha desires a man in her life again-- now that her brother is presumed dead-- and Doris wants to turn him in to nearby patrols by Confederates. "Beguiled" gives no quarter to feminism: these are a group of conniving, selfish girls, who are more than willing to mutilate or even murder if necessary to get what they want, or punish those who deny them. Nor is McBurney admirable in any respect: he will use whomever he wishes to get what he wants. Incidentally, in a shockingly politically incorrect opening, McBurney kisses Amy (played by Pamelyn Ferdin at 12 years old) full on the mouth. And yes, it is a sexual kiss, intended to shut her up as rebel soldiers pass by. She is suitably "beguiled" and tells everything to her turtle.
2017-06-03 Vinterberg, Thomas Commune --> Rating: 8.00
Anna and Erik, in their 40's by the looks of it, inherit Erik's father's beautiful, large old house. It's too big for them and Erik wants to sell it, but Anna wants to live in it and suggest inviting people to join them-- to form a "commune". Erik reluctantly agrees and they invite some old friends and strangers to move in. Then we step sideways: Erik strikes up a relationship with one of his students. When Erik and Anna's daughter, Freja, catches him with Emma, the student, he decides to tell Anna. They are an enlightened couple: no drama, no hysterics. Anna reluctantly accepts that her marriage has ended and even agrees to allow Emma to stay in the Commune for a time. And here the real movie begins as Anna tries to cope with the end of her relationship with Erik, with being displaced by a young, beautiful student, and with stresses from her job as a news anchor, all with the interventions and support of their Commune friends. Meanwhile, Freja, a kind of witness of events, starts up her own relationship with Peter. She, in the end, is the one takes decisive action to move her parents forward in life. This is an adult film in the best sense of the word, exploring adult situations and emotions intelligently and authentically. It's heart-breaking and sad and amazing. Superbly acted.
2017-06-08 Vinterberg, Thomas Commune --> Rating: 8.00
Anna and Erik, in their 40's by the looks of it, inherit Erik's father's beautiful, large old house. It's too big for them and Erik wants to sell it, but Anna wants to live in it and suggest inviting people to join them-- to form a "commune". Erik reluctantly agrees and they invite some old friends and strangers to move in. Then we step sideways: Erik strikes up a relationship with one of his students. When Erik and Anna's daughter, Freja, catches him with Emma, the student, he decides to tell Anna. They are an enlightened couple: no drama, no hysterics. Anna reluctantly accepts that her marriage has ended and even agrees to allow Emma to stay in the Commune for a time. And here the real movie begins as Anna tries to cope with the end of her relationship with Erik, with being displaced by a young, beautiful student, and with stresses from her job as a news anchor, all with the interventions and support of their Commune friends. Meanwhile, Freja, a kind of witness of events, starts up her own relationship with Peter. She, in the end, is the one takes decisive action to move her parents forward in life. This is an adult film in the best sense of the word, exploring adult situations and emotions intelligently and authentically. It's heart-breaking and sad and amazing. Superbly acted.
2017-06-08 Jeunet, Jean-Pierre Alien Resurrection --> Rating: 6.00
I suppose there is an argument to be made for "franchise" films that the basic ingredients can and should remain the same throughout each installment. That can make it difficult to sort out the repetitive, tired cliche's from the traditions. I'm tired of the heroic robot for which you are supposed to have affection, like the characters do, for no discernible psychological reason. But now you are supposed to feel some compassion for the giant insect-- that's really all the alien is-- and be moved by the tears shed for it's demise. Seriously. What is new-but not fresh-- is Weaver as a producer, which seems to play itself out in the knuckleheaded idea that she would have some kind of maternal instincts for a giant, face-sucking, murderous insectoid. Or even incestuous feelings. Yeah, there is a point at which it's just plain stupid. Weaver herself insisted on some of the worst scenes, after agreeing to appear in the film only because they drove a "truckload of money" up to her door. Ryder wanted in so she could brag about it to her brothers. The rest of the film is largely rerun "Poseidon Adventure" escape tripe. William H. Macy auditioned for a part but found it so ridiculous he walked out. Ridiculous-- as when the bad guy takes the robot hostage and forces the others to drop their weapons. Because they didn't want the robot to get hurt. And because it didn't occur to any of them there was absolutely no advantage to dropping their weapons: there was no discernible reason why the soldier would have let them live.
2017-05-28 Malick, Terence Song to Song --> Rating: 7.90
Filmed without a script-- and it shows-- a lot of the dialogue is sophomoric and schematic in the sense of relating big ideas in an obvious, pedestrian manner-- "Song to Song" is an impressionistic extravaganza of scenes and moments and ambiguous revelations about several characters involved in the music industry (though it is not evident that any of them really have any involvement in anything "musical"), moving from lover and relationship to lover and relationship, impetuously, without heed to consequence or emotional cost. And whispering it all to you in that self-conscious manner of an artist who really believes he or she is deeply interesting. The shifts in relationships-- between individuals who seems to have nothing else to do with their lives-- seem so unobtrusive and casual that I was shocked at one point to hear characters discuss infidelity as if it could be a tragic development. Why? These characters live lavish, privileged lives, in stunningly beautiful houses and apartments, flirting backstage at huge concerts, traveling by private jet, lounging in architectural marvels, contemplating themselves and their personal struggles while wallowing in narcissistic self-absorption. How odd for a film-maker of Malick's reputation to be so indulgent of this lifestyle, and to allow such weak dialogue into a film of such aesthetic beauty and unparalleled camera work. Yes, people walk out of a film like this: there is no narrative really, no story, no coherence to the experiences dramatized. Yes, it is a thing of beauty, and the cinematography, and the beautiful bodies, are marvels of cinematic charm, but the poetic intent is undermined by the feeling that these characters couldn't possibly put a piece of decent music together if their lives depended on it.
2017-05-21 Malick, Terence Song to Song --> Rating: 7.90
Filmed without a script-- and it shows-- a lot of the dialogue is sophomoric and schematic in the sense of relating big ideas in an obvious, pedestrian manner-- "Song to Song" is an impressionistic extravaganza of scenes and moments and ambiguous revelations about several characters involved in the music industry (though it is not evident that any of them really have any involvement in anything "musical"), moving from lover and relationship to lover and relationship, impetuously, without heed to consequence or emotional cost. And whispering it all to you in that self-conscious manner of an artist who really believes he or she is deeply interesting. The shifts in relationships-- between individuals who seems to have nothing else to do with their lives-- seem so unobtrusive and casual that I was shocked at one point to hear characters discuss infidelity as if it could be a tragic development. Why? These characters live lavish, privileged lives, in stunningly beautiful houses and apartments, flirting backstage at huge concerts, traveling by private jet, lounging in architectural marvels, contemplating themselves and their personal struggles while wallowing in narcissistic self-absorption. How odd for a film-maker of Malick's reputation to be so indulgent of this lifestyle, and to allow such weak dialogue into a film of such aesthetic beauty and unparalleled camera work. Yes, people walk out of a film like this: there is no narrative really, no story, no coherence to the experiences dramatized. Yes, it is a thing of beauty, and the cinematography, and the beautiful bodies, are marvels of cinematic charm, but the poetic intent is undermined by the feeling that these characters couldn't possibly put a piece of decent music together if their lives depended on it.
2017-05-21 Allen, Woody Irrational Man --> Rating: 7.50
Why not talk to a philosophy professor and get an idea about what a philosophy professor would sound like? I doubt he would say that Kant was mostly bullshit, or "tomorrow, we study Edmund Husserl", or most of what Abe Lucas says. But Abe Lucas sounds familiar when he argues that killing a bad judge would be a noble, righteous act-- like Raskalnikov's murder of the old woman pawnbroker in "Crime and Punishment". If only "Irrational Man" was up to the argument. It's not a terrible film-- not even really a bad film. Just not challenging or intriguing or compelling. Just not fresh. And there is something more than a little creepy about the way Jill Pollard sucks up to this "fascinating" man. This is always a problem when the audience is likely to find the man tiresome and narcissistic and boring, like most drinkers. Even more of a problem when you think you hear Woody Allen dramatizing himself here, and forgiving himself for it because, after all, Abe turns out to be a murderer. Abe refuses Jill at first but, gosh, she just won't let him alone and eventually he gives in. Because the audience would believe it was unseemly if he didn't fight her off, at least at first. But then their relationship doesn't reveal much about their age difference: they argue and talk like two college sophomores. There is no hint that Abe has had a lot of experience with students, or that he's learned anything about talking philosophy in his years as a professor. And Jill becomes convinced that he could be a murderer because of some relatively trivial and ambiguous pieces of information: the audience knows he did it and the director forgets that the characters do not. This is basically a rehash of "Crimes and Misdemeanors" but the latter was a great film and this is lame.
2017-05-06 Tarkovsky, Andrei Stalker --> Rating: 5.00
I'm not buying this one. Three men, a guide (a "stalker"), and a writer and professor, travel into a forbidden zone to try to reach the "room" where your wildest imaginings can come true. The zone is in the middle of a desolate ruined industrial landscape of unimaginable bleakness. After sneaking past guards through a gate used for trains bringing supplies to the zone, they emerge into a green, radiant world, still full of decaying industrial rubbish. The dialogue is your worst nightmare of sophomoric philosophical musings about fate and art and truth. Worse, the men undergo this tense, "dangerous" mission, without once encountering anything particularly dangerous (other than the guards at the entrance). The stalker continually warns the other two about going the wrong way, taking a false step, and so on, but there is never any actual indication of any danger-- after a while, you find it hard to believe the men would believe it was dangerous. I has a suspicion that some reviewers, afraid of admitting they didn't get it, praised the film because it was so obtuse they could safely argue it was profound. I found it weak and pointless and dull: a failure.
2017-05-06 Minnelli, Vincente Band Wagon --> Rating: 7.70
There a reason why I think musicals are a ridiculous art form (and tap dancing a ridiculous form of dance): in spite of occasional flashes of wit in the dialogue and stylish dance sequences, "The Band Wagon" is inane, trivial, and mannered, and asserts the triumph of corn-pone comedy over serious "art". Tony Hunter is nearly washed up as a song and dance man but directory Jeffrey Cordova has a vision: musical version of Faust, starring Tony Hunter. Lily and Lester Marton (inspired by real life writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green) had something lighter and more amusing in mind but they play along until a disastrous preview in New Haven, when the entire troupe participates in renovating the program into something like "Hee Haw" with taste. There is something poignant about this sophisticated world of affluent artistes (no one ever talks about money, seriously) who drink and smoke and party and engage in witty, amusing dialogue: it's a wonderful fantasy of an ideal world as America saw itself in the progressive era, the same world inhabited by Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby and films like "Holiday Inn" and "White Christmas". This is not "Oklahoma", with it's artistically ambitious vision of integrated music and drama (which I never bought anyway). It's more like a review. There is one segment inspired by film noire, with stylized props and dance moves. Otherwise, really, really quite trivial and inconsequential. And yes, Cyd Charisse was dubbed, by India Adams.
2017-05-08 Berg, Peter Deepwater Horizon --> Rating: 7.80
Generally accurate depiction of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, with some notable story "enhancements" (there is no record of Mike Williams helping Andrea Fleytas escape the inferno). BP pressured staff on the Deepwater to accelerate the process of capping the well (Deepwater Horizon was an exploratory, not a delivery, platform) and they agreed to skip certain crucial procedures, but may well have been corporate office managers who approved the shortcuts. Americas prefer movies that blame bad individuals (even in "Schindler's List") and don't impugn the nature of capitalism or the systems that lead to environmental disaster after disaster. On the very day they received a safety award from BP for seven years accident-free, a number of safety systems failed and oil, gas, and slurry, under enormous pressure, gushed back up the pipes and out. The gas was sucked into vents over the large motors that positioned the platform and drove the drilling systems, causing them to accelerate (I didn't know this was possible) blowing electrical equipment and lights. Then the gas caught fire and 11 men were incinerated while the others scrambled to escape the violent explosions. Accurate, but not well-filmed: there is a lot of jittery hand-held work, fast cuts, and almost certainly some exaggeration of the amount of fire and debris raging around the platform (I was astonished to find that only 11 died, and some characters improbably charge into flaming walkways in order to heroically start backup generators). Oddly, a woman, Andrea Fleytas-- a licensed Third Mate and Dynamic Positioning officer at 23-did not escape with the first two lifeboats: she ended up having to find her own path and joined the Captain on an inflatable. The movie couldn't resist having her jump from 10 stories with Mike Williams, who saved her life by being charmingly encouraging. I'm sure he didn't mind the portrait. There's a lot to admire in the film-- the relative accuracy, the naming of names, the over-all drama of men trying to escape a violent disaster-- even if flawed artistically.
2017-05-12 Judge, Mike Idiocracy --> Rating: 2.00
If someone tells you not to believe the negative reviews-- this really a kind of sci-fi "Office Space", don't believe them. "Idiocracy", despite the appealing conceit, is just plain stupid. Dull. Boring. Lifeless. In short, two soldiers, a woman and man, are testing out suspended animation for the military and are accidentally thrust 500 years into the future rather than one. The world has been dumbed down-- not dumb enough to enjoy this film-- over time and Joe Bauers, the male soldier, now has the highest IQ on the planet and is recruited by the idiot President to save the world. Yeah, I know.
2017-04-29 Judge, Mike Idiocracy --> Rating: 4.00
If someone tells you not to believe the negative reviews-- this really a kind of sci-fi "Office Space", don't believe them. "Idiocracy", despite the appealing conceit, is just plain stupid. Dull. Boring. Lifeless. In short, two soldiers, a woman and man, are testing out suspended animation for the military and are accidentally thrust 500 years into the future rather than one. The world has been dumbed down-- not dumb enough to enjoy this film-- over time and Joe Bauers, the male soldier, now has the highest IQ on the planet and is recruited by the idiot President to save the world. Yeah, I know.
2017-04-29 Davies, Terrence A Quiet Passion --> Rating: 8.80
Rarely does a film about an artist, poet, or musician lower your opinion of the subject. "A Quiet Passion" left me with a distaste for Emily Dickinson and her puritanical hypocrisy, her reclusive personality, her timid disengagement from the world. We know that that was not meant: Davies loves poetry, and believes Dickinson to be a genius. But his faithful portrait of the poet, who lived in Amherst, Massachusetts from 1830-1886, while powerful artistically, does not endear her to the viewer. The language sometimes sounds as if the entire film took place inside her poems: characters talk to each other like Victorian protagonists, with frequent references to fate and eternity, and reactions as if a language we all recognize as melodramatic is actually very direct and powerful. One reviewer called it "strangely mannered" and that captures part of it. "Stilted"? Oh, but the camera creeps along with such exacting gracefulness! Beautifully scanned, with details of the homestead and taffeta skirts and embroidered gowns and thick, dark outerwear, it becomes constricted-- like Emily's world-- into the mansion where Dickinson hid from society and the world. There is--as in every great film-- at least one truly extraordinary, transcendent moment: she writes about a haunting, a vision of a man ascending a stairs towards her bedroom. The camera movement and the music and Emily's wanton expression-- fearful and greedy at once-- build to an unforgettable peak of emotional risk, which, true to her character, dissipates.
2017-05-06 Peck, Raoul I am not Your Negro --> Rating: 8.50
Lively, fascinating presentation of James Baldwin's comments, writings and speeches, and debates, on the meaning of the deaths of Martin Luther King, Eldridge Cleaver, and Malcolm X, mostly read by Samuel L. Jackson. Baldwin lived in Paris for many years and eventually returned to New York because he missed his family. But he never forgot or forgave America for it's race problem and never ceased to address it head on. He was critical of those who would ask for respect, as if it was something that was theirs to give or not give, according to their disposition.
2017-03-20 Ozon, Francois Frantz --> Rating: 8.60
Frantz Hoffmeister, a German soldier, is killed at the front in 1919, and his parents and fiance grieve and put flowers on his empty grave (his body was never recovered but the family set a gravestone anyway). One day, the fiance, Anna, notices a strange man crying over the grave. It turns out to be Adrien Rivoire, a French soldier. Frantz had lived in Paris before the war while attending school, and Adrien was one of his best friends. Eventually, after some resistance, the Hoffmeisters and Anna bring him into their lives, as a kind of vicarious substitute for Frantz, and he brings healing to their souls. But all is not as it seems here and "Frantz" is allusive and deceptive and subtle-- what really was the nature of Frantz relationship to Adrien? Anna is forced to investigate and her discoveries lead to some indelicate secrets. Frantz raises the question of when is deception called for, or justified in order to spare feelings, and when does it merely lead to even more deception and more grief? A beautiful, measured production, exquisitely filmed and acted.
2017-03-15 Tiernan, Greg Sausage Party --> Rating: 5.00
Swearing as a substitute for dialogue! I'm betting Rogen and company badly hope this movie will be dissed because of the foul language and transgressive humour. No, it sucks for many reasons: lame dialogue (at least, what's left after the word "fuck" is disqualified as dialogue), lame characters, lame story line, and lame animation. In particular, the character of Teresa is unbelievably callow and trite: like a sitcom mom from the 1950's. And why, in such a supposedly transgressive film, are Teresa and Frank so apparently monogamous? It's clear the film-makers don't wish to actually offend anybody, because the people they think they are offending are only the people who have the same trite threshold as they do.
2017-03-11 Arnold, Andrea American Honey --> Rating: 8.50
Director Andrea Arnold recruited teens from the streets to form the cast of this film, and then obviously worked them into a tight, convincing unit that almost never hits a false note. The story is about Star, a young girl at loose ends, who is recruited by a sexually alluring young man into a troupe of magazine subscription salesmen. They roam from town to town-- America in profile-- hitting the streets, going door-to-door, and learning about themselves and others. Mostly we learn about Star dealing with a poverty of expectations of the American deal. She wants Jake but Jake is only using their relationship to keep her on the street-- he's sort of a pimp to her. She is picked up by three older, rich cowboys, and by a truck-driver, but-- thank God-- we don't get a cliche-ridden victimization story. The troupe ride together in a van, sing, shout, dance, set off fire-works, wrestle, and fuck, with conspicuous gusto, while Star sometimes seems along for the ride, waiting for something big to happen to her. Beautifully filmed and acted, and remarkably compelling for a very long film. Really an amazing work that defies categorization.
2017-03-11 Filho, Kleber Mendonca Acquarius --> Rating: 7.80
Slow-moving but satisfying tale about an older woman, Clara, living in an apartment in Recife, Brazil, whose life is turned upside-down when the other tenants all sell out to a large construction firm that wants to tear the building down. Off film that delves into her relationships with her children and friends, her memories of an Aunt Lucia, a free spirit, who died of cancer. Clara also has experienced cancer, of the breast. Her children urge her to move, but she stubbornly fights the construction company and asserts her rights against those of capitalist investors. But this is a low key movie with no obvious plot trajectory-- just an exploration of her life, in the present (though there are a few brief visits to her past). The men are a mixed bag-- as in real life, and she doesn't really need them, though she indulges in a brief sexual fling. In Brazil, the film generated controversy with some believing it should have been their official nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Very well-acted and well-directed, if not as gripping, as, say "The Salesman" or the much earlier American film "An Unmarried Woman" with which it bears some similarities.
2017-03-10 Peele, Jordan Get Out --> Rating: 7.80
There is a joke near the end of the film: the a black man, having just defended himself from certain death, hovers over the woman who tried to kill him and a police car arrives. And the audience knows immediately what the joke is. That is the level of acute irony at work in Jordan Peele's update of "The Stepford Wives"-- and, maybe, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner". Chris and Rose are visiting her parent's place for a weekend-- a lovely retreat deep in the woods-- but Chris is creeped out by the almost facetious pleasantries exuded by Rose's parents. When he engages the black "help", he finds them robotic and ambivalent-- Stepford servants. He contacts his friend, Walter, with his concerns, but Rose persuades him-- at first-- that it's all in his head. Was there ever a film with more racial overtones than this? You become aware of just how antiseptic many films featuring black leads are as you watch Rose and Chris cavort unself-consciously, and mingle with her family, all of whom are unfailingly solicitous. It's when you discover the reason for their attitudes that the politics of "Get Out" begin to become apparent. And very, very funny. That said, the film is a setting for this drama of race relations and not a venue for Peele's artistic vision: there's little wit or verve in the direction or the cinematography, or the music, once you get past the opening credits. The acting is decent, and Allison Williams is charismatic, charming, and amusing as Rose.
2017-03-09 Frears, Stephen Philomena --> Rating: 8.20
Fine but restrained film about a woman in Ireland who became pregnant out of wedlock in the 1950's and was forced to move to a home for unwed mothers and give up her baby for adoption. A BBC journalist, hears about her story and decides to do a series on her search for her child. In the process, he uncovers a rat's nest of dark secrets about the homes, including the fact that maybe babies died in their care and may have been buried without proper documentation. There is a very compelling scene: the mother superior decides to show she has a sense of humanity by running a movie for the inmates. It is clear she uses this to affirm just how generous and kind she is-- and mischievous-- and Frears makes it look like the sick joke that it is. Powerful and compelling and bitterly relevant.
2013-01-01 Schumacher, Joel Falling Man --> Rating: 7.90
Somewhat mangled, sophomoric story about a man having a bad day who gets to take out his rage at society-at the rich, at skinheads, at Koreans, at politicians-- through a series of incidents that happen on his way to work when he gets stuck in traffic, on a very hot day. He's not Clint Eastwood-- D-Fens's targets range from a Korean grocer to a neo-nazi, and there is palpable sympathy for a black man who becomes "not economically viable"-- but there is that rage, and there are guns, including a rocket-launcher. So it's hard to accept "Falling Man" as anything other than a confused expression accumulated dissatisfaction with the world that almost inevitably embraces the futility of tragic resistance rather than the nihilism of destructive violence. Prendergast wins in the end because he learns defiance from D-Fens. Michael Douglas loved this story and brought the financing for the film, but doesn't do justice to the role he asked himself to play.
2017-03-05 Farhadi, Asghar Salesman --> Rating: 8.60
"The Salesman" puts the viewer into a wringer and never releases him for the entire 2 hour running time. From the director of "A Separation", which was equally gripping, comes this bitter, tense story about a couple who work in the theatre (he is a teacher as well) and the strain put on their marriage when the wife is attacked. As in "A Separation", the couple are, on the surface of it, enlightened, progressive, intelligent, and rational, as is their social circle, their friends. When their apartment is damaged by construction, a theatre associate offers a place in his apartment building-- seemingly unaware that the previous tenant, a single woman, had a dubious reputation. This leads to a sequence of events and complications that end with a confrontation between Emad, and an elderly man with a bad heart. There is no doubt that everyone involved possesses some guilt for the manner in which things unfold, and there is some ambiguity about just who is at fault for certain developments: the viewer is never let off the hook, or offered a simple moralism or piety to resolve uncomfortable and distressing actions. Beautifully, convincingly acted and scripted-- deserves the Best Foreign Film Oscar it won.
2017-03-04 Zhang, Yimou Road Home --> Rating: 7.50
Lovely but rather cliche-ridden story about a beautiful girl in a small, northern Chinese village who craves the new school-teacher and runs and runs through lovely meadows and down scenic paths in order to get his attention. In fact, a big chunk of this movie-- which is not longish-- consists of Ziyi Zhang as Zhao Di, running picturesquely through lovely scenery, or staring longingly at the schoolhouse. The teacher is called away for undisclosed reasons (one could reasonably assume that he is being investigated by the communist government) and Di waits and pines for him. He returns. They marry. That's about it. Most of the actors are amateurs and it shows. Ziyi Zhang is gorgeous, of course, and can reasonably act. The only other attraction is the relatively faithful recreation of rural village life in the 1960's-- no running water, no electricity. The meal preparation scenes are especially interesting.
2017-03-01 Mackenzie, David Hell or High Water --> Rating: 7.70
Well-written-- except for two scenes near the end that breech the lines-- modern western that is more a comment on our social-political realities than anything else. Two brothers, facing the bank foreclosing on the mortgage on their recently-deceased mother's ranch, set out to steal just enough money to pay off the mortgage so that one brother, Toby, can leave the ranch "in trust" to his two sons (neither of whom look smart enough to do anything useful with it). Complicating things is the fact that oil has been discovered on the land and the two sons will never have to do anything for money for the rest of their lives-- if the plan succeeds. Jeff Bridges is the older curmudgeon of a Texas Ranger who investigates and whom, in one of the less believable developments of the story, we are to believe, has amazing insights into who is robbing these banks, and when. Not only that, but he is a miraculous shot with a rifle! Give the film extra points for trying to explain why a bank forecloses at a particular point, and how they are screwing working folk in the process. This is actually a fine film with a reasonably plausible plot, well-acted and written, if not particularly memorable. And marred by Pine's awful method acting.
2017-02-26 Mills, Mike 20th Century Women --> Rating: 8.00
After her son indulges in a weird adolescent ritual-- holding his breath while someone constricts his diaphragm causing him to pass out-- Dorothea asks two family friends, Julie and Abbie, to try to connect to her son Jamie and keep him from danger. There is no film like this, no template, except, in mild form, "Almost Famous", but "20th Century Women" is not as coy or pretentious, and the characters are more believable. Sort of. Abbie, a photographer, has cancer of the cervix and is deep into feminism and wants everyone to be open about menstruation. Julie is a rebel, two years older than Jamie, who is promiscuous and clueless and occasionally not clueless, and resists Jamie's advances because she loves him too much as a friend. A resident handyman, William, had lived in a commune and cycled through various sub-cultures before settling in Dorothea's orbit, renovating her house, and serving as an inadequate role model for Jamie. Not directed with any particular style or inspiration, but very well-acted and convincing, and touching at times, and where else would you see characters watch Jimmy Carter's 1979 "malaise" speech and have one of them call it "beautiful". In the three central female characters, we have a cross-section of past, present and future, as it relates to women's roles and expectations, and in one of the most brutally honest scenes, Jamie reads to his mother, Dorothea, a commentary on how older women are marginalized and told they are irrelevant, unattractive, and mindless by men. She does not react with warmth. The characters all seem based on real people (in fact, Mills has stated that Dorothea is inspired by his mother) and they are quirky, not in that horrible predictable Hollywood sense-but in the sense of real people with diverse interests and personalities interacting with each other. This is no comforting fable: Dorothea admits, at one point, that she can never be part of the part of Jamie's life that is outside her orbit.
2017-02-26 Maitland, Keith Tower --> Rating: 8.00
Intriguing documentary about the first nationally covered mass killing in U.S. history. In 1966, Charles Whitman, an ex-marine, climbed a tower on the Austin University campus and began shooting people with a high powered rifle. Keith Maitland, who attended the University of Texas in Austin, read an article about it in Texas Monthly and raised money through Indiegogo to fund it. He interviewed over 150 people who were involved. In some cases, victims met people who rescued or interacted with them at the time for the first time for the purpose of the film. Realizing he could not use the University Campus to re-enact the shootings, Maitland used animation to recreate the scene: with great success. He used young actors to recount the experiences of surviving victims, until later in the film when we hear the actual voices of them today. Strikingly, we never see any image of the sniper himself, Whitman, until the very end: the focus remains on the experiences of the victims. We spend a lot of time with Claire Wilson, who was in the late stages of a pregnancy on that day, and whose boyfriend was fatally wounded by the same bullet that pierced her stomach and killed her unborn son. Laying on the ground in the open, it was more than hour before a few men aroused the courage to run out and drag her off. Powerful and compelling.
2017-02-25 Ade, Maren Toni Erdmann --> Rating: 8.50
Toni Erdmann is the name used by Winfried to intrude upon his daughter's very planned, calculated life. Maren Ade was apparently inspired by Andy Kaufman and his performance art personas to create Toni Erdmann, a strange, ridiculous older man who wears awful fake teeth and carries out a series of impersonations and charades in order to disrupt other people's unconscious lives. He claims to be the German ambassador, or a life coach, or a consultant, and his daughter, Ines, is flummoxed; sometimes she plays along-- because it seems to least catastrophic way to deal with him-- and other times she tries to evade him, but his impact on her life is unmistakable, as when she throws a birthday party for herself and greets the first guests with a shocking choice of wardrobe. "Toni Erdmann" was rehearsed, and rehearsed on location, and Ms. Maren retained complete control over the production process and it shows (particularly in the running time of over two and half hours). North American audiences will be as disturbed as Ines by Maren's choice of actors-- none of whom are as cosmetically beautiful as traditional Hollywood actors (except for Ingrid Bisu as Anca) and the indulgences she takes with Ines sex scene, and the awkward, very funny party scene. It's a gem of a movie, not for every taste, but provocative and rich and with an undertow of real emotion.
2017-02-11 Scorcese, Martin Silence --> Rating: 7.80
Inspired by the true story of Father Ferreira, a 17th century Portuguese Jesuit priest who apostated after being tortured by the Japanese, who have come to suspect that the church is merely the advance guard of the imperialist European powers. Two young priests set out from Portugal to find him and determine if the story is true, and, if it is, urge him to recant. They endure untold hardships upon themselves and their followers as they circulate among the dwindling core of believers, and Father Rodrigues has a crisis of faith as he considers the suffering he causes them as a consequence of their faith. There is even a question about what they truly "believe" and whether they genuinely comprehend the religion they now subscribe to. The main problem is that Andrew McCarthy is simply incapable of conveying the gravitas of the struggle Rodrigues endures, or even the bearing and authority of a 17th century Jesuit. He sounds, often, more like a college sophomore debating socialism. He refers to "our church" as if it was one of many-- not likely the position of a priest in his day and time. He rather seamlessly abandons the ideal of martyrdom as it extends to the converts he encounters-- a core belief he seems to discard too readily. He engages with the Japanese not as the vessel of truth and salvation but as an agitator who is out of his depth. He and Father Garrpe are accompanied by a Japanese "guide" who reeks of Judas (and reminds me of the Mestizo in "The Power and the Glory"). He poses another spiritual problem for Rodrigues: how far does the obligation to forgive a penitent, personally, and institutionally? If the Judas, Kichijiro, is able to sin and casually repent, over and over again, why is Ferreira condemned forever for his moment of weakness? Beautifully, brutally filmed for the most part, but even Liam Neeson seems diminished and weak-- not as a character, but as an actor. The Japanese, and Adam Driver, are excellent. Disappointing take on a genuinely fascinating story. In real life, Ferreria was the focus of fascination in Europe for years; he lived out his life shamefully as a hack "authority" on Christianity, with a wife, possibly children. Every year he was required to publicly renew his apostasy, while the Jesuits openly wished for him to recant and endure martyrdom, for the glories of the faith.
2017-01-07 Palmer, Tony Leonard Cohen - Bird on the Wire --> Rating: 7.00
Messy, raw documentary of Leonard Cohen's 1972 European tour, which was plagued by technical problems, and Cohen's own unsteady performances (which, audiences, nevertheless, seemed to adore), and ending in Israel, in Jerusalem, where he has a kind of nervous breakdown, walking off state, returning to sing "So Long Marianne", and then walking off again in tears. Cohen is so charismatic that his failures on the tour turn into a charm offensive, and audiences continue to adore him. It is obvious that a lot of footage was lost or simply wasn't good enough to use in the film, so there are cutaways to CBC's "Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Leonard Cohen" and family film of Cohen as a child.
2017-01-28 Larrain, Pablo Jackie --> Rating: 8.50
Surprise: "Jackie" is a terrific movie. With just one damaging flaw-- Portman's weasily insistence on methodmumble acting. Which should have been a bigger problem than it was. But "Jackie" is beautifully directed and paced and wonderfully edited and delightfully snarky about the esteemed former First Lady and her narcissistic devotion to the image of the tragic beautiful emblem of broken Camelot. I have personally never found her as "fascinating" as the tabloids have, except in the way "Jackie" finds her fascinating, as a vain, smart, selfcentered, self-doubting symbol of a nation obsessed with image and style and drama, who confronts a real tragedy with the resources of a cultured and well-educated and determined snob.
2017-01-28 Lonergan, Kenneth Manchester by the Sea --> Rating: 7.00
Highly over-rated drama about a miscreant janitor named Lee Chandler dealing with a haunted past who is suddenly left with custody of his 16-year-old nephew, after the death of his brother. The nephew is the best thing in the movie: he's strangely indifferent to the death of his father, doesn't want to move to Boston, is sleeping with two different girlfriends, and expects to take over the fishing boat that his uncle wants to sell. His mother was an alcoholic: we are as surprised as the cast when she suddenly re-enters his life as a born-again Madge-like character, whom the lawyer handling the estate apparently couldn't be bothered to consult. And that is emblematic of the problems with this film, familiar to anyone who has seen "Good Will Hunting", another vastly over-rated film that imagines that we want to know and love a weak person because, dang, aint he beautiful, and aren't I adorable for being so compassionate! I don't think anybody really thought through any of the scenes. Bottom line: every character's agenda, when they enter a scene, is to make Casey Affleck look deep and haunted while h mumbles his lines. Nobody talks as if they spent any time thinking about their character's position or aspirations. On the plus side, the plot is fairly original and interesting and the characters... no. Can't do it. It's a mediocre film at best and the insistence that many reviewers have made that this Casey Affleck's breakthrough, Oscar-worth performance-- is absurd.
2017-01-27 Unknown, Divided States of America --> Rating: 9.00
Frontline's usual excellent research and perspective on the polarization in U.S. politics in 2016 and the election of Donald Trump.
2017-01-22 Park, Chan-wook Handmaid --> Rating: 8.00
Sook-Hee is a petty thief recruited by Count Fujiwara for a delicate purpose. She is to infiltrate the household of Lady Hideko, a Japanese heiress, who is controller by her Uncle Kouzuki. Kouzuki had forced Hideko's aunt to conduct readings of erotica to gatherings of aristocratic men who then bid on the books. From the position of trust, Sook-Hee is to facilitate a relationship with Count Fujiwara, who plans to elope with Lady Hideko and then lock her up in a madhouse and obtain her fabulous fortune. Things go awry, of course, in unexpected ways. We are invited to believe in relationships only to see them undermined, but it's done cleverly and credibly enough to keep your disbelief suitably suspended. Exquisitely filmed in Japan and Korea with the usual extraordinary Japanese sensibilities about composition and camera movements, and superbly wellacted.
2017-01-22 Haggis, Paul Valley of Elah --> Rating: 8.00
Hank Deerfield's son served in Iraq. While stationed in Fort Rudd, New Mexico, he disappears from his base and is reported AWOL. Hank sets out to find out what happened, and find his son. In so-doing, through contacting his friends and fellow soldiers, he uncovers more and more difficult emotional truths about war, about the war in Iraq, and about his son's experiences there, and the effects on his behavior at home. He also encounters the calculated indifference of the authorities, local police who believe it was nothing more than a bad drug deal, and the army that doesn't want the bad publicity. Tommy Lee Jones is exceptionally good in this role-- restrained and compelling. The message is traditional: war is hell, but it has an acute relevance given recent history and Valley of Elah is an superb expression of it. Possibly it's greatest virtue is its restraint and verisimilitude: no rote explanations are offered where none are likely, in real life, to be found. One of the more useful comments on IMDB about this film observed that the effects of war on a soldier's psychology can be profoundly affected by the perceived rightness of the cause. Everyone now knows that the tragedy of Iraq was unnecessary and counter-productive.
2017-01-22 Verhoeven, Paul Elle --> Rating: 7.40
Michele is raped by an intruder in her own home one night. She doesn't report it to the police but she is haunted by the experience and quickly realizes it was someone she knew. She is determined to find out who it was, but her motivations are unclear. In this twisted, psychologically absurd drama, she seems to obtain a perverse satisfaction from the experience, though she takes steps to protect herself. She also carries on an affair with Robert, the husband of her best friend, and Verhoeven doesn't dodge the moral ambiguity. The upside of Verhoeven's politically incorrect vision is the quirky behaviors that are plausible on one level-- real life is so strange, sometimes-- but you would never ever see in a Hollywood movie which would try to turn this story in a revenge thriller. (In fact, Verhoeven had to make the film in France-- he preferred to make it in the U.S.-- because no major American actresses would take the role!) There are moments-- as when she sees her attacker getting into his car one morning and they make eye contact-- that are almost magical in an odd, disquieting way. Someone commented to me that Michele was not behaving the way a rape victim would behave-- but I believe what she really said was, "that's not the way a Hollywood movie rape victim" would behave. In real life, we know that some victims of rape have behaved even more strangely than Michele, even having breakfast with the perpetrator. I give some points to Verhoeven for tipping his hat to those kind of oddities.
2017-01-21 Melfi, Theodore Hidden Figures --> Rating: 7.40
Weak and careless tribute to the black women who served as NASA's "computers" during the early days of the first space missions. Not terribly inaccurate except for the absurd penultimate moment when Katherine provides last minute confirmation of the figures for John Glenn (as he makes his way to the space capsule) but not particularly compelling in any real respect. Starts out with an emblematic scene of the car carrying the three young negro women to NASA broken down on the road. Firstly, the starter motor is identified as the problem even though they were obviously driving when it broke down (they are not in a parking lot), secondly, Dorothy starts the car by tapping a screwdriver on the battery, not on the poles of the starter motor. Thirdly, when they leave work that night, the starter magically works again. Do we care? The film-makers think we don't. Nor do they care about the way Katherine is shown at the center of all the activity in the NASA complex though she was merely one of dozens of staff. Kevin Costner stays out of the way as Katherine's boss-- not too solicitous nor condescending. And, yes, Glenn was friendly to all the staff, and self-promoting. But the personal lives of the women are rote and schematic and surely more complicated than this film makes it look. Not a terrible film-interesting from a historical point of view-- but disappointing prosaic, and unremarkable.
2017-01-12 Davis, Garth Lion --> Rating: 6.60
Narcissistic production dominated by Dev Patel's and Nicole Kidman's method acting shticks: they spend a lot of time solemnly whispering to each other across the room. Fits that Nicole Kidman was chosen by real life adoptive mother Sue Brierley to play her: well, who wouldn't? The true story of Saroo Brierly is utterly compelling and deserves a movie treatment; but "Lion" is all about Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman trying to convince you that they have deep, deep emotions that are somehow connected to the real-life experiences of Saroo and Sue, and can be be communicated to the viewer by mumbling away in front of a camera. None of the really interesting parts of the story are present here: they couldn't be bothered. Saroo, when he finally tracks down his village in India-- God knows how, the movie muddies the issue-- walks up to his mother who is escorted by a group of village women, and they both immediately recognize each other and hug. That caters to a segment of the market that believes that all mothers love their children and have magical abilities, but it isn't likely what happened, or the most interesting part of what happened-- how and when does the mother first hear that man claiming to be her long lost son has appeared in the village looking for her? (One immediately imagines a few minutes afterwards-- they realize they have the wrong person!) Dev Patel immersed himself in preparation for the role but he merely exhibits the desperation of an actor with the earnest determination but not the talent for the role. I'm guessing that most of the blather about his struggle for identify and depression is exaggerated for the purposes of the film, in order to puff up the "significance" of the ending because they didn't trust the audience to get it. Kidman is surprisingly bland and blank as Sue, all inner empathy and anguish, but missing a personality. We never learn about the terrible issues Mantosh, Saroo's adopted brother, brings to the family-- only that they are terrible. Sunny Pawar is wonderful as the young Saroo and surprisingly underplays his role to great effect. He's charming and lively and charismatic. And Rooney Mara didn't buy into the method acting shtick: she is alive and as interesting as she can be given the limitations of the script and director. American Production companies wanted this film but insisted it be move to an American setting (instead of Australia) and the developers of the property rightly refused.
2017-01-14 Washington, Denzel Fences --> Rating: 8.70
Troy Maxson played baseball in the Negro Leagues and never forgave the world for denying him the chance to play in the majors. Now he's a sanitation worker in Pittsburgh, with two sons, Lyons, and aspiring jazz guitarist whom he regards as a needy failure, and Cory, an athlete, who is being scouted by some colleges. Troy was too old to make the transition to the Major Leagues by the time Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier and he harbours a lot of bitterness, and he believes Cory is in for the same kind of disappointment and forbids him from trying out. Words are Maxon's defense against a world that baits him and teases him with promises that are never kept, but he himself is responsible for the most bitter disappointments in this drama. Brilliantly acted (Denzel Washington performed the play over 100 times on Broadway) by all of the principles but especially Washington and Davis and Henderson), and beautifully rendered (you can tell this was a very wordy play but Washington nicely adapts-- and doesn't over-adapt-- the production to film), and intense. An unforgettable portrait of an African-American family at a crossroads, in the full depth of their experiences.
2017-01-13 Eastwood, Clint Sully --> Rating: 6.50
Eastwood has never been a good director of actors but, even for him, "Sully" is an unabridged, meandering mess that is so unfocused and aimless that I'm not even sure of what Eastwood had in mind. The story is familiar to everyone: a United Airlines Airbus 320 hits geese as it takes off from LaGuardia in New York losing both engines. Chelsey LaGuardia, the pilot, made a quick decision to ditch into the Hudson River and brought the aircraft in so delicately that not a soul was lost. It was a remarkable achievement and would be better appreciated without the fake conflict introduced by Eastwood. The NTSB never seriously considered the idea that Sullenberger should have returned to LaGuardia and Eastwood's characterization of the safety board-which has saved countless lives through it's studies of airplane crashes-- as a group of spineless, mindless bureaucrats who needed to be lectured by Sullenberger on the basics of airline safety-- is ridiculous and misguided. But why are Hanks and Eckhart whispering to each other? Pilots mumbling to each other during an air crisis? Even the CGI is amateurish and unconvincing. This features the worst performance by Tom Hanks-who is not a great actor anyway-- in a long time, and remarkably bad performances from Linney, Gunn, and Eckhart.
2017-01-08 Parker, Nate Birth of a Nation --> Rating: 6.40
The most obvious thing about "Birth of a Nation" is it's pedigree: it is "Twelve Years a Slave" blended with "Inglorious Basterds". And it suffers mightily from unfunny anachronistic attitudes and style: Nat Turner never seems to express the embedded belief that he is a member of a slave class and vulnerable, at all times, to the capricious will of his masters. He chitters with Samuel Turner as if they are old pals at times. Parker gives him a lovely wife and their relationship is 20th century suburban Connecticut, all consideration and adoration and mutual respect which, lovely as it might have been, could not have existed in early 19th century Virginia: the real Nat Turner did not have a wife. Here's the essential equation of "Birth of a Nation": Nate Parker gives us Nat Turner's adoring wife and her rape by white slave owners, so we can feel good about Nat Turner murdering the same slave owners, and few others, later. We don't find out that Turner killed women and babies as well. That would not fit with the program. And that's what, fundamentally, makes this a mediocre film.
2017-01-05 Birbiglia, Mike Dont Think Twice --> Rating: 8.20
The Commune is facing a crisis: it's performance space is going to be shut down and they can't afford most alternatives. They are a tight-knit family, but the stress of dealing with the end of their careers in live improv begins to wear on them, especially when one member gets an audition with "Weekend Live" (an obvious allusion to SNL). Entertaining, especially since the improv pieces are basically real improv pieces performed live by the cast, and are believable enough to sustain the credibility of the film. No single aspect of "Don't Think Twice" is outstanding, but every part is pretty good, and the cast is likable and charming and extremely collaborative-- as they should be.
2017-01-02 Birbiglia, Mike Don't Think Twice --> Rating: 8.20
The Commune is facing a crisis: it's performance space is going to be shut down and they can't afford most alternatives. They are a tight-knit family, but the stress of dealing with the end of their careers in live improv begins to wear on them, especially when one member gets an audition with "Weekend Live" (an obvious allusion to SNL). Entertaining, especially since the improv pieces are basically real improv pieces performed live by the cast, and are believable enough to sustain the credibility of the film. No single aspect of "Don't Think Twice" is outstanding, but every part is pretty good, and the cast is likable and charming and extremely collaborative-- as they should be.
2017-01-02 Chazelle, Damien La La Land --> Rating: 8.50
Meticulously directed and edited, well-acted, scrupulously adult in the best sense of the term. I was as surprised as anyone to find that I not only liked it, but I think it might be one of the finest films of the year. This in spite of the most obvious disadvantages: Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone can neither sing nor dance, really. But "La La Land"carefully weaves it's story around those shortcomings to the point where you neither notice nor care-- a lot-- about the fact. Sebastian is a jazz pianist (shorthand for "deep" and "authentic" and Mia is an actress, both frustrated and discouraged when they meet. She is stunned by a piece of (his own) music he is playing. He doesn't even notice her. Eventually they do meet and converse and tease and then encourage each other forward. The film never pretends that if she gets a role, it will be a great role, the fulfillment of dreams, success, or that anyone will ever appreciate Sebastian's brave jazz compositions (judging from the film, he's actually pretty mainstream) and neither does their relationship fall into broad strokes. The most touching moment is when she thinks he thinks she wants him to fail, to think better of herself. And when someone intrudes on their relationship, he's not a villain-- he's just someone else. And when Sebastian has to compromise for a while to make a living, he's complicit in his own sell-out. A really terrific film.
2017-01-01 Meirelles, Fernando City of God --> Rating: 8.60
A "Godfather" for Rio De Janeiro (or-- even better-- "The Wire"), dramatizes the lives of a group of boys who grew up in the "City of God", an area in Rio De Janeiro reserved for outcasts and the poor. Based on the reminiscences of Paulo Lins, very similar to "Once Upon a Time in America", in scope and tone, but far, far better. "The Rocket"-- Buscape-- is our narrative voice, a citizen of the underground but with aspiration to become a photographer (like a friend of Paulo Lins, the author of the book "City of God" did). He describes the struggles of the children to survive in a brutal environment and how they grow up to be tough and join gangs to control the drugs coming in and out of the favela. Multiple story lines are developed and multiple characters explored, always with compassionate, and with an attempt to fully understand each characters predicament. At times seems "over the top" in terms of violence but, according to some accounts, the violence itself in the "Cidade de Deus" was over the top. Filmed in areas of Rio De Janeiro close to where the real events took place using non-professional actors, most of whom came from that background.
2016-12-31 Stone, Oliver Snowden --> Rating: 8.50
Among Obama's most damaging legacies is the extensive, outrageous, and unconstitutional powers of surveillance he fought for and defended while in office. Now handed over to a psychotic idiot. Snowden does a decent job of telling us about Edward Snowden, first of all, an then about the stakes. Snowden, adequately played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, starts out his career with the military as a patriotic, loyal American. He bombs out of the military because of weak bones-- Stone is at pains to establish these kind of details less once think Snowden has an axe to grind-- and, determined to serve his country after 9/11, joins the CIA. Stone dramatizes his increasing awareness of the CIA's illegal activities with a bit too much foresight: we keep thinking Snowden has already swung to the other side when, probably, he was disturbed by these issues significantly at this time of his life. It is later, when he returns to the CIA as a contractor, that he becomes so disturbed by the Agency's unconstitutional surveillance of the lives of all Americans, and foreigners, that he decides to copy gigabytes of data and release it to the media, through The Guardian, and a trusted documentary film-maker, Laura Poitras. With assistance, he then escaped to Moscow where he currently lives, ironically, under the protection of Vladimir Putin.
2016-12-31 Ford, Tom Nocturnal Animals --> Rating: 7.50
I'm not saying that Tom Ford can't write just because he is also the director. He just can't write a convincing screenplay. As for directing, the results are mixed. Early scenes in Nocturnal Animals had me cringing with their schematic contrivances, the phony wandering, hand-held camera, the action turned into scruffy grappling, and the unconvincing scenario. Okay-- we are supposed to know that Tony is guilty of some kind of cowardice (in the novel) and that Susan is moved by this tragedy to agree to something she otherwise would not have. But there are two great cop-outs in this movie: the way Susan finds out Hutton is cheating on her (why, given the schematic of the movie, should we care?) and the way the dismal sequence in West Texas ends. Ford is a gutsy director-- I'll give him that-- but he isn't particularly insightful about how people tick, and he isn't particularly creative about his villains who just don't inhabit any kind of space other than as tools of the plot. And there is difference between the raw, authentic ugliness of transgressive art, and simple shlock. I'm not sure Ford knows it. Adams is very good but Michael Shannon is the most interesting to watch here-- he finds something remarkable to do with his lines.
2016-12-21 Jenkins, Barry Moonlight --> Rating: 7.70
Moonlight consists of three segments: Chiron as a young school boy of confused sexuality who is taken in by Juan and Theresa, a drug dealer and his girlfriend; Chiron as a high school students who is bullied and abused and seeks refuge from his drug addict mother with Theresa; and Chiron as an adult, who has taken up Juan's profession, and is challenged by a call-out from the past. The film quietly and unfussily makes it's allblack cast work as a brilliant ensemble, convincing and compelling, as a story about self-realization and coming to terms with one's sexuality. Occasionally sophomoric and contrived, but never cheaply so. For example, when Chiron is contacted in Atlanta by Kevin, who betrayed him in high school, Kevin informs him that he is a "cook" now, which sounds like biographical note, rather than elicited experience. And the betrayal seems like a plot device rather than a traumatic moment of personal history. Theresa's generous offer of a bedroom, always, also reeks of adolescent fantasy: a previously intriguing characters loses life in that moment. And Chiron's last meeting with his mother, now in rehab, is weak and unconvincing-- partly because Naomie Harris just doesn't look like she is a recovering addict. "Moonlight" is a good film, a fine film, with flaws, but worthwhile.
2016-12-13 Nichols, Jeff Loving --> Rating: 8.00
Sincere and respectful story about Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who, at the request of the ACLU, challenged Virginia's miscegenation laws up to the Supreme Court, and won in 1967, unanimously. The law was thereby overturned in 15 other states that still had it on the books. This is an honest movie, low-key, and there is not much "action" for the first half. Richard and Mildred are already a couple when we meet them, and there is no epochal announcement of their interracial status until the police and the courts intervene. Mildred then writes Bobby Kennedy to ask why they can't live together in Virginia where they want to live-- can he help? Which would be exactly the point, it seems: it is man, not nature, that impedes the course of love and happiness. Mildred Dolores Jeter Loving, incidentally, identified herself primarily as Native American (Cherokee and Rappahannock) rather than black. Richard is not very fond of the media or the attention this brings, but Mildred urges him on. Edgerton and Negga unfussily depict a mature, steady relationship. He has moments at the stock car races that keep the narrative from being too schematic or dry. This is a fine, effective film.
2016-12-08 Cretton, Destin Short Term 12 --> Rating: 7.50
Sincere but sometimes contrived story about a young woman working at a shelter for abused youth and the challenges she faces both within and without, and in her relationship with a male staff member who feels she is not forthcoming in their relationship. Brie Larson, as Grace, is compelling-- there is a seen in which she just watches someone else steal the attention and it's entirely convincing-- and her restraint and taste give the film the patina of good independent, unforced, earnest little film. Worthwhile.
2016-12-02 Zemeckis, Robert Allied --> Rating: 6.80
Max Vatan is a French-Canadian airman who lands in Morocco to connect with local resistance leader, Marianne Beausejour, to assassinate the German ambassador. They have to pretend to be married, to get into the party at which they intend to assassinate the ambassador, which leads to many titillating scenes none of which rises above mild titillation. They also spend an extraordinary amount of time moon at each other, staring meaningfully, and doing an awful job of looking like a married couple: when she puts her hand on his at the office of a Nazi functionary, he stares at it as if was a large insect that had just landed there. Afterwards, they marry, move to England, and have a baby, just as some suspicion arises about Marianne's identity and loyalty. Really poorly acted, though, in the case of Cotillard, I suspect "poorly directed" is a big chunk of it. Brad Pitt is flat and dull, and Cotillard just kind of stares at him. Jared Harris looks lost. Other characters probably wished for more screen time.
2016-11-30 Trachtenberg, Dan 10 Cloverfield Lane --> Rating: 7.80
Firstly, J.J. Abrams had a hand in this which means that nobody involved in the production really cared about any serious artistic angles to this: it's an entertainment. Michelle, fleeing her husband (for unknown reasons) is run off the road at night. She awakes a prisoner in an underground bunker, held by Howard, a survivalist who believes there has been a global catastrophe and the air is contaminated, accompanied by Emmett, who knew about Howard's bunker and begged to be let in when the catastrophe happened. What catastrophe? It's doubtful that there really is one, at first, for Howard is clearly unhinged. But a hysterical woman appears begging to be let in and Michelle is convinced that something really is going on. Above average and entertaining and takes genuinely unexpected twist at the end. But it's only unexpected because we are used to the cliches of science fiction films, and that is an Abrams touch.
2016-11-12 Villeneuve, Denis Arrival --> Rating: 7.20
Is this film at all compelling if you don't buy it's central conceit: that it is conceivable that an alien species might experience time differently, and that understanding their language would allow you to have that experience? By "differently", we mean that they experience all events in history at the same time, as if it was a 3 dimensional location that you could look around at, instead of, well, time. Instead of as a linear sequence of events. If you don't buy it-- I didn't-- then there is not very much left that is all that interesting in this story about 12 giant alien pods that land on earth and invite humans to an encounter inside their sparse cavities. There are so many inherent absurdities in the notion that I can't buy in, or suspend my disbelief. (For example, if you knew tha a decision early in life had particular consequences, you could change it, but then you would not know what the consequences were because the decision was never made, so you couldn't change it...) And those early scenes, in which a military commander recruits Louise Banks, a linguist (who gives an unconvincing lecture to students at one point) to join them at a pod in Montana, to enter the space ship and attempt to communicate with the aliens, are clumsy and sophomoric. There is no sense of anything going on behind the encounters, of any other personalities involved anywhere, nor any explanation of why there would not be: did the army seriously believe that Louise would be the only one who could help them, or that, indeed, the real problem had to do with language? Where are the physicists, biologists, engineers? We are then treated to what seems like hours of Louise' heavy breathing inside her suit, which is meant, I suppose, to focus our attention on Louise' emotional response to the aliens. I kept waiting for the military commander, Colonel Weber, to get rid of her because she was clearly incapable of functioning under stressful conditions. The movie wants it that way, though, because makes the character appear modest, demanded, indispensable, so that her resistance becomes heroic. It's Adam's worst work in any film I've seen her in.
2016-11-11 Villeneuve, Denis Arrival --> Rating: 7.00
Is this film at all compelling if you don't buy it's central conceit: that it is conceivable that an alien species might experience time differently, and that understanding their language would allow you to have that experience? By "differently", we mean that they experience all events in history at the same time, as if it was a 3 dimensional location that you could look around at, instead of, well, time. Instead of as a linear sequence of events. If you don't buy it-- I didn't-- then there is not very much left that is all that interesting in this story about 12 giant alien pods that land on earth and invite humans to an encounter inside their sparse cavities. There are so many inherent absurdities in the notion that I can't buy in, or suspend my disbelief. (For example, if you knew tha a decision early in life had particular consequences, you could change it, but then you would not know what the consequences were because the decision was never made, so you couldn't change it...) And those early scenes, in which a military commander recruits Louise Banks, a linguist (who gives an unconvincing lecture to students at one point) to join them at a pod in Montana, to enter the space ship and attempt to communicate with the aliens, are clumsy and sophomoric. There is no sense of anything going on behind the encounters, of any other personalities involved anywhere, nor any explanation of why there would not be: did the army seriously believe that Louise would be the only one who could help them, or that, indeed, the real problem had to do with language? Where are the physicists, biologists, engineers? We are then treated to what seems like hours of Louise' heavy breathing inside her suit, which is meant, I suppose, to focus our attention on Louise' emotional response to the aliens. I kept waiting for the military commander, Colonel Weber, to get rid of her because she was clearly incapable of functioning under stressful conditions. The movie wants it that way, though, because makes the character appear modest, demanded, indispensable, so that her resistance becomes heroic. It's Adam's worst work in any film I've seen her in.
2016-11-11 Eggers, Robert Witch --> Rating: 8.00
In 1630's New England, a young family is driven from their community because of the father's stubborn dissent from their "worldly" ways and sets out to farm a small, remote location. When bad things start to happen, and then the baby disappears, the omens point to the daughter and witchcraft. Is there really a witch in the woods? Is it really witchcraft or delusion and hysteria? The young actors, in particular, are horrifyingly convincing and the atmospheric cinematography is chilling. The language is historical colonial English. Some critics found fault with the ambiguity about witchcraft, but if one sees the film as a parable about women and colonial culture, the theme is richer and more coherent.
2016-09-01 Jackson, Mick Denial --> Rating: 7.00
Based on a book by Deborah E. Lipstadt. Tiffany and Ashley teach David Irving a lesson. I am baffled by the portrait of Deborah Lipstadt who comes off as high school senior doing her project on holocaust deniers instead of a seasoned professor and author standing up for the integrity of the historical record. A host of interesting problems hover over the movie, including the question of who you "prove" something that seems so obvious no proof should be required. Lipstadt wrote a book about holocaust deniers that cited Irving and was sued, along with her publisher, by Irving in London. There is an odd mix: the Lipstadt character almost, at times, seems to be arguing for a Hollywoodization of the defense, but the movie resists. Her lawyers are resolutely opposed to her testifying, or to bringing in holocaust survivors to testify for fear that it would distract the judge from the issue of Irving's intent and his credibility as a historian. The courtroom scenes are the best part of the film-- no coincidence that they are based verbatim on court transcripts. The rest of the writing and acting is wretched.
2016-10-25 Weitz, Paul Grandma --> Rating: 7.00
Disappointing dissection of a crotchety old lesbian poet, Elle, who starts us off by meanly dispensing with her lover, Olivia (a "footnote"), then undertakes to find $600 for her granddaughter's abortion, without her mother's knowledge. Lily Tomlin is amusing at times but it's a bit of a shtick and she milks it. Little thought given to the narrative: for example, when she kicks out her lover, nobody seems to have considered what they might have been doing in the hours, days, weeks coming up. Any appointments? Dinner? Clothes and personal items? Suitcase? Where is Olivia moving to? This is typical of every detail. When the car fails to start, we learn that was probably the battery, but, after a boost, nobody seems to be worried about how charged it is and whether they would be able to start it again at their destination. Nobody ever calls ahead for anything: Elle and Sage just drop by and ask for money. To its credit, the ending, with only partial resolutions, is not as overbearing as one might have feared.
2016-09-22 Schamus, James Indignation --> Rating: 6.00
In 1951, young Marcus Messner decides to avoid the draft by seeking a scholarship at a small Christian College in Ohio. He meets an attractive, free-spirited girl who, frankly, goes down on him on their first date, leading him to obsess over the fact that he's probably not the first. There is a crisis of some kind, a contrived one, and the only scenes in the movie that stand out are those between Marcus and Dean Caudwell, a masterpiece of supercilious condescension and wizened manipulation played brilliantly by Tracey Letts. The rest of the movie is incomprehensibly dull, lifeless, and cringeingly contrived and underdeveloped. One scene, in which Marcus' mother implores him not to date Olivia because she attempted suicide once-- is so painfully awful I almost had to turn away from the screen. Yet Urban Cinefile rates this as "remarkable" and "successful" and "a cinematic joy"? They've lost their minds. Unforgivably also features the narcissistic element of a writer describing a character likely inspired by himself as "brilliant" and desired and witty and shockingly clever.
2016-09-25 Gibney, Alex Zero Days --> Rating: 8.50
Documentary about cooperative venture between U.S. and Israeli intelligence services to create a virus, eventually known as "Stuxnet", that would infect the Iranian centrifuges at one of their nuclear research labs. Essentially, an act of war, about which almost nobody is willing to talk. Gibney tracks down some dissidents, experts, and U.S. government officials, including Michael Hayden, for comments on it. A lot of them say they can't comment on something they don't acknowledge exists-- other than, by implication, with the fact that they would obviously be very free to comment on it if there was no government role. The drama ratchets up a notch when investigators become aware of the virus having gone wild, thanks, probably, to a rogue Israeli participant at the behest of Netanyahu. Surprisingly suspenseful and exciting.
2016-09-25 Kriegman, Josh Weiner --> Rating: 8.20
This was going to be a fabulous documentary about the amazing come-back and resurrection of Anthony Weiner, from disgraced congressman to Mayor of New York-- and who knows what else lay in his gilded future. Until... a rewarming of the sexting scandal destroyed his career, made him the object of ridicule, and almost destroyed his marriage (subsequent to the film, it did). Which is why Weiner and his wife gave such privileged access to Kriegman-- this was going to be his very own "War Room".
2016-08-01 Dahl, John Red Rock West --> Rating: 7.00
Reasonably competent pot-boiler about a drifter, Michael Williams, who gets mistaken for a hit man and caught up in various nefarious plots involving attempted murder, larceny, and corruption. Towards the end, the energy dissipates as complication is heaped upon complication and Michael vacillates between being shrewd and manipulative to being moralistic and righteous. There was a glaring moment of old-school moralism towards the end that left a bad taste in my mouth, and the holes in the plot get bigger and bigger as the story wears on.
2016-09-05 Frears, Stephen Florence Foster Jenkins --> Rating: 8.00
Very funny, sometimes moving study of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress who held a remarkable belief in her own talent as a singer despite a singular lack of evidence to that effect. In fact, she was a terrible singer, but friends and family all refused to tell her and she seemed to really believe she was lavishly talented. She gave private recitals but when she decided to book Carnegie Hall, the critics were able to attend and savaged her in print. Wikipedia raises the question of to what extent she was actually "in on the joke". She seemed "oblivious" to audience laughter, which strikes me as extremely plausible, and makes the ending of the movie problematic: the audience laughs at her and she is distressed and almost quits until a previously hostile young woman demands that the audience cheer her on. (In reality, it appears that she simply ignored the laughter and jeers.) It was the first of several false notes towards the end of the film, the most egregious of which is her reaction to a Post review: is she the first artist in history to believe or take seriously a negative review? Of course, in truth, all of the papers published savage, and sometimes witty, reviews. Streep should be honored for her performance: there is a very fine line between Jenkin's terrible art and utter slapstick and Streep seems to find it, veering from slightly plausible to absurdly funny. Really a remarkable story.
2016-09-01 Ross, Matt Captain Fantastic --> Rating: 7.00
It was immediately apparent that the director was also the writer for this disappointing mashup of issues and ideas: Ben has taken his family off the grid in Washington State, idolizing Noam Chomsky, while training his children lie Navy Seals, to climb, hunt, and defend themselves. He's part survivalist, part hippie. When his wife dies and he brings his children to the funeral, his wife's parents announce they want to obtain custody of the children. The plot is preposterous and poorly conceived and developed and the dialogue is terrible. Even worse, the tantalizing ideas in the film-- the clash between nature and technology, and the perceptions of society his children experience as they watch obese citizens playing video games and shopping-- are touched upon and then abandoned for absurd plot twists that make no psychological or artistic sense. Awful. Mortenson is pretty good, as is Shree Crooks as Zaja (Ben made up the children's names), but the rest of the cast is weak and undistinguished.
2016-08-18 Lisandro, Alonso Jauja --> Rating: 7.50
Slant Magazine (credit where credit is due) called this a "deconstructionist western". A Danish Captain and his 15-year-old daughter arrive in Argentina's Patagonian region to perform some tasks for the genocidal army (an officer calls natives "coconut-heads"). But, after some very slow, lingering, leisurely development time, he discovers that his daughter has run off with a soldier, and sets out to find them, like Ethan in "The Searchers". His journey is enveloped in mystery: clearly, not hallucination or fantasy but... but then, we move to an entirely different place into a seemingly different story. The director/writer himself is unable to explain this jump, which might lead one to reconsider trying to explain it to oneself. He does get good performances out of his actors, and the severe landscapes are wonderful, but just because some great films have slow-moving parts doesn't mean that a film with slow-moving parts is great.
2016-08-05 Williams, Roger ross Life Animated --> Rating: 6.60
Why is this movie a thing? Owen Suskind has autism. He becomes obsessed with Disney movies. He grows up and moves into a supported independent living complex. His girlfriend-- who also has autism-- breaks up with him. And that's about it. There is nothing really compelling about his story, or the film. One suspects that Disney got involved because their inclusion reads a lot like product placement: no other animated films are mentioned, and the Disney obsession is cast like some kind therapeutic marvel, and linked to dramatic moments in Owen's life, as if the Disney films were somehow expressive of real life. They don't go overboard on that angle, but nor do the film-makers present anything really deserving of 89 minutes of our attention. Should have been a segment of 60 Minutes or something instead.
2016-08-03 Fontaine, Anne Innocents --> Rating: 8.00
Searing story about a group of Benedictine nuns in Poland at the end of WWII who are detained and raped by Soviet soldiers. Many of them become pregnant. During a difficult breech birth, the nuns fetch a French Red Cross intern, Mathilde, to help out and she ends up assisting with more births as she discovers more and more about the horrors the nuns endured, and the horror, to them, of having to encounter their own physical bodies, to be touched and treated. The Mother Superior, meanwhile, mysteriously brings the babies away, one by one, to an uncertain destination-- she claims, usually, to the families of the nuns. Beautifully acted, balanced, austere-- wonderful film that raises questions about the will of God and the devotion of saints, and the compromises of war. The moral choices are as desaturated as the bleak, wintry environment. Based on a true story, as related by a relative of Mathilde.
2016-07-31 Sharrock, Thea Me Before You --> Rating: 7.70
The machinations of the plot: Lou Clark needs a job really badly (contrivance #1). Will Traynor, a very rich man, was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident (contrivance #2). Will doesn't want a companion (contrivance #3). And so the movie unfolds, redeemed somewhat by the charm, if not the acting chops, of the leads. They are likable and Emilia Clarke is entertainingly funny and cute, but neither of them are particularly good actors, and the story seems underdeveloped and, well, contrived. They gradually fall in love, of course, until a shocking revelation to Lou, and her gradual acceptance of a very difficult choice by Will. Not completely unmoving, but could have been so much better in the hands of a real director.
2016-07-23 Yates, David Legend of Tarzan --> Rating: 5.00
Tedious, meandering installation of the Tarzan franchise that appears to have no clear idea of what it wants to do. Tarzan-- Lord Greystoke-- is summoned by the British government to go to Africa, to the Belgian Congo, to represent British interests there. He refuses at first but is persuaded by George Washington Williams to go because he suspect King Leopold is enslaving people to work in his mines. Meanwhile, a tribal leader wants to kill Tarzan to revenge the killing of his son. Ho hum. Jane gets kidnapped, Tarzan tries to rescue her, elephants and apes cavort, there is swinging from the trees, and lots of gorgeous scenery filmed badly-- not technically, but artistically. The jungles are unmoving in this film. Dreary factory made music. Garbage. Waltz and Jackson bring nothing to the mix.
2016-07-07 Scott, Tony Crimson Tide --> Rating: 8.00
Superior suspenseful drama about a nuclear sub, the Alabama, sent on a mission to deter possible nuclear attack by rebel military group in Russia which has seized control a submarine base and several nuclear missile installations. Surprisingly credible story line, especially considering subsequent events (the film was made in 1995!). Captain Frank Ramsey is an old school naval officer who is suspicious of new XO's education and pedigreed. Surprise: the cliche's don't play out. Ramsey is not wrong about the real threat to the U.S. and XO Ron Hunter is not incompetent when it comes to "real" action and decision-making. The only stretch is when their communications are knocked out for a time while they battle over command of the sub: all U.S. submarines carry spare equipment, especially for communications. The confusion of the men and the grey areas of command structures plays out believably and with nuance. There is good detail on processes and command protocols with minimal artistic license (they simplified the sonar display to make it less confusing for audiences, and had a few sailors perform duties they wouldn't normally undertake). Even better, the film raises valid issues about the consequences of decisions taken at the ground level when both sides essentially still operate on the MAD principle: mutual assured destruction. A fine film. The U.S. has since changed its operating procedures so that a nuclear attack can only proceed upon direct orders from the White House. Washington and Hackman, and most of the supporting cast give exceptional performances.
2016-07-08 Erguven, Deniz Gamze Mustang --> Rating: 8.20
A movie that reeks the possibilities of hackneyed tropes and stereo-types and consistently overturns them. The five girls are orphaned daughters living with their grandmother and uncle, and defiantly free-spirited and mischievous until Uncle Erol angrily decides to suppress and cage them and marry them off one by one, with the connivance of Grandma. Lale, the youngest, is most defiant and independent and begins plotting her escape as the sisters are taken away. One of them, at least, gets the man she wants, but one of them takes drastic measures to avoid being trapped in a loveless marriage. There is a completely unnecessary subplot involving sexual abuse that undermines the theme more than a little though I suppose the film-makers would argue that it's an integral effect of this kind of repressive religious culture (I say "religious", not "Islamic", because it is very similar to some Christian cultures as well). And there's more than few implausible plot points: the girls take off to see a football game while a group of men and other women are visiting-- would none of them have been required to assist in the preparations or service? And the ability of Lale to barricade the house, successfully, and then sneak out and steal the car is really quite a stretch. Some of the girls talk of fleeing to Istanbul but one waits in vain for any of them to try to imagine just what they would do in a large strange city, on their own. And the Uncle Erol is less than one-dimensional. The older women are a mixture: they are obviously complicit, but one aunt at least tries to protect them from Erol's wrath. There is the ghost of "Virgin Suicides" here but this film is far less ridiculous and contrived. And Gunes Sensoy as "Lale" is a gem!
2016-06-30 Hou, Hsiao-Hsien Cafe Lumiere --> Rating: 7.80
Yoko lives in an apartment in Tokyo, visits her friend, visits her father and step-mother, takes the trains here and there, and looks up an old jazz cafe called "Cafe Lumiere". She casually informs her step-mother that she is pregnant, and continues her casual, unremarkable life. She has a strange dream and her friend finds a book, by Maurice Sendak, that describes her vision. So Ozu! Like Ozu crossed with a Noah Bambach/Greta Gerwig film. Of course. And so quietly profound and sensuous and compelling, particularly her silent father. Succeeds in making the mundane tasks of daily life, travelling on trains and buses, making tea, getting water for her parents, turning on a fan, fascinating and rich. Like the better Ozu films, transforms everyday experience for average people into a deep statement about the abiding flow of life and attachment and experience.
2016-06-30 Silver, Joan Micklin Crossing Delancey --> Rating: 7.50
Izzy (Isabelle) is a beautiful Jewish girl who works in a real bookstore in Manhattan and gets to meet notable authors and intellectuals. But her Bubbie decides she needs to meet a nice Jewish man who earns a good living. So a matchmaker is employed and she comes up with Sam, a pickle merchant, and a down-to-earth Jewish guy whom, of course, she will end up with, because everybody knows that intellectuals are a bunch of cold-hearted phonies with no real feelings of love or devotion. It's the journey that matters here, and it is far more sophisticated and complicated than you might expect. It's a New Yorkish movie, mildly Woody Allenesque (circa "Manhattan"), and thoroughly tame and predictable. Amy Irving is, perhaps, not the beauty the film requires of her, but Sam is enriched, more fully three-dimensional than expected. Charming at times, and warm towards all of its characters except-- sadly-- the intellectuals, who are mercilessly ridiculed. The most charming moment, surprisingly, comes when Isabelle tries to pawn Sam off on her friend Marilyn, who immediately confesses the contrivance and takes her leave. Smart moment, among a few others.
2016-06-18 Howard, Byron Zootopia --> Rating: 6.00
No, this story was not written by "Howard, Byron". There are, in fact, at least 8 story credits and that tells you all you need to know: this is movie plot by committee and it reeks of the kind of consensual mediocrity now typical of Disney animations. This is dreck. Don't you dare tell a young girl that she can't be anything she wants to be, ever. And while paying lip-service to the role of hard work and determination, it also perpetuates the absurd notion that anyone can be anything even if one is absurdly unqualified to be it. There is not an ounce of wit, imagination, or colour in this pathetic fable-- at least, nothing that is not recycled from other movies. Plot devices must have been conceived of during nap-time. Characterizations are derived from the Disney stockpile of well-worn, stale tropes. Sure, the animation is the best money can buy. That's all.
2016-06-10 Hood, Gavin Eye in the Sky --> Rating: 7.50
Timely and relevant story about a drone attack on a gathering of terrorists in Kenya, complicated by an innocent young girl selling bread nearby, who faces a 65% chance of becoming "collateral damage". Helen Mirren is Colonel Katherine Powell who wants to go. But the political leadership is ambivalent: if the girl is killed, the terrorist might have a major propaganda victory. But if we don't blow them up, they will kill a far greater number of civilians. Chillingly, the calculus includes the idea that these victims will be a propaganda coup for the good guys. The movie goes heavy on the personal toll suffered by the two pilots who agonize over the possible collateral damage. The problem is they seem to have no concern for the numerous adults wandering in and out of the periphery, and one begins to wonder if they are suited for this evil work and if the military would actually tolerate their procrastination when finally ordered to proceed. Would the military be uncomfortable with this movie? I don't think so: the characters who argue for the attack are uniformly decisive and honorable (with the exception of the melodramatic hesitation by the pilots) while those who preach caution and wisdom are portrayed as whiny and unattractively fearful. Yet, the Americans are shown to be more effective and efficient-- they want to go. It's the British politicians who seem to be wasting time, and worried about political fall-out. I was not entirely convinced that the movie wasn't pulling it's punches in order to suggest greater nobility to the idea of drone attacks than it deserves. Firstly, they propose that Colonel Powell and her people have decisive, clear, unambiguous proof that the suspects are planning a suicide bombing with ridiculous certainty that is not likely to exist in real life. Secondly, they show us people risking their lives on the ground to make the attack work-- think about it: is that a contrivance to suggest that the attacks are not as heartlessly remote as most of them, in fact, are? Is this catering to what we would all like to think is going on? Still, to their credit, they show consequences more honestly than expected.
2016-06-10 Menzel, Jiri I Served the King of England --> Rating: 8.00
Witty, sardonic story of Jan Dite, a young man in Czechoslovakia, and his adventures as he tries to waiter his way to wealth and status at a series of elegant hotels while encountering the streams of culture and politics that rile his country in the years before and during World War II. It is challenging, at times, to sort out the targets of the satire: bureaucrats and functionaries, the rich, the poor, the stuffy culture of high class restaurants, and even desire and romance. All of it is beautifully filmed, like some of the best silent movies, without dialogue, and with expressive gestures and actions, fastidiously synchronized. It's a cross between "Forrest Gump" and Kafka. But Dite is no lovable hero: he falls for a Nazi and uses stolen Jewish property to buy his own hotel. He is naive but selfish and foolish. In the end, he is a paradox: seemingly innocent and well-meaning-- like the general population during war-- but ultimately self-serving and venal.
2016-06-12 Nemes, Laszlo Son of Saul --> Rating: 8.00
Everything in "Son of Saul" is presented through the closed-in perspective of Saul, Sonderkommando, at Auschwitz, whose job is to guide prisoners into the gas chambers, sort through their possessions for processing by other prisoners, and then burn the bodies afterwards. A boy survives a gassing-- for a short time-and Saul takes it into his head that the boy is his son, for whom he must provide a decent burial. It is never quite clear to me if he might be an illegitimate son of Saul, or it is merely something he seizes on as a desperate bid to regain his humanity. At the same time, a group of prisoners is planning a revolt and Saul becomes a complication to their plans. A unique and powerful perspective on life in a concentration camp: for the first time, you begin to feel what it might have been like to be manipulated and co-opted the way the Sonderkommandos and others were, and how you never knew at which stage the bargain you made with your captors would be your undoing at last.
2016-06-05 Coen, Ethan Hail Caesar! --> Rating: 7.80
Moderately amusing study of a Hollywood fixer who runs around trying to prevent PR disasters involving actors in whom his studio, Capitol Pictures, has a major investment. Fun to watch segments showing how early films were made, the sound stages, the fakery, the stock stunts. Shot on film! Because the Coen brothers don't like digital. Eddie Mannix (Brolin) is inspired by E. J. Mannix, a real-life fixer, while Baird Whitlock (Clooney) is an amalgamation of Charlton Heston, Robert Taylor, and Kirk Douglas. There are clear allusions to Ben Hur, Carmen Miranda, and to many westerns. An affectionate tribute to the business of big Hollywood, without any clear focus on what it might mean.
2016-06-05 Stoller, Nicholas Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising --> Rating: 5.00
What is this shit? A number of reviewers claim that this is some kind of statement about empowerment and repeat the claim that sororities aren't "allowed" to have parties while fraternities can (utter bullshit: there is no law about sororities at all-- it's a policy by some association that has no legal standing). It's basically a long, tedious, repetitious sitcom, with the usual awful bodily function jokes and "empowered" girls in bikinis drinking and smoking pot and annoying their neighbor who, through absurd contrivance, must prevent the purchaser of their home from realizing that a madcap sorority abides in the next house. I liked reviewer James Bernadelli's reference to Rogen's "piggish attitude towards sex". That about sums it up. Often plays like the worst of the Judy Garland / Mickey Rooney contrivances, in which they miraculously find a barn in which they can put on a show that raises lots of money to pay the orphanage.
2016-06-05 Davies, Terence Sunset Song --> Rating: 8.20
Exquisitely beautiful, tragic story of a Scottish girl in early 1900's in Aberdeenshire, with a monstrous father who drives her mother to suicide and his son to emigrate to Argentina. Chris Guthrie is beautiful and smart (we see her recognized in class in one of the many detailed period reconstructions Davies is so good at) and not spectacularly different from any of us. She just wants a life and when an opportunity comes to shuck off some of the constraints of her role in that society at that time, she takes it. She's no saint, and the men around her-- and some women, like her aunt-- are not particularly evil or good. They are mixed up like the rest of us. Her mother is a rather exotic personality as well-- not the expected martyr or passive victim. She laughs at awkward moments, and makes a nominal effort-- but no more -- to prevent some of the abuse of her son. There are missteps: towards the end, there is a melodramatic turn that reminds one of some earlier disappointments from Davies (disappointments because his early films were so good). Filmed in sumptuous, Rembrandtesque colours and compositions, almost every shot a beautiful work of art. Superb performances by everyone but especially Agyness Deyn.
2016-06-04 Trevorrow, Colin Jurassic World --> Rating: 4.00
Horrible, boring rehash of original. Simply terrible, from the cliche-ridden plot (the boys parents are divorcing: what can make us feel good again? I know-- the family reunites!) and the usual trope of career woman being unfeeling and unfeminine, until she falls for the macho, rugged, all-American guy carrying a gun around. There's helicopters, there's blood, there's bazookas, there's crowds screaming and evil corporations gleaming... notably, the bad guys here are not the military but the greedy corporation. Completely worthless pile of dreck.
2016-05-28 Abrams, J.J. Star Wars: The Force Awakens --> Rating: 7.50
Surprisingly well developed Star Wars entry with above average acting and direction. Of course, it's still a rehash with rather blatant repetition of earlier series sequences (the light-sabre battle on a catwalk, the daring fighter attack on the center of a new planet death star), but handle with with verve. Even Harrison Ford, who seems to be begging for the script to "kill me" and spare another entry, handles his role as an aging Han Solo with aplomb. Goes easy on the more tiresome conventions (no Yoda, for one thing), and not much emphasis on "the force". Still treats androids like cute puppies instead of what they are: mechanical devices. But Oscar Isaac is very good, and so is Daisy Ridley as Rey.
2016-05-30 Russo, Anthony Captain America: Civil War --> Rating: 6.00
The usual inane, contrived, recycle block-buster sci-fi material. This time, after some bad pr as the result of collateral damage, one of the more absurd premises: Ironman and some of the others believe the United Nations should control the activities of the Avengers, while Captain America and some others believe they should remain independent. No one brings up the most overwhelming piece of logic: that the Avengers, in this fantasy world, save far more lives than are killed by their activities, and all they have to do is announce, fine, they won't do it next time. The obligatory oily government man is hardly a worthy foil. Downey seems to be mailing it in. Scarlett Johannson isn't even sexy in this incarnation. The witticisms in the middle of battle scenes seem tired. And all of the tension is drained because you know that none of them are going to die. Boring. Only Elizabeth Olsen and Tom Holland give it some life.
2016-05-25 Davies, Terence Deep Blue Sea --> Rating: 8.00
Did not enter at the time I saw it but noted as I reviewed Davies' new film, "Sunset Song". A brooding, dark film, of insoluble human passions.
2010-01-01 Lubitsch, Ernst Shop Around the Corner --> Rating: 8.00
Sharp, witty, well-written story about a pair of Budapest shop employees who unknowingly become pen-pals while annoying each other at work. Or is this really mainly about the shop, and about the familial relationship between owner Hugo Matuschek and his employees? Alfred is loyal and diligent but is suddenly on the outs with Matuschek, who had been treating him like a son. Matuschek, unknown to Alfred, suspects Alfred of having an affair with this wife. All of the secondary characters are fleshed out here, conveying a deep sense of personality and history with a few lines. One of the other employees is a suck-up, always angling for favour. Another is a likable older man, Pirovitch, who passes on wisdom from his own painful experience. Another is the smart-ass errand boy, Pepi. Yes, they don't make them like they used to: this was template for "You've Got Mail", a grossly inferior film.
2016-05-09 Villeneuve, Denis Sicario --> Rating: 8.00
Brilliant film that glamorizes a repulsive idea: that the only solution to drug violence is to become as psychotic as the dealers, to use torture and murder to achieve a kind of repressive stasis that is more "acceptable" than constant turf war. FBI Agent Kate Macer is invited by some shady government agents to join them in a plan to deal a blow to the drug dealers by capturing a king-pin and bringing him down. Problem: everybody knows that this would only result in a change in the hierarchy and would have no effect on drug distribution, and would even likely cause a new drug war. Surely Kate would know and it strains credulity that she would not question the idea (she embraces it, instead, in a rather righteous expression of indignation about the crimes she's had to investigate tied to the dealers). As the plan develops, she begins to realize that what they are planning may not be "by the book", and that she is only there because the CIA is involved and it cannot, legally, carry out such activities within the U.S. An Ali Soufan moment. Here the drama breaks down and the story line veers off into an extremely unlikely scenario. I give Villeneuve credit for not compromising the actions taken by Alejandro, just to make the hero more palatable to audiences who surely "enjoy" the deaths incidental to his actions, or his use of torture on a capture aid to the target. But in a ridiculous moment, he has Kate suddenly pull a gun in a situation in which only an extremely naive person would believe that this story would end with her shooting. She's not going to. I know it, Villeneuve knows it, Alejandro knows it, and Kate knows it: to put it out there anyway is cheap and detracts from the point of the movie. It betrays the fact that movie really is about competing psychosis and the makers of it can't conceive of any response to violence except more violence. By not firing--as we know she won't-- Kate tacitly endorses Alejandro's code. And that is repulsive. Yet, again, this is an extremely well made movie by the director of "Polytechnique" and "Incendies". Super score.
2016-04-30 Lee, Spike Chi-Raq --> Rating: 8.10
Updated take on Aristophanes' "Lysistrata", about a group of women who try to force their husbands to stop making war by denying them sex, set in Chicago today, an area referred to by locals as "Chi-Raq" because of it's sustained rate of violent crime. Surprisingly (to me) close to the original play, including using blank verse and rhyme, and the general structure of the story. Through it all, Lee's overwhelming compassion for his subjects shines through, as they struggle through issues like the drug wars, racist police, self-inflicted wounds, and despair. Samuel L. Jackson may be tiresome in this type of rule, usually, but here it fits, as a kind of singular Greek chorus giving us the meaning of the actions. Lee's expands the story to a grand scale when even the President, and other nations, become involved. Cusack is particularly impressive as a local priest who consoles the mother of a shooting victim and decries the violence in a surprisingly compelling speech at the funeral. "Chi-Raq" is wildly inventive and hallucinogenic and mesmerizing. I don't rate it quite as successful or funny as "Bamboozled", but it is superb.
2016-04-29 Lathimos, Yorgos Lobster --> Rating: 7.90
Very odd, very interesting dissection of love and social norms: David's wife kicks him and his dog out and he is arrested for failure to love. He is confined to a hotel and must fall in love with one of the other guests by the end of 45 days or he will be turned into an animal of his choice. He chooses a lobster, but sets out to beat the odds. You must demonstrate that you are genuine "match" for the person you choose, so when he chooses a woman with no feelings, he must also appear to have no feelings. The dog is his brother-- who was previously transformed-- and it becomes his undoing when his new wife proves that he can cry. He flees into the forest and joins a group with the opposite purpose: no one is allowed to have a relationship, and falls for one of the other members. Bitter, sometimes unpleasant movie, that is not really inventive enough to justify the quirky, sequences and tropes, though it retains your interest with it's originality, and the good acting of the majors, and their merciless attitudes. Provocative.
2016-04-22 Moore, Michael Where to Invade Next --> Rating: 8.00
Michael Moore decides that instead of invading third rate third world powers, he will invade, on behalf of the U.S., countries that actually have something worth taking, like Italy's approach to school lunches, Finland's approach to schools, Denmark's approach to prisons, and Tunisia' approach to women in politics. Entertaining and funny as political activism, obviously somewhat selective, but effective nevertheless, especially at highlighting just how wrong-headed a lot of U.S. policies are.
2016-03-19 Sorrentino, Paolo Youth --> Rating: 7.00
Sloppy, meandering, inexplicably pretentious rehash of "The Great Beauty" (an excellent film) by Sorrentino, about two old men, a conductor and composer, Fred Ballinger, and film director, Mick Boyle, ruminating at a spa over a period of a few weeks, while oogling women and resisting honors and interviews. A particularly distasteful subplot features a British "emissary" from the Queen just begging Ballinger to conduct his "Simple Songs" for Prince Philip's birthday. The groundwork for melodramatic developments later in the story is rudimentary at best, and scenes with Keitel and Caine together seem ridiculously under-developed and underrehearsed. Sorrentino tosses in some of his usual remarkable shots, stately, mystifying, oblique, and tasteful hints of exotic sensuality. Ballinger's daughter, Lena, shows up, to discover that her husband has been unfaithful, and an actor, Jimmy Tree, observes, but doesn't really participate in the developments. Sorrentino's usual odd mix of classical and pop music on the soundtrack occasionally livens up festivities but can't save this work from aimlessness and triviality. Thank God at least it didn't feature Maggie Smith. Note: at one point, while Lena and Fred and taking some kind of massage together, Lena goes into a vicious rant about what a terrible father Fred was, always conducting or composing instead of paying attention to her. Was this an inadvertent assertion of the fact that women really do smother creative talent in their men, or was it meant to expose Fred's inadequacy as a human being? A lot of scenes echo scenes from "The Great Beauty".
2016-03-18 Ramsay, Lynne Morvern Callar --> Rating: 8.10
Morvern wakes up one day beside her boyfriend who has slashed his wrists, on Christmas day, and died, on the floor of his apartment. "Don't try to understand", he has informed her via his computer (displaying "Read Me" on the screen). She gets up, gets dressed, takes some money from his pockets, and goes out, to meet her friend Lanna. They go to a club. Where's your boyfriend? He left. In the note, her boy friend tells her about a manuscript for a novel that he suggests she send to a list of publishers. She does so, and then she disposes of the body herself, and then she and Lanna go to Ibiza, Spain, to be ravished by the sunlight and the scenery, though she impulsively also leads Lanna to a small Spanish town having some kind of religious feast, after which they are stranded far from everything. The fate of the manuscript comes in to play as Morvern seems indifferent and disengaged from everything around her, from the casual sex and drinking and drugs, to her friends confession that she had slept with the boyfriend-- but it didn't mean anything. The New York Times mentioned the "weightlessness" of her life, the "empty weariness", and that seems right. Really right. A flaw: editors at a publishing house would expect to spend a lot of time suggesting rewrites and edits to a manuscript: there is no suggestion of how this would work out in the context of this film.
2016-03-04 Ramsay, Lynne Morvern Callar --> Rating: 8.10
Morvern wakes up one day beside her boyfriend who has slashed his wrists, on Christmas day, and died, on the floor of his apartment. "Don't try to understand", he has informed her via his computer (displaying "Read Me" on the screen). She gets up, gets dressed, takes some money from his pockets, and goes out, to meet her friend Lanna. They go to a club. Where's your boyfriend? He left. In the note, her boy friend tells her about a manuscript for a novel that he suggests she send to a list of publishers. She does so, and then she disposes of the body herself, and then she and Lanna go to Ibiza, Spain, to be ravished by the sunlight and the scenery, though she impulsively also leads Lanna to a small Spanish town having some kind of religious feast, after which they are stranded far from everything. The fate of the manuscript comes in to play as Morvern seems indifferent and disengaged from everything around her, from the casual sex and drinking and drugs, to her friends confession that she had slept with the boyfriend-- but it didn't mean anything. The New York Times mentioned the "weightlessness" of her life, the "empty weariness", and that seems right. Really right. A flaw: editors at a publishing house would expect to spend a lot of time suggesting rewrites and edits to a manuscript: there is no suggestion of how this would work out in the context of this film.
2015-03-04 Russell, David O. Joy --> Rating: 7.90
Funky, funny, irreverent look at real capitalism-- as opposed to biography, which this is not. Joy is divorced but her husband lives in the basement and her father, freshly evicted from his latest relationship, moves in as well. Her mother is already embedded in her bedroom watching soap operas and complaining when a plumber has to intrude. Joy is near the end of her rope until she hits upon the idea of the "Miracle Mop" (which is never actually mentioned by name in the show). She recruits his father's new girlfriend as an investor, gets some bad advice, fails at first, but persists until she wins in the end. But that's not really what this is about: the primary lesson of "Joy" is that other people will not hesitate to give you bad advice and try to diminish your accomplishments and your abilities. Joy succeeds when she finally learns to trust her own judgement and stand up to the failures around her, all of whom invoke their previous success or insight or intelligence to justify telling her what to do. It's a scrambled message which, to its credit, the movie makes no effort to untangle. Entertaining and filled with life.
2016-03-05 Baker, Sean Tangerine --> Rating: 8.00
Filmed entirely on Apple iPhones, with cheap adapters and steadicam attachments, in Los Angeles near Santa Monica Blvd, using two "found" transagender actors, Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez. Sin-Dee discovers that her boyfriend, Chester, has cheated on her with a girl who name starts with a "D". In a fury, she sets out to find the girl, and Chester, and get revenge. In the meantime, Razmik, a taxi driver in love with Sin-Dee, is looking for a piece of action, even after joining his wife and her mother and her mother's friends and his daughter for Christmas dinner. Sin-Dee's friend, Alexandra, has a singing engagement at a local club, but a hard time persuading her friends to show up. Off-beat, entertaining, and fresh, driven by the lively personalities of its two stars, and memorable cameos by Clu Gulanger and James Ransone ("The Wire"). Far more raw and authentic than most Hollywood versions of the same raw materials.
2016-02-26 Miller, Tim Deadpool --> Rating: 7.90
Wildly inventive and mostly funny parody of the Marvel franchise though notably derivative of Spiderman, Ironman, and lots more: Dead Pool is sarcastic and witty and self-pitying. There's a big dose of adolescent narcissistic masochism: Dead Pool strapped to a gurney getting "treated" for cancer by Ajax, the usual nemesis with a "British Accent" as the opening credits specify. The suffering, you know, makes it okay for us to enjoy the carnage that follows. While Colossus tries to mentor Dead Pool into becoming a responsible hero, he'd rather get revenge. There's also a "Beauty and the Beast" theme here: I think a large part of the appeal of movies like this is the image young, adolescent males have of themselves: they find their burgeoning sexual feelings constantly attacked by society as the root cause of multiple evils and crave approval and validation from a sexually desirable female, who knows about the depravity, and accepts it-- even craves it. Which lead to the funniest line in the movie: "...it's a face I'd be happy to sit on."
2016-02-22 Cooper, Scott Black Mass --> Rating: 7.10
Unfocused, sometimes pointless recounting of the career of James "Whitey" Bulger, and, more accurately, John Connolly, the FBI agent who protected him and covered up some of his murders (for which he was eventually convicted as an accessory). Bulger famously became an "informant" for the FBI, supposedly providing the goods on Mafia-backed thugs moving into his areas of Boston. It is now alleged that Connolly even provided Bulger with the names of other informants whom Bulger later had killed. "Black Mass" doesn't sanctify Bulger so much as tidy him up a little. But Depp doesn't really draw anything out of him other than the mannerisms and the accent-- there's a never a moment where I felt a flash of real personality there. What's he really made of? How did his background really connect to his career as a violent criminal? Where's that insight into the relationship between a well-known criminal and the police and the public, let alone Connolly? Not as romanticized as "The Godfather" films, but not as perceptive either. Cumberbatch, unsurprisingly, steals every scene he's in, as Bulger's State Senator brother, Billy.
2016-02-20 Crowley, John 45 Years --> Rating: 7.90
In the news: climate change has melted the snow in mountain glaciers revealing the bodies of people who died ages ago. What if.... one of them was your former girlfriend? So it is, and Geoff is stunned by the news, and not sure what to do with it. He was the "nearest relative" because they had lied (in early 1960's) about being married so they could share accommodations. This was all long before he even met Kate, so why does she begin to feel jealous about Katya? But she does, and eventually tells Geoff that she doesn't want to hear about her anymore. But their 45th anniversary is approaching and there is going to be a big party and the shocking news throws a damper over their relationship just as they are about to celebrate it's longevity. I was frankly a little disappointed. Well-acted and written and an interesting idea but it is developed into something less stirring than I had thought. They don't even really talk about the obvious fact that he was a different person back then, with a different life, so why would Kate even care that much. But she does and it is clear that the sudden illumination of Geoff's feelings for his long dead lover disturbs her greatly, and another revelation sends her into a funk, and can never be resolved. Her pleasure at a crucial moment significantly turns into a kind of despair.
2016-02-20 Pennebaker, D.A. War Room --> Rating: 7.80
Documentary-- if you could call it that-- of the Clinton campaign in 1992, from New Hampshire, and the Genifer Flowers revelations, to election night. James Carville is the primary focus and the film seems more a montage of clips rather than a coherent narrative about the campaign. It's a very interesting insider look at election strategy and the mindset and culture of campaign operations, without a major, over-arching idea.
2016-02-19 Schipper, Sebastian Victoria --> Rating: 8.20
Famously filmed in a single continuous stream, about a young Spanish girl, out one evening dancing at a club, connecting with some guys who might be up to something dangerous. She hangs around because she likes Sonne, and there is obviously a spark of romance there, but Sonne's friend, freshly out of prison, owes a debt and will have to repay it soon. It's an exhilarating ride-- you find out what's up at the same pace as the characters, and absorb their excitement and fear and the enormous tension created when Victoria is drawn into a complicated situation, which is not what you might have expected. Flags a little in the last bit, as some developments seem improbable and even conventional, after a very unconventional first 90 minutes. Deserves a lot of credit for an original idea carried through brilliantly at times.
2016-02-21 Kaufman, Charlie Anomalisa --> Rating: 8.10
Melancholy, downbeat animated (the old way) drama about a man, Michael, visiting Cincinnati to give a presentation on customer service, and hoping to hook up with an old flame. That does not go well but he does end up with a fan. Strikingly unromantic or sentimental: he is married to an unpleasant woman and has a young son who is selfish and rude. All of the other characters, except for the new flame, Lisa, talk in a flat, male voice and resemble his wife. The exact reasoning for this is unclear, but it has an effect: Lisa leaps off the screen. She is vivid and charming. Is the point that he craves something different, while fooling himself into thinking he wants something meaningful? Within a short time, he begins noticing Lisa's shortcomings, personal habits that annoy him, suggesting that this relationship would never last long either. He clearly just about hates everyone-- but that doesn't change the fact that he really is lonely. Baffling in some ways, but always interesting and often moving, as when Lisa sings her favorite song to Michael.
2016-02-06 McQueen, Steve Shame --> Rating: 8.50
Brandon works for a rich corporation in downtown Manhattan and lives the good life for a single corporate drone: lots of money, fabulous apartment, good looks, lots of available women. Then his needy sister-- Sissy-comes to visit, and begs him to let her stay in his apartment for a time. This seems to unbalance Brandon and his bottomless cravings for sex and porn begin to gnaw away at him. He is-- for no apparent reason-- viscerally ashamed when Sissy interrupts his masturbation or sees some of the porn he has been watching. Is it because he is embarrassed that none of the sex he has has even the slightest emotional component? He experiments with a serious girl from the office, Marianne, and just when we begin to sense a real emotional connection is possible, he puts her off with his declaration that marriage is pointless: why have just one romantic partner. Still, he clearly likes her, and perhaps realizes that her smarts and her congenial personality are partly connected to her views on romance and love. Perhaps the most intriguing part of this portrait is how Brandon's business self seems integrated with his personal morality-- his own boss, married with children, exuberantly hits on Sissy. Brandon is appalled, seemingly unconscious of the hypocrisy. He is disgusted by Sissy's weakness and messiness and you wonder with him, at the end, if he can ever rise above it. Filmed in unpleasant, drab grays and blues, superbly acted, especially by Fassbender and Mulligan-- a 6 minute argument between the two (continuous take) is brilliant-- , and absolutely one of the best films of 2011.
2016-01-30 Hooper, Tom Danish Girl --> Rating: 6.00
Don't even try to think of this as a true story: it is a fictionalized version of a fictionalized biography that did not remotely treat the facts of Einar Wegener and Gerda Gottlieb. For example, Gerda was openly gay as well as Einar, and they were never faithful to each other. That said, what about the movie? This is a massive act of narcissism. It barely touches on real issues of sexual identity, but revels in showing how adorable Einar is as a girl, how men were instantly attracted to him, and how he suffered as a result of his beautiful soulful consciousness of being the wrong gender. Everyone in the film cares about Einar and is supportive and approving. The actors indulge in method-mumbling, partly to conceal Redmayne's decidedly masculine voice, and partly, once supposes, to conceal the lack of psychological logic to any of the characters. Redmayne uses a variety of tic-like smiles and fluttering eyes to suggest that he really, really believes that he is completely adorable, and also that the the gender-bending was-- pardon the expression-- thrust upon him, rather than something he really wanted for himself. It all becomes a bit nauseating after a while, and the film remarkably makes Alicia Vikander dull and lifeless: her entire job is to adore Einar. The real Gerda painted shocking lesbian-porn, and died, alcoholic and penniless, in Denmark in 1940. Beautiful sets and wonderfully illustrates why period films aren't necessarily interesting.
2016-01-30 Gray, F. Gary Straight Outta Compton --> Rating: 8.10
Controversial film about the early proponents of rap, the sensational NWA, from the streets of Compton to a record deal, fast money, lavish parties in LA and elsewhere, and the death of one of its key founders. And, of course, the manager who rips off the artists leaving them bankrupt. Yet, not formulaic or cheesie. The manager, Jerry Heller, gets to make his case-- that he "made" the band, and made them successful beyond their wildest dreams. Ice Cube, played well by O'Shea Jackson, (son of the real Ice Cube) emerges as the most intelligent of the band, and he leaves first, frustrated by Heller's control and the rigged contract he is finally offered. Dr. Dre leaves as well, only to become linked to Suge Knight, who may have been worse than Heller. Dr. Dre and Ice Cube find lavish success, but in the end, tragedy brings them all back together. Well-acted, very well-written and directed.
2016-01-29 Haynes, Todd Carol --> Rating: 8.00
Brooding, meticulous recreation of a 1950's love affair between Carol, a wealthy New York socialite, and Therese, a shop clerk. Patient and slow moving, we watch them encounter each other, meet, charm each other, and finally fall into a full-blown affair. Haynes embraces the look and feel of dated, washed out urban landscapes, cars and telephones and lunch counters, and cheap motels, as an expression of inner landscapes. Carol is separated from her husband, but he wants her back and sees her indiscretion as an opportunity to blackmail her by seeking full custody of their daughter. I had the feeling that Carol was supposed to be far more likeble than she actually was: Cate Blanchett is off-putting anyway, and Carol's behavior was not admirable. But "Carol" is really about how social convention and cultural values inhibit and constrict the individual, while acknowledging that times were about to change. Definitely anachronistic in the delicacy with which the husband and lawyers discuss Carol's sexual adventures, and the implied heroism of Carol's choices. In the real life, author Patricia Highsmith experienced many of the incidents in the story: one of her early lovers committed suicide.
2016-01-27 Nowar, Naji Abu Theeb --> Rating: 7.50
Slight but interesting story about a young Bedouin boy whose brother is drafted to guide an Englishman through the desert, apparently, to sabotage an Ottoman Turk railway line. He tags along and learns about betrayal and death and family loyalty through his interactions with the British man and a group of Arabs who are out to stop him. (The Turkish-led Ottoman Empire was allied with the Germans in World War I, and the British were trying to exploit Arab resistance to the Ottomans as a military strategy). Slow-moving, picturesque without being remarkably beautiful, at times the most interesting thing going on was the behavior of the sometimes ornery camels. The main point seems to be that local, immediate, familial concerns triumph over grand international events. It's not a stretch to consider this angle in light of current events in the same region. A Jordanian co-production that is the 2016 nominee for Best Foreign Film.
2016-01-23 Coogler, Ryan Creed --> Rating: 7.80
It was very difficult to conceive of a reason to see this film: another dreary installment of the "Rocky" franchise recycling the obvious trajectory with a bit of dime-store psychology and gratuitous violence. And, in spite of the insistent reviewers stating that it is not that, it is, partly. The first two-thirds of it-- until Rocky has a personal crisis-- was pretty good, reasonably fresh, well-directed and acted, and reasonably believable. And then, the mawkish sentimentality set in, the contrived conflicts, the unbelievably predictable penultimate match with results so expected that it was almost-- but not quite-- unexpected. "Creed" follows the drift into a boxing career by the illegitimate son of "Rocky's" original antagonist, Apollo Creed (the film makes an oddly moralistic judgement about a man whose career consisted of inflicting permanent brain damage on exploited young men). Adonis Johnson can box but his adoptive mother doesn't approve (great pity that Coogler didn't have the idea of having her disapprove even when the fight is big and profitable). So he goes to Philadelphia and seeks out Rocky Balboa and begs him to train him. And he meets a girl who, unfortunately, ultimately ends up as a mere prop for Creed's "journey". Along the way, the best fight sequence is staged, a wonderful two-minute continuous shot, close-up, in a crowded gym. A terrific moment. But then we get familiar elements: the rude, arrogant opponent, the obscene stars and stripes trunks, the breathless commentators insisting the hero is a massive underdog, and the various peripheral characters rallying to the cause of the hero. In a serious misjudgment, Johnson is shown to accept being identified as his father's son, even after earlier making a big, significant point about wanting to be his own man. It's the franchise, stupid. Disappointing, considering that Coogler directed Fruitvale station. Michael B. Jordan, incidentally, was Wallace in "The Wire".
2016-01-22 Hou, Hsiao-Hsien Assassin --> Rating: 8.00
Pictorial stunning Chinese film about a young woman trained as an assassin targeting political figures, to whom she is related, in 7th century China. Yinniang was sent to some kind of convent when very young to be trained as a killer and then returned to her kingdom to assassinate her cousin in order to provoke a political crisis. The film is all poses and brief flashes of intense action, beautifully staged in woods and in front of mountains, and hillsides glorious in color. Yinniang develops ambivalence about her mission, refusing to kill a man holding his child, and begins to reconsider the role of violence in politics. The plot is otherwise almost insensible to western viewers, with few narrative advances or explanations. But how beautifully it is rendered!
2016-01-15 Inarritu, Alejandro Revenant --> Rating: 8.00
DiCaprio has never been convincing in any role and he isn't convincing in "The Revenant", and otherwise fine film from Inarritu, about a frontier fur trader, Hugh Glass, who is attacked by a bear and left for dead by his partners, makes a remarkable recovery, and sets out for revenge. The real story, of course, is only about the survival part: the revenge part introduces cliches (Glass had a native wife and son, killed a soldier who was attacking his home, and, after returning to the fort, sets out to pursue the worst miscreant, Fitzgerald, with only one other man and they split up when they catch up to him) and diminishes the story. But beautifully filmed in the wilds of Alberta and Argentina (they had to move there after the snow melted) and well-acted by everyone except DiCaprio, who shamelessly offers us the starving man biting the head off a fish trope, and the man hiding from Indians trying to kill him by grunting with pain as he moves along under an ice shelf with the stalkers very near.
2016-01-14 Peterson, Wolfgang Das Boot --> Rating: 8.40
Seen earlier but not noted. This was the 3 hour version, "Director's Cut". Intense, patient, honest story of a Uboat crew in 1942, and the horrors of life on a floating coffin (more than 30,000 of 40,000 U-Boat crew members died in action). Doesn't shy away from showing the boredom, the long, dreary hours of waiting, and the intense terror of being depth-charged, as well as the crew's ambivalent attitude towards their own government. Occasionally melodramatic and sophomoric, and occasionally brilliant, but always concerned with giving the viewer a relatively authentic experience. Most of the actors dubbed their own English lines, badly (so the accents have a reason). And the wider views of the u-boat at sea, and the shaken camera effect on depth charge attacks, don't always convince (they used scale models generally). But really marvelous at times and tells a story that needs to be told. Very detailed attention to the nuts and bolts of how u-boats worked, the claustrophobic feel of being in them, the crowding, the stench, and the long boring periods of inactivity.
2016-01-10 Baumbach, Noah Mistress America --> Rating: 7.90
Greta Gerwig is listed as co-writer. Slight but amusing take on young woman in New York hoping to open a restaurant and forced to hit up an old flame for the money after an investor pulls out. Rather, more about her admiring friend, a prospective step-sister, who turns her into a character in a story. It's about adorable Greta Gerwig, funny and witty and outrageous, and a little lost, and incredibly angry at little Tracy for writing that story about her. Not quite believable, really, but that's not what matters. It's a slice. It's a slight but engaging story, filmed in a straightforward style-- lots of cross-cutting during fast dialogues-- and with just enough melancholy to make you think you've had an experience.
2016-01-08 Crowley, John Brooklyn --> Rating: 8.00
Touching, delicate, sensitive study of a young Irish girl who moves to New York in the 1950's, meets a nice Italian lad, and faces a crisis due to events at home. Temperate and measured and thoughtful-- but generally, poorly directed. Eilis sees no future in Ireland. She has a job with a mean employer, no boyfriends or anyone she is interested in, and a dreary life. Her voyage to New York is dreadful but she ends up in pleasant boarding house in the care of a Mrs. Kehoe, and a good job thanks to a local priest. (Great pity they didn't show more of the details of getting through immigration, finding her way around, encountering the large, bustling city. Probably largely due to budget constraints-- they filmed mostly in Montreal.) She meets an Italian boy who has dreams for a life with her, but must make a difficult decision when a sudden death at home occurs. Avoids cliches and brings a fresh spin to the immigrant trope, but many scenes seem rushed and under-developed, or constrained by budgetary issues. Saoirse Ronan is terrific, as is Julie Waters.
2016-01-06 Tarantino, Quentin Hateful Eight --> Rating: 7.10
Dreary rehash of previous Tarantino offerings, professionally staged but repetitive and mindless: bodies must splatter, guns must fire often, and Samuel Jackson must rant. Deeply disappointing after the suggestion, in previews, that this would be a beautifully filmed western, exploring the traditions and culture of the American Western Film, because Tarantino's films are all about American films-- and not about any particular historical reality, except as it can be used to detail the myths of Western Culture: the high noon spectacle, the lone outsider standing up against corruption, the innocent helplessly victimized by evil. He filmed this in 70mm, for heaven's sake, and most of it takes place in a lousy haberdashery! There is a good deal of comedy-- the blood gushing out as from a fire hose-- and not much drama or tragedy. No surprise that Jackson urged him to make it when he had lost enthusiasm for the project: this is a vanity project for an actor who, sadly, has become a self-caricature, and boring. Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh are the best things in the film but they can't overcome the fundamental absurdity of Tarantino's tiresome obsession with self-consciously ridiculous shootouts. Bruce Dern as a former Confederate General raises interest at points, especially in his acquired respect for Warren (Jackson), spoiled when Jackson-- trying to be funny, it might be imagined-- shoots him in the head. Even more pointless than "Django Unchained".
2016-01-05 McKay, Adam Big Short --> Rating: 8.20
Based on book by Michael Lewis, brilliant, tour-de-force on the financial meltdown in 2008, beginning with some clever traders who-- ostensibly for ethical reasons-- decide to play against the bundled subprime mortgage industry by betting against their viability. Sometimes impressionistic and comical, sometimes tragic, always mesmerizing, takes you on a ride through the roller coaster of massive financial transactions as the markets react to perceived or imagined developments.
2015-12-31 Miller, George Mad Max: Fury Road --> Rating: 7.90
It's all action, but amazing action, thrilling chases, unusual vehicles and sequences, daring stunts. As good as an action film gets, but missing that essential ingredient of a great film: substance. It's all just chase, chase, chase, escape, confrontation, battle, blood-letting, and chaos, but unusually well-edited and directed, and even a little tasteful, as in the use Charlize Theron as a woman who takes things into her own hands-- Miller doesn't get preachy or showy about it, but there is an enlightened feminist perspective to the film. Except for one thing: the thrills consist of conflict and pursuit and violence. That is the one truly feminist element no film like this will ever adopt. In short, a woman war-rig driver, Imperator Furiosa, leads a group of enslaved wives (shades of ISIS) to escape a dystopic kingdom ruled by Immortan Joe, who, of course, gives chase.
2015-12-30 McCarthy, Tom Spotlight --> Rating: 8.10
Unusually serious treatment of the scandal of abusive priests in the Boston arch-diocese as covered by the Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team, who succeeded in persuading victims to talk to them and obtained documents showing that the church hierarchy was aware of the abuse and did not act. I was frankly astonished that the film did not create fake conflicts or stereotypical villains. When the reporters confronted a reluctant editor with the importance of the story the editor thought about it ... and agreed! And the Archbishop gives a speech after 9/11 that sounds Hollywood progressive and enlightened, showing respect for the Moslem faith and pleading for tolerance. Didn't dumb down the story: the complexities of obtaining the documents from a related court case are displayed in all their glory and you just have to try to follow the legal reasoning as best you can. The Globe's journalists cooperating with the production and it shows, and their comments later highlight the sincerity and respect given to the story by the producers. This is a gem that raises serious, important questions about the church, about Catholicism itself, and the legal profession.
2015-12-19 Roach, Jay Trumbo --> Rating: 7.90
Dalton Trumbo was one of the most successful Hollywood screenwriters of his generation... and a avowed communist. "Trumbo" tracks his descent from popular success to __ as the House UnAmerican Activities Committee exposed his communist associations and prevented him from working for the major studios. Trumbo found work, either by using a fake name, a front, or by writing for B-list directors (also under fake names). He even won two Oscars, for "The Brave One" and "Roman Holiday", under aliases. Eventually Otto Preminger and Kirk Douglas both had the courage to openly employ Trumbo. But "Trumbo", ironically, is not that well written, and certainly not well-acted or directed. It's a pedestrian production that still packs a punch because of its subject and the titillating cameos by various Hollywood icons like John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, and Kirk Douglas. Cranston as Trumbo is off-putting: by the end of the film, I cared more about the issue than the character, though I was surprised by the graciousness he displayed once he had been accepted again by Hollywood. No on in the cast stands out in any respect, except John Goodman, who chews through a scene in which a HUAC official confronts him about Trumbo with bravado and wit. Helen Mirren is okay as Hedda Hopper, but most of the other guests act like they don't know this is a take. The film inexplicably shows Edward G. Robinson betraying his friends before the committee: never happened.
2015-12-15 Boyle, Danny Steve Jobs --> Rating: 8.20
Based on the book by Walter Isaacson. Focused intensely on Jobs' obsession with product vs. his attentiveness to his family, including a daughter he insisted, at first, was not his. Fassbender is excellent, as is Winslet and Waterston. Sorkin's trademark witty banter and in motion dialogue hasn't entirely worn out it's welcome, and suggests an under-story here that makes the movie seem more than the sum of it's parts: what kind of person was Jobs? The movie doesn't argue for or against his brilliance (having Wozniak ask what exactly he brings to the product) but does dissect his vanity and vision, and the complex personality that both tickled and aggravated so many people. A difficult movie to assess apart from the personality of Jobs himself, which is even more difficult to assess. I think he really was brilliant, and I think the defects in his character are the defects of a visionary, confident, brilliant mind.
2015-11-03 Shyamalan, M. Night Unbreakable --> Rating: 5.00
Fatally diminished by an overwrought, unappealing premise, "Unbreakable". Shyamalan's first film after the clever "Sixth Sense", wallows in forced melodrama and semi-comic scenes of sadness we are supposed to feel as tragedy. David Dunn, once a promising football player, is sad because he is only a security guard at a Philadelphia sports stadium, until he meets Elijah Price. And how did Shyamalan ever think of the idea of naming him "Elijah". Yes, that's the flavor of this piece. Anyway, Elijah, who is very breakable, always ill, always injured (though, in the film he has broken bones but never anything like the flu or a cold), comes to believe that there must be someone the opposite of him: someone who is "unbreakable". That turns out to be David Dunn, who survives a train wreck. Now, let's be clear on the plot of this movie-- spoiler alert-- but who cares!--: Elijah picks out people the thinks might be "unbreakable" and then stages mass killings (as disasters) in order to test his hypothesis, and accepts that David Dunn, having survived only the one accident-- a train crash in which every single other passenger is killed -- might be the real deal. But Dunn's secret is not that he is unbreakable, suddenly: it's that he can weirdly sense other people's inner lives as they brush past him. And so on. Bad enough that the plot doesn't make sense and is not appealing on any level: Shyamalan doesn't get good performances from anybody except maybe Robin Wright either. And I've already wasted too many words on a mediocre film.
2015-11-27 Shyamalan, M. Night Unbreakable --> Rating: 5.00
Fatally diminished by an overwrought, unappealing premise, "Unbreakable" wallows in forced melodrama and semi-comic scenes of sadness we are supposed to feel as tragedy. David Dunn, once a promising football player, is sad because he is only a security guard at a Philadelphia sports stadium, until he meets Elijah Price. And how did Shyamalan ever think of the idea of naming him "Elijah". Yes, that's the flavor of this piece. Anyway, Elijah, who is very breakable, always ill, always injured (though, in the film he has broken bones but never anything like the flu or a cold), comes to believe that there must be someone the opposite of him: someone who is "unbreakable". That turns out to be David Dunn, who survives a train wreck. Now, let's be clear on the plot of this movie-- spoiler alert-- but who cares!--: Elijah picks out people the thinks might be "unbreakable" and then stages mass killings (as disasters) in order to test his hypothesis, and accepts that David Dunn, having survived only the one accident-- a train crash in which every single other passenger is killed -- might be the real deal. But Dunn's secret is not that he is unbreakable, suddenly: it's that he can weirdly sense other people's inner lives as they brush past him. And so on. Bad enough that the plot doesn't make sense and is not appealing on any level: Shyamalan doesn't get good performances from anybody except maybe Robin Wright either. And I've already wasted too many words on a mediocre film.
2015-11-27 Abrahamson, Lenny Room --> Rating: 8.00
Inspired by several true stories, the story of a young girl who is kidnapped and held prisoner for seven years, and who gives birth to a boy while in her "prison", a backyard shed. The conceit is that she has taught the boy, who is five at the time they finally emerge into the real world, that the shed is the entire world, and that nothing exists outside of it. This aspect of the story isn't really explored in any meaningful way, but the film is bravely sophisticated in other ways-- the kidnapper isn't caricatured, and neither is the talk show hostess, and the mom is no saint, and the child isn't always charming. And their transition to normal life does not go smoothly though it was unclear to me, at times, if it was intended to suggest that society can be as constricting and repressive as their shed. There is one terribly clumsy sequence, but most of the performances, especially Jacob Tremblay as Jack, are exceptional.
2015-11-17 Abrahamson, Lenny Room --> Rating: 8.00
Inspired by several true stories, the story of a young girl who is kidnapped and held prisoner for seven years, and who gives birth to a boy while in her "prison", a backyard shed. The conceit is that she has taught the boy, who is five at the time they finally emerge into the real world, that the shed is the entire world, and that nothing exists outside of it. This aspect of the story isn't really explored in any meaningful way, but the film is bravely sophisticated in other ways-- the kidnapper isn't caricatured, and neither is the talk show hostess, and the mom is no saint, and the child isn't always charming. And their transition to normal life does not go smoothly though it was unclear to me, at times, if it was intended to suggest that society can be as constricting and repressive as their shed. There is one terribly clumsy sequence, but most of the performances, especially Jacob Tremblay as Jack, are exceptional.
2015-11-17 Ponsoldt, James End of the Tour --> Rating: 8.50
Based on a book by David Lipsky of Rolling Stone (and not flattering to him), an account of a book tour by David Foster Wallace from his home in Bloomington, Illinois, near Chicago to Minnesota and other environs accompanied by Lipsky who was doing a Rolling Stone profile. What do writers do when they are not autographing copies of their books and answering stupid questions on talk shows? Watching junky tv shows and movies and eating at the food court in monstrous shopping malls. Interesting to get a look at how speaking tours are arranged: Joan Cusack is charming as a driver for one of the dates. Foster is completely unexpected: forthcoming, honest, self-deprecating, and very self-analytical, as he muses about the relationship between famous author and fan and biographer and media, and how manipulative it can be to not be manipulative, or to be manipulative and admit it, thereby suggesting that one is not manipulative. The film is conversation, most of which was recorded by Lipsky and so accurately represents Wallace's thoughts and feelings. Lipsky admits, through this script, that he was jealous and envious, and not entirely honorable in his relationship with Wallace, who committed suicide 13 years later. Brilliant conversation by a brilliant novelist, nicely wrapped in a road trip movie, and well acted, particularly by Jason Segel.
2015-11-14 Benedek, Laslo Wild One --> Rating: 6.50
From the very first scene, Johnny and two associates "riding" bikes in front of rear-projection, this is a typical Hollywood take on a social issue, with the usual literate if hokey script and melodrama (with an unusually sophisticated moral perspective), and stilted performances. Like "The Blackboard Jungle", a generally liberal view of a gang of criminals: they are just people, like you and me, who went astray, but might just have hearts of gold. They also talk more like beatniks than a motorcycle gang. Johnny leads his gang, "The Black Rebels" ("What are you rebelling against?" "What'ya got?") into a small town where a weakling Sheriff refuses to stand up to them. Other townspeople agree with him: why force a confrontation? The gang threatens women and loots stores and creates chaos in the local bar. When an angry town bully, Charlie Thomas, (and he is called a "bully") gets a gun, and forms a vigilante group, Sheriff Bleeker stops them, having purposely left his gun in his office desk. The Sheriff's daughter happens to be comely Kathie Bleeker, who is simultaneously attracted and repelled by Johnny, who can't sort out his feelings for her. In the spirit of the times, Johnny is shown to be misunderstood and harshly judged by the townsfolk, and is unjustly accused of causing a death. The real villain is the bully, who hurled a tire iron at Johnny as he tried to escape the vigilante mob.
2015-11-07 Anderson, Paul Thomas Inherent Vice --> Rating: 8.00
Paul Thomas Anderson's odd, doped up, stream of altered consciousness take on the '60's via "The Big Sleep" and especially "The Long Goodbye". Diffuse and sometimes shapeless, follows the misadventures of PI Larry "Doc" Sportello as he, basically, smokes up and carries on inane conversations with a lot of suspects who offer him clues as to the disappearance of real estate mogul Michael Z. Wolfmann. Okay, so it's a comedy, and every interaction is jokey and trippy, but the performances are so good-- especially Phoenix, Brolin, and Waterston-and the dialogue clever enough that you might not mind the excursion. Anderson always gets compelling performances from his stars, and there are raft of them in here with generous opportunities to over-act and skewer types.
2015-11-06 Villeneuve, Denis Polytechnique --> Rating: 8.00
On December 6, 1989, frustrated student Marc Lepine walked into Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique, an engineering school, declared that he hated feminists and began shooting any female students he could find. He killed 14 and wounded 17. "Polytechnique", in black and white, follows him and several students throughout the day, sometimes shifting forward in time and then back again, dissecting their interactions with each other, their responses, and the panicked chaos on the campus immediately after the shooting, without drawing out much in terms of meaning or insight. We get all the external evidence of the event, and low-key flashes of personality and desires (a student has an interview for a job on the same day) and a rather faithful dramatization. In some ways, that is a strength of the movie, which is resolutely non-exploitive. On the other hand, it leaves it somewhat bereft of passion or perspective. Perhaps, in some ways, that is the aspect of the film that is the most faithful to the reality: what kind of meaning is there to random mass murder? The real Lepine was brought up in an abusive household, but the movie wisely avoids the subject. It's all just random, just idiotic (many of the women would certainly not have thought of themselves as feminists). Also odd-- for a "fictionalization" (real names are not used), it is more faithful to the facts than most "true stories" are. Similar to "Elephant" in its odd, matter-of-fact approach to an overwhelming, sensational event. In that sense-- in an important sense-- it gives the viewer a far more realistic experience of the event.
2015-11-06 Fukunaga, Cary Joji Beasts of no Nation --> Rating: 8.00
Harsh document about the life of a boy soldier in Africa, his experience of learning how to kill, the use of drugs, sexual abuse, and relentless brutality. Filmed under tough conditions in Ghana using real soldiers from Sierra Leone and Liberia. The Commandant leads them through several operations until he rejoins his "supreme commander" in a city, who has other plans for him. The soldiers eventually find themselves mining for gold, desperate for some income, as the Commandant has split off from the movement to run his own army. Fascinating, inside look at an important phenomenon, resonating with rebel movements everywhere, including the middle east. Idris Elba, "Stringer Bell" from "The Wire", is excellent, as are most of the child actors and the extras. Gritty and compelling.
2015-10-31 Clooney, George Monuments Men --> Rating: 6.00
Sorry George, this is a diffuse, poorly structured and directed montage of adorable actors posing in lovely historical settings. It's a pastiche of feel-good American-centric moments, vaguely about the importance of art, for an audience that could not bear one moment of actual contemplation of any of the masterpieces referenced. How did it work? How did they relate to the military authorities in real control? Who made decisions key to the recovery of these works? Why so little attention to the efforts of European resistance fighters who undertook the most dangerous efforts? Few answers, and few details, but lots of earnest dialogue about the foundations of Western Civilization and all that. An example of the weaknesses of this film: when a German confronts Garfield and Savitz, there is no explanation of what he wants, why he would come into the open, or what Garfield and Savitz might think he wants. It's just an inexplicable moment, to add some tension to the story. "The Great Beauty" dared to ask the viewer to try to understand what was so beautiful about the sculptures and architecture of Rome: "Monuments Men" turns away quickly before, it assumes, the audience is bored.
2015-10-30 Scott, Ridley Martian --> Rating: 7.80
Interesting sci-fi film about an American-- yes AMERICAN-- space crew who inadvertently leave someone behind on Mars because they think he's dead. He's not, of course, and "The Martian" follows his use of science and ingeniousness to survive the long period of time before he can be rescued. What do you say, crew? Do we all risk our lives on the minuscule chance that we will be able to reach Mars and rescue Mark before he dies? What say you? Yes! And like good boy scouts they swing back. Not one second of dialogue indicates the slightest consciousness of large, complex moral issues. Just how many other lives do you risk to save one? How would a political leader deal with the obvious problem of explaining to the public their decisions? What would it feel like to be alone on a distant planet? All substituted for with a disappointingly bland Jessica Chastain slowly wasting her talent in dull, big-budget Hollywood films.
2015-10-01 Spielberg, Stephen Bridge of Spies --> Rating: 7.90
Mark Rylance is the main attraction in this film, as outed Soviet spy Rudolph Abel, who is offered back to the Russians in exchange for downed U-2 pilot Gary Francis Powers. Spielberg doesn't touch on the public humiliation of Eisenhower, who lied to the U.N. only to discover that the Soviets had proof. Mainly, it's concerned with the heroic James Donovan, played with antiseptic blandless by Tom Hanks (who, going for anguish, actually looks constipated). Donovan stands up for civil rights, even for a Russian spy, whom most people want to hang. In real life, Donovan almost persuaded to overturn Abel's conviction on the basis of unlawful search and seizure-- a truly remarkable achievement. The usual Spielberg whiz-bang production values, but occasionally aimless and unfocussed, and the conversations between people like Dulles and Donovan are scarcely credible-- they sound like boy scouts-- "gosh, we've got to do something or else".
2015-10-11 Feig, Paul Bridesmaids --> Rating: 6.60
And writer Annie Mumolo. Directed by a man? Well, directed like a sitcom by a former sitcom director, Paul Feig (The Office). This production which was touted as an emblem of female empowerment in Hollywood, was indeed directed by a man. It's witty and sometimes clever, a comedy about a maid of honor, Annie, who can't get anything to go right for her, and her rival, Helen, who seems capable and successful and clever. So, essentially, it's about how awful Annie feels when she fails and Helen succeeds, and how jealous she is of Helen's success and charm, and how funny it is when Megan, the fat bridesmaid, assaults someone. Actually, Melissa McCarthy is talented and sometimes funny, but "Bridesmaids" starts drifting about half-way through when it seems nobody knew where to go from the point at which Annie has completely bombed out, she has rejected a charming, likable boyfriend because he suggested she could be successful running a bakeshop. Wisely keeps characters within the realm of believability (which is funnier anyway) and is nicely restrained for the most part (with the exception of a cringey scene trying on dresses after a dubious meal at a Mexican restaurant).
2015-10-02 Edgerton, Joel Gift --> Rating: 7.50
Simon and Robyn are married, successful, live in a beautiful house, and look ready to start their perfect family. Except that Robyn recently miscarried, at their previous home in Chicago. LA is a better job, a fresh start for them both. While out shopping for supplies, they bump into an old school friend of Simon's, Gordo. It is immediately apparent that Gordo is a little "off". He is awkward and uneasy and it seems odd that Simon can barely remember him. Gordo weasels his way into their lives, coming over for dinner, and inviting them over for dinner to a lovely house. We find out that Robyn has abused prescription medicines, and Simon creepily chastises her for a possible relapse. We find out that Simon has been promoted at work, after scandalous information about a competing employee emerged. Gordo leaves their lives but sends one last message, in the most intriguing moment of the film, Robyn wonders what he means by an offer to "let bygones be bygones". And here an otherwise intriguing storyline begins to wonder: Simon appears to have done something terrible to Gordon in high school; he told a fib, making it look like Gordo was gay, and Gordo's father found out and nearly killed him. Gordo's revenge is elaborate, improbable, and dramatically diffuse. It depends on you believing that Simon would care so much about certain things that taking them away would destroy him. However, given what we know about Simon, it's hard to buy into him being anything but contemptuous of Gordo's actions.
2015-08-01 Keach, James Glen Campbell: Ill be Me --> Rating: 7.00
Unsatisfying documentary about Glen Campbell's struggle with Alzheimer's -- no, wait: it's a film about Kim Campbell's wonderful efforts to guide Glen Campbell through a concert tour while he struggles with Alzheimer's, and how much he loves her and his daughter Ashley, who plays and sings in his band, and how much people admire Glen Campbell. The Alzheimer's angle is an rationale, obviously, for a sometimes disturbing invasion of Campbell's privacy at a time when he was probably not competent to give genuinely informed consent. Spends way too much time showing tributes: the classic high school mistake of telling rather than showing. There's a lot to show of this brilliant guitarist who played so well on so many great recordings, but Keach prefers a more manipulative approach. There is something to the idea of giving us an honest picture of the effects of Alzheimer's on a particularly talented individual, but it's a very uneasy balance. Campbell's children from his earlier marriages were suing at the time the documentary was made. Campbell had been put in a care facility in Nashville and his older children felt the care was inadequate.
2015-09-05 Keach, James Glen Campbell: I'll be Me --> Rating: 7.00
Unsatisfying documentary about Glen Campbell's struggle with Alzheimer's -- no, wait: it's a film about Kim Campbell's wonderful efforts to guide Glen Campbell through a concert tour while he struggles with Alzheimer's, and how much he loves her and his daughter Ashley, who plays and sings in his band, and how much people admire Glen Campbell. The Alzheimer's angle is an rationale, obviously, for a sometimes disturbing invasion of Campbell's privacy at a time when he was probably not competent to give genuinely informed consent. Spends way too much time showing tributes: the classic high school mistake of telling rather than showing. There's a lot to show of this brilliant guitarist who played so well on so many great recordings, but Keach prefers a more manipulative approach. There is something to the idea of giving us an honest picture of the effects of Alzheimer's on a particularly talented individual, but it's a very uneasy balance. Campbell's children from his earlier marriages were suing at the time the documentary was made. Campbell had been put in a care facility in Nashville and his older children felt the care was inadequate.
2015-09-05 Keach, James Glen Campbell: I'll be Me --> Rating: 7.00
Unsatisfying documentary about Glen Campbell's struggle with Alzheimer's -- no, wait: it's a film about Kim Campbell's wonderful efforts to guide Glen Campbell through a concert tour while he struggles with Alzheimer's, and how much he loves her and his daughter Ashley, who plays and sings in his band, and how much people admire Glen Campbell. The Alzheimer's angle is an rationale, obviously, for a sometimes disturbing invasion of Campbell's privacy at a time when he was probably not competent to give genuinely informed consent. Spends way too much time showing tributes: the classic high school mistake of telling rather than showing. There's a lot to show of this brilliant guitarist who played so well on so many great recordings, but Keach prefers a more manipulative approach. There is something to the idea of giving us an honest picture of the effects of Alzheimer's on a particularly talented individual, but it's a very uneasy balance. Campbell's children from his earlier marriages were suing at the time the documentary was made. Campbell had been put in a care facility in Nashville and his older children felt the care was inadequate.
2015-09-05 Heller, Marielle Diary of a Teenage Girl --> Rating: 8.00
Honest, politically incorrect story of a teenager who pursues a sexual relationship with her mother's boyfriend, and likes it, and wants to continue it even after the boyfriend begins to worry about being outed. Minnie is also a budding artist in the mode of Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb (who appears in cartoon form in the movie, to encourage Minnie) whose funky images come to life at times to express her inner confusion. Minnie experiments with drugs and sex and defiance while beginning to realize the value of enduring relationships, embracing her mother with all her flaws, and embracing herself as a girl who isn't beautiful in a classic sense but is learning just how far her sexuality will take her. Well acted, fresh, and original.
2015-09-01 Fogelman, Dan Danny Collins --> Rating: 4.00
It begins with horrible "concert footage" of Al Pacino aping a professional singer in concert. It is terrible. The rest of the movie wallows in its wake, about a dissolute rock star who regrets his neglect of his son and wants to rebuild that relationship, and help out his grand-daughter who has severe ADHD, apparently, that can be fixed by some celebrity school master in New York, that Danny can afford to pay for (his son can't). But then, you wouldn't have conflict, so the ungrateful son has to get very angry at Danny for-- I think it was drinking, but it seemed relatively trivial in presentation. Then the son has a crisis. Then more soap. Awful. The only bright light in the movie is Giselle Eisenberg as the grand daughter, Hope.
2015-08-24 Bird, Brad Tomorrowland --> Rating: 7.00
Supposedly an enlightened Disney product, tells the story of a curious teenage girl with a special gift who embarks on a mission to find a mythical place after breaking into NASA facilities to try to prevent them from being dismantled. You see, that would deny the beautiful spirit of human creativity. She is given a button that gives her access to Tomorrowland, which, after a diversion to the Eiffel Tower, she is able to travel to Tomorrowland where she realizes that some kind of feedback loop has begun to destroy the world of creativity and invention because people no longer believe in it. But the plot is really kind of a mess and ends up with the paradox of a well-meaning villain, Nix, willfully destroying his own dream because he believes the dream will be destroyed-- which, in my view, almost inevitably fizzles as a plot device because it is fundamentally unbelievable.
2015-08-10 Linklater, Richard School of Rock --> Rating: 7.80
I find Jack Black insufferable but the kids in this film rescue it from mediocrity. They are played for real, with subtlety and imagination, and Linklater directs them astutely. Dewey Finn is insufferably played by Black as a pathetic and abrasive metal guitarist who must come up with rent money or be evicted by his buddy Ned Schneebly (played by writer Mike White) and his annoying Jewish girlfriend Patty (Sarah Silverman). Ned is a substitute teacher and when a call comes for him that Dewey intercepts, he decides to take the gig to earn money for rent. He takes over a class and tells the kids that match and geography and all other academic pursuits don't matter. Then he finds out they all play instruments so he forms them into a band and they enter a contest. Yes, totally formulaic. But the kids are fresh and interesting and even the principal, Rosalie Mullins, has a sideways credibility that works for the movie. There are unexpected moments-- one of the kids rebelling against being assigned to be a "groupie" because she finds out groupies sleep with band members-- and others kids who just reject the whole idea. And there is the cliche about the repressed son whose exploits on stage cause his father to recognize his gift. So it's an odd mix, kind of entertaining overall, and partly annoying. For the record, all of the kids really played their instruments.
2015-08-24 Docter, Pete Inside Out --> Rating: 6.50
In a critically revealing scene late in "Inside Out", Riley remembers a sad moment in her life, the day she missed a critical chance for her hockey team costing them the championship. I had been led to believe, by many reviews, that "Inside Out"-- unlike most Hollywood children's fare-- suggested that there was a legitimate place for sadness in our lives, and it should not be banished or denied but embraced as part of what makes us fully human. So here was the scene in which Riley has a chance to confront and accept, with sadness, this disappointment, and carry on as a stronger person. But that's not what happened. Instead, the scene quickly filled with her parents and team-mates who were tossing her into the air with joy, telling her how much they loved her. In other words, the scene was not very sad at all, and no one should have trouble accepting disappointments in life that include your teammates and parents hugging you and patting you on the back and celebrating you you you. A soul-crushing moment in a film which had such positive reviews, many of which specifically claimed that this children's story did not allow a saccharine moral to dominate the story line. Yes it did. Joy runs everything in this child's mind, and sadness is only acceptable because Joy finds a way to use sadness to ram more joy down everyone's throats. "Inside Out" spends way too much time inside and very little time developing Riley's character. Riley has to move to San Francisco and on her first day at school has to tell the class who she is and where she is from. She cries because she is sad she had to leave her home in Minnesota. This is the best they can give us in terms of a "crisis"? This is the pitch, the peak, the dynamic that they want to use as a springboard for all the activities in her mind involving anger, sadness, anger, revulsion, joy? That is frankly worse than pathetic. It is criminally negligent story-telling. It's story by committee and child mental health consultant. It is definitely not different from any of dozens of others assembly-line children's films. And, for good measure, lets add that with the exception of Lewis Black-- and even he becomes tiresome after a while-- all of the voices are rather lame, generic, and colorless.
2015-08-04 Moselle, Crystal Wolfpack --> Rating: 8.00
Strange, ambiguous documentary about a family, six boys, one girl, who are locked away in a Lower East Side apartment while growing up, by a father with an alcohol problem, and a compliant mother. Their situation is not really brutal or repressive: they are allowed to watch thousands of movies that their father, a real cinephile, brings home for them. They emerge, through chance circumstances, and meet Crystal Moselle, who hangs out with them for a long, discovering their homemade re-enactments of favorite movies, like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and made this documentary. Their father does not seem particularly brutal, but as the boys emerge from their seclusion, they are resentful. When one of them willfully leaves for a time, their father's reaction is not what they expected. They are all gentle and naive, but perhaps, not as naive as you might expect.
2015-08-01 Chbosky, Stephen Perks of Being a Wallflower --> Rating: 6.00
Seriously over-rated contrived story about a 14-year-old misfit who connects with some seniors, including a hot girl, in his first year of high school, with predictable nods to classic movies and off-beat music, as if... Charlie has some serious problems due, apparently, to being molested by an aunt earlier in his life (which is evoked by an intimate gesture by Sam), and has had a breakdown. But the wildly exotic Sam and gay Patrick adopt him rather enthusiastically-- way more enthusiastically than imaginable-- and a kindly, literate English teacher inspires him, and, a wonderful, totally dedicated psychiatrist tries to help him, and, well, not much else really happens. Not one intimation of the delicate vulnerabilities of high school teenagers is evoked: his new friends immediately make him the center of their social circle, and never make a single surprising or ambiguous gesture towards him. Their dialogues with him sound like bad sitcom conversations between perfect parents and adorable mischievous children. Not one believable or really interesting character in the bunch, except for Mary Elizabeth, and then, only until she has to be twisted into an obsessive, unpleasant character, so you don't feel badly about it when Charlie dumps her, and you realize just how right Sam is for him. Charlie readily fills in for Patrick at a Rocky Horror Picture Show event, dressing up in drag and lip-syncing. Just completely tonedeaf to the feel and rhythms and nuances of teen-aged life. And peculiarly sexless, in spite of several tame scenes of kissing and holding. Well, what do you expect from a director who was "inspired" by "Dead Poet's Society". Yes, it has exactly that kind of cloying pretentiousness. (Note: the film does indicate that Charlie was held back a year and has his birthday in December, thereby implying that he is closer in age to Sam and Patrick than it would appear.)
2015-07-24 Sissako, Abderrahmane Timbuktu --> Rating: 7.20
Filmed in Mauritania by a Mauritanian director. Is that why it won 7 out of 8 Cesar Awards? Otherwise, generally disappointing film redeemed somewhat by it's exotic, unusual story and setting. This foreign film is simply not in the category of "Leviathan" or "A Separation" which were both exotic and brilliant. Appears to be using mostly non-professional actors of various abilities. It's the story of a nice family, good husband, loyal wife, lovely children, living near Timbuktu, and worried about Isil occupiers who truck around in Toyota's trying to ensure purity and piety. They like music, as do others, with bitter, tragic results. Nicely notes ambiguities, the Isil leader who sneaks off to have the occasional smoke, and the compassionate translater who seems wary of the motivations of his commander. But it does give you picture of intifada, in sharp relief against the lives of those who ultimately pay the price. Also some nice touches of humour, including boys playing with an imaginary soccer ball, and a fish-seller is ordered to wear gloves.
2015-07-22 Waititi, Taika Boy --> Rating: 7.40
Boy's father is in prison but somewhere in their hardscrabble land is a bag of money he buried there. Boy keeps digging, hoping to find it, as he digs in his memories and illusions about his big, wonderful father. When father appears, however, those illusions stand to be challenged. All of it takes place in the scenic but not beautifully filmed Maori community in Eastern New Zealand, mined so effectively in "Whale Rider". Village Voice thought it would have been a much better film if the director had simply ignored the adults. I'm not convinced there was all that much there either, but it couldn't have been more disappointing.
2015-07-01 Mitchell, David Robert It Follows --> Rating: 8.00
Eerie, suspenseful, original horror film about a curse that is passed on through sex, which results in the victim being terrorized by a slow-moving but relentless creature, sometimes in the form of "someone you know". Jay Height is the victim, seduced by Hugh, who then disappears. Jay and her friends try to track him down and find a way to escape the curse, while not quite believing it until there is a forceful confrontation. Beautifully filmed amid the abandoned houses and factories of Detroit, including extraordinary scenes of decaying buildings and parking lots and the rubble of American industry. Often surprising and expressively filmed and well-acted. Odd, interesting touches, including a reading of Eliot's "Prufrock" in a classroom (as Jay spots her first stalker), and a scene filmed in a unique theatre-- really exists-- with a still-functioning Wurlitzer organ.
2015-07-21 Petzold, Christian Phoenix --> Rating: 7.00
Over-rated drama about a woman how is betrayed to the Gestapo by her husband and, after her face is reconstructed surgically, meets him again. He thinks she is a stranger who looks like his wife and tries to use her to get control of her property. She is also a singer and Petzold tries to use her music to carry some kind of hefty dramatic revelation that never really merges from what appears to me to be a facile and shallow exploration of guilt and love and despair. Part of the problem is that it was very hard for me to buy into the conceit that her husband, Johnny, doesn't recognize her, though, obviously, her body and voice remain exactly as they were before the war, except for the surgically altered face, which, incidentally, appears far too pretty.
2015-07-01 Mizoguchi, Kenji Life of Oharu --> Rating: 8.20
Exquisitely beautiful proto-feminist story of a young woman of noble birth who disgraces her family by falling in love with a mere retainer. She and her family are exiled and her father, to try to save the family fortunes, sends her off to be a concubine to Lord Matsudaira, whose wife cannot conceive. The family thinks their fortunes are saved, but she is discarded immediately after a male child is born. This initiates a chain of disasters in her life as she becomes a courtesan and finally a prostitute, a ruin of a soul, begging for scraps on the street. Fascinating study of the life and roles of women in 17th century Japan, as Oharu tastes all of them, from privilege and honor to the disgrace and humiliation. But this film is a diatribe: its often other women who are her worst enemies, and sometimes men who are her saviors, including a fan-maker who, just as she has found a stable, assured life, is murdered, and their shared property is seized by his brother. Exquisitely photographed-of course-- and staged, in rich detail and lavish scale. Perhaps melodramatic by today's standards, but consummately watchable.
2015-07-03 Mizoguchi, Kenji Sansho the Bailiff --> Rating: 8.00
Tragic, almost Shakespearean tale of an aristocratic family in medieval (Heian) Japan that is destroyed when the father, a governor, is considered too compassionate towards his peasants and sent into exile as punishment without his family. Before he leaves, he teaches his son that without mercy, a man is not truly human. His family eventually sets out on a journey when they are beset by bandits and slave-traders and the two children, Zushio and Anju, are sold to Sansho the Bailiff as slaves, and the mother becomes a Courtesan on the island of Sado. They are advised by the Sansho's compassionate son to endure the slave camp until they are adults, when they can try to escape and seek their mother. When Zushio is ordered to dispose of an elderly, ill woman on the mountain (to leave her to die), he decides to escape. Here the plot takes a disturbingly improbable or incomprehensible turn: Anju insists that Zushio escape without her, taking the elderly woman with to a Buddhist monastery, while she remains behind. I tried but can't make sense of this plot development unless it was calculated to lead to the drama that follows it. It strong-armed the plot into submission. Possibly related to the fact that, in real life, Mizoguchi's sister was sold by his father to a Geisha house and she later returned and took care of him, obtained positions for him, and sacrificed for him. Absolutely gorgeous cinematography, like many Japanese films, featuring beautiful composition and striking lighting effects, powerfully acted, and with immense period detail and construction. But also relentlessly pessimistic about the human condition, and the chances of virtue surviving in a world filled with evil.
2015-07-02 Gomez-Rejon, Alfonso Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl --> Rating: 7.90
Greg finds out a class-mate has leukemia. He goes to visit her but she tells him to get lost: I don't need your pity. He tells her it's not pity: his mom made him do it. And so they are off. Greg and his friend Earl make cheesie parodies of favorite Hollywood and foreign films, including Bergman and Werner Herzog, and he feels like a misfit who gets by in high school by pretending to be casually accepted by all the different groups. The first hour of the film was magnificent, rising to the challenge of taking a massive cliche and rendering the story fresh and affecting. The characters were engaging and charming, and Olivia Cooke was utterly winning as Rachel. Then someone decided the film needed a major crisis, and it doesn't rise organically from the material delivered up to that point. Worse, it falls back into all of the cliches that the film seemed to mock in the first half, suggesting that the film-makers wanted it both ways, to simultaneously undermine and embrace "The Fault in Our Stars". I am in a small minority on this-- most reviewers didn't complain about it.
2015-06-30 Chytilova, Vera Daisies (Sedmikrasky) --> Rating: 7.00
Strange movie about two girls, kind of demented Czechoslovakian Valley Girls, who love to eat, go out to dinner with wealthy men, and ruminate on trivial details of their existence. They bounce, they chatter, they eat, they vandalize banquet rooms, and produce insanely kinetic giggles while contemplating themselves. Funny at times, tedious, ultimately rather boring.
2015-06-28 Denis, Claire Beau Travail --> Rating: 7.90
Beautifully filmed and acted, and very mysterious and dark, but underdeveloped in terms of plot and story. A former member of the French Foreign Legion recalls bitterly the events that led to his dismissal, his time in the African nation of Djibouti, his jealousy of a fellow soldier, and the moment of decision when he acted on his emotional state. Suffused with images of the wilderness, the ocean, the men training (lavishly, lovingly rendered), and beautiful women dancing at a club in a nearby town.
2015-06-22 Hellman, Monte Two Lane Blacktop --> Rating: 7.80
Odd, clumsy, but sometimes compelling drama about two men who drive around the country (often on Route 66) racing their customized 1956 Chevy for money, and the young girl drops into their lives with no apparent destiny or purpose, and a man in a GTO who agrees to race them to Washington D.C. Mr. GTO also picks up hitchhikers and tells each a different made-up story about how he got his car. In the process, they cross America meeting many other racers and occasionally cops-- to no ill effect, really-- and meditating on cars and engines and not much else. A real slice of Americana, poorly acted and clumsily written, but oddly fascinating, at times. Dennis Wilson and James Taylor can't really act, but Oates can, and cinematography is at least serviceable, and, after all, they shoot most of it on location, usually with terrific driver POV shots. Doesn't look like they hauled the cars around on trailers-- looks like they are really driving. Laurie Bird starred in only three films and became Art Garfunkel's girlfriend, before committing suicide in 1979. She's a compelling presence in the film as a lost hippie, dolefully contemplative and impulsive.
2015-06-13 Burnett, Charles Killer of Sheep --> Rating: 8.00
Austere, sensual film about the lives of a family living in a ghetto in LA. Stan works at a butcher shop. His wife, wafting in frustration and disappointment, manages his home. His children play with other children among the vacant lots and abandoned cars, throwing rocks at trains, climbing roofs. His friends hatch ill-considered schemes like buying a motor and installing it in a broken down car. In one exquisite scene, Stan and his wife dance slowly to some jazzy music, touching and not touching, feeling each other, lost in disappointment and, ultimately frustration. The children's interactions in particular are convincing and compelling. Beautiful and stark if somewhat static; a worthy slice of American life that is not often captured with such intimacy. Made for $10,000 and not released for years because the music rights alone would cost $150,000.
2015-06-05 Pohldad, Bill Love and Mercy --> Rating: 7.00
Unusual and original biopic of Brian Wilson severely marred by the controlling self-interest of his second wife, Melinda Ledbetter, played lavishly by Elizabeth Banks as a saintly beauty who drools ridiculously over the rather repellent disjointed Wilson of the Landy years. The studio scenes, fresh in one respect (in that they tried to show what actually made Brian Wilson special), were improvised and it shows in the rather unconvincing dialogue between Wilson and the musicians. Commits the cardinal biopic sin of having characters say stuff like nobody ever had one musician playing in "D" while another played in "Bm", or something, and quoted McCartney praising "God Only Knows" without acknowledging Wilson's own debt to "Rubber Soul". Dano is okay at the middle Wilson, but Cusack is completely uninteresting as the later Wilson (some reviewers feel his sections are boring because they reveal Wilson as having pulled himself together). Has it's moments, particularly in the studio, but
2015-06-06 Lanzmann, Claude The Last of the Unjust --> Rating: 8.00
Benjamin Murmelstein is despised by many Jews as a collaborator with the Nazis. Is he a hero instead? Or just someone caught up in the cogs of an impossible system? Lanzmann, surprisingly sympathetic, explores the issues raised by Murmelstein's activities, and notes his ridicule for Hannah Arendt's view of Eichmann, whom Murmelstein asserts knew everything about Nazi plans for the Jews and pursued them vigorously right from the start.
2015-05-31 Powell, Michael I Know Where Im Going --> Rating: 7.00
Joan Webster knows where she's going: to marry a rich industrialist, Robert Bellinger, in Kiloran Island. She will be set for life, prosperous, well provided for, and stable. But on the way, she is trapped on the island of Mull by bad weather, and encounters Torquil McNeil, a dashing navy man, and gradually comes to realize that the charming poor citizens of the island have more passion and feeling in their lives than she does. The strength of the movie is the credible depiction of island ways, the ceilidh, the life around the fishing boats and simply survival. The weakness is it's melodramatic flourishes and dated aesthetic, which remind me of David Lean's great but flawed films. It's not necessarily a quality of the age: "The Third Man" isn't fatally melodramatic. But it doesn't stand up well against modern standards, though the writing and dialogue are superlative. Some scenes remind you of high school drama, stiff and tidy. Noted: a young Petula Clark plays a precocious young girl and she's the best thing in the movie.
2015-05-30 Powell, Michael I Know Where I'm Going --> Rating: 7.00
Joan Webster knows where she's going: to marry a rich industrialist, Robert Bellinger, in Kiloran Island. She will be set for life, prosperous, well provided for, and stable. But on the way, she is trapped on the island of Mull by bad weather, and encounters Torquil McNeil, a dashing navy man, and gradually comes to realize that the charming poor citizens of the island have more passion and feeling in their lives than she does. The strength of the movie is the credible depiction of island ways, the ceilidh, the life around the fishing boats and simply survival. The weakness is it's melodramatic flourishes and dated aesthetic, which remind me of David Lean's great but flawed films. It's not necessarily a quality of the age: "The Third Man" isn't fatally melodramatic. But it doesn't stand up well against modern standards, though the writing and dialogue are superlative. Some scenes remind you of high school drama, stiff and tidy. Noted: a young Petula Clark plays a precocious young girl and she's the best thing in the movie.
2015-05-30 Cowperthwaite, Gabriela Blackfish --> Rating: 7.80
Biting critique of the use of captive killer whales for entertainment at various marine parks throughout the world, focusing on Tilikum and Sea World in Florida. Tilikum had killed a trainer in Victoria, B.C., but this was kept from the staff at Sea World, though they noted the anxiety expressed by his handlers from Victoria when Sea World staff got too close and Tilikum showed aggression. Convincingly argues that Orca have high-functioning brains and emotions and the constricted environment of a theme park likely damages them emotionally, and may be responsible for the attacks on trainers. Certainly very difficult to justify continued captivity for them after witnessing this documentary, though it didn't fully explore why Tilikum was so essential to Sea World's breeding program: it had become illegal in most jurisdictions to capture killer whales.
2015-05-29 Jenet, Jean-Pierre Young and Prodigious T.S. SPivet --> Rating: 7.50
A young boy living on a ranch in Montana with his eccentric but lovable mother and eccentric but lovable father and shrill sister invents a perpetual motion machine and is invited to give a speech at the Smithsonian on his discovery. They think he's an adult man, at first, and it is emblematic of this disappointing film that how this impediment is solved, within the story, is neither satisfying nor remotely believable, no matter how far one suspends his disbelief, nor all that interesting. It's a likable story, with a melancholy thread through it-- his brother, Layton, was killed in the barn in a gun accident. We are given to understand that T.S. feels guilt about this event, but it is so poorly evoke that I barely paid attention to it, until, shockingly, it became the core of the most critical, climatic developments in the story. And the most familiar cliche of all. All of this-- Jean Pierre Jeunet, the director of "Amelie" and "Delicatessen", for God's sake-- to end up with the most shopworn, predictable cliche of all: the reunited and healed family? Along the way, we are supposed to be tickled by the mean teacher who tolerates no creativity, the adorable truck-driver who is charmed by the lad, the police who which to prevent his journey, the vain, shrill, manipulative museum curator? The ugly press? This from Jeunet? I don't know what went wrong but this is a crushing disappointment.
2015-05-23 Whedon, Joss Avengers: Age of Ultron --> Rating: 7.00
Predictable and somewhat pedestrian interpretation of the Stan Lee characters featuring an impressive cast who sleep-walk through most of the parts. Tony Stark has created artificial intelligence, which, miraculously, develops a will-- though it is hinted that Stark has programmed it with a mission. Tries to be witty, doesn't try to be coherent, and spends vast fortunes on big but un-beautiful special effects. Humans just get in the way of these monuments trying to save humans, for unknown reasons. Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch was the least uninteresting thing in the film. And where did this "Hawkeye" come from, and you have got to be joking with the arrows.
2015-05-17 Garland, Alex Ex Machanic --> Rating: 7.90
Slow-moving but compelling story about a robot, Ava, who is the subject of a test by a contest winner, Caleb, to determine if she passes the Turing Test and could pass for a human (if she was not partly transparent, to show her parts). Nathan, her inventor, is a mystery: what's his real interest and motive? Caleb is no fool-- he knows he's being used but is too fascinated by resist, at least at first. Alicia Vikander is excellent as Ava, conveying naivete, curiosity, and even wit, but the movie's fundamental premise: that a robot could have a will or wit or feeling for anything-- is, of course, absurd. Still, beautifully filmed and well-acted.
2015-05-14 Gibney, Alex Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief --> Rating: 8.20
Compelling documentary on the Church of Scientology and it's brutal methods of dealing with dissent and criticism, and their determination to extract as much money as possible from adherents. Also highlights the struggle with the Internal Revenue Service of status as a church, which, shockingly, they win. Recruits are sometimes assigned to tasks on Scientology's ships, for which they receive very little pay. Features interviews with Paul Haggis and others who eventually left, and, of course no interviews with any current officials or spokespersons. Spends considerable time on Tom Cruise and John Travolta and one former official with Scientology asserts that he broke up his marriage to Nicole Kidman because she was seen as a threat. Many of the interviewees acknowledge deep embarrassment, especially after finding out more of Hubbard's mythologies-- the volcanoes and the thetans and the aliens.
2015-05-23 Vigo, Jean LAtalante --> Rating: 7.70
For it's time, a terrific, innovative film, that holds up fairly well. Juliette and Jean are married and move into his barge, to live together with Le Pere Jules and Le Camelot as they haul goods up and down the canals of France. Juliette is young and naive and wants to go into the city when they arrive at Paris, but Jean has work to do. They love and argue and reconcile, while Le Pere Jules gripes and clowns around and flirts with Juliette, showing her his exotic collection of puppets and souvenirs gathered from around the world. Picturesque and raw at times, vividly depicting lives and wants with charm.
2015-05-23 Vigo, Jean L'Atalante --> Rating: 7.70
For it's time, a terrific, innovative film, that holds up fairly well. Juliette and Jean are married and move into his barge, to live together with Le Pere Jules and Le Camelot as they haul goods up and down the canals of France. Juliette is young and naive and wants to go into the city when they arrive at Paris, but Jean has work to do. They love and argue and reconcile, while Le Pere Jules gripes and clowns around and flirts with Juliette, showing her his exotic collection of puppets and souvenirs gathered from around the world. Picturesque and raw at times, vividly depicting lives and wants with charm.
2015-05-23 Kennedy, Rory Last Days in Viet Nam --> Rating: 7.00
Don't let the name of the director fool you: this is an interesting and moving account of the fall of South Viet Nam, but it is not a documentary so much as a warm-hearted paean to those wonderful, caring, compassionate individuals like CIA operative Frank Snepp, who, in the euphemism employed generously throughout the documentary, were "loyal" to America. They are indeed entitled to compassion for the poor treatment those who remained received from the North Viet Namese, but these were not health care workers or development staff: many of them worked for U.S. intelligence services, the military, the South Viet Namese military, and so on. The South Viet Namese government was neither democratic nor popular but the result of a U.S. instigated coup. There are no voices from the communist victors, or from those who weren't in on the sudden abandonment, courtesy of U.S. helicopters and ships, and very little comment from journalists who might at least have noted the irony of ambassador Graham Martin staying right to the very end, after stubbornly refusing to allow his staff to plan ahead for the inevitable evacuation. The U.S. Congress is made to look like jerks for not pouring more money into a losing, unpopular cause. Still, worth watching, particularly for the details about how the U.S. embassy was abandoned, how the marines had to lie to the waiting Viet Namese, 420 of whom were still in the embassy compound when the last helicopter lifted off with the last marines, who had discretely left their posts and raced to the elevator to the top floor.
2015-05-15 Mann, Michael Black Hat --> Rating: 6.00
Preposterous and underdeveloped right from the very first scene, and rife with cliche's, supposedly scary story about hackers crashing a nuclear reactor in China--as practice-- so they can manipulate the price of tin. Nick Hathaway is the macho rogue hacker released from prison because-- get this-- he is the ONLY hacker in the world capable of dealing with BlackHat. The only one! Just him! When they offer him a deal, he confidently refuses it because he just knows they will have to come back to him. When Chen Dawai's hot sister meets him, why they barely get each other's names before she's panting for his smoldering ego. But this plot is not merely underdeveloped: it gets downright absurd-- why would these hackers even bother with guns? Why would Hathaway bother confronting them? Why doesn't he have a personality? Dull, dumb, and boring, I couldn't wait for it to end.
2015-05-15 Assayas, Olivier Clouds of Sils Maria --> Rating: 8.00
Maria Enders' career was launched 20 years ago in a brilliant play by Wilhelm Melchior and she has been selected to give a speech honoring him at an event and accepting, on his behalf, and award. She is accompanied by Valentine, her personal assistant, and artistic nemesis, who provides a continuous stream of criticism and commentary on Enders career choices, artistic sensibilities, and attitudes towards modern, popular culture. The play that "made" Enders a star, featured her as a young, vicious, lesbian lover to an older woman who disintegrates before her relentless manipulations. When Enders finds out that a spoiled celebrity, Jo-Ann Ellis, has been cast opposite, as the ingenue, in a revival of the play in which she is now cast as the older woman, it provokes a crisis, which Valentine picks and prods as their relationship frays. The director too seems to see something different in the casting decision and challenges Enders' defensive interpretation of the role. This is a low-key, intelligent film, of simmering, dark emotions and perceptions. Ellis is not what she appears to be, and Valentine is smarter than Enders' gives her credit for and, in a shocking moment of deep significance, Valentine reveals something about Enders she could not have known but immediately realizes is completely true. Stewart and Chloe Grace Moretz are brilliant. Binoche, an over-rated actress, neither disappoints nor thrills.
2015-04-24 Hall, Don Big Hero 6 --> Rating: 6.00
Typical Disney fare: amazing animation-- though not in an artistic sense-- and pedestrian character development and plot. Suffocated with wholesome values, with the routine hypocrisy of admiring Baymax because he heals and is programmed to do no harm, and then indulging in ferocious action adventure violence (but without, of course, any perceived casualties: even the villain gets redeemed, sort of, in the end). With an assortment of politically correct diverse supporting characters. Even for Disney, under-developed and sloppy-- a lot of the plot sequences don't make any sense, really.
2015-04-21 Kent, Jennifer Babadook --> Rating: 7.00
Disappointing Australian horror film about a child who sees a monster, the Babadook, and the mother who begins to believe him. He has asked her to read the story to him, but it becomes too frightening. When she tries to destroy the book, it keeps reappearing, insisting that once the Babadook comes into the house, it never leaves. The boy is shrill, spoiled, emotionally wrought, but you begin to wonder about Amelia, the mother, as she begins to feel repelled by the little monster, and almost seems to wish him dead-- the real Babadook in this story. Doesn't quite navigate the perils of over-used horror tropes, and, in the end, not really very compelling. But the boy, Noah Samuel, is brilliant, loud, strong, frightening.
2015-04-06 Zobel, Craig Compliance --> Rating: 8.00
Stunning dramatization of the infamous McDonald's incident (though they disguised the food outlet) in which a policeman phone a McDonald's and persuaded an assistant manager to take a young woman staff member into a back office and strip search her in order to confirm that she had taken money from the purse of a customer. The "policeman", of course, was a hoaxer, and the assistant manager even persuaded her boyfriend to come in and watch the girl while the caller made him make her do jumping jacks, dance, and even perform oral sex on him. Compliance examines the question of why anyone would do that-- eventually, the maintenance man refused and the real police were called. The caller appears to have done this over 70 times, and he was arrested but not convicted. The boyfriend was convicted and sentenced to 6 years. Strange story which is quite faithful to the facts, and shocking, as a very, very disturbing depiction of how humans can commit outrageous acts with modest persuasion. Well-acted and written, filmed simply, directly.
2015-04-05 Vaughn, Matthew Kingsmen: the Secret Service --> Rating: 7.00
Entertaining--at times--parody of Bond thrillers with lots of action, lots of bloody violence, and a few moments of wit. Jackson has become a bore and Firth is stylish but not as clever as he and the director thinks he is: just terminally cool as he disposes of reams of bad guys in a few moments of whimsical acrobatic violence.
2015-03-14 Miller, Bennett the Cruise --> Rating: 7.70
Odd portrait of an odd man, Tim Levitch, a New Yorker who acts as a guide on Grey Tours, and whose unparallelled knowledge of New York history and trivia is matched only by his propensity for exaggeration and outright myth-making, and self-absorbtion, as he dissembles on various topics. Ultimately, "The Cruise" doesn't really expose the real Tim Levitch so much as just catalog his eccentricities and inclinations. Intriguing and always entertaining, if not completely satisfying.
2015-03-16 Polsky, Gabe Red Army --> Rating: 8.00
Engaging, entertaining-- if a bit deceptive-- documentary on the great Soviet Red Army hockey team of the late 1980's, 1990's, focused on Viacheslav Festisov, and his battles with the Soviet Sports Federation to play in the NHL, and on Viktor Tikhonov, who even refused to allow a player to go home to visit a dying father. Exaggerates the standing of the famous Soviet five-some, Fetisov, Krutov, Kasatonov, Makarov, and Larionov. What the film overlooks is the fact that they were only able to dominate club teams in North America because, essentially, they were the all-stars of Soviet Hockey training together for 11 months out of the year. Let's say Gretzky, Messier, Lafleur (or Lemieux, or Crosby), and Coffey and Larry Robinson all trained together, day and night, four times a day, for eleven months of the year, every year? Might be a better comparison of the their skill levels. That said, Red Army is always entertaining and occasionally compelling (as with Fetisov talks about his falling out with Kasatonov, of the loss at Lake Placid).
2015-03-09 Simien, Justin Dear White People --> Rating: 8.00
Witty, fast-moving, Sorkinesque take on race relations at a University Campus. An all-black fraternity is about to be instructed to integrate, so an angry Sam White takes to her blog to decry the racial sensitivity and explain why it's not descrimination if black's do it. All the characters follow there-after, engaged in lively, jokey, and barbed conversations about race, entitlement, gender, and oppression. And then Lionel decides to puff up his resume with a scandalous story about the scandal of a franternity party that features white students (and some blacks) pretending to be slave-owners (based on several true instances at San Diego and other campuses). Very funny at times, completely relevant, and fresh. Sam White is a heart-breaking character who might have been offensive if acted with less breeze and delicacy by a lesser actress than Tessa Thompson.
2015-03-03 Glatzer, Richard Still Alice --> Rating: 7.00
From the popular book by Lisa Genova. Alice Howland is a brilliant, beautiful, charming 50-year-old woman with three lovely, brilliant, super-model children, and an adoring husband. She is a world-renowned expert on linguistics who suddenly finds herself struggling to remember simple things. As per the usual Hollywood fatal illness schematic, the act of forgetting one word at a lecture causes consternation as if the actor and all the extras have intimated something significant is afoot. Alice always seems articulate about her growing inarticulateness and charming about her growing charmlessness and though "Still Alice" dutifully raises all the relevant issues and marks all the traditional milestones the sheer expectedness of every development undermines the drama: this is not really about Alzheimer's but about-- wait for it-- familial love. That said, I will give it credit for not quite following the template. There can be no happy ending to Alzheimer's, of course, and "Still Alice" acknowledges that. Director Richard Glatzer suffers from ALS and cannot speak. Nice of Moore to take a month off from "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" to do this civic-minded piece, after Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Diane Lane, and Michelle Pfeiffer had all turned it down. Does this film owe more than a little to "Do You Remember Love" (1985, starring a superior Joanne Woodward)?
2015-02-16 Manchevski, Milcho Before the Rain --> Rating: 8.20
An Albanian girl is on the run from Christian villagers in Macedonia during the war in Bosnia. A young monk finds her in his bedroom and tacitly agrees to shelter her, while observing a vow of silence. We don't know exactly what she has done, but her hunters are bent on blood revenge. Aleksander arrives, returning from London where, as a renowned photographer, he has just broken off a relationship with a prominent photojournalist, and intervenes in an attempt to give his life fresh meaning in the midst of violent ethnic conflict. Every relationship in this story is ambiguous and fraught with peril and even the girl's family cannot be trusted in this context. Yet the tricky circular plot line doesn't seem, to me, to resonate with the lively investments of the characters, who struggle with personal morality and cultural shadings that lead one after another to disaster. It's a powerful, relevant story that doesn't, in the end, seem to get as much traction as it deserves. Anne, Aleksander's lover from London, bears witness, but what she sees is less of a revelation than an exclamation mark. Perhaps what we are meant to absorb is that this kind of ethnic hatred can only always be cyclic and unresolveable. A worthy film, but not quite great.
2015-02-14 Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Winter Sleep --> Rating: 8.50
From the director of "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia". Eerily evocative of Tolstoy-- particularly "Anna Karenina"-tells the story of a rich former actor who owns a hotel in a small town in central Anatolia, with an acerbic sister, a loyal assistant, and a young, idealistic wife. Aydin is faultless in everything he does, his management of the properties he shares with Necla, his sister, his handling of a stone-throwing incident, his solicitation for the welfare of his guests. But when his wife, Nihal takes on some volunteer activities, to give herself a sense of purpose, and Aydin tries to help, his real character is revealed, and it is a tribute to the director's skill that it is one of those things that looks like a surprise but which, upon reflection, seems like it shouldn't have been surprising at all. Beautifully acted and filmed in a very strange place: the homes are carved into rock faces, and the surroundings seem bleak and bare. As Village Voice remarked, "worth" the 192 minutes: rich, compelling, wondrous at times, and bitter. An unforgettable portrait of a disintegrating marriage.
2015-02-15 Eastwood, Clint Bird --> Rating: 7.90
Clint Eastwood's first "serious" film as director is a biography of the great Charlie Parker, the jazz saxophonist who became the archetype for the tortured jazz genius whose spirit is so vast that his body explodes with tension that can only be soothed with drugs or alcohol, and whose institutionalization for madness can only be considered evidence for divinity. Along with Coltrane, who died at 41 of liver cancer, Parker was one of the great losses of the great jazz age who just couldn't overcome heroin and alcohol. Eastwood takes us through the last eight years, his relationship with Chan Richardson (whose consent was required for Eastwood to get rights to a library of Parker recordings used in the film), Dizzy Gillespie, and others, his deterioration, the death of his two-year-old daughter, and his final delirium in Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter's apartment (she was closely related to the Rothschilds but had abandoned her family and hero own five children and moved to New York where she became a great patron of Bebop). Eastwood never shows Parker shooting up even though his heroin addiction became the central fact of his life in those years. Would he refuse to show him playing a saxophone? But maybe it wouldn't have helped: I just never bought Forest Whitaker as a jazz artist. He's the right build physically, and he emotes for all he's worth, but he really never had the kind of talent required to pull off a portrait like this-- like, say, Timothy Spall as J.M.W. Turner, or De Niro as Jake La Motta, or even Tom Hulce as Mozart, or Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Capote. He certainly won't get help from Eastwood who, despite being a notoriously bad director of actors, gets good performances from Diane Venora as Chan and Michael Zelniker as Red Rodney (whom Parker passes off as an albino on one southern tour). What's he doing wrong? He never misses a flinch or shrug or giggle or sudden mood swing that is not telegraphed or inevitable. He never displays that thoroughbred's rail, that thing that holds geniuses apart from everyone in the room, the consciousness that they are so good at something that they don't have to defend or explain it. He's not as bad as Leonardo Di Caprio in almost any film he's in, but he's just never more than only what you see in front of you. He's a man who's trying to sweat, rather than someone who's sweating out a note. Aside from that, it's a pretty good film, typical of Eastwood: don't expect beautiful cinematography. Just adequately composed scenes of adequate interest. And one excruciatingly cheap shot at rock'n'roll: Parker staring in disgust as a former colleague sells out, something Parker was accused of when he released his "Charlie Parker with Strings" albums.
2015-02-15 Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Two Days One Night --> Rating: 7.90
A young woman is about to lose her job because an employer, who makes solar panels, can only afford to pay a $1,000 Euro bonus to his workers or her salary. He allows her to try to persuade a majority of her colleagues to vote for her job instead of the bonus, over two days. Low key and prosaic at times, Sandra has problems with depression and anxiety, and her colleagues have problems with the idea of giving up their precious bonus. How they are set against each other by an unforgiving system is what this is about. The Dardennes are often at pains to show you that these are average people, heroic in small ways, cowardly in others. In the end, they can't escape the capitalist system that always seeks to pit them against each other for the scraps available to them. Nobody is really poor here, or rich, or cruel or saintly. Excellent performances but no show-pieces here, and not much of a dynamic.
2015-02-13 Poitras, Laura CitizenFour --> Rating: 8.00
Documentary by Laura Poitras on her encounter with the mysterious "CitizenFour", who claims to have shocking revelations about the NSA surveillance programs and the illegal collection of data by various Telecoms at the behest of American intelligence services. CitizenFour turns out to be Edward Snowden and this documentary follows Laura and Glenn Greenwald and others as they absorb the monumental trove of documents Snowden releases to them which were soon published in The Guardian, the Washington Post, and New York Times and provoked storms of controversy-- but little real change-- in the political and journalistic landscape around the world. Snowden emerges as an articulate, idealistic young man with few illusions about the consequences of his actions. Senior U.S. officials are revealed to have liked to Congress and the public, and Obama himself asserts that Snowden should be charged with various crimes under the ancient Sedition Acts. Restrained, thoughtful, and provocative.
2015-02-07 Ostlund, Ruben Force Majeure --> Rating: 8.20
Tomas and Ebba and their two children, Harry and Vera, are on a ski vacation in the French Alps. Their stay is bucolic and uneventful until a controlled avalanche threatens to flow into the lunch area of the a restaurant where the family are eating, and Tomas grabs his cell phone and flees. The tension created by this incident is almost unbearable, as the the children and Ebba say nothing for a time, wondering if Tomas will bring it up and apologize or acknowledge it. When he fails to, Ebba brings it out into the open, with friends present, and the family is truly endangered. Richly compelling and suspenseful and really quite horrifying. Another couple, Mats and Fanni, are affected by the revelations, when Fanni wonders if Mats would have done the same thing. The children are distressed, sensing not only father's humiliation, but the risk to the marriage. Can a marriage survive the sudden revelation that all the illusions and stereotypes of the all-protective, powerful father figure are just that: illusions and stereotypes? At one point, see a group of men indulging in one of those braying, aggressive, group rituals that, we now see, is just facade. A hollow attempt to restore father's place in the family becomes comical, as mother, after being "rescued", quickly trots off to fetch her skis.
2015-02-06 Ostlund, Ruben Force Majeure --> Rating: 8.20
Tomas and Ebba and their two children, Harry and Vera, are on a ski vacation in the French Alps. Their stay is bucolic and uneventful until a controlled avalanche threatens to flow into the lunch area of the a restaurant where the family are eating, and Tomas grabs his cell phone and flees. The tension created by this incident is almost unbearable, as the the children and Ebba say nothing for a time, wondering if Tomas will bring it up and apologize or acknowledge it. When he fails to, Ebba brings it out into the open, with friends present, and the family is truly endangered. Richly compelling and suspenseful and really quite horrifying. Another couple, Mats and Fanni, are affected by the revelations, when Fanni wonders if Mats would have done the same thing. The children are distressed, sensing not only father's humiliation, but the risk to the marriage. Can a marriage survive the sudden revelation that all the illusions and stereotypes of the all-protective, powerful father figure are just that: illusions and stereotypes? At one point, see a group of men indulging in one of those braying, aggressive, group rituals that, we now see, is just facade. A hollow attempt to restore father's place in the family becomes comical, as mother, after being "rescued", quickly trots off to fetch her skis.
2015-02-06 Chazelle, Damien Whiplash --> Rating: 7.80
The formula is: young talented ingenue finds out he is not nearly as good as he thinks he is and is thrown into a relationship with an older mentor who drives him ruthlessly forwards until he has become even greater than he could have imagined, all the while encountering emotional and physical tribulations and challenges and troubling personal issues. So I did not welcome this movie when first described in previews. Yet somehow Chazelle has given the first half of this film a vital pulse that drives it forward with great energy and suspense. The key to this success is the credible performances by Teller and Simmons-- but mainly Simmons. The question is, how much of a beast do you have to become to be brilliant? As Chazelle himself has observed, maybe this conundrum does not really apply to music, as "Whiplash" seems to argue (and "Amadeus" contradicts) but more likely to Navy Seals or Marines. Is Fletcher's brutality really necessary for musical genius? And is Teller's huge drum solo near the end really great music, or just a tiresome, self-indulgent exhibition by a narcissist who has completely lost sight of what matters in music? Either way, the film, after leading off so brilliantly, skews off into a ridiculously improbably coda that undermines the whole experience. Why, oh why?
2015-01-31 Zvyagintsev, Andrey Leviathan --> Rating: 8.70
Powerful, dark story about a Russian man named Nikolay (but called Kolya) whose lovely house on the coast of the Barents Sea is being seized by the civil authorities in order to build a new resort, clearly intended for the pleasure of Mayor Vadim Shelevyat, whose behavior seems to echo the real-life actions of Valdimir Putin. Kolya secures the help of an old friend, Dimitriy, who is able to obtain some "dirt" on the mayor. But he is entering a dangerous game, complicated by the relationship between Kolya's wife, Lilya, and Dimitriy, his son's disdain for Lilya (his step-mom) and everyone's obsession with vodka. As the pressure increases, Kolya desperately tries to stand up to an implacable, ruthless, authority while keeping his family intact. Subtle and nuanced, and always believable, explores the dark corners of corruption, where figures with the right connections and strings to pull are able to manipulate events to their favor no matter how unfair, or how angry or determined the opposition. Pessimistic, without doubt, but compelling and rich, and set in the stark beauty of a decaying small town on the coast. Superbly well-acted, especially Elena Lyadova as Lilya and Roman Madyanov as the Mayor.
2015-01-30 Leigh, Mike Mister Turner --> Rating: 9.10
Exquisite dramatization of the later life and times of J.M.W. Turner, the British painter whose work was so bold and innovative, I assumed, for a time, that he belonged to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, not the late 18th and early 19th. We follow Turner as he meets with potential customers and patrons, travels to the countryside or Holland to study landscapes and sketch, and, occasionally, seizes the moment with his housekeeper, Hannah Darby, or a landlady in Margate, a seaside town, with whom he later moves to Chelsea. Every cliche about artists is dodged: Turner is abrupt and impatient but he is never a monster; he can be shamed but he never apologizes for being distracted by his passion. When he is snubbed by Queen Victoria, his feelings are hurt, and she does not get her comeuppance in the film. "Mister Turner" is scrupulously authentic, and surprisingly detailed in its reconstruction of the era. There is even a moment with an authentic steam train, which inspired Turner's most famous painting. Over all, this may have been the finest film of 2014 but the Academy will never go this far out on a limb to honor it.
2015-01-29 Eastwood, Clint American Sniper --> Rating: 6.00
I doubt "American Sniper" is really as controversial as the media seems to believe it is. Sure, it provokes arguments, but the arguments don't really seem to be about this mediocre and fairly callow portrait of a happy killer, who clearly misrepresents himself in his book and personal appearances, and feels it is a personal asset to make it known that he never questions his own government about why they might want him to go to another country and shoot people. The arguments seem to be about the Iraq War, and patriotism, and guns, none of which are really argued in the film: you are to assume that America is never wrong. Chris Kyle takes a New Testament with him to Iraq for reasons that, aesthetically, are a mystery to me: is it Eastwood's snarky rejoinder to the terrorists' passion for the Koran? For is Eastwood, deep down, a good ole bible-thumping fundamentalist at heart? For the record, "American Sniper" is based on Chris Kyle's biography in which he brags about holding the record for most kills by an American sniper. But Eastwood doesn't want to give you a bad impression of this killer, so he only shows hits of bad Iraqis who are just about to kill American soldiers-- always sneakily, from an alley, or in a car, or a rooftop (like Kyle!). That is not how snipers work of course-- even Steven Spielberg knew that (see "Saving Private Ryan"). Snipers do not wait to make sure the target is really going to try to kill and American, nor does any credible authority establish whether or not the victim was really an insurgent. We do know that there was no bounty on Chris Kyle's head, other than the same bounty on the heads of all American snipers. The homeland segments show him as a tough but wholesome all-American boy, who gets the girl once she realizes just how virile and manly he is, and who feels that killing a living creature for the first time is an excellent bonding experience for father and son. Eastwood clearly, unquestionably encourages the audience to believe that Iraq was involved in 9/11 even though it clearly wasn't (and, in fact, was an enemy of Al Qaeda). Eastwood probably sees 9/11 as being of a peace with the generalized war America must fight against unspecific vaguely primitive interchangeable foreign-looking terrorists who hate us because we're free. The most reassuring thing about "American Sniper" was it's conspicuous mediocrity as a film: Eastwood rarely gets good performances from actors because he doesn't believe that anything more than a line reading and the odd grunt is really required, and he hates wasting film on retakes. Just do your lines. Cliche-ridden and boring, and even the so-called action scenes were tedious.
2015-01-28 Sachs, Ira Love is Strange --> Rating: 7.80
Touching story about two older men who are finally able to get married, only to have one of them lose his job at a Roman Catholic School. Not heavy-handed at all-- the priest who gives George the bad news is reasonable-and they are hardly oppressed. They end up moving into different homes of different friends, creating predictable tensions with them, and with each other, but, again, it's predictable but not overly laboured. What's refreshing is how it treats their relationship as a relationship, not some benchmark test of their friends-- and ours-- virtue. Lovely and sad and low key but won't knock your socks off either.
2015-01-24 Majidi, Majid Color of Paradise (Rang-e Khoda) --> Rating: 9.00
Mohammad lost his mother and now his father, Hashem, is late to pick him up for vacation time from the school for the blind. Turns out, he is in a bind. He wants to court another woman but feels that a blind son will be in the way, even with granny to help look after him. He wants Mohammad to start an apprenticeship with a blind carpenter. In one of the most heart-breaking scenes in the film, Mohammad fights back tears as he talks with the carpenter. He thinks his beloved granny has betrayed him, and he knows his father does not really care for him. This follows lovely, slow-paced scenes of Mohammad with his sisters, running through meadows, listening to the sounds of woodpeckers and other birds and brooks and horses. It is unfair, to Mohammad, that he should be deprived, be made blind. A simple, moving, powerful film.
2015-01-16 Chandor, J. C. Margin Call --> Rating: 8.20
Tense, powerful drama about an investment firm suddenly discovering a massive failure of investment stocks (in garbage bundled mortgage securities) just as 80% of staff are being fired. One of them understands what is happening and desperate attempts are made to locate him and persuade him to come back to work. Unusually astute and wise perception of power dynamics at an investment firm, the roles of managers and executives, and the inevitable scapegoating of the risk assessment staff. Some, like Sam Rogers, do have some ethics and they struggle with the question of whether the firm should sell off the toxic funds without disclosing their true status to potential buyers. Others radiate the poisonous cynicism that actually governed the industry in 2008. Some of the best performances by actors like Demi Moore and Spacey and Simon Baker are offered, all of them pleasantly restrained and believable. Some minor errors-- computers would never have continued to display live data when employees are out of the building, and Eric Dale would never have been permitted to take a USB drive with him-- but more than compensates with it's smart script and performances. Appears to be inspired mostly close by the Lehman Brothers failure in 2008.
2015-01-16 Marsh, James Theory of Everything --> Rating: 7.00
Based on the book by Jane Hawking, this should be called "The Theory of Jane Hawking" to remove any confusion with a film about Stephen Hawking, because it's not very much about him at all. It's more about how much Jane loved him, and he loved her, and how she found life difficult with three children while looking after Stephen, who really needed a full-time nurse (but they couldn't afford one), and rather apologetically acknowledges an affair she had with a choir director. Also a blessing: doesn't contrive a phoney opposition (like "The Imitation Game" did) in order to graft tension onto the plot of a story that doesn't really have any great adversity to tell us about. Generally well-acted, though David Thewlis doesn't get to do much. Very poorly filmed-- the edits don't make any sense and the cameras shift angles and shots without purpose of artistic effect. Okay, it's well-lit. Nor do the actors ever build up any kind of intensity in any scene, with the exception of the tear falling from Hawking's eye when he realizes he has lost his voice (after a bout with pneumonia) forever. Instead, they know what's coming, they take their positions, they do their readings while the camera is on them, and then off to the next scene. So, in the end, this is really kind of a soap opera, without any real drama or artistic voice. Not the worst biographical film ever, though Hawking seems to have approved of it (he lent various items, and his artificial voice to the film.
2015-01-15 DuVernay, Ava Selma --> Rating: 7.60
DuVernay is on record as insisting that she is not a historian and her movie is not history. Yet, at the conclusion, she inserts updates of the lives of many of the protagonists, including John Lewis, Andrew Young, and Coretta Scott King. The movie is also soaked in controversy over the cynical portrait of a manipulative, reluctant Lyndon Johnson, shown at times to engage in very un-presidential sophomoric arguments with King. It's not that these arguments might or might not have occurred, but DuVernay seems to have no sensibility at all for the political and psychological dynamics that surely come into play when a civil rights leader discusses issues with a president. Instead, the dialogue sounds mostly like a bunch of college sophomores asked to reimagine, out of their own heads, what these conversations would have sounded like. "Selma" is not without it's virtues: the lovely cinematography certainly evokes the mid-sixties, and King is a far more rounded, and subtle character than the usual rendered pieties. We are even given a glimpse of King's ability to discern when a given confrontation would play well for the media and when it would not. But, like "The Imitation Game", the director seems desperate to create argument and conflict in order to further the narrative, and unwisely chose Johnson, who, by almost all accounts, was a sincere and passionate supporter of civil rights and anti-poverty programs, and took grave political risks in order to pass the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. It also gravely wounds the film that the King Estate would not give permission for the use of his actual speeches: they are irreplaceable. Why, 50 years after the events, can they not use the text of public speeches at a historically significant event? Little known facts: after Viola Liuzzo was murdered by the KKK, Hoover, aware of the fact that an FBI informant was in the car with the KKK members who shot Liuzzo, attempted to discredit her by leaking fictitious claims that she was having sex with a black civil rights activist and that she was addicted to drugs.
2015-01-10 Marshall, Rob Into the Woods --> Rating: 8.30
From the musical by Stephen Sondheim. Interesting, visually stunning rendition of Sondheim's strange, dark musical about various fairy tale characters, including Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Prince Charming, interacting with each other in various subplots that eventually connect to each other, and involve various journey's through the dark woods. There are witches and giants and beanstalks, but it's really more about betrayal, deceit, and selfishness. Each character has an angle, as they say, and attempts to manipulate events to his or her own maximum advantage, and evade blame for various disasters that happen. Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood is particularly winning with her mixture of spunk and curiosity and moral assertiveness, while admitting that there is something a little exciting about being pursued and eaten by a wolf. Central to the plot is the determination by the baker and his wife to get a child, which they can only achieve by fulfilling the wishes of a nasty, neighboring witch. They are willing to steal and deceive to meet the requirements: not your usual Disneyfied version. And the Baker's wife is not really very resistant to the advances made by Prince Charming, who, of course, is cheating on Cinderella (he admits he was raised to be charming-- not sincere). The only problem is that Meryl Streep really can't sing very well and Anna Kendrick is a bit shrill, but the others do well with Sondheim's sophisticated, complex score.
2015-01-07 Rossellini, Roberto Open City --> Rating: 8.00
And Frederico Fellini listed as writer. When a major city is in imminent danger of occupation by an enemy force, the occupying forces will sometimes declare it an "open city", meaning that they will not defend it militarily against the invading army, thus sparing it destruction. This is Rossellini's classic depiction of the waning days of the Fascist control of Rome focusing on underground activities and the participation of children and a priest, Father Pietro Pelligrini. Giorgio Manfredi, a resistance leader, contacts his friend Francesco for a place to hide. Francesco's fiancee, Pina (who has a child, a boy named Marcello), agrees to help out. So does Giorgio's girlfriend, Marina, a cabaret singer. But she is tempted by a fur coat... and a possible lesbian relationship with a collaborator. Francesco is an atheist but Father Pietro considers anyone who opposes fascism to be godly, in a broad sense, and even agrees to marry him and Pina. However, they are betrayed to Nazi Major Bergmann. While Georgio is tortured and Father Pietro forced to watch, the German officers listen to piano music and drink and play cards and discuss the superiority of German culture. Then a drunken German officer, Hartmann, lauds the courage of resistance fighters, and decries the death and hatred the Germans sow. A bit heavy-handed on Italian heroism and Germans going, drat, foiled again, but a very compelling film because of it's raw authenticity, the unknown actors, and the wonderful exteriors: Rome itself, immediately after the war.
2014-12-30 Burton, Tim Big Eyes --> Rating: 8.00
Quiet, low-key study of Margaret Keane, a young painter who created the infamous, kitschy "big eye" paintings of waif-like children in the 1960's that became extremely popular with young people and certain celebrities (including Natalie Wood and Joan Crawford). Margaret met and married Walter Keane, who passed himself off as a painter who had lived and studied Paris, but, in fact, may never have painted at all-- he appears to have had his works shipped in. As Margaret's paintings grew more and more popular, Walter, partly through a misunderstanding, began to take credit for them. When the money began pouring in, Margaret went along with the arrangement for years, until, disillusioned with her relationship with Walter, she decided to sue him. Amy Adams is, as always, mesmerizing, providing the subtle, detailed characterization that brings Margaret to life; Waltz, on the other hand, appears to be mugging at times, playing Walter with broad strokes.
2015-01-04 Fukunaga, Cary True Detective (series) --> Rating: 7.00
Promising but ultimately ridiculous story about two detectives (that's original) investigating a serial killer (even more original) while their corrupt superiors obstruct and subvert them (wow-- three banger!). A very strong opening three hours introduces a novel character, Rust Cohle, who, by episode 3, has become just another Clint Eastwood stand-in, which his comically inept partner, Marty Hart, gets the honor of playing straight man for the next five episodes. All pretense is dropped when they plunge into the arrest of the main suspect without, of course, summoning a full police force or swat team so that if they are killed, as we are supposed to believe they might be, someone else will at least get to stop the serial killer. Characters routinely tell the truth when threatened, though we don't get to see Cohle use the battery on at least one sheriff they, improbably and incredibly, kidnap and interrogate without, apparently, consequence. The writers bend over backwards to accommodate the need to have the two end up working together long after they had them hating each other, and to explain how they could access police information after both have left the force, and so and so on. It became absurd and unbelievable, if somewhat stylish for an episode or two. To cap it off, the resolution of the plot in the 2014 sequence was insultingly pedestrian. And if McConaughey's whispering method acting was not annoying enough, it borrows heavily from other films like "Blair Witch Project" and "Dirty Harry", from which, I believe it derives it's ethical perspective.
2015-01-04 Fukunaga, Cary True Detective (series) --> Rating: 7.00
Promising but ultimately ridiculous story about two detectives (that's original) investigating a serial killer (even more original) while their corrupt superiors obstruct and subvert them (wow-- three banger!). A very strong opening three hours introduces a novel character, Rust Cohle, who, by episode 3, has become just another Clint Eastwood stand-in, which his comically inept partner, Marty Hart, gets the honor of playing straight man for the next five episodes. All pretense is dropped when they plunge into the arrest of the main suspect without, of course, summoning a full police force or swat team so that if they are killed, as we are supposed to believe they might be, someone else will at least get to stop the serial killer. Characters routinely tell the truth when threatened, though we don't get to see Cohle use the battery on at least one sheriff they, improbably and incredibly, kidnap and interrogate without, apparently, consequence. The writers bend over backwards to accommodate the need to have the two end up working together long after they had them hating each other, and to explain how they could access police information after both have left the force, and so and so on. It became absurd and unbelievable, if somewhat stylish for an episode or two. To cap it off, the resolution of the plot in the 2014 sequence was insultingly pedestrian. And if McConaughey's whispering method acting was not annoying enough, it borrows heavily from other films like "Blair Witch Project" and "Dirty Harry", from which, I believe it derives it's ethical perspective.
2015-01-04 Powell, Michael Life and Death of Colonel Blimp --> Rating: 8.10
IMDB lists both Pressburger and Powell as directors/writers. During wartime, Lieutenant 'Spud' Wilson, taking part in war games in London with the Home Guard, decides to attack at 6:00 instead of midnight because the Germans, and the Japanese at Pearl Harbour, didn't follow the rules, so, to be convincing, he shouldn't either. When he invades a Turkish bath in order to seize Major General 'Sugar' Candy, an old, balding, pompous, rotund commander, Candy is apoplectic, and fitfully outraged and attacks Wilson, insisting that he has no understanding of what it's like to be an old soldier. This leads to a very long series of flashbacks telling the life story of 'Colonel Blimp' (a satirical British comic character), Sugar, and his involvement in the Boer War, defending British 'honor' in Berlin against imputations by a German spy, World War I (after which he insists that Britain won because it was more virtuous than Germany (while turning a blind eye to a South African's use of torture in German prisoners), and his retirement, then reactivation for World War II, and then his final retirement when his views on war are considered obsolete by the Home Office. In Berlin, he made a lifelong friend in Theodore Kretschmar-Schuldorff, who is designated by the German army to fight a duel with him after he insults the German army. They only wound each other and recover together in a hospital, where they both fall for Edith, who becomes engaged to Theodore. Only later, does Blimp admit that he was in love with Edith-- for all of his life. Churchill famously tried to suppress the film (why couldn't he?) and the thinking is that he saw himself in the character of Blimp (though he never saw the movie). Blimp represents all the comical British 'virtues' lampooned so effectively by Monty Python, epitomized in the insistence that mechanized British troops continue to wear spurs, and ridiculous notions of honor and courage (which generally translated into blind patriotism and mindless obedience). He is blind to the reality of modern war (and was really blind to the realities of ancient war) and convinced that abstract notions of British culture would prevail in a world that neither cared nor respected antiquated views of the world. It's really a brilliant movie, extremely well-written and acted and filmed in glorious technicolor. It must be understood that Clive Sugar (Blimp) was originally envisaged as more of a vicious, meaner character played by Laurence Olivier. When the British Navy refused to release Olivier for the part, it went to Livesey instead, who gave Blimp more of a lovable, bumbling character, which, Powell says, blunted the message considerably. People adored this Blimp, and perhaps lost sight of just how consequential that bumbling arrogance could be to the lives of soldiers.
2015-01-04 Tyldum, Andrew Imitation Game --> Rating: 6.50
Wildly over-rated alleged biopic of Allan Turing which pays as little attention to facts as possible in favor of cliche-ridden fake conflicts with-- by golly, isn't he basically a teacher-- Commander Denniston, and his entire code-cracking team who, we are given to believe, were so stupid that they did not understand that building a computer-like machine (the Bombe) would ultimately speed up their code-breaking and save even more lives than they were saving manually every night. But then again, that conflict could not have existed anyway because Turing did not invent nor build the Bombe in real life (though he helped). Nor did he meet Joan Clarke through the ridiculous crossword puzzle contest shown here; nor did get to decide which decoded messages would be forwarded to the military authorities in order to prevent the Germans from knowing it had been cracked. Nor did any seriously astute person from the era believe the Enigma was not crackable-- of course it was, but the Germans did think it could not be cracked efficiently enough to matter. The mystery is why so many reviewers and viewers think so highly of "The Imitation Game"-- because it makes them feel smart to think they they would have understood Turing, and they would never have discriminated against him or locked him up later for being gay after all he did for the war effort. Because they can feel broadminded and tolerant of gays because-- thank god-- "The Imitation Game" never shows you any gay sex, not even a kiss.
2014-12-31 Miller, Bennett Foxcatcher --> Rating: 9.20
Mark Schultz and his brother David both won gold medals at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles (when Eastern Block nations boycotted). As they trained for the World Championships and the 1988 Olympics, in poverty, a wealthy benefactor named John Du Pont contacted them and offered them a stipend, a place to train (all expenses covered) on his farm in Pennsylvania, and all the support they could ask for. Mark accepted the offer immediately, Dave a few years later. But Du Pont was a strange, disturbing man who had a habit of wandering in and out of training sessions, of insisting on being treated as a coach, and on a personal friendship with all of the wrestlers he brought on board. Most of them thought he was a time-bomb. In real life, he was dismissed from coaching at Villanueva because of sexual improprieties: Foxcatcher merely hints at his sexual orientation and possible abuse of his athletes. Beautifully filmed, with impressive wrestling sequences, editing, music-- the whole package. One of the finest films of 2014.
2014-12-27 Checkhik, Jeremiah S. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation --> Rating: 3.00
John Hughes? Seriously? Should easily rank among the lamest, most mind-numbingly dull Christmas movies of all time. Best remembered-- and only remembered-- for the genesis of an adjective to describe ridiculously over-decorated Christmas homes: Griswold. Clark Griswold wants to have a really, really special Christmas, and sets out to out-do everyone in decorating his house. Both sets of grandparents arrive and, unexpectedly, cousin Eddie and his clan in a motorhome from which they dump the sewage into the storm drains. One unfunny disaster after another unfolds until all, of course, is well: Clark gets his bonus, everyone loves him, and the neighbors are justly skewered for their high-class, educated, elitest snobbery.
2014-12-25 Checkhik, Jeremiah S. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation --> Rating: 3.00
John Hughes? Seriously? Should easily rank among the lamest, most mind-numbingly dull Christmas movies of all time. Best remembered-- and only remembered-- for the genesis of an adjective to describe ridiculously over-decorated Christmas homes: Griswold. Clark Griswold wants to have a really, really special Christmas, and sets out to out-do everyone in decorating his house. Both sets of grandparents arrive and, unexpectedly, cousin Eddie and his clan in a motorhome from which they dump the sewage into the storm drains. One unfunny disaster after another unfolds until all, of course, is well: Clark gets his bonus, everyone loves him, and the neighbors are justly skewered for their high-class, educated, elitest snobbery.
2014-12-25 Rogen, Seth This is the End --> Rating: 7.00
Two hours of penis, poop, masturbation, and other bodily fluid jokes enlivened slightly with CGI and guest appearance by Emma Watson. As funny as being trapped in an adolescent boys locker room for three days.
2014-12-23 Vallee, Jean-Marc Wild --> Rating: 8.00
Daring, unusual study of a woman's determination to walk the Pacific Crest Trail as a way of cleansing herself of bad behaviors that have led her to a dead end in her personal life. Contemplative, original, and expansive, avoids the obvious plot complications in favor of reflective moments and encounters. Reese Witherspoon is not the measure of this task but she does well enough to sustain the interesting sequences. Not particularly welldirected or inspired, but a fine film, and a good companion to "the Way", Martin Sheen's more satisfying take on the issue.
2014-12-23 Axel, Gabriel Babettes Feast --> Rating: 9.10
(Second time we saw it). Lovely, austere, beautifully rendered story about a French woman, Babette, who has to flee her home because of a civil war and takes up residence with two very pious, self-denying sisters belonging to a small, dying religious cult formerly led by their father. She agrees to work for them as cook and maid in exchange for shelter and bed, and does so without complaint for 15 years. When she wins a lottery, she persuades the sisters to let her cook them a feast in celebration of the 100th anniversary of their father's birth. They and their fellow parishioners are reluctant, fearful of the temptations of the flesh, but as the sumptuous feast unfolds they all begin to find ways to embrace life, friendship, joy, and beauty. And entrancing, wonderful story, resonating with themes of religious faith and sensualism and sin and miracles. Favorite film of Pope Francis.
2014-12-19 Axel, Gabriel Babette's Feast --> Rating: 9.10
(Second time we saw it). Lovely, austere, beautifully rendered story about a French woman, Babette, who has to flee her home because of a civil war and takes up residence with two very pious, self-denying sisters belonging to a small, dying religious cult formerly led by their father. She agrees to work for them as cook and maid in exchange for shelter and bed, and does so without complaint for 15 years. When she wins a lottery, she persuades the sisters to let her cook them a feast in celebration of the 100th anniversary of their father's birth. They and their fellow parishioners are reluctant, fearful of the temptations of the flesh, but as the sumptuous feast unfolds they all begin to find ways to embrace life, friendship, joy, and beauty. And entrancing, wonderful story, resonating with themes of religious faith and sensualism and sin and miracles. Favorite film of Pope Francis.
2014-12-19 Chen, Anthony Ilo Ilo --> Rating: 7.80
Low key story about a Filipino maid, Teresa, and her host family who stumble into financial difficulties while trying to deal with any angry, disruptive boy, Jialer. His parents, Teck Lim and Hwee Leng, are both distracted by problems at work, and hope Teresa will be able to manage recurring issues with Jialer's school. Teresa herself is a single mother with a child at home being cared for by her sister. She forms a bond with the boy in spite of his rudeness and the jealousy of his mother. Lovely, sensitive, gentle story, apparently based on the director's own childhood. What keeps it from ranking with Ozu is the pedestrian cinematography and undistinguished performances except for Jia Ler as Jiale, who is remarkably uninhibited and passionate in several scenes.
2014-11-28 Inarritu, Inarritu Birdman --> Rating: 8.50
Michael Keaton is Riggan, an actor who, like Michael Keaton, is most famous for a role as a superhero in a bad series of Hollywood blockbusters. But it's years later and he wants to put on a self-penned play based on Raymond Carver's "What we Talk About When we Talk About Love". And everything is bulging and stretching and pushing him to the limit: his daughter, fresh out of rehab, doesn't think he loved her enough; his ex-wife is worried that he'll start drinking again. His manager worries about money. One of his co-stars in the play has a psychotic need to bring real life to the stage, and a pretentious attitude about the superiority of New York stage actors to Hollywood celebrities. But the real star of "Birdman" is the camera, following characters around, swooping into position for a revelatory moment, closing in on the actor's faces. Is this about the role of art in everyday life? About the audiences blood-lust for expiation and sacrifice? About the cost of authenticity? Nothing unfolds exactly according to any of these schemes. Mike really can act, and the "Birdman" movies obviously fall into the realm of trashy spectacle, and Riggan doesn't seem inspired to produce great art by his travails, though it leads him to a pitched moment of dubious bloody intensity. He gives us a man who has never reconciled his celebrity status with his aspirations as an artist, and thinks the Carver play might be his ticket to a kind of artistic redemption-- a work that will "mean something" and vindicate his entire life. If so, Inarritu suggests it's a fool's quest, a futile attempt to resolve the unresolvable: to be loved for revealing a truth that no one will love? Some very, very funny scenes (as when he locks himself out of the theatre), and great acting from the entire ensemble. And the first time I've ever really liked Galifianakis in anything.
2014-11-25 Cholodenko, Lisa Olive Kitteridge --> Rating: 8.50
Rich, compelling 4-part portrait of an unpleasant woman who remains unpleasant: I don't think she really has a heart of gold under that cynical and acerbic exterior. Her husband does, and her son, who ends up resenting her does. But her only real passion is for a colleague who is killed in a car accident. Olive's abrasiveness, of course, is a shield against the inevitable hurts of life, but that doesn't quite cover it. She simply has a little patience for the courtesies and niceties of life and doesn't see what she gets out of it anyway. We follow her over a period of twenty years or more, as the people she knows grow up and marry and people her age die off, and she is inevitably left alone, digging in her garden, until Jack comes along and they establish a kind of entente to grace the last moments of this story. McDormand is a producer, but also gives a performance that is, as they say, without vanity. One wonders if a different producer might have elicited something perhaps a bit richer, but one really can't complain when a drama resists so many temptations to homogenize this story.
2014-11-14 Ozu, Yasujiro Floating Weeds --> Rating: 8.20
As Ebert observed, all of Ozu's films seem extraordinarily even and unified, as if they are all pieces of one large puzzle, each of which contains it's own particular puzzle. In Floating Weeds, the tableau consists of a travelling actors troupe which returns to a town with special meaning for the master: it's where he fathered a boy with a young woman, and where she waits faithfully for his visits, accepting payments for the boy's schooling, and tolerating his infidelities and absences. The boy, Oyoshi, thinks Komajuro is his uncle. But the master's mistress is jealous of Oyoshi's mother and bribes a fellow actress to seduce him. When the boy and the seducer fall in love, complications ensue, and Komajuro reveals himself to be selfish and hypocritical. Beautifully filmed, as always, if somewhat static and picturesque. More sensitive to the slights and modest indicators of familial and collegial love and affection than almost any other director.
2014-11-23 Hetherington, Tim Restrepo --> Rating: 8.20
Documentary about the 503rd Infantry Regiment 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan and their efforts to control the Korengal Valley. Basically looks like found footage and interviews, but does provide a gripping, visceral look at the activities of these soldiers, including segments when they come under fire, without any kind of perspective or insight into why they are there or what they hope to achieve. But that's good-- it has it's place here, and it works as a document about the actual boots on the ground and how they work and interact.
2014-11-10 Nolan, Christopher Interstellar --> Rating: 8.60
Two and a half hours of exhilarating special effects and some of the best space action sequences ever filmed, and a giant dubious pile of sci-fi quantum mechanics and relativity hokum: once again, we have a clever director going, "who needs a writer? Nobody cares", and writing a script so marred with cringe-worthy dialogue (especially the parent-teacher meeting), pompous, self-important half-baked theories about time and space and gravity and humanity-- that it almost destroys the film. Yes, there are moments of elegance and beauty, and mystery, and solitude. And there are loads of preposterous situations, as when astronauts are sent all alone to colonize prospective planets, and Professor Brand conducting a major hoax on his team of scientists, engineers, and astronauts that just beggars belief, psychologically, logically, and dramatically. And (spoiler alert) when Brand goes on to visit Edwards on his planet and seems marooned there, everyone waited for Cooper to recover so he could personally go and rescue her? Worse, Nolan tries to make the case that some weird concept of "love" might be part of a 5-dimensional universe and can transcend space and logic and save mankind from itself. In one of the weirdest scenes in any movie, Cooper even travels back in time-- except he doesn't-- he sends some kind of vibrations or psychic energy. It began to remind me of Scientology after a while. And the worst thing that happens is that by the last half hour I didn't even care anymore: it had lost all narrative coherence and believability. And yet, there are exquisite moments of human feeling, as when they arrive back at the mother-ship after a few hours on a planet on which, due to relativity, each hour is seven years in earth time, to find Romilly, who has just spent 23 years alone. On second viewing, I was more generous about he sci-fi parts, and less than ever sold on the melodrama: what was the point of Cooper slamming the principle who wouldn't recommend his son for college, even though Cooper paid his taxes-- as if that is what qualifies you for college? I suspect somebody involved in the movie had a long-standing grievance about a teacher judging him in school. And a bizarre reference to the government rewriting textbooks to assert that the Apollo program was a sham, used only by the U.S. Government to drive the Soviet Union into bankruptcy trying to compete. What the heck?
2014-11-06 Ayer, David Fury (2014) --> Rating: 6.20
Repellent, violent drama about a tank crew that heroically commits numerous atrocities and rape because, ah, heck, they killed our buddies. They plunge deep into enemy territory, in Germany, and desperately try to convince you that the allies were running out of tanks and soldiers at the time, so only Wardaddy and his trusty crew of misfits can save the day. The Germans they face, in the climatic battle, seem to have hit upon the idea of behaving like ducks in a carnival shoot-'em game, circling the tank continuously as the bodies pile up, until someone finally remembered that they had a panzerfaust which was quite efficient at destroying a Sherman tank, but especially a disabled Sherman tank. At point in the film, Wardaddy and Norman enter a house occupied by two German women, one them very young and attractive. Wardaddy makes it clear he just wants to clean up and shave but the women are terrified. He tells Norman that if he doesn't take the young, attractive woman into the bedroom, he will. I don't know how you can interpret this as anything other than rape. This film, oddly, was made by a Christian (Ayer), and Shia LaBoeuf is said to have become a Christian during the filming of the movie. So how does he jive that with his glorification of wartime criminality? Norman hesitates to fire in a critical situation, so the experienced Wardaddy does not sent him back and replace him, or even explain to him that their lives depend on him following orders? No, because then you couldn't explain to the stupid, liberal audience that it is not only necessary but good for soldiers to murder prisoners of war-- the film- makers don't even seem to be aware of the issue of U.S. prisoners being shot in captivity in retaliation. Mostly, it's just plain stupid.
2014-11-01 Ayoade, Richard Double --> Rating: 8.00
Based on Dostoevsky's novel "The Double", intriguing, somewhat uneven parable about a man losing touch with his own consciousness. Jesse Eisenberg is James and Simon. James bumps into a stranger on his way to work one day, who turns out to be him. Or a copy of him. Or someone impersonating him. It's not clear. His colleagues at work don't seem to see that they are identical, though each takes turns passing for the other at various points in the narrative. James is in love with Hannah, whom he watches through a telescope (in the movie world, she leaves her blind open almost constantly) and who works in the same dreary office he does. In fact, the whole world of "The Double" is dreary and colorless and shabby-- much like Gilliam's world in "Brazil". The interesting thing in this film is the question of who the double really is. Is James schizophrenic? Is it the dark, aggressive side of his personality? Is it his own consciousness of his pathetic station in life, his fantasy of what he could be, his id? Doesn't always work but there are enough original ideas at work here to keep it interesting and compelling. But it is a weakness of the film that it relies on external surfaces to convey the existential pointlessness of Simon's existence, as if a more colorful, abundant world would have provided him with a meaningful life. There are many Simons in the world we have, and we would have connected more with a character how faced a more believable conundrum.
2014-11-01 Bong, Joon-ho Snowpiercer --> Rating: 7.00
Sci-Fi thriller set in the future after an attempt to address global warming with chemical particles fails disastrously plunging the earth into bitter cold. The only survivors are on a perpetual motion train, circumventing the globe, as a microcosm of earth society, from the very rich, the talent, to the poor and dirty. It's all a little tongue-in-cheek and flamboyant, which is a good thing because the plot doesn't always hold together particularly well. There are flashes of cleverness-- the idle rich continue their dancing even as the rebels work their way past them towards the engine-- but a bit too much speechifying near the end. The twist-- they should not have bothered-- is a bit too contrived and so predictable that's it's actually unpredictable (you don't believe they are going to go there), but there are some stylish twists, especially Swinton as Mason, the whip-cracking commander who is held by the rebels briefly. Generally good performances though, but the CGI is not all that impressive.
2014-10-31 Rappeneau, Jean-Paul Horseman on the Roof --> Rating: 7.80
Director Rappeneau spent over a year looking for Olivier Martinez to play the lead, Angelo Pardi, but ended up with a pretty boy without a lot of weight to his ability or presence in this lavish but uneven story about a young Italian revolutionary fleeing Austrian assassins in France during a time of plague and warfare. He connects to a noblewoman, Pauline de Theus, who is looking for her husband, an old, rich, titled noble, who has disappeared in the chaos. There's some action and chase, some moody scenes, despair, betrayal, and a lot of luck involved, but rarely a moment that is moving or inspiring or really dramatic.
2014-10-19 Putnam, Tom Burn --> Rating: 7.50
Interesting documentary about firefighters in Detroit who spend about 90% of their time putting out fires in abandoned homes and buildings, with aging equipment, poor wages (for firemen, at least), and little gratitude. A new chief is brought in, mainly to find cost-efficiencies (one of his key ideas is to not risk going into abandoned buildings to check is someone might be squatting or doing drugs in there). Most interesting for the scan of Detroit's declining, wrecked neighborhoods, and this core group of firefighters who still have good jobs, and the wonder that America allows this kind of ruin to occur to a major city.
2014-10-10 LaGravenese, Richard P.S. I Love You --> Rating: 7.80
Uneven but generally entertaining story about a couple of young lovers separated by an unexpected death due to brain tumor. So Gerry, the deceased husband, arranges for a new letter to arrive at Holly's door every week or so, with instructions or revelations and such for Holly to do. Sounds extremely unpromising and starts unpromisingly but occasional sharp-tongued comments by Denise and Ciara and others keep the movie on an even keel, even as Holly travels to Ireland to meet Gerry's family for the first time, and hear a friend of his sing lovely Irish songs, and have explained to her why no one from his family came to visit him while he was dying of the brain tumour. There are low points: a lame comedy bit with the three women in a boat and one of them hooks a fish. Or a scene in the new Yankee Stadium that appears to have been shot solely for the purpose of having a scene in the new Yankee Stadium. And there is a big chunk of "my suffering is the only important suffering in the entire world" attitude. And the scenes of light-hearted frivolity between the two lovers tries too hard and ends up being unconvincing. But the film usually drifts back from the precipice with humour and the occasional touching moment. Hilary Swank is also --- a bit to my surprise-- acceptable as Holly, trying to be vulnerable without being pathetic and somewhat charming. Unusual and interesting choice of background music.
2014-10-10 Reichardt, Kelly Night Moves --> Rating: 8.00
Typical Reichardt film: meditative, slow-moving, rich in nuance and subtlety, and moody and dark. Josh, Dena, and Harmon plot to blow up a dam, as a protest against our capitalist, earth-despoiling society, but the event proves shattering to their personal lives as well as suspicion and paranoia and guilt begin to dominate their personalities. Perhaps, not entirely satisfying, but scenes at a kind of natural food farm with Josh, his interactions with the progressive individuals running it and working there, and the contrast between the beautiful Oregon landscapes and, for example, a couple in their motor home watching a game show on tv, are striking, though not heavy-handed. Eisenberg is perhaps a bit too scowly throughout, and Fanning and Sarsgaard really don't get that much to do.
2014-10-06 Ford, John Wee Willie Winkie --> Rating: 7.90
Based on a story by Rudyard Kipling (about a boy, not a girl), Wee Willie Winky is Priscilla Williams, a very young girl travelling with her widowed mother to deepest India to stay with her paternal grandfather, who is a British Army Colonel in a troubled outpost. Priscilla, of course, charms everyone in site, but this is a John Ford movie so the charm factor is fairly restrained, the story -- centered on an imprisoned rebel leader named Khoda Khan-- who is also charmed by Priscilla-- concerns Priscilla's attempts to please her stuffy grandfather, and her attachment to a doomed sergeant named McDuff. There is a really extraordinary scene in which Priscilla performs a drill with a troop of soldiers, quite impressively. You think it must have been quite a performance, as well, for the 8-year-old Shirley Temple. She also comes to the bedside of a dying Sergeant McDuff and Ford wisely filmed it as if the child, Priscilla, has not idea that McDuff is dying. She is chipper and funny and he is protective of her feelings. This, by the way, the film for which Graham Greene wrote the infamous review claiming that the attraction of middle-aged men to Shirley Temple movies was largely sexual, and for which he was successfully sued. A scene of Temple being spanked by her mother was shot but cut from the final version.
2014-09-27 Wood, Sam Goodbye Mr. Chips --> Rating: 7.50
The story of a repressed, traditional English teacher at a public school over 50 years of his life as he evolves from a strict disciplinarian unpopular with his students to a witty, wise -- but still strict-- master. Infused with more than a little pompous British self-satisfaction-- we are so civilized and honorable-- and quaint English tropes, nevertheless an interesting and thoughtful story inspired by a teacher named W. H. Balgarnie. We don't see much of the legendary floggings, or the hazings, or the small cruelties recounted by people like Roald Dahl. After watching "The Browning Version", and even "All Quiet on the Western Front", it's hard not to find the conclusion-- Chipping proudly claiming he has thousands of children, all boys-- ridiculous. It's as if Browning never had his realization. Chipping, be it noted, pushed his boys to sign up for a quick death in the trenches of World War I and never seems to absorbed the lessons.
2014-10-03 Ball, Wes Maze Runner --> Rating: 5.00
Originally pitched as "Lord of the Flies" meets "Lost", Maze Runner retains the incoherent triviality of the latter and not a trace of the intelligence or insight of the former. A group of teenagers are trapped in a large compound in the center of four large, high walls. Every day, a panel opens allowed "runners" to enter the maze, to try to find a way out. Spoiler? As if-- this is all a test of potential future generation gene pool material, which was so apparent that I could not believe that the movie treated it as a revelation. Hunger Games lite.
2014-09-24 Boone, Josh Fault in our Stars --> Rating: 3.00
This is a narcissistic, cliche-ridden genre. Nevertheless, it was a bit shocking to witness this consummate piece of navel-gazing, weepy-eyed, self-centered masturbatory weaseling mawkish bullshit, and then read James Berardinelli's review: "the acting is top notch, the characters are three-dimensional, and the dialogue is sharp and witty". In fact, "Fault in the Stars" is poorly acted, the dialogue is lame and lifeless, and the characters are so flat and one-dimensional that I was completely convinced the the writer had never been anywhere near a real person with cancer in his entire life. (I was wrong: author John Green saw a young woman with an oxygen bottle at a Harry Potter conference and struck up a correspondence). Hazel Grace Lancaster is dying of cancer. Augustus Waters is dying of cancer and has a preposterous, pretentious name. They are supposedly more aware and more deeply aware and more sensitive and soulful because of their sufferings. They are so sensitive that all the adults around them have lost all of their personalities and histories and exist only to mirror the soulfulness of Grace and Augustus. At one point, seriously, Hazel opines that her parents might just kill themselves after she dies-- she really believes it is a virtue in her that she thinks this-- and oh how I wished one of the parents would have said, "you do realize that our entire world doesn't necessarily revolve around you all the time, do you? You do realize that there are other people in the world and that they might matter some day?" Just as someone needed to slap Augustus in the face after his revolting request of his friends to write and perform eulogies for him in a mock funeral before he dies. The movie is full of scenes like Hazel not wanting to go to support group and her parents ridiculously insisting she go. Why would they do that? Precisely so that the support group can be presented as a whipping boy, voluntarily cowering and whimpering before the blistering heat of Hazel's righteous rage-- which would not be quite so blistering if it hadn't looked like she had to go. Or their meeting with the Dutch writer, Van Houten: again, events must be contrived so that the couple are forced upon the writer so he can vent his righteous indignation at the captive audience when no one, in real life, on either side, would put up with this kind of imposture. Then they tour the Anne Frank house and Hazel's struggles to climb the stairs are presented as heroic even if it inconveniences all the other visitors. Why? I don't know. It doesn't even really make her look all that heroic in any sense of the word. Someone just thought they needed to show her suffering for something worthy, I suppose, to hear more about Anne Frank. So they could read some of Frank's most famous quotes as voice-over. I don't know. Again, Bernardelli: "The characters here are beautifully realized". I didn't think there was an ounce of authenticity to any of the characters, not mom or dad or any of the medical people, and especially not Hazel or Augustus or their friend. Another reviewer lauded "material this rich" and I cannot believe they were looking at the same movie, or that we are living on the same planet. Or that they thought, perhaps, that the egging scene was hilarious and "witty", or that the picturesque suffering of these cosmetically beautiful teenagers would be convincing? Or that the mom, played with gleeful triviality by Laura Dern, would not come off as a joke? That the dad would have less reality or personality than Bob Saget? Or that scene after scene of weeping and weeping and weeping that doesn't seem to express any particular realization or consciousness-- it's just time for a sad scene, so instead of showing us what's sad about it-- by, say, reminding us convincingly that a character will be missed-- we'll just announce that something really, really sad has happened and go to the tears.
2014-09-26 Schrader, Paul Auto Focus --> Rating: 6.50
Bob Crane was a disk jockey who scored it really big in LA before being offered the lead in "Hogan's Heroes", that hilarious comedy about a Nazi prisoner of war camp. Along the way, he wanted to continue drumming on the side, so he began to sit on at bars and strip joints where he met a gentleman named John Carpenter who was into video, in it's earliest incarnation. He helped Crane set up his own video recorders and camera in exchange for Crane going with him to pick-up joints to attract girls. They were enormously successful for a time, but when Crane's career went into the ditch, he decided to ditch Carpenter, which is when things turned really sour. Unfortunately, one more exhibit in the museum of Schrader's inability to overcome his Calvinist upbringing and show us something genuinely interesting about sex or success or celebrity or death. For all his Hollywood cache, this might have been schemed up by a high school sophomore, trying to demonstrate his shocking discoveries about what other people are doing out there. Even so, it might have been at least mildly interesting if we had learned something more about Carpenter, other than the obvious. Stylized film, deliberately shot with a B-Movie sensibility, which, of course, means the acting is unconvincing and the colors are mostly flat and banal.
2014-08-16 Attenborough, Richard Chaplin --> Rating: 6.50
Based partly on Chaplin's biography-- and plays like it-- this dismal, poorly acted, poorly written, poorly directed hodgepodge of touchstones in Chaplin's life is worse than depressing. A desperate attempt to include every well-known event or motif ends up being a catalog rather than a story. Even worse, Chaplin's version of events are given face-value, and we don't get the slightest glimpse of the smart, sometimes cynical hustler we know Chaplin to have been. Standard practice is to offer some "struggle" tropes (his childhood poverty, his mother's insanity) in order to "explain" the failures and faults in his later life (his womanizing and taste for luxury. We are also besieged with crap like "you can't make a movie about Hitler!" and you can't do this or that because it's never been done before. "Monsieur Verdoux", in some ways Chaplin's most important film, is completely ignored. We don't get any insight into his technique or directorial style, and everyone seems to enter every scene as if they were just waiting to enter the scene, instead of actually playing a part in Chaplin's life. Huge mistake to cast Geraldine as his mom (her grandmother)-- she looks 70 though she was actually about 48 when filming began, playing a woman who was 24. No mention of his greatest rival, Buster Keaton, nor of
2014-08-29 Ferreras, Ignacio Wrinkles --> Rating: 8.20
Delicate, unsentimental animation about an old man named Emilio sent to a retirement/nursing home by his son and daughter-in-law, suffering possibly from Alzheimer's. His new room-mate, Miguel, is a bit of a hustler, stealing money from the other residents, while espousing a very individualistic, pragmatic philosophy: he believes he does no harm because he provides the other residents with harmless fantasies, that they can call their children, or acquire a pet. Quietly, without fuss, we see Emilio, who is generally accepting, adjust to his newly constricted life, adopting illusions -- that he will use the pool some day-- and forgetting more and more. All of the people on his floor dread the fate of those on an upper floor: the hopelessly senile. Miguel makes many bitter, incisive observations, noting, for example, that the pool is mainly a theatrical piece designed for the families who feel guilty about shunting their loved ones off to oblivion. Touching, honest, and quietly brutal. The animation itself-- very traditional-- is rather pedestrian, but the story is so worthwhile you forgive the deficiencies.
2014-08-28 Mazursky, Paul Moscow on the Hudson --> Rating: 7.90
A Russian circus musician named Vladimir Ivanoff is completely exasperated with his friend, Anatoly's, insistence that one day he is going to defect-- and decides to do the deed himself, in a Bloomingdale's in New York City, while touring with the Moscow Circus. Give Mazurksy a lot of credit for caring about detail and accuracy, and giving the viewer a relatively balanced view of the hardships of life in Moscow vs. the hardships of life in New York, and good explanation of the mechanics of "defection". Turns out you don't automatically get an apartment and green card from immigration. Vladimir ends up moving in with a security guard from Bloomingdale's, perhaps unaware of the implications of living in the ghetto. The love interest, Lucia, is perhaps a little too cute and too immediately interested, but she does have a personality and resists Vladimir's possessiveness. One of Robin Williams' better performances. There is also-- shocking-- nudity in the film.
2014-08-24 Linklater, Richard Boyhood --> Rating: 8.00
Linklater found a talented young boy and filmed parts of his movie using the same actor every year for the next 12 years, producing this brilliant portrait of American life. The boy and his sister watch his neglectful dad leave, a new attentive dad come into their lives, tension and separation, school struggles, ambition, ending with Mason's enrollment in College. Along the way, we get an unusually honest, insightful depiction of Mason's struggle for identity and a sense of place, and his ambivalent feelings towards his absentee dad. Brilliant experiment unlikely to be duplicated soon. If there is a weakness, it's that the acting is not always as impressive as in other Linklater films, and certainly not intense, though it would be fair to assume that was intended.
2014-08-15 Teplitzky, Jonathan Railway Man --> Rating: 6.00
Perhaps the most stunning omission in this story is the fact that Eric Lomax was married at the time he met Patti Wallace: he dumped his first wife, and mother of his two daughters (a boy died in infancy), for Patti. You would also never know that Patti was also married at the time, with three children, or even that she was Canadian. In the film, Nan, the first wife, does not exist. Convenient. But there is not a single moment of this film that doesn't seem contrived and self-serving-- which is odd for a movie about forgiveness, and about coming to grips with real but unpleasant stories. Eric Lomax was a British soldier in Singapore in February 1942. Surrendered to the Japanese, he spent the rest of the war building the Burmese railroad and suffering unspeakable atrocities at the hands of the Japanese, though we only shown waterboarding. Waterboarding is indeed horrific but it doesn't quite live up the hype about just how terrible and unspeakable Lomax's experiences were. One wonders if the film-makers didn't wish to exploit the news about the U.S. and waterboarding of terrorists. It's a wonder how the film manages to deflate every sense of menace or horror. Here's a clue: Nicole Kidman wears a body stocking for the single scene that wasn't even really a nude scene. But the worst offense is the way movie buys into the psychobabble tripe about confronting your demons before you can sooth them out of your life. After confronting Takashi Negase, the Japanese soldier who translated the torturer's demands, he returns home and all is sweetness and light. We are even set up with his friend, Finlay, who commits suicide, we are instructed, because he didn't "let it out" and confide in his friends and family.
2014-08-22 Goldthwait, Bobcat Worlds Greatest Dad --> Rating: 8.00
Intriguing dark comedy about a man whose son dies while applying asphyxia while masturbating. Lance Clayton writes a suicide note to cover up the embarrassment but the note becomes a hit at the high school where his son, Kyle, was otherwise despised. For good reason: he really was a jerk. Things get out of hand and Lance has to decide just how far he will let things spin, especially when people ask for a book, and personal appearances, and a library room is named for the deceased. Witty and sharp and very funny, one of Williams' best films (especially compared to a lot of the drek he has put out, like "Patch Adams"). Continuously surprising and daring, until the very end which consists of a misguided and poorly judged resolution that undermines the main point of this satire: how we reframe our relationships when necessary to illuminate our own goodness and virtue.
2014-08-15 Goldthwait, Bobcat World's Greatest Dad --> Rating: 8.00
Intriguing dark comedy about a man whose son dies while applying asphyxia while masturbating. Lance Clayton writes a suicide note to cover up the embarrassment but the note becomes a hit at the high school where his son, Kyle, was otherwise despised. For good reason: he really was a jerk. Things get out of hand and Lance has to decide just how far he will let things spin, especially when people ask for a book, and personal appearances, and a library room is named for the deceased. Witty and sharp and very funny, one of Williams' best films (especially compared to a lot of the drek he has put out, like "Patch Adams"). Continuously surprising and daring, until the very end which consists of a misguided and poorly judged resolution that undermines the main point of this satire: how we reframe our relationships when necessary to illuminate our own goodness and virtue.
2014-08-15 Goldthwait, Bobcat World's Greatest Dad --> Rating: 8.00
Intriguing dark comedy about a man whose son dies while applying asphyxia while masturbating. Lance Clayton writes a suicide note to cover up the embarrassment but the note becomes a hit at the high school where his son, Kyle, was otherwise despised. For good reason: he really was a jerk. Things get out of hand and Lance has to decide just how far he will let things spin, especially when people ask for a book, and personal appearances, and a library room is named for the deceased. Witty and sharp and very funny, one of Williams' best films (especially compared to a lot of the drek he has put out, like "Patch Adams"). Continuously surprising and daring, until the very end which consists of a misguided and poorly judged resolution that undermines the main point of this satire: how we reframe our relationships when necessary to illuminate our own goodness and virtue.
2014-08-15 Mamet, David House of Games --> Rating: 7.70
There are strengths to this movie-- Lindsay Crouse's performance, the dialogue, the relatively clever plot-- and there is even some intrigue in the character of Margaret, who seeks danger as a kind of diversion from her sedentary life, and is more capable of dealing with it than we expect. Margaret meets Mike, a con man, after one of her patients loses a large sum of money in a con game. She threatens Mike but is obviously intrigued by him and interested in how the con works, how you spot a bluff, and how you see "tells" (when a gambler gives away his bluff) and so on. But Mike is up to more than being sociable and she is absorbed into a gang's activities to the point where it is not clear who is conning who. Well-- that's generous. She is always the victim, and her turnabout is not exactly shocking. Crouse is Mamet's wife (at the time) and this is Mamet's first directorial effort.
2014-07-25 James, Steve Life Itself --> Rating: 7.00
Interesting and informative documentary on film critic Roger Ebert marred by somewhat tactless concessions to wife, Chaz, who gets prime time near the end when you hope to hear more from fellow critics, writers, or commentators on the value and character of his contribution to film criticism over the years. Clearly, with Ebert's death, control of his estate, writings, and imagery fell to Chaz and the documentary shows it, giving ample expression to Ebert's devotion to her, which at times suggested to me the gratitude of an older man to a devoted younger woman who brought a semblance of order and stability to his life, but at a price. Ebert was clearly wounded by Gene Siskel's decision to keep his own cancer private until his death, even from long-time partner Ebert, who, almost to make a point, is very public about his own cancer. There is some balance, a little more than token, in comments by Richard Corliss and others about Ebert's popularization of movie reviews, which Corliss regarded as "junk food", compared to lengthier and more thorough and challenging reviews by others. Certainly, Ebert became overly generous in his later career, in an effort, I thought, to maintain the perspective of an average movie goer, rather than one who saw five or six movies a week for 40 years.
2014-07-28 Reeves, Matt Dawn of the Planet of the Apes --> Rating: 6.00
Monumentally over-rated sequel-prequel-cash-in of the Planet of the Apes series featuring a ridiculously contrived plot, inane dialogue, cliche-ridden tropes, and uniformly weak performances as per most movies that are so heavily green-screened. The allegedly riveting final sequence, a long battle between a miraculously animated Cesar-- after being near death after an assassination attempt by Koda which is bafflingly believed by the apes to have been by a human-- and Koda on some kind of skyscraper, that is being blown up, and is on fire, and is collapsing-- why didn't they just toss in a flood and an earthquake?-- is so over- the-top preposterous that it succeeds creating a dull sense of entropy and boredom. Some critics praise the "substance" of this utterly vacuous story, about apes and humans learning to distrust each other-- as if the ape suits add gravitas to a theme as old as "Big Country". In fact, good chunks of the plot might have been lifted entirely from "Big Country". In fact! The much ballyhooed animations and CGI in "Dawn..." also seem to me vastly over-rated. I had a lot trouble believing the scenes of the apes on the horses: they seemed ridiculously top-heavy (since they chose to be relatively accurate about the body shapes). And the expressiveness-- by human standards-- of the ape's faces didn't do much, for me, to enhance the credibility of their characters: they looked to me more like humans as apes, rather than apes.
2014-07-17 Preminger, Otto Exodus --> Rating: 7.90
Leon Uris' epic story of the founding of the Jewish state, focusing on terrorist activities by Irgun, and attempts to break through the British blockade with an aging, decaying ship from the U.S. Does a fair job of dealing with the political complexities, the unholy British-American alliance, the moderates and extremists on both sides.
2000-01-01 Angelopoulos, Theodoros Landscape in the Mist --> Rating: 7.90
Alexandros and his sister Voula want very badly to go to Germany to look for their father. Their mother is not a bad person-- just doesn't get it. And though they overhear that their father might not even exist-- their mother may have been trying to hide their illegitimacy-- they are undeterred. They hop trains, hitch-hike, and walk north, encountering various adventures, challenges, and threats on the way. Adults, holding them for not carrying papers, are suddenly mesmerized by snow and freeze in their tracks, allowing them to escape. An acting troupe circulates on the roads, desperate to find someone who wants to see their ancient Greek plays. A gigantic mining machine seems to come after them. Alexandros and Voula have only each other, and, occasionally, Orestis, who occasionally helps or comforts them, but can't quite save them. Strange, elliptical, confusing at times, but always sensuous and beautiful, and slow-moving.
2014-07-12 Turturro, John Fading Gigolo --> Rating: 7.50
Fioravante has lost his job and needs money. So does Murray, his former employer and book-store owner. When Murray discovers that his female doctor is interested in arranging a menage a trois, and is willing pay big bucks for it-- doesn't that happen to you all the time?-- he decides to become Fioravante's pimp. Turturro, oddly, is believable as not entirely reluctant "ho": he has a gift with women. More than that-- he is actually quite sensitive and kind, and, as he says, not shy. And that's really the heart of the movie and what keeps it from being contrived and sophomoric. Murray encounters an orthodox Jewish widow who is starved for affection, and arranges for Fioravante to give her chaste massage, which he does with great sensitivity. Unexpectedly, he also falls for her, but the story does not end on this unsurprising trajectory. I'm talking myself into liking this movie more than I did at first: it is an odd movie, fairly fresh and original, and if not quite as intellectually satisfying as a real Woody Allen film, at least it's entertaining.
2014-07-09 Turturro, John Fading Gigolo --> Rating: 7.50
Fioravante has lost his job and needs money. So does Murray, his former employer and book-store owner. When Murray discovers that his female doctor is interested in arranging a menage a trois, and is willing pay big bucks for it-- doesn't that happen to you all the time?-- he decides to become Fioravante's pimp. Turturro, oddly, is believable as not entirely reluctant "ho": he has a gift with women. More than that-- he is actually quite sensitive and kind, and, as he says, not shy. And that's really the heart of the movie and what keeps it from being contrived and sophomoric. Murray encounters an orthodox Jewish widow who is starved for affection, and arranges for Fioravante to give her chaste massage, which he does with great sensitivity. Unexpectedly, he also falls for her, but the story does not end on this unsurprising trajectory. I'm talking myself into liking this movie more than I did at first: it is an odd movie, fairly fresh and original, and if not quite as intellectually satisfying as a real Woody Allen film, at least it's entertaining.
2014-07-09 Wachowski, Andy Bound --> Rating: 6.00
Unconvincing thriller about two women who try to double-cross a mob enforcer and get caught up in the complications-- particularly, their own lesbian relationship. Damaged by Gina Gershon's seriously unbelievable portrait of a macho lesbian handy-man who cruises bars for action, and, we are asked to believe, falls for Jennifer Tilly's Violet, whose boyfriend, Caesar, ends up holding $2 million for the mob. After some gratuitous lesbian sex scenes for the first half, bogs down with rather pointless chase scenes in the second half, and an unsatisfying conclusion.
2014-07-07 Wachowski, Andy Bound --> Rating: 6.00
Unconvincing thriller about two women who try to double-cross a mob enforcer and get caught up in the complications-- particularly, their own lesbian relationship. Damaged by Gina Gershon's seriously unbelievable portrait of a macho lesbian handy-man who cruises bars for action, and, we are asked to believe, falls for Jennifer Tilly's Violet, whose boyfriend, Caesar, ends up holding $2 million for the mob. After some gratuitous lesbian sex scenes for the first half, bogs down with rather pointless chase scenes in the second half, and an unsatisfying conclusion.
2014-07-07 Jordan, Glenn Barbarians at the Gate --> Rating: 7.80
True story of F. Ross Johnson's attempt to buy out R. J. Reynolds-Nabisco after leveraged buy-out specialist Henry Kravis suggested the idea for himself, and his battle against Kravis and others to offer the winning bid to the Board of Directors of the Company. Lucid, interesting, punchy diagram of the shenanigans going on behind the scenes, including activities that would have been regarded as illegal (like Kravis offering Peter Cohen a "bribe" to combine the offers) had they been exposed at the time, or if the government had cared to prosecute them. Good performances, especially by Pryce and Riegert, though direction is a bit soft and unconvincing at times. Illuminating and entertaining.
2014-07-04 Miller, Kevin Hellbound --> Rating: 8.00
Is there a hell? Many of the theologians and church leaders in "Hellbound" explain why, no, there isn't. And a lot of other leaders explain why there is. This documentary is somewhat uneven and murky at times but does get to the crux of the matter: nowhere in the Old Testament is there a single reference to hell as a place for sinners. There might or might not be a place for the dead (sheol), but there is nothing like the modern evangelical concept of a place of eternal punishment. The rather thin New Testament references are oblique at best and always struck me as symbolic and figurative, as illustrations of Christ's message about love and serving God. Looks at the infamous Westboro Baptist church which pickets funerals of soldiers and claims that God is punishing America for it's tolerance of homosexuals, and features a screed from discredited pastor Bob Larson, and a young people's group that stages a "hellhouse" in Dallas. Stimulating and interesting and provocative.
2014-07-03 Cooke, Matthew How to Make Money Selling Drugs --> Rating: 8.50
The first drug czar in U.S. history proposed making drugs like cocaine, heroin, and marijuana illegal because they had the effect of enticing white women into sexual relations with blacks and Hispanics. And from there, it gets worse. Dynamic, sardonic, powerful documentary about the drug wars, using the ironic device of an instructional video, with numerous experts, telling us how to make a lot of money selling illegal drugs. Really fascinating segment with a former cop named Cooper who turned on the enforcement culture and wrote a book on how to fight convictions for drug possession, and setup a trap for police to catch them planting evidence, which he then used to get a young woman released from prison on the basis of police misconduct. Looks at the prison system, which created a very interested corporate interest in continued incarcerations, and at Portugal which recently legalized most drugs.
2014-07-02 Johnson, Liza Hateship Loveship --> Rating: 7.60
Kristen Wiig plays Johanna Parry, a quintessential Alice Munro character: lonely, middling in age and beauty, quirky and modest but willful. She is a maid whose charge dies at the beginning sending her to the service of Mr. McCauley and his grand-daughter. McCauley's daughter was killed by her husband in a car crash: he was drunk and doing drugs and served time for it. The granddaughter is also a quintessential Munro creation: no one reveals more, Sabitha, about just how cruel and devious young girls can be than Munro. Sabitha spoofs emails from her dad to Johanna suggesting that he is in love with her. When Johanna responds, he is unexpectedly open to her, and Sabitha (Hailee Steinfeld) herself begins to rethink her antipathy. Odd story, very un- hollywood, and Wiig is daringly self-effacing, but the main problem is that Wiig is not a very good actress, and neither is Guy Pearce. Things take on some life when Jennifer Jason Leigh, as Ken's girlfriend Chloe, enters the scene, and Steinfeld is actually pretty good, but the rest of the performances just don't match her intensity or bravado or her timing and sense of nuance. Still, a brave attempt, and a reasonably faithful rendering-- other than the depressingly expected shift to Iowa from Ontario. That said, some of the critics hammer the movie for being stodgy and slow-moving and meandering, and I can't help but suspect they mean, not Hollywood enough. As when Salieri helpfully advises Mozart to always have a big bang at the end so the aristocracy know when to clap. One of the few virtues of this film is that it doesn't play to the awful "Notebook" mentality, where the audience has to be clued into every emotional development, with music and tears, and wailing. A quote cited by one reviewer, "my problem is I never believed what was happening was love" is actually one of Munro's most acute observations about love and life, and the one Hollywood is usually incapable of illuminating.
2014-06-30 Majidi, Majid Song of Sparrows --> Rating: 8.00
In a poor farming village in Iran, an Ostrich ranch hand, Karim, is confronted with various needs, including his daughter's hearing aid, and sets out to earn the money whatever way he can, after he is fired from his job for losing an ostrich. He travels to the city on his motorbike running various errands, acting as a taxi service, and doing anything he can to get the needed money, while occasionally hearing of the missing ostrich. Contrasts urban and rural cultures and values, the struggles of families in poverty, with gentle humor and wistfulness. Wryly notes the differences in values between rich and poor without resorting to hackneyed stereotypes. Rich, soulful, and illuminating.
2014-06-20 Rohmer, Eric Summers Tale --> Rating: 7.50
Slow-moving, languid tale about a student and musician, Gaspard, spending his summer in a resort town in Bretagne, with girl trouble. His girl-friend Lena hasn't arrived yet so he spends a lot of time with sensible Margot who is a bit of a tease, but is clear that she only wants to be a friend-- or does she? He is quickly enchanted with Margot's friend Solene, but she is not patient about his whiny, self-absorbed indecisiveness. Lena turns out to be high-maintenance and Gaspard really can't make a sensible decision about anything. Reminiscent of "Day for Night" and other Truffaut films. A bit aimless and indulgent but seen from the point of view of adolescent narcissism, has it's virtues. Tries to make art of nostalgia, and doesn't fail entirely.
2014-06-26 Rohmer, Eric Summer's Tale --> Rating: 7.50
Slow-moving, languid tale about a student and musician, Gaspard, spending his summer in a resort town in Bretagne, with girl trouble. His girl-friend Lena hasn't arrived yet so he spends a lot of time with sensible Margot who is a bit of a tease, but is clear that she only wants to be a friend-- or does she? He is quickly enchanted with Margot's friend Solene, but she is not patient about his whiny, self-absorbed indecisiveness. Lena turns out to be high-maintenance and Gaspard really can't make a sensible decision about anything. Reminiscent of "Day for Night" and other Truffaut films. A bit aimless and indulgent but seen from the point of view of adolescent narcissism, has it's virtues. Tries to make art of nostalgia, and doesn't fail entirely.
2014-06-26 Rohmer, Eric Summer's Tale - Conte D'ete --> Rating: 7.50
Slow-moving, languid tale about a student and musician, Gaspard, spending his summer in a resort town in Bretagne, with girl trouble. His girl-friend Lena hasn't arrived yet so he spends a lot of time with sensible Margot who is a bit of a tease, but is clear that she only wants to be a friend-- or does she? He is quickly enchanted with Margot's friend Solene, but she is not patient about his whiny, self-absorbed indecisiveness. Lena turns out to be high-maintenance and Gaspard really can't make a sensible decision about anything. Reminiscent of "Day for Night" and other Truffaut films. A bit aimless and indulgent but seen from the point of view of adolescent narcissism, has it's virtues. Tries to make art of nostalgia, and doesn't fail entirely.
2014-06-26 Rohmer, Eric Summer's Tale (Conte D'ete) --> Rating: 7.50
Slow-moving, languid tale about a student and musician, Gaspard, spending his summer in a resort town in Bretagne, with girl trouble. His girl-friend Lena hasn't arrived yet so he spends a lot of time with sensible Margot who is a bit of a tease, but is clear that she only wants to be a friend-- or does she? He is quickly enchanted with Margot's friend Solene, but she is not patient about his whiny, self-absorbed indecisiveness. Lena turns out to be high-maintenance and Gaspard really can't make a sensible decision about anything. Reminiscent of "Day for Night" and other Truffaut films. A bit aimless and indulgent but seen from the point of view of adolescent narcissism, has it's virtues. Tries to make art of nostalgia, and doesn't fail entirely.
2014-06-26 Sax, Geoffrey Christopher and His Kind --> Rating: 8.00
Literate, intelligent dramatization of the life of Christopher Isherwood, in Berlin and shortly thereafter, his friendship with Jean Ross, W. H. Auden and others, the rise of the Nazis, and his emigration to America, without the compromises and Hollywoodizations of Cabaret. Isherwood doesn't care much about politics or injustice- - though Jean Ross, a communist, does-- unlike in Cabaret where Sally asks "what does politics have to do with us?". Sad and nostalgic at times but never cheaply so. Offers more about his mother and his brother, and his trip to England after leaving Berlin, his failure to get a visa for Heinz, his lover, and Heinz' eventual arrest and induction into the army.
2014-06-26 Curran, John Tracks --> Rating: 7.20
Interesting story about a young woman who, in 1975, decides to cross the Australian desert with four camels. Why? Well, that would be to compromise the conceit of this film, wouldn't it? We are given to understand that the media jackals wish to intrude on the privacy of poor Robyn Davidson who only wants to be alone-- except for the National Geographic photographer who came as part of the sponsorship deal-- and then publish a book on her experience. We are invited to ignore the fact that she could have gone any number of places to be alone, and she didn't have to announce that she was going to walk across the desert by herself-- she could have just done it. Anyway, aside from that, the film is clumsily shot with sequences that make no sense. After losing her compass, for example, she follows her trail back until she finds it. But then the trail suddenly seems to vanish and she is lost until her dog, told to go "home", leads her back to her camp. And I've seen Mia Wasikowska play other roles convincingly but here she seems barely warmed up. I never felt that I glimpsed that part of her personality that wished people would leave her alone. But there are virtues: it's not too contrived or jazzed up, and the aboriginals bring interesting colour to the story, and her suffering isn't too over the top. And the landscape is not sentimentalized: we often seem images of nooses, dead animals, skulls, and poisons. The camels too are fascinating: I never knew a bull camel in rutting season could be so dangerous. You almost want to forgive the ultimate pointlessness of the exercise.
2014-06-22 Curran, John Tracks --> Rating: 7.20
Interesting story about a young woman who, in 1975, decides to cross the Australian desert with four camels. Why? Well, that would be to compromise the conceit of this film, wouldn't it? We are given to understand that the media jackals wish to intrude on the privacy of poor Robyn Davidson who only wants to be alone-- except for the National Geographic photographer who came as part of the sponsorship deal-- and then publish a book on her experience. We are invited to ignore the fact that she could have gone any number of places to be alone, and she didn't have to announce that she was going to walk across the desert by herself-- she could have just done it. Anyway, aside from that, the film is clumsily shot with sequences that make no sense. After losing her compass, for example, she follows her trail back until she finds it. But then the trail suddenly seems to vanish and she is lost until her dog, told to go "home", leads her back to her camp. And I've seen Mia Wasikowska play other roles convincingly but here she seems barely warmed up. I never felt that I glimpsed that part of her personality that wished people would leave her alone. But there are virtues: it's not too contrived or jazzed up, and the aboriginals bring interesting colour to the story, and her suffering isn't too over the top. And the landscape is not sentimentalized: we often seem images of nooses, dead animals, skulls, and poisons. The camels too are fascinating: I never knew a bull camel in rutting season could be so dangerous. You almost want to forgive the ultimate pointlessness of the exercise.
2014-06-22 Williams, Roger Ross God Loves Uganda --> Rating: 8.00
Disturbing documentary about International House of Prayer (yes, iHop), and it's missionary zeal for Uganda, where it has been able to influence political leaders in a way it has been unable to in North America, and has help drive the government to make homosexuality illegal and punishable by life in prison. Very even-handed portrait of the Christian missionaries who come off as sincere and well-meaning, but fanatic about how God's word should prevail politically, and how Uganda is a new start in the war on sexual permissiveness. Wellfilmed and elegantly edited, not narrated, quietly compelling. Some liberal critics find that it was too "soft" on the evangelicals but I don't believe you can overlook the fundamental sincerity of most of the missionaries, even if some of their leaders are dangerous fanatics.
2014-06-15 Webb, Marc 500 Days of Summer --> Rating: 7.00
Over-rated supposedly "quirky" comedy about a man who finds the perfect woman only to discover that she doesn't believe in true love or marriage. Tom Chases her anyway and the audience discovers, to their huge disappointment, that Zooey Deschanel is a complete failure here, miscast and misdirected, charmless, and dull. What has happened, I believe, is that the director is really convinced that just showing you Zooey's big blue eyes and half-pout is enough to convince you that she is witty and amusing and that there is something going on beneath the surface, because there must be or none of the movie makes sense. None of of it make sense especially because the writer and director really want you to believe that Zooey was not only beautiful but she was also virtuous-- thus justifying Tom's disintegration in the end. Just as we are manipulated into believing that Tom was so monogamous that he would be totally depressed after Zooey leaves him. A better actress would have given us something to chew on in Summer's character that would make her actions later make sense. I have known women like Summer: they are never as banal as this, or as googly, always looking at Tom as if waiting for their lines, which is exactly what Zooey Deschanel is doing in those scenes. The emblematic moment in the film is when Tom -- drunk or not drunk, but essentially mimicking drunkenness-stands up at a staff meeting at the greeting card company and lambastes the company for producing phony sentiment. And not a single person at the meeting stands up and says, "of course we produce phony sentiment, and you can't possibly be so stupid as to have ever thought we didn't". In fact, this is the phoniest moment of sentiment in the film-- trying to con the viewer into thinking he's smart, he's in on it, with this rigged scene.
2014-06-08 Glazer, Jonathan Under the Skin --> Rating: 8.20
Mysterious, haunting, harrowing account of an alien seductress who lures unsuspecting Scottish men-- loners-to their deaths, possibly as a form of food to other alien beings. Scarlett Johannsson is daringly cast as the alien who is partnered with several other beings on motorcycles who clean up after her and, eventually, form a posse when she goes rogue. The alien is merciless and so is the film, depicting an abandoned child that the alien ignores, but stirrings of compassion arise when she encounters a man with a horrible facial deformity who is deeply moved by her interest in him: it is clear that she doesn't see the deformity. She asks why he doesn't have a girlfriend, and then, if he's ever touched a girl. And eventually we begin to ask who the monsters really are. The shabby Scottish urban landscapes and wet, dank lowlands form a darker counterpoint to the alien's activities. Notable that the men she lured into the van were not actors: they were real people who were told afterwards that they were in a movie.
2014-06-02 Pawlikowski, Pawel Ida --> Rating: 8.20
Austere, contemplative story about Ida, a young novitiate, who is ordered by her Mother Superior to visit her only relative, a judge named Wanda, before taking her vows. Set in Poland in the early 1960's, Wanda is her aunt and knows a lot about Ida's family, about whom she knows nothing. The first shock: Ida is Jewish. Wanda agrees to take her to where her parents lived and they uncover disconcerting facts about their fate. But this is not a mystery story as much as a character study: how does Ida respond to this new information, and to the worldly behaviour of her aunt who lives a life of sensual abandon. She has lived her entire life in a convent-can she keep the faith, while confronting the darkness of her own past? Intriguing and beautifully filmed in black and white, but a bit slow-moving, and perhaps not as richly realized as it should have been.
2014-05-20 Stevens, George Woman of the Year --> Rating: 7.00
Sometimes witty and clever, and sometimes incredibly awkward and clumsy, a very odd comment on the status of women, circa 1942. Tess Harding is a brilliant columnist, diplomat, political adviser, and feminist who meets cute Sam Craig, a sports columnist at the same paper. They fall in love and marry. Story over? No, she spends too much time being brilliant and important and not enough time making breakfast for Sam Craig, or just being there for him. Yet the movie does come down heavy-handedly on the anti-feminist slant: he doesn't seem to necessarily want her to be completely domestic, though that last caveat is tucked so obtusely into the ending that it's hard to credit. The acting is well-developed and smart and graceful and the story has a writer, but a scene of Tess trying to make breakfast for Sam at the end looks, at times, like a high school sketch. More sophisticated, really, than "Devil Wears Prada", which resolutely insists that real women prefer domestic bliss to a life of globe- trotting achievements. In fact, the ending of "Woman of the Year" was rewritten at the insistence of the studio after test audiences balked at an ending in which Tess finds out that Sam has gone missing (he has enrolled in language school) so she attends the big fight and writes a good article about it for the paper. They then agree to compromise one her role. Hepburn was appalled at the changes, as were the original script writers, but had no choice. (Another version says it had nothing to do with test-audiences: Stevens and producer Mankiewicz decided between themselves that American women were not ready for an independent, smart female character: she had to have a comeuppance.)
2014-05-18 Webb, Marc Amazing Spiderman 2 --> Rating: 7.50
Spiderman has always been an off-kilter superhero-- young, whiny, impulsive, and bit irreverent. This installment is true to that spirit, with a good deal of wise-cracking banter, the obligatory special effects, and hand-held jerky camera. But it also takes a moment or two to account for the evil in his foes, how they were bullied or abused or forced into impossible predicaments before they became evil. Can't make myself too fond of either Garfield or Stone as the romantic couple, but Dane DeHaan as Harry (the Green Goblin) is somewhat intriguing, as is Jamie Foxx as Electro. And Paul Giamatti is kind of amusing.
2014-05-13 Majidi, Majid Willow Tree --> Rating: 8.00
Youssef is a blind university professor who must travel to France for treatment of a small tumor that is pressing against one of his eyes. He pleads with God for mercies-- have I not already suffered enough, with blindness (caused by accident when he was young)? He has a devoted wife and young daughter who adore him, a good job at a university, and the respect of friends and colleagues. But when the operation to save his eyes has unexpected consequences, his life is changed dramatically, and he changes. We see Youssef giving his wife long assessing looks, especially after gazing-- mistakenly-- as his attractive sister-in-law, and a young female student. This is not a heart-warming development: Youssef proceeds to make decisions that seem impulsive and ill-considered, until a poignant message comes to him from a walnut-obsessed fellow patient in France. Touching, thoughtful, and provocative. Wonderful film-making: he can't wait until the morning to pull the bandages off his eyes and he wanders the empty hospital at night until two nurses come dashing towards him. Another: he watches a pick-pocket, slowly patiently, slide a wallet out of man's pocket and the pick-pocket sees him watching and knows that he isn't going to alert the victim. Beautifully shot.
2014-05-10 Marshall, Neil Centurion --> Rating: 6.00
Pompous, implausible story about a group of Roman Legionaries who survive the annihilation of the 9th Legion at the hands of the violent, primitive Picts. There is not a scene that does not fall over on itself: the men are rather unbelievably trusting of Etain while the audience immediately realizes she is going to lead them into a trap. The men, on the run from allegedly deadly, ruthless, magically powerful Picts, don't even post someone to watch while they eat or chat around a fire; all six of them poke their heads up to peek at their camp; when they approach an occupied Roman fort there are no scouts or patrols in the vicinity and when they approach an abandoned forts they don't notice that it is abandoned until they kick the gate down. They flee Picts on horseback continuously for a preposterous amount of time, and on and on. When they are not posturing as brave, macho soldiers, they are pontificating on duty and honor and loyalty. When Thax improbably finds Dias and Bothos again, they immediately look at him suspiciously-- because, I can only assume-- of information that only the audience has.
2014-05-05 Murphy, Geoff Quiet Earth --> Rating: 7.00
A man, Zac, wakes up one day and finds that he's the only person left on earth. At least, that's what he concludes early on after finding his immediate environment vacant. The trouble is, that's what the viewer is supposed to think, and so he tells us that, but all he can possibly know is that he can't find anyone in that particular area of New Zeeland, or manning the other terminals of the computer network he accesses at work. A reasonable person would likely assume that there were living beings somewhere else on earth. Eventually, he does find someone else. Together they try to solve the mystery of what happened. Zac is pretty sure it is a cosmic side-effect of an experiment the Americans were conducting, with which Zac was involved. The Americans get the back of his hand several times-- it turns out Zac was against the experiment and thought it was dangerous but the Americans, obsessed with new weapons, disregarded his advice. The ending is mysterious but not very compelling. I could not find a decent explanation of what it means anywhere and I certainly don't have one. Extra credit for avoiding some obvious cliches about the relationships.
2014-05-03 Burns, Gary Waydowntown` --> Rating: 6.00
Tedious story about several office employees who make a bet as to who can stay indoors the longest, using the buildings and tunnels of downtown Calgary, including malls, to avoid ever going outside. There's a serous attempt to make a comment about the dehumanizing attitudes and values that drive these people to extreme states of anxiety and distress, but a lot of it is lost in amateurish cinematography and sloppy, miscast performances. Reminiscent of "Office Space" but not as funny or as well performed. Plot elements recycle themselves and some of the attempt to imbue Tom Bennet with some kind of tragic awareness ends up being flippant and self-pitying at once.
2014-05-03 Katz, Ross Taking Chance --> Rating: 6.00
Starts out simple, direct, and affecting, showing the details of how a marine's body is returned to his family. And it's actually quite moving at this point. But the narrative becomes more and more about how great Lieutenant Colonel Strobl is for feeling so bad about poor Chance Phelps, and how much people admire him for feeling so bad about Chance Phelps, and how he is really just as noble and courageous as Chance Phelps because he accompanied the fool's body back to his home down with dignity and grace and lots of saluting and teary eyed dramatic faces. Mr. Phelps was tricked into serving his country in a foreign war that had nothing to do with 9/11. He served the ego of Donald Rumsveld, the gullibility of George W. Bush, and there is something sickening in the sniveling reverence with which people greet the passage of the box containing his remains. ('Be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in box.') The characters become flat and one-dimensional, existing mainly to be moved by Strobl and inspired by his devotion to this ritual: it's a militarist's wet dream of a movie, a masochistic tribute to mindless patriotic servility. It needed oh so badly one manly character to speak to the viewer: "he went over there to fight the wrong guy, didn't he? I hear he didn't have nothing to do with 9/11." It's really quite sad, because the movie set out in the right direction (that's why I gave it a 6 instead of a 4) and was headed towards a compelling, moving conclusion, when it got sidetracked by Strobl's narcissism. Most distasteful moment (among many): when a young woman sits beside the very sober Strobl on a flight and texts her friend: I'm sitting beside a very hot soldier. He corrects her-- he's a marine. Then the movie chastely passes on. Second awful scene-- all the baggage handlers come out to salute the body as it is unloaded, then reloaded in Minnesota. Meant to clobber us over the head with the idea that "real" Americans have an honorable respect for the military. These same people don't care if they end up homeless after their military service is ended and all the tax dollars have been used for sports stadiums and tax breaks for the wealthy.
2014-05-02 Abu-Assad, Hany Omar --> Rating: 8.10
Intelligent, thoughtful story about a Palestinian man, Omar, who participates in an act of violence and is eventually snagged by the Israeli police and forced to become an informant. Too smart to make him a martyr-he did participate in the shooting-- the film explores how the Israeli occupation itself corrupts and distorts all relationships, including Omar's romance of the sister of one of his co-conspirators, Nadja, played by a striking Leem Lubany. The Israeli handler talks to his wife about picking up a child from school while torturing Omar-can't you see I'm busy?-- and Omar constantly finds himself in front of bill-boards advertising the joyful, complete life of an Israeli citizen, while deprived of his most basic rights by the occupying authorities. No caricatures here-- Rami, the Israeli handler, is no monster: like Omar, he values family, there's nothing personal in his abuse of Omar: it's just what occupying authorities do. It's what they become-- part of a monstrous system. Artistically, the film does not impress as much as it does for it's intelligence, sensitivity, and astuteness.
2014-04-25 Ray, Billy Shattered Glass --> Rating: 7.90
The true story of journalist Stephen Glass who copped a position at New Republic and wrote a series of striking, impressive articles, featuring generous dollops of local color and personality, most of which turned out to be fabricated. New Editor Charles Lane gradually realizes that Glass's inability to provide back-up details to the stories means that, at the very least, Glass had been duped, while the rest of the writing staff rally to his defense, moved by his vulnerability and charm. Forbes' online unit tries to do a follow-up story and quickly uncovers the scandal forcing Lane to take action. This is really about character and Glass's weaknesses as a person, his craving for approval (he keeps asking Lane if he is mad at him), and his inability to come clean even when his story falls apart before his very eyes. Unusually accurate and respectful of the real facts, moving, fascinating, and powerfully relevant.
2014-04-25 Camalier, Greg Muscle Shoals --> Rating: 8.20
Delightful documentary about the legendary Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama, it's founder and master recording genius Rick Hall, and the astounding roster of singers and bands who recorded there. Rick Hall's own story is amazing, from the death of his younger brother, abandonment by his mother, his impoverished childhood, to the hit records with Arthur Anderson and Aretha Franklin, the Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, Paul Simon, and others. Generous helping of music samples and interviews with a pretty terrific list of artists, and continuous revelations about Hall's personal life that enrich the presentation.
2014-04-22 Atlas, Reuben Brothers Hypnotic --> Rating: 8.20
Wonderful documentary about a band formed of seven brothers, all of whom are children of jazz "legend" Phil Cohran. The boys started playing at 3, 4, 5 and father Phil had his own very strong ideas about what they should play and how they should live. These ideas have worked their way uneasily into the boys show-- there was a traumatic break with the father when one of the songs announced he no longer wanted lessons, and the father, miffed, stopped the lessons for all of them. The music is terrific -- too bad we are often shown them playing while the sound track is not from the performance we see. Still, a likable, rich, intriguing document about a very intriguing band.
2014-04-20 Korine, Harmony Spring Breakers --> Rating: 7.90
Rapturously filmed indulgence: four great-looking girls rob a fast-food outlet to get money to go to Florida and dress up in bikinis and join the sensual mobs writhing to the endless beat of disco and rap and whatever, boozing it up, dancing and doing drugs-- the whole 9 yards. It is the original sin of film-makers like Korine that they believe that this is all incredibly interesting to us, in the same way they believe that using the word "fuck" proves some kind of raw authenticity or transgressiveness, and depicting the use of drugs proves some kind of understanding of the real world. Add to that, James Franco doing kind of minor league Matthew Mcconaughey and lot of badly, meandering improvisations. But Korine is too good of a film-maker to not punch up his nonlinear progression with a few sensitive scenes, some unexpected sub-plots, and an intriguingly unexpected ending. It's actually quite a funny movie, and not nearly as self-serious as, say, Scarface.
2014-04-20 Salles, Walter Central Station --> Rating: 8.50
Isadora works at the Central train station writing letters for illiterate people. In this "Wings of Desire" mode, we encounter brief capsules of peoples lives, personal disasters, disappointments, longings, as they send letters to abandoned family members, distant friends, absent husbands and fathers. But one little boy, Josue, wants to send a letter to his alcoholic father, a carpenter named Jesus. Isadora usually simply tears up the letters and throws them away after taking the money but, when Josue's mother is killed in a car accident, Isadora reluctantly takes him home, where her neighbor, Irene, is far more sympathetic to the boy than she is. Isadore at first decides to send him away to an adoption agency, but after a shocking discovery, she takes him back and then takes on the task of bringing him to his father in a far-away city. Predictable, perhaps, but the pleasure is in seeing how the inevitable softening of her heart unfolds, and the travelogue, to small towns in Brazil as they search for the long lost Jesus, encountering an evangelical truck driver whom Isadora tries to seduce, a lovely spiritual event involving thousands of pictures of lost or wounded relatives and commemorative candles and chanting, and surprising details about the father's luckless life. The ending is a bit too precious for my taste, but this is a lovely, rich, and enriching story.
2014-04-19 Sholder, Jack 12:01 --> Rating: 7.00
Interesting companion to "Groundhog Day": through a fluke of lightening combined with an unauthorized activation of a particle accelerator, Barry Thomas is temporarily doomed to relive the same day over and over again (at the particle accelerator complex) and tries to save desired scientist, Lisa Fredericks, from being assassinated. Smartly avoids too much implausible detail, there are moments, as when Thomas uses his knowledge of Fredericks' personal memories to intrigue her, but not as startling as "Primer" or astonishingly clever as "Groundhog", and directed in a pedestrian manner by Sholder. Notable for Jeremy Piven as a coworker.
2014-04-19 Wyler, William Big Country --> Rating: 8.20
Said to be Dwight Eisenhower's favorite film-- he showed four times consecutively in the White House--this long, spectacular Western tells the story of a feud between two clans, the Terrills and the Hannasseys, who come into conflict over access to water owned by Julie Maragon, a river called "The Big Muddy". Into this ongoing feud steps James McKay, an Easterner, former sea captain, and fiance of Patricia Terrill. McKay doesn't play by Western rules. He stands down instead of fighting when challenged, and disdains the macho culture of the West. Patricia is deeply disappointed. When he tries to find a peaceful solution to the water issue, both sides turn on him. But Terrill's foreman, Steve Leech, begins to respect McKay, and grows tired of the bloodletting. Intelligent, thoughtful movie, understandably interpreted by some as an allegory of the cold war. In contrast to "The Searchers" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", asserts that the idea that evil can only be confronted with ruthless force-- Ethan, in the Searchers, for example, is challenged. The bloodletting is revealed a creating an endless cycle, and the Hannasseys are revealed as more complicated than the Terrills want McKay to believe. In fact, Major Terrill himself is not the kind of man he seems to be. But this is not a naive or idealistic film: McKay recognizes when he must really fight and confront those who seem determined to cause harm. Well-acted, beautifully written and filmed. One of the best Westerns ever.
2014-04-19 Aronofsky, Darren Noah --> Rating: 3.00
Unbelievably tedious and ridiculous combination of "Water World" and "Transformers", makes Noah a fanatic vegetarian and the evil peoples of the earth first and foremost meat-eaters, and rather irrationally frantic about taking the ark, seeing as the gist of the original story is that they don't believe a flood is coming. But then, it's no use trying to make sense of any part of the plot of "Noah"-- it's all Aronofsky's own construct-- who needs a stinking writer?-- astonishingly lame. Crowe's method acting seems contagious and one feels sympathy for Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson and, well, everybody, giving it their best in scenes that frequently meander into the ridiculous. The so-called "twist" in the plot makes little impact because everything up til then, including the fabulous transformer rock angels, is absurdly disconnected from anything resembling a story. The rain comes in a single, immediate torrent; the old man lives in a cave; Ham finds an innocent girl in some kind of pit of dead bodies in the middle of an evil town; and Emma Watson's Ila cringingly forgives Noah for being a fascist and trying to kill everyone. Awful.
2014-04-16 Russo, Anthony Captain America: The Winter Soldier --> Rating: 7.90
Traditional Hollywood blockbuster leavened with a few interesting political angles, commenting on the NSA's surveillance program and proposing that it could be misused for evil by those in power. Like the Ironman 1, has an attractive pace and wit to it that keeps it from becoming a mere rehash of conventional CGI spectacles, though it is not without the usual "size matters" approach. Scarlett Johansson, with black hair, is actually quite good as Natasha, and Chris Evans plays Captain America straight but without that self-mocking, jokey white bread ridicule used by some actors to pretend they are above the material. Even Redford is relatively spastic, chortling his way as the heavy.
2014-04-09 Michell, Roger Le Week-End --> Rating: 8.40
Meg and Nick travel to Paris for their 30th anniversary, Nick hoping to re-ignite some passion, and Meg hoping to let Nick know that she's had enough. They bicker but then they play, and when she accidentally knocks him down, she is kind and concerned, but their relationship is clearly waning. Nick is devoted to Meg and holds a strong conviction about one person being the right person for him and that person can only be Meg. They bump into an old friend of Nick's-- Morgan-- whom Nick mentored at one time-- and he invites them to a party that turns somewhat emotionally explosive for them. I kept feeling as though someone put a nail in place and positioned a hammer perfectly to drive it in and then missed. The elements of a powerful story are there, and partly realized, but there are a number of flubs and some scenes just seem ill-conceived, as when Nick gives his speech at the party. What is his attitude towards Morgan? I believe the director thought we would admire Nick for his courage in confessing that he is broke and has failed as a father and in his career and has just been sacked for an inappropriate comment to a young female student (he told her that if she paid as much attention to her studies as her hair she could escape her background). But the speech is really quite selfserving and would seem more calculated to evoke pity than admiration, and that is not as attractive a result as I think the film-makers intended. The short, flamboyant escapades (trying to weasel out of a dinner bill, or the hotel bill) also seem jarring in film that seems, at first, headed into Mike Leigh's territory of oblique confessional, exposition. Is there some improvisation going on here? The actors inserting themselves into the narrative?
2014-04-06 Lee, Jennifer Frozen --> Rating: 7.00
Typical Disney bowdlerization of Hans Christian Anderson's compelling story, "The Snow Queen", about an evil spirit who causes winter and ice and heartless cold because feelings only bring grief. There are now princesses in the original-- just the snow queen-- just Gretel and Kai, who disappears one day after turning mean to lifelong companion Gretel. In Disney's version, of course, Gretel and Kai become Anna and Elsa, and Elsa is really a good person with dangerous powers and all Anna has to do is show her love. Spectacular animation, but an oddly weak story and dialogue. Unbelievably predictable pratfalls and lame humour, and a very derivative sidekick, Olaf the snowman. Some of the singing seems extremely weak-- no surprise: they are daughters of the director and other executives of the film, which is surprising even for Disney. Some defenders allege this is a "feminist" Disney fairy tale-- only if you believe a narcissistic princess can be a feminist because she doesn't actually marry the prince at the end of the movie. Agatha Lee Monn, the voice of teenage Anna, is Jennifer Lee's daughter. Katie Lopez (Anna as a child) is the daughter of songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Shameless.
2014-04-05 Sauper, Hubert Darwin's Nightmare --> Rating: 8.20
Odd, impressionist documentary on the inequality between the Tanzanians who fish for Nile Perch in Lake Victoria and the affluent Western nations who import it by jet. Looks at the fishermen, the airport staff, the prostitutes, and the children of the small towns that rely on fishing this exotic species for their livelihood (the fish, which is destroying all other species, was dumped in the lake by a single person 60 years ago). The obvious analogy here is the Nile Perch consuming all other species, and even it's own young (!) in the same way that global capitalism consumes the young of the Tanzania communities that services European demand for the fish. Europe gets the fillets; the locals get dried out re-processed heads and spines. As Village Voice called the image of it, "Brueghelian". As we might the revelation that the jets do not return to Tanzania empty: they bring weapons for sale to the battling tribes and warlords in neighboring countries.
2014-03-29 Haynes, Todd Superstar: Karen Carpenter Story --> Rating: 7.50
Strange dramatization of the life of Karen Carpenter with Barbie and Ken dolls. Yes, seriously. Is now withdrawn from circulation due to the use of Carpenters' songs without permission. Focused primarily on her anorexia nervosa condition, her bad relationship with her mother-- who doted on Richard--, and doesn't really offer much aside from biographical information that's out there, and a rather daring, if not exactly artistically impressive, use of dolls and fixed model sets. Brave, but not really all that interesting.
2014-03-29 Anderson, Wes Grand Budapest Hotel --> Rating: 8.30
Fabulously realized story about a fabulous concierge at the fabulous Grand Budapest Hotel during the golden age of great European hotels, the murder of an elderly patron, the theft of a valuable painting, and other shenanigans. Wonderful and brilliantly filmed, and yet, in the end, more chase sequence than story, and more montage than narrative. And yet, the shots are so beautiful and witty, you almost want to ascribe something more to it yourself-- it seems so deserving. But other than the portrait of the roguish, refined, cultured concierge, and his loyal lobby boy, and intimations of World War I creeping into the action, I'm not sure there is much else there. The cast is absolutely sterling, from Bill Murray to Saoirse Ronan to Adrien Brody.
2014-03-29 Padilha, Jose Robocop 2014 --> Rating: 7.00
Inferior remake of the clever original-- hampered by the decision to play it safe, tone down the dark sarcasm, and impose a more message-oriented narrative on the schlock. Just not as much fun. Dr. Norton-- Dennett (Oldman) is named for philosophy Daniel Dennett who, though he denies it, believes that humans have no consciousness or will: we are essentially biological computers.
2014-03-01 Chadwick, Justin Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom --> Rating: 7.40
Rather pedestrian, conventional telling of Mandela's journey from activist to revolutionary to prisoner to conciliator, hitting all the obvious milestones and delivering the expected "moments"-- not one of which feels like a revelation. Faithful enough to history-- it acknowledges many of the less inspiring developments, like the internal conflicts in the ANC and the near civil war with Inkatha, and Winnie's growing disillusionment with him. But none of the secondary characters have a life of their own-- they exist to bracket the story of Mandela, and the movie itself never comes to life.
2014-03-22 Noujaim, Jehane Square --> Rating: 7.90
Documentary that intimately follows the Egyptian revolution from the first protests in Tahrir Square to the election of Morsi and his subsequent fall. Heartbreakingly evocative of the rising and falling hopes of educated young Egyptians, following the closely the activities of four or five participants, including a member of the Moslem Brotherhood whose ambivalent feelings become clear as Morsi's election approaches. Intense scenes of the parents of a young Christian killed by the army when military movers plunged into a crowd. Very good but not entirely successful at capturing the sweep of events, the ebb and flow of the military's involvement, and the attitudes of the general population who did, after all, barely elect Morsi President, before turning out in astonishing numbers to demand his removal. The film was funded through kick-starter and nominated for an academy award.
2014-03-23 Condon, Bill Fifth Estate --> Rating: 7.90
Punchy, exuberant dramatization of Julian Assange's rise to power and influence as founder of Wikileaks, the dramatic revelations, the staggering release of tens of thousands of secret documents, and the public fall-out, and the split between Assange and "co-founder" Domscheit-Berg. Using multitudes of digital effects to convey the interplay between computers and humans, the story builds momentum and tension as governments counter-attack, and volunteers bicker about social responsibility (the redaction of names of informants whose lives would be endangered by release). Picks up the story with Nick Davies of the Guardian, with the New York Times and Der Spiegel, share release of the diplomatic cables and memos that generated the most controversy. Raises, for me, the question of whether you need a prickly, non-conformist like Assange to get the truth out there, while the New York Times and Guardian, by themselves, might well have been pressured into greater redactions or downright suppression. They knew Assange was going to release the documents one way or another (because he was a prick) so they weighed in and gave the information more gravitas than it would otherwise have possessed. The greatest flaw in the story is the inevitable bias offered by DomscheitBerg, who was ousted by Assange after disagreements (in the film, over redactions of names of government informants). He is presented as the sane, responsible member of the duo-- you have to keep that in mind, and if you do, the movie is more flattering of Assange than Domscheit-Berg thinks it is). A bit messy at times, but, in the end a compelling dramatization of one of the signature events of our era.
2014-03-21 Meier, Ursula Sister --> Rating: 7.90
Uneven account of a young boy living with his sister in an apartment building near a ski slope in Switzerland. He scrapes by for the two of them by stealing ski equipment and reselling it to tourists. There is a stunning revelation, and a very unhappy ending, lifted by two very good performances by the leads. Haunting, but not shattering, and not particularly artistic or intense.
2014-03-15 Orlowski, Jeff Chasing Ice --> Rating: 7.80
Lovely footage amid a safe environmental message about global warming, with occasionally annoying diversions into self-puffery for National Geographic photographer James Balog (who felt it necessary to describe his aching knees before rappelling into an ice hole). Amazing video, really, but otherwise not particularly special.
2014-03-15 Gelb, David Jiro: Dreams of Sushi --> Rating: 8.50
Fascinating look at a Japanese sushi chef who owns and manages a tiny restaurant in a subway station that seats 10, yet has received a remarkable 3-star rating from Michelin. Jiro Ono is a master chef and has been working at his craft for 75 years (he is now 85) and wants to pass on the business to his son. Details the remarkable care and craft that goes into preparing sushi, from the purchase of tuna and octopus, to the preparation of the rice, and the presentation. Glowing tribute to obsessive craft and dedication, if almost comical at times in Ono's fanatic dedication to standards.
2014-03-14 France, David How to Survive a Plague --> Rating: 8.00
Worthy, well-sourced documentary on the battle to find a cure for AIDS, from it's earliest days in Greenwich Village, led by the organization "ACT UP", which eventually splits into two because of conflicts over cooperation vs. confrontation. A lot of great historical footage from meetings and demonstrations and newscasts, and honest enough to acknowledge major errors in judgement by Act Up and it's leaders-- the government, while treading carefully (at least under Clinton) was not altogether wrong in hedging against some of the early so-called wonder drugs.
2014-03-13 Van Groeningen, Felix Broken Circle Breakdown` --> Rating: 7.80
From a play by Heldenbergh, who also plays the lead, Didier, a story about a young couple in Belgium, a cowboy who loves America (at the start of the story) and a tatoo artist who can sing and who joins his bluegrass band and provides some of the genuinely soulful moments of the film, performances of "Wayfarin' Stranger" and other worthy folk songs that comment on and accentuate the developments-- some tragic-- in their relationship. Darker than the American movie type it seems based on, but, unfortunately, predictable and cliche-ridden, without ever giving an indication that anything is written from an authentic experience. But the serenade during a late death scene is moving and touching and could only have been sweeter if they had recorded it live instead of dubbing it. The principles are pretty good, especially Nell Cattrysse as Maybelle.
2014-03-12 Allen, Woody Broadway Danny Rose --> Rating: 8.00
Danny Rose is the agent for a ragtag collection of one-armed jugglers, water glass musicians, and one washed up singer, Lou Canova. When Canova asks him to pick up his Mistress and pretend she is his date to an important performance at the Waldorf Astoria (Milton Berle will be auditioning him for a TV show and Vegas gig), a series of misadventures, including some angry mobsters, ensues. Filmed in black and white, the usual Woody Allen schtick (a lot of "whadaya mean"s, and the usual interesting characters and backgrounds. Allen recruited a number of small-time, semi-washed-up New York cabaret performers to basically play themselves, and it adds considerable depth and character to the story.
2014-02-21 Lord, Phil Lego Movie --> Rating: 6.00
A hodgepodge of elements of other films, almost all of which were more original and imaginative than this frenetic, fast-paced, cliche-ridden story about a lego construction man who learns that only by playing with interchangeable parts can the world be saved, and it is better to believe in yourself than to not believe in yourself, and a father's serious, ambitious work projects should be tossed out if his child wants to destroy it even if he has his own adequate supply of toys to play with. But that might not even be the film's most grievous fault. Well, yes it is, but it also subscribes to the idiotic notion that if one climax is good, and a surprising second climax is better, than four or five or six climatic battles is best, even if each is of diminishing effect. Michael Moore endorsed the movie and said he thought it was terrific. That only goes to show that Michael Moore is a clueless film-critic: I think he actually believes that "The Lego Movie" is subversive on some level because it takes a cheap shot at industriousness and self-control, and an even cheaper shot at consumerism while at the same time promoting the Lego toy. To say that it rips off "The Matrix" would be unduly complimentary. It doesn't even begin to understand what made "The Matrix" interesting. And having Morgan Freeman as the wizened old black dude (even if he's an architect called Vitrivius) doesn't entitle anybody to think parody. The fact that many reviewers liked this movie tells me that even most reviewers have given up on the idea that any movie studio would hire a real writer any more. They don't care. Audiences don't seem to care. Let's just get together with some buddies and steal ideas from dozens of other movies and throw them together without the slightest interest in developing a coherent or original idea.
2014-02-10 Farhardi, Asghar Past --> Rating: 8.00
Slow-moving, unduly complicated story by the director of the excellent "A Separation", about an Iranian man who flies to Paris to settle his divorce with the beautiful Marie, who is clearing the deck for her relationship with Samir. She has three children, a daughter who feels that Ahmad, the Iranian, is her father, and who despises Samir, a younger girl, Lea, who likes Ahmed, and a son, Faoud, Samir's boy, who is troubled by the conflicts among the adults around him. It is clearly suggested that our liberal, tolerant society, which allows Marie to break off with Ahmed and live with two other men in succession, has it's own dark side, and a cost, especially to the children. Marie is corrupted by this freedom, and it leads to serious consequences for others. Ahmed is the most respected adult in this triangle and he tries to get Lucie, and older daughter, to respect her mother, and to do the right thing with her secret knowledge of a tragedy within the story. Lost and confused at times by too many complications and revelations, it is, at least, and adult story trying to tell you something serious and worthwhile about relationships and freedom. The children are great.
2014-02-09 Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Once Upon a Time in Anatolia --> Rating: 8.50
Three cars navigate a winding country road in the dark. They pull up to small park. Is it here? A man in handcuffs answers, maybe. There was a round tree. Is that it? I don't know. And so it goes for the first hour of the film, the three cars take the road, they stop, frustration. But all the while, small conversations between the doctor and the police chief and the prosecutor and the others take place, and a mystery within this larger mystery begins to predominate: a young, pregnant, beautiful woman told her husband that she would die on a certain date, after giving birth. And she does. For no reason at all. The doctor is not convinced. It must have been suicide. Nobody dies because they know they are going to die. The prosecutor is bothered by this. Maybe it was a heart attack. And so it goes on as this crew, determined to make a case against the forlorn suspects, travels on through the night. Beautifully filmed and acted, grim at times, mysterious, and allusive. A beautiful girl appears and somehow becomes a talisman for the range of guilt and deception that pervades this disturbing exposition.
2014-02-09 Wong, Kar Wai Grandmaster --> Rating: 7.90
Okay, so if you long to see someone with an AK-47 jump into the middle of these dancing, jumping, posturing martial arts devotees and mow them all down, does that mean I'm unwilling to suspend my disbelief? And when the hero defines himself primarily by looking more cool than the villain, and when his wife is so hot and so cool and so devoted that she gladly joins her super-heroic killer husband at a disreputable club, while maintaining her amazing dignity and savoir faire... well, I'm just sick of it, not matter how wonderful the cinematography is. We are told that in Foshan, life was "peaceful and good", meaning, we must assume, that the starving masses restrained themselves so that aristocratic families could indulge themselves with gravitas. It's all about building mystique and mystique is almost always bullshit, whether it's the man with no name in the Sergio Leone films, Christian Bale's Batman, or the Ip Man, here. The Ip Man resembles nothing so much as a Chinese Bogart and the encounters with various challengers grows tedious as it becomes inevitable that Ip will prove his superiority even if he suffers a set-back. So it's all style and mystique, because the plot doesn't have the slightest resonance with any political or social reality. Most of the players seem to set around looking sophisticated while smoking and glancing, glancing, glancing at this or that, at some move, some gesture of rank or submission, refusing to teach drifters or Lion Dancers because it would be "crude". And when we take vows, in this fantasy, there is no "going back". Somewhere, of course, someone is tidying up and preparing meals and doing laundry : they see no light of day in this film. Gong Er, the daughter of the retiring master, challenges him: they agree that if anyone breaks anything, he or she has lost. When he reaches for her as she is falling over a balcony, he loses position and breaks a step. She is, of course, haunted by his serious face as she passed over it in their acrobatic flurry. Foshan falls to the Japanese. Ip is forced to accept leftovers from collaborationist friends: we are meant to pity him because that is what this episode is for. We are suddenly told he lost his family. Where? How? His daughters starved to death and his wife disappears from the second half of the movie in deference to Gong Er. And to the muddle that this film ultimately descends into. And oh, cheap shot: Ma Sang takes a position with the Japanese controlled puppet government. Wong might as well have given him a black hat and swirly mustache! Really beautifully filmed, however. The heroes' cause is invariable good, the funeral is spectacular (though you wonder where they are going with this monumental procession through a frozen wilderness), and the real life travails of ordinary people are worse than irrelevant: they are boring. But we are to understand that they deserve to be boring because they are not, like the heroes of martial arts films, extraordinary and beautiful and skilled. They don't have gravitas. Interesting how often the characters do not make eye contact during important speeches to each other-- as if that would be immodest. Even the actors, beautiful, demur, become landscapes. Most resembles-- even in the music-- "Once Upon a Time in America", with Gong Er as the ineffable Deborah.
2014-01-31 Scorcese, Martin Bringing Out the Dead --> Rating: 7.90
Screenplay by Paul Schrader. Nicolas Cage is Frank Pierce, an EMS attendant, a paramedic, haunted by Paul Schrader's fatuous sense of personal tragedy. Yes, I mean that. We see a parade of losers, misfits, addicts, and the broken hearts they bend, all serving to enlarge Frank's sense of cosmic significance. What saves it from tedium is Scorcese's witty, punchy, direction-- there's a lot going on in every scene, and a whirly camera, and great sequences that almost convince you that you will walk away from "Bringing Out the Dead" with an enlarged mind. Add to that that Cage doesn't chew the scenery as he often does, and the supporting cast is generally good. But beyond the portrait of depravity and weakness and the vivid life Scorcese gives to this parade of wounded people-- amid echoes of "Taxi Driver"-- I'm not sure what it's all about.
2014-01-31 Oppenheimer, Joshua Act of Killing --> Rating: 9.00
In 1965-66, the Indonesian army under General Suharto overthrew the elected government and went on a mass killing spree of anyone they suspected of being communist, or liberal, or simply democratic. It is thought that over 500,000 people died and Suharto ruled with an iron fist for 30 years. Forty years later, documentary film-maker Josh Oppenheimer persuaded some members of the death squads to re-enact their atrocities for a Hollywood type film, sometimes as drama, sometimes as a musical (!). The result is one of the most bizarre, stunning, compelling documentaries I've ever seen, "The Act of Killing". I mean, really bizarre, as if Goebbels teamed up with Liberace to celebrate The Third Reich in music and dance. There are painfully uncomfortable sequences, as when the paramilitary seem to coerce or attempt to coerce local residents into participating in their "movie", by screaming "don't burn my house down", and begging for mercy. Or when an older man's grandchildren scream at the actors to leave their grandfather alone. One of the killers has a soft spot for "Born Free", the song, because, he says, the word gangster means "free man" in American. There are segments of the envisioned film that are westerns and musicals, and one of the killers dresses in drag for several sequences. Disturbing and jaw-dropping. Is this another variant on Arendt's "banality" of evil, or something worse. The killings that took place in 1965 and 1966 were incomprehensible, frenzied, and irrational. Up for an Oscar for best documentary, I believe.
2014-01-31 Al-Mansour, Haifaa Wadjda --> Rating: 7.70
Amateurish but interesting Saudi Arabian film about a young girl, Wadjda, who wants a bike, in defiance of her mother, teachers, and society. Well, it is interesting to see an insider's view of Saudi Arabian society, of the women dressed in their hijabs, of the hysteria surrounding any exposure of women's faces or bodies in public, their subservience to male drivers and chaperons, all of which seems to get a pass in the world media, probably because Saudi Arabia is so oil-rich it is able to buy off dissent. Wadjda is a rebel who wears running shoes and likes to entertain a neighbor boy, Abdullah, who treats her better than anyone else in this story. In fact, the relationship between the two of them is the most touching part of the movie. Wadjda's teacher is a witch, determined to inculcate in her students a complete reverence for the repressive laws and customs of their society. Slightly reminiscent of "A Separation", but not in the same league in terms of cinematic virtues.
2014-01-30 Salerno, Shane Salinger --> Rating: 7.50
Ambivalent documentary on Salinger utilizing numerous interviews with friends, acquaintances, and former lovers, including the infamous Joyce Maynard, but lacking in any kind of intelligent or insightful perspective on the writer-- who really was not a recluse-- he had a very active social life with people he trusted. Follows his career from his experiences during the war, his encounter with concentration camps, his nervous breakdown, and his brief marriage to a former Nazi, to his later years in Cornish. He would sometimes come out and interact with seekers, usually warning them off the idea that he had any kind of miraculous wisdom to dispense. Joyce Maynard was shocked that he was interested in anyone other than her and tried to even things up by selling his letters to her (which Peter Norton purchased and returned to Salinger). Really quite moving at times- Salinger's life was a deeply profound statement on "celebrity" and fame, and a comment on the "blah blah blah" of American life and culture-- yet he loved old Hollywood movies. There are profound resonances missed here-- Dylan and Truman Capote, for example- - but Salerno isn't very sly about linking three murders to "Catcher in the Rye". He has one of his interviewees actually state that one or two murders inspired by your writing is to be expected, but three! Reminded me of Oscar Wilde's: losing one parent is a tragedy, but losing both of them sounds like carelessness.
2014-01-24 Payne, Alexander Nebraska --> Rating: 8.20
Ah, Woody Grant is a rude, unlovable old coot. That means we get to see that he really has a heart of gold, right? Or that he is rejuvenated by some miraculous event or substance and starts break-dancing? Or chasing younger women? Wrong. Woody is truly incorrigible, even when someone does something nice for him. But he thinks he's won a million dollars in a contest that looks a lot like the old "Publisher's Clearing House" scam and he persuades a reluctant David, one of his sons, to help him get to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim his prize. Along the way they visit Woody's childhood home and meet up with a pack of his relatives who think David is trying to hide the fact that Woody really won the money and hatch their own schemes for getting a shared. David also meets an old girlfriend of Woody's, who, in spite of his alcoholism, has fond memories of their brief romance. "Nebraska" never caves, never looks contrived, never surrenders to pastiche or cliche. It's a bracing film that isn't always smooth or clever but stays true to its subject and the to the heartland it evokes, and to fraught relationships. Touching, beautiful, sad.
2014-01-23 Scorcese, Martin Wolf of Wall Street --> Rating: 8.00
Obviously based on Jordan Belfort's personal memoir-- because it is manifestly self-serving-- "Wolf" is an overly long dissection-- we are supposed to think-- of the attitudes and actions of a two-bit boiler room weasel stock hustler, who discovers that there are fortunes to be made in selling worthless stock to gullible investors. Belfort starts small but soon expands to over 100 brokers, all immersed in a cacophony of telephone pitches, high pressure tactics, and testosterone-fueled braying and screeching with every successful mark. The question, does Scorcese think anything is wrong with it? The bigger question: is Scorcese revealing Belfort to us or celebrating this daring, audacious rogue who does what we would all really like to do if we had the guts? In real life, Belfort's "inspirational" speeches to his team were largely self-promoting. Here, they are invigorating, and the team is far more rapt than is believable. Belfort uses gimmick after gimmick to stimulate his sales force, from semi-naked marching bands to strippers and prostitutes and cocaine and Quaaludes. He is clearly psychotic but "Wolf" suggests that he is more fun and more alive than the dutiful FBI agent who rides the subway downtown every day to track Belfort's scams. In the end, in the envious faces of the acolytes who sign up for his seminars, it is suggested that we all really want to be Jordan Belfort. Could it be that Scorcese has no regard for the victims of his scams, or that he really believes the prostitutes and the drugs are as beautiful as he makes them? The film is seriously damaged by what can only be explained as DiCaprio's insistence on total screen time: there are speeches and drawn out scenes (as with the telephone cord) that make no dramatic or narrative sense. And, as illustrated by a powerful scene with Matthew McConaughey that DiCaprio tries to emulate near the end of the movie: DiCaprio still can't act.
2014-01-21 Wells, John August Osage County --> Rating: 8.00
Not your heart-warming, family values film: Violet has mouth cancer (no wonder: she smokes like a demon), and her husband, Beverly, has disappeared. Her three daughters, Ivey, Barbara, and Karen arrive to sort things out, scream at each other, make accusations against Violet, and generally discover what a debauched, dysfunctional family they all belong to. Superbly acted and generally well-directed, the revelations-preposterous on the face of it-- are presented in oblique diversions from arresting confrontations, so they don't seem quite as unbelievable as they might have been. This was a very good play but it's not as great as film, though it builds up a head of steam. Streep, perhaps for the first time in my memory, doesn't help the movie, and Julia Roberts doesn't hurt it, but Chris Cooper, Juliette Lewis, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Julianne Nicholson are excellent.
2014-01-19 Sorrentino, Paolo Great Beauty --> Rating: 9.00
Jeb Gambardella is a writer, famous for one book he wrote 40 years ago. Since then, he has partied and socialized and indulged in every form of pleasure, while his friends wonder when he will get back to his vocation. He is not unoccupied: he adores beautiful women and music, and the fantastic architecture and monuments of Rome, and meditates on life: what is the point of it all? What is the point of him? He is savagely critical of hypocrisy and pretense (especially towards a rather likable Stefania, whom he later embraces) but freely admits he isn't much better than anyone else. A friend's son commits suicide, another friend gives up his ambitions of presenting a play, and a famous saint, a nun clearly modeled on Mother Theresa, wants to meet him because she found his book beautiful and "fierce". He is told that Elisa, a young woman he loved more than 30 years ago, has died. Her husband is disconsolate, and tells Jeb that Elisa always only loved Jeb. All of this before exquisitely filmed vistas of Rome, of gorgeous buildings and terraces and parks, set to music that wobbles from the most sensual, heated disco to sparse and inspiring cantos and beatitudes. In the end, he means something after all: the endless battle against the blah, blah, blah of the incessant noise of humans struggle, scratching, and wailing their way through life, through despair, and disappointment. The most beautiful, impressive movie of 2013.
2014-01-18 Jonze, Spike Her --> Rating: 7.70
Based on an intellectually and emotionally ludicrous concept, "Her" is stylish, imaginative, well-acted and filmed, and unsatisfying. There are moments when I thought it was almost brilliant-- if you could imagine a team of absolutely brilliant programmers coming up with something like Samantha. But all the adults in the film behave like credulous children: not one of them really attacks the absurd premise-- that a human would "love" a computer, or, worse, that a computer would fall in love with a human and express this love in a way that would not be taken as meaningless by any rational person. It's as if the inhabitants of this film were admiring a cheating poker player or corrupt politician: it's just not that interesting when you realize that you are meant to believe that he's really lucky or brilliant. When Theodore and Samantha go out on a double date with some of his friends, it's hard not be nauseated at the clever banter with the software. Oddly, there are the elements of a really interesting film on how the algorithm breaks down, how it acts with other people, where the imperfections in this fantastically brilliant application begin to show. But when Samantha goes off somewhere for a short time, the computer doesn't even give Theodore an error message. So, to be generous, you could say that the movie is about longing and desire, and there it has something in the relationship between Theodore and Amy.
2014-01-12 Coen, Ethan Inside Llewyn Davis --> Rating: 9.00
Llewyn Davis is not a movie story like the films about Ray Charles or Johnny Cash or Dianna Ross-- someone who's personal behavior, recklessness, and infidelities get to be passed over because there is a mass audience out there just waiting for them to perform high ART so they can fall over themselves grovelling at their own good taste. No no no-- Llewyn Davis is, in the words of a discarded lover, Jean, an asshole, who thinks only of his own immediate needs and desires, and very little of anyone else. He's trying to make it as a folk singer in Greenwich Village, 1961, in the middle of the folk boom, with a talent that isn't embarrassing but isn't really very marketable. It is a tribute to the good taste and desire for authenticity of the Coen brothers that we accept Llewyn's talent as respectable but no more. The Coen brothers recorded all of the music "live"-- what we see is what we hear, and it's a delight. We follow Davis as he has a very bad couple of days, from allowing a friend's cat to escape, to a confrontation with a pregnant x-girlfriend, to a pointless trip to Chicago to seek stronger representation. There are in jokes and teasers: a manager named Bud Grossman is trying to assemble a folk trio-- would he consider trimming his beard to a Van Dyke and joining? But mostly it's personal, a confrontation between the exceptional and the desire to be exceptional and the relentlessly mediocre, which seems to include even Llewyn's own fans, the Gorfeins, who ask him to sing after making him supper and offering him a couch to sleep on. "Inside Llewyn Davis" is relentlessly cynical about audiences and performers and life generally, immersing us in the tasteless company of Roland Turner, played with consummate vulgarity by John Goodman, for a good portion of the trip. And just when Davis seems ready to throw in the towel and resume his career in the merchant marine, he visits his father, a retired sailor, imprisoned in a bleak retirement home, stewing in his own shit. No bright side, no redemptive moments. Just miles of authentic experience that feels lived in and worn out. A terrific period piece, with all the trappings of inchoate movements and trends and attitudes, momentarily as shapeless as Davis' career and love life.
2014-01-12 Russell, David O. American Hustle --> Rating: 8.00
Compelling but sometimes stodgy take on the Abscam scandal. Irving Rosenfield is a con-man, art dealer, hustler who comes into the orbit of an aggressive FBI agent, Richie DiMaso, who is convinced can and should snag corrupt politicians by having a fake Arab Sheikh offer them money for favors, connected to a casino to open in Atlantic City. Carmine Polito is the earnest but corrupt-- yes, there is such a thing-- New Jersey mayor who gets snagged in the process, causing Rosenfield a crisis of confidence. Rosenfield's partner is Sydney Prosser, and it is soon not clear to them or us who is conning who. In real life, the courts convicted several of the politicians but but with a lot of ambivalence about the methods used and this approach was not repeated. But American Hustle is really about deception and the confusion between real attachments and the art of using. This is a fine film, though it sputters along occasionally, an can be confusing at times, because the real life issues were confusing, and everyone involved, from Rosenfield to the police to the politicians to the FBI were tarnished by the experience.
2013-12-31 Vallee, Jean-Marc Dallas Buyers Club --> Rating: 8.00
Ron Woodroof is an electrician by day and a good ole boy at night, riding bars, having extraordinary success with women, snorting coke, betting on bull-riders at the rodeo. When he becomes ill, he sloughs it off until, after he is accidentally shocked, doctors discover that he has HIV-- AIDS. He is outraged, of course, insisting he is not gay, while the doctors insist he has about 30 days to live. He tries to get into an experimental treatment program, is refused, and discovers he can acquire the drug AZT illicitly through various means. He hears about buyers clubs, organizations dedicated to acquiring experimental, unproven remedies for AIDS symptoms for people essentially without hope. Eventually, he becomes extremely knowledgeable about AIDS and travels around the world to buy cheap, unproven drugs for desperate AIDS victims who have nothing to lose-- and a lot of money to spend. The film downplays Woodroof's profit motive, as he did, and completely ignores the possibility the DEA is concerned that unscrupulous people may try to take advantage of people with AIDS by promising results that are unjustified by science-- which, in fact, happened with AIDS and happens all the time with incurable diseases. We are given to understand that Woodroof became so empathetic to Rayon and other victims of AIDS that he embarked on a selfless campaign to save lives-- including his own. Jennifer Garner is mysteriously cast-- she is no where near the class of the other actors. Perhaps related to the fact that her character has no corresponding real life model: she's made up out of whole cloth to give the film a romantic subplot.
2013-12-26 Armstrong, Gillian Little Women --> Rating: 8.20
Astute, warm interpretation of Louisa May Alcott's classic children's novel-- though here, it doesn't look like a children's story. Four daughters of an unsuccessful teacher, preacher, medic, struggle amid poverty to define themselves and root out their future lives. Meg is the family beauty and wants nothing more than to marry and have her own family; Jo wants to be a writer, likes horsing around with the boy, Laurie, next door, and moves to New York where she meets an educated German who mentors her; Beth contracts scarlet fever, and spends her days in domestic chores; Amy, the most self-interested of the four, is a budding artist who goes to Paris with her aunt. The men really have no existence in this melodrama, but Armstrong has found a warmth and richness in the story, expressed in cleverly devised sequences that feel natural and charming, and lovely settings, costumes and lighting. Marred somewhat by Bale's incessant whispering -- method acting, which, remarkably, seems anachronistic.
2013-12-25 Donner, Clive A Christmas Carol 1984 --> Rating: 7.40
Unusually faithful adaptation of the Dickens classic, but somehow less impressive than the 1951 Alistair Sim version. George C. Scott plays the curmudgeon fairly well, but the rest of the case never quite impresses, except the Ghost of Christmas Present, who performs with wit and panache. A bit too much pathos in Tiny Tim, and actors routinely react to the line they know is coming rather than what the person should know at that moment. Nice sets and costumes, over-powering music that tells you how to feel at every critical moment. Filmed for TV, therefore 4:3 format.
2013-12-24 Favreau, Jon Elf --> Rating: 6.50
If not for some wonderful bits by Will Ferrell (as when he unmasks a fake Santa), this is really an offensive, pedestrian take on Christmas spirit with the tired trope of the father who works too hard learning to spend more time with his adorable family. In this case, thanks to Lucy reincarnated as an elf, who creates havoc, acts childish and obnoxious, and is therefore supposed to be adorable. In movie-land, of course, when father quits his job to spend more time with this family, he is rewarded with even more success running his own business. Yet "Elf" is infested with product placements. It follows the convention of the infantile man who inexplicably attracts a gorgeous mate (Jovie), supposedly opening her to spontaneous experiences that enlarge her world. Once again, we are hectored about the "true meaning" of Christmas by a film that ultimately promotes consumerism and narcissism. It's just not that much fun to watch (unlike, say, "Love Actually", which I watched on the same day, and which also promotes a sentimental idea but with wit and inventiveness, and a leavening of sadness). That said, most of the acting performances are pretty good; the film-making is not.
2013-12-24 Zwigoff, Terry Bad Santa --> Rating: 7.90
Misanthropic film about a drunken, corrupt Santa who, together with a dwarf accomplice, uses his job in department stores to scout out the security systems so he can return at night and rob them. Bill Bob Thorton is scabrous as Willie, even as he improbably strikes up a romance with Sue (Lauren Graham) while Marcus, the dwarf, begins to doubt his reliability. Some very funny scenes-- the cops chasing Santa as horrified children watch-- and his relationship with the chubby kid with no friends never becomes maudlin, while eliciting a smidgen of humanity from this fractured creep. Without a doubt, the most vulgar and cynical Christmas movie out there. And one of the most interesting.
2013-12-22 Von Trotta, Margarethe Hannah Arendt --> Rating: 8.20
Hannah Arendt is strikingly famous for a rather thin but resonant observation about Adolf Eichmann being "banal"-- that he represented the "banality of evil". This movie acknowledges the proportions-- saving that comment for nearly last-- but expands on Arendt's philosophy and experience rather audaciously: this is the most intelligent film of 2013, though certainly not the best. Part of the problem is that, like many biopics, the filmmakers are somewhat in love with their subject, so they front-load the film with scenes that seem to justify her, or, at the least, make her suffering and sacrifice seem exceptional. All writers, philosophers, and artists are criticized, but when someone as controversial as Arendt is shown as a victim of criticism, audiences tend to forget that. Audiences tend to feel that she is being picked on unjustly. Still, Arendt seemed to be defending Eichmann-- which she clearly did not do-- by asserting that Eichmann and persons like him were not the cause of the evil of the Nazi regime, but merely cogs in the machine, a mindless bureaucrat who was, as he claimed, simply following orders. (Astonishingly, we now have evidence that it was never true: Eichmann's diaries show that he was an avid, passionate Jew-hater and Nazi true-believer). Martin Heidegger, who joined the Nazi party and spoke in favor of Hitler as Rector of the University of Freiburg, and where he led the expulsion of Jewish professors, maintained a good relationship with Arendt (they were lovers, once) to the end of his life.
2013-12-21 Anderson, Brad Next Stop Wonderland --> Rating: 8.00
Erin Castleton's life kind of sucks. She is dumped by her social activist boyfriend and besieged by an endless stream of undesirables after her mother places an ad for her in the personals column. Meanwhile, plumber Alan Monteiro is having some bad luck of his own: his father has run up gambling debts and a gangster is demanding that he murder a blow-fish at the aquarium where he volunteers part-time while studying to become a marine biologist. It's clear from the start that they are destined to be together, but, in the meantime, we are entertained with a wildly disparate sequence of potential lovers and their shticks, their foibles, stratagems, all of which Erin nicely apprehends. They both fend off push people attracted to them, and they both encounter suitors with potential. The fun is watching how it plays out, and the sometimes caustic insights into human mating rituals. Interesting trivia: at the very end of the story, (spoiler alert) Erin stands up Andre whom she has promised to accompany to Brazil. Test audiences didn't like the bald admission of bad behavior, so they added a scene of him hitting on another passenger in the plane. Does that change the nature of Erin's action? No. But it allows the audience feel better about it. Somewhat appalling, really. 2 demerit points.
2013-12-21 Jackson, Peter Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug --> Rating: 6.00
Overbearing special effects ruin the decent story of Bilbo Baggins and the Dwarves attempting to retrieve a magical crown from the treasure house occupied by a dragon. Mainly an epic quest story with various adventures all of which lead to crisis fatigue: they escape every fix by the skin of their teeth to an extent beyond even the most generous benefit of a doubt, particularly when a few forest elves take on seemingly hundreds of orcs. Tiresome and eventually boring, except for a moment when Smaug first awakes in his lair. This is not a story any more: just a series of sensational anecdotes by an old blow-hard. The character of Tauriel, by the way, is made up out of whole cloth to provide the obligatory romantic subplot (she falls for Kili, who is conveniently wounded).
2013-12-18 Jackson, Peter Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug --> Rating: 6.00
Overbearing special effects ruin the decent story of Bilbo Baggins and the Dwarves attempting to retrieve a magical crown from the treasure house occupied by a dragon. Mainly an epic quest story with various adventures all of which lead to crisis fatigue: they escape every fix by the skin of their teeth to an extent beyond even the most generous benefit of a doubt, particularly when a few forest elves take on seemingly hundreds of orcs. Tiresome and eventually boring, except for a moment when Smaug first awakes in his lair. This is not a story any more: just a series of sensational anecdotes by an old blow-hard. The character of Tauriel, by the way, is made up out of whole cloth to provide the obligatory romantic subplot (she falls for Kili, who is conveniently wounded).
2013-12-18 Verhoeven, Paul Hollow Man --> Rating: 4.00
Dismal Sci-Fi tale about a mad scientist who thinks he's god who develops a process for making creatures invisible. Every cliche in the book, including the painful, screaming transformations, the ravishing consciousnesses of power, the bad romance, the aggression, the cruelty to animals, the dissenting scientist who is inexplicably tied to the team. Intriguing, pain-staking special effects wasted on pedestrian story, and the ridiculous crisis upon crisis, magical recoveries ending. Why bother with errors of fact or plausibility? The one redeeming quality: the females are strong, decisive, and take matters into their own hands instead of waiting to be rescued.
2013-12-21 Lawrence, Francis Hunger Games: Catching Fire --> Rating: 4.00
Utterly dull installment in "The Hunger Games" franchise, manages the herculean task of making Jennifer Lawrence seem dull and lifeless. The plot is ridiculous, the dialogue is monotonous, and the characters would be flattered to be cardboard cutouts. Dreary and stupid. It's really kind of insulting that they don't even bother to count the number of arrows in Catniss' quiver. Is this a dystopian future or a mishmash of elements of other scifi thrillers tossed together without regard for unity, coherence, or artistry?
2013-12-12 Kechiche, Abdellatif Blue is the Warmest Colour --> Rating: 8.50
Mesmerizing series of intimate close-ups of Adele and Emma (neither of them wearing make-up) revealing Adele's journey into obsessive passion and discovery, erotic desire, rejection and despair, and endurance. Probably the most intimate film I have ever seen, pushing the boundaries of erotic performance to the point where I really did ask myself if it wasn't too much, too explicit-- if real love-making was not, perhaps, meant for the screen, for that is what you get: the slurping, groaning, grunting, slapping urgency of desire, in two extraordinary performances by Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos. (Seydoux has made it known that they were wearing prosthetic vaginas during the oral sex scenes.) Adele discovers boys at first, making some tentative explorations, and then she finds herself erotically attracted to a blue-haired woman she spots on the street. They meet again at a bar, strike up a friendship, then love, move in together, but Adele is young and impulsive and not sure she is ready to nullify her yearnings for men. As the movie persists over it's long running time, we see her teaching, socializing with her colleagues, yearning for more and more intimacy. There is a devastating break, and one of the most convincing performances of broken longing and despair I have seen from a young woman. Powerful performances that do, however, at times have the aimless, vague feel of improvisation (in fact, many scenes were improvised): when Adele is invited to join some colleagues for drinks after dinner, neither she nor the man seem aware of the need to actually arrange a specific time or place. And Emma's comments after making love in Adele's bedroom in her parents house sound trite. And Emma's paintings, which seem to be provoking a frisson of elite interest, appear to be decidedly mediocre. They diminish the power of the film at times, in comparison, say to Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's movies (like "Boy with a Bike") but, as a portrait of young desire, Blue is the Warmest Colour" is almost unparalleled.
2013-12-01 Thurber, Rawson Marshall Were the Millers --> Rating: 5.00
What is this obsession mainstream American actresses have with playing naughty women without really playing naughty women? That's the definition of "titillation"-- that teasing "aren't I sexy and daring and wild" posture without actually putting out anything sexy or daring or wild. So Jennifer Aniston plays a stripper who doesn't strip, just as Jason Sudeikis plays a drug dealer who never deals, or smokes drugs. They swear up and down the highway to Mexico but audiences are assured that while they express the dangerous and exciting fringe of social norms, they aren't going to actually do anything really dangerous or exciting. In the end, they are so uncool they even betray a drug lord to charming DEA agents. So we are given to believe that even though the entire plot is driven by their desire to cash in on a big drug smuggling enterprise, they are not really drug dealers: that unpleasant rich guy with the private aquarium is. A few genuinely funny moments-- as when David and Rose try to steal the keys from Don and Edie who think they're after some kinky sex, and when Rose teaches Kenny how to kiss-- but otherwise dreary, predictable, and tiresome. (And by the way-- there was no logic at all to their sudden desire to steal the keys. I still have no idea of what they thought they were going to do. Or why they couldn't leave without Kenny. Or why Why the weird double-standard? Because we like Jennifer and call her by her first name because we know all about her struggles and torments from People Magazine, and Jason Sudeikis is just like his SNL character, and they are both so funny and cute even though Aniston's face looks botoxed to death, and she doesn't have the slightest clue about how to move like a stripper. This movie is safe for white bread audiences and fans of Friends.
2013-11-30 Thurber, Rawson Marshall We're the Millers --> Rating: 5.00
What is this obsession mainstream American actresses have with playing naughty women without really playing naughty women? That's the definition of "titillation"-- that teasing "aren't I sexy and daring and wild" posture without actually putting out anything sexy or daring or wild. So Jennifer Aniston plays a stripper who doesn't strip, just as Jason Sudeikis plays a drug dealer who never deals, or smokes drugs. They swear up and down the highway to Mexico but audiences are assured that while they express the dangerous and exciting fringe of social norms, they aren't going to actually do anything really dangerous or exciting. In the end, they are so uncool they even betray a drug lord to charming DEA agents. So we are given to believe that even though the entire plot is driven by their desire to cash in on a big drug smuggling enterprise, they are not really drug dealers: that unpleasant rich guy with the private aquarium is. A few genuinely funny moments-- as when David and Rose try to steal the keys from Don and Edie who think they're after some kinky sex, and when Rose teaches Kenny how to kiss-- but otherwise dreary, predictable, and tiresome. (And by the way-- there was no logic at all to their sudden desire to steal the keys. I still have no idea of what they thought they were going to do. Or why they couldn't leave without Kenny. Or why Why the weird double-standard? Because we like Jennifer and call her by her first name because we know all about her struggles and torments from People Magazine, and Jason Sudeikis is just like his SNL character, and they are both so funny and cute even though Aniston's face looks botoxed to death, and she doesn't have the slightest clue about how to move like a stripper. This movie is safe for white bread audiences and fans of Friends.
2013-11-30 Thurber, Rawson Marshall We're the Millers --> Rating: 5.00
What is this obsession mainstream American actresses have with playing naughty women without really playing naughty women? That's the definition of "titillation"-- that teasing "aren't I sexy and daring and wild" posture without actually putting out anything sexy or daring or wild. So Jennifer Aniston plays a stripper who doesn't strip, just as Jason Sudeikis plays a drug dealer who never deals, or smokes drugs. They swear up and down the highway to Mexico but audiences are assured that while they express the dangerous and exciting fringe of social norms, they aren't going to actually do anything really dangerous or exciting. In the end, they are so uncool they even betray a drug lord to charming DEA agents. So we are given to believe that even though the entire plot is driven by their desire to cash in on a big drug smuggling enterprise, they are not really drug dealers: that unpleasant rich guy with the private aquarium is. A few genuinely funny moments-- as when David and Rose try to steal the keys from Don and Edie who think they're after some kinky sex, and when Rose teaches Kenny how to kiss-- but otherwise dreary, predictable, and tiresome. (And by the way-- there was no logic at all to their sudden desire to steal the keys. I still have no idea of what they thought they were going to do. Or why they couldn't leave without Kenny. Or why Why the weird double-standard? Because we like Jennifer and call her by her first name because we know all about her struggles and torments from People Magazine, and Jason Sudeikis is just like his SNL character, and they are both so funny and cute even though Aniston's face looks botoxed to death, and she doesn't have the slightest clue about how to move like a stripper. This movie is safe for white bread audiences and fans of Friends.
2013-11-30 De Felitta, Raymond Two Family House --> Rating: 7.90
Interesting, off-beat film about a lonely Italian American named Buddy who dreams of owning a bar so he can sing for his customers. He buys a derelict house but when he tries to evict the tenants he discovers that the woman is pregnant and broke. When the baby is born, her husband, a drunk, leaves her, and Buddy decides to be kind to her. Meanwhile, his wife and her friends and family oppose his dream and urge him to give up the house and the bar and keep to his day job. This is a writer-director's visionary film, and it has a heart, even if the execution at times is clumsy and stiff.
2013-11-22 Yates, David Girl in the Cafe --> Rating: 8.00
Lawrence is a high-ranking functionary and top adviser in the British government, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, about to attend a G8 meeting in Iceland when he meets Gina, a Scot, at a cafe-- there's no place else to sit and she's sitting alone. He joins her and it is immediately clear that he is shy around women, reticent, and diminished as a man, whereas she is direct and challenging. Lawrence eventually summons the courage to invite her to dinner, and then to join him in Iceland, where she is shockingly opinionated about the concerns of the G8, and the determination of most of the foreign ministers to issue a bland, comfort statement instead of really taking on the issues of poverty and inequality. He in turn slowly uncovers more information about her past but can't bring himself to even kiss her goodnight, and is mortified when it appears that he has manipulated her into sharing his hotel room (whereas she seems shocked he didn't expect her to). The trick is to carry this off plausibly and "Girl in the Cafe" does pretty well, primarily because the roles are handled so well by Nighy and MacDonald, and the supporting cast.
2013-11-11 McQueen, Steve Twelve Years a Slave --> Rating: 8.50
Based on the book by Solomon Northup who, living as a free negro in New York in 1840, was tricked into coming to Washington D.C. where he was kidnapped and sold as a slave. Northup quickly realized he had to conceal his education and literacy and pretend to actually be an escaped slave from Virginia named Platt to survive. The image of quaint, colorful plantations, happy-go-lucky slaves, and beautiful, cultured Rhett Butlers and spunky Scarlett O'haras... swept aside by the brutal reality of lashings and lynchings and brutality. Great movie. Fassbender is terrific, magnetic, riveting, as a lunatic, lascivious brute, who stands up to his wife after she viciously attacks a slave he favors. This film has to courage to show the co-opted slaves, a woman, Mistress Shaw, who happily runs a plantation with her white husband, now being served the very institution she has escaped, and a white man forced to pick cotton because he has drunk his fortune away, whom Northup hopes will help him get a message to his family. Beautifully filmed with long, lingering shots that elicit the flow and ebb of daily life on the plantation, its abuses and indignities, the way manners play into the master-slave relationship, as when Epps's wife uses Northup to fetch food supplies. More tellingly, the scenes with William Ford (Cumberbatch) preaching to his slaves compellingly suggest the role of religion in oppressive societies, to convince the victims of oppression that God himself ordains their submission.
2013-11-09 Astor, Joseph Lost Bohemia --> Rating: 7.80
Documentary about the artists, writers, architects, musicians, dancers, and others who lived in the apartments over Carnegie Hall for over 100 years until all were recently evicted to make way for office space. There was a battle and the tenants lost and the shame of it was that the spaces, the studios were wonderful, and the community of artists was extraordinary, including an astonishing array of characters and personalities, from Marilyn Monroe and Paddy Chayevsky and Marlon Brando to Bill Cunningham and Isadora Duncan, and countless others. The fun in this documentary is meeting the exotic residents, including a woman dancer who didn't seem to have any particular apartment-- she kind of squatted in the hallways. And photographer Editta Sherman, who just died several days ago at 100 years old.
2013-10-20 Bender, Joel Karla --> Rating: 7.50
Controversial and odd drama of Karla Holmoka narrating her story to a psychiatrist charged with assessing her eligibility for parole, from her first meeting with Paul Bernado to his arrest and her negotiation of an extremely controversial plea deal with the crown. Prepon's portrayal is somewhat flat and uninvolved, which might be an interpretation, or lack of talent. It's hard to tell. In real life, Homolka was bizarre, asking detectives if she would be able to retrieve her perfume sample bottles and furniture after the trials, and describing rape and murders as if Paul were leaving his socks on the floor, again. The evidence clearly indicated that Homolka, at the very least, did nothing to stop Bernardo from murdering Mahaffey, French, and Tami Homolka, and may have been an active participant. Certainly a fascinating person, but, in Canada, the idea of doing any kind of serious film about her was politically impossible-- this was made in the U.S. Misha Collins, as Bernardo, doesn't do much better: it would have required a very good actor indeed to convince you that Homolka was wildly in love with him. The film touches on most of the facts of the case, somewhat inaccurately. The names of the victims were changed (Kristen becomes Kaitlyn). And we know that Karla and Tammi's parents were asleep upstairs at the time of her death, but they don't seem to appear at all when the ambulance and police arrive. Doesn't really make much of a point at the end, except to note that Homolka was denied parole because, in the opinion of the psychiatrist, she was remorseless and psychopathic. Yet "Karla" consistently offers her perspective on the abuse and her willingness (or unwillingness) to go along with the rapes and murders.
2013-11-02 Howard, Ron Rush --> Rating: 8.00
Ron Howard never can resist a good slog of orchestration to drive a point home or tell you how to feel, or some dialogue or narrative that explains the significance of that scene to the audience, but he also keeps things moving briskly, knows how to stage action, and sticks relatively closely to the facts in this dramatization of a year of intense rivalry between Formula One drivers Nikki Lauda and James Hunt. What actually makes "Rush" interesting is the contrast between the self-disciplined, rational Lauda, an Austrian, and Hunt's indulgent playboy lifestyle (he lost his first wife to Richard Burton). Lauda is the more interesting: he calculates risk as precisely as he can and even when the championship is on the line refuses to push his luck (as shown at the pivotal Japanese Grand Prix). In real life, incidentally, Lauda and Hunt were good friends.
2013-10-23 Scott, Ridley Black Hawk Down --> Rating: 7.70
Action-packed dramatization of the disastrous intervention by the U.S. in October 1993: the incident that had a decisive impact on U.S. foreign policy for seven years, and beyond. The U.S. and the U.N. was trying to ship food to starving Somalis but most of the food was being intercepted and traded for weapons by local warlords, including Mohamed Farrah Aidid. After several U.N. soldiers were killed by Aidid, the U.S. sent in U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force commandos to seize two of his top lieutenants in Mogadishu (while Jimmy Carter was actually negotiating with Aidid). Two of the helicopters were shot down and 20 U.S. soldiers were killed in the ensuing actions. Not a trustworthy account: the film was made with the full cooperation of the U.S. military which was allowed to vet the script. A soldier who participated in the raid was excluded, for example, because of a later conviction for child sexual abuse. So, why? Action heavy, and not a moment in which the U.S. soldiers are not heroic, compassionate (towards each other), smart, and determined, and not a moment when the Somalis are not anonymous, interchangeable, disconnected, and savage.
2013-10-05 Holofcener, Nicole Enough Said --> Rating: 8.20
Eva and Albert are divorced, middle-aged, sensible people, willing to give each other a chance after meeting at a party. But when Eva realizes that the woman she is giving massages to is Albert's ex-wife, she accepts information and criticisms from her about Albert and the relationship is poisoned. Holofcener observes women with more rawness and honesty than most directors/writers, and her acerbic points about Eva's attempts to manipulate and "improve" Albert are well made. More importantly, she gets at the heart of this relationship: two people finding something wonderful later in life, and struggling, amid expectations and false perceptions, to forge something valuable to both of them.
2013-10-13 Cuaron, Alfonso Gravity --> Rating: 8.00
Stunning cinematic achievement-- about astronauts working on the Hubble Telescope when a collision or missile strike causes several other satellites to explode creating a deadly cloud of debris that smashes into their path at 50,000 miles per hour. The camera sings, roving, looping, swirling, as Dr. Ryan Stone and Commander Matt Kowalski struggle to stabilize themselves and try to rescue the rest of the crew. The camera lingers meditatively on their predicament, stranded hundreds of miles above the earth, with only a faint hope of rescue, by traveling to the remains of the orbiting space station and taking a Soyuz craft to a Chinese space station and then descending in the Shenzhou spacecraft. Kowalski is a unique character, dedicated and efficient and amusing and stirringly cognizant of their predicament while persuading Stone to do what has to be done. Not without flaws-- one too many cliff-hangers by the end-- but courageous and daring. Cuaron deserves loads of credit for using the silence of space as part of the landscape, though he uses a lot of music, and, more cleverly, dialogue to cover the it. Too bad he didn't also include more respect for physics: at one point, Kowalski, tethered to Stone, continues to drag her away from the space station even though they had come to a stop-- at the end of their tether.
2013-10-09 Gordon-Levitt, Joseph Don Jon --> Rating: 8.00
There are only a few things really important to Jon: family, friends, his body, his ride, his pad, and his porn. When he meets the girl of his dreams, Barbara, he is ready for that long-term, faithful relationship-- except, he finds it a bit of a challenge to give up the porn, because sex with a girl is never quite as good as the fantasy. Surprisingly blunt and raw about the sex, the masturbation, the attraction of porn, Don Jon explores that gap between what men think and what women think men think, and what men think women think men think. Which makes this a potentially awful date movie. Barbara is not stereo-type: she knows she's beautiful but she is attracted to Jon and willing to do pretty well whatever he wants-- if he would only give up the porn. Jon goes to church, and confession, and is open about his sins, but just when you think he is beginning to stretch into the kind of man Barbara could be eternally faithful to, he stretches into something else. There is an echo of "Groundhog Day" here-- what really is love-- but with a perverse twist that I did not see coming at first. Surprisingly literate, authentic, and raw, for a "vanity" production (Gordon-Levitt wrote, starred in, and directed it).
2013-10-05 Bell, Lake In a World --> Rating: 8.00
Extraordinarily clever and witty film about voice actors who provide the solemn voice-overs for film trailers, including, of course, the "iconic" (and clicheish) "in a world in...". Carol's father is one of the tops in the profession but has always discouraged Carol from pursuing a career in the same field-- partly because, "women don't do" those kinds of voice-overs. He encourages her to keep working on accents and to continue dubbing English onto foreign films. But when Carol gets a shot at doing the trailers for reboot of a major sci-fi franchise a la "Hunger Games", dad, Sam Soto, who has been promoting his own male protege, Gustav, gets competitive. Carol's sister, Dani, has her own gripe with Dad, who never listened to her or cared much about her own career or interests. She also responds to the romantic interests of a hotel guest who has aroused Carol's professional interest because of his unique accent. Carol's love interest in Louis, a sound technician, and a rarity: a male romantic lead who is actually likable. The film constantly plays with sound, with voices, with the rhythms and styles of patter and blather-- this film is way smarter and richer than I expected, punchy and brisk, and entertaining.
2013-09-25 Villeneuve, Denis Prisoners --> Rating: 7.00
An extremely strong, compelling first half is followed by a sequence of utterly preposterous developments, character deviations, and shocking developments so silly they almost generate giggles-- does the mother really have that accent? And unflattering comparisons to "Psycho" and "Dexter". Two very young girls are kidnapped on Thanksgiving Day. One of the fathers, dissatisfied with the progress of the police investigation, takes things into his own hands. This part is suspenseful, believable, and heart-rending. And Loki's nasty relationship with his captain is striking and original. But then Villeneuve lets Alex Jones go soft and flaccid, litters the movie with gratuitous false leads and numerous holes (did the police really miss the hole under the car the first time they searched Jones' place for the girls? And why did Loki draw his gun when he went to inform Jones' aunt that he had been found and she doesn't answer the door right away-- he doesn't know she's up to something sinister-- only we, the audience-- does), and goes for spectacular, shocking revelations, and the movie falls apart-- I couldn't wait for it to end. Villeneuve obviously thinks he has something to say about fanaticism and religious belief and the capacity for evil, but he undermines everything with an ending that implies that Dover wasn't quite wrong to do what he did. And [spoiler] he has the gall to leave us with that most conventional of American endings to the thriller: the cheap satisfaction of the reunited family.
2013-09-25 Pal, George Time Machine --> Rating: 6.20
Extremely archaic, stylized drama about an enlightened British scientist-- almost a Pythonesque character-who invents a time machine in 1899 (the book was published in 1895)and sends himself into the future to assess the progress of man-- only to find bitter disappointment, and romance. There's a bit of fun there-- a flat screen tv shown in the 1966 segment-- and some stimulating imagination, but the overall effect is stilted and pompous. When George arrives in the far distant future to find contented Eloi frolicking in the sun and enjoying themselves, he immediately draws vast conclusions about their society and begins berating them for lacking initiative. Not a total waste of time but hardly an enduring classic, like "War of the Worlds" or the "The Day the Earth Stood Still".
2013-09-23 Pal, George Time Machine --> Rating: 6.00
Extremely archaic, stylized drama about an enlightened British scientist-- almost a Pythonesque character-who invents a time machine in 1899 (the book was published in 1895)and sends himself into the future to assess the progress of man-- only to find bitter disappointment, and romance. There's a bit of fun there-- a flat screen tv shown in the 1966 segment-- and some stimulating imagination, but the overall effect is stilted and pompous. When George arrives in the far distant future to find contented Eloi frolicking in the sun and enjoying themselves, he immediately draws vast conclusions about their society and begins berating them for lacking initiative. Not a total waste of time but hardly an enduring classic, like "War of the Worlds" or the "The Day the Earth Stood Still".
2013-09-23 Shea, Andrew Portrait of Wally --> Rating: 8.10
Interesting documentary about an Egon Schiele painting called "Portrait of Wally" which was seized by a Nazi party member in 1936 in Austria from a Jewish collector, Lea Bondi, who then fled Austria. After the war, the family tried to retrieve the painting only to find that it had disappeared. Shortly afterwards, it appeared in an Austrian art museum. Then it disappeared into the collection of Rudolph Leopold. In 1997, his collection was presented in New York by MOMA and Bondi's family successfully "subpoenaed" the painting until a court could determine if it was stolen property. MOMA, which professed neutrality on the issue-- as it should-- was actually actively supporting it's return to Austria, as did almost every other notable museum. But it was clear that Rudolph Leopold knew the painting was stolen when he acquired it. Leopold was dead by then but his wife agreed to settle up by paying over $20 million to the Bondi family; then she insisted on making herself part of the ceremony to show the painting temporarily at the Jewish Heritage Museum in New York. There was something telling in her attempts to associate herself with Schiele's passion for Wally, his mistress, and the love of beauty and truth, all the while acting as if she had behaved decently all along, instead of accusing the Bondi family of philistinism and craven greed.
2013-09-14 Shea, Andrew Portrait of Wally --> Rating: 8.10
Interesting documentary about an Egon Schiele painting called "Portrait of Wally" which was seized by a Nazi party member in 1936 in Austria from a Jewish collector, Lea Bondi, who then fled Austria. After the war, the family tried to retrieve the painting only to find that it had disappeared. Shortly afterwards, it appeared in an Austrian art museum. Then it disappeared into the collection of Rudolph Leopold. In 1997, his collection was presented in New York by MOMA and Bondi's family successfully "subpoenaed" the painting until a court could determine if it was stolen property. MOMA, which professed neutrality on the issue-- as it should-- was actually actively supporting it's return to Austria, as did almost every other notable museum.
2013-09-14 Shea, Andrew Portrait of Wally --> Rating: 8.00
Interesting documentary about an Egon Schiele painting called "Portrait of Wally" which was seized by a Nazi party member in 1936 in Austria from a Jewish collector, Lea Bondi, who then fled Austria. After the war, the family tried to retrieve the painting only to find that it had disappeared. Shortly afterwards, it appeared in an Austrian art museum. Then it disappeared into the collection of Rudolph Leopold. In 1997, his collection was presented in New York by MOMA and Bondi's family successfully "subpoenaed" the painting until a court could determine if it was stolen property. MOMA, which professed neutrality on the issue-- as it should-- was actually actively supporting it's return to Austria, as did almost every other notable museum.
2013-09-14 Coogler, Ryan Fruitvale Station --> Rating: 8.50
Powerful and important story about Oscar Grant, a black man who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit cop in front of dozens of spectators, many of whom were filming the encounter with their cell phones. Fruitvale carefully reconstructs Oscar's last day, showing him interacting with his girlfriend (whom he has recently cheated on), his daughter, Tatania, his mother, who, we see in flashback, has been smartly disapproving of Oscar's activities, and a woman he helps at the supermarket. Oscar is shown as impulsive and angry at times, but also as a caring father and son and a popular friend. The rapport between Jordan and child actor Ariana Neal is extraordinary. There's no dazzling technique here, some hand-held work, but mainly the drama of loss, accentuated by convincing, rich relationships. A beautifully realized, affecting film.
2013-09-09 Wright, Edgar Worlds End --> Rating: 7.50
Written by Pegg and Wright. Slightly unconventional and generally amusing story about five men facing mid-life crises who decide to relive an infamous (to them) pub crawl from twenty years earlier... only to discover that blue-blooded robots have taken over the town and are threatening to over-run humanity-- if only humanity would be reasonable about it. Lovely that they decided to have different actors portray the younger selves. Gary is a drunk of no discernible achievements; Andy is a lawyer who is on the wagon and at first refuses to drink; Pete is a car salesman; Steven is starting a relationship with a much younger fitness instructor; Oliver is a successful real-estate sales agent. They agree to go without too much arm-bending only to discover that the fate of the world rests on their ability to assert freedom and spontaneity over restraint, self-control, and achievement. Or not. Somewhat fun, somewhat trite-- why do we have to told over and over again endlessly that getting drunk and chasing women is far preferable to living a sane, responsible life?
2013-09-04 Wright, Edgar World's End --> Rating: 7.50
Written by Pegg and Wright. Slightly unconventional and generally amusing story about five men facing mid-life crises who decide to relive an infamous (to them) pub crawl from twenty years earlier... only to discover that blue-blooded robots have taken over the town and are threatening to over-run humanity-- if only humanity would be reasonable about it. Lovely that they decided to have different actors portray the younger selves. Gary is a drunk of no discernible achievements; Andy is a lawyer who is on the wagon and at first refuses to drink; Pete is a car salesman; Steven is starting a relationship with a much younger fitness instructor; Oliver is a successful real-estate sales agent. They agree to go without too much arm-bending only to discover that the fate of the world rests on their ability to assert freedom and spontaneity over restraint, self-control, and achievement. Or not. Somewhat fun, somewhat trite-- why do we have to told over and over again endlessly that getting drunk and chasing women is far preferable to living a sane, responsible life?
2013-09-04 Philibert, Nicolas To be and to Have --> Rating: 8.50
Lovely, compelling, meditative documentary of a one-room school in France. Follows students and the male, middle-aged teacher through a session, picking up moments of humour and quiet sadness and conflict and the delicate, proper, but sometimes intimate relationship between teacher and students. There is a young boy who struggles with making letters and doing math, and two older boys who have conflicts, and a there is amusement and camaraderie (the teacher takes everyone tobogganing at one point). But what impresses the viewer the most is the intimacy of the portrait, the expressiveness of gesture and facial expression, and the humanity of teacher and students as they struggle through their curriculum. Unforgettable.
2013-09-06 Ponsoldt, James Spectacular Now --> Rating: 7.80
There a lot of similarities to "Say Anything" (smart girl, working-class guy, drinking parties), but the first hour of "The Spectacular Now" is far more convincing, subtle, and intense than anything Cameron Crowe has ever done. And then a terribly misjudged plot twist turns the story into a moral tract. It's not a complete disaster-- you really wish it would fly-- but this movie could have been so much better. Ponsoldt had the intelligence to film an exquisitely tasteful and unusually honest love scene-- why throw it away with a contrived near-tragedy? Worth seeing, if only to see two likable leads, who improvise a fair bit, and a relatively intelligent plot for the first half. Andre Royo and Bob Odenkirk from "The Wire" and "Breaking Bad" respectively make appearances, as Sutter's teacher and employer.
2013-08-31 Allen, Woody Blue Jasmine --> Rating: 8.50
A really unusual film for Allen-- would you even know it was his if you didn't see the credits? Cate Blanchett is Jasmine whose husband, Hal, has just been busted for fraud for his business dealings. Some reviewers suggest Bernie Madoff as the model, but his downfall doesn't quite unfold like that. In any case, Hal was also cheating on her and had planned to leave her so Jasmine is now broke and single and forced to move in with her sister, Ginger, in San Francisco for a time. She does not cope very well with disaster until she meets a rich, budding politician. Ginger, in the meantime, perhaps influenced by Jasmine, has dumps her earthy boyfriend in favor of a gentler, nicer schmuck. Jasmine's discontent seems to rub off on her, but may be leading her to make the same mistakes. This is an intelligent, subtle, complex film that is too smart to just dump on Wall Street without exploring the complicity we all have with corruption and greed. And Cate Blanchett's performance is utterly without vanity, subtle, and rich.
2013-08-28 Neville, Morgan Twenty Feet From Stardom --> Rating: 8.50
Wonderful, rich, intelligent documentary on life as a back-up singer, mostly in the 1950's and 60's, on many of the most successful pop songs of the era. Extensive interviews with legendary singers you never heard of, women like Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Claudia Lennear (who was featured by the Stones), and The Waters Family. Most of these women learned their chops in gospel choirs and a lot of them were children of ministers. They often sang lead as well as background, though never credited of course, and they were paid strictly by the session. In one instance, the Crystals were on tour while Phil Spector laid down a completely new track with the backup group and released it, all credited to the Crystals. Loaded with music and live video of performances.
2013-08-24 Blair, Wayne Sapphires --> Rating: 7.00
Likable if diffuse "inspired by" account of an Australian aborigine girl group (modeled on the Supremes) which won a contest and got to go to Viet Nam to entertain the troops (we forget that Australia sent some). One of those films that beats expectations but really isn't anything special and wouldn't deserve a second viewing. The music is okay, the dance moves are okay, the story is a bit melodramatic, the characters are likable. It's nice to see realistic body types in this story, as well as leads who are not Hollywood glamorous but still fall in love.
2013-08-24 Daniels, Lee Butler --> Rating: 6.80
There is not a scene in the movie that surprises or tickles or inspires: because every shot is shrewdly calculated to provide the audience with exactly what they expect to see: Nixon being sneaky, Johnson being vulgar, Eisenhower being moderate, Kennedy being charming (and too young). We inexplicably skip Carter and Ford. Nixon's significant achievements-- China, the environment-- are ejected in favor or comments about ignoring the race issue. Okay, well the movie is about race, but in that sanctified, antiseptic way that white audiences will find safely reassuring: look how far we have come. But for that line about a white man being able to kill a black man with impunity, made in the 1950's! The scheme is apparent from the first scenes in which Cecil's mother is raped and father murdered by racist cotton plantation owners. Weak performances, very, very poorly directed (Daniels managed to make Cecil Gaine's attendance as a guest at White House gala confusing and tedious), and incredibly badly written. Every dialogue diagrams for the audience exactly what is going on, and arrives with the weight of SIGNIFICANCE. Hugely disappointing.
2013-08-17 Faxon, Nat Way Way Back --> Rating: 7.00
Directors and Writers co-wrote and directed. 14-year-old Duncan is morose, moody, sullen, and otherwise generally annoying as his mother drags him off to her new boyfriends summer home. Trent tells Duncan he is a 3 out of 10 as a person, just the first of many contrived and improbable unpleasantries unleashed by him; his daughter, Stephanie, is a vacuous prop who exists mainly to disapprove of Duncan, but a neighbor, Susanna, who is older than Duncan, presents the obligatory sympathetic other put-upon adolescent. It gets worse: Duncan, playing Chris Makepeace, meets the manager of a water park, Owen, who is funny and hip and understanding-- and, really, the kind of person who in real life is not who you would embrace as a role model. But he is so amusing in the way characters like him are only in films. He does the Bill Murray part from "Meatballs", except not nearly as well, and without the self-mockery that made Murray's character believable. It all wouldn't be quite so smarmy if the movie-makers didn't give you to believe that Duncan could really suddenly be the center of Owen's empathetic concern, as if he had nothing else going on in his life, and as if he wasn't really the narcissist these characters are in real life. He's got all the time in the world for Duncan, which Trent, of course, does not. The audience is manipulated on that score by seeing Trent accept flirtations from a very unglamorous Amanda Peet as Joan. A squirmy film that seemed awkward and clumsy at times and fundamentally dishonest. Shockingly, two of the more appealing characters were played by the writer-director duo, as likable staff at the water park. In the end, the predictable restoration of "family" is expressed by Owen and the girl he says is worth waiting for, Caitlin.
2013-08-07 Parisot, David Galaxy Quest --> Rating: 7.00
Lazy, pedestrian parody of Star Trek with the novel approach of focusing on the stars of the show as they attend conventions with their fans, their annoyances, jealousies, and frustrations, and their reaction when real aliens zap them up to a replica of their star ship and ask them to help in a war against an enemy race. One annoyance is the way they get the original Star Trek wrong: Captain Taggart's tag line is "never give up", which doesn't resonate with Trek's "explore new worlds", and invokes a lame thread of Americana Star Trek had the good taste to avoid. And the most Spock like character's tag line is something about revenge, which just doesn't seem as interesting as something that would be more of a parody Spock's rationalism. Just not really all that funny or fresh and certainly not very daring.
2013-07-31 Burns, Ken Central Park Five --> Rating: 8.20
Compelling documentary about the five black youths charged and convicted of the Central Park Jogger assault and rape case in 1989. All of them, except one, "confessed" and all of them served time, and were eventually paroled. One of them encountered a prisoner who marveled at the fact that he was serving time for a crime the prisoner knew he hadn't committed-- because he had. Eventually, a DNA match was made and City officials ordered a re-examination of the case. The prosecutor continues to insist that she was right and that the new DNA evidence merely proves that there was at least one additional assailant.
2013-07-18 Vinterberg, Thomas Hunt --> Rating: 8.50
Superb drama about a kindergarten teacher accused of molesting one of his students, a young girl named Klara. We learn early on that the accusation is false: the drama is about how Lucas' friends, including his best friend Theo (Klara's father), react to the accusations. We see the entire community turn against him, refusing to even sell him groceries, while, increasingly frustrated, Lucas insists on clearing his name.
2013-07-17 Loach, Ken Angels Share --> Rating: 7.80
Loach specializes in sympathetic films about class and struggle and "Angel's Share" is true to form except for an unusual diversion: a caper. Robbie is in trouble with the law, and he's a new father, and he wants to make good-- if only all youthful thugs were so promising-- but his girlfriend's father hates him, and a guy name Clancy, with two thuggish friends, wants revenge after a judge sentences him to a mere 300 hours of community service for a savage beating. But unlike most caper films, "Angel's Share" has a soul, and a devotion to authenticity and rawness that ultimately make the characters more likable and interesting than the Hollywood counterparts. And it's constantly aimed at the relationships that help Robbie along when society itself seems ready to write him off. No compromise: they have real Scottish accents, making them somewhat hard to understand at times, and the violence is explosive and shocking. The caper itself is slight, but that's not what it's about.
2013-07-11 Loach, Ken Angel's Share --> Rating: 7.80
Loach specializes in sympathetic films about class and struggle and "Angel's Share" is true to form except for an unusual diversion: a caper. Robbie is in trouble with the law, and he's a new father, and he wants to make good-- if only all youthful thugs were so promising-- but his girlfriend's father hates him, and a guy name Clancy, with two thuggish friends, wants revenge after a judge sentences him to a mere 300 hours of community service for a savage beating. But unlike most caper films, "Angel's Share" has a soul, and a devotion to authenticity and rawness that ultimately make the characters more likable and interesting than the Hollywood counterparts. And it's constantly aimed at the relationships that help Robbie along when society itself seems ready to write him off. No compromise: they have real Scottish accents, making them somewhat hard to understand at times, and the violence is explosive and shocking. The caper itself is slight, but that's not what it's about.
2013-07-11 Baumbach, Noah Frances Ha --> Rating: 8.40
Written by Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, an enchanting portrait of a young, confused and confusing dancer in New York, at odds with her boyfriend who wants her to move in, and her girlfriend who wants to move out to Tribeca (leaving Frances unable to afford the rent), struggling in her career as a dancer, and just not very astute about social graces. Gerwig carries the movie as believably quirky, impetuous woman, fresh out of college, not really comfortable with romance-- she calls herself "undateable", and amusingly amused. Baumbach has the grace to surround her with believable, livable friends and acquaintances, and, delightfully, offers parents who behave like real parents, neither oppressive nor condescending or ideal. They wish they could help her more financially but she immediately parries this with "you've already done so much". She impulsively flies to Paris but this is not a lush Hollywood romance: she sleeps a lot and wanders around aimlessly, charging it all to a credit card she just got in the mail. A really interesting film, shot unfussily in blackand-white. It's nostalgic in a way, but not in a dreamy, delusional sense: it's too real and honest to lie to us about what is ahead for Frances, but I really want to see a sequel.
2013-07-10 Linklater, Richard Before Midnight --> Rating: 7.90
Adult in the real sense: a long dialogue between husband and wife mostly about themselves, their relationship, their future, their past, and how infatuation turns into love and then something else. This is the cinematic expression of "how come you stop making new friends around the time you buy your first large piece of furniture?". Really ambles along aimlessly for the first hour, betraying the fact that EThan Hawke and Julie Delpy just aren't that interesting. Not even to each other: it is very striking that neither of them seem particularly interested in the other, what they are thinking, what they want, how they feel. Both of them focus almost exclusively on what each of them gets out of the relationship. A lot of it has the feel of a sophomoric bull session, and even at dinner, with another writer (I kept being surprised that Jesse was a writer). The movie takes on a new life when they have a big fight before checking into a beautiful hotel for a romantic night. Unsentimental, intelligent and unusual. Hawke and Delpy get co-writing credits, but that's not a compliment to anybody.
2013-06-26 Forster, Marc World War Z --> Rating: 7.00
Well, it was better than average, for a summer block-buster. Gerry Lane works for the U.N. and is on his way to the office one morning when some kind of zombie virus breaks out, rapidly infecting millions of people who go mad, start to rot, and aggressively try to bite others, infecting them. Lane has to fly around the world and meet with various colorful people and fight off zombies to find the cure. Predictable, but at least Forster keeps things moving along quickly so you don't see the seams quite as much as some other apocalypse porn features. I don't know if you would even need to say anything about he acting: not really required here. Just the odd homey scene with a tearful wife, and fear. Odd that the hero, in this paranoid porn thriller, works for the U.N. But he is vaguely military, and when we are introduced to a scientist (strike 1) with a British accent (strike 2) who is never shown hugging his wife and children (strike 3), we know he is going to die very soon.
2013-06-22 Nichols, Jeff Mud --> Rating: 7.10
Tow boys, Ellis and Neckbone, encounter a strange man in a woods on an island in the river, near a boat they found earlier in a tree. The man, who calls himself Mud, insists he needs the boat, but he's willing to give Neckbone a revolver if the boys help him by bringing him food, and parts for the boat, including a motor. He's wanted by the authorities for something, and he wants to take his girlfriend, Juniper, away on the boat they close in on him. Fathers and sons are central to the story, from remote and disappointed to vengeful and violent, though Nichols has the good sense to avoid the most obvious cliches. Still reads as sophomoric in parts, especially in the relationship between Ellis and Juniper, which is shown as suggestive and romantic: adult women do not make goo-goo eyes to fourteen-year-old boys, Mr. Nichols. They know how to talk down to boys while being just nice enough to get what they want. And they know how to send them away when they sense a boy lingering beyond his utility. But then, poor Reese Witherspoon never does get much to chew on and remains an elusive, unmemorable presence here. Unforgivably contrived and preposterous in the end, but Neckbone is fun to watch.
2013-06-11 Bier, Susanne Love is all You Need --> Rating: 5.50
We are obviously meant to believe that Ida is a wonderful, beautiful, classy woman. We are told this by other characters all through the movie, but not once does the movie show us this radiant aura of breathlessly amazing beneficence. What we do see is a woman who seems to be constantly waiting for someone to come admire her, for her modesty, if not anything else. There is a moment during the inevitable wedding scene when a guest, Tilde, told that nothing is going to happen, asks if there will still be a buffet. The audience, when I saw this movie, chuckled: what an insensitive, rude, crass woman! A wedding has just been called off, and she just wants to know if she still gets to eat. Then the woman said, "We just want to have some information about what will be happening". And that nailed the film for me: we just want some information. Instead, "Love is All You Need" supplies the viewer with a cornucopia of cliches, tropes, and worn out concepts. There is not a character in this film that I did not find repulsive, from the doe-eyed Ida, constantly making wounded little doe-eyes at Philip and then feigning shock when he notices her, to her daughter who whines about not getting laid by her fiance before the wedding, to the military son who assaults her father at the rehearsal party (except there is no rehearsal) and we supposed to respect him for standing up for the doe-eyed mom. The worst conceit about this film is the way, in this trope, Ida must be perceived as innocently carrying on while that Phillip guy is so smitten with her that he can't help but pursue her. But the film itself is so clumsy, it doesn't even sell that conceit very well: she so transparently flirts with him that it's awkward and embarrassing to watch her hanging herself out for him to fish. I have come to the conclusion that Susanne Bier is projecting herself into this character. There can be no other explanation for the ridiculous scene where the faithless husband tries to seduce his wife back right in front of his young beautiful mistress. Nor can there be any explanation of why Philip would race down to the water to try to prevent Ida from swimming, nude. It was a bizarre scene. Not only can I not think of why he would do it, I can't even imagine why the writers thought he would do that. Not one interesting scene in the entire movie. The closest: the husband, having been caught having sex with his girlfriend in his own house when Ida comes home early, tries to make her feel sorry for him by claiming that her cancer has been hard on him too.
2013-06-09 Malick, Terrence To the Wonder --> Rating: 9.00
Beautifully filmed story about a man who can't give love, and a priest who can't believe in God, and how both struggle to find an authentic emotional connection through awareness of naked human need. Exquisitely filmed with rapturous steady-cam shots of fields and the women dancing, cavorting, gazing with wonder at natural beauty. More poetry than narrative, with snatches of dialogue and voice-overs. Weirdly adult in the way complex, mixed emotions present themselves when a conventional Hollywood narrative calls for simplification and distillation. Never without nuance or subtlety or shadings.
2013-05-29 Redford, Robert Company You Keep --> Rating: 5.00
Embarrassingly bad performances by everyone in the film, but especially Redford and Sarandon as aging radicals trying to escape the past. Illogical, unbelievable, and often downright silly (Redford, at 75, as the father of an 11-year-old girl, and shacking up with Julie Christie in a remote cottage in the upper Michigan peninsula). Just one of many examples: the reporter, Ben, interviews Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon) in prison with FBI agents watching through two-way glass. Was Ben clueless about journalistic ethics? The FBI monitors Jim Grant's brother, watches him go to a hotel, and immediately assumes that a fire alarm is a "diversion"-- an extremely feeble attempt to do "The Bourne Identity"? And why is there not a single mention of a single current news story? How could they ignore the financial crisis, the Iraq War, 9-11, the Patriot Act... and so on and so on? It's not the politics of this thing that is so bad-- though it is-- but the utterly contemptible and cheerless slop that passes for story, dialogue, and acting. Just terrible.
2013-05-27 Aldrich, Robert What Ever Happened to Baby Jane --> Rating: 7.50
Psychological thriller-- and maybe a comedy-- about two sisters. One is a child star, Baby Jane, who sings love songs about her daddy and promotes a doll replica of herself, a spoiled brat, who, nevertheless, ensures that her sister Blanche gets a share of the spoils, if none of the attention. Cut to the future: Blanche is a cripple, living in a wheel chair, wholly dependent on bitter Jane. Blanche herself had the bigger career once Baby Jane's star faded, and she now has the money. Jane looks after her, dependent, and depressed, and craving a return to the stage. Not all is as it seems and it is a credit to the writing that the relationship is more complex than first described. Marred by the rather unbelievable inability of Blanche to get help once she realizes that Jane has become unbalanced-- she can't call out through a window? But otherwise well-written and, though I never liked Bette Davis, she does rather well here in a performance utterly free of vanity, if not self-indulgence.
2013-05-25 Black, Shane Iron Man 3 --> Rating: 7.50
The first hour and half are kind of fun: Downey can be entertaining and Ben Kingsley was very entertaining. The plot doesn't need to be described: it's as preposterous as they get, illogical, improbable, and trite. But some scenes are witty and funny, especially with the boy, Harley, as when Harley, about to be abandoned by Stark, reminds him that his father abandoned him too. Stark glibly rebuffs him. The proportion of clever scenes involving acting and dialogue in the first half give way to brutal action sequences, fast cuts, very, very loud noises and explosions, and an infinite number of resurrections, and leaves the viewer numbed and bored.
2013-05-21 Black, Shane Iron Man 3 --> Rating: 7.50
The first hour and half are kind of fun: Downey can be entertaining and Ben Kingsley was very entertaining. The plot doesn't need to be described: it's as preposterous as they get, illogical, improbable, and trite. But some scenes are witty and funny, especially with the boy, Harley, as when Harley, about to be abandoned by Stark, reminds him that his father abandoned him too. Stark glibly rebuffs him. The proportion of clever scenes involving acting and dialogue in the first half give way to brutal action sequences, fast cuts, very, very loud noises and explosions, and an infinite number of resurrections, and leaves the viewer numbed and bored.
2013-05-21 Luhrman, Baz Great Gatsby 2013 --> Rating: 6.00
Put two of the least convincing actors of their generation: Tobey McGuire and Leonardo DiCaprio-- on screen for most of a single movie and you have a very, very boring movie. Even Carey Mulligan-- who seems wasted, and not particularly interested-- can't inject any kind of dynamism into this lifeless pastiche of fashion and beer ads. Nick Carraway lives in a modest house that somehow manages to be right next door to a fabulous mansion, inhabited by the Great Gatsby. Why is he great? Nick can't really explain, ever, other than the implied reason that he thinks Gatsby is great because Gatsby thinks Nick is great. Nick talks about mysteries about Gatsby as if they were extremely compelling and fascinating, in the same way he introduces Daisy as if she were the most beautiful, sexual exciting woman you have ever seen. But both fall flat, at least partly because we are told how to react rather than shown why we should. Gatsby was never anything more than a 2-bit bootlegger and Carraway never makes much of a case for why we should think much more of him. The melodramatic accident at the end, which provides a convenient escape from the conundrum -- is so improbably that nothing that happens afterwards can escape being diminished in significance. Nor can the viewer escape the sense that Fitzgerald finds their lives shallow and trivial and meaningless but can't resist lavishing his shallow and trivial characters with the most amazing fashions and jewelry and wealth.
2013-05-21 Masterton, Peter Road to Bountiful --> Rating: 8.00
Sad story about an elderly lady, Carrie Watts, living with her son and daughter-in-law in a small apartment in Houston who desires nothing more than to see her childhood home again, at least once, before she dies. Her daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae, is quickly irritated with Carrie's hymn-singing and bustling about, but genuinely concerned about her heart, and even more concerned about getting the pension check. One day, Carrie sets out on her own to go to Bountiful, by bus. She discovers that the bus and trains don't even stop at Bountiful anymore, but is undeterred. Her son and his wife borrow a car and set out after her, and a sympathetic sheriff detains her at the last bus station before her town, then kindly offers to drive her the last 12 miles. This beautifully written story brings to life several secondary characters with sensitivity and insight. The sheriff, the bus station manager, a woman on the bus-- all are fully realized, breathing characters, who behave plausibly and evocatively.
2013-05-19 Abrams, J. J. Star Trek: Into the Darkness --> Rating: 6.00
Written by the intellectual giants who brought us "Transformers", this take on the Star Trek franchise may have the dumbest script ever, and features an Oprahfied Spock who cries, argues, bickers with his girl-friend, and has devolved into an utterly unremarkable character. McCoy and Scotty are a lazy self-parodies. Kirk is a spoiled punk who displays not one of the qualities you might think mark a man for leadership and command positions. The writers also seem to buy that an entire culture can be destroyed, if need be, so that Kirk can rescue his buddy Spock from a volcano, where he is delivering a bomb to prevent the volcano from destroying an alien civilization. They don't have timers in 2259? They routinely risk command level personnel to deliver packages? They flaunt federation rules but we're all supposed to go, attaboy, you lovable rogue you? Benedict Cumberbatch, as Khan, is the only actor in this flippant special-effects extravaganza who can act.
2013-05-17 Guercio, James William Electra Glide in Blue --> Rating: 7.80
Quirky, leisurely portrait of a motorcycle cop who aspires to become a detective, and likes to ruminate on life and justice and meaning-- not unlike Perry Smith in "In Cold Blood". Blake is effective as John Wintergreen, who finds himself standing apart from his fellow officers when they try to plan evidence on a hippy, or beat up members of a commune. Astute enough to figure out a suicide is actually a murder, but unwilling to make the political compromises to advance his own cause. The ending is a rather blatant rip of "Easy Rider", with a curious long, long shot pulling away from a body on the road in Monument Valley, Arizona. Well acted, well written, dark, and not altogether satisfying. Certainly, much stronger artistically than "Easy Rider". In real life, Robert Blake claimed to be abused and exploited as a child actor, and had serious problems with substance abuse and family relationships.
2013-05-18 Malick, Terrence Badlands --> Rating: 8.50
Malick's first film, inspired by the story of Charles Starkweather and his 13- year-old girl friend, Caril-Ann Fugate (some reports say 15-years-old) and their chaotic murder spree across Nebraska and Wyoming. Kit and Holly are shockingly blase about the murders of Holly's father and various other people who stood between Charles and his girlfriend, or escape, and explore the world like naive children. He dresses and looks like James Dean, and she wants to be wanted. Beautifully filmed and acted-- great performances from everyone--, languorous, subtle, and really quite shocking, precisely because it strikes out on its own path, following the jarring reality of Starkweather's story. In some ways, far more disturbing than a later, bloodier incarnation, Natural Born Killers, because Malick doesn't allow any melodrama: like the real Charles Starkweather, Kit is dispassionate and unemotional about his crimes, a bit of a braggart, a child, a killer, and even a bit charming when he realizes he's made an impression.
2013-05-06 Kosinski, Joseph Oblivion --> Rating: 7.00
The movie that stole from everyone. Highly reminiscent of "Moon"-- though not as good, but also of "Serenity", "Alien", "Space Odyssey", and numerous other sci-fi movies, about a human in charge of maintaining killer drones on Earth after a war has left it in ruins, even though the earthlings won. Jack's memory has been erased but he has recurring dreams about a woman he meets on top of the Empire State Building. When he sees the same woman in a crashed spaceship's pod, he begins to uncover shocking facts about the war and the cause of the earth's ruin, and must, of course, save the planets and its inhabitants from an evil entity. Stylish and aesthetically pleasing but dramatically dull and predictable. And Morgan Freeman, of course, plays the wizened old black dude. In real life, Olga Kurylenko is about 7 cm taller than Cruise.
2013-05-05 Soderbergh, Steven Magic Mike --> Rating: 8.00
Intriguing story about a contractor/stripper named Mike who recruits young Adam to join the club but becomes attracted to his serious, thoughtful sister, Brooke. Adam soon learns that there's money to be made, especially on the side, selling ecstasy, while Mike is carefully saving his money to get into something more serious and long-term. Brooke is the real story here: she is curious and charming but intelligent and perceptive and Mike knows she is worth more than the casual tarts he dances for and has transient relationships with. But she sees him as a shallow, aimless gigolo. There is the odd contrived sequence-- Brooke adjusts much too quickly to his redemptive acts-- but this is an intelligent, thoughtful film. Allegedly based partly on Tatum's experiences as an exotic dancer before he succeeded in film.
2013-05-02 Knappenberger, Brian We Are Legion --> Rating: 8.20
Clever, compelling documentary about hacker-activists who use their hacking skills to wreck havoc on enemies of social justice and liberty, as they see it. Their targets seem sympathetic to me-- big corporations, neo-nazi groups, rapists-- but their methods are definitely extralegal. There is some naivete in the group-- when the police come calling, it seems like some of them didn't really think what they were doing was illegal, or likely to get them into trouble. Extraordinary people on the fringes of the law and justice, taking actions that are sometimes dramatically effective.
2012-10-01 Knappenberger, Brian We Are Legion --> Rating: 8.20
Clever, compelling documentary about hacker-activists who use their hacking skills to wreck havoc on enemies of social justice and liberty, as they see it. Their targets seem sympathetic to me-- big corporations, neo-nazi groups, rapists-- but their methods are definitely extralegal. There is some naivete in the group-- when the police come calling, it seems like some of them didn't really think what they were doing was illegal, or likely to get them into trouble. Extraordinary people on the fringes of the law and justice, taking actions that are sometimes dramatically effective.
2012-10-01 Helgeland, Brian 42 --> Rating: 8.00
Aside from a few scenes that seem deliberately mawkish or stilted, a well-made production about the life of Jackie Robinson, the first black player to break the colour barrier in professional baseball. The film follows Robinson from his recruitment by Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers, his test run in Montreal, and his introduction to the major leagues, to the derision and catcalls of many sports fans. Relatively honest -- by biopic standards-- (though there are questions about the famous Pee Wee Reese moment) and restrained, though the overbearing music hurts its cause especially at the penultimate moment. Funniest moment: when a player asks Robinson why he doesn't shower with the rest of the team. Weakest moments: Jackie's wife, Rachel, giving him advice and encouragement (the movie was authorized by Rachel Robinson).
2013-04-22 Ku, Shawn Beautiful Boy --> Rating: 7.00
Badly executed story about a dysfunctional couple whose son explodes in rage one day and kills 17 classmates and teachers and himself at college. One scene: Billy finally returns to work to find colleagues staring and whispering about him, and explodes himself, and gets fired. The scene is clumsy, predictable, and boring. Firstly, the colleagues stare and whisper so graphically it is almost comically. Secondly, the scene is so schematic it is actually dull. Wouldn't some co-workers have made an attempt at normalcy? Did Billy really not expect anyone to see him as a bit of curiosity? The film also leaves out any interactions with the police following the initial news of the shootings, and media is presented as a vague, blobby presence external to the action, vaguely intrusive, vaguely interested, vaguely even on the horizon, though the only times Billy and Kate ever see a TV set, it's showing pictures or video of their son, Sammy. I was disappointed at the lack of detail, the lack of insight, the way the film discovers nothing, and doesn't even believably diagram the stress a couple in this situation would feel.
2013-04-30 Moreh, Dror Gatekeepers --> Rating: 9.00
Scintillating documentary featuring interviews with five leaders of Shin Bet, Israel's secret service, on terrorism, security, and peace. The interviewees are remarkably candid and articulate and thoughtful. And the discussion of terrorism, war, and peace extremely provocative: what, they ask, has Israel really gained by assassinating Palestinian leaders, or imans, and by infiltrating terrorist organizations? All of them seem to drive to the conclusion that the only long- term solution is a Palestinian state, and that the settlements in disputed areas are a political disaster.
2013-04-12 Michell, Roger Hyde Park on the Hudson --> Rating: 7.70
Slow moving and really somewhat boring story of one of FDR's mistresses and a particular weekend during which King George VI and Queen Elizabeth came to visit, to lobby for American support in the war, and establish personal relationships with FDR and his staff. Daisy is FDR's distant cousin and is "summoned" to Hyde Park to help FDR relax. But more is expected from her and she willingly becomes his mistress, believing Eleanor to be uninterested in Franklin, and unaware of other mistresses in orbit at the time. Really generally dull, oddly paced, George and Elizabeth are the most entertaining things in the movie. Daisy's letters and journals were discovered shortly after her death quite recently, so it's all a bit of a revelation, but that doesn't mean the film gives you any truth about FDR, Eleanor, or Hyde Park, for that matter.
2013-04-29 Herzog, Werner Happy People: A Year in the Life of the Taiga --> Rating: 8.00
Dimitry Vasyukov directed a tv documentary on which "Happy People" is based. Herzog, always fascinated by tales of survival in the wilds, was entranced and had it re-edited and did the voice-over to product this elegant, exquisitely beautiful documentary on life in the wilderness of Siberia, an area larger than the continental U.S. We follow trappers as they set out in the spring to repair their cabins and traps, carve skis from scratch from trees, train their dogs, and stalk sable and fish. Herzog is a bit too entranced with the primitive beauty and simplicity of their lives-- the potential for disaster and great physical suffering is obvious, and the loneliness of the trappers' families is passed over-- but he is too charming a presence to not be enthralled with this bucolic world.
2013-04-21 Sudeman, Steven To Make a farm --> Rating: 8.10
Lovely, quiet, unpretentious documentary about five people all trying to make it in farming, two couples in Ontario near Neustadt, and a single man in Saskatchewan. Beautifully filmed and patient, follows them through spring, summer, and fall, through the ups and downs and frustrations, and moments of downright grief as when Tarrah discovers that her lambs might have a contagious disease, or when Leslie and her husband survey the flooded fields after a hard rain. Reminded me at times of "The Farmer Takes a Wife", though not as ambitious.
2013-04-03 Fitzgerald, Thom Cloudburst --> Rating: 6.00
Is this really by the same director who gave us, ages ago, "The Hanging Garden"? Stella and Dot are a lesbian couple living together in the U.S. somewhere when Dot's daughter decides it's time for a nursing home. Stella and Dot flee to Canada where they figure they can be married, making Stella Dot's legal guardian. One assumes the story intended Dot to be -- well, dotty-- but she isn't in this telling of the story. They pick up a hitchhiker along the way who appears to be Fitzgerald's avatar, a completely gratuitous gay sex object, stripping for the elderly women for some incomprehensible reason, skinny dipping, sleeping naked in the back of the pickup, and inviting them to his home where Fitzgerald recycles part of the plot of "The Hanging Garden". Really, really bad on every level, from the K.D. Lang music-- and other mediocre Canadian "hits"-- to the extremely poor direction and staging.
2013-03-27 Zilberman, Yaron Late Quartet --> Rating: 8.00
Delicate, subtle, and courageous: they actually play substantial segments of the late Beethoven String Quartets. Crisis for a well-known New York based quartet when cellist Peter Mitchell develops Parkinson's and announces he will have to retire. Turns out second violin Robert wants to be first violin and this is the moment he demands his dues. First violinist Daniel has fallen in love with Robert and Juliette's daughter, Alexandra, much to their disapproval. There are weak moments, as when the quartet breaks off a rehearsal like actors doing what is required for the narrative rather than devoted musicians-- but there is a core of sincerity here, an honest attempt to grapple with issues of aging and ego and love-- there is a raw, scintillating moment when Robert and Juliette acknowledge that Juliette never really loved Robert-- she married him because they were tied professionally- but they are pulled back together by their love of music. One wishes for Mike Leigh occasionally, but this is not a cheap, sentimental exercise in mutual self-admiration.
2013-03-28 Holofcener, Nicole Please Give --> Rating: 8.60
Brilliant, cutting, abrasive account of two pairs: a couple, Kate and Alex, who buy furniture from children of people who recently died and resell it at a considerable profit, and two sisters, Rebecca and Mary, who care for a cranky grandmother, Andra, whose apartment is coveted by Kate and Alex, who live next door. It is never explained why or how Kate and Alex will get the apartment: it is assumed by everyone that they are waiting for Andra to die, and this sets the tone for all the characters who are generally selfish and rude and unkind, particularly at a dinner party they throw for Andra and her grand-daughters. Kate thinks she's not mean-- she hands out large bills to homeless people and feels guilty about taking advantage of the people selling them their old furniture. And Rebecca may actually be the only decent person in the story. But the conversations are delightfully blunt and perceptive and revealing and it's astonishing to see people claw at each other in a way that seem both shocking and utterly familiar.
2013-03-25 Bayona, Juan Antonio The Impossible --> Rating: 6.50
This movie is a poster child for why the subject of a film should not control it's production. It is a "true" story in the sense that the subject, Maria Belon, wrote her own account of the tsunami and her remarkable survival of it, and she oversaw the production of the film, consulting with the director and writer at every step, but it is surprisingly disingenuous and dishonest in it's selective depiction of her family's experiences. It seems rigged to emphasize her personal suffering, and her family's desperate love for each other and dedication to finding each other after the disaster. That doesn't mean it gives the viewer any kind of sense of what the disaster was like. Native Thais are never more than background color or effects: the world revolves around Maria, and every action seems calculated to emphasize either her physical agonies or how awful it would be for her family if she died. And even bigger problem: really poorly directed and acted, other than the impressive use of miniatures and cgi to simulate the tsunami. I have never seen Watts give as bad a performance as she does here.
2013-03-20 Arcel, Nikolaj Royal Affair --> Rating: 7.80
A fundamentally dishonest movie that sticks mostly to the facts, about Christian VII, the mad king of Denmark in the mid 18th century, who married Caroline Matilda, sister of George III of England (and daughter of George II), was deposed, and eventually marginalized, and remains the definitive story of Danish history, the one every Danish school child knows about. Caroline, neglected and lonely, took up an affair with Christian's doctor, Johann Struensee, who eventually ran the kingdom, for about a year, and implemented a series of enlightened progressive measures (he freed the serfs and ended censorship, among other things). Lavishly filmed, and Alicia Vikander is stunningly beautiful (and can act), and all very historical and monumental and all that, but gradually the melodrama and the narcissism becomes more and more pronounced and its all about how Caroline felt and poor sad Struensee and don't you just hate that constipated-look ng Ove Hoegh-Gu dberg. It oses nterest n the most nterest ng part of a , the mechan sm by wh ch power sh fts, the moves be ng made, the dea s that are cut. We are to d that Caro ne s son wou d se ze power ater and re-enact most of Struensee s reforms. He d d, but a few years ater he turned react onary and re- nst tuted censorsh p and repress on.
2013-03-03 Arcel, Nikolaj Royal Affair --> Rating: 7.80
A fundamenta y d shonest mov e that st cks most y to the facts, about Chr st an VII, the mad k ng of Denmark n the m d 18th century, who marr ed Caro ne Mat da, s ster of George III of Eng and (and daughter of George II), was deposed, and eventua y marg na zed, and rema ns the def n t ve story of Dan sh h story, the one every Dan sh schoo ch d knows about. Caro ne, neg ected and one y, took up an affa r w th Chr st an s doctor, Johann Struensee, who eventua y ran the k ngdom, for about a year, and mp emented a ser es of en ghtened progress ve measures (he freed the serfs and ended censorsh p, among other th ngs). Lav sh y f med, and A c a V kander s stunn ng y beaut fu (and can act), and a very h stor ca and monumenta and a that, but gradua y the me odrama and the narc ss sm becomes more and more pronounced and ts a about how Caro ne fe t and poor sad Struensee and don t you ust hate that const pated- ook ng Ove Hoegh-Gu dberg. It oses nterest n the most nterest ng part of a , the mechan sm by wh ch power sh fts, the moves be ng made, the dea s that are cut. We are to d that Caro ne s son wou d se ze power ater and re-enact most of Struensee s reforms. He d d, but a few years ater he turned react onary and re- nst tuted censorsh p and repress on.
2013-03-03 Shani, Yaron Ajami --> Rating: 8.00
Wr ter and d rector swapped ro es and share cred ts. Strong drama about var ous peop e v ng under or about Israe occupat on and strugg ng to earn a v ng, pay b s, and prov de med ca care for an a ng mother. In some cases, these are good peop e forced to do bad th ngs out of econom c necess ty, but there are a so peop e who are oya to a code or system that doesn t necessar y prov de for humane outcomes. Th ngs are set n mot on when Omar s unc e refuses to pay "protect on" money one week and shoots the thug com ng to co ect t. The fam y s sudden y draw nto a ser ous quandary and may be forced to pay thousands n compensat on-- money they don t have. Ma ek s mother s ser ous and has been re eased from the hosp ta because she can t pay for treatment. Ma ek steers Omar to a package of drugs eft by B n , who was k ed n a po ce doub e-cross. Dando, an Israe cop, s fur ous at the Arabs who murdered h s brother who was n the army. A of them eventua y crash nto each others orb ts w th trag c resu ts. S m ar n some ways to "Crash" but much better and more authent c, and, actua y, more c ever n the way that var ous story nes ntersect and nf uence each other.
2013-03-01 Shani, Yaron Ajami --> Rating: 8.00
Wr ter and d rector swapped ro es and share cred ts. Strong drama about var ous peop e v ng under or about Israe occupat on and strugg ng to earn a v ng, pay b s, and prov de med ca care for an a ng mother. In some cases, these are good peop e forced to do bad th ngs out of econom c necess ty, but there are a so peop e who are oya to a code or system that doesn t necessar y prov de for humane outcomes. Th ngs are set n mot on when Omar s unc e refuses to pay "protect on" money one week and shoots the thug com ng to co ect t. The fam y s sudden y draw nto a ser ous quandary and may be forced to pay thousands n compensat on-- money they don t have. Ma ek s mother s ser ous and has been re eased from the hosp ta because she can t pay for treatment. Ma ek steers Omar to a package of drugs eft by B n , who was k ed n a po ce doub e-cross. Dando, an Israe cop, s fur ous at the Arabs who murdered h s brother who was n the army. A of them eventua y crash nto each others orb ts w th trag c resu ts. S m ar n some ways to "Crash" but much better and more authent c, and, actua y, more c ever n the way that var ous story nes ntersect and nf uence each other.
2013-03-01 Shani, Yaron Ajami --> Rating: 9.10
Wr ter and d rector swapped ro es and share cred ts. Strong drama about var ous peop e v ng under or about Israe occupat on and strugg ng to earn a v ng, pay b s, and prov de med ca care for an a ng mother. In some cases, these are good peop e forced to do bad th ngs out of econom c necess ty, but there are a so peop e who are oya to a code or system that doesn t necessar y prov de for humane outcomes. Th ngs are set n mot on when Omar s unc e refuses to pay "protect on" money one week and shoots the thug com ng to co ect t. The fam y s sudden y draw nto a ser ous quandary and may be forced to pay thousands n compensat on-- money they don t have. Ma ek s mother s ser ous and has been re eased from the hosp ta because she can t pay for treatment. Ma ek steers Omar to a package of drugs eft by B n , who was k ed n a po ce doub e-cross. Dando, an Israe cop, s fur ous at the Arabs who murdered h s brother who was n the army. A of them eventua y crash nto each others orb ts w th trag c resu ts. S m ar n some ways to "Crash" but much better and more authent c, and, actua y, more c ever n the way that var ous story nes ntersect and nf uence each other.
2013-03-01 Sirk, Douglas All That Heaven Allows --> Rating: 7.80
A ternate y compe ng and r d cu ous, about a young w dow, Cary, v ng n a p cturesque sma Connect cut town, who fa s for her very young gardener, much to the consternat on of her soc ety peers and ch dren. There are sc nt at ng scenes of hypocr sy and goss p as her ne ghbors go w d w th nnuendo and sa ac ous specu at on, nc ud ng a theory that the r re at onsh p started before her husband was dead. But then cue the me odrama, the fasc st nurse, the w se, to erant, progress ve doctor, the unbe evab e t m ng of an acc dent. But then cue the compe ng, edgy scenes of her own se f sh ch dren do ng what they can to sabotage the r own mother s happ ness. Standard horr b e stud o c nematography and sets, but t st works. Cary earns to d sregard the approva and d sapprova of soc ety and fo ow her heart, ong before the 60 s made a pub c ethos of t, ong before "Love Story", and "Goodbye Co umbus". The son, after demand ng that h s mother g ve up her romance, br ngs h m a spec a Chr stmas g ft: a TV, upon wh ch she can watch the parade of fe go by w thout eav ng her armcha r. You cou dn t wr te a more powerfu condemnat on f you tr ed, and I m not sure the wr ter knew ust how po gnant that sequence wou d be.
2013-02-27 Hood, Gavin Tsotsi --> Rating: 8.00
Tsots s a young gang- eader n Johannesburg, South Afr ca. In a dramat c open ng sequence we see h m casua y murder a b ack bus nessman after h s gang surrounds h m and removes h s wa et. But Tsots s fe changes after he car acks a Mercedes on y to f nd a baby n the back. He mpu s ve y takes t home, recru t ng a ne ghbor ng s ng e mom to he p care for t. He beg ns to re-exam ne h s fe, the v o ence he engages n, and h s re at onsh p w th h s gang. He comes to terms w th h s trag c ch dhood, h s mother dy ng of AIDS, and a bruta and nd fferent father. If somewhat schemat c at t mes, there s a freshness n the South Afr can sett ngs, the unusua secondary characters, (espec a y an ange c Terry Pheto as Mar am, the s ng e mom who he ps h m) and the c nematography. A story of redempt on that avo ds the worst c ches and s popu ated w th mu t d mens ona characters. From a story by Atho Fugard.
2013-02-21 Hoffman, Dustin Quartet --> Rating: 7.10
Based on a p ay by Rona d Harwood, a qua nt, etharg c, rather pedestr an portra t of a group of ret red mus c ans v ng at a rather av sh ret rement home n Eng and who know someone who has a barn and want to put on a mus ca . Magg e Sm th s the d va, Jean, who-- for unknown reasons or og c-- moves nto the home ust n t me to rep ace the best known performer and save the home. It s not very c ear why any of the pr nc p es, except C ssy, perhaps, are even n a ret rement home. They are a ab e and hea thy and a ert and randy. At one po nt t s suggested that at east one of them s broke. More appa ng y, the quartet of the t t e are g ven a ong, stand ng ovat on when they appear on stage at the end, before perform ng. Why? Are they ce ebr t es? Or s Hoffman app aud ng h mse f, for be ng a ce ebr ty? The re at onsh p between Jean and Reg na d s r d cu ous y undeve oped and tr te. The adorat on of opera seems se f-serv ng n the context of th s se fcongratu atory f m. Worse yet-- t s a pretty bor ng. The cred ts revea that many of the b t p ayers were ag ng mus c ans but s nce the f m suger-coats any rea ev dence of age, I don t get the po nt.
2013-02-13 Allen, Woody Whatever Works --> Rating: 8.00
Bor s s the u t mate cyn c. A former phys cs professor (he c a ms he was c ose to w nn ng a Nobe Pr ze) he has g ven up h s fe and marr age and moved to a sma apartment downtown and earns a meager v ng teach ng chess-- rude y-- to young ch dren. One day, a runaway, Me ody, begs h m for money, and he takes her n. It appears to be a conce t of A en s that she wou d fa for h m-- rather than h m h tt ng on her-- and that he wou d refuse at f rst. But eventua y they marry and he teaches her about fe. Inev tab y, she beg ns to see other ang es, and asp res for more exper ences than he can offer. When her Southern Bapt st parents arr ve, separate y, comp cat ons ensue, and ot of the comedy as they react to New York cu ture. There s one marve ous scene where n Me ody s father makes a shock ng d sc osure to a man he meets at the bar, wh ch fted the mov e. Otherw se, rea y a rehash of "Manhattan" w th that unfortunate van ty trope of the young g r ust ng for w thered o d man. It s a strange, strange wor d we ve n, Master Jack. Not that t cou dn t happen-but A en doesn t succeed n mak ng t very be evab e here. Some scenes fee azy but th s s st a ot more fun that most Ho ywood pap.
2013-02-10 Soderbergh, Steven Side Effects --> Rating: 7.60
Em y Tay or has murdered her husband Mart n. The mystery n the f rst ha f of "S de Effects" s, d d she do t because she was on a new psychotrop c drug, or because she was angry at h m? Was she s eep-wa k ng. As portrayed by Rooney Mara, th s mystery ntr gues. Her performance-- f at, but nuanced and suggest ve-- draws you nto the puzz e of psycho ogy and the raft of drugs that c a m to cure our emot ona s, and the ro e of a psycho og st n prescr b ng and treat ng peop e of whom they may actua y know very tt e. And then the Ho ywood product on takes over and we are n a thr er that requ res tw st after tw st-- because Ho ywood has exhausted every p aus b e tw st there s-- unt the story becomes f at y r d cu ous and we don t even rea y care any more. Good performances-- even by Jude Law, at f rst-- are rather wasted. Zeta-Jones s bana as Tay or s f rst psych atr st, as s the p ot by the t me we f nd out more about her ro e n the tragedy. Prom s ng story that d es qu ck y.
2013-02-09 Morris, Errol Tabloid --> Rating: 8.50
R vet ng documentary about a woman named Joyce McK nney, a former M ss Wyom ng, who sta ked and k dnapped a Mormon m ss onary named K rk Anderson n the ear y 1980 s. She c a ms t was the church that k dnapped and bra nwashed h m and she was try ng to get h m to rea ze that she was the on y woman for h m and that he ought to accept her ove and marry her. But the story keeps gett ng better and better as reporters uncover shock ng nformat on about Joyce s past, and Joyce herse f offers strange exp anat ons. K rk w se y refused to be nterv ewed, so t s hard to assess h s ro e, but, n court, he adm tted that he was at east a part y w
ng accomp ce to the sex weekend n Devon. Strange, strange, strange story. Worthwh e f on y for the
sa ac ous d scuss on of the Mormon s mag ca underwear.
2013-02-01 Morris, Errol Tabloid --> Rating: 8.50
R vet ng documentary about a woman named Joyce McK nney, a former M ss Wyom ng, who sta ked and k dnapped a Mormon m ss onary named K rk Anderson n the ear y 1980 s. She c a ms t was the church that k dnapped and bra nwashed h m and she was try ng to get h m to rea ze that she was the on y woman for h m and that he ought to accept her ove and marry her. But the story keeps gett ng better and better as reporters uncover shock ng nformat on about Joyce s past, and Joyce herse f offers strange exp anat ons. K rk w se y refused to be nterv ewed, so t s hard to assess h s ro e, but, n court, he adm tted that he was at east a part y w
ng accomp ce to the sex weekend n Devon. Strange, strange, strange story. Worthwh e f on y for the
sa ac ous d scuss on of the Mormon s mag ca underwear.
2013-02-01 Garrone, Matteo Gomorrah --> Rating: 9.00
Superb, e egant, v scera dramat zat on of the act v t es of the Camorra cr me synd cate n Nap es n the Scamp a quarter (where d rector Garrone ved for two months). Beaut fu y acted and f med. Fo ows f ve ta es of nd v dua s caught n the cross-f re of organ zed gangs f ght ng for terr tory and the spo s of corrupt on. Toto (wonderfu ch d actor Sa vatore Abruzzese) de vers grocer es but ongs to move nto gang fe. The gangs do not condescend to ch dren they can use. He s a beaut fu boy who p ucks h s eyebrows but s eventua y forced to choose h s oya t es. Marco and Sweet Pea are two remarkab e and r d cu ous y na ve teenagers, n ove, who stea guns from one of the gangs and eventua y become a ser ous nu sance to them. They dramat ze scenes from "Scarface"-- thus mock ng the Ho ywood g amor zat on of cr m na gangs. C ro de vers money to the fam es of ncarcerated gang members but eventua y dec des to o n the r r va s. Pasqua e s a ta or who se s h s serv ces to a Ch nese sweatshop compet ng w th the "owned" Ita an sweatshops, w th grave consequences. And Roberto s a decent co ege graduate whose father gets a ob w th Franco, n waste d sposa . Franco happ y accepts tox c wastes from cost-cutt ng compan es and d sposes t ega y n quarr es and on the s de of the road. A the stor es are based on r gorous y documented research by Sav ano, who now ves under permanent po ce protect on. Br
ant f m. Robbed of an Oscar by
2013-01-30 Sales, Walter On the Road --> Rating: 7.00
L mp trans at on of the con c book by Jack Kerouac about a group of beatn ks seek ng drugs and greater mean ng n fe and sex wh e trave ng across the U.S. Dean Mor arty s the char smat c center of th s chaot c, amorphous soc a set, wh e Sa Parad se s the wr ter, the stand- n for Kerouac, observ ng a , and not, n th s f m, g v ng much shape to what he observes. Kr sten Stewart s surpr s ng y adequate as Mary ou, Dean s over. Th s s not a d shonest vers on: Dean behaves, at t mes, ke the se f-centered narc ss st he s n the nove , abandon ng Sa to h s dysentery n Mex co to pursu t h s own nterests e sewhere, and even Mary ou eventua y ba s on h m. But t never rea y takes on a fe of t s own here, ust k nd of meander ng a ong w thout much sense of why the beat generat on mattered-- f t d d.
2013-01-28 Kotcheff, Ted North Dallas Forty --> Rating: 7.80
Odd y raw and authent c dep ct on of fe as a footba p ayer (w th the North Da as Bu s stand ng n for the Cowboys) based on a book wr tten by former Cowboys p ayer Peter Gent. Not very k nd to ownersh p or coach ng and f ed w th the k nd of odd deta s usua y m ss ng from Ho ywood zat ons of these k nd of stor es. No te s the ag ng rece ver Ph
p E ot and Mac Dav s s surpr s ng y good as h s quarterback Seth Maxwe
( oose y based on Don Mered th). W th h s career n doubt, he beg ns to cons der whether there are more mean ngfu pursu ts n fe, perhaps ke cute Day e Haddon. Or someth ng true or beaut fu . The deta s of ocker room r tua s, the n ect ons, the macho att tudes, the party ng, a r ng true. Truthfu y, one of a handfu of decent sports mov es out there.
2013-01-25 Bigelow, Kathryn Zero Dark Thirty --> Rating: 8.00
T ght, we executed suspensefu recount ng of the search and assass nat on of Osama B n Laden, controvers a for the c ear suggest on that torture, though d stastefu , was usefu n the search, and he ped save Amer can ves. Jess ca Chasta n s ser ous y m scast as the se f-va dat ng CIA agent whose determ nat on and guts ed to the successfu outcome. But th s story s r gged to prov de a scenar o that va dates the Bush Adm n strat on s ack of eth cs. We -d rected, and exc t ng to watch, even when you know the outcome, and, n fa rness, far more even-handed and rea st c than a confect on ke, say, Argo, wh ch d dn t even make the effort. Be t noted that many U.S. off c a s c ose y t ed to the nte gence effort deny that any usefu nformat on was prov ded by torture. And be t noted that the torture scenes were among the weakest, fa ng to overcome even modest skept c sm about how anyone wou d know f any of the nformat on obta ned wou d be usefu .
2013-01-20 Jackson, Peter The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey --> Rating: 7.70
Lots of act on, a most a ways CGI and b-mov e preposterous, marks an adaptat on of the otherw se pastora book by To ke n that preceded h s more v o ent R ngs tr ogy. Freeman s okay as the hobb t and most of the other actors prov de the requ s te grav ty and spunk, but th s most y a thr for fans of b g, spectacu ar f xes, f ght, and f ght, and perhaps of the beauty of des gn. Above average for th s sort of th ng, but too scary for younger ch dren.
2012-12-30 Tarantino, Quentin Django Unchained --> Rating: 8.00
W d y v o ent, funny, w tty past che of western convent ons and gangster stor es wh ch, u t mate y, runs out of deas. D ango s a s ave bought by Dr. K ng Schu tz for the purpose of ass st ng h m as a bounty hunter. They make a dea that conc udes w th Schu tz, who s opposed to s avery as a matter of pr nc pa , he p ng D ango free h s w fe from a notor ous s ave owner, Ca v n Cand e. The story goes off the ra s when D ango engages n a r d cu ous y preposterous gunf ght - preposterous as n r d cu ous, not over-the-top funny-- and one of Cand e s men ho ds a gun to h s w fe s head, as f D ango has anyth ng to ga n by surrender ng n that s tuat on, fo owed by Steven, the house n gger, obby ng to save D ango s fe. The nexp cab e cast ng of D Capr o hurts a ot as we .
2012-12-28 Jackson, Peter Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey --> Rating: 7.80
Peter Jackson, gone mad w th 3D CGI, prov des us w th another beaut fu y rea zed fantasy w th memorab e characters and scenes, a ove y story, and one ncred b y overb own batt e scene after another. Wh ch s why both Lord of the R ngs and the Hobb t rema n k d s stuff, for a the marve s of computer graph cs and swoop ng cameras, k d s stuff. Just one examp e: Go um and B bo exchange r dd es: f Go um w ns, he gets to eat B bo, and f B bo w ns, Go um must show h m the way out of the cave. On y a ch d wou d be eve that e ther of them has any reason to honor the resu ts of the wager. As de from that, and the utter absence of women (Ga adr e doesn t rea y have much of an mpact on anyth ng) there s a we -deve oped narrat ve and mytho ogy. And the story moves n ce y a ong. And t s an abso ute y br
ant ch dren s story.
2013-01-01 Hooper, Tom Les Miserables --> Rating: 7.00
Overwrought and often du and apparent y as good and as bad as the stage mus ca . There are p ots and subp ots and expos t on none of wh ch seems deep y re ated to the others, other than through co nc dence and happenstance. Most y, there s a ot of wa ng and m sery as f suffer ng tse f was some k nd of aesthet c exper ence. I found the mus c ted ous and unmemorab e. The performances are rea y qu te good but Hooper s b ggest m stake was that he recorded the s ng ng ve-- a br
ant stroke-- but not the mus c! As a resu t, a ot of
the performances fee ke karaoke. Add to that the overwhe m ng use of computer generated graph cs and the f m fee s odd y chaste and un- nvo v ng. What effect s that f rst scene, of Va ean as part of thousands of men pu ng a sh p nto dry-dock, supposed to have? Why wou d anyone fee anyth ng n response to th s very arge computer graph c?
2012-12-30 Forsyth, Bill Local Hero --> Rating: 8.10
Mac s sent to Scot and by o man Fe x Happer to negot ate a purchase of a sma v age for an o ref nery and sh pp ng port. The v agers are on to h m and ook ng forward to a b g payday but Mac becomes entranced w th v age fe and cu ture and beg ns to have second thoughts. Loca Hero s about the qu rky, enmeshed fe of a sma v age, ep tom zed by the unknown parentage of a baby, and the embarrassment of the v agers when Mac asks whose baby t s. Mac oses h s watch and starts to co ect sea-she s, and cons ders an offer from Urquhart of h s w fe-- t s never qu te c ear f he s ser ous or not. A subt e, nte gent f m that doesn t ta k down to t s aud ences: these aren t yoke s and Happer sn t some ruth ess cap ta st. In the end, Mac connects w th the th ngs he d dn t know he was m ss ng. Mark Knopf er s respons b e for the except ona mus ca track.
2012-12-28 Mueller, Niels Assassination of Richard Nixon --> Rating: 8.00
Artfu f ct ona zat on of the story of Samue Bycke who tr ed to assass nate R chard N xon n 1974 by crash ng a et ner nto the Wh te House (shades of 9/11). Sean Penn s except ona as the d s ocated, depressed, and ncompetent "B cke" who can t ho d a ob as a furn ture sa esman and tr es to stea t res from h s brother to start a new bus ness after be ng turned down for a oan by the government. The contrast of h s boss s be ef n Norman V ncent Pea e and Da e Carneg e and B cke s pathet c nab ty to contro events s po gnant. B cke s w fe has eft h m and seems to be start ng a new romant c re at onsh p. H s best fr end seems to be os ng conf dence n h m. He comes to be eve that the odds are stacked aga nst "the tt e guy", w th the government tse f determ ned to keep h m down. Doesn t tart t up from the rea story. Jack Thompson s exce ent as h s furn ture store boss who tr es to tra n B cke n sa esmansh p.
2012-12-21 Bendjelloul, Malik Searching for Sugarman --> Rating: 8.30
S xto Rodr guez was a prom s ng s nger-songwr ter n 1971 who re eased two we - rev ewed a bums n the U.S. Unfortunate y, for nexp cab e reasons, they fa ed to se , and Rodr guez d sappeared. Unbeknownst to h m, one of h s a bums made t s way to South Afr ca where t became a monster h t. Twenty f ve years ater, a documentary f m-maker set out to f nd out what happened to h m, and f rumors of h s su c de were true. Th s story s a the more fasc nat ng because of the dark mystery about the man h mse f, h s fam y fe, h s zen- ke approach to h s career and work ng fe, and the e us veness of h s character. H s mus c s raw and compe ng and powerfu , and he s a terr f c s nger, though he was known to perform fac ng away from the aud ence. Wonderfu story.
2012-12-19 Russell, David O. Silver Linings Playbook --> Rating: 7.50
Okay. We cou d try to pretend not to not ce that Brad ey Cooper, who s n a most every shot, s a producer of th s f m. Or that Jenn fer Lawrence brave y tr es to create a character out of the str ng of sketches she s asked to do. Or that the p ot s arms are not tw sted nto pretze s to try to nvest the dance contest w th some k nd of s gn f cance-- as de from the s gn f cance to the re at onsh p wh ch m ght have been product ve y m ned had the d rector trusted the aud ence to get t. And we m ght have asked that someone nvo ved n the product on nvest a b t of effort nto hav ng the characters react to th ngs that they know nstead of th ngs that the aud ence knows. But t wou d have been a pretty bor ng f rst 60 m nutes anyway, and t s a remarkab e ach evement to make anyth ng w th Jenn fer Lawrence n t bor ng but they d d t. And-- oh my god-- s Chr s Tucker rea y recyc ng a character from 5th E ement? Pat s psych atr st has an accent! As Ebert observed, a new type n Amer can c nema s an Ind an Amer can who appears to be exot c and eccentr c on y to be revea ed as tota y ass m ated. Another stereotype s the happy unat c, Danny (Chr s Rock), who presumed to be ovab y eccentr c and nsp red because he s crazy. In genera , though, the characters of "S ver L n ngs" are too busy announc ng how crazy they are to actua y be crazy, ust as too many drunks n Ho ywood mov es are too busy try ng to fa down to actua y ook drunk.
2012-12-16 Haneke, Michael Amour --> Rating: 8.00
Georges and Anne, both former mus c teachers, educated, cu t vated, ve together n Par s n an apartment, when Anne suffers a m d stroke. They cope as best they can but Anne espec a y f nds t d ff cu t to ad ust to her new m tat ons. Gradua y, her cond t on worsens, creat ng a more form dab e cha enge for Georges, who s determ ned to support her n the r apartment. Th s s an nte gent, sens t ve document about what t m ght be ke to cope w th a fe ong partner os ng her ndependence and, ndeed, her capab t es. Somet mes ponderous and de berate, and even ted ous, but honest and p erc ng.
2012-12-15 Schroeder, Barbet Reversal of Fortune --> Rating: 8.00
Intr gu ng dramat zat on of the tr a s of K aus Von Bu ow who was accused of k
ng h s w fe, Sunny, by n ect ng
her w th nsu n n 1983. A an Dershow tz, who av shes pra se on h mse f n th s vers on, takes on the case because he be eves Von Bu ow m ght be the v ct m of a m scarr age of ust ce. Dershow tz br
ant y and
stubborn y f ghts for Von Bu ow s exonerat on because he ust s a great guy. Very, very nterest ng ref ect on, though, on why ur es conv ct, and how the med a can run w th amb guous deta s. Rea y qu te a good f m. Prompts compar sons to the case of Jefferey MacDona d, but a so to Scott Peterson.
2012-12-01 Lee, Ang Life of Pi --> Rating: 7.80
Unconv nc ng adaptat on of the br
ant book by Yann Marte about an Ind an boy sh pwrecked who f nds a
t ger, an orangutan, a zebra w th broken egs, and a hyena on a feboat. The an ma s ostens b y come from h s father s zoo, wh ch he was transport ng to Amer ca. P has to contest the t ger for food and surv va , wh e the other an ma s gradua y fa v ct m. Beaut fu y f med-- f you th nk Ha mark cards can be beaut fu -- but poor y acted and d rected, and rather ant sept c at t mes. True to the book n terms of the deep y ph osoph ca conc us on, but P s ear er expressed ec ect c sm seems forced or art f c a or ns gn f cant-- take your p ck-g ven the c rcumstances of P s surv va at sea.
2012-11-29 Bresson, Robert Au hasard Balthazar --> Rating: 7.00
A eged y a c ass c, fo ows the m sfortunes of a mu e who s so d, transferred, se zed, or whathaveyou, but var ous nd v dua s n a sma town n France. He s a mute w tness to a the human fa ngs and corrupt on around h m, nc ud ng some shenan gans nvo v ng farm and be ong ng to an absentee and ord, and a g r named Mar e who becomes pregnant out of wed ock (th s s the 1920 s). One commentator sa d that the donkey s the on y one who can act n th s mov e-- perhaps not far from the truth. The a eged poetry of th s story escapes me, but the performances are not as authent c so much as ust amateur sh.
2012-11-10 Schiller, Lawrence Executioners Song --> Rating: 8.00
We -wr tten and acted dramat zat on of the d sastrous turn of events n the fe of Gary G mour, after he was re eased ear y from pr son at the age of 35, w th the support of h s s ster. He meets N co e Baker and they deve op a mutua nfatuat on that turns bad. G mour can t hand e the stress of the re at onsh p wh e try ng to ho d a ob, get the th ngs he wants, and avo d go ng back to pr son. He eventua y murders two peop e and, after conv ct on, demands the death pena ty, and that t be carr ed out. Th s formed a conundrum for the courts - a most everybody appea s. Eventua y, he s granted h s w sh. There s a very odd party the n ght before, w th women and a coho c beverages, and then a poor y managed execut on, w th oads of press and w tnesses present. An unsent menta exam nat on of the death pena ty and cr me and ust ce. Much more fa thfu to rea events than most b o-p cs; provocat ve and fasc nat ng.
2012-10-01 Schiller, Lawrence Executioner's Song --> Rating: 8.00
We -wr tten and acted dramat zat on of the d sastrous turn of events n the fe of Gary G mour, after he was re eased ear y from pr son at the age of 35, w th the support of h s s ster. He meets N co e Baker and they deve op a mutua nfatuat on that turns bad. G mour can t hand e the stress of the re at onsh p wh e try ng to ho d a ob, get the th ngs he wants, and avo d go ng back to pr son. He eventua y murders two peop e and, after conv ct on, demands the death pena ty, and that t be carr ed out. Th s formed a conundrum for the courts - a most everybody appea s. Eventua y, he s granted h s w sh. There s a very odd party the n ght before, w th women and a coho c beverages, and then a poor y managed execut on, w th oads of press and w tnesses present. An unsent menta exam nat on of the death pena ty and cr me and ust ce. Much more fa thfu to rea events than most b o-p cs; provocat ve and fasc nat ng.
2012-10-01 Gibney, Alex Taxi to the Dark Side --> Rating: 9.00
Powerfu , savage documentary on the U.S. pract ce of torture and abuse of pr soners after 9/11. Focuses on D ewar, an Afghan c t zen who, t becomes c ear, was nvo ved w th noth ng other than dr v ng h s tax . When he passed through a check-po nt, a corrupt Afghan m t a commander arrested h m and passed h m on to U.S. author t es who sent h m to Bagram pr son where he was beaten and abused unt h s egs had become, n the words of an autopsy, "pu p f ed". Inc s ve y demonstrates how the cha n of command, from Cheney down to the m tary po ce, tac t y or overt y endorsed the use of "enhanced nterrogat on" techn ques-- abso ute y a euphem sm for torture, and abso ute y ega . Conv nc ng and devastat ng nd ctment of the Bush adm n strat on, Rumsve d, Cheney, John Yoo, and others who a d the groundwork for the abuse. McCa n stood up to them for a t me unt he was co-opted by eg s at on grant ng mmun ty to the part es concerned.
2012-11-23 Gibney, Alex Taxi to the Dark Side --> Rating: 8.50
Powerfu , savage documentary on the U.S. pract ce of torture and abuse of pr soners after 9/11. Focuses on D ewar, an Afghan c t zen who, t becomes c ear, was nvo ved w th noth ng other than dr v ng h s tax . When he passed through a check-po nt, a corrupt Afghan m t a commander arrested h m and passed h m on to U.S. author t es who sent h m to Bagram pr son where he was beaten and abused unt h s egs had become, n the words of an autopsy, "pu p f ed". Inc s ve y demonstrates how the cha n of command, from Cheney down to the m tary po ce, tac t y or overt y endorsed the use of "enhanced nterrogat on" techn ques-- abso ute y a euphem sm for torture, and abso ute y ega . Conv nc ng and devastat ng nd ctment of the Bush adm n strat on, Rumsve d, Cheney, John Yoo, and others who a d the groundwork for the abuse. McCa n stood up to them for a t me unt he was co-opted by eg s at on grant ng mmun ty to the part es concerned.
2012-11-23 Gibney, Alex Taxi to the Dark Side --> Rating: 8.50
Powerfu , savage documentary on the U.S. pract ce of torture and abuse of pr soners after 9/11. Focuses on D ewar, an Afghan c t zen who, t becomes c ear, was nvo ved w th noth ng other than dr v ng h s tax . When he passed through a check-po nt, a corrupt Afghan m t a commander arrested h m and passed h m on to U.S. author t es who sent h m to Bagram pr son where he was beaten and abused unt h s egs had become, n the words of an autopsy, "pu p f ed". Inc s ve y demonstrates how the cha n of command, from Cheney down to the m tary po ce, tac t y or overt y endorsed the use of "enhanced nterrogat on" techn ques-- abso ute y a euphem sm for torture, and abso ute y ega . Conv nc ng and devastat ng nd ctment of the Bush adm n strat on, Rumsve d, Cheney, John Yoo, and others who a d the groundwork for the abuse. McCa n stood up to them for a t me unt he was co-opted by eg s at on grant ng mmun ty to the part es concerned.
2012-11-23 Lewin, Ben Sessions --> Rating: 8.00
Super or, sens t ve drama about a man w th po o who wants to ose h s v rg n ty and dec des to seek a sex surrogate to accomp sh the deed. Lew n s carefu not to car cature the fa ed re at onsh ps-- the ssues are obv ous-- and carefu y deve ops th s sens t ve study of ove and nt macy unt the sex tse f becomes secondary to the ssue of nt macy. He en Hunt p ays Chery , the surrogate, w th great d gn ty and courage, and Hawkes evokes both the vu nerab ty and audac ty of Mark O Br en (on whose magaz ne art c e the story s based). Father Brendan (O Br en s a Catho c) s he pfu y en ghtened, but t wou d have been nterest ng to de ve nto h s own sense of one ness as a ce bate.
2012-11-24 Spielberg, Steven Lincoln --> Rating: 8.00
Surpr s ng (for Sp e berg) restra ned and tastefu exam nat on of the process by wh ch L nco n passed the 13th amendment out aw ng s avery n the wan ng but st v o ent months of the c v war. Dan e Day-Lew s s br
ant
as the morose, somet mes acon c eader, cop ng w th h s own depress on and gu t, and h s w fe s troub es, to negot ate w th congress ona eaders to get the 2/3 ma or ty requ red. Less spectac e than character study, L nco n s no sa nt n th s vers on: ust a determ ned, courageous man of strong conv ct on. Sp e berg doesn t dumb down the ssue: we see the amb guous pos t ons even of members of h s own party, some of whom want to send the s aves a back to Afr ca, as L nco n h mse f may have. There s a surpr se at the end that resonates w th subt e authent c ty and enr ches, rather than cheapens the drama. A f ne, f ne f m.
2012-11-22 Davies, Terence House of Mirth --> Rating: 8.00
Superb y f med e eg ac study of soc a and cu tura mores n ear y 20th century New York. L y Bart s v ng on the edge: a s ng e woman w thout ndependent f nanc a resources, ook ng for a good marr age, but determ ned to ma nta n her dent ty. She s a w t and charmer and b t provocat ve wh ch eads men around her to regard her as a potent a mark. She s sort of attracted to Lawrence Se don, a awyer, v ng n an apartment house for "conf rmed bache ors", and I was never sure how oaded that term was. He c ear y s not offer ng sexua ove, but may we be n ove w th her regard ess. When her fr end Bertha betrays her, abe ng her as her husband s paramour to cover up her own affa r w th Lawrence, L y s hum ated. When t emerges that she accepted money from Augustus Trenor-- na ve y be ev ng t was nvestment ncome-- she becomes a par ah. When her aunt eaves her fortune to Grace nstead of her, she s ru ned. But here the mov e becomes a 19th century soap-opera: L y refuses to accept he p or k ndness from any of her fr ends, determ ned to behave honorab y and repay every penny to Trenor. We watch appa ed at her masoch st c martyrdom, at the rrat ona ty of her behav or, and her se f-p ty: she goes to see Lawrence and then burns ncr m nat ng etters n h s f rep ace, a b atant and d shonest attempt to broadcast her v ct m zat on. We are g ven to be eve that fe as aborer s so horr b e that we must be eve that her suffer ng s unbearab e-- though that s what m
ons do, n
fact, to ve. If th s s an mp ed cr t que of L y s character, t s muted n the f m, and we are eft w th the mpress on of a woman who can t stand fe w thout pr v ege. Yet t s a fasc nat ng f m, nuanced, and r ch, and beaut fu y shot. I suspect that Laura L nney shou d have p ayed L y...
2012-11-09 Schrader, Paul Affliction --> Rating: 7.30
There s noth ng more bor ng than an a coho c un ess t s a mov e wh ch, n dep ct ng an ag ng wh te Amer can ma e n perpetua rage, be eves tse f to be authent c and raw and mean ngfu . Schrader goes further, ns st ng that Wade s the most hero c character he has ever mag ned! As far as I can te from the mov e, that s a s ck perspect ve: Wade dr nks heav y, even wh e dr v ng, neg ects h s own ch d, chases Jack n h s car, even murders peop e. Th s s "hero c"? We are supposed to see a connect on between h s abus ve ch dhood and h s terr b e re at onsh p w th h s father (wh ch doesn t prevent h m from offer ng to ve w th h m after h s mother d es) and h s "courageous" attempts to so ve a murder t ed to petty mun c pa corrupt on, and I suppose we re supposed to have some reverence for h s brother s thoughtfu perspect ve on th ngs but t never qu te comes off, and t s not he ped by the ame synthet c score, or the Quebec ocat ons doub ng for New Hampsh re-snow on Ha oween? But a more fundamenta quest on s why does Schrader mpute hero sm to thugs tarted up w th someth ng that s supposed to suggest a enat on but often emerges more ke nfant e frustrat on? The on y reason the aud ence has to adm re Wade s that we are to d to by the narrat on. Schrader s trapped n h s own ado escent fury. Coburn won an Oscar.
2012-11-10 Schrader, Paul Affliction --> Rating: 7.30
There s noth ng more bor ng than an a coho c un ess t s a mov e wh ch, n dep ct ng an ag ng wh te Amer can ma e n perpetua rage, be eves tse f to be authent c and raw and mean ngfu . Schrader goes further, ns st ng that Wade s the most hero c character he has ever mag ned! As far as I can te from the mov e, that s a s ck perspect ve: Wade dr nks heav y, even wh e dr v ng, neg ects h s own ch d, chases Jack n h s car, even murders peop e. Th s s "hero c"? We are supposed to see a connect on between h s abus ve ch dhood and h s terr b e re at onsh p w th h s father (wh ch doesn t prevent h m from offer ng to ve w th h m after h s mother d es) and h s "courageous" attempts to so ve a murder t ed to petty mun c pa corrupt on, and I suppose we re supposed to have some reverence for h s brother s thoughtfu perspect ve on th ngs but t never qu te comes off, and t s not he ped by the ame synthet c score, or the Quebec ocat ons doub ng for New Hampsh re-snow on Ha oween? But a more fundamenta quest on s why does Schrader mpute hero sm to thugs tarted up w th someth ng that s supposed to suggest a enat on but often emerges more ke nfant e frustrat on? The on y reason the aud ence has to adm re Wade s that we are to d to by the narrat on. Schrader s trapped n h s own ado escent fury.
2012-11-10 Zemeckis, Robert Flight --> Rating: 7.00
Denze Wash ngton, you ovab e rogue! Here, he dr ves and f es wh e drunk, seduces women, es to the NTSB, gnores h s fam y, and suffers so, so much, you ust can t he p but th nk, aw, shucks, he s no rea danger to anyone. The prob em w th F ght-- the same prob em as w th Argo-- s that everyone s wa t ng for the reve at on com ng n the next scene. When a p ane suffers a mechan ca fa ure and Wh p Wh taker br
ant y
f ps t ups de down so t can and safe y (after r ght ng tse f, of course) n a f e d-- someth ng no other p ot, we are supposed to be eve, cou d have done, we are g ven to understand that the phys ca and procedura ev dence s unamb guous. The Co-p ot-- w th no ev dence at a -- conc udes that Wh taker saved 102 ves w th a br
ant maneuver though he knows he was stoned at the t me. But t s hard to accept that co-p ot Ken Evans
wou dn t be eve that Wh taker d dn t n fact screw t up. In fact, the prem se-- that no other p ot cou d have saved the ves of the passengers (va dated, n the f m, by NTSB s mu at ons)-- g ves th s mov e the fee ng of be ng r gged, as t does when Margaret Thomson s son thanks Wh taker for sav ng h s mother s fe. It cou d have been nterest ng-- f t had suggested that Wh taker stayed ca m because he was stoned, and showed us that, po t ca y, nobody cou d poss b y ever acknow edge t. But that s not where Zemeck s wants to go: th s s a story about persona redempt on and t s a cur os ty at a t me when the same peop e watch ng th s f m and root ng for Denze Wash ngton wou d ove to see h m hanged n rea fe, f he, dr v ng or f y ng wh e drunk, were respons b e for the death of a oved one. The truth s, th s "portra t" s so du and d shonest, there s not a th ng to be earned from t. Nor are the secondary characters nterest ng, from John Goodman do ng h s k tschy rasc b e drug dea er buddy sht ck, to the pa nfu y "co orfu " and "honest" cancer pat ent who o ns Wh taker and N co e for a smoke n a hosp tab e sta rwe to the aggress ve but dogged NTSB nvest gator to the tattooed nmates mesmer zed by Wh taker s a eged courageousness at some k nd of therapy sess on n pr son. Cou dn t they at east c ar fy f Wh taker understands that "h s" awyer may, n fact, be represent ng the nterests of h s emp oyer? Cou dn t the awyer at east have coo y warned Wh taker that f he ever sat at the contro s of a p ane or car aga n, he wou d recuse h mse f? Th s s a ro e that cou d and shou d have been p ayed by a young C nt Eastwood or John Wayne.
2012-11-10 Tykwer, Tom Cloud Atlas --> Rating: 7.20
Based on an a eged y great nove , a mess of a mov e that umps from era to era, character to character, nane p at tude to nane p at tude. Ostens b y about ... I have no dea. It s qu te poss b y about someth ng, but n the express on of t s sub ect, t s ted ous, pred ctab e, and pretent ous, and, above a , der vat ve of at east a dozen other mov es from wh ch t stea s wh e pretend ng to do "homage". Unbe evab y m s udged: Tom Hanks as a tr besman speak ng p geon eng sh: "te me the true true". Why on earth wou d these pr m t ves be speak ng p geon any th ng? Is he Jar Jar B nks re ncarnated? Some fans ns st you have to see t tw ce or three t mes to "understand t". It doesn t even take one comp ete show ng to get ust how ted ous and un nterest ng the dramat c nteract ons are, and no amount of repeat v ew ngs w change that. There s however, one f ne moment: J m Broadbent shout ng "Soy ent Green s peop e" as he f ees the o d age home nto wh ch he was trapped. And actua y, for such a se f-ser ous f m, t wou d have been a dumb dea to nc ude that oke, f the f m had otherw se succeeded.
2012-10-31 McDonagh, Martin Seven Psychopaths --> Rating: 8.00
Marty s a frustrated screen-wr ter w th a he pfu fr end, B y. B y has a fr end named Hans w th whom he k dnaps pets and then co ects rewards for return ng them. They nadvertent y take the sh h-tzu be ong ng to a rea gangster and the two p ot nes converge as Marty wr tes h s screenp ay about "seven psychopaths". The cha enge of "Seven Psychopaths" s to avo d c che s about se f-consc ous y se f-consc ous f m, and to keep Chr stopher Wa ken s qu rky sp n on h s own qu rk ness from becom ng c oy ng or t resome-- and that t does. Funny and fresh and never bor ng, f not ever part cu ar y profound e ther. And then there s the Tom Wa ts character-- Zachar ah -- who re ates h s story of psychopatho ogy ask ng on y a screen acknow edgement of h s ong ost ove n return.
2012-11-01 Daves, Delmar Dark Passage --> Rating: 7.00
Preposterous f m-no re about a wrongfu y conv cted man who escapes San Quent n and heads back to San Franc sco to f nd out who rea y murdered h s w fe. He s p cked up-- tera y-- by Irene Jansen, who s conv nced he s nnocent and wants to he p-- and has p ast c surgery to change h s appearance. That deve opment s not as prom s ng as t ooks: he doesn t use t to hang around peop e who know h m to f nd out what they rea y th nk-- he gets uncovered fa r y qu ck y and there s a rea y cheesy sequence n wh ch he d sarms an extort on st and then s d sarmed. He goes to a suspect s home and seems shocked that she won t accompany h m to the po ce and confess, and then she stumb es through a w ndow and d es. However... Lauren Baca as Irene s qu te entranc ng.
2012-11-03 Affleck, Ben Argo --> Rating: 6.50
Vast y over-rated dramat zat on of the escape of s x Amer can d p omat c emp oyees from Iran n 1979 dur ng the hostage cr s s after be ng taken n by the Canad an ambassador, Ken Tay or. The aud ence s pounded over the head w th "s gn f cance" and we ght by mput ng every moment w th m nd-bend ng fatefu mp cat on. Aff eck c a ms that on y the end ng was Ho ywood zed but, n fact, there are mu t p e recreat ons of act ons and conversat ons that cou d on y have been known to members of the rad ca Iran an Repub can guard, who, presumab y, were not cooperat ng w th the f m-makers, and other conversat ons cou d on y have been prov ded by very b ased U.S. CIA or State Department Off c a s. And though Aff eck acknow edges the U.S. ro e n the nsta at on of the Shah and h s use of torture (supported by the CIA), he then proceeds to car cature most of the Iran ans as members of frenz ed mobs or g ower ng, host e, murderous Repub can Guard. The ast scenes, of Repub can Guard chas ng the 747 down the runway, are so r d cu ous y over-the-top that t underm nes the ent re f m. But every other scene wr thes n mock ser ousness and contr ved "authent c ty" usua y s gna ed by hand-he d, gg y cameras and gratu tous swear ng. And then there s the b zarre bookends: Tony s d vorced and ca s h s son on the phone and we see d stance; after the rescue, he shows up at h s ex-w fe s house and she we comes h m back and he snugg es w th h s son on the couch. Rescu ng Amer can d p omats makes your fam y better.
2012-10-21 Polley, Sarah Stories We Tell --> Rating: 8.20
A fam y oke n the Po ey fam y was that Sarah d dn t ook at a ke her dad-- who was the rea father? Turns out that that was no oke. Sarah br ngs her cameras and meets w th var ous fam y members and fr ends to unrave the myster ous fe of her mother, who d ed of cancer when Sarah was 11, and who was n Montrea by herse f do ng a stage p ay around the t me Sarah was conce ved. There are surpr ses and reve at ons but most y nte gent nqu ry and re nterpretat on of events by a fam y w th equan m ty and grace. If there s a qu bb e to be had, there s a b t of a tendency to make someth ng monumenta of a rather common-p ace betraya . Forg vab e for the remarkab e candor the part c pants br ng to the pro ect and the c ever use of arch va super-8 footage and re-enactments.
2012-10-20 Espinosa, Daniel Easy Money --> Rating: 6.80
Esp nosa seems on y d m y aware of that fact that the prob em w th aunder ng drug money s not so ved by acqu r ng a bank. The prob em s gett ng arge aggregates of cash nto the economy w thout attract ng undue attent on from the author t es. Th s s so ved by f nd ng some condu t that transfers the cash n arge numbers of sma b s from the drug-se ers to an asset of some k nd, ke a car wash, co n aundry, or other operat on. But that s typ ca of "Easy Money"-- there s not a deve opment anywhere that has the s ghtest r ng of authent c ty, though the mov e d sp ays a ot of faux-gr t w th hand-he d cameras, shout ng, and guns. Jorge escapes from pr son by s mp y runn ng to a wa and c mb ng over-- n Sweden I can be eve the guards won t shoot, and aren t prepared to chase-- and reun tes w th h s gang of nob e drug dea ers (as opposed to the ev drugdea ers who want to stea h s product). Johan s a student/tax -dr ver who s pretend ng to be much r cher than he rea y s n order to hang out w th the upper c ass students, and who gets nvo ved w th Jorge and qu ck y persuades the gang that he can " aunder" the money by buy ng contro of a bank that s n defau t-- a bank wh ch was former y one of the " argest" n Sweden, and wh ch, presumab y, wou d st have b mak ng t rather d ff cu t to acqu re even for m
ons n assets
ona re drug dea ers. But aga n, how do you transfer the cash to
bank shares w thout arous ng the nterest of bank regu ators, and reports to the tax co ectors? Johan eas y persuades the bank pres dent to become a partner. I m not say ng you cou dn t make t be evab e f you rea y tr ed. No one n e ther gang seems to cons der anyth ng beyond the next gun-f ght. It s a sophomor c postur ng and phoney emot ona cr ses. I rewrote parts of t n my m nd: Johan rea zes that r ch peop e don t te other peop e they are r ch-- they pretend they are en oy ng s umm ng around. It wou d have been fun to have one of h s snobby fr ends who suspect h s rea y poor run nto h m at the bank he now runs hob-nobb ng w th the governors... but a as, "Easy Money" doesn t have an ounce of humour n t.
2012-10-19 Barnz, Daniel Wont Back Down --> Rating: 7.00
Propaganda for the Charter Schoo movement-- and apparent y funded by a proponent, "Won t Back Down" dumbs down the prob em of fa ng schoo s and persona zes t: Jam e F tzpatr ck s daughter Ma a has dys ex a and sn t gett ng any he p from her d s nterested Grade 3 teacher (who checks her Phone dur ng c ass and doesn t bother to even g ve the appearance of act v ty). She recru ts a d s us oned teacher and other parents and attempts to take over the schoo . Accord ng to the aw n some states, d sgrunt ed parents can convert a schoo to a charter, or s mp y c ose t down, f they have the votes. So, revers ng "Norma Rae", Jam e stands up to the oppress ve, se f-serv ng teachers un on and, presto, her daughter s dys ex a s cured, and she gets to have sex w th that hunky grade 5 teacher whose contr but on to the mov e s to conv nce the aud ence that good teach ng cons sts of do ng th ngs that ook ke fun ke p ay ng your uke e e and danc ng. The truth s, the act ng, d rect ng, and everyth ng e se about th s mov e are med ocre at best, wh ch s surpr s ng cons der ng that the cast nc udes Ho y Hunter and V o a Dav s. Even worse, the the f m caters to a k nd of neurot c narc ss sm of fa ed parents: when Ja me takes ca s and v s tors at her ob as recept on st at a car dea ersh p, we re supposed to be repe ed by the dea of her boss ns st ng that she work, even after she comes back from a 90 m nute unch. She a so thought ess y ets Ma a watch tv and eat sugary snacks and I guess we re suppose to d sapprove of Nona s str cter ru es for her own son. God forb d, n th s wor d, that we m ght th nk parents ever p ay a ro e n a fa ng educat on system.
2012-10-10 Barnz, Daniel Won't Back Down --> Rating: 7.00
Propaganda for the Charter Schoo movement-- and apparent y funded by a proponent, "Won t Back Down" dumbs down the prob em of fa ng schoo s and persona zes t: Jam e F tzpatr ck s daughter Ma a has dys ex a and sn t gett ng any he p from her d s nterested Grade 3 teacher (who checks her Phone dur ng c ass and doesn t bother to even g ve the appearance of act v ty). She recru ts a d s us oned teacher and other parents and attempts to take over the schoo . Accord ng to the aw n some states, d sgrunt ed parents can convert a schoo to a charter, or s mp y c ose t down, f they have the votes. So, revers ng "Norma Rae", Jam e stands up to the oppress ve, se f-serv ng teachers un on and, presto, her daughter s dys ex a s cured, and she gets to have sex w th that hunky grade 5 teacher whose contr but on to the mov e s to conv nce the aud ence that good teach ng cons sts of do ng th ngs that ook ke fun ke p ay ng your uke e e and danc ng. The truth s, the act ng, d rect ng, and everyth ng e se about th s mov e are med ocre at best, wh ch s surpr s ng cons der ng that the cast nc udes Ho y Hunter and V o a Dav s.
2012-10-10 Von Trier, Lars AntiChrist --> Rating: 8.00
Damn that Von Tr er! Every t me you th nk he has f na y come out w th a mov e you can d sm ss as sensat ona provocat on and re g on-ba t ng, he ends up demonstrat ng a remarkab e ab ty to be thought-provok ng and br
ant as we . Th s s a dark, dark mov e that, after ntroduc ng you to the suggest on that a woman, "she", s
the v ct m of se f- acerat ng b ame for her ch d s death (as she and her husband were hav ng sex), ntroduces you to another arr ng dea: that she m ght be ma evo ent or ev or even a w tch. Her husband, who seems to have coped w th the tragedy w th more equan m ty, comes off as somewhat mechan ca and se f-contro ed, and she accuses h m of be ng unfee ng, of not car ng f the r son s dead or a ve. He checks her out of the hosp ta (after she had passed out at the funera ) to a cottage deep n the woods (ca ed "Eden") where she a ternates between hyster a and contr ved bonhom e.
2012-10-05 Siegel, Donald Beguiled --> Rating: 7.00
Strange story about a c v war un on so d er who s rescued from near death by a young g r and he ped back to her board ng schoo wh ch s occup ed by a number of one y, apparent y desperate women. Wh e try ng to nurse h m back to hea th, they f ght over h m and p ot aga nst each other, w th ser ous consequences for everyone.
2012-10-06 McNaughton, John Mad Dog and Glory --> Rating: 7.70
Robert DeN ro p ays "Mad Dog" Wayne Dob e, a conservat ve, by-the-book po ce photographer, who one day saves the fe of a gangster ca ed Frank M o. Turns out that the s ster of a man who owes Frank a ser ous debt has put herse f nto h s serv ce for a per od of t me to save her brother s fe. Frank turns her over to Wayne as a thank-you g ft. Th s s actua y an ntr gu ng prem se, f you assume an awkward presentat on of the sexua e ement: Frank cou d, be evab y, be p ssed f G ory, the s ster, doesn t put out as part of the dea , and he m ght reasonab y assume that a red-b ooded po ce off cer wou dn t turn t down, g ven the c rcumstances. Doesn t qu te work on severa eve s, nc ud ng DeN ro s prob emat c presentat on of Wayne: I cou dn t get a f x on h s character, or why he wou d fa n ove w th G ory, or why he wou dn t take advantage of the offer at f rst. Betterwr tten than expected, and decent support ng performances, except for Thurman s p a n y a dud, and DeN ro who s performance s f at and un nsp red. Pedestr an d rect on and c nematography. But Murray s very good as Frank.
2012-10-05 Anderson, Paul Thomas Master --> Rating: 8.80
Br
ant y d rected and acted story about an nc p ent cu t eader, Lancaster Dodd, and h s meet ng w th a
psycho og ca y unstab e ex-serv ceman, Fredd e Que , and the r strange, endur ng re at onsh p. More an exam nat on of the re at onsh p between the two men, and how a cu t- eader exerts h s magnet sm, than of the cu t exper ence tse f. Que s fe s a mess and he s a bund e of bad mpu ses and reck ess cho ces. Dodd s s ck, smooth, and conf dent, and needs Que s adm rat on and respect as much as Que needs h s eadersh p. But Dodd a so needs h s w fe, Peggy, who, t turns out, knows much more about Dodd s v s onary ph osophy than even he does-- because she s wr t ng t. Yet the r re at onsh p comes off as extreme y co eg a and co aborat ve-- a subt ety that deepens and enr ches th s portra t.
2012-09-29 Johnson, Rian Looper --> Rating: 7.70
Ser ous y over-rated sc -f thr er about a h t man who attends a certa n ocat on at a spec f ed t me to assass nate var ous m screants who have been sent back n t me from the future after cross ng some k nd of mob. The oopers know that eventua y they w be sent back themse ves. Young Joe meets h mse f th s way and comp cat ons ensue as O d Joe s determ ned to a ter the future. Joe ends up at a farm (th s s Kansas) w th Sara (Em y B unt) and her son w th spec a ab t es and th ngs get even more comp cated. Not ent re y cons stent w th tse f, or even coherent, th s s ma n y a cata og of tres coo assass ns pos ng w th b g guns and bra ns gett ng sp attered, a a eged y n the serv ce of a pure and ast ng ove. Jeff Br dges s coo and Pau Dano s conv nc ng y sn ve ng, but du patches ntrude.
2012-10-02 Haigh, Andrew Weekend --> Rating: 8.00
Unusua y frank, exp c t story about a gay man ook ng to hook up who ends up fa ng n ove w th a man he meets at a s ng es bar. Russe and G en banter and cha enge each other about the mportance of comm tment vs. pass on, and try to work out where they w be w th each other on Monday.
2012-09-28 Huston, John Prizzis Honor --> Rating: 8.00
Char ey Partana s a good fe a n th s a most parody of "The Godfather", and Kath een Turner s Irene Wa ker, a h red k er; they meet at a wedd ng and he fa s hard for her, but h s ex, Maerose Pr zz , s up to no good. We deve oped p ot eads to reasonab y p aus b e comp cat ons, and a many good okes about Ita an cr me fam es, w th a s ght edge to the sat re that adds heft to what cou d have been a tr v a zed, okey hack. Good performances from the ma ors.
2012-09-22 Huston, John Prizzi's Honor --> Rating: 8.00
Char ey Partana s a good fe a n th s a most parody of "The Godfather", and Kath een Turner s Irene Wa ker, a h red k er; they meet at a wedd ng and he fa s hard for her, but h s ex, Maerose Pr zz , s up to no good. We deve oped p ot eads to reasonab y p aus b e comp cat ons, and a many good okes about Ita an cr me fam es, w th a s ght edge to the sat re that adds heft to what cou d have been a tr v a zed, okey hack. Good performances from the ma ors.
2012-09-22 Krieger, Lee Toland Celeste and Jesse Forever --> Rating: 7.80
Th s s a mov e of drunks try ng hard to fa down when they need to conv nce us that they are try ng hard to stand up. There sn t an nsp red moment n the f m, but you do have young, attract ve, funny peop e ong ng for each other and gett ng ea ous and angry and sad-- a very watchab e, as ong as she ooks ke Rash da Jones and he s as adorab e as Andy Samberg. Jesse and Ce este have dec ded to d vorce but they rema n best fr ends. When Jesse deve ops a rea nterest n a g r , Veron ca, who happens to be pregnant w th h s baby. If on y they cou d have res sted the temptat on to make Veron ca seem petty, or to make Ce este so cheerfu y d sapprov ng of Jesse s ndo ence-- he ves n the back part of her house and watches tv and procrast nates on what tt e work he does get. If on y there were moments of rea zat on or amb va ence. Never rea y qu te r ses above the eve of s tcom humour.
2012-09-26 Ford, John Fort Apache --> Rating: 7.50
In sp te of the h gh regard w th wh ch John Ford s he d n Ho ywood mytho ogy, the sty e of act ng n h s great f ms s frequent y st ted and theatr ca . Yes, a product of t s t me, but the po nt s, t s hard to suspend your d sbe ef. St , "Fort Apache" s an nte gent y wr tten, thoughtfu story about dup c tous government agents, honorab e Ind ans, and a st ff, amb t ous, foo sh Ca vary off cer, Owen Thursday. He trave s west to take command of Fort Apache after be ng musc ed out of more g amorous ass gnments n other reg ons. When Conch se eads h s Apache tr be out of a reservat on, he sees a chance for persona g ory, aga nst the adv ce of w se, bera John Wayne (!). As n "L berty Va ance", Ford dwe s on the uses of myth n the bu d ng of the Amer can character, and mputes a ruefu w sdom to the Wayne character who s comp c t n the e.
2012-09-14 Jacquot, Benoit Farewell My Queen --> Rating: 8.10
Super or drama of the fa of Mar e Anto nette and Lou s XVI from the po nt of v ew of a servant, S don e Laborde, who be eves n her queen, and the us ons of grace and author ty am d the av sh accoutrements of Versa es. We watch as servants attempt to rat ona ze the r pos t ons as the r cu ture crumb es around them and the aston sh ng rabb e se ze the Bast e. S don e doesn t rea ze, unt t s too ate, ust how tox c th s cu ture s, and how she, ke the rabb e, s rea y d sposab e n the eyes of the pr v eged and the corrupt. Beaut fu y rea zed n every deta , f a tr f e s ow-mov ng at t mes, unt the s n ster conc us on. Vast y super or to the dece tfu "Mar e Anto nette" w th t s contempt b e om ss on of the Queen s attempts to p ot a restorat on w th Austr an arm es.
2012-09-10 Hillcoat, John Lawless --> Rating: 7.80
"Law ess" s ramb ng, messy, and ust p a n stup d at t mes-- and a grave waste of some except ona act ng ta ent-- and sounds at t mes ke your drunken unc e s bragg ng at a wedd ng. One does not take ser ous y any c a m to rea h story here, though t does make that c a m. Nor to be taken too ser ous y s the rather sophomor c worsh p of the character of Forrest Dondurant, the m dd e brother, espec a y n the te ng of how he had h s throat s t from ear-to-ear and (spo er a ert) surv ved. The brothers are moon-sh ners-- you know, those hero c emb ems of a fu and pass onate fe-- the oca po ce cooperate w th them (rece v ng the r share of the prof ts) unt a Ch cago attorney, Char e Rakes, comes a ong to spo th ngs. Extreme y v o ent and un ntent ona y funny at t mes, prov d ng Jess ca Chasta n w th embarrass ng y token appearances as the f m wears on... ust a mess: The Godfather meets Bever y H b
es.
2012-09-01 Zwick, Edward Glory --> Rating: 7.00
Fata y wounded by the m scast ng of Matthew Broder ck as Co . Robert Gou d Shaw, and the terr b e Ho ywood trope of te ng ta es of oppress on and rac sm from the po nt of v ew of y-bread wh te characters, recounts the adventures of the Massachusetts 54th Reg ment of Vo unteers, one of the f rst a -b ack reg ments to f ght for the Un on n the C v War. Broder ck, on y three years away from "Ferr s Bue er", s actua y about the age of the rea Robert Shaw, but ooks and acts ke he s organ z ng a boy scout camp-out. Few mov es have been so harmed by terr b e cast ng dec s ons as th s one, espec a y s nce, the rest of the cast are f ne, and the h stor ca per od deta s are nterest ng. But most of the p ot s pure hokum: none of the b ack characters-- of course-- are based on any rea nd v dua s. Just the wh te guy. Add to that a m ess conversat ons and exchanges and strange sequences of shots and the fact that most of Jane A exander s scenes (as Gou d s mother) were eft on the cutt ng room f oor, as they say, and you have a monumenta d saster, wh ch Ebert neverthe ess rates 3 1/2 stars.
2012-09-01 Bergman, Ingmar Autumn Sonata --> Rating: 8.90
B tter, powerfu drama about a ce ebr ty concert p an st, Char otte, return ng to v s t her daughter for the f rst t me n seven years. Her daughter, Eva, s b tter about her upbr ng ng, and her mother s absence from her fe. She has a so brought her d sab ed s ster, He ena, home, w thout te ng Char otte, who, she says, wou d never have come to v s t f she knew. There s a sear ng, extended scene of Eva re ent ess y deta ng a of the s ghts and hurts and neg ect she has exper enced, and caust ca y assess ng her mother s se f sh persona ty. Her mother, n turn, descr bes her own ch dhood: her parents never showed affect on. There s a suggest on that Eva s need to nurture and "spo " peop e, nc ud ng He ena, s ust as narc ss st c as Char otte s need to perform and rece ve pub c approva for her art. Bears cons derat on that Bergman h mse f neg ected h s own fam y for h s "art"-- f so, he certa n y doesn t spare h mse f.
2012-08-25 McKelllar, Don Last Night --> Rating: 8.20
The wor d s com ng to an end, at m dn ght on a spec f c day, and "Last N ght" fo ows assorted nd v dua s as they try to f nd a mean ngfu way to spend the ast few hours of human ex stence. Some embrace sensua ty, some want to party, some r ot,and some qu et y pray w th fam y members. Cra g tr es to cram a of h s sexua fantas es nto a few days, nc ud ng a b ack woman, a v rg n, and h s h gh schoo Eng sh teacher de ghtfu y p ayed by Genev eve Bu o ds. Patr ck Whee er ust wants to be a one and s p w ne and sten to mus c but Sandra desperate y needs a r de to her home where she p ans to meet her husband, after her car s overturned and destroyed by reve ers. Meanwh e, the head of "the gas company"-- he husband, I th nk-- ca s a of h s customers to thank them for the r patronage and the rad o counts down the "top 500 of a t me". Love y, funny, subt e mov e that fo ows no pred ctab e path, and occas ona y de ghts and start es w th nvent on and ns ght. Unabashed y f med n Toronto, w th proper names and p aces, and a soundtrack of Canad an pop (but who wou d be eve Edward Bear wou d have #12 on the "a -t me top 500", as they count t down to zero hour. Wayne C arkson used th s mov e to ustrate the d fference between Canad an and U.S. f ms: when Sandra goes nto a ooted grocery store to buy w ne, she chooses a bott e from two, and carefu y puts the unchosen bott e back on the she f!
2012-08-24 Nolan, Christopher Dark Knight Rises --> Rating: 7.80
Messy, av sh, baroque adaptat on of the DC com cs Batman story, w th featured v a n Bane b zarre y wear ng some k nd of brake pad mask and speak ng e ectron ca y. Bane s some k nd of revo ut onary, a renegade from the League of whatever, who attacks the stock market and a footba stad um on beha f of the d spossessed but a so dec des to b ow up the ent re c ty, presumab y f the d spossessed thought apprec ate h s efforts. There s a ot of ado escent masoch sm here-- Batman s a most k ed before he comes back stronger and more comm tted-- but you sense that the suffer ng s appea ng to some part of the aud ence. Best part of the mov e s an amus ng Anne Hathaway as Cat Woman, to rem nd us of ust how unsoph st cated and goofy Batman can be.
2012-08-12 Scorcese, Martin Kundun --> Rating: 7.70
Met cu ous recreat on of the ear y fe of the 15th Da a Lama (the current one) up to the po nt where he rea zed the Ch nese had no ntent on of grant ng T bet any rea form of autonomy and were w
ng to use bruta force to
mpose the r w on the k ngdom. Us ng a non-profess ona s, and gett ng good performances out of the four who portrayed the Da a Lama at var ous stages, Scorcese ays out a beaut fu but somewhat worsh pfu dep ct on of an exot c and somet mes ncomprehens b e cu ture. Lav sh use of sets and extras, s ncere, but somet mes ramb ng and d ffuse.
2012-08-17 Scorcese, Martin Kundun --> Rating: 7.70
Met cu ous recreat on of the ear y fe of the 15th Da a Lama (the current one) up to the po nt where he rea zed the Ch nese had no ntent on of grant ng T bet any rea form of autonomy and were w
ng to use bruta force to
mpose the r w on the k ngdom. Us ng a non-profess ona s, and gett ng good performances out of the four who portrayed the Da a Lama at var ous stages, Scorcese ays out a beaut fu but somewhat worsh pfu dep ct on of an exot c and somet mes ncomprehens b e cu ture. Lav sh use of sets and extras, s ncere, but somet mes ramb ng and d ffuse.
2012-08-17 Unkrich, Lee Toy Story 3 --> Rating: 8.00
Inord nate y c ever and nvent ve story about a group of toys who th nk the r owner, Andy, has tossed them now that he s go ng to co ege. In fact, as a dut fu programmed consumer, Andy actua y ntended them for the att c- hard to see why that s better than the r un ntended fate at a day care center where they are round y abused by the todd ers. Rea y a shame ess 90-m nute commerc a for D sney toys-- about 300 of them-- most offens ve for the way they try to se you on the dea that ch dren have a spec a , emot ona attachment to over-pr ced gener c p ast c-- nc ud ng Barb e and Ken-- and that th s s somehow good and hea thy and grat fy ng n some deep way. Shot after shot hammers home the message that branded toys are centra to the exper ence of ch dhood, push ng parents, fr ends, and nd v dua mag nat on and creat v ty to the marg ns (D sney wou d argue that ho d ng Buzz L ghtyear over your head and mak ng whoosh no ses s an act of creat ve mag nat on). So, yes, beaut fu y an mated, but the sou of a co d, hard Scrooge. But Andy s a b and, feature ess boy-- as are a the humans. That g ven, t s somewhat surpr s ng ust how good the story ne s, and how w tty the an mat ons are. And rea y one must be gratefu for the few m nutes of subt t ed story ne, when a de-programmed Buzz goes nto Span sh mode. Maybe ch dren see ng th s w grow up to not be fr ghtened of fore gn subt t ed f ms! There ust sn t an ounce of authent c fee ng n the ent re 100 m nutes.
2012-08-11 Zeitlin, Behn Beasts of the Southern Wild --> Rating: 7.00
Ser ous y over-rated odd past che about a young g r , Hushpuppy --an astound ng performance by Wa s Quvenzhane-- and her father W nk strugg ng to surv ve d sasters, natura and otherw se, n an area ca ed The Bathtub near or about New Or eans, and not exact y dur ng Hurr cane Katr na. More mpress on st c montage than story, and acted by amateurs, doesn t ook ke t s based on a p ay but t s. The prob em s scenes are under-deve oped and f at and the mad sequence of decay and destruct on and the odd nc us on of myth ca monsters ca ed aurochs. Loose y bound to g oba warm ng and a coho sm and neg ect, W nk tr es to prepare Hushpuppy for a wor d n wh ch he s unab e (or unw
ng) to protect her. Just d dn t work for me.
2012-08-03 Zeitlin, Behn Beasts of the Southern Wild --> Rating: 7.00
Ser ous y over-rated odd past che about a young g r , Hushpuppy --an astound ng performance by Wa s Quvenzhane-- and her father W nk strugg ng to surv ve d sasters, natura and otherw se, n an area ca ed The Bathtub near or about New Or eans, and not exact y dur ng Hurr cane Katr na. More mpress on st c montage than story, and acted by amateurs, doesn t ook ke t s based on a p ay but t s. The prob em s scenes are under-deve oped and f at and the mad sequence of decay and destruct on and the odd nc us on of myth ca monsters ca ed aurochs. Loose y bound to g oba warm ng and a coho sm and neg ect, W nk tr es to prepare Hushpuppy for a wor d n wh ch he s unab e (or unw
ng) to protect her. Just d dn t work for me.
2012-08-03 Trevorrow, Colin Safety Not Guaranteed --> Rating: 7.00
Qu rky and ow tech and w th a the ha marks of ndy f m sens b t es but a so under-deve oped and sophomor c-- about a man who advert ses for a compan on to o n h m n some t me-trave : "safety not guaranteed". Sounds far more nterest ng than th s f m makes t ook: Dar us has her persona ssues as she works as an ntern for a Seatt e magaz ne and s ass gned to ass st Jeff and Arnau to d g up the story, and ends up attracted to Kenneth, the erstwh e t me-trave er, even when he breaks nto bu d ngs to stea parts. The prob em s the characters react to the scr pt, not the story, as, for examp e, when they see des gns for the t me mach ne and sudden y dec de that he m ght rea y be ab e to do t, or as when Dar us f nds out that Be nda s st a ve and conc udes that Kenneth must be y ng about everyth ng, and that th s s some k nd of betraya . Bes des, she never rea y acts ke a reporter, and the f m b the y gnores some fa r y substant ve ssues re ated to ourna sm: none of the three ever represents h mse f as a reporter to Kenneth, and Dar us wou d sure y have had some ser ous eth ca ssues to address after tr ck ng Kenneth nto tak ng her on as a partner, and even deve op ng a romant c attachment to h m.
2012-07-20 Stone, Oliver Savages --> Rating: 7.00
Chon and Ben-- the v o ent Iraq veteran and dea st c h ppy, respect ve y-- have a pretty good bus ness go ng supp y ng Southern Ca forn a w th weed-- no, the BEST weed n the wor d-- unt a Mex can carte ca ed Ba a ed by E ena tr es to move n. They k dnap Ophe a, Ben and Chon s g r , and ho d her hostage to... to what? There s no reason to be eve that once Ben and Chon fu f the gang s demands that they wou d re ease Ophe a-- why wou d they? Why wou d Ben and Chon expect them to? And why wou d the FDA agent, Denn s, honor the prom se, made under phys ca threat, to he p them? But t wou d be a very short mov e f the protagon sts d dn t behave accord ng to the r tua of Ho ywood gang mov e. And Stone has f na y fu f ed h s prom se as B mov e d rector. "Savages" s nane, tr te, and bor ng.
2012-07-15 Hancock, John Bang the Drum Slowly --> Rating: 7.00
Utter y pedestr an, -conce ved story about a catcher w th a fata ness strugg ng to get through a f na season n baseba w th the he p of the p tcher who knows about h s cond t on. There are f ashes of thoughtfu , c ever wr t ng-- the manager ye ng at a former coach who s now an Eng sh professor: "Eng sh? What the he are you teach ng Eng sh for? They a ready know how to speak t!". We , actua y, the wr t ng s good at t mes, and there s a k nd of a soph st cat on to the story that makes t adu t n a good sense-- but a so cr ngey moments of contr vance. Pr m t ve, sty st ca y and themat ca y. But Den ro s exce ent, as s Se ma D amond as a sw tchboard operator.
2012-07-15 Herzog, Werner My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? --> Rating: 8.40
Based on a true story, about an actor perform ng n Orestes who gradua y oses h s gr p on rea ty and murders h s rea mother w th an ant que sword. Herzog d rects f ms ntu t ve y and nc udes strange scenes from Peru and what appears to be T bet to suggest the d s ntegrat ng nner m nd of Brad McCu um, a story we are gu ded through by a detect ve named Hank Havenhurst. He nterv ews Brad s f ance and the d rector of the ast drama product on Brad was nvo ved n. Every character s fasc nat ng n a tw sted way, and charm ng and d sarm ng and consc ous y rat ona , n contrast to Brad, whose deter orat ng menta cond t on s revea ed through f ashbacks. Yes, Herzog can be f ppant and rreverent and somet mes provocat ve, but he s a so never not enterta n ng. Exce ent mus ca sound-track, superb y f med and acted and d rected.
2012-07-13 Polley, Sarah Take This Waltz --> Rating: 7.00
Margot and Lou have been marr ed for s x years, but one day Margot meets a hunk, Dan e , at Lou sbourg Fortress n Nova Scot a. Shock ng y, he ves r ght across the street from her n Toronto. There s a d fferent name for t, but n "Take Th s Wa tz", she s entranced by the poss b ty of a more fu f ng re at onsh p and str ngs Dan e a ong a waver ng path of tanta z ng emot ona c ues. There s not an honest moment n the f m, wh ch a ternates between forced scenes of bonhom e between Margot and Lou and teas ng conversat ons w th Dan e we ghty w th "s gn f cance". He s supposed to be an art st, but the examp es of h s work that we see are appa ng y pedestr an and obv ous. She destroys her re at onsh p w th Lou w thout hav ng actua y comm tted an act of nf de ty-- un ess Po ey wants us to be eve that there s someth ng worse than nnuendo n the f rty banter they ndu ge n. That banter s pregnant w th awareness of where the scr pt goes. Th s mov e s a woman hav ng a ong, bor ng conversat on w th herse f, w thout the s ghtest c ue about how anyone e se rea y th nks or works. It s a so bad y f med and recorded, though t s refresh ng to see the c ty of Toronto stand n for the C ty of Toronto, and hear Canad an mus c on the soundtrack. But there are severa scenes that make no dramat c or og ca sense-- as when Gera d ne drunk dr ves r ght up to Lou s house where the k nd po ce-- who et her go chat w th Margot before arrest ng her-- wa t. It s a baff ng, b ank scene, and ev dence of ust how c ue ess Po ey rea y s as a d rector.
2012-07-12 Sharp, Ian Mrs Caldicott's Cabbage War --> Rating: 7.00
Uneven comedy about an e der y woman be ng forced nto a ret rement home by her ch dren after her dom neer ng husband d es. C che-r dden and pred ctab e and heavy-handed wh e mak ng a po nt about the way we treat the e der y.
2003-01-01 Cedar, Joseph Footnote --> Rating: 8.00
E ezer Shko n k s a devoted scho ar of an extreme y esoter c area of Ta mud scho arsh p. He s an uncomprom s ng purest who ooks w th d sda n on the more ma nstream rum nat ons of h s scho ar y but popu st son Ur e . The on y recogn t on he has rece ved for a fe-t me of obsess ve study and ana ys s s an acknow edgement n a footnote by a more famous Hebrew scho ar. He s b ocked from an honor f c he fee s he deserves because he once offended the cha r of the award ng comm ttee. But one day, to h s shock, he rece ves a phone ca not fy ng h m that he s the w nner of the Israe Pr ze. He be eves the estab shment-wh ch he d sda ns-- has f na y come to the r senses. But t s a m stake and h s son has the unenv ab e task of correct ng t: he s the rea w nner. There s rea b tterness to the re at onsh p and t sn t he ped when E ezer s tact ess and arrogant, wh e h s son chooses to sacr f ce h s own nterests for the sake of f a duty. Th s s a ove y, d osyncrat c mov e that unfo ds rather than bu ds, but prov des a fasc nat ng ook at an exot c cu ture.
2012-06-01 Howard, Ron Paper --> Rating: 8.10
Wr tten by a former T me Magaz ne Ed tor, The Paper s a fa r y authent c render ng of the ves of a ed tors, wr ters, reporters, and spouses, of a f ct ona tab o d n New York over a 24-hour-per od. Laudab e attent on to some deta as to how a newspaper works, and we -deve oped, p aus b e story ne. Keaton s the manag ng ed tor, cons der ng an offer from "The Sent ne " (th n y d sgu sed New York T mes), wh e try ng to rebound from a m ssed head ne: two b ack youths are charged n the murders to two Ar zona bus nessmen n Brook yn. "The Paper" s not coy-- we qu ck y earn that the boys were not genu ne suspects. And there are no cardboard cutout badd es here. Just a reasonab y t ght, compe ng comedy-drama; enterta n ng and sat sfy ng, f not a masterp ece. Poss b y one of Howard s better f ms. Star-studded, as they say.
2012-07-03 Linklater, Richard Bernie --> Rating: 8.50
Bern e T ede moves to Carthage, Texas, from Lou s ana and takes a ob as ass stant funera d rector. He soon becomes the most popu ar man n town, espec a y to the w dows of the men he bur es, and espec a y to one w dow, Mar or e Nugent, who s the east- ked person n town. But Mar or e s r ch and T ede soon becomes her best fr end, her conf dant, and constant compan on, trave ng w th her a around the wor d. One day, Mar or e seems to d sappear. Her estranged fam y don t not ce for months, wh e Bern e g ves away her money and cont nues h s cheerfu part c pat on n every event n town. Eventua y, her body s d scovered n her freezer and Bern e s arrested. Utter y mprobab e but true, and t emerges that most of the peop e n Carthage wou d probab y have acqu tted h m f the tr a had been he d there. Br
ant evocat on of Texas-Amer cana,
sma town va ues, and the amb gu t es n the mora s mp f cat ons that somet mes preva over our v ew of Amer can cu ture and soc ety. Bern e s probab y gay and most of the town knows t-- he s "a tt e ght n h s oafers" as one man put t-- but they don t care. They a most fee t was understandab e that he wou d eventua y murder the o d "b tch". Very funny and r ch and de ghtfu .
2012-06-22 Von Garnier, Katja Iron-Jawed Angels --> Rating: 7.00
Moderate y fa thfu account of the ach evement of the 19th Amendment by the suffragette movement n 1919. A ce Pau arr ves n Wash ngton and o ns the Nat ona Amer can Woman Suffrage Assoc at on but f nds them too d ff dent and po t ca and soon eaves to found her own more rad ca group, the Nat ona Women s Party. The NAWSA had been mov ng on a state by state bas s but Pau fe t they shou d go for a Const tut ona amendment-- a bo d strategy-- that wou d g ven the vote n a states. The f m fo ows her progress w th a d sturb ng tendency to sanct fy Pau s suffer ng and exaggerat ng her mportance. At t mes, I suspected Swank was a producer. Both Pres dent W son and Carr e Chapman Catt (head of the NAWSA) are g ven short-shr ft to prov de a fo for Pau . Neverthe ess, Pau was the f rst act v st to p cket the Wh te House, for wh ch she and 38 other women were mpr soned, dur ng wh ch she and severa others were force fed after they went on a hunger str ke. I c ose w th th s tr v a from IMDB: "For the hunger str ke scenes H ary Swank chose to eat very tt e and shed severa pounds."
2012-06-15 Stillman, Whit Damsels in Distress --> Rating: 8.20
An odd ty about a group of prepp e g r s and the r soc a ves, the r cu ture, the r taste, the r emot ona tr bu at ons, sty sh y rendered w th se f- rony and se f-consc ous- rony and d s ngenuous ron c detachment-t s very hard to f gure out where on the spectrum th s d a ogue s ts. V o et eads the caba of tastefu suffragettes, p oneers at a former y a -ma e schoo , prov d ng support to su c da students and tap-dance therapy. She s a so n ove, sort of, at east w th the dea that she suffers for ove of Frank. There s a po nt somewhere n the re ent ess tr v a ty of the r ves but I m not sure you need to know t to en oy the razor-sharp w t of the d a ogue.
2012-06-17 Yang, Edward Yi Yi (A One and a Two) --> Rating: 8.50
Beaut fu Korean f m (set n Ta pe ) n the trad t on of Japanese d rector Ozu, chron c ng the fe of a fam y through one year, from a wedd ng to a funera , part cu ar y through the eyes of a young boy, h s s ster, and father. The grandmother s n a coma-- the daughter, T ng-T ng, th nks t s because she forgot to take the garbage, forc ng her grandmother to do t (her parents actua y d d t). Yang-Yang, the boy, uses a camera to try to see what he cannot see: the backs of heads, for one th ng. The father, NJ, s n the m dd e of bus ness fa ure, but s a so reconnect ng w th a ove from 30 years prev ous (h s w fe has f ed to a Buddh st retreat to f nd herse f). L ke Ozu, Yang kes h s characters and wants you to see the r chness of the poss b t es n the r ves, and to ove them for who they rea y are. Honest, and r ch, and nuanced.
2012-06-02 Borensztein, Sebastian Un Cuento Chino --> Rating: 8.00
"Based on a true story", or, rather, nsp red by a true nc dent: a cow fa ng from the sky onto a boat. (Turns out th s s an urban myth.) Roberto owns a hardware store n Buenos A res, where he s n retreat from soc ety, harbour ng gr evances aga nst the wor d, susp c ous of bus ness re at onsh ps, and co ect ng odd stor es from the newspapers that prove, to h s sat sfact on, that fe s a crock f ed w th bad uck, nc ud ng h s: h s mother d ed when he was born, and h s father d ed wh e he was away f ght ng the Eng sh (presumab y for the Fa k ands). Into h s fe stumb es Jun, a Ch nese mm grant who s tossed out of a tax , speaks no Eng sh, and seems to have no connect on to anybody. Eventua y, they set out to f nd Jun s Unc e, and Roberto tr es to un oad h m on the Ch nese embassy, w thout success. Gradua y, they deve op a k nd of a rapport and Roberto s forced to reth nk some of h s be efs. He a so cons ders h s responses to Mar , a young woman who s n ove w th h m, but to whom he seems unab e to respond. Th s s a gem: somewhat pred ctab e, but fresh and honest and kab e. Mar , by the way, s refresh ng y average-- zaft g.
2012-06-13 Sanders, Rupert Snow White and the Huntsman --> Rating: 6.90
Du , fe ess var at on of the Snow Wh te story w th nadequate Kr sten Stewart as the beauty-- rea y, no match for Char ze Theron as Queen Ravenna. Loaded w th computer graph cs, cockroaches, s ugs, b rds, and other horrors, a decorat ng one very ong chase scene. The huntsman turns out to be the true ove, but th s str ng eads nowhere. Not an nvent ve sequence n the ent re f ck.
2012-06-12 Scott, Ridley Prometheus --> Rating: 7.90
Amb t ous but u t mate y unsat sfy ng re at ve of the "A en" seque s about an anthropo og st who uncovers d agrams of the stars ead ng her to the rather amaz ng conc us on that a ens seeded fe on earth and want us to come v s t them. A corporat on funds the excurs on and the crew mag ca y ocate art f c a structures on the p anet n quest on and go to nvest gate, presum ng there w be an open ng at ground eve . The spec a effects are beaut fu and except ona , and the c nematography s gorgeous; the act ng and story ess so. Fun to watch but don t try to make sense of the p ot.
2012-06-01 Anderson, Wes Moonrise Kingdom --> Rating: 8.50
Saw th s at Vars ty n Toronto. One of the most charm ng, freshest f ms of the year. It s the 1960 s, Sam and Suzy are about 12-years-o d and both fee a enated from fr ends and fam y. Sam, n fact, s an orphan, whose foster parents have dec ded they don t want h m anymore. They meet at a performance of Noyes F ood and str ke up a correspondence. A year ater, they dec de to run off together, tak ng some food and books, a recordp ayer, and a cat. Th s sets off a pan c among Sam s boy scout troop, Suzy s parents, and the oca po ce, who set out to f nd them, wh e Sam and Suzy set up camp, dance, sw m, exper ment w th French k ss ng and get to know each other. A ways amus ng f a sm dgeon over- ong, and remarkab y un-coy and unpretent ous.
2012-06-02 Madden, John Best Exotic Marigold Hotel --> Rating: 7.20
T resome, pred ctab e, and s ght, about a group of e der y Br ts who, for var ous reasons, end up at a rather shabby (but rea y qu te charm ng) hote n Ja pur, Ind a. Some of the members of the group embrace the exot c wor d they have entered and exp ore the r new env ronment, wh e others are dragged by the scr pt, k ck ng and wh n ng, nto actua y exper enc ng some k nd of c che-r dden en ghtenment. S ght y amus ng but most y nexp cab y pedestr an, w thout even the gumpt on to show us n v ng c nematography some of marve ous s tes the more adventurous of them see. T red okes (Mur e : at my age I don t even buy green bananas) and stereo-typed, f at characters ( nc ud ng, of course, the repressed, fun-dous ng w fe). The subp ot of the hote owner strugg ng aga nst h s mother s author ty s rea y the stuff of s tcom. Funn est ne: f she d es, she d es (Norman Cous ns), ook ng for an easy score.
2012-06-06 Zvyagintsev, Andrei Return --> Rating: 8.00
Intr gu ng story about two young boys whose father returns from a myster ous absence, provok ng m xed fee ngs n the boys. He s a ternat ve y str ct and demand ng and ndu gent, and he takes them on a camp ng tr p that cha enges a of them. Doesn t fo ow the temp ate-- the younger boy beg ns to resent the unpred ctab e mood sw ngs of the father, and the father s undu y harsh at t mes. A b t of a puzz er n the end. Rea y a study of manhood, s b ngs, fam a ove... or, as the d rector wou d have t, of the four e ements: earth (mother), f re (Ivan), water (Father), and a r (Andrey). The actor who p ayed Andrey drowned short y after the f m was made n the very ake at wh ch t was f med.
2012-06-02 Sonnefeld, Barry Men in Black 3 --> Rating: 7.00
Cheer ess spec a effects veh c e for a rather mumm f ed- ook ng Tommy Lee Jones (thank God we don t have to suffer through the spectac e, at east, of a teenage ove nterest)and W Sm th as the a en hunters who have dea w th a part cu ar y dead y Bor s the An ma . Ostens b y about how the bond between the agents deve oped, there s rea y not much excuse for anyth ng, espec a y the azy, ame w tt c sms and t resome "save the ent re wor d" mode of the story ne. Some cr t cs say the p ot doesn t hang together very we because of fragmented deve opment: how cou d they te ?
2012-05-26 Schlondorff, Volker Legends of Rita --> Rating: 7.90
Met cu ous exam nat on of the fe of a German terror st after the moment... the ong, dw nd ng f re of so at on and rre evance after she s forced to go nto h d ng. R ta s not dea st and no wh te-washed hero. She be eves fervent y n the cause ong after mov ng to East Germany where she can t f nd anyone who doesn t want to move to the "oppress ve" west. She starts and ends re at onsh ps, pay ng a deep persona pr ce, for a cause wh ch may have ong ago forgotten her. A bureaucrat named Erw n kes her and watches out for her-unoff c a y, of course, because East Germany cou d not afford to be seen as be ng a party to terror sm-- wh ch s a b t of an odd reve at on g ven the propaganda and bombast of the co d war. Th s f m gets better and better as t goes a ong and you fee more attached to R ta s pecu ar wasted sens b ty, d sappo nt ng y, perhaps, hammered home at the end. Obv ous nks to Baader-Me hoff.
2012-05-26 Considine, Paddy Tyrannosaur --> Rating: 7.50
Joseph s a very b tter, unhappy man, strugg ng through fe n a poor v age, unt he meets a Chr st an woman work ng at a thr ft store, Hannah, who has prob ems of her own. They strugg e towards mutua acceptance and even ove, but Hannah harbours even darker secrets that threaten to fray the r re at onsh p. Th s s a dark, raw mov e, that doesn t necessar y pay off the way t shou d. But t s we acted and earnest. Wr tten and d rected by actor Paddy Cons d ne, t s a b t of a van ty p ece n a sophomor c way.
2012-05-01 Wedon, Josh Avengers --> Rating: 7.80
Super or act on thr er, w tty and often funny, and moves a ong smooth y n sp te of t s ength-- wh ch s st excess ve for a very ong chase mov e. No po nt n summar z ng the p ot wh ch s about as hokey as they come but smart enough not to show the seams too br ght y. Scar ett Johansson s surpr s ng y good and Robert Downey stea s every scene he s n, but the ent re cast carr es the f m n ce y. Even Capta n Amer ca, acknow edg ng that h s f ag-based outf t m ght be a b t dated, carr es a n ce y ca brated sense of se f- rony. The spec a effects do get t resome after a wh e though. And the Hu k seems to go mad-- I mean, rea y berserk, but then seems to know who h s fr ends are... t s a tt e comprom sed. And Samue L. Jackson s mere y t resome and du as crypto-fac st n wa t ng, N ck Fury.
2012-05-12 Wyler, William Children's Hour --> Rating: 8.40
Compe ng story about Karen and Martha, two young teachers who open the r own schoo n a refurb shed farmhouse. Karen s engaged to Joe, a doctor, and nephew of Mrs. T ford, an nf uent a member of soc ety. When Karen d sc p nes Mary, Mrs. T ford s granddaughter, Mary takes revenge by g v ng a sa ac ous sp n to some goss p a c assmate, Rosa e overheard: Karen and Martha are esb an overs. A of the ch dren are w thdrawn from the schoo and the two g r s are ru ned. They confront Mrs. T ford but she s unrepentant and they sue. Th s s adu t n the best sense of the word: subt e, compe ng, and be evab e, and horr fy ng. He man has sa d that t s more about goss p than esb an sm, and that r ngs true. Ange a Cartwr ght s notab e as Rosa e, but Karen Ba k n as Mary may be a tt e over-the-top. An mportant soc a document.
2012-05-10 Laughton, Charles Night of the Hunter --> Rating: 7.80
Strange, genera y compe ng drama about two ch dren whose cr m na father ets them n on a secret, wh ch a deranged con-art st preacher, Harry Powe , (a b uebeard who marr es then murders women for money) wants very bad y to know. The r mother s eas y dece ved but not the son. She agrees to marry Powe but on the r wedd ng n ght nforms her that sex s ev and he w have no part of t. Has moments of genu ne h ar ty and offk ter sequences that do much to enr ch the drama. It s a shame the act on scenes are genera y sty zed and archa c. There s one r vet ng shot of the mother n the car underwater that a one s worth the pr ce of adm ss on. A so ntr gu ng for the m x of re g on and fraud-- as f the two were of a p ece, and as f Harry Powe , the preachers, rea y be eves n h s own con.
2012-05-04 Hanson, Curtis Too Big to Fail --> Rating: 7.90
Super or, effect ve drama about the f nanc a cr s s carefu y trac ng events from the cr s s at Lehman Brothers, the government s refusa to ba them out, and the sudden crash of stock markets and wor d w de cred t crunch, as Hank Pau son, T mothy Ge thner (B y Crudup), and Ben Bernanke tr ed to save the wor d. Does a good ob of present ng comp ex, e aborate transact ons n a comprehens b e fash on wh e ma nta n ng a cred b e eve of dramat c mpact. We acted and wr tten and bo d.
2012-04-27 Bunuel, Luis Exterminating Angel --> Rating: 8.00
Part y a egor ca f m about a group of bourgeo s fr ends en oy ng a d nner and enterta nment together n a av sh mans on and then f nd ng that they are a unw
ng or unab e to eave. Gradua y, the grav ty of the cr s s
s nks n, but a of the characters seem ncapab e of act ng; they moan and wh ne and eventua y break through a wa to get water, and d scuss the r horr b e pred cament wh e the med a breath ess y reports on the cr s s. We -acted and f med, and ntr gu ng, but, ke a a egor es, somet mes wears th n. It s n the r ch character zat on of use ess, wea thy, ndu gent, tr v a peop e that the f m sh nes, and the r d cu ousness of the r cu ture and hab ts. Bunue wanted to have cann ba sm n t but cou dn t f m that n Mex co. IMDB reports that Woody A en often references th s f m. I wou d add, "D screte Charm of the Bourgeo s e" to that st.
2012-04-24 Hirsch, Lee Bully --> Rating: 7.70
Compe ng documentary about bu y ng n Amer can schoo s, w th extens ve nterv ews w th parents and v ct ms, and some fa r y dramat c footage of actua bu y ng, and, most dramat ca y, a p p of a pr nc pa who doesn t be eve t rea y goes on n her schoo , and who tr es to force a v ct m to shake hands w th a s y bu y who p edges decency w th a w nk and a nod and obv ous y fu y ntends to cont nue bu y ng. Poor camera work and occas ona y unfocused, but worthy and nterest ng, and somet mes mov ng. One v ct m, a esb an who comes out to her h gh schoo , s a peach, and rather char smat c.
2012-04-26 Kondracki, Larysa Whistleblower --> Rating: 7.70
Kathryn Bo kovac s a stra ght arrow Nebraska cop need ng money who takes a ob w th the U.N. as a peacekeeper n Bosn a. She uncovers a human traff ck ng r ng dea ng n Eastern European women be ng dragooned nto prost tut on w th the comp c ty of the U.N. troops. Loose y based on a true story, a tad r ghteous , but compe ng, and shock ng. I had prob ems be ev ng the character zat ons of the women, and c ear y some scenes were abso ute y f ct ona zed for dramat c effect.
2012-03-01 Bunuel, Luis Exterminating Angel --> Rating: 8.10
The guests for a d nner party arr ve tw ce, engage n goss p and f rtat on, en oy a performance on the p ano, and then d scover they don t want to eave. Then they rea ze that refus ng to eave s outrageous, but can t br ng themse ves to cross the thresho d of the next room. They run out of food and water and s eep on the f oor, and f na y crack nto a p pe through the p aster on the wa . I oke, one supposes, s that the "cr s s" s a absurd, and that these pretent ous, superf c a peop e are trapped n a b zarre wor d of the r own mak ng. I be eve Bunue wants to revea to us ust how contr ved and art f c a that wor d s. Bunue h mse f was a rebe , a d ss dent, who hated Franco s Spa n and had noth ng but contempt for the bourgeo s e.
2012-04-20 Stillman, Whit Last Days of Disco --> Rating: 8.30
Superb y wr tten drama about a group of twenty-someth ng yupp es strugg ng to be coo and fu f ed n New York C ty n the 1980 s. They exper ment w th drugs and sex and form var ous attachments w thout ever seem ng to f nd a happy ba ance, a wh e e oquent y express ng the r d s- us onments and d s-sat sfact ons. Fresh and unexpected and, at t mes, po gnant.
2012-04-14 Ross, Gary Hunger Games --> Rating: 7.30
Re at ve y fa thfu adaptat on of the dystop an popu ar nove featur ng a mesmer z ng Jenn fer Lawrence as Katn ss Everdeen, who vo unteers to take the p ace of her 12-year-o d s ster n an annua contest among 12 d str cts: a f ght to the death. Each d str ct sends two contestants, one ma e, one fema e, who are re eased nto a surv vor type env ronment. The w nner br ngs rewards for h m or herse f and d str ct. The f m vers on s not part cu ar y good or bad, or rea y a that compe ng, but t does move a ong n ce y. The pr mary asset of the f m-- and t s cons derab e-- s Jenn fer Lawrence, (who performed we n "W nter s Bone"), a str k ng, compe ng, very watchab e performer. Stan ey Tucc s f ne as the tw sted MC; most of the rest of the cast are fodder. The b ggest drawback s the med ocre d rect on, ed t ng, and the abom nab e hand-he d camera techn que, for no d scern b e purpose, espec a y through the f rst 1/3 of the mov e. Note a so that the book tse f, and, t fo ows, the mov e, s extreme y der vat ve of severa other mov es, espec a y "Batt e Roya e".
2012-04-05 Ratner, Brett Tower Heist --> Rating: 7.50
Moderate y enterta n ng farce about a Bern e Madoff type nvestor Arthur Shaw (A an A da) who r ps off many of the emp oyees of the tower res dence n wh ch he occup es a penthouse. The emp oyees, ed by manager Josh Kovacs, are conv nced Shaw has h dden $20 m
on somewhere n the penthouse and are determ ned to
stea t from h m, w th the a d of a oca b ack con "S de" (Edd e Murphy), who, of course, mmed ate y sets out to doub e-cross h s new fr ends. The po t ca overtones are muted but there are d st nct echoes of the 99% theme, and anger at the way most of the peop e respons b e for the f nanc a debac e got off. Best th ng about the mov e: Tea Leon as a corrupt b e FBI agent who usts for Kovacs and may not be qu te tota y nterested n stopp ng h m from h s Rob n Hood scheme. Th s bas ca y a caper f m boosted by Leon s r ch endowment of her character.
2012-04-08 Goodman, Brian What Doesnt Kill You --> Rating: 7.80
Wr tten part y by Donn e Wah berg, and apparent y based part y on Br an Goodman s fe before he became a d rector. Gr tty, genera y we -acted drama about two ch dhood fr ends who get m xed up w th the Ir sh mob, go to a , ru n the r own ves-- they ust can t g ve n to a pass on ess workaday ex stence. Better than average for the genre, but st a genre p cture, and somewhat po nt ess. Un ke "Goodfe as", t doesn t prov de a part cu ar y v v d ns ght nto the ves t dep cts: these guys rea y are qu te bor ng n the end, pred ctab e, and foo sh.
2012-03-31 Goodman, Brian What Doesn't Kill You --> Rating: 7.80
Wr tten part y by Donn e Wah berg, and apparent y based part y on Br an Goodman s fe before he became a d rector. Gr tty, genera y we -acted drama about two ch dhood fr ends who get m xed up w th the Ir sh mob, go to a , ru n the r own ves-- they ust can t g ve n to a pass on ess workaday ex stence. Better than average for the genre, but st a genre p cture, and somewhat po nt ess. Un ke "Goodfe as", t doesn t prov de a part cu ar y v v d ns ght nto the ves t dep cts: these guys rea y are qu te bor ng n the end, pred ctab e, and foo sh.
2012-03-31 Allen, Woody Radio Days --> Rating: 8.80
Woody A en s nosta g c but met cu ous tr bute to the ate 1930 s and 40 s, popu ar mus c, and the rad o age. A portra t of h s fam y and extended fam y, nteract ng w th the usua coarseness, vu gar ty, and, occas ona y, grace, and an astute commentary on the f rst mass med a, how t became centra to fam y fe, present ng news and enterta nment, somet mes enthra ng, somet mes shock ng or fr ghten ng (as n Orson We e s "War of the Wor ds"). Not a s ng e fa se moment n the f m, and some extraord nar y str k ng trans t ons, as when h s father, n the m dd e of g v ng h m an o d-fash oned spank ng, stops to hear about a g r who has fa en nto a we (based on rea story of Kathy F scus), wh ch ends unexpected y. Somet mes we are taken to the broadcast tse f, the stud o, or a baseba game where a one- egged p tcher (a so based on a true story, of Monty Stratton, makes a memorab e appearance. The cast ng s note perfect--- w th a m nor qu bb e: ne ther M a Farrow nor D ane Keaton can s ng, and when contrasted w th K tty Car s e Hart, they ook s ght y embarrass ng. A beaut fu , funny, evocat ve f m, one of A en s best.
2012-03-30 Favreau, Jon Zathura --> Rating: 7.20
Danny and Wa ter f ght constant y, over attent on from the father, over games (Wa ter c a ms Danny cheats), TV, and the r mom and dad who have d vorced. Poor Danny seems put upon-- after a , he s the cute moppet who on y wants to be oved. The nteract ons are surpr s ng y authent c at t mes, but ess so as they are transported to space by a game, Zathura, wh ch they must p ay to the end to return to earth. The pace of th s f m s terr b e: ong, rregu ar pauses, bad t m ng, punch nes dropped off the edge of a c ff. The Zorgons attack the house but seem to success ve y destroy t and then destroy the same parts of the house aga n, and then aga n, so that you don t have any sense of rea threat or even a sense of near t me. The act ng s not bad; Kr sten Stewart s amus ng, and there s a moderate y nterest ng tw st. M ght be too scary for younger k ds. Rea y about fam y but so obv ous y rea y about fam y that I d dn t care much by then.
2012-03-30 Ramsay, Lynne We Need to Talk About Kevin --> Rating: 8.10
Very dark, mpress on st c account of a mother com ng to gr ps w th her son who murders 9 c assmates and schoo staff one Thursday. Dar ng y f med but T da Sw nton and John C. Re y are weak cho ces for the two ma n ro es-- Sw nton starts off shattered and reads her exper ence backwards nto every other nteract on w th Kev n, and Re y ust never comes to fe. Deserves some cred t for tak ng on a d ff cu t ssue, and for refus ng to excuse or sent menta ze the ro es p ayed by parents, the v o ence tse f, or the nature of Kev n s ev . Odd y be evab e and compe ng.
2012-03-24 MacDonald, Bruce Hard Core Logo --> Rating: 8.50
Twe ve years after "Th s s Sp na Tap" came "Hard Core Logo", a mockmumentary about a troub ed Canad an punk band ed by Joe D ck embark ng on a rev va tour across Western Canada, p ay ng out the r tens ons and ea ous es and dysfunct ons before the cameras. Actua y, qu te compe ng at t mes, b tter y raw and somet mes unh nged, but a ways watchab e. The po ar t es between D ck and B y Ta ent, the ead gu tar st, bu d to a vo can c erupt on of tantrums, anger, and sou -search ng. The mus c never fee s faked or gratu tous or fey. Superb y acted and f med. Some quest onab e d vers ons a ong the way-- th s s not w thout s gn f cant f aws-but worthwh e.
2012-03-24 Bird, Brad Iron Giant --> Rating: 7.00
Rather pedestr an story w th a we -worn eco og ca theme about a arge a en robot that appears n a New Eng and commun ty and befr ends a tt e boy. The g ant eats meta . A ot of shots seem to have been borrowed-- I wou d ca t homage-- from "ET", "The Russ ans are Com ng, The Russ ans are Com ng", "Bamb ", and other f ms. The re at onsh p between the boy and h s mom s TV c che: she rad ates ov ng adorat on n every nteract on. The po ce and m tary p ay the heav es, but on y unt everyone f na y understands that the ovab e robot-- yes, he has fee ngs and gets upset when a pa r of hunters k a deer-- s rea y a "good" creature, even capab e of ove. The an mat on s not part cu ar y or g na or mag nat ve. Perhaps notab e as Brad B rd s f rst ma or an mat on, fo owed by the much more muscu ar "The Fantast cks" a few years ater.
2012-03-18 Elliot, Adam Mary and Max --> Rating: 8.00
Max s sh eppy o d man v ng n New York, v ng a very constra ned, b eak, se f-conta ned fe. E ght-year-o d Mary ves n Austra a and doesn t have many fr ends. She p cks Max s name and address out of a phone book at the brary and sends h m a etter hop ng to f nd a pen pa . Max wr tes back and they deve op a ong-d stance re at onsh p. Unsent menta and somet mes gr tty, Mary and Max te s about the modest oy the two obta n from each other, the occas ona m sunderstand ngs or offenses mag ned or rea , and the b tter sweet f rst meet ng after Mary has become an adu t. Not the greatest an mat on, but or g na and evocat ve, and the story has heart, wh ch s more than you can say about a ot of f ms.
2012-03-20 Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Kid With a Bike --> Rating: 8.60
Cyr s father has abandoned h m to a home for youths. Determ ned to f nd h m-- conv nced that he s st wanted-- he runs nto a ha rdresser, and c ngs to her to avo d be ng dragged off by workers from the nst tut on. She says, "you can ho d me, but not so t ght". When he asks f he can stay w th her, she mpu s ve y agrees to take h m on weekends. He s more than a handfu and cha enges every k ndness she offers w th anger, def ance, and rebe on. But Samantha s ust as determ ned to g ve h m the stab ty he needs, and t s a tr bute to the Dardenne Brothers (Jean-P erre and Luc) that we be eve t. A terr f c f m, somet mes fr ghten ng n t s eve of authent c ty, and a ways compe ng.
2012-03-18 Roach, Jay Game Change --> Rating: 7.50
As observed on "Ins de Wash ngton", genera y f atters those who ta ked to the wr ters and d sses those who d d not. Ju anne Moore m tates Pa n-- w th a b t of depth, t must be sa d-- who s caught up n the thr of nove ty and the moment and th nks, for a t me, that she rea y s the hype, on y to come crash ng when McCa n s crew try to get her to actua y understand fore gn and nat ona po cy ssues. You m ght fee sorry for her f she were not so damned conf dent of herse f-- arrogant, rea y. Th s mov e ra sed tse f a b g notch when, at the end, as McCa n stews, and an a de wh spers, " n three months t w be Sarah who" or someth ng ke that, we hear the crowd beg n chant ng her name. Enterta n ng and rea y qu te fa r-- you can t b ame them for show ng Pa n as she was.
2012-03-17 Wain, David Role Models --> Rating: 7.20
About two m screants, Whee er and Danny, who are compe ed to perform commun ty serv ce by become b g brothers, to avo d pr son. They are matched up w th a su en b ack k d, Ronn e, and a m sf t wh te teenager, Aug e, who oves ro e-p ay ng enactments, n costume. You can pretty we see everyth ng com ng from there, though the f m has a few genu ne moments of comedy. The message s nev tab e but not too heavy-handed, and the character of Sweeney (Jane Lynch) as the adm n strator of the b g brothers program, s a genu ne or g na : funny, provocat ve, smart, and fresh.
2012-03-11 Nelson, Tim Blake Blades of Grass --> Rating: 6.50
B and Brady K nca d are dent ca tw ns. One of them becomes a co ege professor. Does he have any rea pass on n h s fe, and rea sou fu ness"? Of course not: he s nte gent. Inte gent peop e don t fee anyth ng. H s brother however s a dope dea er, a grow-op operator, n debt to an o der Jew sh man n Tu sa. He needs h s brother to return home to fac tate a c ever scam wh ch doesn t make sense g ven that he cou d not have known what wou d happen at h s meet ng w th Pug Rothbaum. We are a so g ven to be eve that B wou d come home from a busy fe at Harvard to h s brother s funera w thout hav ng any contact w th anyone e se (from whom he m ght have earned that h s brother had not actua y d ed). There are asp rat ona moments: they try for poetry, damn t. But the poetry c ear y emanates from the rust c Ok ahoma unk es, not from someone who teaches V rg and Marcus Aure us, because everybody knows that anybody who stud es terature has no rea fee ngs. As de from that, there are bad and ncons stent m tat ons of an Ok e accent, utter y mp aus b e p ot deve opments, a s tcom sty e of drama: "Oh no-- p ease don t make me mpersonate you. P ease! Oh, a r ght...". And t wasn t even f med n Ok ahoma. And featur ng a cheap shot at the 60 s: why d d you have to tear everyth ng down? Why cou dn t you bu d someth ng? You mean ke the env ronmenta movement? C v r ghts? Fem n sm? Woodstock? D d feature parts of some good mus c by John Pr ne and the Band and others.
2012-03-13 Franklin, Carl One False Move --> Rating: 7.50
Da e "Hurr cane" D xon s a oca sher ff n Star C ty, Arkansas, ead ng a qu et y pedestr an fe unt he gets a ca from a soph st cated Los Ange es Detect ve nform ng h m that a dead y cr m na w th a very h gh IQ-- Lenny "P uto" Frank yn-- m ght be headed h s way a ong w th a g r named Fantas a and a ess soph st cated more temperamenta thug named Ray Ma co m. There have been hom c des over a drug dea , and a s a n po ce off cer a ong the way. "Hurr cane" gets t nto h s head to prove h s mett e by s ng e-handed y captur ng the fug t ves. But he a so knows why they m ght be headed to Star C ty: Fantas a has a past. A ternate y ntr gu ng and off-putt ng, th s v o ent, messy, u t mate y mp aus b e story has a few compe ng performances, espec a y Cynda W ams as Fantas a. D vert ng, and we -f med, w th some n ce touches (the Los Ange es detect ves aren t monstrous y stereo-typed) but the end ng rea y stretches credu ty [spo er: the LA detect ves abandon the wounded Hurr cane to h s maybe 5 year o d son...]
2012-03-10 Donzelli, Valerie La Guerre est Delcaree --> Rating: 7.20
Wr tten and d rected and acted by the coup e whose rea - fe ch d exper enced a ser ous ness, much ke Adam n th s f m. A tt e off-- the parents react to the news of the tumour as f they are far more shocked than the aud ence s by then, and there s someth ng a b t narc ss st c about the who e enterpr se. So we are eft w th the suffer ng of the parents, more so than of the ch d, and the r endurance, and wa t ng for the resu ts, wh ch you w know from the f rst scene n the f m. It s been ca ed a ove- etter to the French hea th care system, and that t s.
2012-03-03 Holland, Agnieszka In Darkness --> Rating: 7.60
Hand-he d wander ng camera-- as f. There s noth ng new or surpr s ng n th s var at on of the r ghteous gent e meme. Except that Ho and wou d resort to trendy g mm ckry to try to g ve some edge to we -worn mater a . As Ebert observes, there s noth ng rea y wrong w th the story-- t s ust been done. It s about Leopo d Socha, a Po sh San tat on worker from Lvov who d scovers some Jews n h s sewer system one day, as the Naz s are exterm nat ng the ast remnants from the ghetto. He takes the r money at f rst and keeps them a ve but when they run out of money he s forced to dec de for human ty. They surv ved 14 months before the Russ ans " berated" Lvov and they were ab e to emerge, f thy, ragged, t red. Re at ve y accurate story, us ng nc dents from the Marsha book. We acted.
2012-02-29 Jarmusch, Jim Stranger Than Paradise --> Rating: 8.50
One of the strangest f ms I have ever seen: b ack and wh te, a sound recorded ve n the f e d, odd, tr v a d a ogue fo owed by ong s ences... What IS th s about? W e ves n a dowdy apartment n New York, watches TV, hangs out w th h s fr end Edd e. One day h s 16-year-o d cous n, Eva, comes to v s t from Hungary. At f rst, he s demonstrab y annoyed w th her presence, but after she stea s some food and c garettes for h m, he s ntr gued and warms up to her. She eaves one day and goes to ve w th her aunt Lotte n C eve and, who s a ve y p ece of work. A year ater, W e and Edd e dr ve down n a borrowed car to p ck her up, go to a mov e, and then dr ve off to F or da, where they encounter both good and bad uck. In one of the few d sp ays of emot on, she s g ad to see them. In F or da, they take off and eave n the hote room and ose a the r money at the dog track. And that s about t. Never un nterest ng, nor ever part cu ar y coherent. Rem nds me most y of Guy Madd n s work: ob que, r ch y suggest ve, somet mes compe ng. L ke an ent re symphony of one or two chords w th two or three str k ng me od c so os that seem to come out of nowhere. Are the so os rea y str k ng or ust a re ef from the chords? What s the mean ng of Scream n Jay Hawk ns "I Put a Spe on You"?
2012-02-24 Giordana, Marco Best of Youth --> Rating: 8.00
Yes, 366 m nutes. Or g na y conce ved as a te ev s on ser es, fo ows the ves of two brothers, and the r fam y, from the 1960 s to 2000, encapsu at ng the r encounters w th 60 s rad ca sm, protest, the Red Br gades, and organ zed cr me. Matteo Carat s n t a y the more sens t ve one, who tr es to rescue a g r from e ectroshock therapy at an nst tut on, on y to f nd that her own fam y doesn t want her back. N co a s a more gent e sou but he marr es a student rad ca who abandons h m and the r daughter. Matteo has enormous d ff cu t es estab sh ng re at onsh ps and reach ng out, wh e N co a bu ds a network of support ve fr ends and co eagues. In tragedy, the r two wor ds encounter each other on a more authent c eve . Intr gu ng and beaut fu at t mes, but a so occas ona y frustrat ng y contr ved-- Georg a, the assy um g r , s rather a prett f ed stereo-type w thout much of a rea persona ty. M re a s so e funct on seems to be to make googoo eyes at Matteo, and then become the canvas upon wh ch N co a pa nts h s ph osoph ca reso ut ons. Some very beaut fu ocat on photography, nc ud ng Pa ermo.
2012-02-25 Falardeau, Phillipe Monsieur Lazhar --> Rating: 8.30
Th s s not what you d expect: nsp rat ona teacher eads troub ed students to tr umph over advers ty. Mons eur Lazhar, somewhat mprobab y, s h red to rep ace Mart ne, a teacher who has comm tted su c de, n her c assroom, and whose body s d scovered by S mon, a student who may have p ayed a ro e n her dem se, and by another student, A ce, whose re at onsh p to S mon s comp ex and amb guous. And that s the strength of Mons eur Lazhar: t doesn t attempt to exp a n everyth ng, and doesn t try to force t s characters nto a mo d. Lazhar sn t h p or nnovat ve-- n fact, he s rather stodgy and o d-fash oned n h s approach. And the other teachers and the pr nc pa are not v a ns or representat ves of some k nd of repress ve react onary cu ture: they are s mp y try ng to do the r best and strugg ng w th manag ng the cr s s. The f m does take a refresh ng shot or two at the psycho og st brought n to he p the students gr eve. And the f m deft y pokes at the overprotect ve cu ture around schoo s and teachers: no hugg ng s perm tted. Love y, honest tt e f m.
2012-02-25 Loden, Barbara Wanda --> Rating: 7.90
Odd, extreme y b eak v s on of a young woman, p ayed by the wr ter-d rector (who was marr ed to E a Kazan at the t me, and who d ed, at 48, before mak ng another mov e), who deserts her husband and two ch dren and dr fts around, from dr nk to dr nk, man to man, unt she hooks up w th an erstwh e bank robber. He s abus ve to her, and contemptuous at t mes, but t s a cred t to the mov e that he s not a b unt nstrument. And Wanda s morb d pass v ty-- her strongest response s "what d d I do" after he h ts her-- beg ns to work n favor of the drama. She s the center of attent on, but a so a b ank s ate, and the f m somet mes creates an agon z ng awareness of the utter vacuousness of the cho ces she has. Strong, nterest ng, but we rd mov e-- un ke anyth ng you have ever seen.
2012-02-19 Majewski, Lech Mill and the Cross --> Rating: 8.10
Extraord nary exp orat on of a pa nt ng, P eter Bruege s "The Process on to Ca vary", n wh ch the art st s portrayed mmersed n h s canvas, wander ng around the andscape, encounter ng h s sub ects. Beaut fu y f med and the spec a effects are state of the art but the drama somet mes seems pr m t ve and schemat c-wh ch m ght be the ntent. But the st ff way that Bruege addresses the v ewer or reader cou d not have been meant to be so ame. Rea y, the f m s about the connect on of the bruta rea ty of the Span sh Occupat on of the Nether ands n the 16th Century and t s effects on the ves of the peasants, and on the re at onsh p of art to rea fe, and how both endure n the r own form: the symbo c m at the top of the pa nt ng, supp y ng food to the hard-work ng fo k a ong the road, who beaut fu y move on n a d gn f ed pageant at the end. "What Dreams May Come" tr ed to evoke someth ng ke th s and fa ed terr b y.
2012-02-11 Polanski, Roman Carnage --> Rating: 7.00
Very prom s ng and then very d sappo nt ng drama about two coup es who get together to reso ve a f ght between the r sons, n wh ch Zachary, ch d of Nancy and A an Cowan, smacked Ethan, son of Pene ope and M chae Longstreet. Through the afternoon, the ncreas ng y sp tefu and petty behav or of the adu ts beg ns to dwarf the s gn f cance of the or g na nc dent. There s some fun n Pene ope s smarmy, smother ng, bera p ety, and A an s smartass cyn c sm, and more than a few c ever w secracks, but t becomes ess and ess p aus b e that A an and Nancy don t ust eave, espec a y after Nancy becomes phys ca y , and A an, a awyer, s urgent y needed at h s off ce. Rea y, ust not a that c ever about deve op ng th s nto a story.
2012-02-11 Tucci, Stanley Big Night --> Rating: 8.20
R ch, sweet, wonderfu portra t of pass onate Ita an brothers who run an uncomprom s ng Ita an Restaurant n Keyport, New Jersey, n the 1950 s. They happen to be across the road from the Ho ywood restaurant, that dumbs down Ita an food and cu ture for und scr m nat ng customers-- and does a boom ng bus ness. The Parad se, unfortunate y, s about to fo d because the chef, Pr mo, won t cater to ph st ne tastes of the broader pub c. The manager of the r va restaurant, who adm res the brothers, prom ses that famous s nger Lou s Pr mo w come to the r restaurant for a part cu ar mea , and, as n "Babette s Feast", a monumenta gourmet exper ence s prepared. Tastefu , r ch, and subt e, "B g N ght" s one of the best of the "food orgy" mov es, second on y, perhaps, to "Babette s Feast", but way ahead of "Wa tress" and "Myst c P zza". (Campbe Scott cod rected)
2012-02-11 Trank, Josh Chronicle --> Rating: 7.90
Above average sc -f story of three fr ends, Andrew, Matt, and Steve, who nvest gate a myster ous ho e n the ground and come n contact w th some unexp a ned phenomena that g ves them te ek net c powers, wh ch they can enhance through pract ce. Dane DeHaan as Andrew s a rea f nd here: compe ng and nterest ng every m nute he s on the screen, as he nvests shy, geeky Andrew w th a grow ng sense of power and dest ny, and becomes a threat to those around h m. Invokes "Carr e" at t mes, w th Andrew s dysfunct ona fam y, h s a coho c father and mother. But the boys react n a be evab e way to the r new found powers and t s amus ng to see them work ng out the mp cat ons, at east unt the overwrought end ng.
2012-02-09 Hazanavicius, Michel Artist --> Rating: 8.20
Entranc ng, expert y d rected s ent mov e about s ent mov es and a mat nee do who refuses to adapt to sound, and the g r who oves h m who does. Not qu te "A Star s Born" but certa n y rem n scent of "The Com c" at t mes. C ever use of mus c, then sound, effects, but not qu te, and beaut fu y acted w th met cu ous attent on to pace and body anguage. I d dn t f nd the end ng ent re y sat sfy ng-- not qu te p aus b e-- but the gent e evocat on of Peppy s devot on to George was qu te mov ng at t mes, as when she sends an emp oyee to buy up George s art facts at pub c auct on and then saves them for h m.
2010-02-04 Black, Noel Pretty Poison --> Rating: 8.50
Very unusua f m about a s ght y unba anced ex-con hook ng up w th a v vac ous 17-year-o d h gh schoo ma orette. He conv nces her that he s some k nd of secret agent, and she bad y wants exc tement-- and a b t of freedom, n her fe. Tuesday We d s ust about the most de ectab e a -ba t ever f med, and Perk ns s qu rky and f ustered. The trans t on from ght-hearted romp to dark sat re s smooth y managed by We d s dar ng and amus ng performance. She rea y does need to be seen to be be eved, as when she steps n to hand e the n ght watchman as she and the "secret agent" are sabotag ng the chem ca p ant, and the shock ng way she f n shes h m off.
2012-02-04 Dar, Gidi Ushpizin --> Rating: 7.00
Shu Rand wrote and starred n th s modest f m about an orthodox Jew sh Rabb who s a tt e down on h s uck and needs some he p to proper y ce ebrate Succoth. A pa r of o d fr ends -- escaped from pr son-- show up on h s doorstep and Mo she s a ternate y repe ed by the r bad manners and compe ed by duty to prov de them hosp ta ty. A the wh e, he and h s w fe M cha (Rand s rea - fe w fe, M cha Bat-Sheva Rand) are wa t ng for a m rac e, for her to get pregnant-- but, of course, on y a son prov des them w th the ecstat c hope. Interest ng g mpse nto the fe of an Orthodox Jew sh fam y, but not much more than that.
2012-02-04 Alfredson, Thomas Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 2011 --> Rating: 8.40
Superb render ng of John Le Carre s br
ant take on K m Ph by. Someone at the top eve of Br t sh
Inte gence seems to be eak ng to the Russ ans. Contro suspects a mo e but can t trust anyone n h s nner c rc e to unmask the tra tor. When someth ng goes ser ous y wrong w th an operat on n Budapest, the government br ngs n George Sm ey to root out the doub e-agent. Sm ey s a so dea ng w th memor es of h s broken marr age, but reso ute y engages n the pursu t. Th s s not about g amour: t s about the corros ve, tox c effects of secrecy and dup c ty, and quest ons whether or not we end up becom ng the very th ngs we desp se wh e foo ng ourse ves nto th nk ng we re n a r ghteous war.
2012-01-31 Phillips, Todd Starsky and Hutch 2004 --> Rating: 7.80
Funny and tastefu y rreverent re-take of the 1970 s TV show n a of t s chees e g ory, w th Owen W son and Ben St er keab y render ng the nept but charm ng Detect ves. The 1970 s soundtrack s more than nosta g c: t s the pa nt by numbers g oss on an era of ug y, hokey TV drama. Better than t deserved to be.
2012-01-28 Taylor, Tate the help --> Rating: 6.50
There sn t an authent c moment n th s ent re b ubbery contr vance about a wh te bera g r , w th the coy y r d cu ous name of "Skeeter", who, return ng home from co ege, wants to wr te about the women who do a the housekeep ng and ch d-rear ng n aff uent wh te househo ds n th s sma M ss ss pp town. There wou dn t be much of a mov e f the b ack women, behav ng ent re y w th att tudes that seem more nat ve to the 1990 s than the 1960 s, d dn t put up a res stance, and the cardboard cutout v a ns of the p ece d dn t steam n consternat on. Every character seems more ke a reference to another mov e or book than they do to any rea fe persons, nc ud ng the sens t ve wr ter, who tr es va n y to d sgu se the fact that the story, supposed y about wh te repress on of b acks, s rea y about a wh te g r who s so r ghteous and consc ent ous that she ust can t stomach the n ust ce of segregat on. The on y fresh face here s Jess ca Chasta n as Ce a Foote, a ush, v vac ous housew fe who h res M nny Jackson when nobody e se w . But "The He p" can t even get the rac st oppress on r ght. At one po nt, M nn e s daughter nterrupts a so ree hosted by H y Ho brooke to te her mother someth ng mportant. When her emp oyer r ghtfu y ob ects that M nn e s work ng and her daughter shou d come back ater, and then f res her when M nn e argues, we are g ven to be eve that th s was an act of rac st oppress on when t doesn t, n fact, seem a that harsh y unreasonab e to me. Nor are there any traces eft, n the demeanor of the he p or Skeeter s fam y, or, conven ent y, n characters who are on the s de of Skeeter or fr end y to her, of the corros ve re at onsh p between c asses that mark the South, or ear y 20th century Eng and, or anywhere e se where there was a deep y embedded master-s ave re at onsh p at one t me. One of the he p does descr be a pos t ve re at onsh p w th her emp oyer-- but t fee s so token that t was hard to take ser ous y. It s there so defenders of the mov e can ns st that t wasn t as one-s ded as a that. In the same ve n, the ma ds keep offer ng adv ce to the wh te characters, as f they th nk everyone knows that they are ent t ed to ong-suffer ng w sed o d b ack dude status, and none of the wh tes appear to be nsu ted by the dea. Th s s M ss ss pp , r ght? V o a Dav s was nom nated for an Oscar-- they can t be ser ous. She struts about the mov e ook ng gr m, more gr m, ess gr m, and gr m gr m, and not much e se. She hard y ex sts on the screen, wh e Jess ca Chasta n owns t. Th s s the ev tw n of too many mov es to st, but start w th "To K a Mock ngb rd".
2011-01-29 Loach, Jim Oranges and Sunshine --> Rating: 6.00
In Nott ngham n the 1980 s, soc a worker Margaret Humphreys s contacted by an Austra an woman ook ng for her b o og ca fam y. She was sent away by sh p when she was a ch d, to d that her mother was dead, and that fe n Austra a wou d be "oranges and sunsh ne". Humphreys d scovered that there were thousands ke her, and that n many cases the mothers were not dead-- they were s mp y young and unwed. Br ta n sh pped the ch dren overseas to save the money on upkeep. Some of them ended up n Catho c char t es, and we a know what frequent y happened there. Th s s a worthy f m, a good cause, but marred, ke many s m ar f ms, by a sh ft n the story to ust how wonderfu , ong-suffer ng, and be oved Margaret Humphreys s. Part cu ar y cr nge-worthy: a comp ete y unnecessary scene of a gather ng of the v ct ms a te ng Margaret ust how good she s, a ong w th Humphrey s d s ngenuous ns stence that she ust had to do t because nobody e se cared-n sp te of rafts of ev dence to the contrary. Add a few me odramat c and ke y f ct ona zed scenes of men urk ng outs de her house at n ght and threaten ng her... We , she shou d know -- t s based on her book. Hugo Weav ng s very good; the rest of the cast are adequate. Poor y f med and d rected-- t s actua y k nd of a mess.
2012-01-24 Allen, Woody Purple Rose of Cairo --> Rating: 7.90
Cec a s unhapp y marr ed, work ng as a wa tress and do ng aundry n the even ngs to pay the rent, a wh e mak ng d nner and serv ng as foot-stoo to her abus ve husband, Monk. Her escape s the mov es, and she becomes part cu ar y obsessed w th "The Purp e Rose of Ca ro". One day, a character from the f m, Tom Baxter, ooks at her s tt ng n the aud ence and comments on the fact that she has come f ve t mes n a row to see t, and then steps off the screen and nto her fe, ntroduc ng a host of absurd comp cat ons. The p ot of the onscreen mov e can t advance (and the characters can t go to d nner) and Cec a has to start sneak ng out on her husband to see the romant c Tom. Th s s funny at t mes, and po gnant at t mes, but never rea y reaches a matur ty of form. It s a b t of a veh c e for Farrow, who s engag ng but not as entranc ng as Tom and G Shepperd (the actor who p ays Tom... never m nd) f nd her. Charm ng y nvent ve, n ce y f med.
2011-01-20 Cronenberg, David Dangerous Method --> Rating: 7.50
Sab na Sp e re n s a young Russ an g r g ven to exp os ons of scream ng and hyster a. She s to be treated by Car Jung who has adopted many of the theor es of S gmund Freud. But as he exp ores Sab na s madness, n co aborat on w th h s nte gent pat ent, he a so beg ns to exp ore a ternat ve modes of treatment, and beg ns to quest on Freud s ns stence on rat ona e, ta k ng cures, and that sexua ty s the root cause of most nsan ty. Unfortunate y, Kn ght y s not a conv nc ng hyster c, and Mortensen s not remote y conv nc ng as Freud, and Fassbender, as Jung, ust sn t a that nterest ng. Kn ght y makes the m stake of do ng the actor try ng to ook mad, rather than a human try ng to not be mad. There sn t an ounce of subt ety or r chness to th s dep ct on of the ncept on of psychoana ys s. Seems hurr ed and under-deve oped, and comprom sed by method act ng. At one po nt, Sab na demands that Jung spank her, as part of her therapy: rea y not hand ed very we at a .
2012-01-18 Lloyd, Phyllida Iron Lady --> Rating: 7.00
Huge y d sappo nt ng take on Margaret Thatcher, the reso ute f rst woman Pr me M n ster of Br ta n-- and f rst fema e eader of a ma or Western Power. The scenes of the e der y Thatcher, at f rst, are compe ng, strugg ng w th sen ty, try ng to remember th ngs, and suffer ng ha uc nat ons. But even the reappearances of her be oved Den s eventua y grow t resome and the m dd e sect on, dramat z ng her r se to power, p ay ke a 1950 s newsree : messy, abrupt, and unsat sfy ng. The mov e screams through the ob gatory touchstones, the m ner s str kes, the po tax, the war w th Argent na, w thout prov d ng any part cu ar ns ght nto any of them. However... the ear y scenes of the young, amb t ous Thatcher are p ayed astute y by a compe ng A exandra Roach. Thank God they d dn t have Mery Streep canter through th s part! By the way, there were 19 fema e MP s at the t me Thatcher was e ected -- "Iron Lady" tr es hard, w thout actua y y ng about t, to suggest that she was the f rst. And Thatcher was nowhere near the ocat on of the assass nat on of A rey Neave.
2012-01-18 Coffin, Pierre Despicable Me --> Rating: 8.00
In an era of sent menta , smart-ass com c an mat ons ke Shrek 2, a refresh ng y restra ned and funny feature about a master cr m na who wants to stea the moon. To stea t, he has to stea the "shr nk ray" f rst, and to stea that, he needs three tt e g r s who are ab e to get nto the home of Vector, a r va , punk sh master th ef. He adopts the g r s and tr cks them nto he p ng h m wh e strugg ng to manage the r ncreas ng y ntrus ve demands on h s t me and affect ons. The rec pe s here for heart-warm ng schma tz, but the producers of th s f m res st n the name of good taste and charm. It s actua y rather be evab e when he returns from an excurs on to a amusement park w th h s face pa nted and arms fu of stuffed toys. Care s preposterous pseudo-Russ an accent works n ce y, and the an mat on-- we expect th s now-- s superb, f not dar ng y art st c.
2012-01-14 Kazan, Elia Gentleman's Agreement --> Rating: 7.90
Ph p Green s a terr b e earnest reporter who wants to wr te about someth ng s gn f cant, and chooses ant sem t sm. H s new g r fr end s on h s s de... at f rst. After a , she suggested the story, but as he beg ns to uncover the subt e ways rac sm rears t s head-- po te y and ob que y, but f rm y-- she, and others, beg n to try to d scourage h m from exp or ng further. To t s cred t, "Gent eman s Agreement" doesn t sett e for any easy answers, and s qu te astute about how rac st att tudes can become very soph st cated and subt e, and a the more d ff cu t to address. At f rst, we found the archa c act ng tropes off-putt ng, but warmed up to t as t went on. Very honored f m, wh ch, ron ca y, doesn t seem to have any b ack peop e n t.
2012-01-12 Allen, Woody Shadows and Fog --> Rating: 7.80
Intr gu ng m x of A en s trademark scht ck and Kafka and K erkegaard. A en s K e nman, whom h s fe ow c t zens deem worthy of be ng bate for a ser a k er on the prow . Irmy eaves her c own of a husband (they both work for the c rcus) on y to end up n a brothe , where she re uctant y accepts a very arge fee from a desperate y nfatuated customer, even though she sn t "work ng" there. They meet eventua y and become fr ends, as more c t zens get k ed, and K e nman becomes a suspect, and wonders about the mean ng of fe. Appears to have been f med n a hurry, on an off year for A en; the b ack and wh te c nematography s usc ous and there s an array of good (and some bad) actors but over-a t s ust not worked at very much.
2012-01-11 Reitman, Jason Young Adult --> Rating: 7.80
Mav s Gary s 37, a sem -successfu wr ter of pu p young adu t f ct on v ng n M nnesota when she sudden y rea zes that she be ongs w th her h gh schoo crush, Buddy S ade, who has ust e-ma ed everyone about h s new baby. She rushes home the sma town of Mercury to try to get h m back. A ong the way she hooks w th Matt Freehauf whom everyone thought was gay, and who was v c ous y assau ted by a group of ocks and near y cr pp ed n h gh schoo . I deep y adm re the reso ut on determ nat on of Cody and Re tman to make Mav s a thorough y d sso ute tramp w thout the s ghtest h nt of redempt on, and the nat ves of Mercury are refresh ng y free of homespun qu rk ness or compass on, but, ke Cody s "Juno", "Young Adu t" never qu te takes w ng, never qu te reaches a reve at on or ep phany fts t above anecdote. It s a so pecu ar y bereft of art stry or beauty, eav ng me unsure of whether t s rea y a that worthwh e.
2012-01-08 Lurie, Rod Nothing But the Truth --> Rating: 7.90
Loose y-- far more oose y than "Fa r Game"-- based on the Va er e P ame/Joseph W son case, n wh ch a h gh eve U.S. off c a " eaks" to a reporter that the author of a report s marr ed to a CIA agent, and, therefore, rece ved the ass gnment as a favor-- a unket-- of no consequence. The reporter, n th s case, d scred ts cr t csm of the rat ona e g ven for an attack on Venezue a. Odd y, the mov e doesn t address the quest on of whether the reporter was be ng used by the adm n strat on to d scred t an accurate assessment of the nte gence data on the target country. It s a tt e d sor entat ng-- she s nom nated for a Pu tzer for her work, as f she had exposed the story of a reporter be ng used, rather than... never m nd. We -acted genera y and we -wr tten f not, f na y, rather mprobab e. Worth the pr ce of adm ss on: A an Burns de, her awyer, te ng Rache that after a fet me of good or bad works, ove, and pass on, the determ n ng factor of how many peop e show up at your funera s the weather.
2011-01-07 Farhadi, Ashgar Separation --> Rating: 8.70
The mov e beg ns w th Nadar and S m n n some k nd of sma court, n Teheran, appea ng d rect y to the udge: S m n wants to eave Iran and take her daughter, Termeh, w th. Nadar needs to stay where he s to ook after h s father, who suffers from A zhe mers. S m n moves back n w th her mother wh e Termeh stays w th her father and grandfather. Nadar h res a poor woman named Raz eh to ook after h s father wh e he s at work and Termeh at schoo , but she eaves h s father t ed to bed one day to run an errand. Fur ous, Nadar shoves her out the door where she fa s and appears to have a m scarr age. The pressure on a the characters ratchets up as Raz eh s enraged husband Hod at-- who sees th s as a b t of a c ass war aga nst the m dd e-c ass coup e-- demands money to compensate h m and Raz eh. Not everyth ng s as t seems, and Farhad refuses to take any s des. A subtext of th s mov e, and a compe ng facet of the story, s the ro es of women n Iran. Except ona . Le a Hatam s str k ng, and the daughter s p ayed by the d rector s daughter, Sar na Farhad .
2012-01-02 Petrie, Donald Mystic Pizza --> Rating: 7.50
Three young women of Portuguese extract on, Kat and Da sy (s sters) and Jo o, work at Myst c P zza n Myst c, Connect cut, and fa n and out of ove and amb t on n th s uneven product on. Kat s smart and amb t ous, dest ned for Ya e n nearby New Haven; Da sy s vo uptuous but not too smart, and Jo o oves the sex but doesn t want to be t ed down. For every cr nge-worthy moment of contr vance and pred ctab ty, there s a moment of genu ne charm, as when Da sy ho ds up a box of condoms to Kat and exp a ns that the guy wears them. There s even a moment that s a most ntense, as when Kat d scovers that her su tor s qu te happ y marr ed, thank you, and she weeps and burb es "I fee so stup d". That seems about r ght. You can spot Matt Damon n one of h s f rst ro es as part of Char es snobby fam y.
2012-01-01 Spielberg, Steven War Horse --> Rating: 7.00
W th John W ams f ne f overwrought mus c te ng you what to fee every step of the way, typ ca Sp e berg me odrama about a horse be oved by a farm boy, so d by the ev and ord nto the army, surv v ng var ous d sasters and m sadventures, w th d gn ty and horse- ke grace, un ke the actors who are forced to read Ha s scr pt and emote. The Germans, b zarre y, somet mes ta k Eng sh w th an accent, somet mes w thout an accent, as do the French. Everyone seems to th nk Joey s a br
ant horse but we never rea y earn much
about h m other than that he ooks good wh e hau ng we ghts. Waste of t me.
2011-12-31 Curtiz, Michael White Christmas --> Rating: 7.50
Fa r y t ght, we -wr tten remake (essent a y) of "Ho day Inn", w th Danny Kaye stand ng n for Fred Asta re, the rather man y Rosemary C ooney and the exqu s te Vera-E en as the Haynes s sters, and B ng croon ng away as f t ck ng a turt e to s eep... beg ns w th B ng and Danny n the m tary, adm r ng tough but fa r Ma or-Genera Waver y. They embark on a partnersh p n enterta nment and eventua y end up d scover ng that the exGenera s runn ng a w nter resort that s os ng money hand-over-f st because of the ack of snow. A the ma or end up putt ng on a show to save the Genera , and f nd ng romance. Rea y, compared to the average Ho ywood product on today, we -wr tten and d rected. Rea y. And Vera-E en s amaz ng n her own way (she ater batt ed anorex a).
2011-12-24 Scorcese, Martin Hugo --> Rating: 7.50
Spectacu ar y av sh reconstruct on of ear y 20th Century Par s at the expense of dramat c fe. Hugo ves n the tra n stat on n Par s, keep ng the c ocks go ng, ong after h s Unc e--who s ob t rea y was-- has d sappeared. He s try ng to react vate a robot brought home by h s father years ago, ust before he d ed. The fact that the h s father s p ayed by Jude Law and presents as the usua perfect father that a deceased or m ss ng fathers appear to be te s you-- depress ng y-- that Scorcese s fo ow ng Ho ywood formu a here. Same w th the moment that Georges Me es comes unnot ced out of h s bedroom as they are p ay ng h s f m. You groan n mere ant c pat on of the c che arr v ng w th a g ant c unk. Yet Scorcese w probab y get awards for th s, though none of the actors w . Scorcese, who used to get great performances from h s actors, here seems to defer everyth ng to spec a effects.
2011-12-04 Estevez, Emilio The Way --> Rating: 8.00
Mart n Sheen as father of a young man k ed wh e attempt ng to wa k the "Cam no" (France to Spa n). He trave s to Spa n to p ck up h s son s ashes and then dec des to f n sh the wa k. The out ne of th s narrat ve s obv ous but s hand ed w thout pretent ousness and n good humour and t succeeds n convey ng the contemp at ve character of a wa k ng fe. Even more, t transports the v ewer a ong a sp r tua path w thout se fconsc ous sp r tua ty or overt p et sms: there s someth ng e egant n the expectat on that the part c pant grows as person w thout any k nd of program or d rect persona nf uence.
2011-12-08 Allen, Woody Zelig --> Rating: 7.70
Ze g s a chame eon of a man, capab e of transform ng nto a resemb ance of the peop e who surround h m. In other words, a "ce ebr ty". And then he doesn t. And then he does aga n. I d dn t get the connect on w th ce ebr ty, rea y. Aren t ce ebr t es, n fact, exact y what we are not? Th n? Beaut fu ? W tty? They represent, perhaps, what we w sh we cou d be. They de ude us nto th nk ng much more of ourse ves than we rea y deserve. There s a b t of sermon z ng n "Ze g": th nk for yourse ves. But t fee s gratu tous and ad hoc. So Ze g rema ns not much more than a c ever scht ck, extended over 73 m nutes. Interest ng note: A en s f rst cut of the f m was on y 45 m nutes. He ended up hav ng to pad t w th more arch va footage and more narrat on.
2011-12-08 Payne, Alexander Descendents --> Rating: 7.50
H gh y over-rated, th n story about a awyer n Hawa strugg ng to manage after h s w fe s ser ous y n ured n a boat ng acc dent. H s two daughters f aunt the r ndependence and contempt, and h s re at ves are a hop ng he w cash n some nher ted and for wh ch he s trustee. Then the shock ng d scovery: h s w fe was cheat ng on h m. C ooney, rea y, shou d have p ayed that part, w th a b t of darkness, rather than the bumb ng, emot ona y nept father. Fa s back on the worst c che of a : the neg ectfu parent.
2011-12-07 Maddin, Guy My Winnipeg --> Rating: 8.50
Br
ant and very, very odd, take on the c ty of W nn peg by Guy Madd n, comb n ng arch va footage and
degraded new footage, and an eer e b end of the rea and the mag ned. Un ke anyth ng you have ever seen.
2008-01-01 Sombogaart, Ben Twin Sisters (De Tweeling) --> Rating: 7.80
Dutch f m about two s sters born n Germany separated at a very young age when the r mother d es. One grows up n a prosperous, to erant, bera Dutch fam y; the other n a str ct, trad t ona , uncu tured German fam y. As they grow up, the Dutch s ster marr es a Jew; the German an SS off cer. Lotte, the Dutch s ster, deve ops a burn ng resentment of Anna\ s oya ty to her German fam y, even after the war. They seem unab e to reso ve the r d fferences. The prob em s, t\ s hard to understand how Lotte cou d have mag ned that Anna wou d not have marr ed a German nvo ved n the war. She seems surpr sed that Anna wou d adapt to her own cu ture. Another prob em w th the f m s the m ted budget: some scenes cry out for a more v v d recreat on of the war-- th s s not the k nd of qu et, nt mate f m that does we w thout spectac e.
2011-11-19 Kiorstami, Abbas Close Up --> Rating: 7.80
Very odd story about a poor man n Iran who dec des, on the spur of the moment, to mpersonate the famous Iran an d rector Mohsen Makhma baf, to an o der woman he meets on the bus, and to her fam y. He th nks they wou d be good actors for h s new f m, and the r house a perfect ocat on, and he nv tes h mse f over for d nner and to stay the n ght. Eventua y the fam y ca s the po ce, he s arrested, and that s when K orstam read about the story n the paper and arr ved w th h s cameras. The story r des on the pecu ar persona ty of Hossa n Sabz an, the mpersonator. Most of the peop e nvo ved n the rea story re-enact the r own ro es here. There are ong cont nuous cuts of court test mony. Qu te nterest ng at t mes, but rea y, not a that substant a . I reca that K orstam shot another mov e n wh ch the young actress p ay ng the ead ro e sudden y qu ts, and, as the cameras ro e, takes a bus home.
2011-12-02 Kiarostami, Abbas Traveller --> Rating: 7.00
F rst feature f m by Abbas K arostam about a young boy who oves soccer and hates schoo . One day, he manages to put together enough money to take a bus to the c ty, Tehran, to see h s favor te soccer team, Pe epo s, p ay. A ong the way he encounters and a most overcomes a obstac es.
2011-12-02 Van Looy, Erik Loft --> Rating: 7.80
F ve men share a \" oft\", an apartment, n order to cheat on the r w ves n comfortab e d scret on. But one day, the dead body of a woman s found n the apartment. S nce on y the f ve men have keys, who d d t? There are a ot of tw sts and turns here and the shock ng deve opments are not ent re y unsat sfy ng. There s a so a subtext here about the wages of s n, but Van Looy s soph st cated enough to not c obber you w th mora sms. We f med, b g-budget Be g um product on.
2011-11-19 Nichols, Jeff Take Shelter --> Rating: 8.70
R vet ng story about a work ng man n a m d-western town who becomes ncreas ng y fearfu of some k nd of apoca ypt c doom sta k ng h m and h s fam y, expressed n terr b e n ghtmares. H s mother s sch zophren c-- s he ha uc nat ng, or ust presc ent. There\ s not a s ow moment n a f m that seems, on the surface, s owmov ng. The tens on w nds t ghter and t ghter as h s w fe becomes more aware of h s obsess ons, cu m nat ng n the expans on of a she ter n h s backyard. The end ng s en gmat c, as the f m connects h s fearfu ness to rea horrors-- the oss of h s ob, the ack of med ca coverage for h s daughter w th a hear ng mpa rment, h s betraya of a c ose fr end. Jess ca Chasta n shou d be nom nated for an Oscar for her performance, but probab y won\ t be.
2011-11-19 Von Trier, Lars Melancholia --> Rating: 8.20
Made a sensat ona mpress on at Cannes unt Von Tr er, at a press conference, w th K rsten Dunst at h s s de, made a few breathtak ng y moron c comments about Naz s. Just ne and C a re are two s sters (w th d fferent accents!) and two po ar t es: C a re oves fe, p ans th ngs, arranges Just ne\ s ent re wedd ng, and seems to ead a successfu fe. Just ne s para yzed w th depress on and bare y br ng herse f to get through the day. The mov e opens w th her wedd ng, a d saster, and the vo at e re at onsh p between the two women, and C a re\ s husband who a so seems to thr ve on order and preparat on. Unt ... a p anet appears n the sky, headed towards earth. W t h t the p anet destroy ng a fe? Just ne: nobody w m ss t. The d a ogue seems mprov sed, often, and Von Tr er seems to ke method actors, and the hand-he d camera work s more than a tt e annoy ng, but t\ s an exp orat on of despa r, and Von Tr er wants to suggest that depress ves are more prepared for what fe throws at you-- nc ud ng the d saster of marr age-- than more funct ona peop e are. Rea y a beaut fu f m n many ways.
2011-10-12 Dreyer, Carl Ordet --> Rating: 8.00
No d rector cred t g ven, actua y. Love y, very forma f m of a p ay by Ka Munk about a Lutheran farm fam y and ts strugg es n 1925 Denmark, a sma v age. Patr arch Morten Borgen, an en ghtened Lutheran who embraces the oy of fe, h s son Johannes who, unab e to cope w th h gher educat on (apparent y K erkegaard dr ves h m mad) th nks he s Jesus Chr st. Sens b e agnost c M kke has a pregnant w fe, Inga, and two tt e g r s, and Anders, who ust wants to marry Anne, the ta or\ s daughter. The ta or, unfortunate y, be ongs to a fundamenta st fa th. Unt he den es Anders, Morten was a so aga nst the match. E egant and ser ous, there are not many f ms who dea as ser ous y w th ssues of fa th as \"Ordet\" does, or s as p ctor a y f med, or as we acted.
2011-11-12 Emmerich, Roland Anonymous --> Rating: 7.10
The theory s rather preposterous, though not w thout a few a few odd t es n t\ s favor, but the mov e tse f sn\ t even a that fun. Why, n heaven\ s name, d d they m ss the chance to have Edward De Vere (the Ear of Oxford) app aud enthus ast ca y at h s own words wh e Shakespeare takes h s bows? That s emb emat c of the prob em w th \"Anonymous\": no sense of humour. That and the Ben Jonson character forced to d sgrace h mse f w th a wh n ng, wh mper ng tr bute to a Shakespeare who on y ex sts n the m nd of a co ege sophomore w thout, aga n, any sense of humour. The av sh reconstruct on of 17th century London s fun, and the reconstruct on of the theatre-- but they d dn\ t even have the good taste to choose a anyth ng from Shakespeare that they thought an aud ence m ght not recogn ze. Even Redgrave s a d sappo ntment.
2011-11-10 Ward, David S. Major League --> Rating: 6.00
Not w thout t\ s charms: the p ayers are a n ce y d verse, co ourfu bunch, nc ud ng Sheen\ s \"W d Th ng\" (the nsp rat on for M tch W ams at Ph ade ph a). The manager ooks ke Jack Morr s after a few years out of baseba . The stad um shots are very mpress ve-- how d d they do that? And apparent y Denn s Haysbert stunn ng y h t a rea home run wh e shoot ng the penu t mate scene, wh ch s why he forgot to drop the bat wh e runn ng around the bases. Fun. But not too much fun. They ust cou dn\ t pass up the c che sh end ng, and the sappy mus c.
2011-11-04 Frankenheimer, John Train --> Rating: 7.50
R vet ng act on nvo v ng a Naz \ s attempt to sp r t hundreds of masterp eces of French art back to Germany n the dy ng days of the occupat on of Par s. The French Underground dec des to try to prevent them even though t\ s eaders are not conv nced that a Cezanne or two are worth the human ves t w cost. Based on a true story, nf n te y enr ched w th the w
ngness of the French government n 1964 to have the r o d steam eng nes
destroyed n the name of art-- the mov e. The tra n crashes are utter y spectacu ar and rea . In the end, Lancaster s a b t bombast c and me odramat c, but the story s not w thout t\ s subt et es-- does he be eve t was worth the sacr f ce or not? Even Chr st ne, who h des h m from the Naz s, doesn\ t seem to rea y be eve n the cause of sav ng art. Yes, t\ s o d Ho ywood w th archa c act ng sty es and preposterous but t\ s a grand show thanks to the tra ns (and the w
ngness of the actors to perform the r own stunts, dr v ng the tra ns,
pour ng hot meta , and so on.)
2011-11-04 Reichardt, Kelly Meek's Cutoff --> Rating: 8.50
E eg ac, nger ng, med tat ve document of the nfamous trek by a group of sett ers m s ed by Stephen Meek nto an ar d w derness, a eged y a shortcut that wou d ead them away from dangerous nat ves and d ff cu t mounta n c mbs. Re chardt met cu ous y recreates the wagons, the c oth ng, the hab ts of the sett ers as they oh so gradua y become aware of the r pred cament and cons der what to do. When they capture a one nat ve and he seems to know the way to water, they debate re egat ng meek to fe ow passenger ( n rea fe, they a most ynched h m). Re chardt pays a ot of attent on to the ro es of the women n th s group, the way they are s de ned from the d scuss ons, at east at f rst. No easy answers prov ded, ust an exqu s te y textured exper ence.
2011-11-06 Zinemann, Fred Nun's Story --> Rating: 7.80
Dry and sombre but nterest ng y deta ed exam nat on of the fe of a young nun, S ster Luke (rea name: Gabr e e Vanderma )p ayed by the neffab e Audrey Hepburn. She enters a c o ster w th dreams of serv ng n a hosp ta n the Congo but s thwarted t me and t me aga n by her super ors\ concerns about her ego and pr de (her father s a famous surgeon). A ong the way she beg ns to have qua ms about her fe as a nun, the se fden a , the unsat sfy ng emot ona fe. She responds to Doctor Fortunat who apprec ates her nte gence and pass on, and chafes under demands to drop her wor d y preoccupat ons every t me f ve be s r ng for vespers. Str k ng y amb t ous, w th many w de shots of arge crowds, ocat on f m ng, and forma compos t on. Worth see ng but archa c.
2011-10-29 Schepisi, Fred Russia House --> Rating: 7.00
Intr gu ng and we -wr tten but very poor y managed dramat zat on of e Carre nove about a d sso ute Br t sh book pub sher be ng contacted by a go-between w th a manuscr pt by a br
ant Russ an sc ent st a eg ng that
the Russ an m tary- ndustr a comp ex s woefu y nept and far weaker than Western governments g ve them cred t for.
2011-10-29 Refn, Nicolas Winding Drive --> Rating: 7.00
100 m nutes of Ryan Gos ng ook ng a ternat ve y goog e-eyed and sm rk ng (at Carey Mu gan) or menac ng y sm rk ng. Mu gan ooks he p ess n the hands of m sgu ded d rector Refn who seems conv nced that he has Tax Dr ver 2 on h s hands. Gos ng p ays \"Dr ver\", a man who dr ves cr m na s away from cr me scenes qu ck y and eff c ent y and the on y rea y compe ng sequence of the f m s the open ng ten m nutes when he does ust that, even f the conc us on of the scene-- he eaves the car and passengers n a park ng garage at a C ppers game that has ust ended and wa ks away-- s baff ng. Mu gan s h s fetch ng ne ghbor w th the prerequ s te cute k d and a husband about to be re eased from pr son. The ted ous ob gatory scenes of Gos ng be ng protect ve of mom and ch d, and even of her husband, are somet mes excruc at ng y pred ctab e and du . Vast y over-rated f m by rev ewers who confuse t s mute nexpress veness w th profound ntut on. No, t s not. It s c umsy and under-deve oped. After gett ng doub e-crossed wh e attempt ng to rob a pawn shop, a newscaster reports that a man was k ed and the owner sa d that noth ng was sto en. The owner wou dn t "say" that: the reporter doesn t know that there was a doub e-cross nvo ved. The report shou d have been that a man was k ed attempt ng (and fa ng) to rob a pawn shop. But that s the eve of soph st cat on of the ent re mov e. The d fference s when you don t open your mouth the ack of deas sn t as obv ous. And th s t red, o d c che -- dat ng back to C nt Eastwood, and even John Wayne-- of the v r e, v o ent, s ent ma e that s b zarre y attract ve to the g r wh e comm tted horrendous acts of v o ence-- a eged y on her beha f-- s nauseat ng at every eve . F na y, the d ot c ast scenes, w th no rat ona or rrat ona exp anat on other than rather r d cu ous y overb own sense of fate n the head of the d rector-- s unforg vab e. Th s s a p ece of sh t.
2011-10-23 Kuenne, Kurt Dear Zachary: a Letter to a son about his Father --> Rating: 8.10
In 2001, an extreme y we - ked graduat ng med ca doctor, Andrew Bagby, was gunned down n a park ng ot near Keystone State Park near Latrobe, Pennsy van a. Kurt Kuenne set out to make a v deo record of Andrew\ s fe, when he d scovered that Andrew\ s ex-g r fr end-- a psycho named Sh r ey Turner-- was pregnant w th h s ch d. Turner was a so a top suspect n the k
ng of Bagby-- he had ust tr ed to make a dec s ve break w th her
the n ght of the murder. \"Dear Zachary\" s powerfu and propu s ve but t\ s a po em c that shou d not be confused w th ourna sm. In fact, I found e ements of t-- part cu ar y Steven Bagby\ s father\ s ns stence that he had the \"r ght\" to k Sh r ey Turner-- more than a tt e d sturb ng. Even more d sturb ng -- most v ewers won\ t rea ze how ent re y one-s ded the presentat on s. For examp e, Kuenne seems enraptured w th the Bagbys but whatever t s he adores about them d dn\ t come through to me, and he seems b nd to the poss b ty that the r ns stent ntrus on nto the ves of Sh r ey and Zachary n Newfound and cou d on y have been perce ved as threaten ng and nt m dat ng by th s terr b y nsecure, unstab e woman, Sh r ey Turner. It s appa ng y necessary to state that th s not an excuse for Turner s behav or-- t wasn t mora y wrong of the Bagby s to ntervene-- t was ust g ar ng y unw se. Wh e comp a n ng b tter y about the prov nce of Newfound and fa ng to ncarcerate Turner wh e she wa ted for extrad t on, the Bagbys cou dn\ t have been that gnorant of the r own poss b e ro e n dr v ng her over the edge. Nor does Kuenne pay any regard to the death pena ty ssue: Canada wou d never a ow Turner to be tr ed n the U.S. w thout a guarantee that Pennsy van a wou d not seek the death pena ty. That doesn t get ment oned presumab y because t m ght ntroduce shades of grey nto what s otherw se a sw m ng y smooth d atr be aga nst somebody, anybody who m ght be respons b e, now that the on y ava ab e target s dead. As I watched Bagby sen or vent h s anger and h s w
ngness, n retrospect, to
murder, I cou dn t he p but see the seeds of a b ood feud, the nnate propens ty n a of us to k , a ways for perce ved madden ng n ust ce. What s tru y madden ng s how often we become no better than the peop e we excorc ate.
2011-10-22 Fan, Lixin Last Train Home --> Rating: 8.50
Chen Changhua and Zhang Changhua are a Ch nese coup e try ng hard to support the r young fam y, two ch dren, X n and Yang, a 16-year-o d g r and e ght-year-o d boy. But to f nd good obs they have to trave 2400 k ometers away to Guangzhou where they work ong sh fts sew ng western c othes for an exporter. They are away so often, over 16 years, that the r own ch dren regard them as near strangers, and X n n part cu ar has become resentfu of the r demands upon her. She doesn\ t want to stay n schoo and fu f the r dreams: she wants to get her own ob and save her own money. In a start ng moment, she swears at her father and he swats her n the head and she f ghts back. Rea y makes you wonder about the pr ce Ch na s pay ng for the r great eap forward nto manufactur ng and ndustr a zat on: what k nd of fe do Chen and Zhang have? Does t matter, when, c ear y the r own ch dren no onger share the r va ues?
2011-10-22 Clooney, George Ides of March --> Rating: 7.80
Game but nadequate mov e about a po t ca f xer, Stephen Meyers, and h s man pu at on of events to p ace h mse f c ose to power at the expense-- of course-- of a po t c an\ s ntegr ty. Meyers s a med a adv ser to Governor M ke Morr s (C ooney) who\ s got a good shot at becom ng the Democrat c pres dent a nom nee f he can on y take Oh o. Through a ser es of mprobab y events and meet ngs, Meyers acqu res va uab e nformat on w th wh ch he can extort favors. Wh ch s about as d sappo nt ng y prosa c as t gets. \"West W ng\" has set an extreme y h gh bar for th s sub ect and \"Ides of March\" rea y can\ t approach t\ s eve and depth of soph st cat on, and f you are not ke y to be shocked at the dea that po t cs can be corrupt, you w be d sappo nted. Good performances by Hoffman and G amett he p, but can\ t save t.
2011-10-19 Godard, Jean-Luc My Life to Live --> Rating: 7.90
Nana K e nfrankenhe m s a beaut fu young g r asp r ng to be a mode or an actress but dr ven nexorab y towards prost tut on and drug abuse. Godard presents her fe n \"chapters\", d screte acts dramat z ng her strugg e w th dent fy and ro es, and her nab ty to transcend her own c rcumstances. She uses and s used and seems bare y consc ous of how she s be ng dr ven towards more and more m t ng s tuat ons. The d a ogue s at t mes se f-consc ous y arty and ph osoph ca . She sees a mov e, hangs out a poo ha , works at a record store. There are no b g, dramat c scenes or statements unt the end, wh ch seems abrupt and bare y p aus b e. Cons dered a andmark f m for good reasons, but hasn\ t aged we , when so many ndependent f m-makers today, ke L nk ater, P.T. Anderson, and others, succeed so we n exp or ng th s terr tory.
2011-10-14 Crichton, Charles A Fish Called Wanda --> Rating: 8.20
C ever, amus ng tt e comedy about some ewe th eves out to doub e-cross each other, and then, aware of the doub e-cross, outw t each other. The comp cat on s when one of them s caught (turned over by one of the r own) after mov ng the goods. Arch e Leach (John C eese), the awyer for the ncarcerated gang member (Tom Georgeson) becomes key to the p ot as Wanda Gershw tz (Curt s) must -- not ent re y unw
ng y-- seduce h m
for the v ta nformat on. It\ s a red herr ngs and ust a veh c e for some re at ve y w tty repartee and oyfu character humour, espec a y w th a ea ous Otto (Kev n K ne) do ng h s best to keep Wanda from hook ng up w th Arch e.
2011-10-15 Grosbard, Ulu Georgia --> Rating: 8.10
Odd y audac ous f m about two s sters, Sad e and Georg a F ood: one a successfu country and western s nger, and the other a fa ed punker, drug add ct, depress ve, who resents her o der s ster\ s success. There\ s a ot of ns ght nto s b ng re at onsh ps, and the psycho ogy of se f-destruct ve, se f-mut at ng depress ves. Georg a s so good that she\ s even tastefu n the way she tr es to support Sad e w thout seem ng to, but Sad e s too smart to m ss the condescens on. There are some extraord nary scenes-- Sad e perform ng-- bad y-- an adm rer begg ng to be abused -- domest c scenes at Georg a\ s house. Is the mov e rea y more about Georg a, n sp te of Sad e\ s spectacu ar fa ures?
2011-10-14 Minnelli, Vincente Some Came Running --> Rating: 7.90
Lumber ng, st ff me odrama about a war veteran/wr ter return ng to h s home town after h s drunken fr ends threw h m on a bus and to d the dr ver where to drop h m. Dave H rsh s not ent re y we come. H s brother, who runs a ewe ry store, fears bad pub c ty from h s drunken braw ng. The po ce see h m as a troub e maker. Th s a s supposed to prov de the depth and snuffy cache of a deep m nd, an conc ast capab e of wr t ng the truth, nsp red by shatter ng exper ences. Unfortunate y, one of these shatter ng exper ences s the fr endsh p of Bama D ert, a profess ona gamb er, p ayed by a w secrack ng, azy Dean Mart n, and t a becomes very brat pack sh, w th Sh r ey MacLa ne as a th n y desgu sed prost tute moon over Dave. There are some ser ous terary pretens ons at work, but most y st ff me odrama, but t s a qu te nterest ng as an art fact of a d fferent era: women pretend to not want t, but when f rm, tough Frank takes Gwen n hand, she caves ke g ddy schoo g r . And G nne begs Dave to p ease, p ease, p ease et her do h s aundry.
2011-10-01 Dreyer, Carl Theodor Day of Wrath --> Rating: 9.00
Absa on s an o der pastor n a sma 17th century v age n Denmark whose w fe has d ed. As the resu t of h s ntervent on to save a woman from be ng burned as w tch, he s ab e to marry her young daughter, Anne. We are ntroduced to her when another woman, Her ofs Marte, be ng persecuted as w tch, f ees to the pastor s house and begs Anne for protect on, because she knows that her mother was a so a w tch, and that the pastor protected her. We don t know the deta s, but we know about debt and ob gat on, and when the pastor s son from h s f rst marr age, Mart n, returns from overseas and fa s n ove w th Anne, the sense of doom s pa pab e. Beaut fu y f med-- n an archa c, theatr ca sty e, but beaut fu nonethe ess-- and d rected. Scene after scene demands your attent on, the um nous meadows, the horr fy ng ch dren s cho rs, the tr a and torture of the "w tch", the execut on. Does t matter f Her ofs Marte rea y was a w tch? Does Anne beg n to be eve that she may have mag ca powers? Anne s mesmer z ng and conv nc ng y "bew tch ng", wh e Mart n s torn between h s consc ence and h s des re. Wonderfu y ustrates ust b urred the d st nct on between mag c and mystery can become, and how otherw se rat ona peop e can be eve n someth ng absurd. Note that th s was f med n occup ed Denmark n 1943. Dreyer had to f ee to Sweden short y afterwards.
2011-09-25 Savoca, Nancy Dogfight --> Rating: 7.80
Odd, somet mes c ever story about a group of mar nes who have a contest to see who can arr ve at a party w th the ug est date. L Tay or, wh e not the most beaut fu actress n the wor d, wou d not rea y seem to qua fy but she ends up as R ver Phoen x s date and she d scovers the reason she was chosen and reacts fur ous y. Th s s 1963 and the att tudes show t: the g r s are not outraged n that re ent ess, fem n st po t ca sty e-- t s more ke they weren t very n ce. Wh e the bas c p ot s somewhat mp aus b e, "Dogf ght" has more than a few nsp red moments, as when the coup e go nto an arcade of some k nd n wh ch a number of mach nes p ay mus c n var ous formats.
2011-09-25 Miller, Bennett Moneyball --> Rating: 8.60
Terr f c adaptat on of the M chae Lew s book on B y Beane, manager of the Oak and As and how he used B James theor es about the va ue of ba p ayers to bu d a compet t ve team at about 1/4 of the budget of the Yankees and Red Sox. Wr tten by Aaron Sork n and shows -- the d a ogue s punchy, d osyncrat c, r ch n the f avor or ngo of profess ona s n a spec a zed vocat on. P tt s bare y adequate as Beane, and somet mes d m n shed, but the support ng cast are very good, and the b end of tv footage and f m s c ever and engag ng. I can t qu te br ng myse f to dec are that the f m s rea y about B y Beane exorc s ng the demons of h s own fa ures as a ba p ayer (he was a top prospect but never fu f ed h s prom se) because I ust cou dn t see t as I was watch ng the f m, though the p eces are there. The song at the end def n te y asserts that k nd of nterpretat on: ust en oy the r de.
2011-09-25 Soderbergh, Stephen Contagion --> Rating: 8.10
Thr
ng, t ght y wound drama about a dead y v rus outbreak or g nat ng n Japan, n an Amer can
bus nesswoman return ng to her home n M nnesota, w th a stop-over n Ch cago. Unusua y accurate n terms of med ca , sc ent f c procedures, and d gent y consc ent ous about bas c po t ca , po cy ssues. Very n ce y ba anced m x of sc ence and the human drama, and refresh ng y free of the stereotypes and sent ment. We watch the outbreak spread, governments pan ck, and -- here s a f aw-- the somewhat dea st ca y hero c sc ent sts who strugg e to conta n the v rus, nc ud ng E ot Gou d as a out er, and Jenn fer Eh e as a se fsacraf c ng sa nt y researcher. We acted and we f med.
2011-09-17 Jacobs, Azazel Terri --> Rating: 8.10
Terr s a sch umpy, d scourag ng teenager v ng w th h s near-demented Unc e who can t even br ng h mse f to change out of h s py amas for schoo . He doesn t have any fr ends, and doesn t seem mot vated or nterested. Mr. F tzgera (Re y), the v ce-pr nc pa , sudden y takes an nterest n h m and asks h m to o n h m every Monday morn ng for a chat. Re y somet mes puts on a show of toughness, but t s on y for the benef t of Ms. Ham sh, h s e der y secretary. Rea y, he s more of a therap st. He seems to see someth ng redeemab e n Terr -- or does he? Underdeve oped and somet mes deve ops happen too qu ck y. Odd, mov e that ngers over tt e scenes, somet mes generous y, and seems to fo ow no temp ate. It s most generous of a n eav ng Terr as he s, w thout a m rac e or transformat on-- and a ow ng to contemp ate the tr umphs and d sasters of fe wr t sma .
2011-09-12 Liman, Doug Fair Game --> Rating: 8.00
Dramat zat on of the Scooter L bby - Joe W son - Va er e P ame scanda .
2011-09-10 Duane, Kelly Better This World --> Rating: 8.10
Documentary about Brandon Darby, and FBI nformant, and the two young protesters who ended up serv ng pr son t me because of h s act v t es.
2011-09-07 Nolfi, George Adjustment Bureau --> Rating: 6.50
Lame on every eve , "The Ad ustment Bureau" s about a cand date for the senate who nexp cab y "b ows" h s e ect on w th a m sbegotten prank, then meets an nexp cab y attract ve and fr end y woman n a bathroom wh e menta y prepar ng for h s concess on. A number of dark-su ted men appear-- and he detects them-- who "correct" var at ons n "the p an" of h s fe, and the deve opment of wor d c v zat ons. It s not n the p an for Dav d and E se to fa n ove, and Dav d, who has a remarkab e fate n store, must forego h s true ove to rea ze t. Peop e who ked th s mov e defended t as essent a y a ove story, thereby condemn ng w th fa nt pra se the fantasy e ements ( t s based-- aston sh ng y-- on a story by Ph p K. D ck). But the ove story tse f s the fantasy and the rest of t has ne ther the wh msy nor depth requ red to be enterta n ng. Th s s a "Shawshank Redempt on" of sc -f , a g b scenes w th no substance. It s rea y far more "Truman Show" than "Matr x" or "B ade Runner". And no, Em y B unt d d not do her own dance scenes, and t s not as f you wou d have been amazed f she had. The two eads shou d have done better but seem under-rehearsed and care ess. None of the characters seem to have any off-screen ex stence-- they pop n, do the r mechan ca funct on, and then d sappear from the mov e and our m nds forever. It s so, so emb emat c of Amer can cu ture nowadays that the end ng has t both ways.
2011-09-03 Madden, John Debt --> Rating: 7.00
Confused and unfocussed story of three Mossad agents who k dnapped a Menge e-type Naz concentrat on camp doctor n East Germany n the ear y 1960 s and k ed h m when they were unab e to extract h m to Israe for tr a . Turns out that a s not as t seems. The man they c a med to have k ed has surfaced n the Ukra ne and Rache must track h m down and e m nate h m before the truth comes out. Confused at t mes and og ca at others, and a ways under-rehearsed and rather fac e. Somet mes reads ke a sophomor c attempt to mpute s gn f cance to what s rea y a soap opera about the threesome. Jess ca Chasta n as the young Rache ust doesn’t seem to have any hardness or ruth essness to her, wh ch m ght have worked had t been part of the story. Instead, the three of them seem unprepared for the d ff cu t es they encounter, and the ent re prem se of the story seems mprobab e.
2011-09-03 Pedersen, Janus Metz Armadillo --> Rating: 8.50
Powerfu documentary abouy Dan sh troops n Afghan stan, and a spec f c encounter they have w th Ta ban nsurgents that scars a of them for fe. You get to know the so d ers, get a sense of the r rout ne, the r cha enges, and then you get to see them n act on.
2011-08-01 Marsh, James Project Nim --> Rating: 8.30
Amaz ng documentary about -conce ved attempt to ra se a ch mp, N m, as a human baby, hop ng that he wou d earn anguage thus prov ng Noam Chomsky wrong when he asserted that on y humans have that fac t ty. Th s s a tragedy of confused sc ence and crue ty and m sgu ded attempts to "rescue" N m (h s fu name s "N m Ch mpsky"). H s hand ers care for h m but are -prepared for the somet mes v o ent outbursts of th s very powerfu , somet mes -tempered creature. Lots of stunn ng footage from the study and h s ater fe n a rescue she ter. In sp te of h s occas ona v o ent outbursts, you beg n to sympath ze w th th s creature who, after a , never asked for any of t.
2011-09-01 Hooper, Tom Damned United --> Rating: 8.10
The story of Br an C ough\ s 45 days as manager of Leeds Un ted, a d sastrous affa r brought about by h s m sunderstood phenomena success w th Derby, wh ch he took from deep n the second d v s on to tops of the f rst d v s on n ust a few years. Unbeknownst to a most everyone, h s oya ass stant, Peter Tay or, was the rea bra ns beh nd the operat on and the rea reason for h s success. When Tay or oya y adhered to a contract w th Br ghton and Hove A b on after Leeds offered a contract to C ough, C ough was on h s own. After a enat ng h s own p ayers and the team\ s former manager-- whom he desp sed--Leeds had t\ s worst start n 20 years. Superb y acted and f med n a punchy, frenet c sty e, Damned Un ted s enterta n ng from start to f n sh. Dwe s ess on the footba than on the persona re at onsh ps. However, \"Damned Un ted\" takes a number of bert es w th the facts, somet mes og ca y (Derby defeated Leeds 4-0, not 2-1, wh e C ough h d n h s off ce, unab e to bear another poss b e oss to h s arch-r va ).
2011-08-28 Wajda, Andrzej Katyn --> Rating: 8.80
Powerfu dramat zat on of the nfamus Katyn massacre of Po sh off cers, nte ectua s, and other potent a eaders by Sta n s NKVD n spr ng 1940, after the Russ ans, n a prearranged dea w th Germany, se zed the eastern ha f of Po and. The Germans, after aunch ng Barbarossa n 1941, and se z ng the terr rtory prev ous occup ed by the Sov ets, f rst exhumbed the bod es, aunched an nvest gat on, and b amed the Commun sts. The Russ ans den ed t for years unt Gorbachaev and Ye ts n off c a y acknow edged t n the 1990 s. Fo ows c ose y a Po sh off cers Andrze and h s w fe and daughter and s ster and parents as events unfo d. The off cers, he d as "hostages" had no dea of the fate be ng p anned for them. They are nterrogated and moved around and frustrated at the r nab ty to form a res stance. The Germans and Russ ans both seek to exp o t the fam es of the v ct ms for propaganda purposes and the fam es res st at the r per . Even-handed and met cu ous, beaut fu y recreated. Outstand ng h stor ca drama.
2011-08-27 McNaughton, John Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer --> Rating: 6.50
Cheesey, amateur sh ( t was made by amateurs, rea y) horr fy ng account of ser a k ers nsp red, obv ous y, by Henry Lee Lucas and Ott s Too e. The f m doesn t mora ze or g amour ze the v o ence- t s rather "matter-offact", wh ch m ght have been refresh ng f the act ng performances had been better. The rea - fe Lucas c a med to have comm tted more than 600 murders but, ong after th s f m was conce ved, most f not a of h s confess ons have been thrown nto doubt. He was conv cted of 11 murders but Governor George W. Bush commuted h s death sentence, presumab y because of ser ous doubts about any of the cases aga nst h m. But the f m s based on some of the d scred ted confess ons, and one for wh ch he was conv cted. In rea fe, "Becky" was more ke 11 years o d-- not the mature young woman p ayed by Tracy Arno d.
2011-08-19 Winterbottom, Michael Trip --> Rating: 8.20
Very amus ng trave ogue: two fr ends (one a subst tute for the other s g r fr end) trave around the Northern Eng sh countrys de samp ng h gh-end restaurants and ta k ng, ok ng, argu ng, do ng m tat ons of famous actors, and en oy ng each other more than they care to adm t. A good dea of mprov sat on nvo ved, re y ng on the enterta nment va ue of the two actors, the r w ts, the r charm. They are engag ng and d fferent: Steve s qu eter, more ntrospect ve, and more of a woman zer. Rob s happ y marr ed and m sses h s w fe and ca s her every n ght. They rub each other the wrong way at t mes, but a sense of oy of compan onsh p gradua y emerges, g ven po gnancy by the end ng, when each goes back to the r homes as they are.
2011-08-19 Anderson, Brad Machinist --> Rating: 8.00
Trevor Rezn k can t s eep. Someth ng has gotten under h s sk n and t seems beyond h s ab t es to work t out. He spends t me w th a good-hearted prost tute -- Jenn fer Jason Le gh-- and has ssues w th co-workers. He works athes n a mach ne shop and one day h s care essness causes a devastat ng acc dent. A stranger appears who seems to know someth ng about Trevor that he s unaware of. It s Chr st an s Ba e s performance that ho ds together a surpr s ng y t ght y constructed story the unpee s tse f n d sturb ng ayers.
2011-07-01 Allen, Woody Everyone Says I Love You --> Rating: 8.00
G ve h m cred t for try ng: A en does a mus ca . And t s actua y qu te amus ng. A en s Joe Ber n who, at the end of another re at onsh p, goes to Par s where he meets Von (Ju a Roberts). But the r ove s not true, so they s ng and dance about t, and Von ends up go ng back to her husband, wh e the act on sh fts to Sky ar and Ho den. The songs are not wr tten for th s product on-- they are standards and c ass cs from the ght azz repeto re, w th danc ng, w th Grouch Marx getups, and genera y a oyous ce ebrat on of ove and des re and the v c ss tudes of romance.
2011-08-13 Bergman, Ingmar Cries and Whispers --> Rating: 9.20
Agnes s dy ng of cancer and her two s sters, Mar a and Kar n come to v s t. A so present s the ma d, Anna, who, at t mes, seems to be the on y one capab e of prov d ng comfort to the dy ng woman. As the tens on ncreases as Agnes approaches her pa nfu death, Kar n and Mar a ra se ong suppressed gr evances and ea ous es, wh ch prevent them from prov d ng rea ove and comfort to the r dy ng s ster.
2011-08-17 Beresford, Bruce Mao's Last Dancer --> Rating: 7.60
Rather pedestr an f av sh "true" story about L Cunz n who was taken from h s home at a very young age to tra n as a ba et dancer n Ch na. He s g ven the opportun ty to tra n abroad n Texas and chooses to defect to the U.S. ntroduc ng many persona and po t ca comp cat ons nto h s fe. There are occas ona moments of authent c ty-- h s g r fr end s a med ocre dancer and he s pa red w th someone e se for the c mat c, ob gatory, reve atory performance-- and the scenes n Ch na espec a y feature oads of extras, costumes, and sets, but never rea y r ses above the b op c genre.
2011-08-20 Allen, Woody Deconstructing Harry --> Rating: 8.70
R ch y mag ned sat re of everyth ng to do w th wr t ng and awards and ce ebr ty and ove, w th A en as Harry B ock, and var ous fam ar faces as h s f ct ona characters, or the peop e n h s fe, or both, as he sets out to rece ve an award-- an obv ous a us on to Bergman s "W d Strawberr es"--from the co ege that expe ed h m. H s three ex-w ves are enraged by a us ons towards them n h s nove s. He h res a hooker because you don t have to d scuss "Proust or f ms" w th them. But he s n ove w th Fay (E zabeth Shue) who s headed for a marr age to B y Crysta . My favor te s a fantasy sequence n wh ch a w fe d scovers that her husband has a co orfu past wh ch m ght have nc uded cann ba sm.
2011-07-20 Lang, Fritz Big Heat --> Rating: 7.00
C ass c f m no re, w th a the b-mov e sty zat ons of the genre. G enn Ford uncovers corrupt on n the po ce force but the c oser he gets the truth, more dangerous t becomes. Lee Marv n s s zz ng as the heavy, and G or a Grahame s su try and charm ng at once, but the contr vances get the better of the p ot. Th s s the f m you want to check out f you want to see the source of a that parody. Joce yn Brando s a k nd of sugar-coated w fe to Ford s character, w th a ook that seems somewhat anachron st c to me.
2011-07-01 Van Sant, Gus To Die For --> Rating: 8.00
Pretty good mov e about a narc ss st c woman w th amb t ons of be ng a b g-t me tv broadcaster who marr es a oser and has an affa r w th a young teenager, and then persuades the teenager to murder the oser who now stands n the way of her career. Unusua , fresh, and cutt ng, and rather dark: s there a s ng e good character s the story? We acted and we d rected.
2011-06-01 Malick, Terence Tree of Life --> Rating: 9.00
Saw th s s New Haven, Connect cut. Beaut fu , exqu s te, med tat ve, unorthodox f m about a fam y strugg ng w th death, acceptance, and ove, n 1950 s U.S., and the cosmos and the un verse and fe tse f. Ostens b y about nature vs. grace (author ty/father vs. nurture/mother), the f m dwe s a ot on nteract ons w th fr ends and fam y of Jack O Br en, as a 10-year-o d, and ater n fe as an arch tect, as he tr es to reso ve h s fee ngs about h s bu y ng, str ct, humour ess dad, and the trag c death of h s younger brother. Mom, p ayed by Jess ca Chasta n, s a most ange c but never not grounded. Her strugg e to accept the death of Jack s brother-- wh ch s unexp a ned n the f m-- re ates somehow to the ntroductory quote from Job, "where were you when I a d the foundat ons of the un verse", wh ch s a uded to by the scenes of exp od ng stars, the d nosaurs ( nc ud ng a T-Rex who p aces h s foot on the head of a defeated d nosaur). In rea fe, Ma ck s brother went to Spa n to study w th Segov a, who, apparent y, was a re ent ess task-master. He broke h s own hands n frustrat on and then comm tted su c de. Terence had been asked by h s father to go to Spa n to he p h m and had refused.
2011-07-18 Allen, Woody Small Time Crooks --> Rating: 7.80
Woody A en eads a gang of th eves who buy a p zza par our to tunne nto a nearby bank. To keep up the charade, he gets h s g r to run the store. She can t make p zza but she makes great cook es and, wh e the th eves are ost underground, her bus ness thr ves and expands nto a cha n and they become r ch. But money spo s the re at onsh p and they f nd that they are not rea y accepted by soc ety ust because they are wea thy, though they are nterv ewed by Steve Kroft. Unexpected at t mes, and a ways terate and amus ng, but esser A en.
2011-07-16 Koster, Henry Harvey --> Rating: 7.00
Odd comedy about a drunk (Stewart), E w n P. Dodd, who has an mag nary fr end, a s x foot three and ha f nch rabb t named Harvey. It s not a that amus ng to cons der the poss b ty that e ther Dodd knows Harvey s not rea , or that Harvey m ght be "rea " n some absurd sense. The comedy s n how Dodd man pu ates peop e nto do ng what they want to do anyway, nc ud ng fa ng n ove, through h s gentee , amused ndu gence n fr v o ty. H s s ster and n ece want h m ocked up n a home, but h s fr ends humour h m and doctors and po ce are charmed by h m. Otherw se, noth ng part cu ar y sat sfy ng psycho og ca y or art st ca y.
2011-08-12 Emond, Bernard Legacy --> Rating: 7.00
Ponderous, s ow-mov ng -- some m ght say, e g ac-- drama about an e der y rura doctor n Quebec, a town ca ed Normeta , seek ng a rep acement for h mse f as he approaches h s tw ght years. He f nds one: Dr. Jeanne D on (E se Gu bau t), who seems to have the pat ent, med tat ve d spos t on su ted to Dr. Ra nv e s stab e of eccentr cs, rec uses, rebe s, and abused w ves, and to the rugged, open andscape and harsh w nters (though we don t get to see much of the w nter n Normeta , wh ch s a b t of a p ty.) Th s mov e proved to me that be ng s ow-mov ng for the sake of be ng s ow-mov ng doesn’t make a e eg ac. There are moments that nsp re apprec at on, and the d rector never g amour zes the geography or the peop e. Unfortunate y, Dr. D on never emerges as a rea person. She has d gn ty but d gn ty w thout persona ty s a r ess.
2011-08-14 Abrams, J. J. Super 8 --> Rating: 7.20
Fa r y enterta n ng-- because of the extraord nary rapport among the k ds-- thr er about someth ng on the oose n a sma Oh o town wh e Joe and h s fr ends, nc ud ng the hot A ce Da nard, try to make a f m w th Char es super 8mm camera. Joe s st dea ng w th the acc denta death of h s mother at the stee m
, w
A ce s father seems d stracted and mean. J. J. Abrams s probab y ncapab e of mak ng a mov e that goes anywhere be ow any surface, so t seems perfect for h m that Steven Sp e berg produced th s ghtwave by ve y umpteenth remake of "Them".
2011-06-20 Allen, Woody Midnight in Paris --> Rating: 8.00
The usua Woody A en st ck w th ust enough fresh sp n to be nterest ng and enterta n ng, and a ways above average. G and Inez are a young coup e who-- n true Shakespearean trad t on-- don t rea y be ong together. She shops wh e he wanders Par s at n ght (hav ng h tched the excurs on w th her parents). Mag ca y, at m dn ght, G s swept away to Par s of the 1920 s and meets Getrude Ste n and P casso and F tzgera d and others, and beg ns to absorb the wondrous sweep and g ory of great art and pass on. Inez s not nterested, of course. A d st at on of A en s romant c sm about art and beauty and youth and ove.
2011-06-18 Peck, Raoul Lumumba --> Rating: 7.80
Consc ent ous b ography of the con c eader of the Congo at ndependence from Be g um, and how he was man pu ated and tr cked, and eventua y deposed by France, Be g um, and the U.S. A tru y remarkab e, trag c f gure, he was c ear y n over h s head as pr me-m n ster of the new y ndependent country, but won the hearts of h s countrymen w th h s unusua y forthr ght speech on ndependence day, n front of an angry K ng Baudou n. Throughout, he strugg ed to make dec s ons that were genera y mora y defens b e but strateg ca y foo sh, as when he remonstrated w th then head of the po ce force Mobutu for excess ve v o ence n putt ng down a rebe on. He was forced to ask for a d from the Sov et Un on when Katanga prov nce, w th the encouragement of Be g um wh ch wanted t s m nera s, dec ared ndependence, but on y after he had asked the U.S. (f rst) and the U.N. for a d. The Amer cans then took th s as proof that he was a commun st and orded h m assass nated. It was, by the way, n reference to Lumumba that Ma com X was th nk ng when, after hear ng of Kennedy s assass nat on, he sa d "the ch ckens have come home to roost".
2011-06-09 Guggenheim, Davis Waiting for Superman --> Rating: 9.20
We -f med ook at the ssue of schoo cho ce among parents n ne ghborhoods w th dysfunct ona schoo systems. They are forced to enter a ottery to try to get the r ch dren nto decent schoo s. Takes a broad ook at the system, teachers and teachers un ons, tenure, and why t s so d ff cu t to reform the pub c system. In part cu ar, the Wash ngton D.C. schoo system s exam ned when a determ ned young super ntendent, M che e Rhee, sets out to make th ngs r ght. As many cr t cs have po nted out, Guggenhe m seems ob v ous to the fact that the parents of the ch dren n the successfu schoo s are c ear y mot vated and nvo ved and he s de steps the fact that most ch dren n the mpover shed urban areas don t have the uxury of mot vated and nvo ved parents. St , he h gh ghts an ssue that many peop e have been angry about for years and seem unab e to so ve. And the scenes towards the end, as the ch dren we have come to know wa t to see f they w w n the ottery to get nto the schoo they rea y want to get n to, are heartbreak ng and mov ng.
2011-06-02 Von Rompaey, Christophe Moscow Belgium --> Rating: 7.50
L keab e f somewhat d ffuse drama about a 41-year-o d woman, whose art st-teacher husband has eft her for one of h s students, meet ng a truckdr ver w th a quest onab e past. He s a determ ned su tor, and you re not qu te sure what he sees n her, but the mov e avo ds the cheapest, most contr ved deve opments. It s a hopefu s ce. And you beg n to rea ze w th her that her f rst, most obv ous paths may not be the best ones.
2011-06-02 Kieslowski, Krzysztof Blind Chance --> Rating: 9.00
The obv ous nsp rat on for "Run Lo a Run" by K es owsk s adm rer, Tom Tyvek. Subt e, r ch study of fate and how wor dv ew s shaped. W tek, as h s father s dy ng, drops out of med ca schoo and heads to Warsaw where he o ns the res stance to the commun st reg me and but ends be ng suspected of betray ng the cause by h s fr ends, nc ud ng h s over. Or does he m ss the tra n and o n the commun st party, r s ng through the ranks to become a d ssast sf ed funct onary or does he return to med ca schoo ? Each tw st of fate a ters h s wor dv ew, h s va ues, and h s sat sfact on w th fe, w th the mp cat on that, rea y, ne ther of the f rst two opt ons are part cu ar y sat sfy ng. A mature, subt e, comp ex f m; very sat sfy ng performances.
2011-05-28 Koolhoven, Martin Winter in Wartime --> Rating: 6.00
Amateur sh, under-wr tten drama about a young boy com ng of age dur ng the hard w nter of 1945, encounter ng good and ev n surpr s ng contexts n h s sma Dutch town, after he f nds a downed p ot h d ng n the bush. One cr nges at certa n moments of dramat c c ums ness, or mp aus b ty, and the tone of se fsuffer ng, and the sent menta ty.
2011-05-29 Press, Richard Bill Cunningham New York --> Rating: 8.50
A gem of a f m about a gem of a guy: B Cunn ngham, 82, a street fash on photographer for the New York T mes, who st r des h s b ke to work every day, and ved n a t ny apartment n Carneg e Ha unt he was recent y ev cted. B s as cheerfu and opt m st c as anyone, yet not afra d to dec are that someone s not wear ng anyth ng nterest ng and therefore not worth shoot ng. He a so kes to post photos of new dresses by cutt ng edge des gners a ongs de a 30 years o d p cture of the same des gn by someone e se. He rece ves a Leg on of Honour award n France and spends most of the t me snapp ng p ctures of the other guests. He refuses a arge check for h s share of Deta s Magaz ne when t was so d to Conde Nast because he doesn t want to be "owned". The f m tse f s prosa c and a b t raw; t s the odd d scover es about B Cunn ngham that make t worth watch ng, part cu ar y a moment ater n the f m where the nterv ewer br ef y, carefu y gets persona .
2011-05-23 Ferguson, Charles Inside Job --> Rating: 8.80
Br
ant, conc se documentary about the f nanc a me tdown n 2008, w th a cast of depress ng y fam ar
characters-- Henry Pau s, T mothy Ge tner, Lawrence Summers, who a ended up n the Obama adm n strat on nstead of the outhouse after gu d ng the U.S. bank ng system to a catc ysm.
2011-05-12 Boden, Anna Sugar --> Rating: 8.10
Unexpected, raw, and unpo shed story about a p tcher from the Dom n can Repub can and h s setbacks as he tr es to make t as a profess ona n the U.S. Fo ows an d osyncrat c path w th unexpected deve opments. You rea y grow to ke Sugar and empath ze w th h m as he s thrust nto an a en cu ture, far from home, uncerta n of h s own va ues, and unsure of h s p ace. Not a ways we -acted or wr tten, t s power es n t s honesty and ts compass on for ts characters. A ove y, remarkab e f m.
2011-05-12 Kieslowski, Krzysztof A Short Film About Love --> Rating: 9.00
Tomek watches Magda w th b nocu ars from h s f fth f oor w ndow. He sees her meet var ous men, make ove, cry, and dec des to r g up a meet ng through h s ob at the post off ce. Magda catches on teases and provokes h m, but Tomek s more comfortab e watch ng than he s part c pat ng. As the r re at onsh p deve ops, t becomes c ear that th s s a rather dark v ew of " ove", prob ng that aspect of t that nvo ves the terr fy ng surrender of persona dent ty, of need, and des re, and the way we res st.
2011-04-30 Pellington, Mark Henry Poole is Here --> Rating: 5.00
Annoy ng y se f-consc ous drama about a man who th nks he s dy ng of an ness and seems to spend a h s t me ma nta n ng a 5:00 shadow so he can ook suff c ent y bedragg ed to h s nosy ne ghbors. Jesus face appears n the stucco of h s house nsp r ng h s devout ne ghbors to ectasy. A tt e g r sneaks around record ng h s conversat ons. The p ot s og ca and care ess y dev sed and there s noth ng e se nterest ng n the mov e.
2011-05-22 Keaton, Buster Three Ages --> Rating: 8.80
Keaton te s three para e stor es, set n pre-h story, the Roman emp re, and modern t mes. In each, Keaton courts the same g r , w th var ous frustrat ons and setbacks.
2011-04-20 Keaton, Buster Sherlock Jr. --> Rating: 8.50
Buster as a young su tor who f nds out h s r va s a th ef and, ke Wa ter M tty, fanc es h mse f a pr vate eye. Beaut fu y po shed phys ca comedy, pathos, and story. Astound ng stunts f med, obv ous y, n rea t me w thout spec a effects.
2011-04-20 Wajda, Andrzej Kanal --> Rating: 8.30
Powerfu drama about the ast days of the Warsaw upr s ng, focussed on Po sh part sans and the r desperate attempts to evade the nev tab e German repr sa s that eft Warsaw n rubb e. They engage n one ast confrontat on then take to the sewers to try to c aw the r way back to the center of the c ty. There s romance and despa r, and some ose the r m nds, nc ud ng the art st, the p an st, who wanders the sewers a one p ay ng h s p pe. Th s s a ourney through he to another he , and ex stent a med tat on on the fut ty of res stance that bare y even eaves ts characters w th d gn ty.
2011-04-15 Jones, Duncan Source Code --> Rating: 8.30
An odd comb nat on of Groundhog Day and Tota Reca -- Co ter Stevens sudden y f nds h mse f on a tra n. After 8 m nutes, the tra n exp odes. A fem n ne, d rect ve vo ce te s h m he s go ng back-- he has to f nd the bomber. He s sudden y back on the tra n, re v ng those e ght m nutes. What s happen ng? Turns out Stevens has been connected to the bra n of a v ct m of the exp os on, to re ve h s ast 8 m nutes, so he can try to f nd the bomber who -- for reasons known on y to the wr ter-- s announc ng that he has a b gger bomb wh ch w go off a tt e ater. If you can suspend your d sbe ef ong enough, there s actua y a compe ng story here, a human st paean to fe s sma p easures, to the beauty of fe and of the sorry ot of us we ca human, and the desperate des re to keep t a n sp te of the fata rea ty that everyth ng s a ready gone. That sa d, the dea that he cou d re ve anyth ng but the exact 8 m nutes of exper ence of the deceased s bra n s a stretch no matter how far you suspend your d sbe ef. So, okay, th s s a fantasy, a parab e, f you w , but what saves t s the fact that you end up car ng for the characters and moved by the r p ght.
2011-04-17 Cianfrance, Derek Blue Valentine --> Rating: 8.00
There s a ove y, entranc ng scene near the beg nn ng of "B ue Va ent ne" when Dean (Gos ng) persuades C ndy (W ams) to dance for h m, on a darkened store front s dewa k, wh e he p ays the uke e e, s ng ng "You A ways Hurt (the one you ove)", and she comp es, a egs and arms ak mbo, g gg y, charmed. Gos ng s nterpretat on s often m sgu ded and narc ss st c (I have someth ng n my m nd so wonderfu I must br ng t out n th s ro e) and t s rea y hard to be eve she wou d see anyth ng n h m after a wh e, espec a y after a few pass ve-aggress ve ep sodes of h m demand ng someth ng from her that he can t express and she can t trans ate. It s a m rac e that there s st someth ng remarkab e n th s otherw se good f m.
2011-04-11 Wright, Joe Hanna --> Rating: 6.00
A ong, pred ctab e chase scene, w th c chÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ Â©-r dden character zat ons ( nc ud ng, shamefu y, the ster e, b tch career-woman), ong drawn-out po nt ess sequences of no part cu ar og c, and a ot of no se. The on y charm s the br ef appearance of an Austra an fam y and the teenage g r , who, frank y, s a hoot. Otherw se-- they cred t a wr ter? A they needed was a dr ver. Er c Bana surpr sed me by prov ng h s screen persona can be remarkab y t resome and Cate B anchett shou d avo d ro es ke the ce queen b tch she p ays here.
2011-04-09 Mulligan, Robert Man in the Moon --> Rating: 6.50
Sad to say, I began to suspect th s f m was wr tten by a woman about 1/3 of the way through. I don t mean anyth ng per orat ve by t-- I ust note t. Anyway, th s f m s pr mar y noteworthy for Reese W therspoon s remarkab e debut: she rea y s ncred b y watchab e and she can act even f t a does seem to be externa to her character. She fa s n ove w th a ne ghbor boy who fa s for her s ster, once he meets her, because she s actua y h s age, and she s pretty, and there s the ega th ng.... There s a desperate attempt to mpart s gn f cance to th s story but the events overwhe m the keab e, earthy, fee of the f rst ha f and t ends up as a pretent ous, sou ess m tat on of nosta g a. How desperate were they, for drama, to n ect p ot deve opments n order to monumenta ze what s rea y nosta g a.
2011-04-10 Assayas, Olivier Carlos --> Rating: 8.50
Powerfu f ve and a ha f hour ong dramat zat on of the career of I ch Ram rez Sanchez a so known as Car os the Jacka , the Venezue an terror st, who was act ve n Europe and the M dd e East for 20 years n the 1970 s and 80 s, h gh ghted by h s sensat ona k dnapp ng of the Opec o m n sters n 1975, apparent y at the behest of Saddam Husse n. Ram rez worked most y for the Popu ar Front for the L berat on of Pa est ne under Wadd e Haddad, and the f m s nstruct ve on the comp ex t es of h s re at onsh ps w th Mos em fundamenta sts, German revo ut onar es, var ous fact ons n Lebanon and Syr a, and the East B ock, wh ch st had hopes of wor d w de revo ut on. "Car os" exp ores h s ove fe, h s ser a re at onsh ps w th women nvo ved or not w th th s terror st act v t es, h s van ty. Car os s va n and egocentr c, but he s a so at t mes dut fu and amb t ous, but he s a ways ruth ess. When events overtake the movement, wash ng t out n a wave of corrupt on and decay as the East B ock crumb es, Ram rez becomes a pathet c f gure, begg ng rogue governments ke L bya and A ger a for adm ss on and protect on.
2011-04-08 Kobayashi, Masaki Human Condition --> Rating: 7.80
Spraw ng, 12 hour ep c of human st Ka strugg ng to ma nta n h s human ty through the devast ng destruct on and crue ty of Japan s Wor d War II occupat on of Manchur a. He s, f rst, an "en ghtened" funct onary at a abour camp, hop ng to w n over the workers w th progress ve pract ses. Then he s drafted nto the army and p ays a part n the d sastrous campa gns ate n the war aga nst the Sov ets and the Red Ch nese. Those these batt es took p ace after the nuc ear bomb was dropped on H rosh ma, the bomb tse f s not ment oned. Nor are the Japanese atroc t es aga nst the Ch nese g ven much attent on. Thr
ng spectac e a ternate w th me odrama
and speech fy ng; f ghts are not very conv nc ng y staged-- though, perhaps, more rea st c than most Ho ywood vers ons. Ka n the end s d s us oned and dr ven mad by man s nhuman ty to man and the f m becomes somewhat d ff use.
2011-04-05 Beauvois, Xavier Of Gods and Men --> Rating: 8.50
Exqu s te y pat ent, med tat ve study of a group of monks n 1990 s A ger a sub ect to poss b e attacks by Mos em extrem sts, an annoyance to the French government who want to evacuate them. They dec de to stay true to the r m ss on, fu y aware of the danger. The f m s rea y a study of the r med tat ve festy e of serv ce and prayer and song, the r communa re at onsh ps, and the characters of each of the monks as they cons der the r pred cament. Not espec a y we -f med, but we -acted and courageous.
2011-03-30 Ficarra, Glenn I Love You Phillip Morris --> Rating: 8.20
Fasc nat ng true story-- n the Ho ywood sense-- of Steven Jay Russe , con man, mpersonator, master fraud art st-- and h s re at onsh p w th Ph
p Morr s, whom he met n pr son and fe n ove w th. As the mov e vers on
has t, dr ven by ove for Morr s, Russe escaped, mpersonated doctors, awyers, udges, and anyone e se he cou d use, was arrested, escaped, arrested, and so on. Carrey s best performance, but the support cast s a so exce ent, nc ud ng var ous pr soners, espec a y the pr soner an tor who makes t a po nt of persona honor to p ay a romant c song on h s stereo for Ph
p and Steven n exchange for a b ow ob even after the guards te
h m to turn t off. Russe pa d a heavy pr ce for h s rreverent mockery of the aw n Texas: he rece ved a 144 year sentence, of wh ch 23 hours a day s so tary conf nement. It has been sa d that a touch from an adm r ng fe ow pr soner was the f rst n ten years.
2011-04-04 Lumet, Sidney Running on Empty --> Rating: 7.10
Rather mp aus b e, under-deve oped attempt to f nd soc a s gn f cance n a pa r of war protestors v ng on the run w th the r two ch dren. The o der boy, R ver Phoen x, fa s n ove w th a g r and dec des he wants to go to Ju ard (he s a br
ant p an st). The coup e strugg e w th the pr ce they make the r ch dren pay for the r
cont nued freedom and the mother, Chr st ne Laht , s tempted to turn themse ves n. Coy at t mes, and thought ess at others, every s ng e scene ooks ke the actors became the characters ust for that scene. They never seem to have any accumu ated fee ng from anyth ng that happened off camera. Everyth ng s exp a ned, schemat ca y, and the "arguments" for any part cu ar act on seem feeb e and weak. Best part of the mov e: R ver Phoen x and Martha P mpton deve op some chem stry-- they shou d-- they were dat ng each other off screen. Worst part of the mov e: the danc ng to "F re and Ra n"-- one of the songs that ushered n the era of nave -gaz ng se f-ref ect on nstead of soc a act v sm.
2011-03-27 Hughes, John Planes, Trains, and Automobiles --> Rating: 8.10
C ear y the nsp rat on for "Due Date", but far more p aus b e and pat ent. De (John Candy) s a recogn zab e character, a oud-mouthed, aggress ve and over-bear ng schmuck, who nadvertant y causes Nea Page (Steve Mart n) to m ss h s cruc a f ght home for Thanksg v ng. The f m be evab y str ngs them together through var ous m sadventures. Candy s a n the moment, spontaneous, emot ona , and Mart n s up-t ght, constr cted, and contro ng. You know peop e ke th s, and the r nteract ons resonate w th w th rea wor d exper ences. It s even be evab e when Nea beg ns to sort of ke the b g ug, and then gets mad at h m a over aga n. Kev n Bacon, M chae McKean appear. There s an except ona y funny scene at a car renta desk, w th Ed e McC urg. What saves th s from s apst ck s the re at ve y we -deve oped character of De -- he s not tota y a punch ng bag; he s, at t mes, po gnant, a ch d- ke sou , who doesn t comp ete y surrender to the udgment of fr g d Nea .
2011-03-25 Noyce, Phillip Quiet American --> Rating: 8.00
D gn f ed f somewhat understated render ng of the br
ant Graham Greene nove about ear y Amer can
nvo vement n V et Nam (and an aston sh ng presc ent render ng t was - the book, wr tten n 1955, a most exact y pred cted how Amer ca s nvo vement wou d go). Ca ne s so d as Fow er, pass onate y n ove w th Phuong, a V et Namese beauty whose s ster ree s her n and out ke ba t. Brendan Fraser s surpr s ng y good as Py e, the Amer can w th the doomed grand v s on for ntervent on, a we -mean ng and foo sh, s mu taneous y naÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¯ve and s n ster. The tragedy of the re at onsh p of these three para e s-- rather exp c t y-- the tragedy of Ame rcan nvo vement n V et Nam.
2011-03-20 Jeffs, Christine Sunshine Cleaners --> Rating: 7.60
Nora s the bad s ster; Rose s the good s ster. They are both strugg ng to get by. Nora ves w th her dad, Joe, who s ust one hare-bra ned scheme away from grand wea th. Through her cop over, Rose earns about he potent a y ucrat ve f e d of c ean ng up cr me scenes and embarks on a new venture. Ser ous y underdeve oped-- every scene n the f rst ha f ust seems to happen out of nowhere, s mp y to dr ve the narrat ve-and try ng hard to be ovab y qu rky and sou fu but not qu te pu ng t off. Em y B unt s worth watch ng, however, and gets a chance to sh ne here -- that she d dn t get n "Dev Wears Prada" but Amy Adams strugg es w th an underwr tten ro e. At east t doesnÃƒÆ Ã Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¾Ã Â¢t se -out at the end.
2011-03-19 Villeneuve, Denis Incendies --> Rating: 8.50
Powerfu f m on the effects of c v war, deve oped around the death of a Lebanese Chr st an woman n Montrea and her egacy to her ch dren: she asks them to f nd the r father and brother, ne ther of whom they be eved was a ve. As they set out to track them down, they uncover the r mother s trag c past, and t s ongo ng threads to the present. The story s to d n para e , revea ng the destruct ve fragments of ethn c and re g ous hatreds. One scene, rem n scent of "Soph e s Cho ce", was near y exp os ve.
2011-03-12 Krueger, Lisa Manny and Lo --> Rating: 6.00
The on y th ngs th s f m had go ng for t was the d m hope that t was odd enough to earn the term qu rky, and a very young Scar ett Johansson p ay ng Manny, the smart, thoughtfu 10-year-o d s ster of Lo, who s pregnant. They are both on the run from the r separate adopt ve fam es, and dec de to k dnap a nurse-- who, perhaps, sn t a that re uctant-- to he p de ver the baby.
2011-03-12 Waititi, Taiki Eagle vs. Shark --> Rating: 7.70
Very ntr gu ng, odd, qu rky, amus ng past che of events surround ng the re at onsh p between a nasty, se fcentred nerd and the g r who worsh ps h m. Most rem n scent of "Napo eon Dynam te", wh ch s a h t or m ss approach, and "Eag e" most y h ts. Jarrod has set out to tra n h mse f n the mart a arts n order to wreck revenge on a h gh schoo c assmate who bu ed h m. When he phones to te h m " ust ce" s com ng, the person answer ng the phone prom ses to te h m "Just n" ca ed. L y adores h m but he dumps her for Tracy, who, apparent y, doesn t rea y have an nterest n Jarrod. L y tr es to eave but the bus doesn t come unt Sunday. It s a done n a very deadpan, dry manner, and very enterta n ng. It s ns stent y goofy and Loren Hors ey h ts the r ght notes as L y. The fact that I ked t nsp te of the b atant copp ng of "Napo eon Dynam te" te s me t has someth ng.
2011-03-06 Craven, Wes Music of the Heart --> Rating: 7.00
There rea y s no excuse for yet another remake of "Up the Down the Sta rcase", w th Mery Streep the gratu tous putupon esteemed nsp rat ona teacher n th s one. Unusua y s oppy even for that genre-- you can peg the c chÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ Â© s as they wa k through the door. A eged y a true story, wh ch s ke say ng that McDona d s does produce hamburgers. Unusua y ame performance from Streep. Man pu at ve and sent menta , of course.
2011-03-06 Hawks, Howard Big Sleep --> Rating: 7.30
So-ca ed "c ass c" of f m-no re comes off as a b t stodgy and stagey nowadays. St someth ng to see-- Bogard and Baca , who were hot nto an affa r at the t me of f m ng-- teas ng and p ay ng each other. The ncoherent p ot, however, doesn t ho d up very we nowadays, and the f ghts and shoot ngs are down-r ght com ca .
2011-03-03 Debrauwer, Lieven Pauline and Paulette --> Rating: 8.20
Love y, ow-key f m about four s sters. One has a severe menta d sab ty and one, Marta, ooks after her. When Marta d es, Pau ette and Cec e must dec de what to do w th Pau ne. When t s d scovered that Marta s w sp ts the nher tance three ways on y f one of the s sters ooks after Pau ne n her home, the two strugg e w th the respons b ty. Ne ther of them rea y wants Pau ne n the r ves, Pau ette because of her fabr c shop and opera (she s a performer) and Cec e because of her boor sh boyfr end, A bert. The f m never cheapens the narrat ve w th sent ment or man pu at ve p ot turns. Cho ces must be made the emot ona consequences are rea and po gnant. A wonderfu "sma " f m.
2011-03-01 Phillips, Todd Due Date --> Rating: 7.40
Enterta n ng f pred ctab e odd coup e road p cture w th Downy as the upt ght execut ve and Zach Ga af anak s as the whacky man-ch d-- as the Lucy character, rea y, stuck w th each other after gett ng k cked off a p ane and added to the no-f y st. As w th a most a of these f ms, you have to ask yourse f why a sane man ke Peter (Downey) wou d cont nue to a ow h mse f to be roped nto such unprom s ng pred caments as he s here. But the p ot depends on that be ef and f you don t by t, a ot of the mov e s dra ned of nterest. As a ways, we are a so asked to be eve that the d ot s somehow ovab e no matter how much pa n and suffer ng he nf cts on the repressed peop e around h m. Why s Ju ette Lew s so often the most amus ng person n her recent f ms?
2011-03-01 Jackson, Mick Temple Grandin --> Rating: 7.90
Earnest f schemat c at t mes, b op c about Temp e Grand n, who overcame her aut sm to become obta n a PHD and deve op severa nnovat ve procedures for hand ng vestock at markets and s aughter-houses. The mov e s a d agram and n sp te of attempts to ven t up w th mag n ngs of what Temp e sees n her m nd, unfo ds w thout much surpr se. Grand n s p ayed as tough and determ ned, more puzz ed by the bu y ng she encounters than hurt by t.
2011-02-26 Chamet, Sylvaine Illusionist --> Rating: 8.00
Love y but somewhat unfocussed story about a mag c an who befr ends a poor servant at an nn n Scot and and takes her back w th h m to h s home n Ed nburgh where they k nd of ust get by. It s rea y about the oss of mag c n fe-- the mag c an s be ng rep aced by rock stars and tv, and f nds h s hor zons ncreas ng y constr cted. The g r wants a dress and shoes and gets them and meets a man and the mag c an, on cue, d sappears from her fe. There s some mag c n the story, some sadness, and an nchoate sense of absence -the r re at onsh p s never sat sfactor y exp a ned. It ust s. Perhaps that s the po nt, but Tat s rea abandoned f rst daughter found the f m a tt e hard to stomach. She was conce ved n Wor d War II Par s and Tat abandoned her and her mother.
2011-02-21 Lonergan, Kenneth You Can Count on Me --> Rating: 8.00
Ser ous, earnest study about a brother and s ster whose parents d ed n a car acc dent when they were very young, strugg ng to rebu d the r re at onsh p now that she s a s ng e mom and he s a wander ng, uncomm tted, mpu s ve-- f charm ng-- ayabout. Very we acted but occas ona y fa s to f nd the r ght p tch-see "Another Year" for how t shou d be done. St , a ove y, s ncere f m about re at onsh ps and fe and the cho ces we make, and how paths are fraught, somet mes, w th a k nd of nert a that g ves us us ons of cho ce. Terry, n fact, ca s to m nd, at t mes, Chr s McCand ess, the sub ect of "Into the W d".
2011-02-20 Sachs, Ira Forty Shades of Blue --> Rating: 8.60
Love y, sens t ve f m about a bo sterous record producer, R p Torn, who meets and marr es a Russ an woman 30 years young than he s. They have a ch d. When h s estranged son returns for v s t, contemp at ng sp tt ng from h s pregnant w fe, the re at onsh p becomes unba anced. She becomes more se f-aware, and beg ns to quest on her pos t on, wh e surpr s ng y gratefu for the b ess ngs of fe n the U.S. w th a we -off sugar-daddy. No one goes qu te where you expect. R p Torn p ays a out but he s not unaware, and he s not unk nd to Laura. And the son, M chae , s not the redempt ve presense he seems at f rst. Above average, w th a nterest ng sound-track to boot.
2011-02-19 Roach, Hal Kes --> Rating: 8.50
Love y f occas ona y c umsy portra t of a m sf t ado escent, B y, who f nds so ace n the art of tra n ng a fa con to hunt. In conf ct w th th s bruta teachers and a bu y ng o der brother, B y s c pher: he s sma and unath et c but smart and he has a sou that s expressed through h s pat ence w th Kes, the Fa con he pat ent y tra ns. There are aston sh ng scenes-- a group of boys be ng pun shed for m sbehav or nc ud ng a beaut fu ad who on y came to de ver a message from another teacher, a scene on the soccer p tch, B y w th h s b rd-- and the f m s rather rough at t mes, obv ous y cheap y f med, but t s a gem.
2011-02-12 Leigh, Mike Another Year --> Rating: 9.00
Tom and Gerr are happ y marr ed, near ng ret rement age, sett ed n, stab e, so d. But n the orb t of the r ves fr ends crash and burn, wa ow n despa r, and strugg e to f nd some coherence to the r ves. In part cu ar, Mary ongs for a ong-term re at onsh p-- preferb y w th Tom and Gerr s son, Joe. The mov e takes you through four seasons w th Tom and Gerr , the ups and downs of the r fr ends, and um nates how the stab ty of the r re at onsh p both nsp res and frustrates the r fr ends. Beaut fu y acted and f med-- one of the year s best.
2011-02-08 Mitchell, John Cameron Rabbit Hole --> Rating: 6.50
Two bad s gns: the author, Dav d L ndsay-Aba re, wrote "Shrek, the Mus ca ", and N co e K dman was a producer of th s f m. Emb emat c scenes: Becca, who has recent y ost her son to an acc dent, sees a young ch d n the grocery store begg ng h s mother for a treat. When she refuses, Becca mpu s ve y accosts the mother and ns sts she shou d buy h m the treat. Another: How e returns home ear y from h s group therapy and doesn t even not ce that Becca s car sn t n the dr veway. He charges nto the house ca ng her name. Becca ear er drove off to secret y meet the boy who was dr v ng the car that struck her son. She ca s h m on the phone on y after she has eft, and gets h s vo cema . She bursts nto tears when she sees h m w th a prom date, and doesn t h de from h m as he dr ves past, star ng. Ear er, he showed up at her house to de ver a com c book he was wr t ng, that she was nterested n see ng. How e s shocked and Becca acts as f she was caught out n someth ng on y because we are supposed to th nk she was caught out and the wr ter cou dn t mag ne that she cou d mag ne anyth ng e se to say about t. There s not an honest moment n th s contr ved, fac e mov e that cou dn t poss b y have anyth ng to do w th any rea nc dent. It s a sophomor c symbo s of gr ef and mar ta conf ct, thought ess and sha ow, and u t mate y tr v a and unnatura y chaste and un nterest ng. N co e K dman s worst performance yet. And poor Sandra Oh-- when How e dr ves out to her house to meet her, presumab y, for an affa r, and then changes h s m nd n the dr veway, as she stands there frozen, unattract ve y try ng to ook understand ng as we are nv ted to sympath ze w th h m. Was there no drama n th s re ect on? D d the wr ter rea y have noth ng at a to te us about Gaby s fee ngs here?
2011-02-08 Aladag, Feo When we Leave --> Rating: 7.80
Rather schemat c story about a Turk sh woman, Umay, who escapes her abus ve husband to return to her fam y n Germany-- but they are appa ed at her act and urge her to return to her husband. She strugg es to estab sh her own fe w th her young son Cem but craves the acceptance of her fam y. The strength of th s mov e s A adag s determ nat on to res st creat ng two-d mens ona v a ns for a prob em that s rea y cu tura and soc o og ca -- Umay s fam y are ust do ng what they have been tra ned to do from t me mmemor a : preserve the sanct ty of the fam y un t as they understand t. We acted, genera y, and susta ns the v ewer s nterest. Based on a true story about a woman, Hatun SÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¼rÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ €šÃ ¼cÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¼, murdered n 1999 n an "honor k
ng" by her youngest brother.
2011-02-07 Kurosawa, Akira High and Low --> Rating: 8.50
K ngo Gondo-- yes, that s the name-- s a wea thy bus nessman, a factory manager for Nat ona Shoes. One day, someone tr es to k dnap h s son, ust as Gondo s about to c ose a bo d dea to take contro of the company. But the k dnapper m staken y takes h s chauffeur s son nstead. The tens on created by Gondo s sudden d s nterest n pay ng the ransom s a marve -- the chauffeur knows h s p ace but must beg, at one po nt, for Gondo to acknow edge h s human ty. But then, t becomes a thr
ng po ce procedura as the po ce,
mpressed by Gondo s u t mate sacraf ce, determ ned y pursue the k dnapper. There s a wonderfu sequence where the k dnapper goes out to acqu re drugs and then tests them on a pathet c unk e. Rea y esser Kurosawa, but st a marve .
2011-01-30 Boyle, Danny 127 Hours --> Rating: 8.00
Based on Aron Ra ston s book "Between a Rock and Hard P ace". Leav ng as de the po nt that someone who d d someth ng un mag nab y stup d (track ng off nto the back country w thout te ng anyone where he was go ng) now commands $30K + to g ve nsp rat ona speeches, th s s a very compe ng true story about how Ra ston was trapped n a narrow crev ce w th a arge chockstone rock p nn ng h s hand aga nst the s de, for 5 days. He had no ce phone or persona ocator, on y a sma amount of water, and a du kn fe. As the wor d knows, Ra ston eventua y had to cut off h s own arm to escape, and was rescued a few hours ater by some Dutch h kers. Not much actua y happens, but Boy e mbues the story w th sty sh f our shes, exp or ng Aron s memor es and fee ngs as h s pred cament becomes progress ve y gr m. We -f med at the exact ocat on t happened. I guess I m ssed the part where th s s an "up ft ng" paen to the human sp r t-- he made a stup d m stake and, ke any sent ent be ng, wanted very, very bad y to surv ve, and that s what the mov e shows us. For my money, "Into the W d", about a not d ss m ar s tuat on, has far greater ns ght nto the ssues nvo ved, d st ed, at one moment, nto the sadness of Ha Ho brook s face as he rea zes that Chr s McCand ess s about to do someth ng prec se y that stup d.
2011-01-30 Linklater, Richard Me and Orson Welles --> Rating: 8.50
Unexpected p easure about a young h gh schoo student who happens upon Orson We es putt ng together h s cast for "Ju us Caesar" at the Mercury Theatre. He s aud t oned and ass gned the ro e of Luc us and he brave y goes after the ove est g r n the company. A ong the way, we watch the mag c of the be ow ng, overbear ng, mpu s ve gen us, Orson We es, as he assemb es h s br
ant product on, a egendary product on of
Ju us Ceaser, wh e pursu ng chorus g r s and ra s ng money. Very enterta n ng. Not n the same eague as "Topsy Turvey", but a rea gem.
2011-01-21 Lewis, Richard Barney's Version --> Rating: 5.00
B and, co our ess, un nterest ng adaptat on of Mordeca R ch er s ast nove , about a Jew sh TV producer n Montrea who chases the g r of h s dreams on the day of h s wedd ng to a shr punch ng bag of w fe. If th s product on were not so smug y conv nced of the usory mora super or ty of Barney Panovsky, t wou dn t have been as near y as offens ve. Every cr s s s te egraphed, every subt ety removed. When Barney s father gazes at Mar um and says "you d d we , boych k", you rea ze ust how shame ess th s mov e s. And why do the promot ons c a m that Barney s "po t ca y ncorrect"? Name one po t ca y ncorrect th ng he says or th nks n th s mov e? And G amatt s mp y recyc es h s Harvey Pekar character-- where s the edge, the anger, the outrage? Bor ng. Not one th ng sa d n th s mov e that wasn t sa d much better n "The Apprent cesh p of Duddy Krav tz", and R chard Dreyfuss spectacu ar y b ows G amett off the screen. Doesn t even have the guts to show Barney at east en oy ng the obv ous benef ts of M nn e s "rack"-- he ays back n d sgust as the d rector cou dnÃƒÆ Ã Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¾Ã Â¢t bear to show h m extract ng even an ounce of p easure out of th s re at onsh p, ust so the aud ence wou dn t be confused about where h s heart s.
2011-01-21 Takita, Yojiro Departures --> Rating: 7.40
Just because t s Japanese and concerned w th sp r tua ssues doesn t mean th s part cu ar f m has anyth ng remarkab e to show you. As de from a few qu et scenes of grace-- a fam y d scovers a renewed sorrow for the r mother s death as Da go prepares her body-- most of the narrat ve cons sts of our hero d scover ng that he can hand e dead bod es. It d d str ke me that the serv ce he prov des s s m ar to emba m ng n North Amer ca, a cost y and arge y unnecessary serv ce that th s mov e tr es to se you as essent a to correct mourn ng. Add to th s the fact that the mourners n th s f m are arge y how the f m-maker mag nes we mag ne them, and Departures s a n ce y f med c chÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ Â©.
2011-01-17 Penn, Arthur Night Moves --> Rating: 7.50
Convent ona pr vate eye thr er d st nqu shed by occas ona forays nto some k nd of ex stent a drama-- Harry Moseby s at oose ends, h s marr age fa ng, h s amb t ons thwarted, and he d scovers that a s not as t seems, and even becomes mp cated n murder. Some very cheesy moments, en vened by Me an e Gr ff ths debut. Yet, some cr t cs regard th s as a andmark f m, part cu ar y n reference to f m no re. They see Harry as representat ve of a d s us oned generat on (the f m came out short y after Watergate), wh ch sees fe as cyc c and po nt ess. There s no " ust ce", no sat sfy ng reso ut on here-- ust m sunderstand ngs, corrupt on, and fa th essness. The end ng, the p ane crash, shoot ng, s out and out preposterous, but perhaps an art fact of 1970 s f m techno ogy.
2011-01-17 Hooper, Tom King's Speech --> Rating: 8.00
Interest ng, so d, f a b t sto d and somewhat homogen zed vers on of the ver tab e roya stutter, wh ch supposed y endangered the mora e of Great Br ta n dur ng Wor d War II. The pred ect on of the roya fam y for Naz po t cs s sweet y gnored.
2011-01-17 Davies, Terence Of Time and the City --> Rating: 8.60
Qu et, med tat ve, poet c ook at chang ng L verpoo , the troub ed past, the even more troub ed future, through the ens of Terence Dav es repress ve upbr ng ng n a Catho c fam y. Love y o d f m footage and the mus c n a Dav es f m s a ways spec a . There s a po nt at wh ch t meanders a tt e, but that s forg vab e. Dav es acute sens t v ty, and no-ho ds barred comments on roya ty and pr v ege-- make t a worthwh e.
2010-11-01 Wagner, Andrew Starting Out in the Evening --> Rating: 8.00
S ncere, thoughtfu f m about an ag ng nove st, Leonard Sch er, who becomes the sub ect of a young graduate student s thes s. Heather Wo fe wants to rev ve nterest n h s work, and perhaps more. As p ayed by Lauren Ambrose from "6 feet Under", she s someth ng of a predator, and we re never qu te sure of her mot vat ons. Sch er s daughter, n the meant me, s near ng 40 and wants to have ch dren, but her boyfr end, Casey, does not. The two of them, father and daughter, are "start ng out n the even ng", fac ng dec s ons to be made based on poss b t es and hope and somet mes not much e se. A f m that ngers over moments, med tates gent y about fe ssues, and surpr ses w th str k ng moments of reve at on. There s a m sstep, I th nk, near the end, a moment that was supposed to be shock ng and reve atory but was ne ther. But t s worthwh e renta , espec a y f you ove books and read ng.
2011-01-02 Apted, Michael Voyage of the Dawn Treader --> Rating: 6.00
Lame, un nterest ng extens on of the C.S. Lew s "franch se", of nterest on y to those who re ect every deve opment n f m-mak ng n the ast 40 years. Th s f m cou d have been made n 1950-- t s that chaste and that nane.
2011-01-01 Coen, Ethan True Grit 2010 --> Rating: 8.20
Shrewd, t ght remake of the 1969 f m that gave John Wayne an Oscar for a okey performance as an over-theh marsha who he ps a young g r track down the k er of her dad. Jeff Br dges does better here as Rooster Cogburn, and so does Damon as LaBoeuf, rep ac ng the r d cu ous G en Campbe . True Gr t s to d from the v ew of a woman w th conv ct ons, the now e der y Matt e, we -p ayed as a 14-year-o d by Ha ee Ste nf e d. In th s wor d, God s grace s arb trary-- v rtue s not rewarded. Matt e sn t even rea y nterested n ust ce-- she ust wants revenge. And Cogburn doesnÃƒÆ Ã Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¾Ã Â¢t often br ng men back n to be tr ed, wh ch s why she chooses h m for the ob. Be t noted that t s essent a , n such mov es, for aud ence sat sfact on, that the fantasy of nstant, f aw ess dent f cat on s perpetuated, est the aud ence become concerned that th s k nd of v g ante pract ce m ght ead to the deaths of nnocents. Matt e spots Tom Chaney and nstant y recogn zes h m because, he , t s James Bro n.
2010-12-31 Hillcoat, John The Road --> Rating: 7.80
Why? 111 m nutes of wander ng and suffer ng, wander ng and suffer ng. There sn t a s ng e scene that fee s ke t wasn t conce ved to be what the wr ter thought the v ewer wou d mag ne t to be. When the v ewer s ca ed upon to be fr ghtened they s eep n the dark; when a camp f re seems more p cturesque, et s have a campf re. Worst of a , the re at onsh p between father and son has that ant sept c "f m crew n the house observ ng" fee to t: every gesture meant to show how devoted they are to each other, even f nobody behaves that way n rea fe. I thought of the re at onsh p n "Pe e the Conqueror", wh ch was far more conv nc ng, and thus, far more heartbreak ng.
2010-12-28 Donen, Stanley Charade --> Rating: 8.00
Exceed ng y c ever, w tty comedy-suspense f m about a young woman whose husband was nvo ved n the theft of go d dur ng the ater stages of Wor d War II. Just as she was about to d vorce h m, he s murdered and three-- or four-- myster ous strangers are after her for the m ss ng oot. Grant p ays a debona r th ef who seems to want to protect her-- or s he part of the gang? There are ayers upon ayers of dece t, the most centra be ng the reversed ro es: the nes n t a y wr tten for Grant were g ven to Hepburn nstead, turn ng the f m nto a somet mes edgey tease about romance.
2010-12-25 Lee, Spike Malcolm X --> Rating: 7.70
D sappo nt ng, though st nterest ng, b ography of Ma co m X, shot n a somewhat dar ng, bo d sty e by Lee, but somet mes odd y unfocussed, d ffuse, as f Lee cou dn t make up h s m nd about what exact y he wanted you to th nk of Ma co m.
2011-01-17 Madden, John Proof --> Rating: 7.50
Intr gu ng story about the daughter of a br
ant mathemat c an who may or may not have nher ted her father s
sk , or h s menta nstab ty, and her s ster who wants to wrap her up and take her away. The romance never rea y shows any sparks (between the daughter, Gwyneth Pa trow, and a student, Jake Gy enhaa ) and t s hard to buy n to the prem se, that 40 pages of exot c formu ae can t be traced to a part cu ar set of methods or sty es w th certa nty. D vert ng but not a that compe ng.
2010-12-22 Aronofsky, Darren Black Swan --> Rating: 7.00
"The Doors" was consumed, for a good port on of ts runn ng t me, w th present ng us w th the man festat ons of J mmy Morr son s consum ng add ct on to a coho . And there s noth ng more bor ng than a drunk. Un ess t s a ba er na consumed w th se f-destruct ve behav ors. The prob em w th both s that these protagon sts persona fa ures are dramat c because of the r powers as art sts at the b eed ng edge of the r crafts, and few d rectors are ab e to show us that edge, that hardness that brought them success wh e me odramat c y d agramm ng the r weaknesses. The resu t s unbe evab e. Portman, a through her supposed ba et performances, d sp ays a the t cs and manner sms of an actress try ng desperate y to conv nce you she s p ay ng someone desperate, when the rea th ng wou d be try ng desperate y to show you that she s n contro , profess ona , accomp shed. Great dancers, and s ngers, n peak form, w th the except on of E v s Stoyko, don t concern themse ves pr mar y w th d sp ay ng the r weaknesses, as both Va K mer and Nata e Portman do. More to the po nt, the who e concept of merg ng N na s ha uc nat ons w th her morb d se f-sacraf c ng phys ca suffer ngs s mp y d dn t work: the drama veered nto hyster a and made t a seem ke a very bad horror f ck, r ght down to the b ood, the oud, sudden no ses, and overbear ng mus ca score. Equa y d sappo nt ng: Aronofsky s gradua fad ng nterest n the nuts and bo ts of ba et: he shou d have stud ed M ke Le gh s "Topsy Turvy" for a ste ar examp e of how to ntegrate the drama w th n w th the drama.
2010-12-22 Yates, Peter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I --> Rating: 7.00
Ca me a party pooper, but I have never found Row ng s nove s to be part cu ar y c ever or compe ng and the same goes for the mov es. The spec a effects are very good and the act ng by some of the Br t sh stars s amus ng, but the three pr nc p es are not rea y a that good at t, and everyone seems to be stand ng around wa t ng to de ver the r nes. Even worse s the 45 m nute stretch where Herm ne, Ron, and Harry go camp ng and stand around ook ng morose-- why s th s mov e 146 m nutes?
2010-12-08 Russell, David O. Fighter --> Rating: 8.00
Terr f c f m about boxer M ckey Ward and h s brother. No one shou d m stake th s for "Rag ng Bu ", but t s t ght, we acted, and we d rected.
2010-12-30 Waters, Mark Mean Girls --> Rating: 6.00
L mp, un nterest ng study of soc a zat on of teen g r s at Amer can h gh schoo , c ques, and corrupt on, w th L ndsey Lohan as naÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¯ve home-schoo ed daughter of -- presumab y-- m ss onar es-sudden y thrust nto soc a snake-p t of teen g r dom and fa r ng poor y unt she starts to behave ke her nemes s. On y th ng worth watch ng: Rache McAdams as bad g r Reg na George. Th s s the f rst of two T na Fey mov es (the other be ng "Date N ght") wh ch I found huge y d sappo nt ng.
2010-12-06 Goldwyn, Tony Conviction --> Rating: 7.20
As expected (H ary Swank s execut ve producer) the f m contr ves to te t s story n a manner that most g or ous y showcases Swank s act ng obs thereby pos t on ng her for a th rd academy award. Not th s t me. Swank p ays Betty Ann Waters whose brother s conv cted of murder by a co d-b ooded corrupt po ce off cer. Betty Ann never stops f ght ng for her brother s nnocence, even attend ng aw schoo and becom ng a awyer to f ght the case. Th s cou d have been a much better mov e had the other characters been offered a chance to ex st apart from Betty s Ann amaz ng v rtue. When her brother, Kenny, s rea eased, the f rst quest on a reporter asks s how cou d he ever thank h s s ster enough for what she d d for h m. Swank demur y sm es. One actua y fee s bad for Dr ver, Leo, Rockwe , and a the others: there s no room n th s mov e for the r characters.
2010-11-22 Soderbergh, Steven Limey --> Rating: 8.00
After years n a Br t sh pr son, W son trave s to Los Ange es to f nd out who was respons b e for h s daughter s death years ear er n a car acc dent, and make sure he pays for t. H gh on the st of suspects s Terry Va ent ne, a wea thy record producer who ves n a very str k ng mans on n the Ho ywood H s. Va ent ne has some sa ubr ous connect ons to the cr m na underground, but W son s a fear ess bu dog who w stop at noth ng. Sty sh y f med and acted. Sty sh y p otted. W son amuses us because of h s ndefat gab e courage seems so at odds w th h s se f- nterest, and because he earns, n the end, that h s daughter, who d sapproved of h s cr m na festy e, may have been r ght a a ong.
2010-11-21 Mamet, David Winslow Boy --> Rating: 8.30
Based on a successfu p ay wh ch was tse f based on rea events, "The W ns ow Boy" s about a 13-year-o d roya nava academy cadet accused of stea ng a 5 sh
ng posta money order from a c assmate. H s fam y--
espec a y h s o d-schoo father and h s ndependent s ster, Cathar ne-- are conv nced of h s nnocence and choose to f ght t. They appea to par ament for the r ght to appea to the crown. The batt e stretches over years and ends up cost ng far more than the r money, as Cathar ne s scanda zed f ancee urges them to qu t. Superb y wr tten and acted, t s rea y about the cost of be ng a true be ever, of be ng pass onate about causes (Cathar ne s a so a sufferagette), and about why t matters to be r ght.
2010-11-21 Bikel, Ofra Frontline: Confessions --> Rating: 9.00
Powerfu documentary about 7 sa ors based n Norfo k who were each charged w th murder and rape, a most a of whom confessed, and were conv cted even after an e ghth man confessed to the cr me, whose DNA matched ev dence from the cr me scene, and who ns sted he d d t a one.
2010-11-11 Reichardt, Kelly Old Joy --> Rating: 8.00
Love y, yr ca f m about two fr ends n the r 30 s or so who reconnect after years apart. One of them has become "respectab e", and s an expectant father. The other s st search ng for a transcendent moment, a k nd of e us ve pur ty of fee ng. He wants h s o d fr end to share t w th h m, and he p ans a h ke nto the woods to a hot spr ng, to try to rebu d the re at onsh p. Very s ow-mov ng and qu et, but r ch y evocat ve of fr endsh p and change and, as the t t e suggests, how sorrow s rea y noth ng more than o d oy.
2006-01-01 Araki, Gregg Mysterious Skin --> Rating: 7.80
Ne and Br an meet on a tt e eague team n 1991, but soon afterwards, Br an qu ts the team. At h s ast game, he remembers a thunderstorm start ng, and then noth ng for f ve hours, unt h s s ster f nds h m n h s basement b eed ng from the nose. Ne remembers a sexua re at onsh p w th the coach, and becomes a ma e prost tute, and a drug user, and one of those beaut fu boys ost to the wor d.
2010-11-06 Schulman, Arial Catfish --> Rating: 8.50
Th s s the f rst f m I ve seen-- n sp te of "The Soc a Network" that rea y ntegrates soc a network ng, Goog e, and Facebook nto the story. And t s a deep y surpr s ng story, n that the tw st s not what you expect, and there s a b gger, but more subt e tw st on the tw st. It s bas ca y about Nev Schu man, a New York C ty graph c art st, who connects w th a young g r named Abby n M ch gan, who renders amaz ng art st c render ngs of some of h s photographs. Eventua y, Nev connects w th Abby s mom and her s ster Megan, for whom Nev beg ns to have a romant c attachment, wh ch s enthus ast ca y rec procated. Anyth ng beyond that s a spo er, except, of course, that Nev and h s brother and Henry Joost, the r co aborator, set out to meet Megan and Abby and the r mom, and that s where th ngs get nterest ng. Let me say that you m ght be eft wonder ng who s conn ng who at the end, or f the con rea y matters at a . As w th "Grey Gardens", you may d scover that the r chness and comp ex ty of human soc a behav or s far more nterest ng than the tab o ds cou d poss b y te you.
2010-11-06 Ferrara, Abel Bad Lieutenant --> Rating: 8.00
Gr tty, b tter, unp easant but we -acted story of a corrupt po ce L eutenant n New York C ty, bad y add cted to coca ne and hero n, and young women, and deep y ndebted to gamb ers. Ke te performance s br
ant at
t mes-- at other t mes, queasy, as when he engages n th s an ma st c grow to express h s desperat on. Does t work? I m not sure. But there sn t a s ng e bad performance n the mov e, and though some scenes are d sturb ng, t hangs together as a portra t of a broken, defeated man, who, of course, makes one f na unge at redempt on, n an unexpected way, n response to a nun who wants to forg ve those who have wronged her. Worthwh e, but not for the fa nt of heart.
2010-11-05 Cronenberg, David Videodrome --> Rating: 7.40
Max Renn (James Woods) runs a TV stat on and he s a ways on the ook-out for the unusua , the t nt at ng, the shock ng-- anyth ng that w grab an aud ence. One n ght, a techn c an at the stat on grabs a sate te s gna of an unusa y v o ent tv program. In fact, they wonder f the v o ence sn t rea , mak ng th s f m one of the ear est to dea w th the sub ect of "snuff" f ms. Renn pursues the source of the v deo, eventua y stumb ng nto some we rd cu t that s set on red rect ng soc ety away from tawdry, "soft" enterta nments, to someth ng that w put more backbone nto soc ety and pur fy t of bera e ements. Strange, strange story, part y trashy spectac e (as when body parts exp ode), part y h gh-brow sc -f . But never rea y a that good.
2010-10-31 Bong, Joon-ho Memories of Murder --> Rating: 8.00
Odd y compe ng Korean cr me drama based on the true story of a ser a k er operat ng n the Gyungg reg on of Korea n the 1980 s. A body s found, naked, hog-t ed, and detect ves Park Doo-Man and Cho Yong-koo qu ck y round up a few hap ess suspects to torture. A detect ve from Seou , Seo Tae-Yoon , eventua y o ns them, br ng ng soph st cat on and wor d-wear ness to the equat on, but he a so, u t mate y, f nds h mse f out of h s depth, as the bod es p e up and one suspect after another s ps through the r f ngers. A th s aga nst a backdrop of po t ca unrest as Korea ho ds the r f rst democrat c e ect ons. Look for mages of tunne s that appear n var ous ncarnat ons, suggest ng that nobody here has a c ear v ew or understand ng of the s gn f cance of what s happen ng. Th s rea y a remarkab e mov e that eventua y w ns you over w th t s unpretent ousness and ns ght nto cr me and pub c fear, and w th a refresh ng taste for character deve opment: no one stays the same as the mystery gr nds these nvest gators sou s nto the ground.
2010-10-30 Romanek, Mark Never Let Me Go --> Rating: 8.50
Three ch dren grow up together at a Br t sh board ng schoo , on y d m y, then more c ear y, aware of the r fate. The prem se s sc -f but the f m s so natura st c and so qu et y matter-of-fact that you focus on the persona t es, the fee ngs, and the att tudes of the three protagon sts, Ruth, Kathy, and Tommy. They form a tr ang e of ong ng and frustrated des re, and the f m s so qu et y ns nuat ng that a "shock ng" deve opment appears nev tab e, after a . Weepy at t mes, or s t haunt ng? Th s s a de cate study of what we accept or don t accept about our ves, and how fatefu dec s ons can be mmersed n t me and p ace and seem beyond our grasp. Inc denta y, the actors p ay ng the three ma or ro es as young ch dren ook fabu ous y ke younger vers ons of the adu t actors n those ro es.
2010-10-28 Affleck, Ben The Town --> Rating: 7.40
Se f- ndu gent and pred ctab e thr er about the usua adm rab e bank robber whose g r a one recogn zes h s great sou and who strugg es w th what to do w th a the money he stea s so honorab y. If cr m na s rea y acted ke Doug MacRay, you d wonder why the po ce ever bother to try an arrest them-- he s so downr ght manner y.
2010-10-27 Eastwood, Clint Invictus --> Rating: 7.90
C nt Eastwood s somet mes nterest ng tr bute to Ne son Mande a, who dec ded that the a -wh te rugby team was the way to un fy the country after h s po ar z ng e ect on n 1994. He recru ts Franco s P enaar, the capta n of the rugby team, to the cause, and South Afr ca s s ated to host the Rugby Wor d Cup n 1995. The rea events were un ke y enough, and Eastwood s a ow-key d rector, but he s a so one of the worst at work ng w th actors and genera y, as n "Inv ctus", gets poor performances. Eastwood s attempts to nfuse the drama w th cosm c s gn f cance mere y dra n a the fun out of t. But was there ever a more "w sened b ack dude" than Mande a, for Morgan Freeman to p ay? It s the ro e he a ways p ays, n a most every f m.
2010-10-27 Lee, Spike When the Levees Broke: a Requiem --> Rating: 9.00
Sp ke Lee s caust c ook at Katr na and t s after-effects and the government m smanagement afterwards.
2010-10-20 Penn, Arthur Four Friends --> Rating: 7.70
Uneven but ntr gu ng var at on of "B g Ch " and "Secaucus Seven", about four fr ends, nc ud ng a free-sp r ted g r , who make the r way through the 60 s, var ous re at onsh ps, d sappo ntments and et downs, to f nd themse ves at oose ends w th fe and each other. Me odramat c at t mes, but unpred catab e, and earnest. Georg a, the free
2010-10-20 Kidd, Dylan Roger Dodger --> Rating: 7.80
Roger s a ady s man. H s nephew N ck s a 16-year-o d h gh schoo student and a v rg n. He bad y wants to score and needs Roger s he p, so Roger, f attered, presumab y, takes h m out on the town and g ves h m a doub e-dose of h s "w sdom" about women. There are obv ous prob ems-- the f rst be ng that e ther Roger has had some success w th women and therefore fee s qua f ed n some perverse way to gu de N ck to success; or he has been a m serab e fa ure, n wh ch case we need a oke or some other k nd of acknow edgement that he s a foo and N ck s a foo for be ev ng he has any he p to offer. But for a wh e, Roger Dodger wants to have t both ways. Roger s a a comp ete erk w th no appea to women whatsoever, yet he seems to rea y be eve he has been successfu w th women. We see noth ng that eads us to th nk he has exper enced anyth ng other than re ect on. But then, sudden y, women start respond ng to Roger the way they wou d respond to any erk ke h m n rea fe, and then the mov e sudden y becomes be evab e, as be evab e as the dea that they wou d f nd N cky adorab e because he s too dumb to be anyth ng ess than cand d w th them, even about h s v rg n ty. Every p ot deve opment seems to occur for the conven ence of the p ot of the mov e; characters seem to have no ex stence outs de of the scr pt-- they wa k on at the r ght moment to prov de a drama. The conversat on that opens the f m, between Roger and severa fema e-co-workers, requ res that none of them have the good taste to stomp on h m or wa k away: the r pupose s to be a punch ng bank for the wr ter s se fperce ved " ns ghts", wh ch are too mean to be excused as the mere rant ng of a character.
2010-10-10 Plympton, Bill Idiots and Angels --> Rating: 8.50
Wonderfu an mated f m about a cur who grows w ngs that seem to have a m nd of the r own-- they want to do good. Ange hates peop e. He s se v sh and peev sh and ves a one. One day, a caterp ar ands on h s head and grows nto a butterf y, wh ch Ange crushes n h s hand. Before you know t, Ange has w ngs budd ng out of h s back. H s doctor p ots to stea them for h mse f, as does h s bartender, and others. He ust wants to get r d of them, because they keep mak ng h m do "good", stopp ng a robbery, rescu ng a bu ed g r . It s an odd story-not rea y parab e, and not rea y r ch psycho og ca y, but the an mat on s wonderfu , the mus c s very str k ng, and the story never f ags.
2010-10-10 Fincher, David Social Network --> Rating: 8.80
Br
ant adaptat on of the book by Ben Mesr ch that has the smarts to move beyond the b op c nto the mportant
soc a ssues ra sed by new techno og es-- Mark Zuckerberg doesn t have many fr ends and h s g r fr end dumps h m because not on y does he ack any bas c soc a sk s-- he s an assho e. Zuckerberg gets revenge by creat ng a webs te to rate g r s at Harvard, wh ch eads to an offer from a pa r of tw ns ca ed Cameron and __ W nk evos who want to create a soc a network ng s te for Harvard grads. D d that dea evo ve nto Facebook? (The W nk evos dea tse f seems der ved from MySpace). Lawsu ts fo ow success and Sork n pegs h s story to the depos t ons g ven dur ng the ega process. T ght, funny, and dynam c, and, for once, techn ca y astute. When Zuckerberg descr bes how he bu ds h s f rst vers on, the mashup page, most of the descr pt ons are recogn zab e Un x commands that appear accurate. And the W nk evos confrontat on w th pres dent of Harvard, Laurence Summers, features Sork n s famous w t at t s f nest. The f m never oses s ght of the ron es: Zuckerberg s on y fr end, Eduardo Saver n, s actua y wrong about how to exp o t the new app cat on, wh e bad boy Sean Parker ( nventor of Napster) s usua y r ght.
2010-10-03 Reeves, Matt Let Me In --> Rating: 8.00
Remake of a Swed sh F m (Let the R ght One n) s surpr s ng y fa thfu to the b eak, gr m sp r t of the or g na . Twe ve-year o d Owen s bu y-fodder as h s oca schoo , and depressed by the break-up of h s parents marr age, and fr end ess, unt Abby moves n next door w th her myster ous "father". Abby te s h m r ght off the bat that she can t be h s fr end, but the two one y ado escent s f nd comfort n each others m ser es and eventua y grow oya to each other, n sp te of d sturb ng events n the ne ghborhood c ear y nked to Abby. Gory at t mes, and exqu s te y beaut fu at others. Both of the ch d actors are superb, drector Reeves had the w sdom to adopt the best scenes from the or g na w th more techn ca v rtuous ty. Neverthe ess, the adu ts are a b t qu ck to adopt exp anat ons of events that we know, as f m-v ewers, but that rea person n that s tuat on wou d not be ke y to nterpret qu te so accurate y. D sturb ng and gr m.
2010-10-03 Arnold, Andrea Fish Tank --> Rating: 8.80
Sear ng, rea st c drama about an out-of-sorts teenager and her sp tefu , uncar ng mother, and her strugg es to create an dent fy for herse f am d poverty and confus ng soc a s tuat ons. M a s no wa -f ower: she s tough and provocat ve and somet mes ust asks for t, ndu g ng n r sky behav ors, wh e qu et y amb t ous to pass an aud t on for a dance show. Arno d s met cu ous about captur ng her fe n a of ts facets, ts pace, ts amb fu t es. She pu s no punches when M a ndu ges n a poss b y nappropr ate re at onsh p w th her mother s boyfr end-- remarkab y w thout se f-p ty. Memorab e and affect ng, beaut fu y, dynam ca y d rected-- some scenes are a most aston sh ng, wh e others, nc ud ng a po gnant farewe scene near the end, are transcendent and mag ca .
2010-09-27 Blakeson, J Disappearance of Alice Creed --> Rating: 7.70
Interest ng and med um t ght suspense f m about two oddba s who k dnap a young woman and ho d her for ransom from her father, whom she apparent y desp ses. Th s s a f m about tw sts and the art s not n the surpr se-- the deve opments are not a that surpr s ng -- but n the artfu ness of the reve at ons. The prob em s that a ot of the tens on s der ved form scenes n wh ch the character appears to be act ng n the way he th nks the aud ence expects, rather than as a response to the s tuat on he s n. For examp e, Danny s n the bathroom try ng to h de a bu et cas ng, w thout success. V c hears h m repeated y f ush ng the to et and gets v o ent y hyster ca . Why? He doesn t even know there s a bu et cas ng. Why on earth wou dn t he assume any of a dozen other a ternat ve exp anat ons for the repeated f ush ng of a to et? That sa d, t has t s moments, and the end ng s a most, gosh, yr ca .
2010-09-24 Stolzl, Philipp North Face --> Rating: 8.00
Horr fy ng account of the 1936 attempt on the North face of Mount E ger n Sw tzer and by two Germand two Austr an c mbers, resu t ng n the deaths of a of them. Wonderfu y f med w th attent on to the deta s of c mb ng, and respect for the characters. There s a gratu t ous romance and a th n subp ot featur ng the Naz s, but the rea story s the dangers of c mb ng, and the taste essness of tour sts enterta ned by watch ng the d saster unfo d through te escopes at the hote .
2010-09-21 McKay, Adam Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy --> Rating: 7.00
Fans of W Ferre rea y shou d face the fact that he s rea y not a that g fted at comedy. He s a good m m c and a good phys ca comed an, but when t comes to rea y deve op ng a good com c sequence or a funny scene, he s not a that mpress ve. Anchorman p ays ke a ser es of sk ts, some of wh ch are funny-- ke s ng ng "Afternoon De ght" w th h s "team"-- and most of wh ch are ust sk ts. He rare y deve ops an dea that pays off ater, someth ng the best comed es str ve for -- the scht ck that unpee s tse f ke an on on, gett ng funn er and funn er as t s own nterna path moves further and further away from sense and og c, wh e expand ng the absurd narrat ve. Anchorman ust pumps a ong, w thout mak ng much effort to set up ts own okes. Event the West S de Story parody scene doesn t work because t changes gears from the rest of the comedy thereby underm n ng the oke-- that Burgundy s ust a s ght y exaggerated vers on of your average oca TV anchorman: pompous and utter y tr v a . That sa d, both Steve Carre and Fred W ard are qu te h ar ous, when g ven a chance.
2010-09-21 Stern, Ricki Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work --> Rating: 7.70
Sear ng portra t of a narc ss st c comed enne at work-- Joan R vers, whose every wak ng moment seems to be a about me me me. If you can stomach an hour and a ha f of her v c ous, no ho ds barred humour, there s an ntr gu ng s de to the story-- ust how desperate s she? And how desperate, n genera , s the ndustry of se ng yourse f as a com c art st? R vers naked need ness s n fu b oom here, but she s too honest to not revea the hurts and s ghts that dr ve her character, nc ud ng the su c de of her husband Edgar Rosenberg after the r fa ed TV ta k show. R vers s smart, and she s w tty, but the g ar ng omm ss on of more contemporary commed ens other than
2010-09-16 Anderson, Wes Fantastic Mister Fox --> Rating: 8.00
The story about a c ever rogue who surv ves through shrewdness and determ nat on-- frequent y caus ng hardsh p and anx ety for those around h m-- s an o d one and g ven a fresh, and fun rete ng here. D st nqu shed by stop-mot on an mat on, on a very arge sca e, "Fantast c Mr. Fox" s obv ous y a med more at adu ts, though k ds shou d get a k ck out of t too. Refresh ng y free of the smart-ass pop-cu ture references of the Shrek franch se, "Fox" st cks to t s story.
2010-09-06 Granik, Debra Winter's Bone --> Rating: 8.20
Ree s 17 and s stuck w th car ng for her two s b ngs, 12-year-o d F oyd and Ash ee. Her mother has g ven up on fe and s of no use to her; her father cooks and dea s methamphetam ne, and s on the run from the po ce. When Ree f nds out that her house and and w be se zed f her father s not found before h s court date, she sets out to f nd h m and d scovers that her re at ves are more devoted to the out aw code than they are to the r mpover shed cous ns-- they try to d scourage her from ook ng further, and threaten v o ence when she refuses to qu t. Stark, rea st c, authent c, f occas ona y patchy, th s s a memorab e f m about a str k ng hero ne whose stubborn determ nat on s far more be evab e than usua .
2010-09-06 Naughton, James Our Town --> Rating: 9.20
Powerfu , r ch, compe ng vers on of the Thorton W der c ass c about fe n sma -town Amer ca, cont nent of North Amer ca, western hem sphere, the wor d. There s a not a fa se note anywhere n th s extreme y po shed, we - deve oped product on (for PBS), and moments of pure mag c, and great sadness at the b ndness of mank nd.
2010-09-05 Barrymore, Drew Whip It --> Rating: 6.20
A tt e charm ng, modest y nterest ng, u t mate y pedestr an d rector a effort by actress Drew Barrymore. Ju ette Lew s as an nt m dat ng foe s the most nterest ng th ng n the mov e, other than underwater shots of E en Page sw mm ng n her ockeys.
2010-08-27 Wright, Edgar Scott Pilgrim Vs the World --> Rating: 8.10
Imag nat ve, c ever, and energet c and fun-- p ays ke a v deo-game-rock-v deo. Occas ona y charm ng, and most y f ashy and amus ng. The p ot-- what there s of one-- s about a young ad who fa s for the ove y
2010-08-27 Fulton, Keith Lost in La Mancha --> Rating: 7.60
Documentary on G am s attempt to f m Don Qu oxte n Spa n and why he fa ed-- most y because ead actor Jean Rochefort became and cou d not cont nue and, for some strange reason, no thought a rep acement cou d or shou d be found. Fu ton emphas zes the chaot c nature of G am s approach to f m product on but d dn t p ck up on the rony of G am s romant c dea zat on of dreamers ke Qu xote who are ob v ous to the pa n and suffer ng they nf ct on others.
2010-08-27 Winkler, Irwin Guilty by Suspicion --> Rating: 6.00
Pedestr an, untter y und st nqu shed take on the McCarthy years. There s no reason to watch th s f m when you have "The Front", or, even better, "Fear on Tr a " , or, for that matter, "H gh Noon", espec a y f you take note of the fact that the ma n character was a commun st n the book t was based on, but the mov e turns h m nto a harm ess bera , as f, OhÃƒÆ Ã Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã Â¬Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¦ then t was wrong. And us ng Joseph We ch s famous "have you no shame" speech for DeN ro s character-- a w tness, rather than a comm ttee awyer-makes no sense at a . In fact, t made me cr nge, because W nk er s obv ous y we -mean ng, but c ue ess.
2010-08-27 Allen, Woody Husbands and Wives --> Rating: 8.50
Odd y engag ng story -- once t s gets ts momentum-- about a so d coup e who announce to the r fr ends that they are gett ng d vorced, caus ng the fr ends (Woody A en, M a Farrow) to beg n to quest on the r re at onsh p, and A en to cons der an affa r w th an adm r ng student.
2010-08-04 Vilsmaier, Joseph Stalingrad --> Rating: 6.00
V o ent, av sh product on about the batt e that turned the t de aga nst Naz Germany, focussed on a group of so d ers and the r earnest L eutenant. Occas ona y r d cu ous, t does g ve you a fee for the abso ute d saster the batt e became for Germany, as the ent re 6th Army became trapped ns de a p ncer movement by the Sov ets. Sta n bas ca y a owed the c ty to starve under occupat on by the Germans, so he cou d cut them off and attack from a s des dur ng the crue Russ an w nter.
2010-08-02 Prasad, Udayan My Son the Fanatic --> Rating: 7.80
I draw a b ank.
2010-07-29 Cholodenko, Lisa Kids are All Right --> Rating: 8.60
Love y, thoughtfu f m about ch dren of a esb an coup e dec d ng to ook up the r sperm-donor "dad" and f nd ng out that he s pretty coo .
2010-08-01 Banksy, Exit Through the Gift Shop --> Rating: 8.00
Intr gu ng "documentary" about graff t art sts and the Frenchman who f ms them for a documentary, on y to abandon the pro ect to "Banksy" to become a graff t art st h mse f, who then throws a mass ve y amb tous show n Los Ange es. Hard to te who s conn ng who here, though at t mes t has the fee of "Sp na Tap"; other t mes (the D sney and Sequence) t fee s ke the rea th ng. Tack es the ssue of authent c ty n art, and how eas y (or not) the pub c s duped nto buy ng a new ce ebr ty art st.
2010-07-19 Nolan, Christopher Inception --> Rating: 7.70
D ssat sfy ng but ve y exp orat on of ame-bra ned futur st c concept: a team of -- we , not m sf ts, okay?-gen uses contr ve to enter the subconsc ous dream wor d of the he r to g oba energy consort um to man pu ate h s future p ans. But he s not unprepared, wh ch g ves No an the rat ona e for a who e ot of chas ng and shoot ng and act on sequences. To g ve the us on of depth, Cobb s dead w fe keeps appear ng n h s dreams, nterfer ng w th h s p ans, and endanger ng the other part c pants. We eventua y d scover the shock ng truth: D capr o s the worst front- ne actor n Ho ywood. The prob em s that Incept on s so fundamenta y preposterous, even n t s own assumed mechan cs. We never earn exact y how Ar adne s "des gns" are transferred from her mag nat on nto the dream wor d-- or why they need to be. Or why a "sedat ve" can nduce a three- ayered dream state. Or why the mov e keeps try ng to exp a n these e ements to the aud ence nstead of ust treat ng them ke components of the wor d of the story. The conc us on, the Robert F scher s reve at on, s so ame, t hurts the ent re mov e. No an s c ever, but I doubt he understands the d fference between sc -f pab um ke Face-off and the rea th ng ke "B ade Runner". Has a few compe ng moments, but u t mate y not even as c ever as "The Matr x", wh ch featured the on y ma or Ho ywood actor D Capr o s more express ve than. Everyone e se n the f m s good. E en Page s by far the most nterest ng th ng n the f m.
2010-07-19 Rohmer, Eric Claire's Knee --> Rating: 7.50
Fopp sh, s y French comedy-- a eged y a c ass c-- about a m dd e-aged d p omat who, on the verge of gett ng marr ed, shows off h s ab ty to man pu ate a pa r of teenaged g r s to h s fr end, an attract ve Ita an nove st and poet named Aurora. Archa c sense of appropr ateness-- he messes w th these g r s m nds, but n Rohmer s romant c zed un verse-- romant c zed from a m dd e-aged ma e po nt of v ew-- the g r s f nd h s nteract ons sat sfy ng n that berated cont nenta way.
2010-07-19 Edwards, Blake Days of Wine and Roses --> Rating: 7.80
Powerfu f dated story about a booz ng pr man, Joe C ay (Jack Lemmon) who persuades h s teetota ng g r fr end K rsten (Lee Rem ck) to o n h m. They marry and she gradua y becomes ust as dependent on h m. When he f na y bottoms out, she s not sure she s ready to get her own wor d stra ght. Lemmon s very good; Rem ck s nadequate. But t s a re at ve y gutsy story w th some powerfu moments. Too bad t eventua y turns nto an educat ona f m on the dangers of booze, w th Jack K ugman as the earnest, vap d vo ce of "reason".
2010-07-12 Lee, Spike Crooklyn --> Rating: 8.80
Enchant ng, affect onate ook back at Sp ke Lee s ne ghborhood, grow ng up n the 70 s, w th a generous he p ng of sou mus c, S y, Jackson 5. The Carm chae s are a fam y of 4 boys and a g r , and t s the g r , Troy, who g ves us the po nt of v ew of th s unsent menta ourney. Co ourfu ne ghbors, money troub es, surpr s ng y ntense fam y squabb es that are sett ed qu ck y w th screech ng, wrest ng, and parenta ntervent on. The scenes of the ne ghborhood ch dren a p ay ng games outdoors on the street at the beg nn ng are remarkab e and exqu s te.
2010-07-12 Fukunaga, Cary Sin Nombre --> Rating: 8.00
V v d recreat on of fe among the ega s pour ng nto Mex co and then the U.S., focuss ng on the gang nvo vements of two young men, and the trava s of a young woman whose deported father dec des to take her back w th h m to New Jersey. Gr tty and compe ng, f not tota y sat sfy ng: e ther the trans at ons or the or g na scr pt features awkward, st ff d a og. F med n Mex co-- the d rector spent two years v ng among the gangs and the ega mm grants before f m ng th s story. Yet, t st fee s schemat c and un nvo v ng at t mes, espec a y the contr ved romance between sou fu Kasper and wa f Sayra. Very nterest ng exp orat on of the gang, the Mara Sa vatrucha, based on Sa vadoran gangsters who moved to the U.S. dur ng the c v war, then back aga n, before branch ng out nto Mex co and the U.S. aga n.
2010-07-05 Bergman, Ingmar Fanny and Alexander --> Rating: 9.10
Bergman s br
ant homage to the wor d of art and story and creat v ty vs. the wor d of re g ous cert tude and
se f-den a . Fanny and A exander are born to Oscar and Em e Ekdah , a theatr ca fam y. The ear y scenes of the mov e are ush w th bawdy okes, sumptuous mea s, m sch evous sensua ty, and the who esome unwho esomeness of an en ghtened fam y. Not that we don t see warts-- Car s crue to h s German w fe, espec a y when she s most forg v ng and ov ng, and Gustav has an open adu terous re at onsh p w th the ma d, Ma . Then Oscar d es of a heart attack and Em e remarr es, to a char smat c Lutheran B shop. The B shop has a surpr se n store: he expects Em e and the ch dren to ve by h s own severe code, n depr vat on and d sc p ne. The Ekdah s eventua y d scover Em e s stra ts and attempt to remedy the s tuat on and save the ch dren. Beaut fu y acted and staged, w th av sh recreat ons of 1905 Swed sh fe, and r ch n themes of mag c and sp r tua ty that resonate through a of Bergman s f ms.
2010-07-04 Spierig, Michael Daybreakers --> Rating: 7.00
Rather com ca -- un ntent ona y, I th nk-- treatment of vamp r sm: the earth, n the future, s dom nated by vamp res who keep humans a ve on y to be used n b ood farms to prov de sustenance for the vamp res. But they are runn ng out of humans. Meanwh e, b ood sc ent st Ethan Hawke has found a method for convert ng vamp res back to humans. Noth ng part cu ar y nterest ng deve ops of th s, and not much thought seems to have been g ven to what a p anet ke th s wou d actua y be ke. But there are ga ons and ga ons of goo.
2010-07-02 Davies, Terence Madonna and Child --> Rating: 8.00
45 m nute exper menta b ack and wh te f m about a man strugg ng w th sexua dent fy n o d wor d L verpoo (1940 s or so). L v ng w th h s mother -- who suspects someth ng s am ss-- and w th h s Catho c sm (he can t br ng h mse f to confess) and dreary work-a-day wor d, he has a few furt ve encounters, and cast gates h mse f. Beaut fu y f med, not much of a narrt ve.
2010-07-01 Schnabel, Julia Basquiat --> Rating: 7.50
Und st ngu shed b op c of the New York graff tt art st and f ame-out Jean-M che Basqu at and the fam ar strugg e w th success, setback, tr umph, and ear y death. The mov e covers the nc denta s w thout any part cu ar y reve atory moments-- not even a gratu tous sw pe at the art estab shment and the racket modern art dea ersh p has become. Even a moment that m ght have summon a cheap sensat on -- Warho s death-bare y scratches the surface. Basqu at reacts, but we re not sure what to. At east we are spared descent nto add ct on syndrome, and end ess bor ng cyc e of abuse, despa r, reso ve, cr s s, more abuse, more reso ve, more despa r, death.
2010-06-28 Campanella, Juan Jose Secret in Their Eyes --> Rating: 7.00
Th s was the Oscar w nner for best fore gn f m, upsett ng favor te "Wh te R bbon", a grave n ust ce. In sp te of the fore gn f m of substance posture, th s s a chees e b-mov e: contr ved, pretent ous, and bad y wr tten and d rected, w th pretens ons: that the persona fa ures of Ben am n ref ect the mora fa ures of the nat on, through wh ch a bruta rap st-murderer may have escaped ust ce n order to serve the po t ca ends of the war on po t ca d ssent. There s a not a scene n the mov e that fee s authent c. The p ot concerns an nvest gator w th a government department who tr es to unrave a rape-hom c de, on y to be thwarted by h s corrupt super ors. In the meant me, he harbours an mpotent nfatuat on for h s beaut fu boss-- who c ear y rec procates at t mes. We are supposed to f nd h s fa ure to make a move on her adm rab e n some way, but nstead t str kes me as ame. There s a modest surpr se at the end, wh ch s tse f a surpr se cons der ng the stereo-typed characters.
2010-06-23 Jeunet, Jean Pierre MicMac --> Rating: 7.00
Desperate y c ever comedy w thout a heart or sou -- by egendary d rector of Ame e and "De catessen". Features Jeunet s trademark nvent veness and mag nat on but w thout the centra story ne or characters to ho d t together. The v a ns are ntroduced tw r ng the r moustaches and the heroes are a qu rky and cute and adorab e, and a ack persona ty and d mens on. Jeunet creates nterest ng events on f m, and he gets good performances, but he doesn t draw out the drama and each scene def ates ke a wet ba oon. D sappo nt ng.
2010-06-23 Natali, Vincenzo Splice --> Rating: 6.00
Why oh why d d I ta k myse f nto be ev ng there m ght be an nterest ng sc ence ang e to th s f m? Preposterous thr er about a husband-w fe sc ent st team who nsert human DNA nto one of the r pro ect organ sms thereby creat ng a marve ous hybr d-- b rd, human, zard? Wh ch, n the t me-honoured trad t on of Frankenste n, ends up b t ng them.
2010-06-21 Mamet, David Spanish Prisoner --> Rating: 7.90
The p ot was probab y c ever once upon a t me-- before t was cop ed so much t ost t s effect. Mamet wr tes great d a ogue and constructs nterest ng scenes but he g ves n too much to the Ho ywood compu s on, to have b g p ot deve opments, act on, and a c max.
2010-06-19 Sheppard, Gordon Eliza's Horoscope --> Rating: 4.00
Just about one of the worst mov es I have ever seen. S oppy, ncoherent, amateur sh, poor y acted-- the on y reason I rented t was because some members of "The Band" were n t.
2010-06-19 Davies, Terence Children --> Rating: 9.00
Typ ca Terence Dav es f m: yr ca , de cate, pat ent-- a study of a young boy at a Br t sh schoo who doesn t f t n, s bu ed by h s c assmates. At home, h s abus ve father s , and h s brother strugg es w th sexua dent fy. Fam ar enough, from "D stant Vo ces, S ent L ves"-- of wh ch th s ooks ke a rough draft at t mes.
2010-06-19 Tierny, Jacob The Trotsky --> Rating: 7.80
Amus ng Canad an f m about a Montrea youth who be eves he s the re ncarnat on of Leon Trotsky and has been g ven a m ss on to berate the oppressed masses, nc ud ng h s schoo -mates. H s s ster s devoted to h m, but most others f nd h m annoy ng or we rd unt the starts to ga n fo owers at th s pub c h gh schoo . Re at ve y fresh, and or g na , though product on va ues are often qu te ow. The ack of money s obv ous-- and one wonders f that weakness cou dn t have been concea ed a tt e more gracefu y than when they try to tr ck out a hundred students to ook ke f ve t mes as many. It s got someth ng-- fe, exuberance, the audac ty of mak ng h m a genu ne eft st.
2010-06-19 Vaughn, Matthew Kick-Ass --> Rating: 8.00
In sp te of the controversy, th s s an nterest ng, fresh f m, sty sh and funny, and not ent re y thought ess. H ghschoo student Dave L zewsk wonders why there are no more super-heroes-- then dec des to become one-"K ck-ass". Unfortunate y, rea ty ntrudes and he gets thrashed at h s f rst ntervent on. But at a ater attempt, he meets "H t G r ", who does know what she s do ng, and her father "B g Daddy". It s a a b t tongue and cheek, but w th a n ce thread of unreasonab e p aus b ty runn ng through t-- nobody can f y or catch bu ets n the r teeth-- but H t G r and B g Daddy can f ght. W tty and dynam c and very funny at t mes, w th a dark s de to t.
2010-06-06 Powell, Michael Red Shoes --> Rating: 8.00
Marve ous examp e of c ass c f m-mak ng-- exuberant, mag nat ve, t ght y-woven-- about a young ba et dancer who, ke the hero ne n her s gnature performance, s s mu ataneous y enraptured and ens aved by her obsess on: her dance. If the end ng s utter y me odramat c and a b t preposterous, the ourney s exh rat ng, beaut fu y rendered, and engross ng. A rar ty: a b g, stud o product on that s so art st c t fee s ke an ndependent f m on stero ds-- unt that end ng.
2010-06-05 Davies, Terence Distant Voices Silent Lives --> Rating: 8.50
E eg ac, sens t ve med at on on grow ng up work ng c ass n L verpoo n the 40 s and 50 s, w th a somet mes v o ent father and sa nt y mum, and everyone s ng ng show and pop tunes at every opportun ty. A tt e strange and exot c but t works. Many scenes a so ook ke photographs come to fe, comp ete w th sep a tones and forma pos t ons.
2010-06-01 Dowse, Michael It's All Gone Peter Tong --> Rating: 7.80
B zarre parody of the DJ ndustry, about a successfu DJ who fa s deep nto drug abuse, oses h s hear ng and h s g r , and eventua y rega ns contro . Owes a ot to "Sp na Tap" and "A M ghty W nd". L keab e but uneven.
2010-06-01 Sheridan, Jim Brothers --> Rating: 7.00
One brother s an ach ever, a war hero, marr ed, and the ob ect of h s father s pr de and devot on. The other brother s cr m na , a oser, the ob ect of shame. When the hero, Sam Cah (Tobey McGu re) goes m ss ng, bad brother Tommy tr es h s best to take up the s ack, part cu ar y w th Sam s beaut fu w fe, Grace (Nata e Portman). Brothers tr es to be gr tty and authent c but ends up be ng pretent ous and unconv nc ng. When Sam unexpected y comes home-- after suffer ng a fa r y preposterous trauma wh e capt ve--he becomes the nowfam ar stereotyp ca so d er suffer ng from Post Traumat c Stress D sorder. He s odd y parano d-- we don t see what he th nks he sees, un ess t s aud ence expectat on, that two young, attract ve Ho ywood stars (Gy enhaa and Portman) cou d ex st n the same frame w thout be ng attracted to each other. Nobody behaves e ther nterest ng y or p aus b y, g ven what we are shown about the r characters. And Portman st can t act. Pass on t.
2010-05-17 Moverman, Oren Messenger --> Rating: 8.00
Ben Foster s Staff Sergeant W Montgomery who has three months of act ve duty eft. After n ur es n Iraq, he s ass gned to the Casua ty Ass stance Off ce to act as a Casua ty Not f cat on Off cer, pa red up w th someone w th more exper ence, Capta n Tony Stone (Woody Harre son). The name, I suppose, s meant to suggest h s "by the book" approach to not f cat ons. Montgomery chafes at th s approach-- he wants to embrace the fam es, and et h s emot ons show. If there s a f aw n Messenger-- and t s not an ns gn f cant f aw-- t s that t occas ona y ro s out ke a menta hea th tract: t s better to be emot ona -- when the army, at east, be eves emot ona nvo vement w th the fam es of casua t es s unw se. Montgomery goes so far as to nvo ve h mse f n the fe of O v a, the w fe of a casua ty. Everyth ng s a b t t dy-- and pred ctab e, espec a y when a motorcyc e cop doesn t rea ze how ncred b y we ghty the task of Casua ty Not f cat on Off cers s and dares to try to t cket them for go ng through an orange ght, or when Montgomery r ses at h s ex- g r fr end s wedd ng to make an nappropr ate toast-- ust nv t ng you to be eve that h s wreck of a fe s more substant a and rea than the tr v a ves of the wedd ng guests, and espec a y the br degroom, and the most d shonest scene of a : Montgomery f na y conf d ng n Stone how he was n ured n Iraq-- why, you re a hero, damm t!-- to make th s a great f m, but t s rea y very good and def n te y worth a renta .
2010-05-16 Baumbach, Noah Greenberg --> Rating: 8.60
Jenn fer Jason Le gh a so contr buted to the story. Compe ng story about a neurot c man named Roger Greenberg who goes to LA from New York to ook after h s brother s house for a t me. He meets and nstant y fa s for h s brother s persona ass stant, F orence, a sweet g r who s undu y accommodat ng even as Roger shows more and more s gns of unreso ved ssues. Roger a so reconnects w th a former bandmate-- a gem of a character-- who now works n computers because Roger turned down a prom s ng record dea because t gave the company too much contro . Th s s an astute, funny, mov ng story. F orence s a such a charm ng, be evab y keab e character that when St er, who p ays Rogers a s genu ne y un kab e character, attacks her, you want to smack h m. Th s f m s a gem-- beaut fu y wr tten and deve oped and honest y f med.
2010-05-16 Wilder, Billy Double Indemnity --> Rating: 8.50
A f m that comp ete y ves up to t s reputat on: Wa ter Neff s an nsurance sa esman who drops by the D etr chson house one day to update an automob e po cy: there he meets Phy s D etr chson, a bombshe , ook ng for m sch ef. They connect and she makes t c ear she d ke to get r d of her bor ng, unsuccessfu o execut ve husband. Neff th nks he s got the ns de track because he knows how h s astute co eague, Barton Keyes, usua y spots a fraud. The fun s watch ng Keyes and Neff try to f gure out how much each of them knows or shou d know about the murder. You can t qu te forget that t s a c ass c f m no re, and the b onde w g s a m sca cua t on, and t s fu of the convent ons often parod ed n the 1960 s, but t st ho ds up very we , s we -acted and d rected, and amus ng.
2010-05-16 Burke, Martyn Pirates of Silicone Valley --> Rating: 8.00
Surpr s ng y nvent ve and terate b o-p c on the ear y careers of Steve Jobs, B Gates, Steve Ba mer, and Steve Wozn ak. No one w ever m stake th s for a great f m-mak ng but t does t s dut fu task we enough to enterta n and nform, w th surpr s ng audac ty-- was no one afra d of a awsu t?
2010-05-09 Mamet, David Homicide --> Rating: 7.40
Rather mprobab e story of a Jew sh cop who uncovers a dark Jew sh consp racy surround ng the death of an e der y Jew sh woman n a b ack ne ghborhood. A th s wh e we are treated to somewhat gratu tous angry d atr bes we are supposed to be eve are due to h s d vers on from a tru y g amorous case. In the meant me, Bobby Go d sudden y becomes a d fferent character, a character out of a sophomor c nove about the strugg e to f nd mean ng n one s fe. So, the provocat ve Mamet scr pt s there at t mes, and there are f ashes of nsp rat on, but the narrat ve d es n a swe of preposterous deve opments nc ud ng a r d cu ous death bed speech by h s partner. Ebert gave t four stars. Unbe evab e!
2010-05-09 Jacobs, Steve Disgrace --> Rating: 8.20
Med tat ve, somewhat b eak study of a co ege professor who seduces a student and s ca ed before a d sc p nary hear ng. He refuses to make the usua excuses and s forced to take a eave, dur ng wh ch he v s ts h s esb an daughter on her farm. There s an nc dent wh ch she hand es n a way that d sturbs h m and eads to sou -search ng and ref ect on-- but not n the usua d rect ons. Unusua y nte gent and provocat ve, we acted, and wr tten. Based on p ay by J. M. Coetzee.
2010-05-02 Benton, Robert Places in the Heart --> Rating: 8.00
Pens ve, de cate portra t of a determ ned young w dow strugg ng to make a go of t on a sma farm after her husband s shot and k ed by a drunken b ack man n a sma town n 1930 s Texas. Honest and thoughtfu , w th good performances throughout. Sa y F e d won an Oscar for her portra t of Edna Spau d ng, who stubborn y refuses the bank s adv ce to se the farm and sp t up her fam y. John Ma cov ch s a b nd border w th ssues who be eveab y becomes attached to the fam y, and Danny G over s an nt nerent farmworker who offers h s expert se on grow ng cotton n exchange for room and board. There s a somewhat gratu tous subp ot nvo v ng Edna s s ster, and a mag ca , somewhat myster ous conc us on.. But genera y, a f ne, we made f m.
2010-05-01 Stilson, Jeff Good Hair --> Rating: 8.50
Jaw-dropp ng documentary about the engths and breadths b ack Amer can women go through to make the r ha r ook more "beaut fu ", nc ud ng weaves, stra ghteners (re axers), and other too s. Apparent y nobody kes Afr can Amer can ha r, east of a , Afr can Amer cans. Chr s Rock s your gu de and w se y refra ns from draw ng out any po t ca mp cat ons-- t s a se f-ev dent n any case: there s a huge ndustry out there (ob que y owned by wh te corporat ons now) that caters to the des re of b acks to ook more European. B ack men comp a n that the r women don t want them to touch the r ha r; nor do the women sw m or go nto hot tubs. Rather shock ng and d sturb ng.
2010-04-24 Hamer, Bent O'Horten --> Rating: 8.50
A gent eman named Odd Horten ret res as eng neer on the ra road and has an eventfu n ght dur ng wh ch he red scovers someth ng of a sou w th n h mse f-- n a very ow-key, restra ned way. He encounters an ns stent ch d when he sneaks through a strange apartment on h s way to a party, a demented "d p omat", the w fe of a tobacco shop owner- a of whom contr bute to h s transformat on, from pass ve, sedate, eng neer, to a man w th a renewed sense of p easure n act v tes n fe other than work.
2010-04-24 Dassin, Jules Rififi --> Rating: 7.80
Perhaps one of the ear est f ms of t s k nd, a he st drama, d rected by Amer can Ju e Dass n after he had been b ack sted by HUAC n 1951. T ght, superb y d rected and ed ted, f somewhat dated n terms of rea sm. Tony Le Stephano s and h s gang p an a dar ng robbery of a ewe ry store. When the Grutter brothers f nd out about, they want the oot. Wh e fo ow ng the card na Ho ywood convent ons of the t me about bad guys, R f f does have a f a r for sty e and comp ex, runn ng sequences, most notab e of wh ch s a ong, 35 m nute sequence of the he st tse f dur ng wh ch not a s ng e one of the team speaks.
2010-04-24 Mikhalkov, Nikita 12 --> Rating: 8.10
L bera , engthy re nterpretat on of "12 Angry Men", w th a young Chechen boy charged w th murder ng h s step-father. A the bas c e ements of the or g na are there, but there are engthy speeches by many of the urors about traumat c or trag c persona exper ences, the po nt be ng that every man br ngs h s feexper ences w th h m nto the ury room and nterprets the facts of the case n ght of h s emot ona baggage. Be forewarned: the subt t es can bare y keep up w th the d a ogue.
2010-04-19 Audiard, Jacques Prophet --> Rating: 8.70
Ma k s a young French Arab sent to pr son for assau t ng a po ce off cer. He c a ms he s nnocent of the cr me and he s, at the very east, nnocent of the wor d. He qu ck y earns that to surv ve n pr son he must make dea s w th those who contro the guards and the other nmates. He eventua y becomes a c ose conf dante of Cesar Luc an , though he s regarded as a d rty Arab by Cesar s gang, and as a turncoat by the other Arab pr soners. The Prophet s a com ng-of-age f m, under the most bruta c rcumstances. Ma k earns not on y to surv ve but to prosper, at the expense of those who cross h m or fa to fu f the r parts n h s schemes. He has the tw sted honor of the Maf aso n "The Godfather": respected and feared. U t mate y, the aud ence s nv ted to adm re h s determ nat on to take contro of h s fe. "The Prophet" s a v v d, dark, powerfu portra t of pr son fe n France, and the wor d of the cr m na underc ass.
2010-04-19 Panahi, Jafar Ayneh (the Mirror) --> Rating: 8.40
M na s mother fa s to meet her at schoo after d sm ssa , so var ous acqua ntances and passer-bys he p M na try to f nd her way home. She s not exact y a pass ve part c pant: fe sty and w fu at t mes, she gets on the wrong bus and heads n the oppos te d rect on of home. A ong the way, Panah offers up a v v d portra t of fe n Tehran, and an assortment of characters who speak about the r ves, the r prob ems and the r gre vances, and you wonder f M na s the k nd of g r who w grow up to accept the contro and author ty mposed upon Iran ans by Is am c aw. Then, the f m changes nto a comment on the re at onsh p between the ch d actor and the f m-crew, and on the "m rror" mage of fantasy n the rea ty of M na s fe. M na the actress refuses the ro e mposed upon her by the d rector-- he makes her cry-- and f ees to her home and doesn t want much he p-- she knows the way f you wou d ust po nt her n the r ght d rect on. Remarkab e performance by M na Mohammad Khan as the ch d.
2010-04-17 Cuckor, George Philadelphia Story --> Rating: 8.00
T ght, we -wr tten comedy about a soc ety g r , Hepburn, p ann ng her wedd ng to a fop, wh e ex-husband Dexter (Grant) tr es to man pu ate th ngs, and wr ter Conner (Stewart) s ordered to nf trate the event and wr te about t for a spy magaz ne. Soph st cated humour, we -acted, and t ght y d rected-- perhaps the best of a genre, the escap st fantasy w th stars, the Ho ywood dream and of aff uence and w t and f rtat on.
2010-04-12 Levy, Shawn Date Night --> Rating: 4.00
Terr b y under-deve oped extended s tcom that s a very pa e, very d m rev s on of Ne S mon s "The Out-ofTowners". It s rare that so tt e effort or ta ent s so ev dent on the screen. Odd y we -rev ewed by many cr t cs-I m baff ed. We wa ked out after about 20 m nutes-- and that s rare for me.
2010-04-10 Egoyan, Atom Chloe --> Rating: 7.50
Based on a French f m ca ed "Natha e", somewhat mp aus b e story about a woman who h res an escort to see f her husband wou d cheat on her, after hav ng a ready conv nced herse f that he wou d. Or that he has-she sees an e-ma to h m say ng "thanks for ast n ght" w th a p cture of an attract ve g r . She kes the escort (a very good Amanda Seyfr ed) te ng her about what happened-- v car ous y v ng the pass on she used to fee , and there s an ntr gu ng prem se h d ng here-- that she suspects he wou d cheat because f he behaved towards her the way she does towards h m, she wou d but the f m veers off w th a number of mprobab e deve opments that don t make emot ona or dramat c sense. Not one person n th s f m seems to be do ng anyth ng other than wa t ng around for a moment of dramat c s gn f cance. D sappo nt ng.
2010-04-10 Polanski, Roman Ghost Writer --> Rating: 7.20
Huge y d sappo nt ng thr er about former Br t sh PM who may or may not have been n the pay of the CIA-- but who cares, when "Ghost Wr ter" doesn t even bother to estab sh the stakes here. None of the h gh- eve d a ogue among very powerfu peop e sounds be evab e or even nterest ng. The new ghost wr ter wa ks nto h s f rst meet ng w th Lang and seems ntent on beg nn ng the ent re task from the beg nn ng, w thout even acknow edg ng that there must be notes, sketchs, out nes, record ngs, etc., from h s predecessor, wh ch, cons der ng th s t me constra nts, wou d be essent a to h s task. Nor does t seem Lang has ever, n h s ong po t ca career, ever been cr t c zed by the med a or by former cab net m n sters. How dare they! And what accent was K m Cattra attempt ng? The b ggest prob em w th f ms ke th s s that they ra se ssues about rea peop e-- ke B a r-- and then propose such a preposterous consp racy that the v ewer probab y assumes no rea person was gu ty of anyth ng (the way O ver Stones JFK seemed to d scred t susp c ons about the Warren Comm ss on). See "In the Loop" for a much better take.
2010-03-27 Selick, Henry Coraline --> Rating: 8.50
Beaut fu and beaut fu y creep y stop-mot on an mat on about a young neg ected g r who d scovers a para e un verse through a sma door n a spare room n her new house. At the end of a ong tunne , her para e parents treat her much better than her rea parents do, and the wor d seems br ghter, more co orfu , more enchant ng. But there s a dark s de, she d scovers, she strugg es to save herse f, and her parents from a dead y ev . Wonderfu an mat on, wonderfu aud o-- sten for how often there s no sounds at a -- and a c ever story that doesn t seem at a a med at ch dren, rea y.
2010-03-27 Hitchock, Alfred Rebecca --> Rating: 7.00
Extreme y dated me odrama about unbe evab y naÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¯ve young g r who hooks up w th t t ed Br t sh gent eman whose w fe d ed n a trag c boat ng acc dent severa years before, eav ng h m "a broken man", ncapab e of happ ness. Yes, that k nd of me odrama. After a wh r w nd courtsh p and marr age, she returns w th h m to h s nev tab y spooky mans on and untrustworthy servants. Eventua y, she w d scover a shock ng truth. In the mean t me, you have to endure two hours of "p ease, p ease-- I do anyth ng to make you happy". Though t s ntr gu ng at t mes to med tate on what "great act ng" meant n th s era, espec a y as app ed to O v er, who often broods r d cu ous y.
2010-03-27 Apatow, Judd Funny People --> Rating: 7.80
Starts out rather br
ant y-- and stays on track for about an hour, and then veers off nto a very, very weak
subp ot, unfortunate y featur ng the d rector s rea fam y n starr ng ro es. Wh ch s not to say they can t act-- they can-- but they have no bus ness be ng n th s mov e and the second act s very obv ous y a dev ce to get them n, regard ess of t s mpact on the who e mov e.
2010-03-23 Mullan, Peter Magdalene Sisters --> Rating: 9.00
I thought we saw th s ear er but I d dn t rev ew t. Powerfu , rea st c drama about the treatment of a edged y m screant young g r s n ear y 20th century Ire and by an assoc at on of nst tut ons run by the Magda ena S sters. Documents the abus ve re at onsh p betrween the s sters and the g r s, many of whom were gu ty of noth ng more than f rtat on or ndependent sp r t. Some aston sh ng moments that are too odd and unexpected to have been based on anyth ng other than honest reco ect on.
2010-03-23 Hoffman, Michael Last Station --> Rating: 7.00
Leo To stoy runs away from home, at 80. H s w fe throws herse f nto a pond. H s fo owers and fam y shout and run n consternat on. A somewhat, at east part y true, and as me odramat c as any p ot turn n "Anna Karen na", but not a that nterest ng n th s f m. P ummer s f ne, and so s He en M rren as Son a-- wa t-- no they re not. I expected both to be far more mpress ve, so my fee ng s that the d rector M chae Hoffman d dn t rea y draw much out of them, and d dn t rea y g ve them room to deve op the r characters.
2010-03-23 Nichols, Mike Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf --> Rating: 9.00
E zabeth Tay or s sear ng as Martha and Burton s very good as George n th s uncomprom s ng vers on of the Edward A bee p ay that was nom nated for every Oscar award category t was e g b e for. George and Martha don t ust f ght-- the word doesn t do ust ce to the r e aborate and ruth ess attacks on each other, the r sacrcasm, v rtr o , rony, and, odd y, amusement and apprec at on of each other. George Sega and Sandy Denn s p ay the unw tt ng casua t es of the r warfare, who become comp c t n the r own tw sted way, before be ng strongarmed nto fu co aborat on. Unsua y powerfu f m, and unusua y t me ess: surv ves very, very we the years.
2010-03-23 Toback, James Tyson --> Rating: 8.00
Fasc nat ng set of nterv ews and f ght footage of M ke Tyson, who seems to be qu te un ke h s pub c persona, n th s somewhat untrustworthy portra t. Even though untrustworthy, fasc nat ng, because Tyson s a owed to speak unfettered by managers or med a, and he does come off as surpr s ng y human and vu nerab e, and certa n y -used. I began to have doubts about the rape charges and h s conv ct on, at east part y because of h s candor on other sub ects, and h s genera persona ty.
2010-03-14 Cassavetes, John Shadows --> Rating: 8.00
Cassavetes f rst f m and a m estone n Amer can C nema: perhaps the f rst " ndependent" product on. Improv sed by the cast, and f med n 16mm b ack and wh te on the streets and n apartments n New York, has a gr tty, raw fee . Occas ona y amateur sh and under-deve oped, but compe ng because of t s f de ty to the rea ves of ts characters. The ma n p ot dynam c s an nterrac a re at onsh p between Le a and Ben, and the tens on th s creates w th Le a s brothers, one of whom s a azz s nger, the other a manager, and the other of ndeterm nate occupat on.
2010-03-11 Haneke, Michael White Ribbon --> Rating: 9.20
There s not a fa se note anywhere n th s e eg ac, stud ed, and contemp at ve ana ys s of a sma v age n northern Germany n the ear y 1900 s. The Baron ru es benevo ent y; the oca parson s ov ng but f erce y mora st c; the ch dren seem to be harbour ng secrets. When a ser es of nexp cab e acts of v o ence break out, the crue character of th s soc ety s revea ed. Petty acts of v nd ct veness and repress on take p ace, and power ess nd v dua s seek revenge or sp te. On y the schoo teacher seems mmune to th s character f aw and t s through h s eyes we reca the events years ater, and he sees them as c ues to the unfo d ng of Germany s h story. Perhaps the best f m by a very good, powerfu d rector.
2010-03-03 Scorcese, Martin Shutter Island --> Rating: 8.20
If you accept that th s s not rea y a suspense f m-- more ke a psycho og ca thr er-- t p ays better, at east afterwards. Leonardo D Capr o p ays a po ce detect ve ca ed nto a pr son to nvest gate the d sappearance of a fema e nmate. Everyth ng s askew r ght from the start-- everyone, from the guards to the housekeep ng staffs act ng strange. By the t me we see the tw st com ng, the suspense has g ven way to mere cur ous ty and then, f na y, to boredom. In retrospect, as an exp orat on of demented psycho ogy, w th a somewhat tw sted, d s ngenuous 50 s perspect ve to t, t p ays n ce y as exp orat on
2010-02-28 Coen, Ethan Serious Man --> Rating: 8.00
Opens w th a f avourfu te ng of a Y dd sh ta e about a dybbuk, a demon, who v s t a poor coup e. The w fe sees through the decept on and stabs h m. The husband be eves h s fam y s now cursed. The dybbuk ns sts he sn t a dybbuk and starts b eed ng as f to prove t. Larry Gopn k s a professor n a M neapo s co ege n the 1960 s, t appears. He s a Job- ke f gure-- the v ct m of a ser es of nexp cab e events that seem to destroy h s fe. H s w fe sudden y wants a d vorce. The co ege sn t sure he shou d get tenure, wh e assur ng h m that the nasty etters they rece ve regu ar y about h m have no mpact. H s son s nto drugs. H s brother s arrested. Gopn k goes to three Rabb s seek ng adv ce. In the best scene n the mov e, the ast one, sees Gopn k s son nstead of the father, and quotes Jefferson A rp ane to h m-- t s not as r d cu ous as t sounds. Does t a hang together? Not yet, for me. I m not sure th s sn t ust a ser es of d sconnected unfortunate nc dents n Larry s fe. We -acted and f m, or g na , and dark.
2010-02-28 Ford, Tom Single Man --> Rating: 7.40
Vast y over-rated f m of a Chr stopher Isherwood story about a gay co ege professor who oses h s partner n a car acc dent and gradua y g ves up on fe, on y to encounter a prom s ng re at onsh p w th a student. Yes, a young, attract ve student, who ust f nds h m so fasc nat ng and attract ve and s touched by h s sens t v ty and whatever. I found the concept troub ng, and the re at onsh p w th the student somewhat contr ved at best-- and t shows that mov es about gay men are not mmune to the Ho ywood approach: match ng up an ag ng star w th an ngenue. Every scene was oaded w th deep mean ng and s gn f cance unt none of them were. I strong y suspect that f the f m were not about a gay man, t wou dn t have attracted as much attent on as t d d.
2010-02-21 Jones, Duncan Moon --> Rating: 8.50
Somet mes exqu s te drama about a man operat ng a m n ng operat on on the far s de of the moon by h mse f, on a three-year-st nt. He acc denta y crashes a moon veh c e nto a m n ng mach ne, and then makes a shock ng d scovery. Imp aus b e deve opments ear y on become more cred b e as you d scover more and more about h s c rcumstances on the so ated moon base, and we beg n to see the depths of h s ong ng for home, and h s confus on about h s dent ty.
2010-02-14 Vallee, Jean-Marc Young Victoria --> Rating: 8.50
Love y, not ent re y honest portra t of the young Queen V ctor a, and her strugg e to assert herse f aga nst her own fam y, the court, and the Br t sh po t ca estab shment, a of whom w sh to contro or man pu ate her. V ctor a famous y stood up for herse f, made a few m stakes, and then found a fe partner who cou d both respect and protect her, n young A bert of Be g um. In rea fe, A bert was not wounded n the assass nat on attempt, and V ctor a, supposed y nterested n the p ght of the poor, actua y persuaded the Su tan of Oman to reduce h s donat on to the Ir sh (from 10,000 to 1,000 pounds) dur ng the potato fam ne so as to not show her up (her donat on was 1,000). The true part of the mov e, perhaps, s V ctor a s pass on for sex, and her unwaver ng anger at her mother for mpos ng "the Kens ngton System" upon her n her ch dhood. She ban shed her mother to some remote chambers and genera y refused any contact w th her for the rest of her fe.
2010-02-14 Melville, Jean Pierre Le Samourai --> Rating: 7.00
One of those European gangster f ms that seems to be nsp red by 1950 s Ho ywood "B" p ctures-me odramat c and contr ved and w th an annoy ng sense of se f- mportance, as f t th nks t s revea ng some profound ex stent a truth through t s adherence to archa c mov e convent ons. Jef Coste o (A a n De on) s a contract k er, but he s ma n y that pretent ous a enated nd v dua st who ves and d es by h s own va ues, as r d cu ous as they may seem. When the po ce nab h m as a suspect n a h t, h s own emp oyer turns on h m. L ke "Gran Tor no", the end ng requ res an absurd eap of fa th, n an mprobab y sequence of events, and an even ess probab y deve opment of character..
2010-02-14 Cassavetes, Nick She's So Lovely --> Rating: 7.10
Starts out as a fa r y dark drama about a f ghty, unstab e young woman named Maureen, and her even ess stab e husband, Edd e (Rob n Wr ght Penn & Sean Penn), and the r strugg es w th add ct on and menta ness. Edd e d sappears, and Maureen goes ook ng for h m, and a scary ne ghbor, K efer, tr es to take advantage of Maureen. Edd e s hosp ta zed and ten years go by and Maureen s marr ed and v ng n suburb a when Edd e s re eased, at wh ch po nt the f m s des nto an uneasy comedy, at odds w th the tone of the f rst ha f. We acted and wr tten, for the most part, but ust doesn t pu t off n the end. The f ppancy of ater deve opments s arr ng.
2010-02-14 Sutherland, David Country Boys --> Rating: 9.00
Fasc nat ng documentary about two cha enged young men n Appa at a
2010-02-13 Cooper, Scott Crazy Heart --> Rating: 8.00
Th s s a f ne f m-- I ust fe t t was a b t over-rated. It was compared by some to "The Wrest er" but the "The Wrest er" was far more authent c and honest a f m. "Crazy Heart" stayed true to t s Ho ywood roots-- you are supposed to ove th s a coho c, washed-up, sme y, unkempt o d country s nger because, gosh, he s ust so authent c and a . Br dges doesn t show us ust what attracts Jean (Magg e Gy enhaa ) to the character. It s a mystery, and we re ust supposed to be eve n t, because, we , after a , t s Jeff Br dges, and he s an art st, damn t! There s an unforg vab y gratu tous "cr s s" near the end that sapped a ot of energy out of the p ot. As de from that, sure, t s a f ne f m, and most peop e w def n te y en oy t.
2010-02-13 Kieslowski, Krzysztof Blind Chance --> Rating: 8.70
P ot fted by Tom Twyker for "Run Lo a Run": W tek, short y after h s father d es, runs to catch a tra n. Does he catch t? Apparent y-- and eaves h s med ca stud es to become a Po sh Commun st Party funct onary, negot ate an end to an upr s ng by add cts n an nst tut on, and betrays h s fr ends. He ends up unhappy and unfu f ed, and caught n mora amb gu ty. Or does he catch the tra n? He s p aced back where he started but th s t me he m sses the tra n and runs nto a guard. He s arrested and ater o ns a res stance movement, but s suspected of betraya aga n and oses h s fr ends, and seems trapped n an equa y unsat sfy ng arrangement. He runs after the tra n aga n, and the outcome s aga n d fferent. K es owsk exp ores the dea that one s ph osoph ca and re g ous be efs tend to conform to the perce ved advantage of pos t on and cu ture. H s re at onsh ps w th women are a so tw sted as a resu t of h s comprom ses and fa ures. Th s s an adu t mov e n the best sense of the word: comp ex, subt e, and r ch n mean ng.
2011-05-28 Daniels, Lee Precious --> Rating: 8.00
Bruta , somet mes v o ent y exp c t f m that oses most of t s momentum when t dec des to not trust the aud ence to "get t", and takes another run at most of the po nts made n the f rst ha f.
2010-01-30 Sokurov, Alexsandr Sun --> Rating: 9.00
E egant, ow-key, and remarkab e f m about the fe of Emperor H roh to, the "Sun God", dur ng ast days of the Wor d War II n Japan, h s surrea da y rout ne, h s meet ngs w th McArthur and contacts w th Amer can GI s. H roh to s an en gma-- stud ous, po te, and ntroverted, he wr tes poetry and quotes poems to h s a ds. McArthur sees h m as ch d ke but cr m na , but rea zes he must be used to ma nta n order and stab ty n postwar Japan. He stud es mar ne b o ogy and actua y pub shed severa papers on the sub ect. Accord ng to h stor ans, he was not n t a y n favor of the war, but gradua y became more and more nvo ved, and may have been mp cated n atroc t es. H s cont nued author ty was, famous y, one of the re ected cond t ons Japan offered for a peace sett ement n May 1945, before the bomb ngs.
2010-01-30 Maddin, Guy Saddest Music in the World --> Rating: 8.50
Based on a story by Kazuo Ish guro, a w d y ha uc nagen c tour-de-force tw r ed around a contest he d by a beer company owner to f nd wh ch nat on can produce the saddest mus c n the wor d. Us ng b ack and wh te, out-of-focus, b urry, 8mm f m and var ous other degradat ons (except d a ogue, wh ch s pr st ne ADR), Madd n creates a v v d, ec ect c montage of b zarre sequences. It s actua y more of a stra ght narrat ve than, say Eraserhead, and often funny and charm ng. Mark McK nney s superb as Chester Kent, a Canad an enter ng on beha f of the U.S., who s shack ng up w th h s brother s ex-w fe. And the brother, Roder ck, enters the contest on beha f of Serb a, nsp red to sadness by the death of h s son and oss of h s w fe, Narc ssa (Mar a De Made ro-- Bruce W s g r fr end from "Pu p F ct on"). It a ends w th a fabu ous, over-the-top, product on number that a most sea s the dea unt Isabe a Rose n s g ass egs ÃƒÆ Ã Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã Â¬Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¦ we , you ust have to see t.
2010-01-24 McDonagh, Martin In Bruges --> Rating: 8.40
T ght and we paced story about a pa r of Ir sh k ers h d ng out n Bruges after bung ng a h t. Ken tr es to make the best of the r ex e and thr s at the beauty and cu ture of the c ty of Bruges, but Ray comp a ns b tter y and su ks. What Ray doesn t know -- or apprec ate-- s that the r boss, Harry, wants h m to re sh the beauty of the c ty once before he d es to pay for h s bung ed h t. A ser es of w d, mprobab y comp cat ons ensue, nc ud ng a rude Canad an, a dwarf, and an actress. Str kes an ntr gu ng ba ance of the com c and trag c and ra ses ssues of s n and repentence and gu t, and suggests a not conv nc ng dea that a k er m ght st be decent human be ng f he at east has good taste.
2009-06-01 Dardennes, Jean-Pierre Silence of Lorna --> Rating: 8.50
The p an was th s-- Lorna wou d marry a two-b t oser, a drug add ct, C audy, for money, to g ve Lorna Be g an c t zensh p; then Lorna wou d marry the Russ an mobster Andrea, to g ve h m Be g an c t zensh p. Andrea wou d pay Lorna so that Lorna and rea boyfr end, Soko , cou d open a sma restaurant. She s even p cked out a ocat on. The prob em s that C audy, perhaps on y d m y aware of who he s mess ng w th, p cks h s br ef moment n the sun to go stra ght, and begs Lorna to he p h m. W th t me of the essence, the Russ ans dec de that a d vorce from C audy m ght ust take too ong-- t wou d be qu cker and ess susp c ous f he wou d ust d e of an overdose. The prob em s that Lorna, n sp te of herse f, doesn t want to see C audy k ed and dec des to he p h m go stra ght. Very down-to-earth, rea st c drama from the Dardennes brothers who gave us the compe ng "L enfant" a few years ago (about a unk e who se s h s ch d for drugs and then tr es to get h m back). Arta Dobrosh s a f nd-- she s ke an adu t, ser ous E en Page.
2009-10-01 Tarantino, Quentin Inglourious Basterds --> Rating: 8.70
Superb f m takes on an astound ng cha enge: make a comedy about a bunch of ew sh so d ers assass nat ng H t er dur ng Wor d War II and made t fun to watch.
2009-10-01 McQueen, Steve Hunger --> Rating: 8.20
Austere, s ow-mov ng account of Bobby Sand s hunger str ke n 1981, to protest aga nst Ir sh nat ona sts not be ng treated as po t ca pr soners n Br t sh a s. H gh y rem n scent of "Therese", the A a n Cava er f m, a so about a fanat ca young person who stradd es the ne between su c de and martyrdom-- though "Therese" s more ob ect ve about ts sub ect.
2009-01-08 Coen, Joel Big Lebowski --> Rating: 8.00
Jeff Dan e s p ays the qu ntessent a Amer can type: the s acker. The Dude has h s s acker fe n perfect order unt one n ght he s m staken for another Lebowsk and a pa r of thugs take h s carpet. The Dude sets out to get the carpet back, and gets nvo ved w th more nefar ous h nks. Charm ng at t mes, a ways confus ng, and express ve of those fam ar Coen Brothers themes about how the mportant th ngs n your fe are bas ca y or usua y the resu t of happenstance and co nc dence and the audac ty of those who th nk they contro events. The Dude has a marked tendency to repeat snatches of phrases he has heard ear er, on tv or rad o, or spoken by other characters: th s s the essence of Amer can cu ture-- the narrat ve s a repeat of fragments of popu ar w sdom that never made any sense n the f rst p ace.
2009-01-02 Kusturica, Emir Underground --> Rating: 9.20
Aston sh ng, somet mes br
ant and h ar ous ep c about two men, Marko and B ack e, who fa for the same
woman, and actress named Vera, n Wor d War II Yugos av a. Marko succeeds n gett ng B ack e to h de out from the Naz s n h s basement-- for 20 years. B ack e eventua y emerges, r ght nto the m dd e of a f m set work ng on h s b ography, w th Naz so d ers n costumes march ng around-- one of the most h ar ous scenes I ve seen n years. There s a so a brass band that fo ows Marko around to put an exc amat on po nt beh nd a of h s act ons-- they don t seem a that out of p ace after a wh e. Kurstur ca has a v sua mag nat on that cou d g ve Terry G am a run for the money, and that s someth ng.
2009-01-08 Ianucci, Armando In the Loop --> Rating: 9.00
Exce ent but very fast-mov ng th n y-desgu sed exp orat on of the po t ca dynam c that ed to the nvas on of Iraq. There are characters correspond ng to a the rea p ayers: B a r, Powe , Rumsve d, Per e-- but t s rea y about ham-f sted amb t on and med a man pu at on. Maybe the most astute f m on war s nce Dr. Strange ove. No one person seems ntent on caus ng a war that no one seems to rea y want for t s own sake-- nstead, a number of ower eve government off c a s strugg e to use Tucker s gaffe to the r own advantage, and f that means advocat ng for war, so be t. Coo er heads do not preva n th s heated env ronment.
2009-08-01 Bahrani, Ramin Chop Shop --> Rating: 8.00
Evocat ve, ow key story about a pa r of k ds try ng to surv ve n a rough sect on of Brook yn, a street known for qu ck and d rty car repa rs, pa nt obs, and sto en parts. A b t of a gem.
2009-01-01 Reitman, Jason Up in the Air --> Rating: 7.50
The most over-rated f m of the year. Okay-- t s not a tota waste. I made the m stake of assum ng t was edgy and ser ous. It sn t. George C ooney s amus ng as Ryan B ngham, a h red gun for corporat ons queasy about do ng the r own f r ng. There are a ot of shots of emp oyes comm serat ng over the r oss of ncome, benef ts, careers, but d rector Jason Re tman pu s h s punches: he doesnÃƒÆ Ã Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã ¢â ¬Å¾Ã ¢t want to d sturb you too much. The rea story s B ngham s ack of connectedness, to fam y, to commun ty, and h s f na desperate unge at someth ng ca ed "home". Shock ng y pedestr an for a f m that was so eager y ant c pated, and expected to resonate w th today s f nanc a cr ses.
2009-01-02 Cameron, James Avatar --> Rating: 6.50
What a p ty that Cameron -- probab y correct y -- be eves he doesn t need a wr ter. He , he wr te t h mse f. Nobody g ves a damn about story or d a ogue or theme, when they can reve n 3D graph cs nstead. Shame on you for even ask ng.
2009-12-30 Gilliam, Terry The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus --> Rating: 7.80
G am s a messay f m-maker. H s f ms wander and d p and weave and somet mes ust never seem to get back to any k nd of equ br um. You fee ke you must have m ssed someth ng, because there s so much r ch y mag ned deta n there, so much fun and unexpectedness-- but s he rea y n contro of h s own story? Imag nar um s qu ntessent a G am: I m st not sure what t s about. Pass on and mag nat on and the fe of the sou ? Or the re ent ess need to se out n order to surv ve? Dr. Parnassus (Chr stopher P ummer) s G am: the mad gen us who trave s around n h s shabby wagon w th h s ove y ass stant and understudy and se s aud ences the pr v ege of v s t ng h s mag nat on. But he has acqu red th s amaz ng power at a terr b e pr ce: the sou h s own daughter, so d to the dev h mse f p ayed by Tom Wa ts. It s d strub ng that G am wasn t ab e to prevent Wa ts from go ng over the top-- he wou d have worked a ot better w th an understated approach.
2009-12-27 Preminger, Otto Anatomy of a Murder --> Rating: 9.00
Superb drama about a so d er accused of murder ng a man who raped h s w fe. J mmy Stewart s h s awyer, who nudges h m towards a defense of temporary nsant y. Lee Rem ck s the w fe, Ben Gazarra the husband: both carefu y e uc dat ng the amb gu ty at the heart of the event: was she raped or was she cheat ng on her husband? Very unsua comm tment to accurate deta s about court proceed ngs.
2009-01-01 Kazan, Elia Face in the Crowd --> Rating: 8.60
Powerfu nd ctment of med a persona t es, n the form of Andy Gr ff th as a g ad-hand ng good o d boy who r ses to the top of the ce ebr ty heap on a rec pe of fo ksy "w sdom", paroch a att tudes, and masterfu man pu at on.
2009-12-18 Scherfig, Lone An Education --> Rating: 8.50
Based on the memo r by Br t sh ourna st Lynne Barber, th s s a fresh ook at the re at onsh p between a young, smart g r and an o der, soph st cated man. W thout a doubt, he uses h s soph st cat on to man pu ate her, but "An Educat on" sn t shy about show ng us the co aborat ve e ements from the g r s ang e, or how her parents may buy n for the r own se f sh reasons. Jenny s t red of her fu fe n Tw ckenham-- the 60 s hasn t happened yet--and she wants to stretch beyond her parents constr cted hor zons. Dav d s a gent eman, po te, and affab e to her parents, and w ns them over. He takes her to shows, to azz c ubs, and to Par s. But he sn t a cad, rea y-- ust d shonest. And part of her react on to reve at ons about h s behav or s an acknow edgement of how her own amb t ons p ayed a part, and how the adu ts arou nd her who tr ed to warn her off reve n the r own hypocr s es. Lesson earned. Th s s a f m about grow ng up n the n cest sense-- provocat ve and nuanced.
2009-11-28 Campion, Jane Bright Star --> Rating: 9.00
Lyr ca , evocat ve med tat on on ove, expressed n the re at onsh p of poet John Keats to Fann e Braune, who ved next door to h m for a t me n Hampstead.
2009-01-01 Mulligan, Robert Baby the Rain Must Fall --> Rating: 6.00
K nd of nterest ng, but not rea y.
2009-01-01 Deepa, Mehta Heaven on Earth --> Rating: 8.00
Woman moves to Toronto on prom se of marr age on y to f nd abuse.
2009-01-01 Hancock, John Lee Blind Side --> Rating: 7.00
Terr b e mov e about a fasc nat ng, compe ng story. Sandra Bu och s decent as a mother who takes a young, home ess b ack youth under her w ng and he ps gu de h m through h gh schoo , where he, stunn ng y, d sp ays a remarkab e ta ent for footba .
2009-01-01 Kenner, Robert Food Inc --> Rating: 8.50
Fasc nat ng documentary on factory farm ng and a ternat ves.
2009-11-15 Nadda, Ruba Cairo Time --> Rating: 6.00
Prom s ng but very d sappo nt ng story about a magaz ne ed tor (!) wa t ng n Ca ro for her husband, an exc t ng UN representat ve (!!) to arr ve to show her the pyram ds. Instead, Tareq, her husband s fr end, shows her around, protects her, acts court y, and prov des the vacuous rugged face of exot c romant c pro ect on: don t we rea ze ust how beaut fu Ms. C arkson s? The most reve atory moment n the f m s when Ju ette (C arkson) announces that she m ght wr te an art c e on the street ch dren of Egypt for her magaz ne. We f nd the very dea of th s narc ss st c, vacuous, housew fe wr t ng an art c e, on anyth ng, so r d cu ous, we th nk t has to be a oke. Love y scenery n Ca ro, and mus c that seems to consc ous y evoke "Ame e" but, otherw se, "Lost n Trans at on" for m dd e-aged women, and that s not a comp ment.
2009-11-14 Peli, Oren Paranormal Activity --> Rating: 7.80
S m ar to "The B a r W tch Pro ect" n many ways, not east of wh ch, ts r d cu ous y ow budget. F med ent re y n the d rector s house, te s the story of Katy and M cah and the r encounter w th the myster ous ent ty that has been haunt ng Katy s nce she was e ght. The mystery force seems aggravated by M cah s rreverent attempts to nterrogate t, and document t s act v t es w th a camcorder (hooked up to a aptop v a f rew re-- a n ce touch of cred b ty). Extens ve hand-he d work w cause seas ckness n some. The creep ness w fr ghten others, espec a y s nce Katy and M cah, ke any rat ona persons, don t eap to conc us ons but, ke us, take a skept ca v ew-- and then exper ence the horror of an unexp a ned presence.
2009-11-10 Kazan, Elia On the Waterfront --> Rating: 7.80
Takes a contr ved and archa c sty e of drama about as far as t can go--but st ends up ook ng dated and, often, s y. The story of Terry M oy, a ongshoreman who works c ose y w th a corrupt un on eader-- rea y a cr m na gang-- unt h s consc ence beg ns to get the better of h m, arge y through the m n strat ons of Ev e, p ayed by Eva Mar e-Sa nte. Ste ger and Brando are stunn ng, powerfu performers, but no one can keep the ater stages of th s story from s nk ng nto contr ved me odrama, comp ete w th a Ho ywood end ng. I kept th nk ng that I cou d understand why John Cassavettes wou d watch a f m ke th s and then go out and comp ete y mprov se h s own f m. It s as f even a br
ant d rector ke Kazan can t trust the aud ence to "get t"--
he has to c obber them w th pompous end ng, and s gna every dramat c deve opment w th oud, showy mus c.
2009-11-09 Tian, ZhuangZhuang Blue Kite --> Rating: 8.00
The Ch nese government f rst approved, then d sapproved of th s engthy d scourse on the persona effects of the mpersona revo ut on. Shows us the fe of a sma agrar an Ch nese v age through the decades, from the start of the revo ut on, to the var ous movements and rages that swept the country, suck ng nnocent ves nto a torment of d s ocat on and ob v on. Very rem n scent of severa f ms, nc ud ng C t zen Kane and Dr. Zh vago. The author t es-- often a oca comm ttee-- are not part cu ar y ev or sad st c-- they ust seem to form th s organ c force that per od ca y sweeps through the town putt ng on a show of pur fy ng and c eans ng the deo og ca fe of the c t zensÃƒÆ Ã Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã Â¬Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¦ and then perhaps com ng to t s senses and ett ngs th ngs be for a wh e aga n.
2009-11-04 Jackson, Peter Braindead --> Rating: 6.00
Invent ve y f med but st rather excess ve zomb e f m w th record-break ng vo umes of gross-out qu ds tossed nto the m x, w th decap tat ons, str pped r b cages, freaky rat-monkeys, and a awnmower. It rea y s a mov e about mov e gore, a ba et of ntest nes, a r tua dance of d smemberment. Is there anyth ng, beyond that, that s actua y enterta n ng n th s f m? Yes-- one great ne: "Your mother ate my dog."
2009-11-02 Fleischer, Ruben Zombieland --> Rating: 7.00
Somewhat nvent ve, moderate y enterta n ng rehash of the zomb e formu a-- ha f-a ve corpses seek ng v ng humans to eat-- w th Woody Harre son n the Crocod e Dundee ro e: the psycho k er as your fr end. And there s an amus ng cameo by B Murray wh ch doesn t make much sense at a , but s fun.
2009-11-01 Greengrass, Paul Bloody Sunday --> Rating: 9.00
Wonderfu , h stor ca y accurate dep ct on of the 1972 confrontat on between c v r ghts marchers (not IRA) and Br t sh troops n Londonderry wh ch resu ted n 14 demonstrators be ng k ed. The army c a med that they were shot at and that the demonstrators they shot were armed but numerous w tnesses and photographs appear to show the contrary, and severa were shot n the back. Marve ous f m-mak ng-- r vet ng and compe ng, and sober y restra ned.
2009-10-18 Coixet, Isabel Secret Life of Words --> Rating: 7.90
Uneven but somet mes compe ng drama about a young woman who surv ves horrendous exper ences n the Ba kans dur ng the war and ends up nurs ng a burn v ct m on an o r g for a month, to pass the t me away from her usua ob. There s a b t of drama queen n Hanna s reserve, as f she s dy ng to be asked so she can refuse to te -- but over-a , t s a strong, be evab e story, w th nterest ng, unusa characters. The mus ca cho ces are a so unusua and nterest ng-- nc ud ng Tom Wa ts, and the c nematography s except ona . Unfortunate y, Tom Robb ns rema ns consumed w th h s method approach, wh ch means he confuses mumb ng and wh sper ng w th "act ng", and the move suffers from h s r d cu ousness.
2009-10-16 Ozu, Yosujuro Early Summer --> Rating: 9.00
As w th many Ozu f ms, the drama concerns a fam y, what ho ds t together, what dr ves t apart. In th s case, 28--year-o d Nor ko s yet unmarr ed. Her brother, her father, and others a seem to have potent a husbands for her, but she s amb va ent. Ozu s f ms are a c ose study n how the seem ng y sma deta s of fe--mak ng a tea, eat ng an app e, shar ng a p ece of cake-- carry emot ona connect ons to the b gger ssues: ove, death, marr age. After near y 45 m nutes of qu et, pens ve deta , we are shocked w th the reve at on that Nor ko s brother has d sappeared dur ng the war; mom th nks he s st a ve, but dad has no more hope. The two parents ho d the r gr ef ns de, ust for a breathtak ng moment, then fe moves on. Ozu s famous for decry ng the modern fam y, the ndependence of daughters, and so on, but he s such a carefu study of h s sub ects that you a most don t not ce t. Nor ko rea y th nks she be happy w th Kenk ch Yabe, but he on y re uctant y acceeds to the arrangement.
2009-10-03 Soderbergh, Steven Informant! --> Rating: 8.20
Superb narrat ve about an Archer-Dan e s-M d and emp oyee, a v ce-pres dent, who t ps the FBI off to pr cef x ng and other shenang ns at the corporat on. They dec de to use h m to spy on h s own company but he suffers what ooks ke a nervous breakdown n the m dd e of the nvest gat on. Then he appears to o n the crooks. The FBI was bafff ed. T ght y woven f m that supp es enough deta to g ve a r ch texture to Matt Damon s character study, wh e eff c ent y prope ng the story forward.
2009-09-26 Acker, Shane 9 --> Rating: 7.50
Unusua an mated f m-- the characters ook ke they are part y made of bur ap-- w th a dark, atmospher c tone to t, that s et down somewhat by a somewhat pred ctab e p ot and stereo-typed characters. The des gn shouts subt ety and depth, but the d a ogue shouts Ho ywood adventure.
2009-09-16 Tati, Jacques Mr. Hulot's Holiday --> Rating: 8.00
Charm ng, Chap nesque French comedy about a s ght y d m-w tted eccentr c and the s ght absurd t es of vacat on trave , beaches, horses, boat ng and so on. Tat h mse f p ays Hu ot, a keab e enthus ast, who bumb es around w thout comm tt ng too much harm. Most of the humour s of the phys ca sort. Beaut fu y f med on ocat on.
2009-09-01 Armstrong, Gillian Mrs. Soffel --> Rating: 8.00
Re at ve y accurate (w th mportant except ons) account of the egendary scanda : the w fe of the warden of A egheny County Ja he ped two notor ous k ers, Edward and Jack B dd e, escape death row, and f ed w th them north towards Canada. Beaut fu y f med, yr ca at t mes, w th met cu ous h stor ca deta , but a tt e chaste. The scenes of the tr o f ee ng on a cutter through w ntry andscapes are ove y, and the act ng s genera y, but not a ways, strong. I m not sure D ane Keaton works as Mrs. Soffe , though she certa n y doesn t g amour ze the ro e. Important deta om tted from the f m: e ther Kate Soffe s father or some other re at ve a ded the escape. A guard was shot dur ng the escape. Mrs. Soffe had property that had been forc b y s gned over to her husband s contro before the events of the f m. Otherw se, fa r y respectfu of h story.
2009-08-25 Ephron, Nora Julie and Julia --> Rating: 8.30
It s d ff cu t to understand why one ha f of the segments n the f m-- the Ju a Ch d segments-- cou d be so good, wh e the other ha f s a most ent re y bad, more ke a s tcom. Is t Streep? Or s a bad dea be ng forced upon Amy Adams?
2009-08-22 Kechiche, Abdel Secret of the Grain --> Rating: 8.00
What s fam y? Secret of the Gra n exp ores re at onsh ps, broken or not, between S mane, an o der mm grant worker n a sma seas de town n France, and h s ex-w fe, and ch dren, and step-daughter, and m stress. S mane oses h s ob at the sh pyard, and dec des to open a couscous restaurant nstead, so he can a so prov de h s sons w th emp oyment. He encounters cons derab e red tape and dec des that the on y way to w n over the bureaucrats s to mpress them w th a demonstrat on even ng-- and th s event becomes the crux of the p ot, the h nge upon wh ch h s fam y re at onsh ps, n the end revo ve, unt t becomes c ear who s "fam y" to h m, and what ove means.
2009-08-21 Kazan, Elia Streetcar Named Desire --> Rating: 8.00
Strong Tennesee W ams me odrama, w th b tter edge.
2009-08-16 Kurosawa, Akira Dodesukadan --> Rating: 8.00
F med n 1970, an odd y st ff, dated f m from Kurosawa, that never rea y takes off, though t has t s moments. Set n an mpover shed s um outs de Tokyo, "Dodesukadan" shows us the ves of the unfortunates who strugg e every day to get enough to eat, manage the r ves, surv ve. There are qu rky, appea ng b ts: the coup es v ng across from each other who swap husbands whenever the men come home drunk and go nto the wrong house, but a so some duds, ke the husband who stubborn y refuses to grant h s unfa thfu w fe even the s ghtest measure of forg veness, or the abus ve unc e. There s Kurosawa s favor te theme of se f-de us on, and how t he ps peop e cope w th ve, but a so conta ns the seeds of destruct on.
2009-08-14 Smith, John N. Random Passage (Miniseries) --> Rating: 7.80
Started out we , as a v v d recreat on of an 18th century f sh ng v age n Tr n ty Bay, Newfound and. H stor ca y accurate, down to the deta s of the ent re v age, the homes, the church, the boats, but veers off nto me odrama for the ast few ree s. Worthwh e as an educat ona exper ence.
2009-07-14 Lee, Spike He Got Game --> Rating: 8.50
A father dr ves h s son to succeed n basketba but a sem -acc denta shove fata y n ures h s w fe, the boy s mother, and he ends up n a . When the boy becomes a top prospect, the Governor of New York, a b g fan of a certa n un vers ty team, arranges for the father to be re eased temporar y to try to persuade the boy to s gn w th that team; f he does, the father s sentence w be shortened. Wonderfu y d rected, r ch, nuanced rea zat on of a compe ng story, w th rea - fe prospect Ray A en p ay ng Jesus.
2009-07-12 Bigelow, Kathryn Hurt Locker --> Rating: 7.90
Bruta y rea st c at t mes, v o ent, and b oody, "Hurt Locker" fo ows the act v t es of an Amer can bomb squad n Iraq and the bo d and somet mes reck ess exp o ts of James, who s what they used to ca a sapper, the man who d sarms bombs. Some cr t cs c a med that h s f m was surpr s ng y "apo t ca ". There s bare y an Amer can f ag n s ght. But I found t as "apo t ca " as "Deer Hunter", wh ch, ke "Hurt Lucker", seemed to character ze a of the c t zens of the ucky nat on that rece ved the pr v ege of an Amer can nvas on, as s n ster and suspect and poss b y even ungratefu for the a eged y gutsy m n strat ons of the Amer cans. The boys are shown as car ng and profess ona and courageous, and we earn about the r fee ngs and concerns, but we never get to know a s ng e Iraq or get even a g mpse of understand ng of why they hate the Amer cans and want them out. However, ne ther does B ge ow show them want ng Amer cans " n"-- so n that senseÃƒÆ Ã Â ¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã ¬Ã‚à ¦ St a strong, pass onate f m and worth see ng.
2009-07-31 Zhang, Yimou Not One Less --> Rating: 9.00
Very pat ent, thoughtfu mov e about a 13-year-o d subst tute teacher who takes over an e ementary schoo for one month n a rura Ch nese v age, wh ch s so poor she s on y a owed one st ck of cha k a day. The teacher, who s eav ng to v s t h s s ck mother, prom ses her a bonus f she manages to keep a of the ch dren n schoo to the end of the month. "Teacher We " s no Ho ywood construct on: she can t teach at a and bare y manages to even keep the ch dren n the c assroom. And she doesn t m racu ous y mprove overn ght. The f m pat ent y documents her fa ures and strugg es-- and a so her stubborness-- as the days pass, unt one of the students, Zhang Hu ke, s sent away by h s parents to go work n the c ty. We sets out after h m, determ ned to keep h m n schoo , and earn her reward. Amer can aud ences w probab y f nd the patent unfo d ng of the story try ng, but t pays off n the end w th a wrench ng scene at a TV stat on. Beaut fu y f med and acted-obv ous y, but not d stress ng y by amateurs-- and a wonderfu story.
2009-07-31 Wise, Robert West Side Story --> Rating: 8.00
Supreme y po shed, s ck, product on of fundamenta y s y Broadway mus ca , based on Remeo and Ju et. Superb dance sequences, but the utter y preposterous dubb ng of vo ces for the two eads, and for R ff, made t r d cu ous at t mes. What are we watch ng? Who s ta ents are be ng ut zed? St , there s someth ng compe ng n the story-- s ght y ad usted to g ve t more rea sm-- as f a mus ca cou d ever be thought of that way. Genera y we acted, and beaut fu y, e aborate y f med (part y on the streets of Manhattan). The gangs say "gee" a ot, and meet n front of the candy store, and as de from a n ght n Mar a s bed, the re at onsh ps seem rather chaste by today s standards. See "Rent". Second h ghtest gross ng f m of 1961-- amaz ng-- th s was what mov e aud ences, n 1961, ned up to see. Notab e because nsp te of the hok ness, t s a cha eng ng f m, and demands an nvestment from the v ewer.
2009-07-24 Dorrie, Doris Cherry Blossums --> Rating: 9.00
A the fam ar e ements are there -- m dd e-aged or ater repressed man, devoted to work and career, sudden y rea zes h s fe has been m ss ng that mportant sense of sp r tua mean ng and sets out on a quest. He s a f sh out of water, n th s case, a German technocrat named Rud whose w fe has recent y d ed, n Japan to v s t an a enated son. Yet Cherry B ossums packs a wa op because of t s uncomprom s ng dep ct on of deep y f awed humans grop ng to connect to each other, and to some sense of purpose. Sort of a cross between "About Schm dt" and "Lost n Trans at on", except that n th s case, there s a ove y ep phany that fts the narrat ve n the end.
2009-06-16 Peterson, Bob Up --> Rating: 7.90
N ce P xar an mat on w th unusua y strong comm tment to story, even f the second ha f of the story s rather ame. The f rst 20 m nutes are a separate mov e-- an e eg ac summary of fe from ch dhood to o d age, surpr s ng y mov ng. Then the act on part takes over-- every p ot deve opment arm-tw sted nto p ace, to fac tate max mum d sp ay of ove y an mat ons. At east, free of the tendency to f the screen up w th w secrack ng, fart ng, be ch ng stereo-types.
2009-06-02 Zenovich, Marina Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired --> Rating: 9.00
D ssects the d sso ut on of the p ea barga n between Po ansk , conv cted of hav ng sex w th a m nor, and the udge n the case, whose mot ves were, at best, m xed. Inc udes nterv ews w th the 13-year-o d v ct m, Po ansk s awyers, and the D str ct Attorney, who eventua y o ned w th Po ansk s awyer to ask that Judge Laurence J. R ttenband be removed from the case for m sconduct. Smart y ays out the po t ca and cu tura ssues that caused the ssue to sp n out of contro and ed to Po ansk f ee ng nto ex e n France-- where he s honored, as we as des red, wh e he rema ns "wanted" n the U.S. A so de ves nto Po ansk s own sensat ona b ography, h s ch dhood n Naz -occuped Po and, the death of h s mother n a concentrat on camp, the murder of h s w fe by fo owers of Char es Manson, and so on.
2009-05-30 Ruzowitzky, Stefan Counterfeiters --> Rating: 8.10
What f what seems to r ght to do, n terms of persona surv va , m ght seem to be the wrong th ng to do, n terms of ust ce? Sa omon Sorow tsch s offered a dea w th the dev . He p the Naz s manufacture fake Amer can and Br t sh money and ve, or refuse and pay w th your fe. He chooses to he p them but runs nto oppos t on from a commun st camp-mate who s determ ned to sabatoge the effort even f he ends up gett ng a of them k ed. To comp cate matters, some of the men become conv nced that the commun st must be sacraf ced for the good of the rest of the counterfe ters. Fasc nat ng story that doesn t rea y reach p tch.
2009-05-28 Reichardt, Kelly Wendy and Lucy --> Rating: 8.20
Low key, gent e f m about a young woman trave ng to A aska w th her pet dog, Lucy. Through m sfortune and bad cho ces, she ends up n po ce custody and her dog s ost. The story cou d not be s mp er, yet th s s a r ch mov e fu of qu et nuance and d mens on, part cu ar y her re at onsh p w th a secur ty guard wonderfu y p ayed by Wa y Da ton. It s a s ce of fe we don t often see very much of, de vered w th pat ence and taste. Not a great f m, but n some ways, nd spens b e. Cost $200,000 to make. M che e W ams rea y d d go w thout makeup or wash ng her ha r for two weeks.
2009-05-21 Corbijn, Anton Control --> Rating: 8.50
Compe ng drama about Ian Curt s, ead s nger of Joy D v s on, the 80 s new wave band. S m ar to Party Peop e, n terms of era, persona t es, and oca e.
2007-01-01 Wright, Joe Soloist --> Rating: 7.80
Dangerous y formu a c "true" story about Nathan e Ayres, one-t me prom s ng Ju ard student who had a nervous breakdown and ended up v ng on the streets of Los Ange es. A LA T mes reporter, Steve Lopez, d scovers Ayres and wr tes about h m and encourages h m to move nto pub c hous ng and resume h s career, w th on y part a success. It s Downey that keeps th s f m from go ng soft, w th a wonderfu sense of deadpan at the r ght moments, as when Ayres f rst performs for h m w th a new ce o. The usua Ho ywood dr ve ntrudes: Lopez was NOT d vorced n rea fe-- but the rea story s so remarkab e that th s s we -worth a DVD renta .
2009-04-01 Stone, Oliver Doors --> Rating: 8.00
Another potent a y decent Ho ywood f m fundamenta y comprom sed by the part c pat on of a ce ebr ty n a ma or ro e-- Meg Ryan, as J mmy Morr son s g r fr end, Pame a Courson. Otherw se, surpr s ng y free of "author zed b ography syndrome", where n the cooperat on of fam y and fr ends comes at a pr ce: you are on y a owed to see the f aws you a ready know about, and wh ch the fam y wants you to see.
2009-05-02 Cassavetes, John Faces --> Rating: 7.00
About a young, h p coup e (John Mar ey and Lynn Car n) whose marr age d s ntegrates. He casua y drops by to see a k nd-hearted prost tute (Gena Row ands) after work. She prepares h s d nner. He s ate. They f ght, b tter y-- he shocks her by demand ng a d vorce, then goes out to f nd h s budd es and to v s t the pros t tute aga n. Her fr ends take her out to comfort her and they p ck up a young h pp e who accompan es her home. A to d n the bruta y honest sty e of Cassavetes. In part cu ar, the ok ng of the men n the presense of the prost tutes str kes the v ewer as crass, vu gar, and annoy ng-- ust as t wou d n rea fe. It makes you wonder ust how much rea fe we can actua y take n our ves-- yet we never stop try ng to foo ourse ves nto th nk ng that some "rea st c" dramas te us the truth. The aud o s terr b e at t mes, and there are awkward pauses and g tches-- yet very powerfu and raw.
2009-05-01 Caouette, Jonathan Tarnation --> Rating: 9.00
Breath-tak ng, exper menta co age of home v deo, p ctures, text, and aud o, d agramm ng Caouette s own hyper dysfunct ona fam y, nc ud ng h s mother, Renee, once a beaut fu ch d mode , dr ven through e ectro convu s ve therapy nto chron c depress on and nstab ty.
2009-05-05 Abrams, J.J. Star Trek 2009 --> Rating: 7.00
Vast y over-rated nsta ment of the Star Trek franch se featur ng K rk and Spock as 20 year o ds m racu ous y put n charge of the Enterpr se and t s crew of 400 after v rtua y no command exper ence at any eve . A r ght - t s a ch dren s mov e. Too bad t gnores the nterest ng aspects of the or g na -- mu t -d mens ona bad guys, respect for Spock etcÃƒÆ Ã Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã Â¬Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¦ the ast nes of the mov e feature Spock be ng emascu ated: h s o der se f te s h m to go w th h s fee ngs, thereby screw ng the most nterest ng tens on n the or g na ser es: Spock s bra n vs. K rk s gut. But we know that nowadays, fee ngs are a ways r ght, and bad guys are noth ng more than var ous ncarnat ons of had sts. One of the or g na s best ep sodes featured a game of cat and mouse between K rk and a smart, and respectab e, Romu an commander. No such h gh tone here. Just oads and oads no sy spec a effects and the mbec c hand-he d camera effect.
2009-05-07 Benton, Robert Late Show --> Rating: 7.00
Th s mov e got wonderfu rev ews at the t me but has not aged we . It s a parody or tr bute of the f m no re detect ve f cks of the 1950 s, but doesnÃƒÆ Ã Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã Â¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¾Ã Â¢t seem very funny today. Art Carney s fun as an ag ng, stout pr vate nvest gator ook ng nto L y Tom n s m ss ng cat, but not that fun. When h s former partner s murdered after nvo vement n the same case, he gets nterested and uncovers a web of dece t and adu tery. D sappo nt ng, cons der ng the pra se heaped on th s f m by the kes of Roger Ebert. L y Tom n s the freshest th ng n the mov e.
2009-04-23 MacDonald, Kevin State of Play --> Rating: 7.00
Uneven thr er that borrows scenes and mages from "A the Pres dent s Men" but doesn t have the good sense to st ck to a compe ng po t ca consp racy: there s got to be murder, I guess, to make t sexy enough for popu ar consumpt on. Russe Crowe s the stereo-typ ca o d hard-b tten reporter who uncovers a nefar ous corporate-government p ot to marg na ze a cruscad ng Senator who opposes pr vat zat on of the m tary. Rache McAdams s the b ogger who earns at h s feet what a rea reporter does. Events are comp cated by Crowe s persona past w th the Senator and h s w fe. Not a s ng e tru y surpr s ng deve opment even w th Tony G roy he p ng out w th the screenp ay.
2009-04-24 Sollett, Peter Raising Victor Vargas --> Rating: 7.80
Charm ng, earthy ook at the romant c m sadventures of a young Lower East S de teenager. H s Dom n can Catho c grandmother keeps threaten ng to throw h m out of the apartment, and h s s ster r d cu es h m for be ng spotted n the apartment of the oca s ut. But V ctor pers sts and persuades ove y Judy to et h m be her man. At east occas ona y. What s d fferent s that V ctor rea y s a decent sort, and h s grandmother rea y s a crank who sn t go ng to go a gushy sent menta on us. Gr tty story, to d w th far more authent c ty and honest y than we are used to. A s ce.
2009-04-18 Parfit, Michael Luna --> Rating: 8.00
Fasc nat ng documentary about a young k er wha e who gets separated from h s pod and ends up n a sma bay north of Vancouver, where he beg ns to make fr ends of the oca nhab tants. The government becomes concerned about h m becom ng too soc a zed w th humans. The F rst Nat ons peop es see h m as the re ncarnat on of an esteemed ch ef. F sherman see h m as a dangerous nu sance. At t mes nsp r ng, and somet mes h ar ous, "Sav ng Luna" charts var ous attempts to prevent Luna from com ng to harm, and how he changed some peop es percept ons of the gu f between humans and other mamma s.
2009-04-11 Ming-Liang, Tsai Rebels of the Neon God --> Rating: 8.00
A m ess f m about a m ess youth n Ta pe . Hasa o Kang s a one y teenager who w stfu y observes two boys and a g r ndu ge n f rtat on, hang ng out at arcades, and thr -seek ng. Too shy to o n them, nstead he shadows the r act v t es, vanda zes the r b ke, and drops out of schoo w thout te ng h s parents. Strong portra t of the downs de of urban fe n Ta pe , and youth a enat on.
2009-04-01 Koreeda, Hirokazu Nobody Knows --> Rating: 9.00
Deep y mov ng, sad account of four ch dren abandoned by the r fun- ov ng and care ess mother for n ne months, n an apartment n Tokyo. Based on a true story that was even more gr m than th s vers on. The story fo ows the efforts of the o dest son, 12-year-o d Ak ra, to f nd food and pay the b s w th the very m ted funds eft by h s mother. He appea s to h s b o og ca father who pays h m off but s c ear y d s nterested-- the other ch dren are not h s. The mov e fo ows the rea - fe case fa r y c ose y-- noth ng s exaggerated or man pu ated-mak ng t a the more powerfu and somet mes gr m. But a so unforgettab e.
2009-04-10 Brewer, Craig Hustle and Flow --> Rating: 8.50
Powerfu , gr tty drama set n Memph s about a wou d-be p mp (he s rea y more of a dr ver) who asp res to be a rap art st. Don t et the rap ang e keep you away from a f ne f m w th terr f c performances and a heart of go d, and some very funny scenes. Everyone sweats, and everyone has that t red beaten down ook that s ow y r ses as D-Jay dr ves towards h s goa of record ng h s raps and gett ng them heard. The end ng s a b t Ho ywood, perhaps-- but I d dn t m nd. The setup was so good, the secondary characters-- espec a y Trayn Mann ng as No a, h s one product ve hooker-- compe ng and be evab y hard-edged. Rem nds me of the better Sp ke Lee f ms ke "Do the R ght Th ng".
2009-04-01 Young, Neil Greendale --> Rating: 5.00
More shame ess than the mov e tse f s the surpr s ng y se f-aggrand z ng "mak ng of" feature wh ch cons sts of Ne s fr ends and fam es marve ng at h s amaz ng, myster ous gen ous-- so e us ve that the f m ooks ke someth ng a pathet ca h gh-schoo er cou d have mproved upon. Shot n super 8mm f m and accompan ed on y by a mus ca soundtrack of m dd ng Ne Young songs accompan ed by the rrepress b y awfu Crazy HorseÃƒÆ Ã Â¢ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â ¬Å¡Ã Â¬Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¦ a terr b e waste of t me.
2009-03-04 Cantet, Laurent The Class --> Rating: 9.00
Sear ng documentary sty e f m about a teacher and h s c ass of m nor ty students n Par s, and h s strugg es to nvest the students nto a respectfu adherence to ma nstream French va ues. The students-- rea students-worked w th Cantet for a year to deve op the r stor es and dent t es. None of t s pred ctab e, and a of t mocks f ms ke "Mr. Ho and s Opus" and "Freedom Wr ters" w th s mp y rea ty. The students do not ex st as a mere fo for the teacher s awesome v s onary ded cat on: they have the r own agenda and unt the teacher connects w th the r rea va ues he s frustrated and defeated. Probab y the most rea st c teacher f m ever made.
2009-02-28 Boyle, Danny Sunshine --> Rating: 8.50
Beaut fu , somet mes dazz ng sc ence f ct on about a crew of earth astronauts sent on a m ss on to f re a bomb "the s ze of Manhattan" nto the sun to prevent t from decay ng due to some obscure y exp a ned process. The "Icarus" of course encounters some cha enges, nc ud ng a d stress ca from a m ss on that fa ed seven years ear er. The crew are consc ous of beauty and purpose, and there are moments of effus ve poet c oy n the pure exper ence of the sun s ght and warmth, and other moments of sheer terror at the feroc ty of t s power. Somet mes dark and v o ent, but a ways ntr gu ng.
2009-02-16 Demme, Jonathan Rachel at the Wedding --> Rating: 7.20
It ooks and fee s ke ndependent f m but operates ke a c ass c Ho ywood "ser ous" f m-- a externa facets and no heart. There sn t a s ng e rea person n th s mov e-- ust a rather sophomor c nterpretat on of what aud ences th nk an authent c p cture of madness wou d ook ke. How often doesn t a Ho ywood f m ntroduce you to a character who has done someth ng rea y bad so you can fee compass onate and soph st cated for car ng about her, and then ntroduces the fact that what she d d-- surpr se-- wasn t so bad after a , or wasn t her fau t ( ke "I Have Loved You So Long"). There s some energy n th s f m, and some fa ed attempts -- too obv ous-- to be qu rky. Rea y, t s more ke "Watch Over Me" and "F sher K ng" than
2009-02-14 Eastwood, Clint Gran Torino --> Rating: 7.50
Look-- C nt Eastwood can t d rect. Every scene seems underdeve oped and contr ved. Comb ned w th an mp ausab e story ne, th s s actua y a b t ted ous, except for a reve atory end ng that def es the convent ons of many of the f ms Eastwood made ear y n h s career. But when Wa t s granddaughter goes nto the garage for a smoke, Wa t catches her, because, for no d scern b e reason other than advanc ng the p ot, he happens to go nto the garage at that moment. Wou d t be ask ng too much Eastwood to bother th nk ng of some reason he m ght go n there? Or to th nk of some actua garden ng act v ty Thao cou d be do ng, nstead of mak ng h s hands go up and down? Or some og ca reason why he wou d p unge nto a house fu of non-Eng sh speak ng Hmong ust to soc a ze, after demonstrat ng a patho og ca avers on to conversat on up to then? Or why h s son wou d act as f he cou d poss b y have ant c pated that Wa t wou d be grumpy over the phone? Yet, there are some adm rab e qua t es to the f m-- the concern w th everyday fe n suburban Amer ca, the m x of cu tures, the substant a cons derat on of the theme of v o ence. But the "profound" conc us on s mp aus b e, and the per phera characters, nc ud ng the pr est, seem to ex st on y as fo s to the grumpy Wa t. Even worse, Wa t gets to be v c ous y grumpy wh e w nn ng the adorat on of the oca Hmong commun ty. Not a s ng e character does the most p aus b e th ng: revea Wa t s psychot c persona ty for what t s.
2009-01-21 Alfredson, Tomas Let the Right One In --> Rating: 8.00
F m n the co d suburbs of Stockho m, Let the R ght One n s a b eak vamp re mov e that s rea y about ove between two one y m sf ts, Oskar and E . Oskar s parents are seperated and h s mother s a marg na presense. He s bu ed at schoo and takes to wander ng the courtyard around h s apartment ate at n ght. E s a vamp re, 12-years-o d ("for a ong t me"). She connects w th Oskar s shy vu nerab ty, and he tr es to connect w th her. But she rea y s a vamp re and when peop e start dy ng b ood y n the ne ghborhood, tens ons r se and Oskar and E have to f nd a way to surv ve the grow ng susp c ons of the ne ghbors. There s some k nd of touch ng ove story here, but t s set n a pa nfu y b eak emot ona and phys ca andscape.
2009-03-01 Zemeckis, Robert Polar Express --> Rating: 7.80
Love y an mat on but dumb story.
2008-12-14 Claudel, Philippe I Loved You So Long --> Rating: 7.00
Preposterous f m about a woman return ng to her s ster s home after 15 years n pr son for murder. We are supposed to be shocked at a ma or reve at on but the ma or reve at on underm nes a of the tens on that went before.
2008-12-07 Eastwood, Clint Changeling --> Rating: 7.60
The Change ng s about true events that occurred n Los Ange es n 1928 that were so strange and shock ng that no Ho ywood contr vance cou d be more unbe evab e. The weakness of the f m s Eastwood s nab ty to draw great performances from h s actors, espec a y the ch dren. Even worse, a most every scene ooks and fee s as f a of the ves of the characters started and ended on y when the cameras were ro ng. There s no sense that any of these characters actua y ve off-screen, or that anyone s do ng anyth ng rea when they are not emot ng. Jo e s comp ete y unconv nc ng, and everyone e se except John Ma cov ch-- who at east g ves h s character some fe-- seems to be perform ng by rote. And t shou d be noted that Jason But er Harner, as the k er, s the except on. The scenery and costumes are, as a ways, amaz ng, but Ho ywood can br ng these techn ques to even the most pedestr an f m, and th s f m, though t s nterest ng watch, s rea y noth ng spec a .
2008-11-17 YATES, PETER Dresser --> Rating: 8.20
Intense, sear ng account of the re at onsh p between a dresser and the egocentr c star of a dowdy tour ng Shakespearean company n Eng and dur ng Wor d War II.
2008-11-14 STONE, OLIVER W --> Rating: 7.00
D sappo nt ng rush- ob on George W. s fe, from h s d sso ute pro onged ado escence n Texas to the Wh te House and the d sastrous Iraq war. Unfortunate y, the econom c d sasters of 2008 are too ate to be nc uded n th s tra n-wreck of a mov e about a tra nwreck of a pres dency. M d y amus ng at t mes, but never compe ng. So George wanted to show poppy that he cou d be more successfu than Jeb-- f th s s a the ns ght Stone cou d dredge out of that re at onsh p, t hard y seems worth exp or ng.
2008-10-22 Coen, Ethan Burn After Reading --> Rating: 8.20
The tragedy n th s trag comedy s caused by the m tat ons n know edge by the protagon sts-- they don t rea y understand what they re up aga nst. And the peop e they are up aga nst don t understand how far the protagon sts w go to ach eve the r a m. Mayhem resu ts. Though round y cr t c zed for ts cyn c sm, I f nd "Burn After Read ng" odd y be evab e. Certa n y more be evab e than most act on thr ers that pos t a k nd of de berate near ty to the act on, as f events actua y regu ar y unfo d n a schemat c way.
2008-10-04 POLLACK, SYDNEY OUT OF AFRICA --> Rating: 6.00
B ograph ca f m about Baroness Karen B xen and her ong-t me a eged affa r w th Denys F nch Hatton. B xen marr ed a cous n-- the tw n brother of the man she rea y oved but who re ected her-- and moved to Afr ca w th fam y money to buy a farm and start a coffee p antat on. Her husband, Bror Van B xen, turned out to have tt e nterest n the farm or the marr age and she contracted syph s from h m for wh ch she had to return to Denmark for a t me, and wh ch poss b y p agued her for years afterwards. When she returned, she separated from Van B xen and eventua y began an affa r w th F nch Hatton. Great story. Great ocat ons. N ce c nematography (though you get the fee ng that most of the raves about the c nematography are more about the scenery than the actua camera work). Streep performs n accent-- even when, as a Dane, she s ta k ng to a fe ow Dane. I seem to be a one n regard ng th s as b zarre, and n my ack of enthus asm for her performance over a . The troub e s, when she s danc ng w th Redford, I get the fee ng he m ght as we have been danc ng w th h s mother. Streep seems to me to be comp ete y consc ous of her performance as an actor- f there are sparks between her and Redford, they were nv s b e to me. Redford a so turns n a rather b and performance, poss b y due to the fact that h s character s seen through her eyes, and funct ons ma n y as the ob ect of her se f-consc ous pass on. Her re at onsh p w th the Baron s more nterest ng, and t shou dn t be. Po ack kes ser ous "b g" Ho ywood themes, and goes through a ot of troub e to reconstruct the ocat ons-but then he nexcusab y drops n some stud o shots of the two n Hatton s Gypsy Moth, over a d aga nst the spectacu ar Afr can scenery. That s perhaps the essense of what s wrong w th th s f m: Po ack ust can t qu te g ve h mse f over ent re y to the story tse f, and ne ther Streep nor Redford ever rea y evoke a pass on for the country that sn t schemat c and obv ous. Inc denta y, Hatton actua y carr ed on an affa r w th the character ca ed "Fe c ty" n th s f m, who s based on a rea fe woman named Bery Markham, who was qu te a p oneer n the h story n av at on-- f rst woman to f y from Eng and to North Amer ca so o. A so, Karen B xen s the author of "Babette s Feast".
2008-07-14 MANGOLD, JAMES 3:10 TO YUMA --> Rating: 6.00
The cr t cs have ost the r m nds. I cou dn t f nd a s ng e rev ewer who saw any f aws n th s preposterous, absurd western, n wh ch an ent re gang of bad guys can t rescue the r dev ous eader from a s ng e ha fhearted farmer w th an nexp cab e urge to r sk h s fe on beha f of a cause even the v ewer stops be ev ng n. As de from the unbe evab e body count, th s f m acks cred b ty on aesthet c, mora , pyscho og ca , and phys ca grounds. A the act on s subord nated to the cause of ssu ng another ser es of shoot-outs between Ben Wade s ruth ess gang and Dan Evans ha f-hearted posse and ndec s ve marsha s. The ma n prob em here s that Evan s determ nat on to get out aw Wade onto that tra n suggests a be ef n the res ence and tr umph of ust ce-- a conce t borrowed from "H gh Noon", perhaps-- but modern sens b t es are served by the fact that Wade sn t ent re y a bad man, and even Evens own son worsh ps the egend. When Wade wh st es for h s horse, we know that Evans has been a foo . Then what s the po nt of eav ng us w th h s son s adm rat on? As de from a that, Ba e s ted ous method act ng and ncoherent d a ogue and ed t ng....
2008-02-09 ANDERSON, P. T. THERE WILL BE BlOOD --> Rating: 9.00
From the story by Upton S nc a r: Dan e P a nv ew s a prospector, m ner, who eventua y moves nto o and negot ates a number of dea s w th sma -town and-owners, most of whom are not as gu b e as he had hoped. W th h s adopted son, H.W. (p ayed as a boy by a remarkab e D on Freas er) at h s s de, he pushes forward, bu d ng derrecks and p pe nes, and antagon z ng oca preacher E Sunday (son of one of the owners he sw nd ed). There are echoes of "C t zen Kane" n here-- so much so that at t mes you wonder f the var at ons n p ot deve opments aren t there ust to throw you off the scent. The recreat ons of per od o we s and other bu d ngs and mach nery are stunn ng. Abso ute y superb y d rected. The end ng s a b t puzz ng and not ent re y sat sfactory, but an astute v ewer w be enthra ed by the ourney there.
2008-02-03 SCHNABEL, JULIAN DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY --> Rating: 8.50
Wonderfu dramat zat on of the Bauby memo re about h s stroke and sudden ncapac tat on-- the former ed tor of E e Magaz ne s sudden y on y ab e to move one eye d. A sympathet c therap st dev ses a way for h m to commun cate us ng an a phabet n order of most frequent y used etters wh ch s read to h m unt he b nks. Us ng th s s ow method, he s ab e to wr te a book about h s exper ence, h s thoughts and fee ngs about h s " ocked n" state. The mov e s unusua y frank and unsent menta , and you have a fee ng Bauby wou d be repu sed by the trad t ona Ho ywood take on the ssue (wh ch probab y won t stop them from do ng a remake w th Tom Hanks). Has echoes of "The Sea Ins de" about Span sh wr ter Ramon Sampredro, who fought for 30 years for the r ght to comm t su c de, and "Pass on F sh". The act ng, espec a y by Croze, s superb, and th s s a f m that s carefu y, mag nat ve y d rected and ed ted. One of the best f ms of 2007.
2008-02-02 ASCHER, STEPHEN SO MUCH SO FAST --> Rating: 8.00
Documentary on the pred cament of Stephen Heywood, who was d agnosed w th ALS at the age of 29. Stephen and h s fam y are unusua y honest, acerb c, and po gnant as they dea w th the onset of ALS and Stephen s s ow but steady phys ca dec ne. Fresh and at t mes r vett ng.
2007-01-01 JIA, ZHANG KE WORLD --> Rating: 8.10
Tao oves Ta sheng -- she th nks-- and begs h m not to ever be unfa thfu to her. But Ta sheng has a th ng go ng w th Qun, whose husband f ed Ch na for Par s, and who s try ng to get a v sa to o n h m. Th s me odrama p ays out among the young art sts, actors, and secur ty guards work ng at a theme park n Be ng ca ed "the wor d", wh ch ho ds sca ed down rep cas of the wor d s great wonders, nc ud ng the Wor d Trade Centre, and the Arc D Tr omphe and E ffe Tour. Tao and Ta sheng and We and N u and the r fr ends ve and wonder and ca each other on the r ce phones n a state of perpetua d sappo ntment, at the mundane nadequacy of "the wor d", at the r own ves and m tat ons, and m sfortune. The Wor d has a gracefu yr c sm to t, even f t doesn t a ways have deas. The conc us on s ÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¬ure me odrama, and a most forg vab e.
2008-01-24 MELVILLE, JEAN-PIERRE ARMY OF SAHDOWS --> Rating: 7.70
H gh y regarded f m about the French res stance, the sacraf ces and r sks assoc ated w th t, and some hero c act v t es dur ng the war. Ph ppe Gerb er s the eader of a ce n the south of France, though h s act v t es range through Par s and beyond. Wh e transport ng rad os and downed p ots, he has to dea w th a tra tor, and w th the capture and torture of one of h s men. The story s a gr m, a tad pretent ous at t mes, and a ways gr pp ng.
2008-01-20 BURTON, TIM SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET --> Rating: 7.00
A ot of top-notch ta ent wasted n th s ndu gent sw ne of a f m that never qu te gets over t s own transgress veness. At some eve , t th nks t s ron c that Mrs. Lovett shou d prof t so se ng meat p es that server to d spose of the rema ns of Todd s v ct ms. At another eve , t s mere y uven e. Sure, ke Three-Penny Opera, t wants to show us that a of human ty s depraved-- except for Johanna, Todd s daughter, whose ove for Anthony prov des token redempt on-- for what? It s hard to mag ne why Sondhe m shou d spare anyone, g ven the tone of the f rst ha f. But you cou d argue for t-- f there were a s ng e str k ng mus ca number n the ent re product on. Th s was the most bor ng two hours I ve spent n the past year.
2008-01-28 FERGUSON, CHARLES NO END IN SIGHT --> Rating: 9.00
Stunn ng ook at how the Bush adm n strat on managed-- or m smanaged-- the occupat on of Iraq, gnor ng adv ce of so d ers on the ground, experts n other government departments, and the nte gence serv ce, n favor of -conce ved schemes by po t ca appo ntees, contractors, and vory-tower neo-cons n the Wh te House.
2008-01-20 FLEISCHER, RICHARD COMPULSION --> Rating: 7.90
Super or but fa r y convent ona render ng of Leopo d / Loeb, the Ch cago prod g es who murdered a ch d to prove they were ke N etzche s "superman"- above mora ty-- and then chatted affab y about the deta s w th po ce and reporters after they were caught. Unusua y ong segment g ven to Jonathan W k-- the C arence Darrow character-- to make a ong, mpass oned p ea aga nst cap ta pun shment, us ng most y Darrow s actua words. He conv nced the udge to g ve them fe n pr son nstead. Superb y acted and most y nterest ng f a b t me odramat c at t mes.
2008-01-19 ASHBY, HAL LAST DETAIL --> Rating: 8.20
They don t make them ke th s anymore-- actua y, they don t. Th s s an adu t f m about a mature sub ect matter-- no, not sex. What I mean by "mature" s that the f m carr es out a comp ex and subt e narrat ve about an mportant sub ect. S ow-mov ng, by today s standards, but a so r cher and more nuanced. Buddusky (N cho son) and Mu ha (Ot s Young) are tasked w th tak ng Meadows (Randy Qua d) from V rg n a to Portsmouth, New Hampsh re, to be ncarcerated for 8 years for stea ng $40 from a char ty box. A ong the way, Buddusky and Mu ha dec de the wa f can t be ocked up for that ong w thout hav ng exper enced a b t of fe, and, perhaps, earn ng to stand up for h mse f. Sure, t s a road mov e, and a b t of a buddy p cture. We earn that wh e Buddusky and Mu ha beg n to quest on the r orders and fee doubt about the r vocat ons (they are both career navy men), they may not have what t takes to rea y step away from constra nts of hab t and accommodat on. Iron ca y, the t m d Meadows earns from them-- too ate-- that he m ght have t. They are a outs ders, try ng to stay true to the r own va ues, never rea y comp ete y outs de or ns de the system.
2008-01-21 WRIGHT, JOE ATONEMENT --> Rating: 7.00
On a very hot summer day at the estate, 13-year-o d Br ony Ta s th nks he sees some k nd of provocat ve exchange between her s ster Cec a and farmhand Robb e (Ke ra Kn ght y and James McAvoy). Later, n case we d dn t get t, I suppose, she catches them copu at ng n the brary, after ntercept ng a sa ac ous note. For unexp a ned reasons, she accuses Robb e of rap ng her cous n Lo a and her test mony conv nces the author t es. He s ater re eased from pr son to o n the army n France. There are strong s m ar t es here to "The Go-Between", a far, far better f m, that takes an oppos te v ew of where the gu t shou d e for the trauma of persona destruct on. In fact, "The Go-Between" rea y const tutes a k nd of savage comment on the smug r ghteousness at the heart of "Atonement", and the d sturb ng suggest on that a 13-year-o d g r shou d be he d respons b e for her own confus on and prur ence. "Atonement" fa s apart n the second ha f-- t never rea y ra ses the dramat c tens on to the eve needed to ust fy the me odramat c f n sh. The act ng, sets, and constumes are a marve ous but can t rescue the essent a tr v a ty of the p ot.
2008-01-06 COOK, BRIAN W. COLOUR ME KUBRICK --> Rating: 7.50
Uneven but amus ng take on the adventures of A an Conway, a gay London trave agent who went around pretend ng to be Stan ey Kubr ck n order to score dates and get free food and booze. He s m racu ous y be eved by numerous young men who hope to get a mov e career out of the re at onsh p. Even Frank R ch of the New York T mes was br ef y foo ed. Ma cov ch has obv ous fun and many of the guests stars a so seem to en oy ng the scht ck. It s too bad the mov e doesn t offer more ns ght nto the character, however-- Conway was marr ed and successfu , then h s fe fe apart, and he had a fe- ong prob em w th a coho sm.
2008-01-07 MOTOLLA, GREG SUPERBAD --> Rating: 7.70
The odd th ng... r ght from the start, I thought-- they are not go ng to get the g r s. Nobody scores. And t w be shown by the mov e to be a good th ng, after we have aughed and chort ed for an hour at Seth s ncred b y fou anguage and d sgust ng att tude towards "pussy". Why? The og c of the story? The nature of the characters? The offens ve b gotry of us ng Seth s hatred of women as a oke and then te ng us that, after a , they d dn t mean t: these boys are bas ca y decent human be ngs because they don t score? For a the cr t ca pra se th s and "Knocked Up" have rece ved, ne ther can ho d a cand e to "Fast T mes at R dgemont H gh".
2007-11-01 APATOW, JUDD KNOCKED UP --> Rating: 8.00
Trad t ona y f ms that dea open y w th sexua ssues have been bera n ÃƒÆ Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ Â¬out ook and or entat on, because conservat ves seem to be eve that ust ta k ng about sex w ead to act on, and most sexua act on s wrong, and shou d on y be performed n a d stant mote room w th someone other than your w fe-- preferab y a subord nate. So "Knocked Up" bucks the trend: t te s us about a g r , A son, who has a onen ght stand w th a crude but kab e sh ep, and gets pregnant, and dec des to keep the baby. Abort on sn t rea y d scussed. No one rea y says "abort on s wrong" or "abort on s a va d a ternat ve". She ust chooses to keep the baby, and then, nexp cab y, dec des to try to sa vage a re at onsh p w th Ben, the father, the sh ep, out of the dea . In the conservat ve un verse, you make your bed, and you e n t. In the contr ved un verse of th s f m, Ben turns out to be a decent guy-- after some work from A son. He s henpecked a ready but we don t m nd because A son s darn cute and down-to-earth, and Ben s fr ends are such obv ous erks. Th s s not a bad f m--though no-one shou d confuse what Rogen and He g and the others do for "act ng"--and t s an odd d vers on down th s neo-pur tan path Ho ywood s tak ng nowadays.
2007-07-01 HAYNES, TODD I'M NOT THERE --> Rating: 9.10
Dy an ked Todd Hayne s prev ous work (Safe, Ve vet Go dm ne, Far From Heaven) so he d d an extraord nary th ng. He gave Haynes the r ghts to h s fe story and a of h s mus c and carte b anche to make the f m he wanted to make, w thout anyone from Dy an s camp vett ng the f na product. Dy an spec f ca y decreed that he d d not want anyth ng ke "Wa k the L ne" or "Ray", both of wh ch were f awed by a coy reverence for the sub ect that comprom sed the ntegr ty of the f m. The resu t s a true y extraord nary f m that exp ores Dy an s many phases w th dar ng and w d y mag nat ve sequences. Dy an s p ayed by a 12-year-o d b ack boy named Woody Guthr e, by Chr st an Ba e as the fo k-s nger who becomes a f ery preacher, by Cate B anchett as a se f-obsessed rock con, by R chard Gere as B y the K d, and Heath Ledger as an actor p ay ng an actor p ay ng Dy an as a mov e star. Ben Wh shaw adds an en gmat c poet named Arthur R mbaud, wh e Kr s Kr stofferson narrates. Th s s one of the few f ms of the year I w def n te y see aga n, but t s a cha eng ng, confus ng work that takes huge r sks w th ts mater a , and the theatre was most y empty when I saw t. The New York T mes gave t an 8 page treatment, w thout once dec ar ng t a great f m-- that te s you someth ng about how provocat ve and nterest ng t s, w thout necessar y be ng comp ete y successfu . Someday someone may do a convent ona b op c on Dy an, but t won t be as br
ant y rea zed or poet c as th s.
2007-12-23 WEITZ, CHRIS GOLDEN COMPASS --> Rating: 7.40
Wh e some conservat ve evange ca s and catho cs are urg ng a boycott of the f m, the rea prob em s the f m sn t controvers a enough. The producers, fear ng exact y such an eventua ty, gutted the story of the most d rect references to re g on and focussed on the act on. The prob em s, the story rushes a ong, each ep sod c event des gned so e y for the purpose of mov ng the story a ong to the c mat c batt e. A second ser ous prob em s the cast ng of N co e K dman as Mar sa Cou ter. K dman s method approach m ght work for a ro e that ca ed for amb va ence, fear, or seduct veness. But Cou ter s part s the covey the seduct on of author ty and repress on, and the strength of command. She s mp y sn t enterta n ng to watch n th s ro e at a . As for the theme of the mov e-- rea y, t s not a that d fferent from any other story that portrays author tar an powers as repress ve and nto erant. Cou ter cou d ust as we represent a commun st government, or B g Brother, as the Mag ster um. The support ng cast s f ne, espec a y Eva Green as a fr end y w tch. There ust aren t very many scenes that unfo d w th anyth ng more than c ock-work and rote.
2007-12-12 FORMAN, MILOS GOYA'S GHOSTS --> Rating: 7.70
There s a br
ant concept somewhere n th s f m, but t s execut on s marred by two or three gross
m sca cu at ons, most obv ous y the cast ng of Nata e Portman n two ro es, ne ther of wh ch are cred b e. Portman p ays Ines, a mode for art st Goya p ayed by Ste an Skarsgard. She turns down pork at a mea n a tavern and s arrested by the resurgent Inqu s t on on susp c on of be ng a Juda zer. Under torture-- be ng "put to the quest on" n the charm ng par ance of the Catho c pr ests who conduct the nqu ry--she confesses. Brother Lorenzo becomes enamoured of the poor g r and n a scene that s k nd of bruta y grat fy ng, s h mse f "put to the quest on" of whether confess ons extracted through torture can be be eved. (Take note George Bush). Th s s actua y an nte gent f m w th some marve ous scenes, nc ud ng a negot at on for re ease of a pr soner for money, and a k ng s exp anat on of why a portra t of the queen shou d not, perhaps, be too honest. H stor ca events sweep through the story-- the French Revo ut on, the Br t sh nvas on of Portuga -- and here Forman s execut on fa s h m. I was rem nded of the aston sh ng dec s on to try to make E zabeth McGovern ook 25 years o der n "Once Upon a T me n Amer ca": a fa ure so great, t underm ned the ent re mov e. Those who worry that "Go den Compass" s a threat to the author ty of the church m ght be better adv sed to boycott th s f m-- and of course they shou dn t-- t makes a more e oquent statement aga nst any nst tut on that be eves t embod es u t mate author ty from heaven.
2007-12-13 LIMA, KEVIN ENCHANTED --> Rating: 7.90
G se e s a D sney fa ry ta e pr ncess whose pr nce s com ng-- unt h s mother f nds out about her and dec des to send her off nto a we , wh ch sp ts her nto rea -wor d T mes Square, as a f esh and b ood person (Amy Adams), who has no c ue about rea fe. We , after a , she s a pr ncess. So nsp te of th s f m s much noted (and somewhat ever-rated) sat re of past D sney fantas es, G se e s rea purpose n fe s to shop and wa t for her pr nce to come (even f she performs a token rescue at the end n an eer y gratu tous sequence tacked onto the p ot). But Amy Adams s so good, you can a most forg ve them for t.
2007-11-26 COEN, ETHAN NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN --> Rating: 7.90
No f m gathered as much pra se n 2007 as th s one, by the makers of the egendary "Fargo". It s a good f m, but I m not as h gh on t as many rev ewers. For one th ng, as n "The Departed", the body count enters the range of the "r d cu ous". That number, accumu ated w th steady prec s on as the mov e progresses, s out there ke a mag c power, or the phys ca unattract veness of a character we are supposed to be eve s beaut fu , or a ove affa r between two characters who are obv ous y more n ove w th themse ves than anyth ng e se. H gh body counts are the ha -mark of f ms that ostens b y dea w th ser ous top cs-- death, obv ous y-- but t s a short-cut and can be used as an excuse for deve op ng a narrat ve punch, as n "No Country for O d Men". In "Fargo", the v o ence emerged from random arrangements of ev and opportun ty and foo shness, and the po nt was c ear-- that the mpact of ev s part y determ ned by w and part y by c rcumstance. So what s Woody Harre son s character, a h red k er named Carson We s, do ng here? H s on y ro e s to enter, get outsmarted by Anton Ch gurh, the co d-b ooded k er whose rampage s the centre-p ece of the f m, and eave the scene. I cou dn t th nk of a po nt to h s character. Nor d d t make sense for Ch gurh to k h s own hand ers-has he gone mad? Are we asked to be eve that the money men beh nd h m honest y won t be ab e to f nd someone to take care of Ch gurh? Or that Ch gurh rea y be eves they won t or can t? I m not sure what the po nt of th s mov e s. That there are rea y bad peop e out there? At one po nt, Sher ff Be bemoans modern mora ty and c a ms that there s more ev n the wor d today than ever was before. That s a r d cu ous c a m, and a desperate attempt by the Coen Brothers to g ve heft to what s rea y, when t a comes down to dust, a sty sh d sappo ntment.
2007-11-27 OLIVER, NANCY LARS AND THE REAL GIRL --> Rating: 8.00
Amus ng ndependent f m about a shy young man named Lars who can t ta k to g r s... unt he orders n an nf atab e sex do and ca s her B anca and deve ops a pass onate but chaste re at onsh p w th t. He moves B anca nto h s brother s house -- so they won t be tempted-- and br ngs her to commun ty events and everyone gradua y beg ns to understand someth ng about Lars, nc ud ng Lars. Fresh and funny at t mes, w th forg vab e apses nto d me-store psycho ogy.
2007-11-24 GORDON, JOSH BLADES OF GLORY --> Rating: 7.00
Why do most Ho ywood comed es fee th s b zarre, rrat ona compu s on to mpose some k nd of pos t ve mora at the end of every story? I don t know. I know that "B ades of G ory" cou d have been funn er, and ke y wou d have been funn er f the wr ters had res sted th s compu s on to have J mmy and Chazz come to understand and even ove each other, and prove the r heterosexua ty, and f they hadn t wasted so much t me w th a rather ame chase scene to the moment of the compet t on. There s so much n the rea ty of the f gure skat ng wor d that s r pe for parody, but by depart ng w d y from the rea fe nsp rat ons, the mov e oses t s gusto and ends up as extended s apst ck. The Iron Lotus scht ck rea y sn t a that funny.
2007-11-18 SARIN, VIC PARTITION --> Rating: 6.00
It te s you someth ng that the sets and costumes here outwe gh the story. G an S ngh refuses to o n a S kh pogrom aga nst f ee ng Mus ms (after the part t on of Ind a n 1946) and f nds a ost g r named Naseem h d ng n the woods and takes her home. We , what do you th nk t s go ng to happen? Everyth ng s te egraphed to the v ewer n th s f m, nc ud ng the correct emot ons, and the nev tab e heart-wrench ng fee -good for fee ng bad end ng. The prob em s that the characters have so tt e persona ty that t s hard to rea y get worked up about t n the end. And why s Neve Campbe n th s f m? To g ve some k nd of wh te, westerner focus to the ta e? Th s f m was a bad dea from the start.
2007-11-17 MAYSLES, ALBERT GREY GARDENS --> Rating: 8.50
The ce ebrated, strange documentary on the ves of Ed th Bouv er Bea e and her daughter, "L tt e Ed e" Bouv er, aunt and cous n to Jacque ne Kennedy, former y upper crust and r ch, and now mpover shed and c ng ng to shreds of d gn ty n a 28-room-mans on they can t ma nta n or even c ean. L tt e Ed e stea s the show w th her danc ng and s ng ng, but Ed th Bouv er can a so s ng; the two screech at each other and ta k over each other constant y. Exp o t ve? L tt e Ed e d dn t th nk so, but I doubt her op n on s dec s ve-- bad attent on s better than no attent on at a . Eventua y, the Kennedy s k cked n some cash and f xed up the p ace to meet c ty regu at ons, after they were embarrassed by th s f m.
2007-11-11 OZU, YASUJIRO LATE SPRING --> Rating: 9.00
It s asssumed but never d rect y revea ed that Shuk ch Som ya s w fe d ed n the war (the f m was made n 1949). Th s po gnant fact hovers over the unfo d ng events n "Late Spr ng" (Banshun), as we watch Shuk ch and h s 27-year-o d daughter Nor ko negot ate a de cate arrangement n wh ch she must f na y eave the home and marry, and Shuk ch ve the rest of h s fe a one. Ozu s masterp ece s so s mp e, so p cturesque, that you never not ce the bu d ng emot ona resonance. Shuk ch and Nor ko are so sens t ve y drawn and acted, you may f nd yourse f chang ng your m nd about what you th nk shou d or shou d not happen. The p ot s s mp e: Shuk ch s conv nced by h s s ster- n- aw that Nor ko must f nd a husband and marry. But she refuses-who wou d take care of her father? So her father conv nces her that he p ans to remarry, though Nor ko f nds the very dea d stastefu . Nor ko re uctant y g ves n. It s on y after watch ng th s marve of f m-mak ng, and other f ms ke t, that you beg n to rea ze ust how spoon-fed we are-- how even f ms that c a m to be about ser ous, adu t top cs ( ke "The Notebook", "Shawshank Redempt on", "Ph ade ph a", and so on) can t rea y bear to present adu t rea t es to the r aud ences. Ozu never comprom ses h s determ nat on to present an authent c p cture of a comp ex re at onsh p, and the trag c outcome of the conf ct between two person s des res to g ve themse ves up for the other. A rea y exqu s te masterp ece.
2007-11-11 LEE, ANG LUST, CAUTION --> Rating: 7.00
If "Lust, Caut on" was rea y about how the fema e heart can have myster ous oya t es more ntense than nat on or fam y or duty or mora ty-- we wou dn t have been ed to ho d such a f atter ng mage of Wang J azh as we are. She s beaut fu , ta ented, courageous, and ... we , a tra tor to her country and her compadres, and to herse f. She s moved, n the end, by ewe ry, n a conc us on r ght out of the soaps or a romance nove . We are n the end offered a r d cu ous y cut and dr ed "they ta ked" to d spose of her team of captured res stance f ghters, as f the quest on of torture were reso ved by the ssue of whether or not the v ct ms "ta ked". That s the troub e w th the who e mov e: there s not a authent c moment n t; ust av sh y f med set p eces, a t ed to one rea ssue: s Wang oved or not? Why Lee bothered to set th s f m dur ng Japanese occupat on of Hong Kong and Shangha s beyond me-- he needn t have bothered w th the h stor ca baggage-- they aren t germane to heart of h s story. Wh ch s a p ty because h s raw mater a s are so n ce, so e egant, and beaut fu . We Tang as Wang, n part cu ar, s superb. The per od ocat ons and reconstruct ons are wonderfu . The support ng cast s good. It s a p ty t s u t mage y nane and vacuous. In "Brokeback Mounta n" there was a remarkab e ba ance carved out of scenes of Jack s w fe, and Jack s parents, confront ng Enn s after the d saster. No such ba ance ex sts n th s story, because Wang s fr ends and overs are too nvested n her-- nobody steps back far enough to understand what she s rea y do ng or how she rea y fee s, and Lee doesn t expose those fee ngs because t doesn t p ay nto the romant c zed romance between Wang and Yee. "Lust Caut on" s far more e egant than "B ack Book", and more focussed, but, n the end, ust as unsat sfy ng.
2007-11-11 MICHELL, ROGER VENUS --> Rating: 8.00
Odd to say but the most refresh ng th ng about Venus s the fact that t rea y s about a d rty o d man. Peter O too e s Maur ce, an ag ng actor who cheerfu y takes on the task of keep ng young, beaut fu Jess e out of her unc es s ha r. He takes her shopp ng but forgets to br ng money, and gets her a nude mode ng ob and tr es to peak. He shows her to the museum and she agrees to et h m sme her shou ders-- but noth ng more. Jess e s rude and unsoph st cated, but she earns someth ng from h m, even f she doesn t rea y va ue t. But the mov e s rea y about Maur ce, about ag ng, about see ng your morta ty n the face of a f ush 19-year-o d g r who sn t rea y even worthy of you. Maur ce may be too fond of young fema e f esh, but he s no bu y, and the most po gnant th ng about the f m s h s recogn t on of ust what and who he s, n the end.
2007-11-02 ROTHEMUND, MARC SOPHIE SCHOLL - THE LAST DAYS --> Rating: 8.20
Qu et, s ow-mov ng, but r ch portra t of the members of the Wh te Rose group that opposed Naz sm n Mun ch n 1942-43, were caught and conv cted n a show-tr a , and executed. The ead nvest gator comes to have seconed thoughts about the prosecut on, as he rea zes that these young German students are adm rab e n many ways, w th courage and strong mora conv ct ons. Superb performances that bu d to a compe ng tragedy. And f you th nk the German prosecutor at the end was a tt e over-the top s h s schr , hyster ca vo ce, check v deos of Ro and Fre s er on Youtube. (It was reported that when he d ed n a bomb ng attack, a hosp ta order y pronounced that t was God s w , and no one d sputed her.) Rewards pat ence.
2007-11-02 HOOD, GAVIN RENDITION --> Rating: 7.00
D sappo nt ng, Ho ywood zed story of Mayer Arar-- though t doesn t actua y c a m to be based on h m. Anwar E -Ibrah m s an Egypt an who moved to the U.S. at 14, ved there for 20 years, and then s sudden y se zed after return ng from a conference n Capetown. He s send to an Arab c country-- poss b y Syr a or Egypt-where he s tortured at the request of the the CIA, who w sh to deny, of course, that they torture anyone. An en ghtened CIA operat ve eventua y comes to be eve E -Ibrah m doesn t know anyth ng, and frees h m, wh ch m ght ead you to be eve that tortur ng nnocent Arab c-Amer cans s wrong, very, very wrong. Unfortunate y, the mov e, as presented, c ear y mp es that t m ght be a r ght to torture actua terror sts, and even a ows Cor nne Wh tman, the Amer can nte gence off c a , to mp y, uncha enged, that ves are saved by torture-neat y s de-stepp ng the prob em that torture v ct ms w genera y say anyth ng to make the torture stop and the government may not care, s nce the nformat on extracted supp es them w th new nd v dua s to torture who w , n turn, mp cated the prev ous y tortured. Th s s a second-rate thr er, that makes a mere thr er ke "The Bourne ULt matum" ook deep. The good-hearted CIA operat ve sends E -Ibrah m back to the U.S. w thout approva of h s super ors-- why wou dn t they s mp y rearrest h m? Why does the torturer conc ude that h s daughter was k ed when he f nds out her boyfr end was a su c de bomber? D d no one dent fy her rema ns? Why does Wh tman meet an agent at the a rport, where she then dec des to have E -Ibrah m rend t oned? Noth ng makes sense unt you rea ze that every scene s what the f m-makers th nk the aud ence th nks wou d happen, rather than what rea y happened to rea nd v dua s. To top t off, Gy enhaa and W therspoon are utter y ost n th s f m, w th no apparent c ue as to what they are supposed to be or fee . Gy enhaa s performance may be the worst of h s career. "Three K ngs", "Mun ch", "Parad se Now", a do a better ob of exp or ng these genera ssues.
2007-11-03 DAHL, JOHN YOU KILL ME --> Rating: 7.50
L ke "Grosse Po nte B ank", "You K Me" a ms to f nd the fun n contract k ers w th persona ssues, and at t mes, t s so w tty and fun that you forget the amora underp nn ngs of the story ne: Frank Fa enczyk s a contract k er for the Po sh mob n Buffa o, but he has a dr nk ng prob em and can t do h s ob. On the west coast for rehab tat on, he meets Laure Pearson, a w tty, dry, attract ve woman, who he meets at the funera home he now works for, and who doesn t have a prob em w th h s a coho sm or h s profess on. Frank attends AA meet ngs wh e h s fr ends back n Buffa o are gett ng hammered by a r va mob, thanks to h s fa ure to do h s ob. It s so much fun watch ng Ben K ngs ey and Tea Leon n the ead ro es that you can a most over ook the heart essness at the centre of th s ta e. Okay, t s a character study. And t s amus ng.
2007-11-04 LOACH, KEN WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY --> Rating: 8.00
Powerfu drama about the ear y years of the IRA, t s format on as a response to protestant terror sm on beha f of the Br t sh occupat on, and the sp t n the IRA as a resu t of the prov s ona treaty that separated Ire and nto an ndependent South and protestant dom nated north. Wh e c ear y sympathet c to the IRA, Loach doesn t hes tate to dramat ze the bruta ty they a so pract ced, and the r treatment of nformers. Superb y acted, and f med n beaut fu , somet mes b eak Ire and.
2007-03-01 SLADE, DAVID HARD CANDY --> Rating: 7.00
Th s s O eana turned on ts head. Instead of f nd ng more and more ayers of comp ex ty beh nd what appears to be a s mp e story of sexua exp o tat on, we f nd ess and ess, unt the story d sappears ent re y nto a wh ff of nept r ghteousness. Hay ey s a 14-year-o d g r cru s ng the nternet. She nks up w th Jeff, a photographer, who happens to have a fantast c house r ght out of Vogue, and they arrange to meet. Does she agree to go to h s house or does he persuade her? Th nk about that as you watch the mov e ( f you bother). But once they are n h s house (somehow Hay ey has f gured out that the nearest ne ghbors are not home), the tab es are turned. She drugs h m and t es h m up and announces that she s go ng to castrate h m, because he s obv ous y a ch d predator. Th s s not a f m about someth ng that m ght have happened n rea fe. I repeat, I cam conv nced that th s not a f m about someth ng that m ght have happened n rea fe. Th s s a f m about what the d rector th nks m ght be happen ng n your head as you watch events unfo d. Every tw st and deve opment n the story f ows from that sense of v ewer expectat on (or what m ght surpr se the v ewer) rather than what m ght, surpr s ng y or not, happen n a rea - fe s tuat onn ke th s. So f the v ewer doesn t f nd t d ff cu t to mag ne that th s s ght, 14-year-o d g r cou d ft an adu t ma e onto a cha r wh e he s unconsc ous and truss h m up the way Hay ey does n the f m... you m ght accept the other deve opments. That Jeff s ex-g r fr end wou d come when ca ed, that Jeff cou d be persuaded to comm t su c de, or that Hay ey cou d be eve she cou d conv nce Jeff to comm t su c de, or that Hay ey wou d p an the who e th ng before she has any rea ev dence that Jeff s nto ch d porn. Th s mov e does not deserve th s much attent on-- th s paragraphy-- but there are those wou d m stake th s mov e s sa ac ousness for gr t. It s not. Th s s a genu ne y s ck f m, not because of the sa ac ous sub ect matter, but because t s psycho og ca rea ty ex sts ent re y n the heads of the f m-makers.
2007-10-26 PENN, SEAN INTO THE WILD --> Rating: 8.50
In May 1990, Chr s McCand ess graduated from Emory Un vers ty w th great marks from a program focussed on wor d poverty and the env ronment. Instead of proceed ng on to Harvard as h s amb t ous and accomp shed parents w shed, he gave away $24,000 of h s sav ngs to Oxfam and set out on the road, to surv ve on h s nst ncts, and to exper ence nature, and to meet other peop e on s m ar ourneys. H s remarkab e odyssey ended n tragedy n A aska where he starved to death n the w derness on y a few m es away from he p. Jon Krakauer wrote an except ona book on McCand ess and Sean Penn read t and oved t and spend the next severa years try ng to turn t nto a mov e. The resu t s as except ona as the book. Th s s a beaut fu y f med story that doesn t take any shortcuts. Penn trave ed to most of the actua ocat ons McCand ess trave ed to (though the f na scenes were f med about 20 m es away from the actua ocat on, due to ts remoteness). He has recreated a tab eau of d ssonant Amer cans, breathtak ng v stas, and the sweep of unp anned adventure, and the mystery of why a pr v eged young dea st ke McCand ess wou d seek so tude w th such determ nat on and, n the end, such foo hardyness. A remarkab e, mov ng f m that s one of the best of the year. The support ng cast, nc ud ng Ha Ho brook as a one y w dower who wants to adopt McCand ess, g ve some of the best performances of the r careers.
2007-10-27 VERHOEVEN, PAUL BLACK BOOK --> Rating: 7.20
Preposterous and provocat ve myth ca account (forget the r d cu ous c a ms that th s s "based" on a true story-so s P nnoch o) of the adventures of Jewess Rache Ste n n occup ed Ho and as she shock ng y d scovers, among other th ngs, that Naz s can be gent emen and Dutch patr ots can be ant -sem tes. Th s s the k nd of d scovery that, wh e undoubted y true, sn t near y as ed fy ng as Verhoeven seems to th nk t s. Even worse, Verhoeven s so c umsy and contr ved at t mes that you a most ong for a Ho ywood remake starr ng N co e K dman or Ha e Barry or anyone. Car ce Houtman p ays Rache Ste n who s s forced out of h d ng after an aer a bombardment and eventua y o ns the underground to nf trate a oca Gestapo off ce and seduce an off cer, Ludw g Muntze. Rache fa s for the b g ug and then d scovers that some members of the Dutch underground have betrayed Jew sh refugees to the Germans for money wh e poor Herr Muntze has ost h s w fe and fam y to Amer can bombs. You get the fee ng that Verhoeven s conv nced that no one e se has ever thought of th s ang e before, and that he has reached for some k nd of amaz ng eve of authent c ty here and hav ng h s star doused w th a bucket of excrement g ves h m a k nd of edgy audac ty that ent t es h m to th nk we shou d be moved by the ast scene n an Israe K bbutz. Instead, t fee s gratu tous and se f-congratu atory. If you want the rea th ng: see the br
ant "Th rd Man".
2007-08-01 ANDERSON, WES DARJEELING LIMITED --> Rating: 8.30
In some ways, the Roya Tenebaums on a tra n n Ind a, but ess c ever. Franc s, Peter, and Jack (Owen W son, Adr en Brody, Jason Schwartzman) are three brothers from, you guessed t, a dysfunct ona fam y. Dad has recent y d ed (there are f ashbacks to en ghten us) and mom s a rec use n a convent deep n the heart of Ind a. The three brothers trave by tra n through Ra asthan to br ng her the news, and ron out the r dysfunct ons aga nst the very co ourfu background of rura Ind a. They announce the r sp r tua quest and then undercut every sp r tua asp rat on w th ron c se f-detachment and petu ant gr evances aga nst each other and the r parents. The message, w thout too much sent menta ty, s that fam y re at onsh ps are ke democracy: awfu , but better than any poss b e a ternat ve, and therefore, someth ng we re stuck w th whether we ke t or not. The three brothers are charm ng y open to exper ence, part c pat ng n v age fe and Buddh st r tua s w th restra ned but affab e enthus asm. There s a suggest on of the Beat es here-- Jack ooks ke R ngo w th h s moustache, h s bare feet, and su t--and a us ons to Reno r s "The R ver", another f m that took ser ous y the oca co our and cu ture. The s mp c ty of the p ot mechan cs s a b t decept ve-- th s s genu ne postmodern sm-- r tua and fam y and sp r tua ty don t rea y carry much we ght, but t br ngs co our and texture to our fe passages to nowhere and we m ght as we bear t a w th fr ends and w t. The uggage they ose at the end s t m d symbo sm that doesn t mess up the charm of th s excurs on.
2007-10-20 AFFLECK, BEN GONE BABY GONE --> Rating: 8.20
Based on Denn s Lehane nove about a young ch d that goes m ss ng from a downbeat Boston ne ghborhood. Casey Aff ect s Patr ck Kenz e who, w th h s profess ona and persona partner Ang e, s h red to "supp ement" po ce efforts to f nd the ch d by the ch d s aunt. Th s s the f rst c ue that someth ng s am ss-- the mom s not enthused. The po ce gather around the house and b de the r t me, and Patr ck uncovers ev dence that the mom has not been forthcom ng about her act v t es the n ght the ch d went m ss ng. Th s s a dark, somet mes b eak f m that ra ses the quest on of bear ng the consequences of be ng r ght, n truth and n percept on. I m not sure I buy the p ot tw sts at the end, but the r ch, deta ed expos t on of fe at the bottom s compe ng and the performances are outstand ng. Ed Harr s and Amy Mad gan are sensat ona and- surpr se-- Morgan Freeman comes up w th a character more comp ex and amb guous than h s usua w se o d b ack dude scht ck, and Amy Ryan, as the mom, s standout.
2007-10-18 GILROY, TONY MICHAEL CLAYTON --> Rating: 8.00
Th s s Er n Brokov tch s honest tw n, the one who doesn t te you she a ways be your fr end. A h gh-powered aw f rm represent ng a Monsanto- ke agr -chem ca g ant s not f ed that one of the r top awyers took off a h s c othes at a depos t on and f ed the meet ng. Arthur Edens (an exce ent Tom W k nson), overwhe med w th the stress of stone-wa ng honest farmers and fam es, f na y freaked out. Marty Bach, the sen or partner n the aw f rm, ca s n M chae C ayton (C ooney), the f xer, to c ean up the mess and and get U-North, the Agr -chem ca company, back nto the r good graces. U-North s own awyer (T da Sw nton) s ess conf cted than Edens: she knows that the company faces b g troub e f t s ever forced to d sc ose everyth ng t knows about the fert zer n quest on. Where Er n Brokov tch becomes r ghteous and se f-congratu atory, "M chae C ayton" becomes murky and suggest ve. At a p vota moment, when M chae confronts h s boss about the aw f rm s ro e n protect ng corporate rrespons b ty, Marty Bach acute y asks h m ust what he thought the ro e of the aw f rm n these cases was. It s a cred t to th s f m that we hear that exchange, and that we hear the awyer for U-North try ng to fee out the goons the company h red to spy on the oppos t on about ust how far they m ght be w
ng to go: too
many f ms act as f the v ewer assumes these peop e know who to ta k to but "M chae C ayton" astute y shows us prec se y where and how a eg t mate awyer m ght cross the proverb a ne. Make t a doub e feature w th "A C v Act on".
2007-10-15 SHELLY, ADRIENNE WAITRESS --> Rating: 8.00
Sweet, charm ng ndependent f m about a wa tress, Jenna (Ker Russe at her most charm ng), who s pregnant and fac ng a dead-end n her fe n a sma town. Her forte s p es and she creates new ones n response to cr ses n her fe. When a new doctor moves nto town, she hopefu y beg ns a re at onsh p w th h m, wh e marr ed to the abus ve Ear (a scary Jeremy S sto). Pa r th s w th "Knocked Up"-- both are ow key, qu rky f ms, w th that p easant tendency to go for authent c emot ons that s ow y emerge from rea st c characters strugg ng w th rea st c ssues.
2007-06-01 HERZOG, WERNER RESCUE DAWN --> Rating: 8.00
Herzog has an obsess on w th stor es about men who defy overwhe m ng odds to surv ve ung es or w dernesses, from Ju anes Sturz, who surv ved a p ane crash n the Braz an ung e, to the Gr zz y Man h mse f, T mothy Treadwe . Here he takes on the true story of D eter Deng er, an Amer can p ot who crashed nto the ung es of Laos on h s f rst m ss on, was captured by guer as and handed over to the V et Cong to be mpr soned for s x months before an astound ng escape and rescue. It shou d be noted that the fam es of some of Deng er s Amer can co-pr soners are angry at the f m for t s portra t of the other escapees. We on y have Deng er s word for how rea events unfo ded. But the f m s outstand ng-- f med on ocat on n the ung e n Tha and (and t ooks t). Herzog d sda ns Ho ywood convent on and unfo ds the story at h s own pace, eschew ng act on thr s for a susta ned exp orat on of human endurance and determ nat on. Ba e s outstand ng as Deng er and he carr es the f m. It shou d a so be noted that there s one arr ng scene near the end that, confound t, s as "Ho ywood", as they come: n rea fe, Deng er was qu et y moved to a hosp ta for treatment, not the hanger on an a rcraft carr er n front of hundreds of cheer ng crew. More s gn f cant y, Deng er s captors are dep cted as monsters who en oy tortur ng and abus ng the r pr soners. That m ght be true, but Herzog cou d not have been unaware of how h s f m wou d p ay to Amer can aud ences, who perhaps need to be rem nded that Deng er, after a , was dropp ng bombs on these peop e n an ega and secret m tary exerc se. Perhaps Herzog doesn t care, or doesn t fee t s mater a to h s "story". Fa r enough, but I found t d sturb ng to rea ze, after watch ng the f m, that the v ewer s ed to comp ete y forget about Deng er s m ss on.
2007-09-23 COLLYER, LAURIE SHERRYBABY --> Rating: 8.00
Sherry has ust f n shed serv ng 3 years for theft to support her drug hab t and returns to her home town to try to re-estab sh a re at onsh p w th her four-year-o d daughter. Her brother Bobby and h s w fe Br dget have been tak ng care of A ex s and aren t comp ete y p eased to have Sherry back n the r ves, and not conf dent n her parent ng sk s. Sherry uses sex to man pu ate her ha f-way house d rector and other men n her fe. She rea y wants her baby back but her own temper and poor udgements get n the way. Gy enhaa s outstand ng as Sherry, and the support ng case, espec a y Danny Tre o as Dean Wa ker are strong. The strength of th s mov e s t s attent on to deta and t s uncomprom s ng ns stence of revea ng character through an authent c fee for how rea peop e react to comp ex prob ems. It s weakness s the way t g ves n to the temptat on to b ame Sherry s prob ems on the men n her fe one too many t mes. The pat suggest on that sexua abuse may have dr ven Sherry nto a fe of add ct ons and prom scu ty undercuts an otherw se f ne portra t of a troub ed young woman who f na y comes to rea ze that she s her own worst enemy.
2007-09-25 MAZURSKY, PAUL NEXT STOP, GREENWICH VILLAGE --> Rating: 7.80
Pau Mazursky s autob ograph ca account of h s move out of h s parent s home nto Greenw ch V age n the 1950 s, and h s attempts to make a career of act ng wh e negot at ng re at onsh ps w th h s fr ends and g r fr end. Suffers a b t from a sense of sophomor c art st c se f-awareness, but keab e nonethe ess, espec a y for t s v v d portra t of fam y and fr ends, and the authent c fee of the characters: they are somewhat pretent ous because they rea y are pretent ous-- not because the wr ter mposed h s own nostag ac v s on on them. Support ng cast s very good, espec a y She ey W nters as Larry s mom, and Chr stopher Wa ken as an arrogant wr ter. Lou Jacob and E en Greene a so g ve strong performances. Strong Jew sh f avour and very n ce ocat on shoot ng.
2007-09-15 RUSSELL, JAY MY DOG SKIP --> Rating: 6.00
Th s s a nosta g ac f m about nosta g a-- not the rea exper ence of grow ng up n 1940 s M ss ss pp . B ack men are w se and fr end y, and even the town bu y eventua y comes around to recogn z ng what a wonderfu y deep and sens t ve boy tt e W e rea y s. Th s s a portra t of ch dren as adu ts see themse ves as ch dren, w thout an ounce of authent c fee ng or att tude.
2007-09-17 DAVIDSON, KIEF DEVIL'S MINER --> Rating: 7.50
Competent and mov ng documentary about ch dren work ng as m ners n a Bo v an mounta n town, the r asp rat ons, v ng cond t ons, and p easures-- such as they are. Focusses on 14-year-o d Bas o and h s brother, who r sk the r ves to buy books and un forms for schoo , and support the r mother and s ster. Not espec a y we -f med but te s a worthwh e story.
2007-09-14 REINER, ROB RUMOUR HAS IT --> Rating: 5.00
S ght y worse than you cou d ever mag ne -- a bad y-conce ved seque to the Graduate n wh ch Jenn fer An ston p ays a ost young woman who th nks she m ght be the ove-ch d of Ben am n and E a ne, and tracks down her ong- ost "father" on y to fa n ove w th h m. That sounds sa ac ous but th s f m doesn t have enough sp r t to even mount a h nt of anyth ng even remote y shock ng. What s shock ng s that a ma or stud o put up the money for th s mess that goes nowhere, revea s noth ng, and s utter y unfunny.
2007-09-07 WHITE, MIKE YEAR OF THE DOG --> Rating: 7.80
Unusua and dar ng, f not qu te successfu , Year of the Dog s about a frustrated woman who oses the on y ob ect of affect on n her fe, her dog, Penc , and thus beg ns an ncreas ng y pass onate ourney to rad ca an ma r ghts act v sm. The f m fo ows t s own odd tra ectory, present ng her fr ends and acqua ntances as d m but rat ona nhab tants of a care ess wor d that can t nsp re her sense of be ong ng.
2007-09-11 JEWISON, NORMAN IN COUNTRY --> Rating: 7.70
Em y L oyd s the best th ng about "In Country", Jew son s ow-key and e eg ac take on V et Nam. She s Samantha, a matur ng teen v ng w th her V et Nam vet unc e rec use, Emmett (Bruce W s). Emmett doesn t want to ta k about V et Name because anyone who wasn t there can t understand. But Samantha s father d ed there, w thout ever meet ng h s baby g r , and when she f nds some of h s o d etters and p ctures, she tr es to f nd out more about h m. Her mom has moved on and doesn t want to bother, but she eventua y persuades her co orfu Kentucky grandmother and Emmett to take her to the V et Nam memor a n Wash ngton, a scene of surpr s ng mpact n a mov e that doesn t go for many b g emot ona outbursts. L oyd s surpr s ng y good as a Kentucky teen, and the support ng cast are super or.
2008-08-31 VAUGHN, MATTHEW STARDUST --> Rating: 7.60
If you ked "The Pr ncess Br de", you m ght ke th s. "Stardust" s enterta n ng and ve y, but t doesn t have a s ng e scene that s qu te as fresh or funny as Andre the G ant s rhymes, or the S c an try ng to outw t West ey, or B y Crysta cheer ng on West ey and In go w th "have fun storm ng the cast e". It shares another s m ar ty w th Pr ncess Br de: the romant c eads can t act. C are Danes has done better work than th s, but I d be aston shed f she s done worse. She g ves ust about the most fac e read ng I ve seen n years-- f there s the s ghtest emot on or ca cu at on or ref ect on beh nd any of her words, she does an exce ent ob of concea ng t. I free y adm t th s s a m nor ty op n on. Most rev ewers ked her performance. Char e Cox s better, but he s hampered by requ rements of the scr pt-- ke the scenes n wh ch he s requ red to suck up to guest ce ebr ty awesome actor hav ng fun and prov ng he s a good sport Robert DeN ro, as the dread p rate Roberts-- oops-Capta n Shakespeare. It s not a bad f m, and M che e Pf effer s qu te good, as are some of the other secondary characters. But we re nsu ted when the d rector expects us to be eve that Tr stan m ght have eft Yva ne a a one w thout exp anat on n the hote to go back to V ctor a (he actua y went to te V ctor a that the dea was off), and that Yva ne wou d then wander nto the path of the w tches... a rea y unnecessary b p n the p ot.
2007-08-14 FLECK, RYAN HALF NELSON --> Rating: 7.80
Ryan Gos ng s a method-actor as he p ays an nner-c ty h gh schoo teacher w th a ser ous add ct on. Gos ng p ays Dunne, an dea st, try ng to teach h s Grade 8 students about P nochet and c v r ghts, wh e bare y ab e to susta n h s own fe. He deve ops a re at onsh p w th a br ght young g r , Drey, who catches h m do ng drugs at schoo , and nsp red by her, eventua y tr es to pu h s fe back together.
2006-01-01 HOBLIT, GREGORY FRACTURE --> Rating: 7.00
Th s s a we -executed suspenser, w th good performances a around. It s too bad the fundamenta prem se can t ho d up under scrut ny. Ted Crawford (Hopk ns) has d scovered that h s w fe s hav ng an affa r w th a po ceman (B y Burke). He shoots h s w fe, wa ts for the po ce, and surrenders w thout a f ght. He g ves and s gns a confess on. D str ct attorney W y Beachum has r sen from a ow y, rura background to the br ght ghts of L.A., and s ready to move to a arge corporate aw f rm. Crawford ands on h s desk as an open and shut case, su tab e for a qu ck wrap. However, he d scovers th ngs are no s mp e: the cop who nterrogated Crawford after h s arrest was none other than Rob Nuna y, the same detect ve who was hav ng the affa r w th h s w fe. And the ba st cs of the gun don t match the bu ets found at the scene. A tt e preposterous y, the udge dec des there sn t enough ev dence to make a case. But the rea story s about amb t ous but uncu t vated Beachum be ng outfoxed by the urbane, soph st cated Ted Crawford. Beachum s ego takes a bru s ng: he th nks he s reached a new eve of soph st cat on, but h s understand ng of how the ru ng c asses actua y work s on y sk n deep. And then there s the odd Ter Sch avo reverberat on: Crawford s w fe s n the hosp ta on fe support and after the tr a , Crawford wants to pu the p ug. Beachum sudden y, pass onate y, be eves Crawford must be stopped--- but why does Beachum be eve that? Does he rea y be ve that Jenn fer Crawford m ght recover? Is he a devout Chr st an? (No ev dence of that up to that po nt n the f m-- he qu ck y s eeps w th N kk Gardner, h s boss.) Rea y we acted, and genera y we -wr tten, f on y you can be eve that Crawford cou d have been sure that Nuna y wou d have been so r d cu ous y cooperat ve when he came to nvest gate the shots. Dav d Stratha rn and Rosamund P ke are qu te good as we .
2007-08-17 WRIGHT, EDGAR HOT FUZZ --> Rating: 8.00
Funny and fresh sat re of po ce work, v age fe, and act on mov es, starr ng S mon Pegg as Sergeant N cho as Ange , a r g d, author tar an po ce off cer who gets transferred to a qu et suburb because he makes h s co eagues ook bad. Everyth ng seems pretty buco c n de cate Sandford unt Ange starts to uncover var ous nefar ous p ots. A tt e over-the-top towards the end, but the scene w th the goose redeems Wr ght s excesses.
2007-07-30 GREENGRAS, PAUL BOURNE ULTIMATUM --> Rating: 7.00
Take "The Three Days of Condor" and remove a the compe ng drama and character deve opment and rep ace a of t w th chase scenes and gunp ay and you have the h gh y over-rated Bourne U t matum. Matt Damon cont nues the ser es as Jason Bourne, who has ost h s memory but remembers h s mart a arts tra n ng, and who sets out to f nd out why he s so good w th guns. Turns out he s part of a secret CIA program of dub ous ega ty to assass nate var ous targets. There rea y sn t any drama n th s excurs on nto h s own memor es: t s not very c ear what h s prob em s w th the ob-- he s ust the c ean-cut, n ce hero, who f nds out he has been do ng nasty work-- but he doesn t seem to rea y have any mora perspect ve to offer h mse f. The mov e eaves you w th-- but there rea y are bad guys out there. A bad guy s def ned as someone who threatens Amer ca s nterests, but what those nterests are s not near y as c ear as t s n, say, Syr ana, or Three K ngs, or "The Three Days of the Condor", a of wh ch are vast y super or. Why does everyone ke th s f m so much? The edgy, hand-he d camera work? The thr
ng chase scenes nvo v ng rea ob ects nstead of
computer graph cs? Hard to te . Even the ove nterest n th s entry-- Ju a St es as another roge CIA agent w th a consc ence-- s ust a t m d rehash of the romance from the f rst entry. Perhaps the b ggest prob em s the preposterous p ot sequences: Noah Vosen s(Dav d Stratha rn-- best th ng n the mov e-- crew have aston sh ng ab t es to tap nto cameras and databases a over the wor d w th even more aston sh ng eff c ency. Th s s a f ct ona zat on -- n the truest sense of the word-- of the agency that can t even f nd Osama B n Laden after s x years. In th s fantasy wor d, they are ab e to muster count ess agents on the ground n a London transportat on hub w th n m nutes, to fo ow a ourna st and then assass nate h m. Just th nk-- f the CIA actua y had that many agents n every poss b e c ty Bourne cou d go to and they cou d commun cate that effect ve y... It s a dream wor d. If you can t buy t, t s hard to share the v scera thr of t a . There s far r cher suspense n Redford s quest on to h s hand er n "Condor": "Why s t I have to dent fy myse f to you but you don t have to dent fy yourse f to me?" The confrontat on between F nny and Damon at the end has echoes of the confrontat on between Peter F nch and Ned Beatty n "Network". Bottom ne: Robert Lud um, who wrote the source books for th s ser es, was an abso ute y wretched wr ter, and a of the k net cs n the wor d can mask the tr v a ty at the heart of th s story.
2007-08-05 DAHAN, OLIVIER LA VIE EN ROSE --> Rating: 8.00
Ed th P af had a remarkab e fe, worth a mov e or two, and worth the d gn f ed treatment g ven here. P af was born to a coup e of young art sts, who gave her up when she was tt e, and she ended up be ng ra sed, arge y, n a borde o. Reun ted w th her father, wh e contort ng on the streets n front of a rest ess crowd, he te s her, "do someth ng". She s ngs "La Marse es" and t s a h t. She eaves her father, o ns up w th a part-s ster, and gets spotted by the nev tab e producer/ta ent scout. He s murdered. She recovers, gets b gger and b gger, and nev tab y beg ns to ndu ge n se f-destruct ve behav ors. That s what the mov e vers on of your fe s for. The f m gnores Wor d War II, wh ch s a b t strange s nce she he ped the res stance, wh e s ng ng for the Naz s. Mar e Cot ard s very good as a somewhat un keab e P af. Thank goodness they had the sense to eave the s ng ng to a ta ented m tator: Cot ard p syncs.
2007-07-01 MORRISON, PHIL JUNEBUG --> Rating: 9.00
Abso ute y charm ng, rea , ntr gu ng, resonant sma f m about a Ch cago art dea er who marr es a rather myster ous man from the deep south, and then trave s w th h m to meet h s fam y. She stumb es upon a fo k art st nearby, wh e he grapp es w th the egacy of a rust c fe he may or may not have ent re y shucked when he met her (Made e ne).
2006-01-01 ADAMS, JOEY LAUREN COME EARLY MORNING --> Rating: 7.50
Tr es hard and appears to be a s ncere attempt to create a qu rk y ndependent f m about rea humans n rea s tuat ons-- but ust sn t a that we wr tten or conce ved. It s ke a weak f rst draft of "Junebug". Ash ey Judd s f ne, and the rest of the cast does we . I wanted to ke th s more than I d d. Lucy Fow er goes to bars, meets and beds men, and then eaves them the next day. When she meets a genu ne y decent man, she seems to sabotage the re at onsh p. Cou d her prob em be her d stant father or b cker ng grandparents? Or ust a wr ter who cou dn t qu te pu t a together. My w fe and daughter thought the amb guous end ng mp ed a happy deve opment that I d dn t expect...
2007-07-23 BIRD, BRAD RATATOUILLE --> Rating: 8.70
Abso ute y wonderfu an mat on about a gourmet rat who on y wants to prepare and en oy fabu ous mea s, and a young d shwasher who becomes h s proxy n the k tchen of a former y g or ous French restaurant. Love y story and outstand ng graph cs, espec a y the rap d-f re chases sequences through wa s and sewers. More substant a than Shrek or Toy Story or Nemo, and ess prone to cheap humour and w se-crack ng s de-k cks. Quest on though... why does L nqu n not have a French accent? Obv ous y he s French... the other French characters have accents... b zarre.
2007-07-18 YATES, DAVID HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENX --> Rating: 7.00
Wonderfu ro e-p ay ng Br t sh actors, except ona spec a effects-- but the drama s st pedestr an at best. None of these characters seem to have any of the d osyncrac es of rea , breath ng teenagers-- not the fa se bravado, the qu rk ness, petu ence, or mpu s veness, at east, not n any way that s not very tera or schemat c. There s ust not a ot of p ay here. The support ng cast s w thout except on wonderfu , and they br ng more persona ty to the r ro es than ex sts n the scr pt. It s a so not c ear where the str ngs are n the structure of Hogwarts-- how s author ty nvested n the headmaster-- why are parents "approv ng" of Umbr dge s nnovat ons, but not support ve of the r own ch dren? You get the fee ng that everyone stays n the same room because they have to enact the drama, rather than from any nterna og c or fee ng. It s a so a p ty that Herm one and Ron have to wa t a round for Harry to stop h s se f-p ty ng for any act on to resu t: they too fee ke appendages to the p ot. I rea y don t be eve the drama here str kes any deep resonant chord, on an emot ona eve , w th anybody.
2007-07-24 STORM, GREGORY BREACH --> Rating: 8.00
Fasc nat ng and beaut fu y acted dep ct on of the Robert Hanssen case, the FBI agent respons b e for the b ggest-- a eged y-- esp onage d saster n U.S. h story (some say A dr ch Ames was b gger). Chr s Cooper s outstand ng as Hanssen, co d, arrogant, devout. Ryan Ph
ppe s pretty good n the van ty ro e (the character
of the wr ter of the book on wh ch the mov e s based-- and no, n rea fe, Hanssen never waved a gun around, v s ted O Ne s home, or saw h m n the e evator after h s arrest). Hanssen supp ed the Sov ets w th cr t ca nformat on for 15 years-- yet the mov e manages to make the FBI ook smart for f na y f gur ng t out-- but you can read between the nes. The FBI actua y created a fake pos t on for Hanssen and bu d a phoney off ce to try to catch h m n the act-- and st a most fa ed. Inc denta y, the mov e doesn t make t c ear but Hanssen was a member of Opus De , as was h s fam y (of an Opus De church).
2007-07-01 CARNEY, JOHN ONCE --> Rating: 9.00
Exqu s te, de cate tt e f m about a busker on the streets of Dub n and the young Czech g r who takes an nterest n h m. She s marr ed and he st p nes for a former g r fr end v ng n London, but they have mus c n common, and some scenes of them co aborat ng are marve ous, and utter y compe ng. "Once" res sts every temptat on to turn th s nto a crappy Ho ywood fantasy. Aud ences don t r se up n acc a m, record company execut ves don t fa over themse ves, and egot st ca r va s don t even enter the p cture. Just about gets everyth ng r ght, from the for orn, me ancho y of the r re at onsh p, to the thr of amm ng n the stud o, and the carefu y attuned respect of the record ng eng neer. One of the best f ms of 2007 so far.
2007-07-03 CAMERON, JAMES TRUE LIES --> Rating: 5.00
A of the tens on n th s mov e s sapped away w th n the f rst f ve m nutes when you rea ze how v o ent y average th s f m ntends to be. So you know that Harry Tasker s not go ng to d e, He en Tasker s not go ng to comm t adu tery, and Tom Arno d w prov de com c re ef, and T a Carrere w be a v a n because she s beaut fu and sexy and not marr ed. Un ess you rea y desperate y ke spec a effects, you can snooze through the ent re mov e and not m ss a th ng. Un ess you are cur ous about the fact that Tasker s a owed to nc nerate the bad guys w th gaso ne-- we can stomach our hero do ng that and st ove h m-- but h s w fe can t even k ss S mon, because then the aud ence wou d regard her as so ed n some way and unworthy of our emot ona attachment. Curt s s actua y qu te funny, as s Tom Arno d when he s a owed to be. Schwarzenegger s wretched even by h s own ow standards. G ven the tr v a ty of the ent re f m, t m ght be too much to even ask f t s fundamenta y rac st n tone.
2007-06-24 NAIM, OMAR FINAL CUT --> Rating: 5.00
Noth ng works n th s m sgu ded concept mov e about a man who ed ts d g ta records of peop es memor es to create a "rememory" of the r ves, for consumpt on by fam y and fr ends. It appears to be understood that he w act as a k nd of ntermed ary for the fam y, bear ng the burden of the know edge of the oved one s s ns so that the fam y can be spared the tawdry deta s. There-- I ve a ready made the mov e sound a ot more nterest ng than t ever rea y s. Too bad such a c ever concept was executed so unbe evab y poor y. Noth ng redeems th s comp ete waste.
2007-06-09 DE NIRO, ROBERT GOOD SHEPHERD --> Rating: 8.00
Th s s a decent, we -made f m; t s ser ous and substant a and provocat ve, f not ent re y sat sfy ng. Matt Damon p ays Edward W son, a compos te, arge y, of James Ang eton and R chard B sse , two sem na creatures of the CIA. W son s a poet n co ege but after he o ns the CIA, marr es, and devotes h mse f to nte gence matters, he becomes a creature of co d war parano a, a most subhuman, and so comp ete y mmersed w th n h s profess on that he oses h s human ty. Damon p ays h m w th extreme restra nt, ho d everyth ng back so that eventua y th s vacuum def nes the character. W th women as w th po t cs, he chooses accord ng to h s strong persona mora be efs but ends up trapped by the nadequacy of h s own percept ons. The man s a duty, and wh e the f m doesn t go so far as to suggest that W son s perverse, t does ra se quest ons about what pr ce must be pa d ... for what? That s what the f m doesn t succeed, and perhaps never attempts, n conv nc ng us: that W son s f ght ng for anyth ng other than the s ck p easure of outw tt ng h s opponents who are a on y, mere y as duty-bound as he s. There are a ot of good performances n th s mov e, nc ud ng a rare recent appearance by Pesc . Hurt, Du ea, Gambon... a g ve fe to the r parts.
2007-05-12 GRANT, SUSANNAH CATCH AND RELEASE --> Rating: 7.70
Uneven but occas ona y fresh and funny f m about a young woman whose f ance d es n an acc dent on the eve of her wedd ng. She moves nto a house w th three other men and t s obv ous that a ove nterest w deve op. But Ju ette Lew s, as a woman w th a secret from the past, and Kev n Sm th, as m sf t Sam, br ng fe to the f m, and there s a charm ng, med tat ve qua ty to many of the scenes that fts th s f m above ch ck-f ckdom nto a charm ng, owkey drama.
2007-05-12 BIER, SUSANNE AFTER THE WEDDING --> Rating: 8.00
Story of Jacob who eads a d sso ute fe for a t me, and breaks up w th h s g r fr end after s eep ng w th her best fr end. She returns to Denmark and he eventua y ends up work ng n an orphanage n Ca cutta. When the orphanage runs out of money, a r ch Dane nv tes h m back to Denmark to negot ate a arge donat on. He d scovers that the Dane s w fe s h s former g r fr end, and other reve at ons come. It s a b t ke a soap opera w th substance at t mes, and none of the ma or characters are ent re y kab e, but they are fu y deve oped characters. The b ggest surpr se s the somewhat t dy end ng. It s rea y about the tens on between human tar an ove for strangers and the essent a y se f sh aspect of romant c ove. Jacob str ves, through these reve at ons, to f nd a ba ance between the two that he can ve w th. Superb y acted and we -f med.
2007-05-19 ZWICK, EDWARD BLOOD DIAMOND --> Rating: 7.50
My f rst thought s: we , t s not tota y bad. It s a c ass c Ho ywood attempt at bera po t cs-- a concern and fee ng good about fee ng bad-- and t has a n ce moment n wh ch the nk between worth ess d amonds and North Amer can att tudes towards engagement r ngs ("three months sa ary") s made... but D Capr o s st the worst prom nent actor of th s generat on and h s bad attempt at a South Afr can accents hobb es the f m at every turn. And once aga n, we have a f m about Afr ca that s made pa atab e to ma nstream aud ences by present ng Western oppress on through the pr sm of the pr cked wh te pretty-boy Western consc ence. The p ot s r d cu ous y mprobab e at t mes-- So omon Vandy s son, who has been k dnapped and programmed by guerr as, ends up at the same d amond m ne h s father and Danny Archer end up at-- and the ove story between Archer and Maddy Bowen (Jenn fer Conne y) s so bereft of any be evab e emot on that you a most fee ke hand ng out the g ycer ne for them... A most every scary head ne from Afr ca s tossed nto the m x here and I wonder f a f m ke th s actua y does any good-- espec a y s nce b ood d amonds are rea y on y a sma part of the wor d market, wh ch s contro ed by an ega monopo y n the f rst p ace. It won t be hard for DeBeers to o n the campa gn to keep them off the market -- after a , t won t hurt the r pr ces.
2007-05-05 CONDON, BILL DREAMGIRLS --> Rating: 6.00
Huge y d sappo nt ng f m vers on of the broadway mus ca -- wh ch a eged y s better-- about a b ack 60 s s ng ng group c ear y mode ed on the Supremes. In fact, rather s av sh y mode ed on the Supremes. Th s s not about Motown-- the mus c s rea y 80 s pop v a 90 s Broadway and there sn t a s ng e rea y d st nct ve tune n the who e ot. Just how shame ess s th s mov e? A keystone of the drama s the way that Mary W son, the rea - fe mode for Eff e, was pushed out of the Supreme s because she was arge and BLACK-b ack, as opposed to D ana Ross more acceptab e b end. When Beyonce Know es was s gned for the part of Deena, o and beho d, Jenn fer Hudson s part had to be sca ed back to make room for a po nt ess subp ot so that Know es wou d have more screen t me commesurate w th her "status". And wh e the mov e r d cu es Pat Boone-sty e r poffs of funky b ack songs from the 50 s, t does exact y the same th ng to the Motown sound. But the worst th ng about th s mov e s that the mus ca mater a doesn t stand a chance aga nst the memory of rea Supreme s h ts-- songs I was never part cu ar y fond of but wh ch make the mus c of Dreamg r s sound pa d and co our ess n compar son. And why, n Heaven s name, cou dn t Edd e Murphy have d tched the ta k ng mu e scht ck for h s ro e n th s mov e?
2007-05-05 MACDONALD, KEVIN LAST KING OF SCOTLAND --> Rating: 7.00
The most over-rated performance of 2006 was Forrest Wh taker s n th s unapo oget ca y f ct ona zed packag ng of Id Am n s re gn n Uganda n the 1970 s. Wh taker s okay-- but not great. He s ve y and oud and funny and dom nates the screen, but never br ngs out that scary ntens ty you see n documentary footage of the rea Am n. The doctor, p ayed by James McAvoy, s a r d cu ous construct, the wh te man s w ndow nto Afr ca, w th the fey gu t of hav ng part c pated n Am n s ear y re gn, and then h s des re for "redempt on" by "te ng h s story", as f he was a rea person. There s no need for redempt on f Garr gan s f ct ona , as he s. Nor s h s affa r w th Kay Am n anyth ng short of preposterous. Why not et h m channe the Br t sh, who nsta ed Am n or g na y and thought he was okay when he ed the coup-- he cou d p ay good soccer. The producers offer an exp anat on of why they nc uded a myth c account of Am n hav ng one of h s w ves k ed-- but t s a poor one. They m ght have we ust adm tted they hoped to attract a b gger aud ence.
2007-04-27 BINDER, MIKE UPSIDE OF ANGER --> Rating: 7.50
The quest on s, why does Roger Ebert defend the end ng? L fe s fu of the mprobab y, he argues. A.O. Scott at the NY T mes thought t was a d saster. It s a b g prob em n a f m that asks for cred b ty-- and th s f m does. Everyth ng e se s p ayed as human drama. Spo er: th s s a mov e that shou d be spo ed. The dea that her husband wou d d sappear one n ght-- he actua y fa s nto a we -- and that not a s ng e person who knows h m, nc ud ng h s own fam y, wou d nqu re as to whether he had run off or ust d sappeared? They wou d a assume he went off to Sweden? Is t rea y as ke y to be eve he ran off as to be eve he got nto an acc dent? Wou d he not have taken certa n th ngs w th f he had eft by cho ce? It s ask ng too much.
2005-01-01 GILLIAM, TERRY TIDELAND --> Rating: 4.00
Qu te probab y the worst f m by a noteworthy d rector ever, and one of the most ted ous, bor ng exerc ses n se f- ndu gence every backed by a stud o. Th s s the story of Je za-Rose whose parents are unk es, whose mother d es one n ght, whose father hau s her off to the prar e to ve n her grandmother s abandoned house, whose father then d es eav ng her w th a ar of peanut butter and her do s. Je ze-Rose, p ayed wonderfu y by Jode e Fer and, ves n a fantasy wor d that sn t qu te fantasy-- why? Why doesn t G am go to down w th her dreams? And f he s not go ng to g ve us a v sua zat on of her fantas es, why not at east make the narrat ve more nterest ng? The ne ghbors, De (Janet McTeer) and D ckens ((Brendan F etcher) are even more depress ng y whacked out than her parents and he pfu y emba m her father. If there s some a egor ca or symbo c va ue to any of these tems, t w have comp ete y escaped the v ewer by now who s eft to w tness akward sexua nnuendo between a ten-year-o d g r and a demented adu t ma e, who appears to be do ng a m tat on or parody of Forrest Gump. Not an nterest ng fa ure-- ust a pure wa st of t me.
2007-03-14 SNYDER, ZACH 300 --> Rating: 7.50
A you need to do s add the naz arm-bands and you have a f m Goebbe s wou d have been proud of. 300 not on y rewr tes h story-- drast ca y-- but t rewr tes deo ogy: m nd ess obed ence to the d ctates of m tary d sc p ne and g or f ed death n the face of overwhe m ng odds are ove y and wonderfu and shou d be every red-b ooded ma e s ast ng w sh. The quest on s, wou d th s f m have had an ounce of we ght f t hadn t been for the utter y tenuous nk to a rea , remarkab e h stor ca event? If t d dn t pretend to be a "true story", wou d anybody have seen t as anyth ng other than what t rea y s: com c book, at the nte ectua and emot ona eve of a 12 year o d ado escent boy? EVen the a eged y amaz ng graph cs do get t resome by the end, and w th the s ghtest of nudge, nudge, w nk, w nks, the ncessant proc a mat ons of ast ng g ory (why s that mov e car catures seem to know what h story books are go ng to say, when they c ear y rare y say what the part c pants th nk they are go ng to say)? Rea y probab y deserves ess than 7.5.
2007-03-11 BONG, JOON-HO HOST --> Rating: 7.90
Very en oyab e Korean fantasy about a creature v ng n the Han R ver who snatches a tt e g r and d sappears. Her fam y-- sort of ke "L tt e M ss Sunsh ne" but Korean-- sets out to save her, wh e address ng the r own neurot c fa ures. The po ce and the Amer cans dec de to gas the ent re c ty because of an a eged v rus carr ed by the monster, but the po t ca message s secondary to the fun of the creature, a k nd of g ant sw mm ng zard who behaves ke an an ma , and not ke a one of those Amer can bears, robots, k er wha es or whathaveyou that frequent y announce the r ntent to to create mayhem w th a pose and ong photogen c roar, so the actors can get max mum m eage out of the r express ons of horror.
2007-03-13 DEL TORO, GUILLERMO PAN'S LABYRINTH --> Rating: 9.20
Abso ute y the best mov e of 2006, the Departed be damned. Ofe a and her mother are mov ng to a town somewhere n the Span sh countrys de. It\ s near y the end of the c v war and Ofe a\ s new step-dad s an army off cer n charge of mopp ng up operat ons. And he s a brute, though Ofe a\ s mother p eads w th her to accept h m as he s the r on y hope for a good fe. Ofe a nstead retreats nto a fantasy wor d-- or s t rea -- n wh ch she s a pr ncess-- maybe. A faun demands that she comp ete certa n tasks to prove her worth ness. She brave y undertakes them, and the cha enges she confronts para e her grow ng awareness of her stepfather\ s bruta act v t es, and the un ust wor d she has been thrown nto. Beaut fu y f med and acted, great mus c, and a story w th meat on t: what more cou d you ask from a f m not d rected by Mart n Scorcese?
2007-02-01 DEL TORO, GUILLERMO DEVIL'S BACKBONE --> Rating: 8.00
Car os s the son of a Repub can f ghter n the Span sh C v War. He s shunted off to an orphanage run by eft st sympath zers where he d scovers the ghost of a boy named Sant wanders the so ated compound, haunt ng the orphans. There s an unexp oded bomb n the m dd e of the courtyard. There s a k nd y doctor Cesares, who oves poetry, and a woman w th a wooden eg, who turns out to be the r teacher and headm stress. There s a young thug named Jac nto who knows about someth ng va uabe h dden n the bu d ng and wants t bad y, and who romances beaut fu Conch ta wh e carry ng on w th the headm stress. It s a r ch, dark, v o ent wor d, and, ke the war that cont nues n the background of the mov e, t s go ng to end bad y. Beaut fu y f med, as De Toro s work usua y s, and we -acted f occas ona y c umsy and phys ca y unconv nc ng, as when the boys pu Ja me out of the c stern. There s someth ng very keab e about De Toro-maybe that he honest y oves f m and oves to enterta n, but a so wants to te you someth ng that maybe sn t the most mportant th ng n the wor d, but wants to be remembered.
2007-03-14 DANCE, CHARLES LADIES IN LAVENDER --> Rating: 7.50
F ne, carefu y nuanced f m about two e der y s sters v ng n a coasta ham et who happen upon a sh pwrecked sa or. They nurse h m back to hea th and he f s the r ves w th charm and fe, and the b ttersweet nev tab ty of departure. The end ng s not comp ete y sat sfy ng and perhaps mprobab e, and weakens a scr pt that s a ready a b t ght on substance. Fun to watch Sm th and Dench work, and to see a f m that doesn t see o d women as the ob ect of sexua r d cu e.
2007-03-12 FINCHER, DAVID ZODIAC --> Rating: 8.00
Super or thr er about the Zod ac murders n Ca forn a from 1966-71 (depend ng on how many murders you ascr be to Zod ac). Based arge y on the book by cartoon st Robert Graysm th, who devout y be eves n the gu t of Arthur Le gh A en, who d ed before po ce cou d comp ete the r nvest gat on of h m. Shot s very ord nary, chrono og ca order-- rem nds you of ust how powerfu a strong, tera narrat ve f m cou d be. A most every ro e s f ed by a good actor, espec a y Ruffa o, Downy, and Lynch. Compe ng story that never goes cheesey, w th the except on of one or two contr ved fa se a arms.
2007-03-11 EASTWOOD, CLINT LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA --> Rating: 8.20
F ne f m shot from the Japanese po nt of v ew of the batt e for Iwo J ma, a compan on p ece to "F ags of Our Fathers". Interest ng compar son to 300 n that both arm es, Sparta and Japan, are determ ned to f ght to the death on beha f of a greater cause, but Eastwood has the human ty to show at east one so d er who va ues h s fe, who craves to be reun ted w th th s w fe and daughter, and doesn t tota y embrace the cu ture of death of the Japanese army.
2007-03-01 NOLAN, CHRISTOPHER PRESTIGE --> Rating: 7.40
H gh y regarded n some quarters, and genera y we -made, the Prest ge s about two mag c ans, Ang er and Border, who bu d up an ntense r va ry n turn of the century London, and even beg n sabatog ng each other n a strugg e for supremecy. Borden s work ng c ass, and a b t of a pur st: the tr ck tse f s the th ng. Ang er s more of a show man-- the aud ence w be eve what t wants to have scene. It s rea y unfortunate that the f m doesn t fo ow through w th th s po ar ty cons stent y: eventua y, Ang er wants h s tr cks to not on y ook better-but rea y be better. Performances are pretty good, except for when Chr st an Ba e woefu y enters h s methodact ng mode, wh ch s def ned as mumb ng and wh sper ng your nes ncoherent y so the aud ence th nks that what you re say ng s mportant, and forc ng the actors around you to sound s y when they speak n a norma , aud b e tone of vo ce. Fortunate y, M chae st th nks he can act, and breath ess Scar ett Johansson knows how to squeeze nto those per od constumes, and Bow e s de ghtfu as N ko a Tes a, so the f m sn t a tota waste. In fact, t s en oyab e-- t ust cou d have been a ot better.
2007-03-14 SCOTT, RIDLEY A GOOD YEAR --> Rating: 6.50
Harm ess, un nf ected, sent menta c che-r dden.... Max Sk nner (Crowe) has to choose between the exc t ng, sat sfy ng fe as a h gh-stakes stock trader, or that bor ng, horr b y awfu fe as a w ne grower n France, w th a beaut fu , young sexy woman and a dreamy o d house w th a poo . The suspense w k you.
2007-03-01 STONE, OLIVER NIXON --> Rating: 7.80
Serv ceab e but rare y nsp r ng, and nf cted w th gratu tous arty fast cuts and random c ps of var ous re ated events and persons.... ust k nd of a mess, of wh ch t s hard to determ ne f Stone rea y be eved h s approach to be en ghten ng or ust f ashy. Hopk ns s not bad; Joan A en s pretty good. A most everyone e se s moderate y nterest ng-- ce ebr ty actors p ay ng famous po t c ans.
2007-03-02 CIMINO, MICHAEL HEAVEN'S GATE --> Rating: 7.00
The egendary c nemat c d saster, the T tan c of f m h story, t turns out, s not a bad. There are some exqu s te y beaut fu scenes, and the remarkab e attent on to deta can, at t mes, be exh rat ng, and make you rea ze, w th the dom nance of 3d computer graph cs, you may never see the kes of these crowds scenes aga n, nor the abus ve an ma f ghts, the fa ng horses. That sa d, the scr pt s unbe evab y ame and the d a ogue st ted, c umsy, and embarrass ng. Worth see ng? Probab y not, un ess you re cur ous about the b ggest career crash ever, or the h stor ca events upon whc h the mov e s based.
2007-03-08 GREEN, DAVID GORDON GEORGE WASHINGTON --> Rating: 8.00
Amaz ng f m about a group of k ds n a poor sma town who try to cover up a ser ous m stake by one of them. Extraord nary portra t of ch dren, and how they know a town, t s h dden p aces, and some of ts secrets, and how they try to manage a cr s s w thout rea adu t superv s on. Beaut fu y acted and f med.
2001-01-01 GREEN, DAVID GORDON ALL THE REAL GIRLS --> Rating: 8.00
Thoughtfu med tat on on young adu thood, respons b ty, and ove, concern ng the exp o ts of Pau who has var ous trans ent re at onsh ps unt he meets Noe , Zooey Deschane , and strugg es to try to bu d someth ng more so d. Low key and nuanced and de cate but reward ng.
2003-01-01 CSUPO, GABOR BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA --> Rating: 7.00
Br dge to Terab th a s a ver tab e textbook of how D sney turns stor es nto corporate products, wh e str v ng m ght y to present an mage of substance and who esomeness. Jess s a m sf t at schoo , p cked on by bu es, marg na zed by h s own fam y, and demeaned by h s no-nonsense dad. Of course, he has an art st c apt tude- he draws we , though noth ng the mov e shows us ooks conv nc ng y ke the work of a ta ented 10 year o d. Then a new g r moves next door-- though he on y becomes aware of her when she shows up at schoo . Th s k nd of odd mechan sm s typ ca of how schemat c the f m s: the d rector and wr ter wanted to p ace that f rst meet ng n a c assroom, so the story s akward y tw sted to accommodate that sequence. It s not unbe evab e-ust c umsy and nsu t ng to the v ewer s nte gence. So s the way Les e tr es so hard to ngrat ate herse f w th Jesse-- as f 10-year-o ds d dn t have any dread of re ect on or embarrassment. Aga n, t s not that she s so unbe evab e-- t s ust that her act ons are so transparent y man pu ated to move to the p ot n the d rect on d ctated by the scheme, rather than n any k nd of honest exp orat on of character. AnnaSoph a Robb s mesmer z ng y beaut fu -- she s actua y 13 and ooks t when she s supposed to be 10-- but her character s kept ant sept c and correct and her sense of m sch ef s conf ned to the k nd of behav ours adu ts actua y f nd pretty adorab e, wh ch s odd, because she s supposed to connect w th Jesse because she s a so an outs der, and she s a so re ected by her c assmates. She s an athe st and Jesse-- we are shocked to earn-- s from a Chr st an fam y, and h s tt e s ster actua y te s Les e she s doomed to burn n he . The re g on s safe y compartmenta zed-- we are shocked when Jess announces he s go ng to church on Sunday. And t s another nd cat on of how schemat c the mov e s that the v ewer mmed ate y rea zes that church doesn t usua y take a day so he wou d st have t me to p ay w th Les e at the r fort. Aga n, we are expected to accept what the mov e g ves us on a p atter and not rum nate around for the mp cat ons of the what the characters do or say. I had a re at onsh p ke th s when I was that age and speak ng from exper ence, I rea y th nk Br dge doesn t get t. It doesn t p ck up on the w tt ness of k ds that age, or the ove of mockery and parody, and the sens t v ty to m nor s ghts. The k ds v rtua y never touch each other and AnnaSoph a behaves w th cons derab y more adyke decorum than most ten year-o ds that I know.
2007-03-01 ABU-ASSAD, HANY PARADISE NOW --> Rating: 8.00
Fasc nat ng and ntr gu ng f m about a pa r of young Pa est n ans who are recru ted to become su c de bombers n Te Av v. One of them has a g r fr end and has doubts at f rst, but, after th ngs go wrong, h s fr end s the one w th co d feet. Sa d and Kha ed are ch dhood fr ends, garage mechan cs, w th an urge to make a dramat c profess on of fa th. There s a com c undertow, comfortab y s pped nto the deta s, as when the camera fa s to start record ng dur ng the tap ng of a martyrdom v deo, or when one of the bombers nc udes a persona message to h s mother about grocer es. Th s was a Pa est n an nom nat on for best fore gn f m n 2005. It s terr f c.
2006-01-01 FREUNDLICH, BART TRUST THE MAN --> Rating: 7.80
Enterta n ng-- at east at f rst--Woody A enesque comedy about two coup es strugg ng n the m d-terms of the r re at onsh ps. Tom and Rebecca seem to have everyth ng they want, nc ud ng two k ds, but Tom wants more sex and Rebecca does not, and she suspects he m ght be gett ng some on the s de. E a ne, n the meant me, wants to get marr ed and have k ds, but Tobey s a rather nsens t ve c od who doesn t know when or who to move. She g ves h m the heave-ho and he spends most of the second ha f of the f m try ng to con nce her to take h m back. Too bad the f m started tak ng tse f too ser ous y near the end, and became b zarre y determ ned to de ver a happy end ng. Made "Love, Actua y" ook deep. But, for a mov e that fa ed n the end, t has more than a few or g na , sp tefu moments of g ee, as when Rebecca prov des her husband w th p ay-byp ay from a porn v deo, or or when Dante strokes h s moustache after encounter ng Tobey try ng to get nto the apartment bu d ng to see E a ne.
2007-02-18 EYRE, RICHARD NOTES ON A SCANDAL --> Rating: 7.20
Unremarkab e f m about an ag ng Lesb an schoo teacher who sets her s ghts on a young art teacher and fortu tous y d scovers she s hav ng an affa r w th a young student. Echoes of "H story Boys", except that, n th s nstance, the c t re at onsh p s scene to be s n ster rather than berat ng... or s t? The odd th ng, s that the boy sn t rea y exp o ted by the teacher-- Sheba Hart s cur ous y pass ve n th s re at onsh p, res st ng, and then moved by compass on. It s hard to ve th s w th the dea of abuse, because, I th nk, the re at onsh p shown s d shonest. She s the author ty f gure-- there has to be a moment where she a ows that barr er to fa , but I suspect the f m wants us to th nk of her more as v ct m. And yet no one bother to rea y conv nce us that she was a neg ected w fe, as her husband seems to adm t to ater.
2007-02-17 FARRANT, KIM NAKED ON THE INSIDE --> Rating: 8.00
Remarkab e exp orat on of body mage through nterv ews and exposure of s x un que nd v dua s, nc ud ng a man w th no egs, and a supermode , and a woman dy ng of cancer. They ta k about the r bod es, the r ves, the r soc a re at onsh ps, and n so do ng confront and cha enge the v ewer s assumpt ons about what s "norma " or beaut fu . Mov ng and, at t mes, amaz ng.
2007-02-12 MEIRELLES, FERNANDO CONSTANT GARDENER --> Rating: 7.30
Important but f na y sent menta and mp aus b e f m about the co us on of drug compan es and th rd wor d governments n the eth ca y quest onab e pract se of test ng new drugs on humans. Rache We sz p ays Tessa Quay e (based on rea - fe act v st Yvette P erpao , who was k ed n a car acc dent n A ban a n 1999) who uncovers the scanda . Her husband, p ayed gush ng y by Ra ph F ennes, tr es to unwrap the mystery. Th s s a decent f m that cou d have been a ot better had t not fe t the need to add gratu tous act on and chase sequences.
2005-01-01 FLEDER, GARY RUNAWAY JURY --> Rating: 7.50
Th s had a the ha marks of a runaway potbo er: we -known stars, controvers a sub ect, b g Ho ywood budget-- but th s s a surpr s ng y we -wr tten story about a substant ve ssue, the corrupt on of the ury system by consu ts and experts who try to prese ect the k nd of ury that w g ve them a favorab e verd ct. Dust n Hoffman s the rump ed awyer who has taken on the case of a woman whose husband was k ed by a d sturbed co eague, a broker, who purchased a sem -automat c weapon on the b ack market. She s su ng the gun manufacturer for comp c ty, an ang e wh ch, n rea fe, has never yet been successfu y pursued n the U.S. (and wh ch, n some states, the NRA has succeeded n ext nqu sh ng through eg s at on exempt ng gun manufacturers from c v aw su ts for neg gence). Bruce Dav son s the oppost on, part of an expens ve team that nc udes ury consu tant, Rank n F tch (Gene Hackman). F tch tr es to guarrantee h s c ent that the ury w abso ve the gun manufacturer, but there s w d-card n the deck: N cho as Easter, an unprepossess ng young man who succeeds n gett ng on the ury, d sp ays a susp c ous y astute ab ty to man pu ate events. Turns out there s a p ot afoot to contro the outcome, but t s a tr bute to the makers of the f m that the tw st s not where we th nk t s. We acted and we -wr tten. The egendary Hackman-Hoffman confrontat on s a et down, but the support ng cast s strong, espec a y Bruce McG as the udge, and Rache We sz as Mar ee.
2007-02-10 AMENABAR, ALEJANDRO SEA INSIDE --> Rating: 8.20
Somewhat de berate and occas ona y sophomor c d scourse on "the r ght to d e", based on the rea - fe case of Ramon Sampedro, who fought for th s r ght for 30 years. He recru ts a awyer, Ju a (Be en Rueda), to take h s f ght to court. Most of h s fam y and c ose fr ends, natura y, are amb va ent about h s w shes.
2007-02-09 PABST, GEORG PANDORA'S BOX --> Rating: 9.00
Starr ng the amaz ng Lou se Brooks, one of the most compe ng f gures of the s ent era, and certa n y one of the most a ur ng, as a the femme fata e who seduces a doctor, and h s son, nto ru n. P ctor a y sp end d, superb y acted and f med. The ook on Brook s face when the son and the father s f ance d scover her w th the doctor n her arms-- amaz ng.
2007-02-07 ELLIS, DAVID R. SNAKES ON A PLANE --> Rating: 6.50
About as r d cu ous as t sounds. Th s f m tr ed to cash n on t s B-p cture status by p ay ng tse f up as a k nd of hokey com c thr er, but t wasn t qu te that funny, nor rea y suspensefu , nor even a that enterta n ng. Breath ess y mp aus b e, but doesn t make t fun.
2007-02-05 LINKLATER, RICHARD SCANNER DARKLY --> Rating: 8.20
Intr gu ng rotoscoped drama about an undercover narcot cs agent named Bob Arctor, n the future, who beg ns to doubt h s dent ty, and starts wonder ng f he s actua y a narcot cs user mpersonat ng a cop. H s confus on becomes even more acute when h s super or, who doesn t know h s rea dent ty, orders h m to nvest gate h mse f, as a poss b e drug dea er. Whenver Arctor nteracts w th h s po ce hand ers, he wears a "scramb e su t" that protects h s dent ty. Meanwh e, h s parano d drug-user fr ends are descend ng nto the r own webs of nsecur ty and parano a. Donna Hawthorne s Arctor s g r , but she doesn t want to be touched. James Barr s deve ops soph st cated theor es of g oba consp rac es. And Char es ust comp ete y oses t. Not a ways coherent or focused, but a ways nterest ng, and one of a handfu of rea y or g na f ms n the ast few years.
2007-02-05 BLOCK, DOUG 51 BIRCH ST. --> Rating: 8.80
Doug B ock d scovered that h s mother had a secret fe, n her etters and d ar es, and that h s parents marr age may not have been what he and h s s sters had a ways assumed t was. As he pee s away ayer after ayer, from nterv ews w th h s father, and h s mothers etters and d ar es, he revea s a comp ex re at onsh p that resonates n ways he d d not expect, w th h s own marr age, and h s own exper ence of h s fam y. H s parents are both art cu ate and re at ve y open on f m. The r fr ends and ch dren a so prov de ns ghtfu commentary. He has done us a a serv ce by offer ng a rare g mpse at a marr age that was fau ted but funct ona -- and perhaps he revea s more about the comprom ses that make up our ves than he ever ntended. A mov ng, qu et y powerfu f m.
2007-01-29 COLUMBUS, CHRIS Rent --> Rating: 8.00
From the Pu tzer Pr ze w nn ng mus ca about dea st c Bohem ans n the East V age and the r strugg es to make a v ng, pay the rent, and f nd ove, and cope w th AIDS, n the 80 s (?). Gr tty and somet mes b tter, but a ways ntr gu ng and has the fee of authent c d sappo ntment and d s us onment-- n a redempt ve, angu shed way.
2007-01-01 STILLER, BEN CABLE GUY --> Rating: 6.00
The producers thought they had a pretty good sma f m, w th Chr s Far ey as the Cab e Guy, unt someone showed the scr pt to J m Carrey. Carrey got $20 m
on to do the p cture, and he h acked t, and any charm or
w t n the or g na was ost to h s utter y se f-centred performance. If th s s what Carrey fans want to pay to see, by a means. For the rest of us, th s was an nterm nab y dour and sour f m that d dn t work on any eve .
2007-01-27 KENAN, GIL MONSTER HOUSE --> Rating: 6.50
I fee a strong urge to g ve th s f m the owest poss b e rat ng, but t s not rea y tota y worth ess. The an mat on s actua y fun to watch, and there are some c ever spec a effects and occas ona snatches of nterest ng d a ogue. The rest of the mov e cons sts of a cont nuous sequence of nsu ts to the nte gence of ch dren who, I can on y presume the f m-makers presumed, cannot process og c, mot vat on, or subt ety. Th s s the k nd of f m n wh ch every deve opment n the narrat ve s ntended to prov de the f m-makers w th another opportun ty to make a oud, scary no se, sp n the v rtua camera around d zzy ng y, or ntroduce another stereo-type, nc ud ng, offens ve y, a b ack cop who seems to be an echo of "step nfectch t". Techn que s emp oyed for the sake of techn que, there s no character deve opment to speak of, and the an mat on tse f s actua y pretty mechan ca and bor ng. Th nk about th s: you are not go ng to see a sudden trend towards f ms w th monster bu dngs. The fundamenta concept of the mov e s very th n. When they try to f esh t out, by mak ng the house nto the corporea express on of Constance, Nebbercracker s g gant c w fe, they st have to f nd a way to have a b g exp os on at the end, so they tack on some we rd deve opments about Nebbercracker be ng ens aved by h s w fe the house, rather than n ove w th the o d hu k. I d dn t know th s but, n order to ma nta n a PG rat ng, the f m a so must resurrect a of the creatures who were "k ed" by the house dur ng f m ng. Th s s one of the dumbest th ngs I ve ever heard of. Towards the end of the f m, as the ch dren try to k the house w th dynam te, I to d myse f that, g ven the comp ete ack of nvent veness or or g na ty, they are never go ng to et the g r be the one to b ow up the house.... they d dn t. Was that because even young ch dren expect to see the boy comm tt ng the hero c act?
2007-01-21 HOLOFCENER, NICOLE FRIENDS WITH MONEY --> Rating: 8.20
Superb y wr tten drama about the tens on that deve ops n a group of fr ends when three of the coup es are r ch and the one, s ng e woman who s part of the group (An ston) s not. Chr st ne and Dav d are wr ters who work together at home. Wh e wr t ng, they somet mes beg n to argue, and t can be d ff cu t to sort out wh ch s wh ch. They dec de to bu d an ug y add t on to the r home that w b ock the r ne ghbor s v ew of the ocean. R chard and Franny get a ong pretty we , make good money (she s a home-maker and he does someth ng that makes h m a ot of cash: they are, unexpected y, happy together-- one of the mov es most or g na deas), and have frequent sex. Jane has stopped wash ng her ha r and gr pes about everyth ng, wh e her husband s frequent y m staken for gay, by both men and women, nc ud ng women who know h m we , Chr st ne and Franny. Jane a so de vers one of the most po gnant nes of the f m: what p sses her off s that there s no more wa t ng to see what t w be ke. But O v a (An ston) s the one who po nts out that the av sh d nner they are attend ng to ra se money for ALS s a waste of the cash needed for the cause. These peop e are narc ss t c and se fabsorbed, but th s s not a crue portra t. They ust don t seem aware, anymore, of how the r wea th and pr v ege so ates them. Beaut fu y wr tten and f med.
2007-01-20 FIELD, TODD LITTLE CHILDREN --> Rating: 8.10
I m not sure what to make of th s f m. On the one hand, there s c ear y a courageous attempt to dea rea st ca y w th a ch d mo estor (a man named Ronn e who s accused of hav ng exposed h mse f) and h s mpact on the commun ty he res des n after re ease from pr son. On the other hand, the two adu terous adu ts n the mov e seemed to pay for the r cr me, as n an o d-sty e cr me-drama from the 1950 s. They cannot be a owed to end up together, happy and prosperous, espec a y s nce both have ch dren w th the r fau ted mates. Shou d th s f m be pa red w th L Enfant?-- a so about adu ts that have not yet earned the essons that make them adu ts, capab e of ove, or even of seek ng someth ng that doesn t benef t themse ves? The "ch dren" earn through suffer ng, and, n th s case, t seems arb trary and random, yet s pos t oned n the narrat ve as f t were a consequence of the bad cho ces of the adu ts. So Sarah and Brad meet n the suburban park where they take the r young ch dren p ay dur ng the day. Both have successfu spouses who, of course, are somewhat unfee ng and nsens t ve. The ne ghborhood womem fantas ze about Brad but don t have the guts to actua y ta k to h m-- but Sarah does, and she and Brad d scover they ke each other. They start an affa r. Th ngs ro e to a cr s s-- and then that arb trary event comes a ong to end th ngs. As n F e d s other recent f m, "In The Bedroom", and arb trary act of v o ence a so ntrudes, and n both f ms you wonder why. We acted, genera y we -wr tten and f med, but not tota y sat sfy ng.
2007-01-10 SCOTT, TONY ENEMY OF THE STATE --> Rating: 7.60
Th s s the b gg e-s zed Ho ywood vers on of "The Conversat on", wh ch m ght have been a much better f m had the makers nd cated even the s ghtest regard for human neff c ency or ncompetence than t d d. W Sm th p ays Robert C ayton Dean, a awyer (of course) who nadvertant y comes nto possess on of an ncr m nat ng v deo tape, wh ch ust happens to show the murder of a senator (Robards) who was opposed to a new p ece of eg s at on des gned to empower the NSA to mon tor a phone ca s and other commun cat ons n the U.S. That s an extraord nar y presc ent p ot for a mov e made n 1998-- t descr bes what d d n fact happen under Bush. But th s hodgepodge and m shmash of p ot and ssues becomes r d cu ous at east f ve or s x t mes, and severa of the best moments are sto en from "Marathon Man" or the or g na "Conversat on". The bad guys show an amaz ng ab ty to tap nto surve ance cameras n stores w th n seconds, move sate tes through space at w , nstantaneous y, rece ve ve mages w th n seconds, acqu re aud o from remote m crophones compet ng w th traff c, etc., etc., etc. And then, after a that effort to spy on Dean w thout be ng detected-sudden y dec de to burst nto h s hote room nstead. Th s mov e s a chase. It s s ck and fast-paced and Gene Hackman s fun-- but t u t mate y can t even keep t s own ssue stra ght: does t even know that t s ron c that the Senator s murder was captured on a h dden camera? D d anyone at anyt me g ve any thought to the fact that the "fun" n watch ng th s mov e der ves from the same voyeur st c mpu se that t condemns? Is there any ns ght nto the corros ve nature of spy ng and surve ance?
2007-01-13 DEL TORO, GUILLERMO HELLBOY --> Rating: 7.90
T ght y and astute y d rected fantasy about a baby demon-- or not-- brought up to f ght for good, who becomes the sub ect of a rev ved Rasput n s p ot to un eash the forces of he on earth... yeah, does sound ke a com c book. And t s a com c book, but d rected w th gusto and w tt ness by Gu ermo de Toro, and acted by Ron Per man-- t s actua y a very serv ceab e f m that k nd of s ts n ts own n che of nte gent sch ock. It ust doesn t fee cheap or contr ved as you re watch ng. It doesn t even get unbearab y fey or coy, as the Term nator ser es cou d at t mes. Was there a homage to Kubr ck n here? When Professor Bruttenho m s work ng n h s study, we hear "We Meet Aga n". There were more than a few other "tr butes".
2007-01-15 DEL TORO, GUILLERMO BLADE II --> Rating: 7.90
T ght, we -crafted vamp re-thr er about a hero c vamp re f ghter named B ade who must work w th a commando un t of vamp res to take on a new breed of mutat ons who attack both humans and the undead. Why does th s work, as a thr er? I m not sure. The scenes move a ong qu ck y, and the characters are econom ca y def ned, and p ayed w th a certa n verve and comm tment. There s a gruesome amount of b ood- ett ng and spurt ng, and the odd moment of ev ty. There s a so a k nd of beauty to the sets and ght ng-- never qu te fee s as s y as you m ght th nk. Certa n y owes someth ng to "Buffy" n ts measured tone, the " ved- n" fee of the characters.
2007-01-13 MUCCINO, GABRIELE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS --> Rating: 8.10
We ve seen th s formu a so many t mes, and what happens when a ead ng actor s a producer on a f m-- a the bad s gns were there. But "Pursu t of Happyness" s unexpected y v ta and fresh, ma n y due to a sense of restra nt and a fee ng of authent c ty ( t s based on a true story, of couse, wh ch s usua y Ho ywood Code for preposterous and d shonest). W Sm th s Chr s Gardner, a med ca equ pment sa esman whose fe s not go ng we . H s w fe works two sh fts, he can bare y se any mach nes, and h s ch d s daycare doesn t seem to be too concerned about educat ona act v t es (the k ds watch a ot of tv). After see ng a group of happy stock brokers emerge from a bu d ng, he app es for an nternsh p and unexpected y s g ven a chance-- after g v ng an unusua y creat ve exp anat on for why he showed up for the nterv ew n cover-a s w th pa nt smeared n h s ha r. He a so f nds out the pos t on s unpa d for s x months, after wh ch on y one of the twenty w be offered a fu -t me pos t on. He and h s son Chr stopher ose the r apartment and car and strugg e to f nd a p ace to s eep and money for food as Chr s str ves to succeed n h s nternsh p. H s co eagues are shown as ne ther grasp ng unfee ng cap ta sts, nor mprobab y compass onate cheer- eaders. He gets no breaks at a . Nor does he treat h s son w th that unrea st c so c tousness we so often see n mov es. Rea y a surpr s ng f m. Note: Gardner actua y d d rece ve $1,000 a month " ntern pay" from Dean W tter dur ng the per od of the f m. He was a so a owed to stay n the she ter for women and ch dren because a m n ster, Rev. Cec W ans, took a k ng to h m. And Gardner d d not ns st on custody of h s son as shown n the mov e: h s g r fr end showed up one day and announced she cou dn t take care of h m anymore. The son, Chr s un or, was actua y a todd er-not the f ve-year-o d portrayed n the f m by Sm th s rea - fe son. He ater had a daughter-- no deta s of her mother are g ven.
2007-01-14 HAFSTROM, MIKAEL DERAILED --> Rating: 7.10
Utter y pred ctab e "Fata Attract on" retread w th An ston as the femme fata e and C ve Owens as the hap ess v ct m. The usua c che-r dden assoc at ons here: rock mus c when the coup e th nk of comm tt ng adu ter, rap when t turns v o ent, the b ack dude work ng n a brokerage who has connect ons to the street, and the s n ster extort on st who ntrudes on the home charm ng the w fe and threaten ng the daughter wh e pretend ng to be a bus ness assoc at on. M d y nterest ng.
2007-01-14 HYTNER, NICHOLAS HISTORY BOYS --> Rating: 7.70
L kab e but very uneven adapt on of the A an Bennett p ay about a group of schoo boys n Sheff e d try ng to get nto Oxford w th the he p of an ndu gent, gay, ovab e o d wreck of a teacher, and a new, more pragmat c nstructor who who doesn t be eve n know edge for t s own sake. Unfortunate y, takes a turn near the end, nto a propaganda p ece for a rather dub ous argument that exp o t ve gay teacher-student re at onsh ps can be hea thy and fun for a concerned. The crash conc us on can t qu te obv ate the memorab e portra t of a genu ne y keab e character, the teacher, Hector, and h s unconvent ona methods. Th s s what part of "Dead Poets Soc ety" wou d have been ke f t had had any guts.
2007-01-04 DEMME, JONATHAN HANDLE WITH CARE --> Rating: 7.70
Surpr s ng y engross ng study of CB rad o and t s pass onate users, the r "hand es"-- form ng fa se dent t es-and rea persona t es, oves and osses, n a rather free-whee ng, oose y assemb ed past che. The CB conce t s actua y re at ve y ntegrated nto the story-- characters nteract n that sporad c, oose- o nted way that peop e connect w th the r rad os, w th nterrupt ons, br ef, ntense f urr es of words and sounds, and then d sconnects. Pau Le Mat p ays "Sp der", who dec des to pur fy the a rwaves by knock ng off abusers w th a baseba bat, wh e tak ng care of h s drunken father who keeps threaten ng to k the fam y dog, and f ght ng w th h s brother who fee s exc uded from the fam y. Some decent actors at the starts of the r careers here, nc ud ng Ed Beg ey Jr. and Candy C ark, and Le Mat and Bruce McG .
2007-01-09 CHARLES, LARRY BORAT --> Rating: 8.50
Incred b y audac ous com c excurs on nto the repressed b gotted consc ous n Amer ca. Is th s offens ve? Undoubted y? Is t br
ant? A so undoubted y. If t were not for the fact that t s hard to d scount the rac st
comments made by unguarded sub ects n the company of Borat, th s f m cou d be seen as s mp e Tom Green sty e rudeness. But the story tse f, of Borat seek ng h s true ove, Pame a Anderson, and seek ng adv ce from a range of Amer can types a ong the way, actua y becomes sort of compe ng.
2006-11-01 FORSTER, MARC STRANGER THAN FICTION --> Rating: 6.80
L ke Rob n W ams, J m Carrey, and Adam Sand er before h m, W Ferre has surrendered to the odd compu s on of Amer can comed ans to take on ser ous dramat c ro es n order to prove themse ves worthy of ser ous cr t ca apprec at on. And as w th the others, who are a we -estab shed Ho ywood persona t es, he s not go ng to appear n a sma , qu rky, mag nat ve f m-- ke "Be ng John Ma kov ch". It s got to be the b gbudget spe b nder, the pseudo-ser ous Ho ywood art f m, concerned w th the appearance of ook ng ke a ser ous f m. Haro d Cr ck-- a of the characters have the ast names of famous mathemat c ans-- starts hear ng a narrat ve vo ce n h s head. It be ongs to famous nove st, Karen E ffe , who s suffer ng from wr ters b ock, unab e to br ng her nove to an end because she can t th nk of a good way to off the ma n character. Th s shou d have been the bas s for a c ever-- at east-- exp orat on of dent fy and consc ousness and san ty. Instead, t s what the producers th nk peop e th nk are dent ty and consc ousness and san ty ssues. But everyth ng s externa and there s not an act on or ne of d a ogue that sn t contr ved and safe and pred ctab e, down to the d sappo nt ng end ng, n wh ch a supposded y reputab e terary scho ar seems to assert that chang ng the fate of one character d m n shes the terary va ue of the ent re book. And th s betrays how safe the mov e p ays t-- they ust cou dn t stand to have Haro d d e. Th s mov e actua y became qu te bor ng and po nt ess very qu ck y.
2006-12-14 GOLDTHWAIT, BOB SLEEPING DOGS LIE --> Rating: 7.80
In sp te of the sa ac ous prem se-- a g r , n a moment of youthfu mpetuousness, performs ora sex on her dog-th s s a f ne, astute f m about honesty n re at onsh ps. Amy, pressured by her boyfr end John, f na y revea s to h m her dark secret. John s repu sed. Amy s understandb y f ummoxed: you wanted the truth, now you can t take t. The consequences of th s reve at on affect her parents and her brother, whom they v s t for the weekend, so John can ask her father for perm ss on to marry her. Her "sp r tua " mother has a reve at on or two of her own, hav ng to do w th E v s and Roy Orb son. Made for ess than $50K (and ooks t at t mes), t s a f nd examp e of why ndependent f ms shou d be made and shou d have the r chance to f nd an aud ence. Inc denta y-- how cou d God thwa t have m ssed the opportun ty: Amy s mom, not known ng what the dark secret was, goes to ta k to John to try to smooth th ngs over. She th nks Amy m ght have confessed that she wasn t a v rg n. Why d dn t she say someth ng ke, "Come on, John, she s not the f rst g r to do t. He , I m not so nnocent myse f...."
2006-12-13 GIBSON, MEL PASSION OF THE CHRIST --> Rating: 6.00
Vast y overb own-- due to the controversy-- dramat c zat on of the ast days of Chr st, w th a dec ded y Catho c bent (revea ed n the fet sh st c attent on to b ood and to Mary s ro e). Is t ant -sem t c? I have some sympathy w th those who defend t on the bas s of the accuracy of the scr pt-- the Phar sees and Scr bes do p ot aga nst Jesus, and they are Jew sh-- but t a so seemed to me that the Romans were more char tab y portrayed w thout rat ona exp anat on. U t mate y, the f m s rather po nt ess- G bson sees suffer ng as the true sub ect of the f m and some of us see suffer ng as a funct on of narrat ve consequence. S nce G bson g or es n the part cu ar suffer ng of Chr st n and of t se f, and seems un nterested n the responses of Chr st s d sc p es or the Romans or the Jews, the f m seems, n an odd way, pornograph c.
2004-01-01 GIBSON, MEL APOCALYPTO --> Rating: 7.00
There s one oke n Apac ypto-- as the Mayan warr ors and the r capt ves approach the Mayan c ty-- a g ant construct on s te n the m dd e of the ung e and h story-- a worker nadvertant y fe s a tree nto the m dd e of the group, and one of the warr ors shouts, "hey, I m wa k ng here". The rest of the f m s humour ess b ood ett ng and ma e suffer ng and absurd y preposterous escapes from var ous d re threats, nc ud ng a panther (who grac ous g ves our hero, Jaguar Paw, a runn ng ead before pursu ng h m at a prec se pace, one step beh nd), ots of warr ors, snakes, po sonous toads... why not have h s w fe and son n a p t? S ow y f ng w th ra n? Wh e she s hav ng a baby? Jaguar Paw gets p erced by an arrow tw ce but st managers to outrun s x hea thy Mayan warr ors. Enough a ready. The f m s rea y a rather contr ved thr er w th unusua y r ch exot c h stor ca and cu tura deta . There s a reference here and there to cu tura rot, but, thankfu y, G bson qu ck y retreats nto chase sequences and thr
ng scenery, a ot of wh ch s d g ta , apparent y. I am mpressed by the comm tment
of the actors-- a most a unknowns-- to the r parts, wh ch ma n y cons st of moan ng, scream ng, or keen ng. It won t be much fun to savage th s f m because you can ust p cture G bson s face: persecuted, sto c, res gned to h s fate of m sunderstood and hated prophet. Just nc denta y-- Jaguar Paw returns to h s v age-- where are the ch dren that waved farewe to the capt ves? They m ght, og ca y, have d sappeared by then but t s a cur ous narrat ve gap-- Jaguar Paw s w fe s st n the we . And a ve. The s tuat on cr es out for some k nd of reso ut on-- but then, Apoca ypco s about scenes of bruta ty and suffer ng and fear-- not og ca narrat ves. And why d dn t h s w fe wa t unt the Mayan warr ors had eft before try ng to c mb out? And Jaguar Paw was too stup d to rea ze that star ng at the we m ght t p off th s captors to where h s w fe and ch d were h d ng? And an ec pse occurred between the t me Jaguar Paw was pos t oned on the stone for sacraf ce and the pr est ra sed h s kn fe? And the panther wa ted for Jaguar Paw to descend the tree before attack ng h m? Courteous beast that... and Jaguar Paw had t me to set the tap r mpa ement dev ce wh e be ng chased n c ose quarters... oh never m nd.
2006-12-12 ALLEN, WOODY SCOOP --> Rating: 7.00
Serv ceab e but somewhat pedestr an murder-mystery, wr tten for Scar ett Johanson, and featur ng the best performance of her short career. Otherw se notab e for the fact that A en doesn t get the g r and doesn t even get a romant c subp ot, un ess you count h s tastefu y caut ous hover ng over Johanson as "subp ot". A en s a mus c an, S d Water, who nadvertant y sets up a meet ng between beaut fu ourna sm student, Sondra Pransky, and dead reporter Joe Strombe (Ian McShane). Sondra th nks she s on to a ser ous scoop-- famous, r ch Peter Lyman s a ser a k er. There s not a ot of tens on n the quest on of whether he s or sn t-- ust the pass ng amusement of so v ng a puzz e.
2006-12-09 REITMAN, JASON THANK YOU FOR SMOKING --> Rating: 7.90
A recent art c e I read n the New York T mes d scussed the fact that the c garette makers ostens b y pay to advert se to teens warn ng them about the dangers of smok ng-- n a very s y, subt e way, n wh ch the h dden message s that smok ng s one of the th ngs that makes you more ke an adu t. Thank You For Smok ng works on that eve of nte gence, wh ch s extraord nary. How tempt ng must t have been to make N ck Nay or a cartoon character, and a r d cu ous v a n. Instead, he s a most hero c because of the exceed ng y c ever ways he f nds to sp n news n favor of h s c ents, the tabacco ndustry. Why does he do t? Because he s good at t. Does he have a consc ence? Maybe-- maybe not any more so than any average Amer can bus nessman. When a reporter has a sex w th h m to he p pry secrets of h s act v t es for a news art c e, N ck s outraged. How cou d you do th s? She rep es w th h s same excuse: for my mortgage. N ck has unch regu ar y w th peop e w th s m ar pos t ons w th the booze and gun ndustr es. They d scuss cha eng ng events and te ev s on programs that make the r c ents ook bad. The gun obb est remarks that when they become known as "merchants of death" through the news expose, h s c ents actua y thought that m ght be a he pfu n ckname. I fe t a b t et down by the end ng because t sudden y targetted the government as a com ca y nept opponent of tobacco nterests. For the f rst t me, the dev ce of N ck be ng w tt er or smarter or more savvy than h s med a opponents ran a b t th n-- W am Macy s senator was stup d beyond a p ausab ty. I don t f nd t hard to be eve that a obb est wou d be smarter than the government-- ust that the government cou d not exp a n why r sks assoc ated w th f y ng or eat ng food are d fferent from the r sks assoc ated w th smok ng. The f m a so seemed to buy that the sett ement w th the Department of Just ce awsu ts was a v ctory aga nst B g Tabacco, when t c ear was, g ven the r prospects, a ma or v ctory, n wh ch the tobacco compan es were ab e to buy mmun ty from future prosecut ons n exchange for a s mp e ncrease n the pr ce of tobacco- pass ng on the costs to the consumer.
2006-12-02 ALTMAN, ROBERT CALIFORNIA SPLIT --> Rating: 8.00
It s sa d that A tman h mse f had a severe gamb ng add ct on n the 1970 s. "Ca forn a Sp t" s about gamb ng n Amer ca, and the gamb ers and oan sharks and prost tutes that m ng e on t s turf. E ot Gou d s Char e, and George Sega s B , who meet at a poker game where they are accused of co aborat ng. In the park ng ot ater, one of the sore osers takes h s revenge, and h s money back. They form a partnersh p for a t me, unt Char e d sappears for a t me, and B runs dangerous y deep nto debt. C ass ca A tman sty e, w th over app ng d a ogue and ong te ephoto ense shots-- th s was the f rst mov e to use 8-track aud o record ng for d a ogue, and, accord ng to one of the screen-wr ters, the record ng eng neer fa nted on the second day of shoot, due to the stress of the ob. Remarkab e f m by Amer ca s most remarkab e d rectory.
2006-12-02 PUIU, CRISTI DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU --> Rating: 8.00
If I cou d go back to the f rst f ve m nutes of the f m, I wou d not be eve I wou d end up g v ng t an 8 out of 10. If you can surv ve that f rst part, as you rea ze that t was shot w th one camera, w th a most no cutt ng, no effects, no sex, no v o ence, no exp os ons-- the story m ght beg n to gr p you. W poor Mr. Lazarescu ever rece ve any treatment-- or a k nd word or two-- as he s hau ed from hosp ta to hosp ta n h s deter orat ng cond t on? Based on the true story of a man who was s m ar y hau ed from hosp ta to hosp ta -- s x t mes-- n Budapest, before be ng eft to d e on the street, the Death of Mr. Lazarescu s superb y acted and crafted, bu d ng qu et y but stead y nto a comment on med ca sc ence, on government and bureacracy, and on fe tse f. Amaz ng y, v rtua y nobody s stereotyped or car catured. Most peop e nvo ved n Lazarescu s neg ect are ne ther co dhearted nor stup d. Each of them mere y contr butes h s or her own un que nd fference to the tany of horrors suffered by the t t e character. The actors p ay ng doctors and nurses fee so authent c, I had to check to make sure they were actors and not rea med ca personne . The way they exam ned forms and ta ked over the pat ent-- t s a nstant y fam ar to anyone who has been n a hosp ta , even a good one. Th s s a terr f c, owkey f m w thout a s ng e fa se note.
2006-11-18 LINKLATER, RICHARD FAST FOOD NATION --> Rating: 7.50
L nk ater has done some compe ng f ms, and Fast Food Nat on was a fasc nat ng book. It shou d have ended up w th someth ng br
ant. Instead, Fast Food Nat on s a most a ways nterest ng, and a most a ways
d sappo nt ng. D a ogue s weak, the c nematography s pedestr an, and a ot of the nteract ons are coy and fey and pretent ous. Fast Food Nat on s about a Mex can husband (Va derrama, from "That 70 s Show") and w fe, and the w fe s s ster, who enter the U.S. ega y and end up work ng n a meat-pack ng p ant n Cody, Co orado. They are confronted w th some unp easant cho ces a ong the way, and m sfortune. That part s to te us how workers are exp o ted. In the meant me, an emp oyee of a fast food out et o ns a group of students nterested n protest, wh e a boy n the same out et cons ders robb ng the p ace. There s an esson here and t s not de vered part cu ar y we . A ot of nformat on s mparted, but at the expense of dramat c energy. I wanted to ke th s f m but I d dn t.
2006-11-18 PALCY, EUZHAN SUGAR CANE ALLEY --> Rating: 8.20
Jose s a smart young boy grow ng up n Mart n que n the 1930 s. H s mother has d ed and h s grandmother, M Man T ne ooks after h m. She s determ ned that he w get a better fe than hers through educat on. She works n the sugar cane for subs stence wages. Jose s a br ght, creat ve student and teachers Carmen, a sa or, n h s spare t me. They face many cha enges espec a y when Jose has a chance to w n a scho arsh p to a schoo n Fort De France, a arge nearby c ty. The ch d actors are very good, and the wonderfu sensua deta of the r ves makes the story compe ng. Love y, charm ng f m.
2006-11-18 EASTWOOD, CLINT FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS --> Rating: 7.80
We expect th s eve of deta , the magn f cent compute graph cs, the grand sca e now, when Ho ywood does h story. Eastwood s a b t of an over-rated d rector, and F ags shows t. C che s abound. Even worse, does Eastwood accept that Iwo J ma was of rea strateg c mportance, an assessment that d d not ex st unt after the batt e, when the cost of tak ng t became c ear y unacceptab e? (The factua record shows that t was not used as a f ghter base to protect bombers after a . Why not ust go around t?) It shou d have turned out better than th s. Eastwood had the guts to use unknowns n the ead ro es-- now the stud o s go ng to say "to d you so". But the act ng s pretty good. It s the story, purported y quest on ng the mean ng of "hero" that goes nowhere, because other than a fac e exerc se n mock ng bureaucrac es and propaganda, we don t see much of a d fference between suckers who m nd ess y obey author ty and "heroes" n th s f m. There s a far super or excurs on nto th s terr tory n "Th n Red L ne".
2006-11-02 DE PALMA, BRIAN CARLITO'S WAY --> Rating: 8.00
Super or act ng and scr pt n th s story about a Puerto R can ex-con who tr es to go stra ght after a ucky break spr ngs h m out of pr son about 30 years ear y. Unfortunate y, too many of h s former assoc ates-- or young upstarts-- enter h s fe and when h s awyer, p ayed very, very we by Sean Penn, needs h m to he p spr ng someone from R ker s Is and, Car to ooks to be headed for b g troub e. Th s s a genre f m, but t s we acted and reasonab y fresh, even f you can see the end ng com ng from a m e away.
2006-11-07 CAMPION, JANE IN THE CUT --> Rating: 6.50
Perp ex ng, bad y conce ved story of a teacher, Frann e (Meg Ryan) who becomes d stant y nvo ved w th the nvest gat on of a murder, and attracted to the v r e detect ve Ma oy (Mark Ruffa o) conduct ng nqu r es. On the day of the murder, she happened to wa k nto the dark basement of a bar and see the v ct m, a prost tute, perform ng ora sex on a man. She notes the tattoo on h s wr st-- perhaps from rather far away-- and f ees, but can t he p th nk ng about the encounter ater. The detect ve takes her out and the mov e ndu ges n the pa nfu conce t of try ng to s nu ataneous y ma nta n the a ure of the detect ve wh e cast ng susp c on on h m. It doesn t work very we , at east part y because Camp on gets s detracked by some of the sensat ona sexua content-mak ng me wonder about the fact that the most sexua y exp c t f ms often turn out to be made by women. Does Frann e want Ruffa o to chase her, to make her fee des rab e, or does she court danger for danger s sake? Why on the earth the f gure skat ng sequences? You can te Camp on was tak ng a r sk there, but unfortunate y, we adm re r sk-tak ng on y when t resu ts n someth ng spec a . Odd y, the p ot, on paper s more og ca than the screen vers on, wh ch somet mes ooks utter y preposterous. Some scenes-- sex w th her student-- come off as utter y gratu tous. It was a so extreme y hard to take your eyes off of Ryan s surg ca y nf ated ps. And the next t me someone comp a ns about ma actors co-starr ng w th actresses ha f the r age-Mark Ruffa o was s x years younger than Ryan and ooked t. Not say ng that sett es the ssue, but...
2006-11-06 COPPOLA, SOFIA MARIE ANTOINETTE --> Rating: 8.00
2006-10-26 WEITZ, PAUL AMERICAN DREAMZ --> Rating: 7.40
Oddba mov e that never rea y pu s t together, but has some very funny moments a ong the way. It s about an Amer can Ido type show and focusses on three contestants, a Jew, and Arab, and a b onde Amer can pr ncess, who read y adm ts that she cou d never ove anybody but herse f. For a mov e that ooks cheap and trashy at t mes, there are some surpr s ng y, astute y funny scenes, as when Omer s terror st hand ers arr ve n Ca forn a to persuade h m to strap on a bomb and go after the Pres dent, who has been nv ted to be an honorary udge for f na e of the program. They end up n the acuzz , w th Omer s aunt serv ng them grapefru t deserts. The send-up of Bush s qu te char tab e: he s seen as the puppet of a Cheney-Rove Svenga (W em Dafoe) but has a ep phany and starts read ng books and newspapers, and f na y proc a ms, on the tv show, that nobody w ever so ve the prob ems n the M dd e East. The most h ar ous sequence nvo ves the b onde s so d er boyfr end who dec des to k h mse f on the show. After he runs nto the camera, sett ng off h s bomb, the show sw tches to screen for v ewers to cast the r votes. We tz had the good sense to et the aud ence not see the exp os on-- the screen ust goes b ank.
2006-10-28 FREARS, STEPHEN THE QUEEN --> Rating: 9.00
Abso ute y fabu ous performance by He en M rren-- d gn f ed, subt e, ma est c-- as Queen E zabeth dea ng w th the e ect on of a new, popu st, m dd e-c ass pr me-m n ster, Tony B a r, and then the sudden death of Pr ncess D ana. The Queen be eved D ana s death shou d be bare y acknow edged, f at a , by the Roya Fam y. After a , the st ng ng scanda s and D ana s embarras ng d sc osures to the tab o ds and on te ev s on were st fresh n her m nd. But as the Br t sh pub c c amoured for some k nd of off c a commemorat on, she reth nks her pos t on. B a r urges her to p ay to the pub c, to address the correct mage, as he h mse f scores a v ctory by proc a m ng D ana the "peop e s pr ncess". Th s s an extreme y we -wr tten, we -acted mov e, wh ch creates surpr s ng tens on n what s, after a , a quest on of taste. You are never qu te sure how much the f mmakers sympath ze w th the Roya s, though, when B a r proc a ms that someone shou d save them from themse ves, t s hard to regard them as anyth ng but mmeasurab y stup d-- espec a y Pr nce Ph
p, who
abso ute y opposed any concess on to popu ar taste. D ana herse f s seen on y through v deo c ps, from the news, and we become aware of how c ever she was as present ng an mage to the pub c that may or may not have corresponded to the rea ty beh nd t. Remarkab e f m.
2006-10-27 LEROY, MERVYN BAD SEED --> Rating: 7.40
Ch
ng story about a 10-year-o d g r named Rhoda Penmark who seems to be nvo ved n some fr ghten ng
events, and may even prove to be a murderer. The rea - fe g r t most put me n m nd of s Mary Be , the Br t sh ch d-murder, who k ed two tt e boys at the age of 11, and appeared to be an aston sh ng y co d-b ooded ar. Rhoda, p ayed by Patty McCorm ck, s ngrat at ng and c ever, and her mother beg ns to suspect th ngs when she f nds a va ued penmansh p meda n her daughter\ s \"treasure chest\" short y after the boy who actua y won the pr ze was found drowned. There\ s some amateur sh psychoana yz ng and a good dea of agon z ng over \"what\ s a mother to do\" but t\ s Patty McCorm ck\ s v rtuous ty that r vets you to the screen. Mother Chr st ne eventua y d scovers that she was adopted, and that her mother was a suspected murderer, and she fears that she has passed on the ev to her daughter. The end ng was a tered from the book and p ay to comp y w th the Hayes code, and t sn\ t hard for an astute v ewer to f gure out what t shou d have been.
2006-10-28 GIBNEY, ALEX ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM --> Rating: 9.00
R vett ng chrono og ca d ssect on of the Enron scanda , how the company was put together by De ay, how Jeffery Sk
ng took t to new he ghts of bambooze ment, and how Andrew Fastow took the fa , n va n, for th s
mass ve f m-f am operat on. The thes s of th s f m s that arrogance and pr de ed to Enron s downfa -- and greed, of course-- but how bad s greed f mere y app ed to eg t mate bus ness? That s a quest on not answered because Enron s downfa started w th a presc ent art c e by Bethany McLean at the F nanc a Post, who cou dn t f gure out where Enron s stock got t s va ue from. Exce ent arch va footage and aud o f es from Enron, phone ca s, stock-ho der and emp oyee presentat ons, and test mony before congress, espec a y by De ay and Sk
ng. Anderson Consu t ng seems to have g ven short shr ft, but that, perhaps, s a d fferent
mov e.
2006-10-20 SCORCESE, MARTIN DEPARTED --> Rating: 7.70
Is th s Scorcese s return to form? Not un ess you thought "Tax Dr ver" was a about the d rector. Has he ust gotten azy n h s o d age? "Departed" s an mpat ent f m-- every scene cuts to the nformat on Scorcese s afra d h s aud ence won t absorb qu ck y enough. Thus, to te egraph that B y Cost gan s worr ed about be ng exposed, he vehement y den es, to Coste o, that he s a cop. Yoohoo-- I m not a cop. In the same way Co n Su van appears so eager to take charge of an nterna nvest gat on to f nd the mo e n the po ce department. Natura y-- there s no exp anat on about why th s part cu ar po ce department chooses to have one of t s own nvest gate h mse f. Even worse, Scorcese resorts to some se f-arm-tw st ng to wr ng some drama out of scenes n wh ch I suspect a rea person wou d wa k away, ke Mado yn chas ng after D Capr o to g ve h m a prescr pt on, nstead of sens b y send ng th s abus ve c ent to another counse or, or, better yet, and more ke y, g v ng h m the news that he doesn t have to cooperate at a f he doesn t want to so he can qu t wh n ng about t. The re at onsh p between B y and Mado yn cou d have been managed-- f Scorcese hadn t been so eager to get them scream ng at each other, to et the aud ence know that she s obv ous y n ove w th h s deep y suffer ng h gher consc ousness, and he s obv ous y n ove w th the dea of her be ng n ove w th h m... Everybody s gunn ng for an Oscar here, wh ch s exact y why an astute v ewer m ght start cross ng them a off h s st. N cho son shame ess y mugs the Joker from Batman, Wah berg and Damon rust e up some ntens ty, and D Capr o s noth ng but ntens ty, w th no nuance or subt ety. Every scene s what the actors and d rector th nk the aud ence th nks t shou d be see ng. There s not a s ng e reve at on or moment of nsp rat on here, but I pred ct t w garner rave rev ews from m dd ng rev ewers and IMDB pund ts and w n an Oscar for best p cture, because some peop e unconsc ous y assoc ate gruesome, exp c ty v o ence and name Ho ywood actors w th "authent c ty". Scorcese here s m tat ng h mse f, v a Tarant no. He even runs "G mme She ter" through the soundtrack for the th rd t me-- no new mus c out there? Or s he ust afra d of not p ay ng to expectat ons?
2006-10-11 MANKIEWICZ, JOSEPH L. SLEUTH --> Rating: 7.00
The prob em, 30 years ater, s that the aud ence sn t foo ed. Not for a second. But f you were foo ed by the oke n th s f m-- t wou d have he ped f they hadn t used such we -known actors-- t st wou d have been noth ng more but a c ever scr pt. And that s about t.
2006-01-01 DAYTON, JONATHAN LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE --> Rating: 8.00
Fresh and charm ng comedy about an dysfunct ona fam y, who set out n a VW m crobus to take tt e O ve to a pageant she has been "chosen" to enter. Dad s -conce ved money-mak ng schemes are go ng awry, but he st be ves n h s 9-po nt p an, brother Frank has tr ed to comm t su c de, son Dwayne won t speak unt he becomes a m tary p ot, and grandpa s a coca ne add ct. There s a few scenes that don t work, adn some s oppy ed t ng, but genera y th s f m ho ds f rm to t s nd e ethos and gets out the qu rk and the sweetness before you know t. Inc denta y, nobody, up to now, has ment oned that the name of the f nanc a adv ser to R chard Hoover, Stan Grossman, s a character from Fargo. Is th s a homage?
2006-08-01 BURSTEIN, NANETTE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE --> Rating: 8.80
Odd y compe ng documentary about producer, and former actor, Robert Evans, who carr es the p cture w th th s bravado, cyn c sm, and d s ngenous fa th n h s own success. It s never c ear exact y how b g, or benef c a a ro e he p ayed n successes ke "The Godfather" and "The St ng" but he was c ear y a centra f gure n many, many Ho ywood moments.
2006-01-01 MICHELL, ROGER CHANGING LANES --> Rating: 7.00
Modest y enterta n ng mora ta e about a awyer whow quest ons h s f rm s eth cs when he d scovers rregu ar t es n a trust. He a so happens to cut off a troub ed father on the freeway, nadvertant y ead ng to a sequence of events n wh ch the father oses access to h s ch dren. The father dec des to seek revenge by ho d ng on to a f e be ong ng to the awyer, wh ch he d scovers has some great va ue to the man, Gav n Banek. From there, t s an uneven by occas ona y ntr gu ng r de to a Ho ywood f n sh, n wh ch the mora connundrums are reso ved and th ngs are pretty we set r ght aga n. Sydney Po ack and Amanda Peet are worthy actors, but Aff eck, as Banek, seems b and.
2006-08-13 SCHORR, MICHAEL SCHULTZ GETS THE BLUES --> Rating: 8.00
Schu tze s an o der German man. Corpu ent and qu et, h s one ndu gence s the accord on, wh ch he p ays we , and wh ch he shows off once a year at a oca mus c fest va . He hangs around w th two c ose fr ends, Jurgen and Manfred, he f shes, stro s around, dr nks beer, and passes t me f tfu y and qu et y. He v s ts h s mother at a nurs ng home where he a so encounters a rather deranged woman named L sa who th nks she s French. Then one day, wh e chang ng stat ons on h s o d rad o, he hears a sn ppet of zydeco mus c, and s nfatuated w th t-- though a he conveys through h s eyes and mouth s a determ ned attachment. He p ays t for h s German fr ends but they don t much care for t-- except for h s c ose fr ends who cheer h m on goodnatured y. When he gets an opportun ty to v s t Amer ca, as a sort of good-w ambassador to h s town s tw n c ty, he eaps at the chance. Once there, he d scovers that zydeco s no more be oved among the fest va crowd there than t s n Germany, but, determ ned, he acqu res a battered b ue boat and embarks nto the Lou s ana Bayou. How do you descr be th s f m? It s a t ng, gent e med tat on on engagement and pass on, through the eyes of a man who appears to have abso ute y noth ng of e ther. Schu tz seems unaware of any om ss on n h s fe unt he hears the zydeco, and then he seems utter y unab e to art cu ate what t arouses n h s sou . H s fr ends are baff ed but ntr gued by h s messages back from Amer ca. The Amer cans he meets seem to ke h m-- espec a y a b ack woman on a boat who cooks up some crab for h m and steers h m to a dance where he f na y hears the zydeco mus c that f rst set h m off, ve. And he dances. Schu tz s more charm ng than t sounds-- you keep th nk ng, boy, Ho ywood ust doesn t dea w th th s k nd of th ng: ag ng, soc a nert a, one ness-- not ser ous y. A beaut fu tt e f m.
2006-08-11 JENNINGS, GARTH HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY --> Rating: 7.50
Very enterta n ng but uneven transmutat on of Adam s ce ebrated H tchh ker books, about a man, Arthur Dent, whose house s about to be demo shed to make room for an expressway, sudden y d scover ng that the earth tse f s about to be demo shed to make way for an nterga act c expressway. Deep y fau ted but end ess y amus ng because of Adam s w d mag nat on and nvent ve sense of humour. The bad a ens are bureaucrat c n ts, and Dent meets a ser es of w d y mprobab y characters... the ove story doesn t work because the chem stry between Zooey Deschane and Freeman cannot even be mag ned to ex st... the spec a effects are f ne, and B N ghy s fun. It s a most more enterta n ng to watch f ashes of t than the who e th ng.
2005-01-01 FRANKEL, DAVID DEVIL WEARS PRADA --> Rating: 7.90
Why has t become convent ona Ho ywood mora ty that a woman who chooses a career must be a co dhearted b tch? She can t be a warm, exuberant, w tty, fun g r -- she has to be a b tch. The keab e characters a happ y, contented y, de ghted y surrender a of the r asp rat ons to the cozy warmth of a snugg e w th an nev tab y unshaven s ob. That sa d, "Prada" s sharp and enterta n ng, arge y because Streep g ves d mens ons to M randa, the re ent ess y demand ng ed tor, and the f m enterta ns w th deta s of her work. What a shame that they cou dn t et the v ewer dec de, n the end, wh ch cho ce s better. Instead, the message s de vered w th heavy-handed acts of persona affronts, and Andy tosses her B ackberry nto a founta n and f ees back to her vacuous boyfr end w th the perpetua 5:00 shadow.
2006-07-14 BARRATIER, CHRISTOPHE CHORUS --> Rating: 7.00
Savage y raked by many North Amer can cr t cs, "Les Chor stes" s a fa r y convent ona "Up the Down Sta rcase", "To S r w th Love", "Mr. Ho and s Opus" type story, set n a French board ng schoo ust after Wor d War II. There are a few s y references to Peta n, but not much e se spec f ca y t ed to the recent occupat on. C ement Math eu s a new teacher s ass stant or Prefect at the board schoo and he actua y cares about the boys n h s charge. He dec des to start a cho r for them, and d scovers that one of them has a br
ant vo ce. As
n every standard render ng of th s story, an author ty f gure has an rrat ona res stance to the dea of persuad ng boys to s ng, and then, when t catches the ears of an attract ve board member, tr es to take cred t for t. Had none of these other mov es ex sted before t, th s m ght have been a passab y good f m, a f ne f m. But the overt s m ar tes rea y are rather hard to excuse, even f presented w th a b t more soph st cat on than some of the Amer can var ants. The act ng s pretty good, the costumes and sets are p easant. In some ways, a so rem nds me of "Au Revo r Des Enfants", from a s m ar era, but "Au Revo r..." s a much better f m. A so echoes of "400 B ows", though pa es by compar son.
2006-08-02 SHEPHERD, RICHARD MATADOR --> Rating: 7.70
A supr s ng y effect ve P erce Brosnan p ays Ju an Nob e, a h t man, who meets Danny Wr ght, a fa ng bus nessman, n Mex co, takes a k ng to h m, and conf des n h m about h s profess on. Wr ght, t turns out, s fac ng a cr s s and m ght be ab e to use a h t man. H s w fe, "Bean", ust wants to see Ju an s gun. Th s s an offk ter comedy, wh ch wou d have been better f they had on y trusted the r aud ence a tt e more. Instead, we are eft w th the odd suggest on that there s noth ng wrong w th k
ng peop e for money, as ong as t s not
someone we know. There s a so a rather coy and po nt ess suggest on that Ju an and Danny m ght or m ght not have had a "th ng" for each other. Camera tr cks, rea y: c ose up of the hand qu ck y touch ng a th gh, and so on. But was that supposed to be part of the suspense? Because there s not much e se t cou d be. Matador s a f ne mov e, enterta n ng, and reasonb y t ght, and t doesn t part cu ar y rem nd me of any other f m.
2006-08-01 FRANKLIN, CARL OUT OF TIME --> Rating: 7.00
Bearab e but pudgey thr er about a po ce ch ef whose soon to be ex-w fe s a hom c de detect ve who gets nvo ved w th a woman dy ng of cancer. When the woman and her abus ve husband are k ed n a f re, Wh t ock (Denze Wash ngton) must def ect susp c on away from h mse f. As de from the g ar ng unbe evab
ty
of the p ot-- he th nks he can actua y erase any ev dence of h s nk to the woman-- the mov e chugs a ong smooth y to t s pred ctab e f n sh. Eva Mendes s charm ng as the exw fe, and John B
ngs ey s m d y
amus ng.
2006-07-08 ALTMAN, ROBERT PRARIE HOME COMPANION --> Rating: 7.80
Lesser A tman but st A tman, an nterest ng ook at the beh nd the scenes act v t es at Ke or s "Prar e Home Compan on" rad o show, featur ng mus ca art sts, product on staff, and the star, we -p ayed as h mse f by Garr son Ke or. Not as edgy or nterest ng as, say "The Company" or "Dr. T s Women", but that n m tab e A tman sty e, the super or performances (except for Streep and Tom n s s ng ng wh ch doesn t go anywhere), and an ange (V rg n a Masden) who ntervenes, to no ava , when a Texas cong omerate buys out the stat on and threatens to cance the program. It s a p ty that Tom Wa ts and Ly e Lovett, who were ntended for the ro es of the s ng ng cowboys, d dn t make t. As w th Nashv e, A tman g ves short shr ft to the rea ta ent nvo ved n Country mus c, wh ch, for a t s f aws, sn t someth ng an actress ke Streep can pu off successfu y.
2006-06-16 BAUMBACH, NOAH SQUID AND THE WHALE --> Rating: 7.50
I m not sure what to make of th s mov e. L ke a grow ng number of f ms, t has a the externa mak ngs of a qu rky ndependent f m, w thout necessar y hav ng the nte ectua or art st c v s on you come to expect. Squ d s about a coup e of wr ters who sp t up, at a t me when the father s career s n the do drums and mom s career s ust start ng to take off. It s hard to take the portra t of the father ser ous y-- t descendes nto r d cu e and car cature at t mes-- and the two boys seem under-deve oped. But t has a raw, edg ness to t that keeps t from go ng too soft.
2006-05-28 TUCKER, DUNCAN TRANSAMERICA --> Rating: 7.80
Fe c ty Huffman p ays a man p ay ng a woman: Bree Osbourne, who s part way nto a sex change operat on, wh ch her doctor w not advance unt she has reso ved some persona ssues? How? By sett ng out on a trans-amer can ourney, of course, and runn ng nto assorted co orfu and memorab e peop e on the way, nc ud ng her estranged son. Rea y not qu te that bad-- a re at ve y enterta n ng d vers on. There s a b t of a se f-congru atory a re about the f m, as f nobody has ever done anyth ng qu te th s shock ng recent y-- but they have, n fact. And ke some of those f ms, Transamer ca s smart enough not to ca too much attent on to moments when t th nks ts be ng great. But some of the act ons are not be evab e and some deve opments seem forgotten a m nute after they happened.
2006-01-01 TUCKER, ANAND SHOPGIRL --> Rating: 8.00
It s a most a ways a bad s gn when a we -known actor wr tes a story and then stars n and-- worse-- produces the mov e based on t. But Mart n wants so bad y to say someth ng true and mean ngfu , and Shopg r so stud ous y avo ds every c che and contr vance, that the resu t, n th s case, s fresh and enterta n ng, and even mean ngfu . Ray Porter s a successfu og c an-- he works n software--who trave s from Seatt e to LA frequent y by pr vate p ane, and s ook ng for more than sex: he sees M rabe e (C a re Danes) beh nd the counter of a Saks s g ove department and dec des he wants to get to know her. He mmed ate y makes t c ear to her that he s not nterested n marr age, and he wants them both to be free to meet others. We don t get enough about M rabe e s fe to g ve us a fu p cture. She s on ant -depressants. She s from Vermont. Her father s not very ta kat ve. That she wou d even cons der go ng out w th Jeremy, the qu ntessent a geeky, unkempt, nsens t ve guy she meets at a aundramat, te s you wor ds about her fe. She seems odd y fr end ess n the mov e. Her on y acqua ntance seems to be L sa, and L sa s the mov es on y condescens on to c che. She s the bad g r , and the bad g r wears too much makeup and uses sex toys. The story s odd and med tat ve. Ray Porter s revea ed to be a man who has grave d ff cu t es w th nt mac es, but to Mart n s cred t, he sn t a bad person. He genu ne y cares for M rabe e, and does tastefu , n ce th ngs for her, and probab y, n the end, rea zes that he has made a grave m stake. The characters we -rounded and r ch. Best of a - they haunt. They touch upon bas c, needfu , human th ngs.
2006-05-28 PECKINPAH, SAM PAT GARRET AND BILLY THE KID --> Rating: 7.00
Sam Peck npah s take on B y the K d, w th Bob Dy an as a as. A m ess and po nt ess, poor y acted. Gratu tous cutt ng.
2000-01-01 PEKINPAH, SAM BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA --> Rating: 6.00
B zarre y over-rated story about a down-on-h s- uck Amer can who stumb es nto an attract ve bounty: f nd the head of A fredo Garc a and br ng t to a coup e of henchmen for a r ch Mex can man. A fredo, you see, has mpregnated h s daughter. And Benn e (Warren Oates) happens to know A fredo s former over. And she knows that A fredo s dead and bur ed n a cemetary n a sma town. They set out to get the head encounter ng doub e-dea ers, rap sts, and thugs a ong the way, and Benn e k s them a . And then has the ga to b ame the r ch Mex can for nc t ng a the v o ence w th th s bounty on A fredo. Poor y f med, poor y wr tten, and poor y acted-- t has the k nd of bad techno ogy some superb and nterst ng f ms are known for, and that must be the on y exp anat on of why Roger Ebert, a most a one among Amer can rev ewers, gave t a favorab e rev ew. One rev ewer c a med that Peck npah was n a quest for truth-- "no matter what the cost". That s about the dumbest th ng I ve ever read about any mov e, un ess you count someone descr b ng the shoot ng scenes as hav ng a "ha uc natory grandeur", wh ch, I suppose, s one way to abe bad ed t ng and cheap effects. It s not ke he s w d y nvent ve w thout the money. He s w thout nvent on or money, or spec a effects, or any k nd of og c. The on y statement the f m seems to be mak ng s that even se f-p ty ng psychot c thugs have a const tuency out there who m ght rea y be eve that they on y k peop e because they "have to" to prove that the wor d s a mess and ev tr umphs.
2006-05-20 SEMBENE, OUSMANE MOOLAADE --> Rating: 8.00
Charm ng Afr can f m about fema e c rcumc s on. Pretty we text-book advocacy f m-mak ng-- n a pos t ve sense. Te s a story about young g r s n a sma town n Senega who f ee the r tua c rcumc s on r tua and take refuge w th Co e, a woman regarded w th susp c on by the v age because of her def ance of trad t ona women s ro es. Co e g ves the women a spec a mag ca protect on ca ed moo aade, wh ch the v age fervent y be eves n and demands that she remove. Co e had refused to a ow her own daughter to be c rcumc sed, wh ch causes the v age e der s son to break off h s engagement to her. Meanwh e, the ch ef, angry at the fem n st rebe on, conf scates a of the women s rad os-- wh ch become an emb em of modern zat on and rat ona ty. N ce y to d story, convent ona n sty e but um nat ng of a severe y underrepresented cu ture n the wor d of f m.
2006-01-01 GREENGRAS, PAUL UNITED 93 --> Rating: 7.30
Pa nstak ng y recreated f ght of the fourth h acked p ane on 9/11, w th the cooperat on of the fam es of the v ct ms-- wh ch doesn t actua y mean that the f m s the truth. But there are odd t es forced upon the narrat ve by th s constr ct on, most obv ous y n the rather frank dep ct on of confus on and d sorder on the ground. Nobody seemed to know who had the author ty to order f ghter ets nto the a r, or to shoot down a c v an etner. Nobody was sure how many p anes had been h acked, and nobody knew where Un ted 993 (wh ch had been de ayed) was headed to. St , a va uab e f m, f not a great one. We -acted genera y. Unfortuante y, Greengras chose to use hand-he d cameras, to conv nce us, I suppose, that we are "there". We re not.
2006-05-13 LEIGH, MIKE TOPSY-TURVY --> Rating: 8.00
Intr gu ng portra t of the re at onsh p between G bert and Su van at the he ght of success. Cr t cs c a m they have begun to repeat themse ves and Su van be eves t. He wants to work on a symphony or concerto, but G bert wants h m to wr te another h t. But the f m s not about the drama of the r strugg e for success-- t s rea y str v ng towards greater success-- but on the r ch tapestry of re at onsh ps and env ronment n wh ch they worked. G bert goes to an exh b t on the Japanese and so s nsp red to "The M kado", wh ch appea s to Su van. It s rare that a f m engages the v ewer n the dramat c process w thout excess ve contr vance or pretent on. Very enterta n ng, r ch, and de ghtfu .
2006-05-05 MENDES, SAM JARHEAD --> Rating: 7.20
Jarhead s fu of moments of what fee s ke a d rector s concept on of what t must fee ke to be a mar ne. There s sudden excurberance and cheer ng, and bruta n t at on r tes, and "shock ng" d atr bes about war and weakness and manhood. It never fee s very authent c and re at onsh ps are not very f eshed out and "Jarhead" avo ds p at tudes, but, n so do ng, avo ds perspect ve. Jake Gy enhaa p ays Wofford w th great conv ct on and determ nat on-- but not necessar y much art. He s not a very good mar ne, but mar nes are there to k peop e and to s ap each other on the b ack and act ke peop e who carry the burden of ma nta n ng the r own farce. Peter Sarsgaard s h s spotter, Troy. Most of the other characters are stock, nc ud ng the tough but fa r Sergeant, the coward, the m nor ty, the fanat c, etc.
2006-04-27 LEE, ANG BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN --> Rating: 8.20
Extraord nary mov e about two cowboys who fa n ove w th each other, but, for obv ous reasons, can t ve together. They marry, have ch dren, work, but every year they spend a few weeks together "f sh ng". The r w ves beg n to suspect the truth. Works as a po gnant ove story, w th superb performances, espec a y from Heath Ledger and M che e W ams as h s w fe. A ot of scenes fee ust r ght-- ke Enn s daughter ask ng h m to come to her wedd ng, and Lureen exp a n ng to Enn s over the phone-- and Jack s mother send ng Enn s up to Jack s boyhood room. Str k ng score.
2006-04-01 LEE, SPIKE BAMBOOZLED --> Rating: 9.00
Abso ute y br
ant, m nd-bogg ng f m about race, n n m tab e Lee sty e. And ke many of Lee s br
ant f ms,
deep y f awed-- yet unforgettab e. Damon Wayans p ays P erre De acro x, a b ack tv producer, whose boss, Thomas Dunw tty (M chae Rappaport) demands a h p h t. Everyone knows that b ack cu ture s cutt ng edge, so P erre dec des to resurrect a m nstre show, w th Manray whom he renames "Mantan" and "S eep nEat" ((Sav on G over and Tommy Dav dson). He ho ds aud t ons-- a br
ant, audac ous sequence-- and br ngs a
house band n, and Aunt Jem ma and Junebug and others, and produces an abso ute y repe ant program that, of course, becomes a h t. There are b g echoes of "Network" here, but a so some utter y amaz ng, " n your face" reve at ons about race n Amer ca, nc ud ng a br
ant sequence of o d f m c ps and toys at the end that have
sure y been consc ous y or not suppressed for decades. (A apparent y from Sp ke Lee s own co ect on). Some peop e-- not unexpected y -- hated th s f m. Others oved t. I can understand both po nts of v ew, but I can t see how Lee s ta ent as a d rector/wr ter can be den ed, and I can t see how anyone can avo d encounter ng the on y f ms that comment honest y on race ssues n Amer ca today.
2006-04-10 LEE, SPIKE INSIDE MAN --> Rating: 7.50
Super or caper f m-- and unworthy of Lee s ta ents. C ve Owen s great as Da ton Russe , a met cu ous bankrobber w th an unusua p an to rob a Manhattan Bank. Denze Wash nton s Detect ve Fraz er, a hostage negot ator, who tr es to match w ts w th h m. I often wonder what wou d happen n these types of f ms f the hostage takers wou d get ser ous about k
ng the r hostages f the p ane or bus sn t de vered exact y on t me,
but Lee takes a d fferent route. Russe doesn t even seem a that nterested n the money n the bank-- what s he after? On y Arthur Case, owner of the bank, knows, and he s desperate to keep that nformat on from everyone e se. We acted and d rected, and ntr gu ng up the po nt where the f rst hostage s "executed". P ummer s great as Case, but the "reve at on" s a t red one. Foster s except ona -- a more nterest ng character than she has p ayed n other recent f ms.
2006-04-11 HARRON, MARY I SHOT ANDY WARHOL --> Rating: 8.00
Super or drama about a d sturbed young woman who became nvo ved w th Warho s group n New York and eventua y shot h m. Warho surv ved though h s death a few years ater was part y attr buted to the wounds he rece ved. We acted and f med.
2000-01-01 HARRON, MARY AMERICAN PSYCHO --> Rating: 6.00
Po nt ess dramat zat on of the controvers a book, probab y better as a mov e than the book was as a book.
2000-01-01 IVORY, JAMES LE DIVORCE --> Rating: 7.00
Odd y adu t but m serab y unaffect ng ta e about a pregnant woman whose fam y comes to he p her out w th a French d vorce. F rst y, her s ster o ns her n Par s and has her own a son w th a French man, who of course, regards her as noth ng more than a m stresss. A ot of commentary on French / Amer can hab ts and va ues.
2006-04-01 MEHTA, DEEPA WATER --> Rating: 7.70
Earnest, beaut fu y f med, but the scr pt and act ng are uneven. A rea s ce of Ind a, dea ng w th H ndu trad t ons nvo v ng w dows who, t s be eved, shou d ead chaste ves after the r husbands have d ed, ded cat ng the r ves to h s ever ast ng atonement. Even f the g r was a ch d br de who never even met her deceased husband, as n the case of Chuy a, who s sudden y taken from her home and ocked up w th a group of w sdows n Varanas . When one of the younger w dows, Ka yan , fa s n ove w th young amb t ous awyer about to move to Ca cutta, some of the o der women want to ock her n her room. Her attempts to move out are comp cated by the fact that some of the women have been serv ng as prost tutes to he p pay for the the r keep.
2006-04-01 MALICK, TERENCE THIN RED LINE --> Rating: 8.60
Br
ant but f awed masterp ece about the batt e to take Guadacana from the Japanese n 1942-43, f med n
Ma ck s n m tab e sty e. Th n Red L ne s spraw ng and somet mes d ffuse, but never, for one second, un nterest ng to watch. Odd that a such a f maker s f mmaker wou d use so many name actors n b t parts. But he draws such good performances from them-- espec a y Harre son and Cusack and Penn-- that t genera y works. If there s a center to th s story t s probab y James Cav eze , as pr vate W tt, who goes awo at the beg nn ng and prov des myst ca ref ect ons n h s narrat on throughout. Some cr t cs fe t the f m fa ed n the ast hour, because t d dn t stay w th a s ng e character or po nt of v ew. It def n te y seemed a b t unfocused for the ast 30 m nutes-- mopp ng up the adventure, the way the so d ers mopped up after the r successfu advance to the west coast of the s and. It a so eft the unfortunate mpress on that the v ewer cou d dent fy w th th s cont nuous ser es of v ctor es wh e med tat ng rather po nt ess y on the po nt essness of oss, of war and conf ct. Themes rev s ted w th the same m xture of success and fa ure n "New Wor d" seven years ater.
2006-03-31 ALLEN, WOODY MATCH POINT --> Rating: 7.90
Er... d dn t we see th s f m? We d d-- t was ca ed "Cr mes and M sdemeanors". A man comm ts a terr b e, v o ent act and, far from be ng constr cted w th gu t and remorse, goes on to ead a happy fe. L fe s fundamenta y un ust and sub ect to random tw sts of fate. That s about t. So Match Po nt p cks up the same theme, w th Scar ett Johanson as the m stress who demands that her over d vorce h s r ch w fe and marry her. That sa d, even Woody A en repeat ng h mse f s better than 90% of the f ms out there, and t s a p easure to watch an adu t f m-- adu t n the pos t ve sense-- peop e behav ng reasonab y, w th the except on of that extraord nar y transgress ve event that dr ves the p ot. Even when Em y Mort mer suspects that Chr s s hav ng an affa r-- beaut fu y rea zed. Mort mer s a superb actress who does vu nerab ty better than ust about anybody. Johannson f na y stretches her and g ves her best performance ever-- but t s not as conv nc ng as you m ght hope for.
2006-05-18 HANEKE, MICHAEL CACHE --> Rating: 8.60
Why s someone eav ng v deo tapes at the Laurent s front door, wh ch cons st of a steady, unb nk ng, v ew of the front of the r house. Noth ng unusua happens. We watch w th the Laurents and then draw back as they try to make sense of t. More tapes come, a ong w th macabre ch d- ke p ctures of a person vom tt ng b ood or hav ng h s throat s t. Now Georges Laurent s d sturbed. Un ke "H story of V o ence", we observe our protragon st exam ne h s own fe-- what d d I do that wou d have made someone so angry and hatefu that they wou d torment us ke th s? Even George s w fe, Anne, beg ns to wonder f George has been h d ng someth ng from her. When George spots a c ue n one of the v deos, he goes to v s t the man he th nks s respons b e, sett ng off a cha n of events that ends n d saster. Contrary to "Cr mes and M sdemeanors", C che asserts that you cannot escape an ev deed,; n t s own way, t s every b t as conv nc ng, but u t mate y Woody A en s r ght: fe s not ust. It s a b t d ff cu t at t mes to accept that Georges wou d not deve op some k nd of rat ona zat on for what he d d so ong ago, and c ng to t as we a do, n the be ef that somehow we can a ways and nev tab y w def ne ourse ves as v rtuous.
2006-03-24 MCTEIGUE, JAMES V FOR VENDETTA --> Rating: 7.70
D sappo nt ng product of co aborat on between Wachowsk brothers and an A an Moore com c--who actua y condemned the mov e. John Hurt s the snar ng oppressor, the d ctator who s so r d cu ous y ev that t s very, very hard to take h m ser ous y for one moment. You ust know that the d ctator wou d sound more ke Ha n 2001 nowadays. I tr ed to g ve the dea the benef t of the doubt-- a throwback? A com c book perspect ve? Or ust p a n dumb. But even dumber s the dea that a savvy g r ke Evey wou d put up w th V s bruta "programme", n wh ch he treats her the way he be eves the government treats ts peop e, to pur fy her for the batt e-- w thout her know edge or consent of course. So how s he a berator? W th these two cr t ca p eces at odds w th the thrust of the story, t s hard to muster any exc tement when V does set out to b ow up the Par ament bu d ngs. We ust know that a few years after the events n the mov e, t w be V on tv exto ng the v rtues of h s v ew of soc ety. Brown e po nts for the unusua take on "terror sm"; p ty t doesn t rea y have anyth ng to say about berty or soc a ust ce. Portman tr es hard... a as.
2006-03-25 HOGAN, P.J. BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING --> Rating: 6.40
The somewhat surpr s ng wedd ng can t rescuse th s past che from the ted um of watch ng one ong extended meet-cute nverted: here they part cute. I ust cou dn t care enough about the Ju a Roberts character to fee that t mattered one way or the other, though, f she had s mp y burst nto tears at the very end nstead of danc ng w th her gay fr end...
2006-03-24 GUNNARSSON, STURLA BEOWULF & GRENDEL --> Rating: 7.00
Th s s a very strange horror ep c that never seems to ga n any momentum, pr mar y because Grende ust sn t very scary. He appears to be a arge, energet c man, and not even remote y monstrous, and the fear and para ys s exper enced by the Danes seems who y out of proport on to Grende s actua appearance. K ng Hrothgar n part cu ar enters a k nd of depressed funk because of h s nab ty to track down and k the tro -but t s hard for even an empathet c v ewer to be eve n h s he p essness. Beowu f comes from Ice and and tr es to save the town, but Grende has no beef w th the hero-- he wasn t the one who k ed h s dad. Shades aga n of 9/11, as we cons der that K ng Hrothgar has a past for wh ch he may be pay ng. Sarah Po ey p ays an odd y gratu tous ro e of a w tch, scapegoated by the commun ty, who s fr end y to both s des. She fa s to convey anyth ng of the sense of deso at on you wou d expect her character, Se ma, to have exper enced-- she s d dn t ust move to the suburbs, after a . A of th s s supposed to be okay because part of the po nt of the story s that the hero myths are ust that-- meant to comfort, not nform. So an Ir sh monk, Brendan, makes h s appearance, hera d ng the spread of monothe sm-- he succeeds n bapt z ng most of the v age-- and the tw ght of the gods. Intr gu ng at t mes and atmospher c because of the b eak f m ng ocat ons, Beowu f & Grende s f abby and unfocussed.
2006-03-22 VALLEE, JEAN-MARC C.R.A.Z.Y. --> Rating: 7.50
Enterta n ng f der vat ve comedy about a gay boy grow ng up n a very macho fam y n Montrea n the 1970 s and 80 s. Zac Beau eu has a b g prob em w th th s father, but an even b gger prob em w th th s brothers. The ma n prob em w th th s f m s that Zac g ves h mse f off as "oppressed", un ust y, of course, by h s parents and soc ety because... we , he doesn t actua y do anyth ng gay. So he wants t both ways. He s persecuted because he s d fferent, but he doesn t seem to want the aud ence to be turned off by h s actua gayness.
2006-02-01 WRIGHT, JOE PRIDE AND PREJUDICE --> Rating: 7.70
Ke ra Kn ght y s the most beaut fu woman a ve but she can t do more than prov de p easant ornamentat on for th s nterest ng but u t mate y unsat sfy ng vers on of Jane Austen s me odrama. What keeps t nterest ng s astute d rect on, a sense of humour, and restra nt. It s not actua y a that bad rea y. It has a heart and the end ng s not unsat sfy ng.
2006-03-05 CLOONEY, GEORGE GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK --> Rating: 8.40
A so wr tten by George C ooney. F med n b ack and wh te, n c austrophob c ed t ng rooms and camera bays, an ntense study of Ed Murrow s famous confrontat on w th Senator Joseph McCarthy at t me, t must be remembered, when ead ng po t c ans ke Pres dent E senhower were afra d to take h m on. Murrow, w th the tentat ve back ng of W am S. Pa ey, cha man of CBS, d d a ser es of stor es about McCarthy s un ust persecut ons of var ous army and government personne . The mov e taps nto the famous confrontat on w th Joseph We ch at the Senate comm ttee hear ngs (the ones that f na y nvest gated McCarthy). Dav d Stratha rn, the wonderfu sherr ff of "Matewan", s marve ous as Murrow-- dry and nte ectua , but reso ute. "Good N ght and Good Luck" a udes to modern t mes w th severa po nted abs at the danger of a doc e, unquest on ng med a, and te ev s on that seeks to end ess enterta n rather than en ghten.
2006-03-04 MILLER, BENNETT CAPOTE --> Rating: 8.00
Capote features a terr f c, dar ng performance by Ph p Seymour Hoffman as the effete wr ter, broad manner sms and a , as he pursues h s v s on of wr t ng a non-f ct on nove , about the murders of Herbert C utter, h s w fe, and two ch dren n 1959. Capote trave s to Kansas and nteracts uneas y w th the down-toearth, unsoph st cated oca s, but t s a tr bute to the mov e s s ncer ty that the oca s are not r d cu es. They are susp c ous of Capote s soph st cat on, but they ta k to h m and he stens to them and w ns the r trust. It was a stroke of uck for Capote that the two k ers were caught and he d n Kansas and he was ab e to get access to them and nterv ew them extens ve y for the book. Harper Lee, nc denta y, o ned h m on the tr p-- she based the character of D n "To K a Mock ngb rd" on Capote and was h s fe ong fr end.
2005-12-01 CARO, NIKO NORTH COUNTRY --> Rating: 7.80
Th s s a f ne, f ne f m r ght up to the confrontat on between Josey and her fe ow workers and father at the un on meet ng. It s based on the true story of the the f rst c ass act on sexua harassment awsu t ever nst tuted n the U.S. Josey and severa other women are p oneers n work ng at the m ne (the resu t of court-ordered steps taken by the m n ng company), and she and the others are sub ect to re ent ess sexua and phys ca harassment. Un ke G ory, who earns to turn as de the provocat ons w th humour and th ck sk n, Josey dec des to take act on. Caro unw se y chooses to te a para e story about Josey s son, the product of a rape n h gh schoo . The scenes n wh ch the son rebe s, and then s corrected by Jos e s fr end Ky e, are wooden and excruc at ng y contr ved. But the scene n wh ch Jos e s father f na y comes over to her s de at a raucous un on meet ng s raw and authent c. Char ze Theron s exce ent, as s R chard Jenk ns as her dad. Had t not been for the unfortunate d vers ons, and the appa ng y unrea st c courtroom reso ut on-- Bobby Sharp confesses the horr b e truth r ght on the stand, after be ng thrott ed by Jos e s awyer, B Wh te. Cur ous y, the rea fe Jos e-- Lo s Jenson-- d dn t ke the book, "C ass Act on", that the f m was based on, but d d ke the f m. The generous samp ng of Bob Dy an songs on the soundtrack s a treat, but how cou d they have eft out "Is Your Love In Va n" w th th s chorus: Can you cook and sew/make f owers grow...
2006-03-12 SCHWENTKE, ROBERT FLIGHT PLAN --> Rating: 5.00
Ted ous and pred ctab e "thr er" about a mother, Jod e Foster, who gets onto a p ane w th her daughter after the death of her husband and wakes up from a snooze to f nd her daughter m ss ng, and a skept ca f ght crew ncreas ng y re uctant to be eve her. The mother a so happens to be an eng neer who worked on the des gn of the et. And f you f nd that hard to be ef, try to exp a n why anybody ever got nvo ved n th s sorry p ot. What s w th Jod e Foster? She seems to have an aff n ty for b g-budget f ms that ook good on y on paper. Th s, by the way, s rea y a remake of the far super or "Lady Van shes" by H tchcock.
2006-02-16 BUJALSKI, ANDREW FUNNY HA HA --> Rating: 7.80
Charm ng f m that depends for t s fe on the charms of Kate Do enmayer, who s n a most every scene, hemm ng and haww ng her way through fa ed re at onsh ps and bad dates and d sappo ntments. Strugg ng to f nd her way nto post co ege fe. Very, very ow-budget, and very rough sound. A most now nc denta mus c or effects. But has a compe ng sort of authent c ty to t-- Marn e sounds exact y ke many young women I know. A wry a ternat ve to Ho ywood constructs.
2006-02-16 SCHNABEL, JULIAN BEFORE NIGHT FALLS --> Rating: 8.30
Impress ve, sensua portra t of Cuban ex-patr at poet Re na do Arenas, based on h s memo re of the same name, wh ch he comp eted short y before h s su c de wh e n the ate stages of AIDS n New York C ty n 1990. Traces h s ear y fe n the countrys de, h s growth as a wr ter, h s ntens fy ng conf cts w th the Castro reg me, h s arrests and h s eventua escape to the U.S., where h s new fe was somewhat ess than the dy c refuge he had mag ned. In rea fe, Arenas was somewhat more po t ca than the f m portrays h m, poss b y because h s cr t c sm s of Castro m ght be perce ved d fferent y f we ghed aga nst the exper ence of E Savador, N caragua, Honduras, and Guatema a. We -acted, we -wr tten, and beaut fu y f med, and trag c.
2006-02-16 MALICK, TERENCE NEW WORLD --> Rating: 7.80
Very odd m x of superb c nematography and c umsy, ackward, embarrass ng scenes of fey ov a ty between the two ma n characters; d s o nted narrat ve, mumb ed phoney grav tas from Co n Farre . And the eterna y fasc nat ng story of the Ind an pr ncess, Pocohantos, who, at the age 10, ed a group of braves de ver ng food to the starv ng p oneers at V rg n a s f rst sett ement, and turned cartwhee s, naked, n the town square n the summer, n compet t on w th the boys. Eventua y, she was taken "hostage" (though treated we ) by the sett ers, who wanted to make a dea w th her father. John Sm th, the wh te sett er she fa s n ove w th, eaves for further amb t ons (te ng Pocohantos, through a fr end, that he s dead). She marr es John Ro fe (Chr st an Ba e) and trave s to Eng and where she s a sensat on, meet ng K ng James and the court. She catches a d sease and d es. But here s where Ma ck oses h s way. The f rst ha f of the mov e addresses the us ons the Europeans have of progress and c v zat on, show ng the A gonqu n to be more advanced n most respects than they are. The second ha f a most be es that theory, reve ng Pocohantos acceptance and ce ebr ty. It s probab y a gesture of reverence for Pocohantos herse f, but comes off as the pra se of fa nt damnat on. Even her bapt sm and marr age are shown as pecu ar y og ca . The vo ce-over s a b g m stake. It ntrudes everywhere, c ear y demonstrat ng that Ma ck had tt e fa th n h s own magery. Q Or anka K cher s br
ant as Pocohantos (she s
never ca ed Pocohantos n the f m) but many scenes w th her gambo ng w th Sm th are tr te and hokey. Farre , nexcusab y, mumb es a of h s nes a a Brando, and there s the occas ona hand-he d affectat on dur ng act on scenes. Th s s a fa ure, but an nterest ng one. It seems ess and ess nterest ng the more I th nk of the vo ce-overs.
2006-02-10 HANSON, CURTIS IN HER SHOES --> Rating: 7.70
Under-rated p cture of s b ng r va y, ost parenta ove, and pu ng yourse f together. Cameron D az s actua y qu te effect ve and Ton Co ette s too, n th s we -wr tten, we -d rected romance. In the end, as n Shakespeare, even the nymphs marry, but the characters are or g na enough and conv nc ng enough to take us a ong for the r de. And the o d fo ks are qu te enterta n ng-- Magg e and Rose s grandmother ves n a ret rement home. Fortunate y, Hanson had the good taste and restra nt to spare us an excess of the most obv ous okes. St , t wou d have been a better f m f he had spared us the faux breakup of the engagement at the end, ust to put some tens on nto the scr pt.
2006-02-02 BISSONNETTE, JOEL LOOKING FOR LEONARD --> Rating: 7.50
Jo and her boyfr end Ted and h s brother Fred rob corner grocery stores and s t around watch ng te ev s on. She s a so tak ng a creat ve wr t ng course where she has a fr end. One day, she meets a Czech mm grant named Luka, (who s ob offer n Montrea has vapor zed) wh e shop- ft ng n a drug store and they form a tentat ve bond. Dry and somet mes funny, and extreme y ow-budget, "Look ng for Leonard" never rea y takes off but t prov des a few d vert ng moments, as when Ted asks Jo where her mask s wh e they re robb ng a store, or when Ted chases Luka w th a gun. Genera y we -acted. Co ourat on s a b t we rd-- I m guess ng because of the ow budget. Just n P erce, who p ayed a keab e squeegee buddy to Luka, hanged h mse f short y after the f m comp eted. It s ke y they cou dn t afford to use any actua Leonard Cohen songs n the mov e (or he den ed perm ss on), wh ch s d sappo nt ng, though the rest of the sound track s actua y qu te good. And why, w th a the swear ng, was there not a even a s ght g mpse of f esh?
2006-01-28 STURGES, JOHN MAGNIFICENT SEVEN --> Rating: 7.80
Famous Amer can adaptat on of Seven Samaur , fa r y true to the sp r t of the or g na , w th sweep ng western v stas and co ourfu Mex cans nstead of Japanese v agers. Better than I expected for the era, for a western, and a ver tab e cornucop a of future stars, nc ud ng Vaughn, Cobourn, McQueen.
2006-01-21 POLLACK, SYDNEY JEREMIAH JOHNSON --> Rating: 8.10
A so wr tten by John M us, though cred t s d sputed. Th s s a ove y, state y f m about a genu ne y fasc nat ng category of adventure: 19th century mounta n men, who f ed c v zat on to ve n the treacherous and harsh env ronment of the Rocky Mounta ns. They faced host e Ind ans, Gr zz y bears, b zzards, and other cha enges. Redford p ays a the egendary "L ver-eater" Johnson, who appears to be more of a compos te character rather than c ose y based on the rea man (who d ed n an o d-age home n Ca forn a n 1900). Jerem ah eaves c v zat on after a war, and the mov e a udes to h s d staste for human compan onsh p. He meets severa other w d mounta n men, and through one of them becomes marr ed to a nat ve woman. Beaut fu y f med. The f ght scenes seem a b t dated, but th s s a f ne f m. But... Po ack s d rect on here seems at t mes sta e and st ff. The f ght scenes don t have the ntens ty you wou d expect from two men f ght ng to the death. The narrat on s mp, and the songs are even worse. Apparent y Redford ns sted on remov ng scenes from the scr pt that dep ct o d "L ver-eater" earn ng h s n ck-name, and h s re at onsh p to Swan seems a most qua nt at t mes. When he te s her not to annoy h m, you can te the o d ug doesn t mean t. The v o at on of the Ind an bur a grounds s des gned to te you that even though they murdered h s w fe and ch d, the Ind ans are not m nd ess brutes. In rea fe, some of them, ke Europeans, were. The mater a s no natura y nv t ng of reverence, however, that you a most nst nct ve y want to gnore the fact that mov e does have t s f aws, and most of them have to do w th the PG rat ng.
2006-01-22 SCOTT, TONY MAN ON FIRE --> Rating: 6.00
Is th s a 9/11 f m? Is th s f m ntended to prov de the v ewer w th the v car ous thr of see ng the r hero use torture and sad st c v o ence to exact ust ce aga nst a nebu ous group of consp rator a bad guys? W th the reassur ng know edge that the hero, Creasy, never nadvertant y hurts someone who d dn t deserve t. And even f he d d-- who cares? P ta-- the name tse f!-- s ust so damn cute, t on y seems r ght and good that Creasy comm ts acts that make h m no d fferent from the bad guys, because he s our sonofab tch! It s te ng that he he ps her sabatoge her p ano essons n favor of sw mm ng. It s ust somehow more who esome and patr ot c to favor ath et cs, a ways, over nte ectua or art st c accomp shment, as n "The Ice Pr ncess". Dev ants study hard and study ba et. Norma peop e k ck ass n sports and be ch. Doesn t shock me that th s f m emp oys rock-v deo and and advert s ng sty st c dev ces-- the wander ng camera, the ayers of d storted mages, the ump-cuts, etc., -- to create the k nd of org ast c sense of an ado escent dream, r ght down to the Chr st- ke sacraf ce. And the creepy sexua overtones. The Mex can husband s revea ed to be corrupt, so the b onde, Amer can w fe becomes sexua y ava ab e-- never overt y, of course-- but c ear y, unm stakeab y, to the hero. (I ater d scovered that, ndeed, a sex scene had been f med w th Creasy and L sa). And Creasy s re at onsh p w th P ta sn t ke surrogate father, and def n te y not o der brother, and not unc e-- ust creepy. As n many f ms ke th s, they want t both ways: Creasy s so smart and so tough and so man y that he s a good protector (he k s four of the k dnappers before they wound h m and take the v ct m), but he s a so pat ent and k nd and ndu gent n ways that you can t mag ne a good body-guard be ng. That s because th s f m s utter fantasy. It s an ant -Mun ch, and ant -Syr ana. There s no quest on about the human ty of the bad guys, because, after a , they hurt one of ours. Creasy s ke Chr st- ov ng and k nd and compass onate, and a merc ess, p t ess udge of ev . Amaz ng. And that s why the suffer ng of Creasy s so offens ve. It s the resu t of happenstance and acc dent-- because t wou d be s ck f he w shed t upon h mse f w thout t be ng part of h s qua t es as a body guard-- but f t weren t there, you cou d never accept h s treatment of the men he tracks down (cutt ng off f ngers, shov ng exp os ves nto one s ass). He wou d be a monster. He c ear y s a monster, but the aud ence s sucked nto the comfort ng us on that he s our monster, comm tt ng these acts on our beha f. And that s where th s mov e s utter y democrat c: t s the v o ence we choose to approve of, aga nst the wor d, aga nst those who wou d comm t acts of v o ence aga nst us. Best doub e feature w th: H story of V o ence. Scott, I ust d scovered, a so d rected "Cr mson T de" and "Top Gun". Now do you be eve me...
2006-01-20 CARUSO, D.J. TWO FOR THE MONEY --> Rating: 7.00
Th s s a m xed bag. Starts out w th some nterest ng wr t ng and act ng and an ntr gu ng y off-beat prem se-- a former ath ete becomes an on- ne bett ng expert because of h s astute p cks-- and then converts t s d osyncrac es nto ab t es by d sregard ng ts own nterna og c and go ng for some k nd of emot ona payoff that ust doesn t ar se from the characters or story. Pac no s so nterest ng to watch you a most can t te f he s act ng or p ay ng a scht ck. Even f t s a scht ck, t s a super or st ck. McConaughey as the former ath ete, w th the mag ca ab ty to p ck w nners, s ntense and fresh unt he s dragged by the scr pt nto a somewhat preposterous c rcumstance. Rene Russo, a co-producer, ust can t pu off the requ rements of her ro e--- she s ust not that mesmer z ng to ust fy Lang s nterest n her, or Wa ter s b zarre emot ona wager.
2006-01-19 DESPLECHIN, ARNAUD KINGS AND QUEEN --> Rating: 7.80
I m not sure what to make of th s. It s the story about Nora, whose father s dy ng of cancer, and Ismae , a ce st ocked n a re at ve y uxur ous nsane assy um. They are former overs, and she wants h m to adopt her son. Nora has ghosts n her c oset-- the death of the father of her son, E as, and her subsequent marr age to the dead man to g ve E as eg t macy. Her s ster Ch oe s a wreck. Her new husband seems to be a b ood ess entrepeuner. She seems to be an attract ve, se f-possessed woman, but a of that s ca ed nto quest on by the end. We -acted and ntr gu ng but somet mes s ow-mov ng.
2006-01-16 MALICK, TERENCE DAYS OF HEAVEN --> Rating: 8.70
Terence Ma ck spent two years ed t ng th s f m, after shoot ng a of t n A berta, at dusk or dawn on y. He abandoned h s scr pt and had h s actors genera y mprov se, and t shows, and t works. But th s s a so one of the most exqu s te y photographed f ms I have ever seen, and shou d be seen n the theatre f at a human y poss b e. Both Nestor A emandros and Haske Wex er worked on the c nematography, wh ch s tera y stunn ng. Even R chard Gere s serv ceab e, though L nda Manz, as h s younger s ster L nda, stea s the show w th her dry, shrewd narrat on, and Brooke Adams s compe ng and more beaut fu than ove y. Concerns m grant workers who he p a wea thy but one y Texas and-owner harvest h s gra n. He fa s n ove w th Abby (Brooke Adams), whom B (Gere) has been pass ng off as h s s ster. Th s eads to comp cat ons and u mate y tragedy, when B gets an dea for extr cat ng h mse f and Abby from poverty. Doug Kershaw makes an extraord nary appearance as a f dd er.
2006-01-16 MEYERS, NANCY SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE --> Rating: 7.80
Decent tt e f m about an ag ng Casanova, Harry Sanborn (N cho son), who can t keep up w th those ve y tt e g r s he keeps br ng ng home (th s one, "Mar n", p ayed by an exqu s te Amanda Peet). He has a heart attack after on part cu ar y ve y expectat on-- no actua sex here, because that wou d d sturb that fet sh st c hoary Amer can attachment to v rg n ty-- one n ght n the cottage where Mar n thought they cou d be a one. Instead, her mom, Er ca Jane Barry (D ane Keaton) shows up, and the comp cat ons are supposded to be both heartwarm ng and com ca . We re supposed to f nd t heart-warm ng that even an o der woman can f nd ove, when the o der woman s an ncred b y pampered Ho ywood actress.
2003-01-01 GAGHAN, STEPHEN SYRIANA --> Rating: 9.20
Powerfu f m based on the memo rs of Robert Baer, a former CIA agent, about the ncestuous re at onsh ps between o , po t cs, and b g bus ness n the U.S. and the m dd e east. George C ooney s a CIA ana yst work ng n Iran, who gets taken, on the sa e of a gu ded m ss e, and reca ed to the U.S. The narrat ve then sh fts to Bennett Ho day, an aud tor nvest gat ng rregu ar t es at a arge o company that rea y be eves that prof ts are utter y sacred and everyth ng e se s a matter of buy ng peop e off. A pa r of young Pa est n ans face the frustrat ons of fe as refugee workers n an anonymous Arab state. Matt Damon s Bryan Woodman, a futures buyer and se er, who deve ops a connect on w th an Arab state ru ng fam y through tragedy, and nadvertant y gets m xed up n ntr gue as the father s hea th dec nes. No quarter s g ven. The mov e fo ows ts own tra ectory w thout apo ogy, w thout stopp ng to offer exp anat ons no character w th n the mov e cou d reasonab y expect to acqu re. Th s s an mportant f m, that s about what our e ected governments are probab y rea y up to.
2006-01-12 SPIELBERG, STEVEN MUNICH --> Rating: 9.10
Sp e berg has f na y comp eted a mov e n wh ch h s c nemat c ta ents are a owed to unfo d w thout a ast m nute desperate urch nto the sent menta . Th s s the story of Avner, a Mossad agent recru ted to nf ct Israe ust ce on anyone they can f nd who s assoc ated w th the k dnapp ngs and murders at the Mun ch O ymp cs n 1972. Avner assemb es a team and, w th nformat on arge y supp ed by a pr vate rogue French nte gence agency, proceeds to assass nate the r targets one by one. As the Pa est n ans, n turn, nf ct new casua t es on Israe , and other western powers, Avner beg ns to quest on h s ro e. Where does th s cyc e take us? Th s s a gutsy mov e for Sp e berg, and one that s sure to make h m more unpopu ar than ever w th conservat ves. But the mov e crack es w th suspense and narrat ve dr ve, and the ma or characters are r ch y mu t -faceted. One of the best mov es of the year.
2006-01-21 DOBKIN, DAVID WEDDING CRASHERS --> Rating: 7.50
Better than average comedy about two attract ve, charm ng men who go to wedd ngs to p ck up g r s who are swept up n the emot ons of the moment, and therefore vu nerab e. Rea y, ke many other romant c comed es, an update of M dsummer N ghts Dream, and rea y, ke many other modern comed es, t wants to have t both ways. We en oy the men p ck ng up and casua y dump ng attract ve women n the f rst ha f, but we can t go home unt ba ance has been restored, the men have earned the r essons, and fa n ove and marry. The f rst ha f s sat re-- based on rea behav ours of rea human be ngs-- the second ha f s unconsc ous sat re, a parody of how we ke to th nk we see ourse ves: beh nd that facade of casua , m nd ess sex, we are rea y are sens t ve, k nd human be ngs who ust want ove and fam y and a home. It s a p ty that one of the two d dn t cont nue on n the ve n of the f rst ha f-- wh ch wou d have have the second ha f sat r ca . We get Chas, nstead, (W Farre ), who s so broad y sketched, you can t take h m ser ous y even as a genu ne y far ca e ement. He s ce ebr ty re ef. The pr nc pa s are charm ng and Rache McAdams s, as a ways, a stunn ng tt e scenestea er who does a better ob than anyone n recent memory of mak ng you be eve she rea y kes someone or wants them. Owen W son mere y has to appear on screen to be funny and charm ng, and the secondary characters are a so we -p ayed. Enterta n ng and funny, and ust bare y manages to restra n tse f from becom ng sent menta at the end. No t doesn t-- but W Ferre br ngs we come re ef to the wedd ng, w th the two women he p cked up at a funera .
2006-01-07 HERZOG, WERNER GRIZZLY MAN --> Rating: 9.00
R vett ng documentary about T mothy Treadwe and h s d sastrous ove of A askan gr zz y bears. Treadwe was a very strange, nterest ng man, w th an off-k ter v ew of h s re at onsh p to the bears-- hear c ear y wanted to be one. But he a so wanted to save them from poachers and ndustry and government. But t was rea y a about T mothy Treadwe and after 13 years of camp ng and v ng among them, the bears d d what bears do and ate h m. Treadwe s a compe ng sub ect, but so s a s ght y ooney med ca exam ner, Franc Fa co, who waxes e oquent y about the sub ect of Treadwe s dem se. The mus c, but R chard Thompson, s exqu s te.
2005-12-30 BEZUCHA, THOMAS FAMILY STONE --> Rating: 7.00
D sappo nt ng and somet mes contr ved drama/comedy about a dysfunct ona fam y w th an nexp cab y s y son, Everett (Mu roney) who br ngs home a r d cu ous y upt ght over-ach ev ng woman, Mered th, for Chr stmas. Sarah Jess ca Parker has the thank ess task of portray ng a thorough y un keab e and unrea st c character. She s myster ous y successfu at her work, very mportant and r ch, yet can t hand e Everett s spunky, mouthy s ster, Amy (Rache McAdams), and can t th nk of someth ng tactfu to say about the dea st c y portrayed gay son and h s S dney Po t er partner, who want to adopt. C are Danes nexp cab y appears as Ju e, Mered th s perfect y funct ona s ster. In an unbe evab y coy deve opment, mother Syb drops a bombshe . Preposterous a around, pr mar y because the f m th nks t s go ng to touch your heart str ngs, and probab y w for many peop e, but th s s a f m about peop e who seem to have no ex stence outs de of the mechan cs of the p ot, and thus never r se above the types they are requ red to p ay. And Rache McAdams, once aga n, stea s every scene, unt she too s thank ess y asked to perform an mposs b e and -adv sed transformat on nto a more "hea thy" persona ty. Th s s a pa e m tat on of M dsummer N ght s Dream, w th perfunctory tw sts.
2005-12-31 WHEDON, JOSS SERENITY --> Rating: 7.70
Super or sc -f story about a renegade capta n and h s spacesh p and h s adventures try ng to evade both s des n an nterga act c war, wh e carry ng out h s own arcen es. When a young woman w th spec a powers (Summer G au) fa nto h s care, th ngs get comp cated. We -made f m but ust d dn t ever grab me.
2005-01-01 CRONENBERG, DAVID HISTORY OF VIOLENCE --> Rating: 8.10
Superb drama about a restaurant owner, Tom Sta , who k s two savage cr m na s threaten ng h s customers. Gradua y, h s w fe and other acqua ntances beg n to ask themse ves why those men chose h s restaurant, and why was Tom so good at hand ng weapons? Sa d to be a med at on on U.S. fore gn po cy after 9/11.
2005-06-01 KIM, KI-DUK SPRING SUMMER FALL WINTER AND SPRING --> Rating: 8.00
E egant and pat ent Korean f m about a monk and h s young protege who ve n a sma cab n on a sma , beaut fu ake. One day the monk catches the boy abus ng some sma an ma s and dec des to teach h m a esson. And the essons keep f ow ng as the boy grows up and makes some wrong dec s ons.
2005-11-18 NICHOLS, MIKE ANGELS IN AMERICA --> Rating: 8.50
Powerfu , compe ng, mportant drama about gay fe, a ds, and po t ca hyprocr sy n New York C ty. A Pac no s Roy Cohn (a r ght w ng zea ot, a de to Senator Joseph McCarthy, who d ed of a ds n the 19980 s) who becomes patron to Joseph P tt, a young conservat ve who s n the process of d scover ng h s gay se f. Just n K rk s Pr or Wa ter has a ds. H s over, Lou, bo ts and ends up w th the unsat sfy ng ob of dea ng w th Joe s re g ous (he s a mormon) consc ence.
2005-01-01 DERRICKSON, SCOTT EXCORCISM OF EMILY ROSE --> Rating: 7.80
In the 1970 s, a young German woman named Anne ese M che began exper enc ng strange ha uc nat ons and convu s ons, and came to be eve that she was possessed. Her pr est agreed w th her and together w th other pr ests and her fam y undertook to perform an excorc sm. In the process, they neg ected Anne ese s other phys ca needs and she d ed. An nqu ry set out to determ ne the cause of death, and f the pr ests shou d be charged w th cr m na neg ect. Em y Rose s s ncere and h gh-m nded, and genera y we -acted. I m ust not sure t actua y goes anywhere. In try ng to be even-handed, t can t, of course, c ue you n to what t th nks rea y happened. But t s c ear that n rea fe, there are c ues, and by avo d ng them, the mov e s not be ng ob ect ve- t s be ng obtuse.
2005-01-01 HOWARD, RON CINDERELLA MAN --> Rating: 6.50
In sp te of nsp r ng many pos t ve rev ews, sucked a r, b g-t me, at the box off ce, and t doesn t seem to me to be unexpected. The f rst hour depends, for t s effect, on your fervent be ef that Renee Ze wegger s who she s supposed to be, and not some se f-absorbed actress hop ng for a shot oat an oscar.
2005-12-10 HERZOG, WERNER ENIGMA OF KASPER HAUSER --> Rating: 9.00
On May 6, 1828, a strange man appeared on the streets of Nuremberg. H s name was Kasper Hauser and he cou d not speak or understand anguage and he seemed comp ete y gnorant of even the s mp est ru es of soc a nteract on. He was adopted nto a oca fam y and taught the rud ments of anguage and behav or, and eventua y he revea ed that he had been kept ocked up for h s ent re fe unt then, unt he myster ous y found h mse f n the Nuremberg town square. The story created a sensat on, but the most shock ng was yet to come. Hauser was found b eed ng and wounded after a myster ous attack by unknown assa ants. Eventua y he was found murdered. Th s s one of Herzog s rawest, most energet c f ms, featur ng a r vett ng performance by Bruno S., who suffered from menta nesses h mse f.
2001-01-01 DONEN, STANLEY TWO FOR THE ROAD --> Rating: 7.50
Uneven and often theatr ca , ser ous-m nded but often contr ved, th s s a fa r y ntense d ssect on of a fa ng marr age, from ear y nfatuat on and romance, to d s us onment, nf de ty, and b tterness. If t weren t for the contr ved opt m sm at the end, t m ght have been a more powerfu story, but, that sa d, the f ghts are not sugarcoated or sweetened-- there s a b t of an edge, and some genu ne rawness to the emot ona scars. The ma or performances are va ant, but the aud o s a most ent re y dubbed and cur ous y f at. For t s t me, probab y not a terr b e f m.
2005-12-05 GANS, CHRISTOPHE BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF --> Rating: 6.00
Remarkab y messy hodgepodge rough y centred on the story of the nfamous Beast of Gevaudan, a arge, powerfu wo f or wo f- ke creature that terror zed parts of France n the 18th century. Grego re de Fronsac s a sc ent st and rat ona st who comes to Gevaudan to study and k the beast, w th h s fa thfu Ind an s dek ck, Man (Mark Dacascos). They encounter corrupt oca off c a s who may or may not be comp c t w th the terror, a beaut fu prost tute (Mon ca Be uc ) named Sy v a, and an ar stocrat c young woman (Em e Dequenne) w th whom, nev tab y, de Fronsac fa s n ove. In sp te of expens ve product on va ues and spec a effects, the terror scenes are c ums y f m, w th the ub qu tous wa of sound f you d dn t get the v sua message to be fr ghtened. But the f m s odd y horror- ess. The beast s so oud and actua y rather poor y an mated that t doesn t evoke ha f the terror of the shark n the f rst scene of Jaws. The confus ng p ot doesn t prov de much rea ntr gue or suspense, though t pu s tse f together for some k nd of wrap-up. I thought t was a mess.
2005-12-04 MANGOLD, JAMES I WALK THE LINE --> Rating: 7.40
Reasonab y workman ke but fomu a c b op c of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash up to the Fo som Pr son L ve a bum, wh ch estab shed Cash, br ef y, as one of the ma or mus ca forces n Amer can country mus c. As w th many b op cs, ostens b y "honest" e ements are carefu y ca brated to u t mate y ref ect k nd y on the sub ect-- the r ghts were contro ed by fr ends of Johnny Cash. So we are treated to a deta ed exam nat on of Cash s add ct ons and a us ons to h s woman z ng. We are carefu y ntroduced to the nev tab e ear y fe trauma-- the death of h s brother, and h s father s unforg v ng att tude. But the father becomes someth ng of a car cature-- you wonder why Cash wou d even have h m over to h s house f the we ght of h s persona ty was as b eak as portrayed. But Joaqu n Phoen x s decent as Cash and Reese W therspoon s very effect ve as June Carter. The troub e s, the mov e asks you to be eve that a pa r of actors work ng for a few months can sound as good as the rea Cash and Carter, and they ust don t. T-Bone Burnett was n charge of the mus c.
2005-12-23 AUGUST, BILLE SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW --> Rating: 3.00
Everyth ng about th s mov e s wrong. The scr pt, the act ng, the sty e, the method non-act ng, everyth ng. The very concept that some fourteen-year-o d must have had n h s m nd when th s f m was conce ved, st nks. But someone gave some demented f m-makers a ot of money for sets and constumes and exp os ons, and off we go, nto th s murky, monotonous, un nterest ng hodge-podge of nefar ous corporate m sbehav our-- and even murder-- and one women s utter y se f-absorbed fantasy about mak ng someone pay for the death of a tt e boy v ng n her apartment bu d ng. It wou d be monotonous to even rehash the rest of the c che sh p ot e ements, the myster ous handsome ne ghbor who m ght be part of the p ot, a secretary who t ps her off to an arch ve of records revea ng someth ng bad about Green and M n ng, the company at the heart of the consp racy. The po ce who, ke Ch ef W ggums, can t understand why anyone wou d be fasc nated by the r top secret myster ous stash of h dden documents. As f further proof that Roger Ebert has ost a of h s cr t ca facu t es was ever needed, he rated th s a "superb" 3 out of 4 stars. Wh e acknow edg ng that the p ot s hokey, he c a ms that the preposterousness of the end ng doesn t d m nsh the p easure of watch ng the mov e. Huh?
2005-12-03 PAYNE, ALEXANDER CITIZEN RUTH --> Rating: 7.50
Very audac ous and v o ent y equa -handed sat re of the pro- fe and pro-cho ce movements, centered on the story of Ruth Stoops, a young pregnant g ue-sn ff ng wastra w th four ch dren, none n her care, who s urged to get an abort on by an exasperated udge. Locked n a ce w th a group of abort on protesters, she s adopted by them and urged to have the baby. But the esb an eader of a oca chapter of the pro-cho ce movement sp r ts her away and tr es to he p her exerc se her "cho ce". It s c ear that both s des are pr mar y nterested n her as a symbo and not as a person, an echo of what happened to the woman n Roe vs. Wade, Norma McCorvey, who sw tched s des, after be ng saved, and then sw tched back aga n. But there s a so an uncanny echo of the Terry Sch avo case-- and Laura Dern eer y remarked n one nterv ew that Ruth has troub e exerc s ng her cho ces because she s essent a y "bra n-dead". And the hyster a on both s des, obv ous y treat ng the case as someth ng beyond the part cu ars, as a symbo of arger mora and cu tura va ues, s marked. Dern s performance s remarkab e. Burt Reyno ds as a s ck pro- fe eader comes off as aboured and f at. The other characters are not car catured as bad y as some rev ewers say they are-- they str ke me as rather true to fe, g ven the extremes of the rea -wor d abort on debate.
2005-11-28 DEMME, TED BEAUTIFUL GIRLS --> Rating: 7.70
The danger of f ms about "sa t of the earth" types-- n th s case, m dd e Amer ca, the average beer-sw
ng,
m nd-wast ng, ant - nte ectua crowd-- s that f the f m doesn t step back n some way and prov de you w th a take on th s crowd, the f m can fee suffocat ng. You re trapped w th these peop e. They w waste your m nd as we as the rs. They buy you a beer, f x your car, he p you put an add t on on you home, but they w never absorb, even for one second, that fe n the heart and s ever anyth ng but absorb ng for everyone. Th s s a f ne mov e. It s we -acted and we - ntent oned, and even moderate y we -wr tten. It doesn t do a ot of bad th ngs, wh ch s good. It doesn t p ay coy. W e Convway s re at onsh p w th Nata e Portman, the a bate ado escent next door, both acknow edges an e ement of ust, and and a note of teas ng amb gu ty n Portman s banter w th W e. Uma Thurman (Andera) does a turn as a stunn ng beauty a the men adore. But she a so he ps W e rea ze that h s g r fr end, Tracy, s pretty spec a , and wou d ho d the same attract on for some strange man as Andera does for h m. The end ng s a b t nsu t ng, un ess, ke me, you so d sbe ef t that t has an nadvertant charm to t. It s wraps up too neat y, to nconsequent a y. But th s s an honest f m.
2005-11-27 SCORCESE, MARTIN MEAN STREETS --> Rating: 8.00
Mart n Scorcese s f rst ma or f m, a tr umph of v rtuos ty that estab shed sty e and emot ona terr tory, the ves of men on the streets of our toughest c t es, where order s represented by the oca h earchy of gang eaders, numbers runners, and enforcers. Harvey Ke te s Char e, a numbers runner, who st attends confess on and wonders how "penance" can mean anyth ng when t s so eas y obta ned. Robert DeN ro s Joey, a goodt m ng sma -t me hood who has care ess y run up h s debts, and s beg nn ng to annoy Char e s Unc e.
2005-11-27 VAUGHN, MATTHEW LAYER CAKE --> Rating: 7.80
Super or thr er. Noth ng deep than a thr er, but above average. It keeps your suspens on of d sbe ef n the a r ust ong enough to make eff c ent work of the p ot and character deve opment, w th on y a few m ssteps a ong the way, and that s say ng someth ng. I partu ar y ked Dan e Crag as XXXXX. It has been a wh e s nce we ve seen an adu t protagon st n th s type of mov e, nstead of a mumb ng rrat ona adoescent.
2005-11-19 LYNCH, DAVID STRAIGHT STORY --> Rating: 8.00
About as oppos te to Mu ho and Dr ve as you can mag ne: A v n Stra ght dec des one day that he has to take h s awn tractor on the road and go see h s brother who has suffered a stroke, and w th whom he has not spoken n 10 years. Th s f m s so utter y prosa c and the characters are so down-to-earth and unremarkab e, t s as f Lynch was try ng to compensate for a the we rd and unexp a ned th ngs he s ever put nto h s mov es. The resu t s a wonderfu , heartfe t story f ed w th Ame rcana and wry humour.
2005-11-11 INATTITU, ALEJANDRO AMORES PERROS --> Rating: 8.70
Br
ant, ro ck ng, compe ng f m about dogs , dog f ght ng,and fe be ng a b tch.
2005-01-01 ANDERSON, JANE NORMAL --> Rating: 8.00
Tom W kerson s Roy, an emp oyee at a farm mp ements p ant n a sma m d-western town who d scovers one day, ust after h s 25th ann versary, that he s a woman v ng n a man s body. He tearfu y announces that he w no onger ve a charade. He s go ng to take the therap es and have the surger es that w turn h m nto a woman. H s pastor s aston shed. Everyone s aston shed of course. And t s the strength of th s mov e that none of the humour of the s tuat on s ost even as the characters reta n the r d gn ty. They a have the r reasons and the r own perspect ves, from the cur ous 13-year-o d daughter, to the cret ns on the shop f oor, the pastor, even the woman at the thr ft store where Roy makes h s f rst attempts to buy c othes. For most of them, the very dea s beyond the pa e. But Roy and h s fam y are ab e to forge stronger connect ons through cr s s. Th s f m does a ot of th ngs r ght. It s not a ways nsp rat ona , but t s genera y honest and authent c.
2005-10-27 WASHINGTON, DENZEL ANTWONE FISHER --> Rating: 7.00
The f rst bad s gn s "based on a true story". The second s "d rected by Denze Wash ngton", one of the stars. The th rd s "produced by Denze Wash ngton". As w th many "based on" true stor es, the or g na true story does sound somewhat nterest ng, though I suspect t was azzed up cons derab y, f not by the d rector of the f m, then by the wr ter h mse f, Antwone F sher. F sher s a navy boy (p ayed respectfu y s nce the Navy cooperated n supp y ng an a rcraft carr er for f m ng) who m sbehaves a few t mes-- most y attack ng peop e who make fun of h m-- and gets sent for counse ng. And here we have the sa nt y psych atr st p ayed by Wash ngton. In the mov es, of course, psych atr sts never say " ook, f you don t want my he p then don t waste my t me. Ca me f you ever do want to ta k..." Oh no. That wou d be cons derab y ess grat fy ng to the ego of the wr ter who wants us to be eve that he had to be dragged k ck ng and scream ng nto mak ng those unbearab e confess ons about the t me he was mo ested and how h s aunt, who brought h m (and fed and c othed h m, presumab y) used to whack h m when he m sbehaved. In f ms ke th s, the "v ct m" never behaves bad y, of course, though, n rea fe, even f he had, we wou dn t b ame h m. But no no, et s c ean that story up a b t. And when he f na y does confront Mrs. Tate, and h s aunt, un ke most peop e n rea fe ( nc ud ng, as I recent y saw n a documentary, the mass murders of Cambod a), they are s a n by the truth, and cast the r eyes downward n shame! Th s scene, one of the weakest n the mov e, demonstrates that wh e Wash ngton may have mastered some of the techn ca requ rements of the f m, he had no ns ght nto character, n one of the most potent a y powerfu scenes n the mov e. Where was Mrs. Tate s most obv ous protestat on? I ra sed you! I fed you and c othed you and housed you! I m an o d ady! How can you treat me th s way. I m not say ng the poss b e gu t of th s woman shou d be d m n shed-- I on y ask that t be made rea by not hav ng everyone p ay cardboard cutout for F sher s -- truth be to d-- se f-centred suffer ng. That sa d, the scenes fo ow ng, are better. Antwone s recept on by h s father s fam y n part cu ar s resonant and effect ve. And h s confrontat on w th h s mother has the good sense to g ve the woman d gn ty that t den ed to Mrs. Tate. They are be evab e. And then that d sgracefu ast few moments, n wh ch the psych atr st too, as per the textbook, must have earned someth ng mportant! You a most want to hur someth ng at the screen when such a de cate y kab e sequence of scenes s so pa nfu y k udged downwards, probab y to sat sfy the van ty of the actor Wash ngton. Joy Bryant, as Antwone s g r fr end, Chery , s mag ca , but not g ven much opportun ty to stretch. She ends up be ng noth ng but a fo for Antwone s se f-centred suffer ngs, wh ch s too bad, because she was ferc ous y keab e and charm ng, and wou d have been even more so f the makes of th s f m had had the guts to g ve someth ng of her own fe.
2005-10-16 REINER, ROB SURE THING --> Rating: 7.00
The f m that estab shed Rob Re ner as an astute, somet mes super or d rector of honest but ow-key enterta nments. As I watch any Rob Re ner f m, I can never stop th nk ng of the fact that the b g scene of "When Harry Met Sa y", the utt ery over-the-top preposterous "fake orgasm" scene, nc ud ng Re ner s mom s ame "I have what she s hav ng" ne, shou d have been cut. And I wou d have been wrong. Everybody oves that scene, no matter how r d cu ous t s. And t s r d cu ous. It takes you out of a sens t ve but h ar ous character study and nto a pratfa , a p e n the face. "The Sure Th ng" has t s charms, nc ud ng kab e eads (a ways a key to a Re ner f m), and a reasonab y we -wr tten scr pt. But t f zz es at the end because Re ner doesn t take b g r sks.
2005-01-01 SPIELBERG, STEVEN HOOK --> Rating: 2.00
Even for Sp e berg... th s one reeks. Po nt ess and a m ess and utter y coy and fey and phoney.
2005-10-01 APATOW, JUDD 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN --> Rating: 8.20
Very enterta n ng, funny story about Andy, a stock boy at a techno ogy store, who has never had sex. When h s co-workers and budd es d scover the fact, they reso ve to put an end to the depr vat on by sett ng h m up w th someone. Th s story doesn t qu te hang together and fee s ep sod c, but there are some h ar ous moments and Steve Care s kab e as Andy. Much s made of h m rea y hav ng h s chest ha r removed n that scene but, odd y, t s not that funny as he curses h s cosmeto og st and screeches. N ce dea but d dn t work. And Cathar ne Keener s oud and brassy and not ent re y adorab e when we c ear y shou d f nd her the r ght match for Andy. It s n the ve n of "Someth ng about Mary" and even borrows the end ng from that f m, but t s amus ng and genera y fresh and we -acted.
2005-10-01 PERRIN, JACQUES WINGED MIGRATION --> Rating: 7.00
Enterta n ng and p eas ng documentary bu t around the techno ogy of f y ng u tra ght p anes w th m grat ng b rds. The b rds, geese, storks, and other arger fow , were mpr nted upon the human hand ers and the u tra ght. The resu t ng footage, b rds n f ght, c ose-up, s aston sh ng and beaut fu . The f m, however, meanders through space and t me w thout deve op ng any k nd of narrat ve structure. The resu t s a p easant d vers on-- eye-candy--but not much more. Not as compe ng as "March of Pengu ns".
2005-10-03 PECKINPAH, SAM WILD BUNCH --> Rating: 8.00
The c ass c Peck npah western, o der men ref ect ng on the courses of the r ves, comp ex, doub e-dea ng, v o ence and gunp ay, and the code of the west, wh ch, desp te Peck npah s nnovat ons, preva s at the end. Th s s the story of P ke B shop and h s gang, and the r attempts to stea r f es from the U.S. m tary and se them to the Mex can army-- or the rebe s f ght ng the same army. For such a bo d f m, the v rtues of pure, rea manhood s rather trad t ona y expressed. Honor and courage and oya ty-- even among th eves. W am Ho den s P ke and Robert Ryan s the bounty hunter who s after h m, though even he respects P ke. Why? P ke k s peop e and stea s. But he does t ke a "man", wh ch means, he does t the way men n mov es do t-w thout rea consequence or conv nc ng se f- nterest.
2005-09-18 PECKINPAH, SAM RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY --> Rating: 7.70
Joe MaCrea and Rando ph Scott, two ead ng men approach ng the ends of the r careers, reversed typecast ng to p ay to ag ng guns ngers h red to protect a sh pment of go d down a mounta n. On the way, E sa Knudsen (Mar ette Hart ey n ma or f m debut) runs away from re g ous fanat c daddy to marry B y Hammond, who turns out to have someth ng ke fraterna gang-rape n m nd. Above average scr pt and act ng, and the ntr gu ng g ve and take between G Westrum, who s p ann ng to stea the go d, and Steve Judd, who wants to go stra ght. Both are smart enough to know about opt ons and consequences.
2005-09-18 GLAZER, JONATHAN BIRTH --> Rating: 7.40
Spooky but d ssat sfy ng story about a young boy who c a ms to be the re ncarnat on of a young w dow s husband. There are f ashes of nsp rat on here, and f ashes of other f ms from wh ch the spook est e ements are der ved, ke "6th Sense". There s a natura st c, d sturb ng texture to the sequences n wh ch the young Sean attempts to ns nuate h mse f nto the fe of Anna (N co e K dman), and a shock ng scene n wh ch he enters her bathtub. It doesn t a make perfect sense at the end, but t s an en oyab e r de, and the f m s atmospher cs are occas ona y a thr .
2004-10-01 JULY, MIRANDA ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW --> Rating: 8.20
The very def n t on of qu rky, d osyncrat c, ndependent f m. M randa Ju y p ays a performance art st (M randa Ju y s a performance art st) named Chr st ne who becomes nterested n a shoe sa esman named R chard who s recent y separated from h s w fe. R chard has burned h s hand n a -adv sed attempt to mpress h s boys, who trade off between h m and h s ex-w fe. The boys, and a pa r of ne ghborhood g r s, and a co-worker of R chard s, prov de nterest ng sub-p ots, but the f m s about ove and sex and connect ng w th peop e n suburb a. Chr st ne n fact prov des a dr v ng serv ce for e ders and he ps an o der man romance an o der woman n a whee cha r. L ke many ndependent f ms, the f m s techn ca y c umsy at t mes, and uneven y performed, but more than compensates w th the strong persona v s on of t s creators.
2005-09-09 GILLIAM, TERRY 12 MONKEYS --> Rating: 8.00
Exce ent G am.
2000-01-01 GILLIAM, TERRY BROTHERS GRIMM --> Rating: 7.30
As a ways, G am s w d y nvent ve and ncred b y r ch; but a so c uttered and confused and some of the energy of th s f m d ss pates w th the overwhe m ng eve of mechan ca bus ness. The Brothers Gr mm, W he m and Jacob, are trave ng con art sts who are forced by a French genera (Jonathan Pryce) to dea w th rea d sappearances from a German v age. They encounter rea mag c there, wh ch confounds W he m s respect for reason and sc ence. The French Genera , De atome, a so be eves n reason and ph osophy, but he s car catured so broad y that the tens on between sc ence and fantasy d ss pates, and we have, nstead, a comedy of terrors. It s fun watch ng e ements of trad t ona Gr mm s fa ry ta es nteract w th the ead characters, but there are no mag ca moments of apprehens on or percept on, ke there were n Baron Munchhausen, or T me Band ts.
2005-09-06 JACQUET, LUC MARCH OF PENGUINS --> Rating: 8.00
Enchant ng and enterta n ng documentary on the mat ng hab ts of pengu ns, who march to the harshest p ace on eart,deep n the Antart c, to mate, de ver an egg, and hatch t. Pengu ns, of course, are phenomena y campy w thout any he p from a narrator, but framed w th n th s narrat ve construct-- surv va aga nst a odds-the story s odd y compe ng and mov ng.
2005-08-01 CRAVEN, WES RED EYE --> Rating: 7.50
Super or but u t mate y convent ona thr er about a hote manager who s taken hostage by a terror st as part of a p ot to assass nate the eader of home and secur ty. Makes the usua m stake of assum ng that the secur ty men surround ng such a person not on y mmed ate y "get" what s go ng on, but respond n perfect y coherent, cohes ve, and rat ona ways. So when the hero ne f na y gets word to these men that an assass nat on attempt s go ng to be made on the hote f oor, they amaz ng y make a of the r ght dec s ons extreme y qu ck y. Rache McAdams shou d ook for a rea y good ro e-- she deserves someth ng meat er than th s and shou d sh ne n t. C
an Murphy s n ce y creepy.
2005-08-01 JARMUSCH, JIM BROKEN FLOWERS --> Rating: 5.50
Extreme y under-deve oped and under-rea zed story about an ag ng "Don Juan" who rece ves a p nk etter from a former over adv s ng h m that he may have a son out there who s ook ng for h m. On the same day, h s most recent over, Sherry (Ju e De py) eaves h m. H s best fr end and ne ghbor, W nston, ns sts he track down the g r who sent the p nk etter. For reasons that are unc ear and unconv nc ng. Why does Murray get cred t for p ay ng th s ro e aga n? It s the same character he p ayed n "Lost n Trans at on" and "L fe Acquat c w th Steve Z ssou". Th s t me, he s mp y re gns n the character even more, str pp ng t down to th s dour, express on ess she of man, who ust s not very nterest ng. In the theatre as I watched th s f m, I heard sporad c aughter at severa nc dents n the f m that d dn t seem to be ntent ona y funny-- or maybe they were, but ust d dn t succeed very we . I suspected that many n the aud ence were augh ng at B Murray s deadpan de very, but here t s become a scht ck and t s sad to see.
2005-09-05 BURTON, TIM CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY --> Rating: 7.00
D sappo nt ng remake of W y Wonka and the Choco ate Factory (now named after the book). I don t th nk
2005-08-01 BERG, PETER FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS --> Rating: 8.30
R vet ng drama about the Odessa Texas h gh schoo footba team, the Perm an H gh Panthers, n the year of 1998, dur ng wh ch they took a run at the state champ onsh p. B y Bob Thornton makes John Travo ta s "Bobby Long" ook ke car cature, w th h s subt e and r ch character zat on of Coach Gary Ga nes, a decent man capab e to nsp r ng h s team, but w th qu et observance of the cost of v ctory, and maybe the pr ce the town pays for be ng obsessed w th the sport. The book for th s mov e d d not nsp re k nd thoughts from the res dents of Odessa, who saw t as mock ng. The mov e sure y toned t down-- t s genera y f atter ng. And the story of Boob e M es fate s utter y compe ng. One of the best sports mov es ever made. Inc dent y, most of the mportant facts are correct, but not the f na score, or the sequence of events n the f na game.
2005-08-20 GABEL, SHAINEE LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG --> Rating: 6.50
S ncere but c oy ng drama about a coup e of osers squatt ng n a house that turns out to be owned by Scar ett Pursy W (Scar ett Johansson), a bequest from her s nger mother. Th s s supposed to be touch ng and deep, at east, the wr ter th nks t s, but the b g scenes n wh ch reve at ons are suppose to create an mpact fa f at. It s pretty we what you expect to see, wh ch you rea ze, s not what you want to see. The act ng s okay, and the c nematography unremarkab e.
2005-08-23 HESS, JARED NAPOLEON DYNAMITE --> Rating: 8.00
Absurd y enterta n ng f m about a nerd sh h gh schoo student, h s h span c fr end, and h s odd fam y. H s H span c fr end, Pedro Sanchez (!) (Efren Ram erz) dec des to run for c ass pres dent, and Napo oen becomes h s campa gn manager. You e ther ove th s f m or hate t. Napo eon s brother dec des carr es on a search for a mate on the nternet and mprobab y ands one. The wedd ng at the end seems strange y arb trary but funny.
2005-01-01 AUERBACH, SHONA DEAR FRANKIE --> Rating: 8.00
Em y Mort mer s L zz e, an attract ve woman f ee ng an abus ve re at onsh p w th her young son. She te s the son that h s father s actua y a sa or, on a sh p ca ed the Acra. When the Acra actua y docks n the town they are v ng n, she has to scramb e to con ure up a "dad" for Frank e. Gera d But er as the "dad" does more than conduct a charade for a day or two. And, pred ctab y, he and L zz e deve op fee ngs for each other that may or may not go anywhere. It s not as bad as t sounds. The pr nc p es are keab e and t s f med w th restra nt.
2005-05-01 HOBLIT, GREGORY FREQUENCIES --> Rating: 6.70
John Su van s father, Frank, d ed hero ca y n a warehouse f re 30 years ago. John d scovers an o d ham rad o set n h s dad s garage and hooks up and, o and beho d, he s ta k ng to h s dad aga n. And t s the day before the trag c f re. So of course, John te s Frank how to avo d the tragedy... on y to un eash a worse tragedy that they must now so ve. Occas ona y ntr gu ng and even compe ng, but og ca y f awed and probab y po nt ess.
2000-01-01 WEITZ, PAUL IN GOOD COMPANY --> Rating: 7.10
Test ng.
2005-07-04 FOSTER, MARC FINDING NEVERLAND --> Rating: 6.00
It s not a rea y bad mov e, as a mov e. It s ust utter y, appa ng y dece tfu . L ke "Beaut fu M nd", t takes a character w th a few good qua t es and few rea y, rea y bad ones, and sanct f es h m. J.M. Barr e came to wr te Peter Pan at east part y out of the exper ences he had p ay ng w th the four (f ve, n rea fe) Dav es boys. They were ch dren of Mrs. L ewe yn Dav es, whose husband d ed short y after she met Barr e. Barr e n a ke hood sexua y mo ested the boys, and at east one of them commm tted su c de when he grew up, and two more of them d ed unhappy y young.
2005-03-01 BOYLE, DANNY MILLIONS --> Rating: 7.80
Somewhat keab e but unsat sfy ng account of a young boy who be eves devout y n sa nts and goodness, and who f nds a bag of money, and tr es to f gure out how to do the r ght th ng w th t. Sounds a ot better than t rea y s-- never qu te takes off, though you can t he p but ke the effort.
2005-02-01 NOLAN, CHRISTOPHER BATMAN BEGINS --> Rating: 7.80
The beg nn ng s a the trad t ona c che of the nept fore gner-- Bruce Wayne-- com ng nto contact w th exot c eastern cu ture and consc ousness, and thereby earn ng how to headbutt. The k nd of set p eces w th L am Neeson that are eas y mocked, and shou d be, the f m pu s t together n Gotham w th Batman bu d ng h s cave and mak ng h s f rst tentat ve forays nto cr me-f ght ng. Chr st an Ba e (the tt e boy n "Emp re of the Sun"!) s good, and Ca ne s a ways a de ght. O dman s exce ent and so s C an Murphy as Dr. Crane. Kat e Ho mes shou d have stayed homw w th Tom for th s one.
2005-07-04 BERTOLUCCI, BERNARDO DREAMERS --> Rating: 8.00
Very unusua , sensua f m about a threesome, a brother and s ster, and an Amer can, n Par s, a of whom are n ove w th f m. They p ay and exp ore sexua ty and you rea ze that a good dea of the pervers ty of the r re at onsh ps s n your head.
2005-02-01 SCOTT, RIDLEY KINGDOM OF HEAVEN --> Rating: 7.00
Contr ved from the very f rst moments, undu y pompous and bera and en ghtened, w th some exc t ng batt e scenes, and Eva Green, and Dav d Thew s-- so not a tota waste. The romance, of course, s tota y, abso ute y contr ved as we .
2005-03-01 KIDD, DYLAND PS --> Rating: 5.00
Esteemed actress Laura L nney ta es up most of the screen t me n th s stodgy, uneven, and mp ook at a woman s m dd e-aged cr s s. Lou se Harr ngton s a reg strar at Co umb a Un vers ty. A student app es for adm ss on to the f ne arts program and he seems fam ar to her. In fact, he has the same name, F. Scott Fe nstadt, and uses some of the same anguage as a former over of Lou se s, who d ed n a trag c car acc dent (are any acc denta deaths not "trag c"). Topher Grace from "That 70 s Show" s F. Scott, and he s okay, but t s hard to f gure what the mov e wants to show us: s Lou se a ater day, sympathet c Mrs. Rob nson? Or ust try ng to f nd herse f? Or a v ct m of fate or dest ny? W anyone care after watch ng an hour of th s f m? No.
2005-05-06 HAGGIS, PAUL CRASH 2005 --> Rating: 7.20
"Crash" sw ngs w d y from extreme y prom s ng, "Magno a" type mu t -threaded tragedy, to contr ved and preposterous mudd e. Concerns a po ce detect ve who uncovers poss b e corrupt on on the force, but p unges nto an ana ys s of race re at ons, d st nqu shed by the prob em of reverse descr m nat on-- what f the b ack rea y s go ng to ack your car? Sandra Bu ock p ays aga nst type as a woman whose race parano a appears to be ust f ed by events. Matt D on p ays a rac st cop who-- surpr se-- s courageous, and cares sens t ve y for h s a ng father. Intr gu ng and somet mes even nsp r ng-- but, oh, those preposterous co nc dences! Does that mean t s meant to be a fab e? But why not c ue n the aud ence, nstead of fo ow ng the path of rea st c, gr tty drama?
2005-05-06 AGRESTI, ALEJANDRO VALENTIN --> Rating: 8.30
Charm ng, keab e story about a very young boy who ves w th h s grandmother. H s mother has abandoned h s fam y-- h s grandmother ca s her a "s ut"-- and father on y reappears rare y, and then s stern and angry. Va ent n s transformed after a meet ng w th one of h s father s new g r fr ends, w th whom he deve ops a rea rapport-- w th d sastrous resu ts. B ttersweet story, rea st c and true to fe, and adm rab e.
2005-05-06 JEFFS, CHRISTINE SYLVIA --> Rating: 6.00
Unm t gated y bor ng rend t on of the Sy v a P ath myth-- w thout the use of her poetry, for wh ch r ghts cou d not be obta ned! Everyth ng s wrong about th s mov e, from t s amb va ent att tude to Ted Hughes (Dan e Cra g) to a wh ney and se f-absorbed Sy v a P ath (Gwyneth Pa trow). What exact y was the po nt ntended to be made by Sy v a s repeated acknow edgements of ear er su c de attempts-- a most as a tact ess warn ng to Hughes to not react too harsh y to Sy v a s unhea thy dependence on h m? Bad y m s udged-- th s shou d have been a nonstarter, w thout the poetry.
2005-05-07 RODRIGUEZ, ROBERT EL MARIACHI --> Rating: 8.50
H gh y enterta n ng egendary f rst f m by Robert Rodr guez, about a gu tar p ayer m staken for a gangster. Shot for about $3,000 (a ow ng for exaggerat on and Ho ywood sp n), the f m s remarkab y enterta n ng, paced we , and we -ed ted.
2004-01-01 RODRIGUEZ, ROBERT SIN CITY --> Rating: 8.20
Com c books m ght be known for graph c exce ence, and or g na and nnovat ve v sua zat ons, but they don t genera y str ke me as part cu ar y subt e or w se about mora ty or psycho ogy. S n C ty s true to Frank M er s super or com cs n a respects. V sua y, t s stunn ng at t mes, exc t ng, dynam c, and or g na . The shots of cars r s ng nto the a r go ng over curves s part cu ar fresh and unusua . There are three nter-weav ng stor es here. M ckey Rourke s amus ng as Marv, a d m-w tted, earnest brute who gets framed for murder. Hart gan (Bruce W s)_ kew se suffers un ust y for h s v rtue but gets h s revenge, of course. Rutger Hauer makes and appearance, as does Powers Boothe as a Senator, and E ah Wood as an unerv ng y s mey abuser, Kev n. Dark and d sturb ng at t mes. The mora ty s dark, of course. The good guys behave arge y ke the bad guys, except that we re supposed to be on the r s de. There s an nterest ng subp ot about a group of prost tutes that have taken over the r part of town and ma nta n an uneasy detente w th po ce and p mps.
2005-04-01 MCBREARTY, DON CHASING FREEDOM --> Rating: 7.60
Ju ette Lew s p ays a h gh-powered corporate awyer, who, urged to take on a pro-bono case by her boss, takes up the cause of a young Afghan women app y ng for refugee status n the U.S., and mpr soned, as per U.S. po cy after 9/11. Lew s s supr s ng y good, espec a y dur ng the scenes w th Meena, where she ma nta ns a profess ona detachment wh e e c t ng deta s of torture, murder, and abuse. The we ght of th s story s the human tar an ang e, and Lew s strong performance. The f m notes that many, many more Meenas angu sh n custody n the U.S. Pedestr an f m-mak ng at t s f nest, but odd y mov ng at t mes.
2005-04-21 VILLENEUVE, DENIS Maelstrom --> Rating: 5.00
Strange and pens ve tt e f m that goes nowhere. About a young woman, and an ma r ghts act v st, who has an abort on and then murders a man who processes f sh, and then has an affa r w th h s son. But has the odd f ght of perverse mag nat on.
2005-04-21 MCGOWAN, MICHAEL SAINT RALPH --> Rating: 7.00
Hokey but genera y keab e story about a 14-year-o d boy who be eves that w nn ng the Boston Marathon, n 1954, w be the m rac e that he needs to br ng h s w dowed mother out of her coma (she suffers from a vague, unspec f ed d sease). The p ot s pure hokum and often f at y unbe evab e and Gordon P nsent chews up the scenery as the arch-v a n, a doctr na re pr est who we rd y be eves that the boys des re to compete-- even when he d sp ays prom s ng ab ty--w be damag ng to h s psyche. But the secondary ro es are we -p ayed and the boy s pretty good, and the f m s av sh, for a Canad an f m-- n mask ng Cambr dge as 50 s Ham ton and then Boston. The mus c s over-bear ng, ust to make sure you get t at the end.
2005-04-21 CASSAVETES, NICK NOTEBOOK --> Rating: 6.00
Inexp cab y we -rece ved mov e that s the very def n t on of treac e and s op. Espec a y n the way James Garner, as the aged Noah Ca houn, turns nto mush for nexp cab y perfect y co ffed Gena Row ands (an A zhe mer s pat ent groomed so beaut fu y, she must have a fu t me sty st as we as nurs ng care). When h s ch dren urge h m to return home, he c a ms that h s great ove s n the nurs ng home. That s a pretty accurate emb em of the narc ss st c nature of th s k nd of f m. He th nks he s a ove god, but th s f m s rea y about comp ete y se f-absorbed and se f-serv ng th s v ew of ove s. But before you even get there, every c ch n the book-- the r ch g r , the d sapprov ng parents, the funky dad of the poor but authent c Amer can boy (who, a so nexp cab y, has no nterest n hunt ng, guns, and sant sept ca y en ghtened about women and sex). Ebert ked t, wh ch made me th nk he had gone soft n the head. Inc denta y, Rache McAdams threatened to save the f m a by herse f w th an unusua y tasty performance that was head and shou ders above the mater a . Gos ng was not too bad, by Macadams a most made the f m work. Garner was pure s op. Row ands was okay.
2005-03-25 SCORCESE, MARTIN AFTER HOURS --> Rating: 7.00
Hard to be eve th s modu at on of "the Out of Towners" s by the same d rector as Tax Dr ver and Rag ng Bu . Th s s a dark comedy about someone hav ng a rea y, rea y bad day. And though Scorcese s camera work and sense of rhythm and pace s there, the story sp ns out of contro w th a mob th nk ng Pau Hackett s a oca burg ar and chas ng h m down the streets nto the arms of a psychot c scu ptress... ust a b t too much. Good performances, genera y, and the c ty s a star, but the mater a ust doesn t deserve t. An odd ty-- a ma or character d es ear y n the f m. It s unexpected, a b t shock ng.
2005-03-18 KONCHALOVSKY, ANDREI RUNAWAY TRAIN --> Rating: 6.00
Somet mes ntr gu ng, but u t mate y unsat sfy ng story about an escaped pr soner who h acks a tra n, on y to f nd t abandoned, and runn ng at fu steam towards a prec p ce. Kurasawa apparent y p anned to f m th s story n upstate New York, but huge snowstorms prevented h m.
2004-01-01 MANN, MICHAEL ALI --> Rating: 7.80
Spraw ng, ong b op c of Mohammed A -- approved by h m-- from h s tr umph over L ston to capture the heavywe ght crown for the f rst t me, to h s comeback v ctory over Joe Foreman n Za re. Good performances a around, but not c ear where the focus of th s f m s. Too w de to be persona , and too narrow to be h stor ca . Therefore ne ther, therefore both.
2004-01-01 MANN, MICHAEL COLLATERAL --> Rating: 8.10
Unusua y t ght thr er, we -acted and staged, and we -d rected by M chae Mann. Max s a tax -dr ver w th amb t ons of own ng h s own mos ne serv ce some day. We are supposed to be eve that th s s a nob e asp rat on. Tom Cru se happens to ump nto h s cab at a p vota moment and we re off on a very ntr gu ng n ght of murder and pursu t. Mann keeps t be eveab e w th h s t ght d rect on. He smart y makes the c ty an actor n the f m, the h ghways and ghted sky nes, and open spaces-- though t a ends on a subway. A tt e preposterous y, Max earns, from V ncent, that he shou d comprom se on h s dreams. Yeah. That s true whether you are dr v ng a cab or a h t man.
2005-02-01 MANN, MICHAEL MANHUNTER --> Rating: 8.10
The true or g na of the Hann ba Lector ser es (spe ed (Lecktor n th s one) about a detect ve ca ed back --da da da da da because he s the on y one who understands the cr me, a t da, etc., and so on. A r ght, the c che s out of the way, t s actua y a fa r y f ne thr er, nte gent y scr pted, and we -acted by the secondar es, though Peterson (as W Graham) has watched too many Bogart f ms for h s own good. Above average, t ght y, suspensefu y d rected, and ve y. And Br an Cox s about the on y actor who make you quest on whether Anthony Hopk ns shou d even have cons dered the ro .
2005-02-01 HACKFORD, TAYLOR RAY --> Rating: 7.50
Why am I the on y one who cares that Ray Char es carefu y ca cu ated nd fference to the c v r ghts movement s tw sted n th s f m to show that he actua y had some guts. Or that h s w fe actua y eft h m n the 70 s, and that he d d not qu t drugs, as c a med, or that the carefu y se ected moments of "honesty" n th s f m are contr ved to have the prec se y oppos te effect-- how hard s t for Ray to adm t that he foo ed around and had sex w th ots of beaut fu women. Ow! Ouch! No! I deny t! Women never found me attract ve... I hope n a few years some of the cr t cs who gave th s f m a rave rev ew actua y read a b ography of Ray Char es and take a second ook at the f m, and rea ze ust hwo se f-serv ng t s. Of course that doesn t take away from h s ta ent, or h s courage n dea ng w th h s d sab ty, or h s shrewd management of the f nanc a s de of h s career. It ust means that I am rea y s ck of peop e us ng the r contro of mportant copyr ghts to nf uence how they are portrayed n f ms. It s c ear that w thout the use of Ray s mus c, no f m was go ng to be made, and the r ghts were contro ed by Char es and h s fam y, and the f m shows that. My sense s that peop e be eve the f m and therefore are host e f you suggest Ray m ght not be qu te a he s cracked up to be n the f m. So the f m, ke the Gospe , s true because t says t s true. Someone shou d do a f m about th s process.
2005-02-01 SCORCESE, MARTIN AVIATOR --> Rating: 7.00
St nker of a f m that a most won Scorcese an Oscar that everyone knows he rea y deserved for Tax Dr ver or Rag ng Bu . B ggest f aw: the m scast ng of Leonardo D Capr o-- whose product on company was nvo ved n mak ng the f m-- as Howard Hughes, a dec s on so preposterous that t s hard to take a moment of the f m ser ous y. Why s Kathar ne Hepburn fond ng a 12-year-o d boy? And why d d Scorcese gnore the ast, most nterest ng, 20 years of Hughes fe? Why sn t the test f ght of the Spruce Goose dep cted as absurd and r d cu ous, when that s obv ous y what t was? Nobody ser ous y contemp ated actua y us ng the p ane for anyth ng other than a cur ous ty. The f m dragged. It was bor ng, though Cate B anchett d d a wha e of a ob w th her ro e.
2005-03-01 LYNCH, DAVID ERASERHEAD --> Rating: 7.00
If there was a contest for "strangest" f m of a t me, you m ght adopt the m s ead ng percept on that "strange" s a de berate resu t of a courageous approach to art st c mater a -- bo d y d sregard ng convent on and trad t on and str k ng out on a new, or g na path. If that were the case, than every strange f m wou d be great. But what s "strange" can a so be, u t mate y, comp ete y se f- ndu gent and narc ss st c. How do you know the d fference? I suspect that Eraserhead s pr mar y se f- ndu gent, wh ch s not to say that Lynch doesn t have a ta ent for creat ng str k ng, memorab e mages. L ke Da , he seems to be attack ng the v ewer through the subconsc ous-- f you be eve n a subconsc ous. He wants to shock you, to make you free-assoc ate nstead of mpos ng a r g d narrat ve structure on rea ty. It s worth see ng. It s worth exper ec ng a tt e d s ocat on occas ona y, even f you th nk t a m ght be a con, ke Mu ho and Dr ve. But s t "h gh art"? I m not sure.
2005-03-10 FASSBINDER, RAINER WERNER ALI:FEAR EATS THE SOUL --> Rating: 7.10
St ff, de berate story about a frumpy m dd e-aged woman (a w dow) who meets a v gorous young Moroccan. They fa n ove and move n together to the aston shment of ne ghbors and fam y. Even Emm s own ch dren re ect her. They ca her a whore and s ut. She pers sts and even marr es A , but they have troub es as we -- A br ef y wanders. And that s about t. The most aston sh ng th ng about th s mov e s the fact that the centra character s a rather average- ook ng, m dd e-aged woman. There s no g amour here at a , but a very harsh nd ctment of German soc ety. The depth and breadth of rac st att tudes seems rather stunn ng. On y the and ord s son seems to accept Emm s r ght to ove. The secondary characters are no more phys ca y attract ve than Emm -- they are arge and morose ook ng. Intr gu ng but a most makes you w sh for some Ho ywood g tz.
2005-03-10 ROBERTS, JORDAN AROUND THE BEND --> Rating: 7.80
Perhaps under-rated. Henry La r s dy ng, wh e charm ng-- standard mov e mode-- and s cared for by grandson and great-grandson. Son Turner shows up to pay ast respects, presumab y, but Henry has a ast tr ck up h s s eeves. He requ res h s ashes to be scattered at var ous ocat ons on a road tr p he wasn t ab e to take. So the three-- son, grandson, and great-grandson-- h t the road and earn about each other and uncover a shock ng truth and come to ce ebrate fe more pass onate y as a resu t. You forget, as you are watch ng, ust as contr ved th s s, wh ch s a cred t to the d rector, and to Wa ken, who keeps h s read ng ust s ght y off-k ter. The "mak ng of" feature on the dvd s unusua y fresh and authent c-- not the smarmy mutua adm rat on soc ety we have come to expect.
2005-03-12 GEORGE, TERRY HOTEL RWANDA --> Rating: 8.00
True story of Pau Rusesabag na, a hote manager n K ga , Rwanda, who she tered hundreds of refugees dur ng the s aughter of Tuts s n 1994. Don Chead e p ays Rusesabag na and t s a tr bute to h s remarkab e performance that you don t become aware of any se f-serv ng e ements n what s, essent a y, a portra t of a sa nt. And though the f m does not nc ude extended graph c passages of v o ence, the horror s a the more rea , ref ected n the faces of the peop e v ng n the rooms and ha ways of the hote . There s a so a Un ted Nat ons genera c ear y mode ed on Canad an Romeo D A a re, who neffectua y p eads w th the UN for ass stance. (Th s was the rea scanda of the C nton adm n strat on.) As I watched t, I wondered, w see a f m n f ve years on Darfur, to make us fee good about fee ng bad once aga n?
2005-02-01 ASHBY, HAL HAROLD AND MAUDE --> Rating: 7.40
Th s f m a most wanders nto that terr tory occup ed affect onate y by "Harry and Tonto": Maude s an ntr gu ng and amaz ng character, and Ruth Gordon p ays t for a t s worth. And up to the moment when Maude d scusses the f owers w th Haro d, t was reach ng for poetry. But severa over-the-top confrontat ons, that were ne ther funny nor reve atory, and the gas k nd of seeped out of the p ot. In fact, the end ng s utter y def at ng, m sgu ded, and unnecessary. St , I suppose t counts for someth ng that no other f m has ever approached the sub ect.
2005-03-08 EASTWOOD, CLINT MILLION DOLLAR BABY --> Rating: 8.30
Powerfu and somet mes engag ng story about a young woman determ ned to become a boxer and the ag ng tra ner who re uctant y takes her on. Yeah, now that you descr be t ke that, maybe you can see why Warner Brothers turned t down. Thanks to Swank, however, th s f m s far more nvo v ng than expected, and Eastwood s estab sh ng a reputat on for honest, hard-work ng f ms that, wh e rare y show ng f ashes of br
ance, never fee cheap or man pu at ve.
2005-02-08 DANNELLY, BRIAN SAVED --> Rating: 7.00
D sappo nt ng parody of Chr st an cu ture, about a Chr st an h gh schoo n wh ch c ques and outcasts p ay the same ro es as n pub c h gh schoo s. When Mary dec des that Jesus has nstructed her to "cure" a fr end of homosexua ty by hav ng sex w th h m-- a scene not m ked very much--she gets pregnant and starts a sequence of events that a eged y exposes the rank hypocr sy of the schoo commun ty. Ends up preachy.
2004-03-03 ROACH, JAY MEET THE FOCKERS --> Rating: 7.80
Enterta n ng and somet mes sweet comedy about the Jew sh fam y meet ng the a -Amer can wonderbread fam y n marr age. The characters are keab e and the d rector avo des the most obv ous tempt ng excesses, and there are enough good okes to make t enterta n ng and keab e f not part cu ar y respectab e.
2004-12-28 INARRITU, ALEJANDRO 21 GRAMS --> Rating: 8.30
Powerfu , depress ng f m about m sfortune, hubr s, and destruct ve pass on. Naom Watts s a greav ng housew fe, Sean Penn s dy ng of cancer, and an ex-con, Ben c o De Toro, s the cu pab e dr ver. They co de n a d saster that s part y the resu t of gu t and part y the resu t of arrogance. Great performances, espec a y by Watts. The 21 grams refers to some k nd of myth about the we ght of the human sou eav ng the body.
2003-01-01 KAYE, TONY AMERICAN HISTORY X --> Rating: 7.00
Deep y f awed f m-- some sequences are utter y mp aus b e-- about neo-Naz sk n head Derek V nyard (Edward Norton) and h s nf uence on younger brotehr Danny (Term nator star Edward Fur ong). Derek shoots three b acks who break nto h s car one even ng and serves 3 years n a . He comes out a changed man, but h s h story s st catch ng up to h m. But why wou d we be eve that, after attack ng Cameron A exander, h s sp r tua guru when he was a Neo-Naz , that he wou d be w
ng to nf trate them for the po ce? And wou dn t a
cond t on of h s paro e be that he cou dn t hang around w th peop e w th cr m na records? Every ne n th s mov e s de vered as f the actor ust thought of t at that moment, as when Derek accuses Cameron of turn ng n some of h s fo owers. And the reason supp ed for Derek s change of heart-- a b ack pr soner he ps keep h m safe n pr s on-- s preposterous y de vered. I m not say ng t wou dn t be poss b e-- ust that the way the mov e presents t seems hokey.
2004-12-16 SILBERING, BRAD MOONLIGHT MILE --> Rating: 7.00
Ind fferent attempt to produce a qu rky f m about characters strugg ng to dea w th the catastrophe of a daughter/f ance s death. The parents, Hoffman and Sarandon (Ben and Jo o F oss)_ "adopt" the r dead daughter s f ance, who doesn t have the heart to te them that she had broken off the engagement and was on her way to te them the n ght she was k ed. Just doesn t rea y go anywhere.
2002-01-01 CARRUTH, SHANE PRIMER --> Rating: 8.00
Intr gu ng, cha eng ng f m about two men who create an odd dev ce that apparent y sends them back n t me about s x hours or so. They dec de to use t to man pu ate stock funds, but d scover creepy dangers as they encounter the act ons of the r "doub es"-- themse ves, eft beh nd, as they go backwards n t me. Instead of p ayfu fantasy or act on, we get the creepy awareness of potent a unp easant mp cat ons. Ce ebrated for t s budget of about $7,000, d rector/wr ter/producer Carruth apparent y demanded one take for each scene, to stay w th n h s budget. He chose to f m t nstead of us ng d g ta v deo, but the resu ts are not much more "f m- ke" than a f m ke "The Ann versary Party" wh ch was f med n d g ta .
2004-12-13 NICHOLS, MIKE BIRDCAGE --> Rating: 7.90
Enterta n ng f somewhat umpy comedy about ag ng gay coup e. It s strength s the noncha ant approach t takes to the gayness of the pr nc p es, and to the r re at onsh p. And Nathan Lane, who has a most become a type-- sharp, funny, vu nerab e, and enterta n ng. That sa d, the p ot sn t exact y or g na and occas ona y rem nds you of a s tcom.
2001-01-01 NICHOLS, MIKE CLOSER --> Rating: 7.60
Th s s prec se y the k nd of f m that h gh-schoo eng sh teachers and d ettant web-b oggers g ve the r h ghtest rat ngs. A pretent ous, u t mate y phoney me ange of contr ved scenes and fake emot ons, and the utter y mp aus b e nteract ons of four d stastefu y se f sh and sha ow characters. There s no rea p ot to speak of, other than the coup ng and uncoup ng of the four pr nc p es. There s oads of d a ogue a of t "arch" (as NY T mes A.O. Scott nc s ve y descr bes t), and tt e genu ne fee ng. Th s s a f m that s far ess psycho og ca y profound than t th nks t s, or has a r ght to th nk t s. The other f aws are c oser to surface. Jude Law s t resome and seems nt m dated by C ve Owen-- you a most expect h m to r p off h s own test c es and offer them to h m at some po nt. And Nata e Portman rea y shou dn t have been ca ed upon to f a ro e that demands a ot more nuance. She s try ng very hard to g ve what she th nks the aud ence expects to see from a sens t ve str pper but t sn t fun to watch someone f ounder ke that. Ju e Roberts s okay and succeeds n mbu ng her part w th some nterest and cur ous ty-- f on y because her attachment to the Jude Law character s so nexp cab e otherw se. M nes some of the same emot ona andscape as N cho s much ear er "Carna Know egdge", but not as powerfu y or haunt ng y.
2004-12-10 RAY, NICHOLAS REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE --> Rating: 8.10
The c ass c, sem na f m of teen rebe on, starr ng the con of mumb ng teen angst, James Dean, as J m Stark, and Nata e Wood as Judy. Sa M neo s better than e ther of them as John "P ato" Crawford. A three are outs ders, oners, strugg ng w th dent fy and mora ty as parents and peers grope m nd ess y for momentary grat f cat on or escape. J m wants to do the r ght th ngs, but h s weak, weas y parents can t support, and urge h m to take the easy route. Judy ooks for acceptance from a gang, but one of the r members s k ed n a wreck ess game of ch cken. D st nqu shed by the t s utter fa th essness n convent ona mora ty, "Rebe " marked the beg nn ng of the 1960 s. It unconsc ous y draws forth the vaccuum f ed by rebe on and countercu ture va ues.
2004-12-04 HANCOCK, JOHN LEE ROOKIE --> Rating: 7.00
Moderate y enterta n ng "true" (ha ha ha) story about J mmy Morr s (Qua d), a p tcher who b ew out h s arm and then, years ater, made a comeback and actua y made t to the ma or eagues br ef y. The appea of the story s the remarkab e way h s arm came back. The downs de s that the fact that he d dn t st ck w th any ma or eague team makes the story rea y rather ess remarkab e than everyone th nks t s.
2004-08-01 ARCAND, DENYS BARBARIAN INVASIONS --> Rating: 9.00
In "Dec ne of the Amer can Emp re", Arcand exp ored the mean ng of human re at onsh ps n the mater a st c wor d of post-modern Amer can mater a sm. W th the d sso ut on of trad t ona va ues, can ove and marr age surv ve? What s the mean ng of f de ty? Is t even mportant? In "Barbar an Invas ons", Arcand reun tes the same cast of nte ectua , ph osoph ca men and women, and p ays out some of the ssues ra sed n "Dec ne...", but th s t me the stakes are h gher. Remy s dy ng of cancer. H s son, Sebast en, has come back to Montrea to make h s peace w th the o d man, and see to h s care. H s o d fr ends gather warm y, to ce ebrate fr endsh p, and honor h s fe. It s a b tter sweet passage, f ed w th even more amb va ence than "Emp re...". Utter y ntr gu ng.
2004-10-01 ZHANG, YIMOU HERO --> Rating: 7.50
E egant but somet mes un nterest ng story about a warr or who c a ms to have prevented the assass nat on of a k ng and appears before the monarch to descr be h s honorab e act v t es. But h s te ngs of the confrontat ons g ve c ues to the w se k ng about h s true ntent ons. Very beaut fu f m, and state y, but not comp ete y sat sfy ng.
2004-11-20 LINKLATER, RICHARD NEWTON BOYS --> Rating: 8.00
In the ear y 1920 s, the Newton boys robbed banks. They d dn t become as famous as Bonn e and C yde, but that s probab y because they d dn t d e n a b aze of g ory. In fact, they a ved to r pe o d ages, and appear to be rather unrepentent about the r sensat ona act v t es. For one th ng, as W s Newton put t, the banks robbed the farmers and we robbed the banks. S ow-mov ng mov e, at east part y because t respects some of the facts and takes t s t me bu d ng a sense of momentum. Remarkab e story. Not one of L nk ater s most str k ng f ms, but charm ng enough. Interest ng note: W s Newton ust f es robb ng banks to brother Joe by po nt ng out that nsurance compan es w cover the r osses, and both the nsurance compan es and the banks rob farmers and other fo k. However, nsurance for banks d d not, apparent y, ex st n 1924, at the t me of the events n the f m. Joe Newton appears on Carson, and excerpt of wh ch s shown dur ng the c os ng cred ts.
2004-11-29 LINKLATER, RICHARD BEFORE SUNSET --> Rating: 8.50
Seque to the ntr gu ng "Before Sunr se", n wh ch Ethan Hawke and Ju y De py p ay cross-cu tura overs. In th s nsta ment, they are reun ted as Jesse tours Europe promot ng a book he has wr tten on the events covered n "Before Sunr se". Ce ne comes to the book-s gn ng n Par s. They had ost contact because he never d d get her address, and one of the suspensefu factors here s -- who d d or d dn t show up for the s xmonth prom sed rendevous? As n "Before Sunr se", most of the mov e cons sts of ta k between two nte gent, thoughtfu , pass onate nd v dua s, who ref ect on the r ves, on what they ook for n re at onsh ps, on the mean ng of ove. If the story s a tr f e contr ved-- they are both "ava ab e"-- the d scuss ons are so nterest ng you don t m nd.
2004-08-01 THURBER, RAWSON MARSHALL DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY --> Rating: 7.50
Enterta n ng f your keep your expectat ons n check. Better than expected, even. St er p ays a refresh ng y d fferent character from h s usua wh ney scht ck, and the support ng cast s co orfu and energet c. We saw th s on east coast, n Campbe ton.
2004-07-01 LEIGH, MIKE VERA DRAKE --> Rating: 9.00
I w be shocked f Ime da Staunton does not w n an Oscar for th s ro e. Not on y s her performance abso ute y ste ar, compe ng, and heart-break ng-- but t comes n an mportant f m that dea s w th a controvers a ssue. Vera s a k nd y m dd e-aged woman who works as a ma d at severa homes, pays v s ts to the e der y and shutns, and ooks after her am ab e husband, son S d, and daughter Ethe . And she a so performs abort ons for those who know about her and are n desperate need, us ng a syr nge and ye soap. She does pretty we , apparent y, unt one g r cont nues to b eed and s hosp ta zed. Her fam y s utter y stunned when the po ce turn up. And up unt th s po nt, the mov e was not mere y exce ent-- t was abso ute y outstand ng. The deta ed, met cu ous recreat on of fe n Br ta n n the 1950 s, and the recreat on of fam y fe by the actors, was head and shou ders above anyth ng e se I ve seen th s year. Every character was be evab e, and nterest ng, and fu y rea zed. Then... and then. I don t know what came over M ke Le gh. The ast ha f hours of the f m s one ong scene of Vera Drake weep ng. And someth ng m racu ous happens. A the accumu ated be eve n the cred b ty of th s character def ates. Instead of respect ng Vera has a good woman, we are urged to p ty her as a v ct m of a heart ess system. Even the po ce off cers that arrest and process her, at f rst sympathet c (obv ous y respond ng to the obv ous fact that Vera sn t rea y a fe on), start to get t resome as they ook so profound y sens t ve to Vera. You f na y ask yourse f f they have never arrests a woman before, never seen someone weep at the r pred cament. There are st moments, but the f m s nks under the we ght of Vera s martyrdom. There are st a few f ashes of nsp rat on. Reg, the bache or who courts Vera s daughter Ethe , s more support ve than Vera s own son (and the subp ot of the r courtsh p s charm ng). Vera Drake s st an amaz ng f m, and nsp r ng at t mes. It ust cou d have been perfect.
2004-11-23 MARSTON, JOSHUA MARIA FULL OF GRACE --> Rating: 8.20
Somet mes powerfu drama about a young g r who dreams of a better fe-- and s w
ng to take r sks to
ach eve t. She agrees to be a "mu e", to carry pe ets of coca ne n her stomach to New York. The drug dea er sn t ev ncarnate. L ke her, he s ust try ng to make some money. But the two men wa t ng for her and her fr end and another g r n New York are not as reasonab e. When one of the g r s doesn t read y regurg tate or pass the pe ets, there are d re consquences. When Mar a f ees, she ends up gett ng he p from a Co umb an expatr ate, Or ando Tob n, who does the same n rea fe.
2004-08-01 LEHMAN, MICHAEL 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS --> Rating: 7.00
Ted ous and under-deve oped--- not as f t was worth deve op ng--farce about a guy who p edges not to have sex for 40 days and 40 n ghts. Th s ends up, pred ctab y, be ng t ed to h s devot on to a spec a g r . Why, when a f m s so bo d y pagan and voyeur st c, does t a so seems so utter y convent ona ? The other prob em w th the essence of th s f m s that the dea of go ng 40 days w thout sex s not part cu ar y compe ng s nce most men spend most of the r ves go ng w thout sex for much onger per ods. A though-- that sa d-- t nc udes masturbat on. They do dea w th the prob em of how wou d h s fr ends, who are bett ng on when he breaks h s vow, go ng to know f he erks off (h s room-mate and brother-- a pr est). Intr gu ng aspect s that h s brother, John, the pr est, s a most sad st ca y aga nst the vow-- as f t threatens h s own sense of se f-worth. The ove nterest-- Er ca-- has a ob search ng for porn web s tes to add them to a b ocker. H s fr ends are r ght-- two dates w th Er ca-- why hasn t he k ssed her? Is he gay? The ssue obv ous y ar ses. The v ew from her off ce s unbe evab e. Log ca prob em: he gets rea y upset about the bett ng and the webs te-- why not ust e and te everyone he d d t? Who cares who knows whether he s rea y abst nent or not, g ven the va ues of the f m? The scene at h s parent s house s gratu tous. Marred by a preposterous ast f fteen m nutes w th fake cr s s and pyscho og ca y unbe evab e deve opments. A most redeemed by Ryan mak ng a bet. Okay f t reta ns a farc ca tone, but t doesn t.
2004-10-10 MACDONALD, KEVIN TOUCHING THE VOID --> Rating: 7.00
N 1985, two young c mbers set out to ascend the west face of S u a Grande n the Peruv an Andes, a c mb never before successfu y comp eted. They succeeded, but, on the way down, Joe S mpson fe and shattered h s r ght eg. He knew h s prospects of surv va were exceed ng y gr m, and a most expected fe ow c mber S mon Yates to abandon h m and save h mse f. Instead, S mon and Joe r gged up 300 feet of rope and attempted to make the descent by hav ng S mon brace h mse f and ower Joe the extent of the rope. Joe wou d then brace h mse f, re ease some s ack, and wa t for S mon to descend to h s eve . However, Joe was nadvertant y owered over a sheer c ff. After an hour of dang ng n the open, S mon, w th no way of know ng what had happened (and probab y no recourse regard ess), cut the rope. Joe dropped about 100 feet nto a crev ce. The f m documents h s remarkab e surv va , h s escape from the crev ce, and excruc at ng ourney back to camp. So how do you f m t? W th nterv ews of S mon and Joe (who are not rea y fr ends anymore), and re-enactments. But the renactments of the excruc at ng craw back to camp are over-the-top and me odramat c. The story was good enough w thout the embe shments. And though Joe s art cu ate and thoughtfu about the exper ence, S mon s d sconcert ng y reserved and somet mes de berate about h s ro e. Both agree that he d d the r ght th ng, but you a most expect a b t more of a cava er att tude cons der ng that they were both know ng y engaged n h gh-r sk adventures, and both had to accept a certa n degree of ser ous r sk. Compe ng story but not a ways conv nc ng.
2004-11-21 SOLONDZ, TODD WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE --> Rating: 6.50
Over-rated f rst feature by Todd So ondz who d sp ayed much better command of the med um n "Happ ness" and "Storyte ng". Concerns a g r n grade seven, Dawn W ener, who s the v ct m of re ent ess r d cu e and scorn by her c assmates and fam y. But Dawn s not remarkab y smart or g fted or a pass ve v ct m. She somet mes br ngs m sfortune down upon herse f, as when she de berate y eng neers the d sappearance of her sp tefu tt e s ster, M ssy, or shows up on t me to be "raped" by c assmate Brendan. Uneven m xture of humour and pathos, but Dawn s not an appea ng protagon st. She doesn t have any remarkab e ns ghts nto her s tuat on, nor the resources to cope w th her prob ems or her fam y. Heather Matarazzo s comm tted to the part but not sk ed enough to br ng t off w th any k nd of grace or nnate d gn ty. The sudden deve opment of a k dsnapp ng subp ot s d scomf t ng: t s not exact y b ack comedy, and t s not compe ng as drama.
2004-11-20 VINTERBERG, THOMAS CELEBRATION --> Rating: 9.00
Th s s a Dogme 95 f m: no spec a effects, no ob ects or v ews not found n the sett ng of the act on, etc. And t s abso ute y r vett ng. The K ngenfe dt fam y gathers at the fam y-owned nn for the 60th b rthday of the patr arch, He ge. In the m dd e of the fest v t es, e dest son Chr st an stands up to propose a toast, n memory of h s ate tw n s ster, who had comm tted su c de on y a few months before. He b the y nforms everyone that h s father had sexua y abused h m and h s s ster from the t me they were young ch dren. The react on of the gathered fam y and fr ends s amaz ng. Ha f the room pretends they d dn t hear anyth ng, and many d dn t, and others do what they can to hust e the obv ous y demented Chr st an away from the party. When Chr st an seems to rega n h s senses and offers to make an apo ogy, nstead, he e aborates on h s a egat ons and accuses h s father of murder. Ce ebrat on s fresh, exuberant, outrageous, and provocat ve.
2004-11-12 BREILLAT, CATHERINE FAT (A MON SOEUR) --> Rating: 8.50
Cather ne Bre at s becom ng known for controvers a f ms about sex and dent fy. What s controvers a about t a s not ust the fact that she f ms some of the most exp ct sexua nteract ons n ma nstream c nema ( f you cou d ca her "ma nstream"), but that she s so ntent on be ng honest about her sub ect matter. She s the very def n t on of "unf nch ng". In th s case, her sub ect s ado escent sexua ty, from a fema e perspect ve. From Ana s perspect ve. Ana s s 12 years o d and fat. She s grace ess and home y and unromant c. Her s ster, E ena, s the oppos te: beaut fu , s m, and romant c. They meet a boy, Fernando, who s nterested n E ena, of course, and th s sets off a cha n of events that end n tragedy and rony. E ena wants her f rst over to be a man she tru y oves. She wants to offer the g ft of her body to someone worthy and deserv ng of t. Ana s, more cyn ca , says she wants her f rst exper ence to be w th someone she hard y even knows, because t wou d be so awfu to f nd out you were used by someone you thought oved you. And so we watch Fernando, versed we n a the tr cks of the trade, p y E ena w th sweet prom ses and express ons of fee ngs, wh ch she sure y knows are not s ncere, but wh ch she wants to be eve are rea . The seduct on takes p ace n her bedroom, w th the umpy Ana s watch ng, w th m xed emot ons. She scorns Fernando, and env es E ena, and weeps w th ea ousy. When mother f nds out that E ena has accepted a va uab e r ng from Fernando, she knows exact y what s up and the vacat on s cut short and they are on the r way back to Par s. And that s when the shocker comes. An as gets her w sh, unexpected y, and makes a ast en gmat c statement to the po ce, to the camera, to us. "I don t care f you be eve me or not." Outstand ng, or g na f m, though a b t state y at t mes.
2004-11-19 JOHNSTON, JOEY ROCKETEER --> Rating: 5.00
Bad, bor ng, and un nterest ng, other than the fact that a young Jenn fer Conne y s cast n the f m. But she doesn t get much to do here, and the rest of the f m s charm ess y ado escent that makes Sponge Bob ook deep.
2004-10-10 DUIGAN, JOHN FLIRTING --> Rating: 8.20
Strong f m featur ng one of the ear est performances of N co e K dman and Naom Watts, both of whom are very good. Essent a y, a story about fe n a board ng schoo n Austra a n the ear y 1960 s, though the p ot s dr ven by the re at onsh p of Danny (Noah Tay or) and Thand we Ad ewa (Thand e Newton) a co oured student whose father s a h gh rank ng off c a n the Ugandan government. There s a b t of rac sm, and a b t of V ctor an repress on, but, to the cred t of d rector/wr ter Du gan, ne ther becomes the dom nant mot f of the f m. It rea y s about f rt ng, about connect ng someone at an awkward age n wh ch the ro es of the peers can be unhe pfu , to say the east. Danny s a m sf t, and nte ectua who sn t a geek or w mp-- ust d fferent, and not very popu ar. Thand we s smart, berated, and dar ng, and she ntu ts that Danny s about the on y boy n the schoo ke y to f nd her appea ng for more than phys ca reasons. Charm ng-- but the end ng s a et-down. They had someth ng good go ng here and I suspect the makers ost the r courage or ran out of deas. St worthwh e and en oyab e.
2004-10-23 SITCH, ROB DISH --> Rating: 7.90
Enterta n ng and en oyab e f m about how a rather humb e sate te mon tor ng operat on n Austra a p ayed a cr t ca ro e n commun cat ons w th the f rst moon and ng, due to happenstance.
2004-01-01 LONCRAINE, RICHARD WIMBLETON --> Rating: 6.00
Med ocre and tr v a f m about a fema e tenn s star who fa s for a strugg ng Amer can p ayer (Pau Bettany). H s game goes up, hers goes down. In true sn ve ng Br t sh fash on, there must be an extraord nar y pub c dec arat on of ove at the end that moves everyone to app ause and makes me cr nge, much ke "Love Actua y". A pecu ar k nd of emot ona exh b t on sm that I haven t decoded yet.
2004-10-02 HALLSTROM, LASSE SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT --> Rating: 7.70
Above average comedy-drama about a ph anderer who gets caught. H s w fe wa ks out on h m and goes home to daddy who has h s own ssues. Reads ab t ke a s tcom at t mes, yet c ear y better acted, better d rected, and better wr tten than any s tcom. Ju a Roberts as the v ct m of adu tery s about as good as she ever w be, and Denn s Qua d s f ne, even f th s s very fam ar terr tory for h m. He s re ab y sm rk sh yet fundamenta y decent. Gena Row ands as Grace s mother s part cu ar y good, as s Robert Duva , who makes someth ng of h s character. Kyra Sedgew ck as Grace s s ster, Emma Rae, s the n ece of 60 s Warho an superstar, Ed e Sedgew ck.
2004-11-07 ARGENTO, DARIO PHENOMENA --> Rating: 2.00
Other than as a veh c e for a very young Jennf er Conne y, th s f m s utter y and comp ete y un-noteworthy. Bad act ng, bad wr t ng, and bad spec a effects.
2004-10-22 SPURLOCK, MORGAN SUPERSIZE ME --> Rating: 8.50
Morgan Spur ock, after nvest gat ng Amer can obes ty, dec des to try to ve for one month on noth ng but McDona d s food. He mmed ate y beg ns to gra n we ght, go through depress on and mood-sw ngs, and ends up endanger ng h s own fe. a ong the way, he tooks an nterest ng and provocat ve ook at the state of nutr t on n the U.S., the comp c ty of the med a and the educat on system, and d scusses who s respons be.
2004-10-25 O'DONNELL, DAMIEN HEARTLANDS --> Rating: 8.10
Very qu et, ow-key f m about a ho y foo , Co n, whose w fe eaves h m for a cop. Co n sets out on h s motorcy e to catch up w th them at a dart tournament n B ackpoo . A ong the way he encounters var ous fe ow trave ers, nc ud ng a keab e h p coup e who cut h s ha r, and a g r -gu de troupe. Very n ce, honest f m, f a most too ow-key at t mes.
2004-10-22 BARMAK, SIDDIQ OSAMA --> Rating: 7.40
Very earnest but somet mes amateur sh f m about a young g r forced to dress as a boy to get work to prov de for her fam y n Afghan stan dur ng the re gn of the Ta ban. A good ntent ons, and t s a p easure to a f m made by Afghans about Afghan stan. The g r , Mar na Go bahar , s very good as s the beggar boy who b ackma s her, Ar f Herat .
2004-09-18 LINKLATER, RICHARD BEFORE SUNRISE --> Rating: 8.30
Jesse s trave ng by tra n to V enna, from whence to depart back to Amer ca, after an unsat sfy ng and broken tr p through Europe. H s g r fr end dumped h m n Spa n. Ce ne s on her way to schoo . They mneet, beg n ta k ng, take a k ng to each other. Jesse proposes that Ce ne get off the tra n w th h m n V enna and spend one day together. No ob gat ons, no we ghty nvo vement. Just an extraord nary day together n V enna, and a n ght, and then... never see each other aga n? The f m cons sts a most ent re y of the r d a ogue, a ong w th some spark ng encounters w th others, some r ch exper ences, and the tens on of the bu d ng re at onsh p. Though at t mes you w sh for a more mature hand at the d rector s whee , the f m s so r ch w th persona mean ng and emot ona nterp ay that t becomes r vet ng and sat sfy ng.
2004-07-09 LINKLATER, RICHARD SLACKER --> Rating: 8.40
Tru y amaz ng, techn ca y amateur sh, str k ng debut by R chard L nk ater, dep ct ng a b eak and amaz ng day among a subcu ture of outcasts and m sf ts n Da as. Most of the performers are amateurs, and not part cu ar y br
ant, but some scenes are amaz ng because of L nk ater s demended consp racy-theory obsess ons and
the unexpected charm of a move that re es so pure y on d a ogue for the advancement of the non-story. The vers on we saw at home was a VHS copy w th bad soundtrack. I wou d presume that a better copy wou d mprove n that area, but the sound s probab y or g na y recorded w th some techn ca f aws. For examp e, footsteps n an apartment keep drown ng out the vo ces.
2004-07-10 ALLEN, WOODY CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION --> Rating: 0.00
Marred by the we rdness of A en mak ng He en Hunt h s ove nterest, n sp te of the 80 year d fference n the r ages (a r ght- more ke 30), th s s a homage to f m no re. A en p ays CW Br ggs, an nvest gator for an nsurance company. One n ght, he s hypnot zed by an enterta ner, and becomes and unw tt ng pawn n a c ever robbery scheme. In the meant me, he a so gets to p ay off Betty Ann s (He en Hunt) eff c ency expert antagon sms, unt they fa n ove, of course, and Br ggs so ves the case.
2004-07-09 ALLEN, WOODY ANYTHING ELSE --> Rating: 7.80
The f rst twenty m nutes of th s f m were so utter y der vat ve of other Woody A en f ms-- espec a y Ann e Ha and Manhattan-- that t was depress ng. Not a s ng e fresh oke or percept on or neuros s. Then, s ow y and gradua y, Jason B ggs as Jerry Fau k and Chr st na R cc as h s g r fr end Amanda, bu t the r characters nto persona t es you cou d care about, and the story deve oped off nto a new d rect on. Though th s st has to be regarded as sub-par Woody A en, t became enterta n ng and nterest ng and even m d y funny at t mes.
2004-07-10 MOORE, MICHAEL FAHRENHEIT 9/11 --> Rating: 8.00
Somet mes bombast c but re ab y eft-w ng. Th s entry f ags a b t towards the end as Moore works more w th emot on than facts ( n an extended sequence w th the mother of so d er who was k ed n Iraq-- and had h s pay docked for the ast few days of the month when he was not ava ab e for war because he was dead).
2004-06-26 MCCARTHY, THOMAS STATION AGENT --> Rating: 7.90
Very ow-key but keab e f m about a dwarf who nher ts a rea tra n stat on from h s boss, the owner of a hobby store. He moves to the stat on, n Newfound and, New Jersey, but ust wants to be eft a one. However, fr end y ne ghbors ke Joe and O v a ns st on be ng h s fr ends, and the three form an un ke y a ance aga nst one ness. We -acted and charm ng at t mes, though so ow-key as to a most become nv s b e at t mes. Peter D nk age s very good, as F nbar McBr de, the dwarf.
2004-06-26 COLE, NIGEL CALENDER GIRLS --> Rating: 8.10
Very amus ng, odd y mov ng story about the ce ebrated nude ca ender put out by members of a Women s Inst tute n Knape y, Eng and, after the husband of a member d es of cancer. They want to use the ca ender to ra se enough money for a couch; the dea takes off, however, and they do a ot better than that. I m not sure why-- we , yes I am-- but they nvar ab y a tered the story to try to generate more tens on. F rst y, apparent y the Women s Inst tute were not rea y very opposed to the dea, and the tens on between Chr s and Ann e certa n y ooks contr ved-- des gned to he p the f m make 100 m nutes, I suppose. But the story up to the tr p to Ho ywood s funny and compe ng and r ch and worth see ng.
2004-05-28 GOLDWYN, TONY WALK ON THE MOON --> Rating: 7.00
Prom s ng but u t mate y d sappo nt ng f m about a young woman w th two ch dren who chooses the "summer of ove", Woodstock n 1969, to have a cr s s of fa th n her chosen fe. She meets a sa esman named Wa ker Jerome and beg ns a heated affa r. It s c ear y nd cated that Wa ker ntroduces her to ora sex-- her react on s exact y r ght: n t a res stance, fo owed by re uctant acceptance, fo owed by de ghted reve at on. It s not a bad f m. It s we -wr tten and genera y we -acted. But the reso ut on s nev tab e, and the phoney cr s s (Dan e , Pear s son, be ng stung by hornets), and the heart-to-heart ta ks a eventua y take the r to and defuse the dramat c tens on that was so we worked up n the f rst ha f. Ends on a f zz e.
2004-05-24 WILDER, BILLY STALAG 17 --> Rating: 8.10
W am Ho den s unpopu ar Sgt. J.J. Sefton, suspected of be ng an nformant, n a German pr soner of war camp. The rest of the cast s ste ar, nc ud ng Peter Graves as the rea nformant, Otto Prem nger as a German Co one , and Harvey Lembeck as "Sugar L ps" Shap ro. Sta ag 17 s funny w th a b tter, sat r c edge, and suff c ent rea sm to g ve t some punch. The deta s of the pr soners ves r ng true-- n some cases, because of the we rdness of t a ( ke the danc ng at the Chr stmas party). Inc denta y, the makers of the f m sued the makers of Hogan s Heroes for copyr ght nfr ngement but ost, n sp te of the obv ous s m ar t es.
2004-05-23 DACOSTA, MORTON AUNTIE MAME --> Rating: 7.00
Overb own but somewhat nterest ng comedy about a young man named Patr ck and h s eccentr c and dom neer ng f apper aunt e Mame. Patr ck s orphaned ear y on n fe and Mame becomes h s guard an, but s opposed by more convent ona peop e around Patr ck, who have some r ghts over h m because h s father was concerned that Mame was too unconvent ona for Patr ck s good. Patr ck becomes engaged to G or a, whose gent e parents f nd Mame s crowd vu gar, wh ch prompts Mame to sabatoge the re at onsh p and set up Patr ck w th her secretary,
2004-05-22 SCHIVAZAPPA, PIERO FRIGHTENED WOMAN --> Rating: 6.00
Very strange, we rd, campy, and b zarre f m about a bored, r ch man who pays women to come to h s mans on on the weekend for a ser es of S & M games. H s p ans go awry when he chooses a rea ourna st, nstead of a prost tute, for one weekend, and the games take a more ser ous turn. Or do they? There s a rather pred ctab e reversa , and some scenes are un ntent ona y funny, but t s fun as a re c of an era, and genera y we -acted for t s type.
2004-05-23 TARANTINO, QUENTIN KILL BILL VOL 2 --> Rating: 9.10
The second ha f of Tarat no s masterfu homage to mart a arts f ms, f m no re, and a thousand outher e ements of Amer can unk cu ture. Every frame of th s f m for the f rst hour or so s revet ng. H gh y or g na use of co our, mot on, desaturat on, and sound. Won t get cons derat on for t, but shou d be nom nated for an oscar as best f m and best d rector, wehn the t me comes.
2004-05-05 BECKER, WOLFGANG GOOD BYE, LENIN --> Rating: 8.00
A ex s mother s a party sta wart, a oya devotee of the Soc a st Party of East Germany. Her husband has f ed to the west. Her ch dren are A ex and Ar ane. She suffers a heart attack ust before the wa fa s, and goes nto a coma. When she comes out of the coma, the doctor adv ses A ex that she cannot have any more shocks. He dec des to use a h s ngenu ty to make her be eve that noth ng has changed. Th s eads to some good com c moments as he stages newcasts (even us ng footage of the wa com ng down ), but th s s bas ca y a c umsy, akward mov e. The prob em s that the f m takes great pa ne to exp a n th ngs that don t ra y need that b g of an exp anat on-- ust more of a coo acceptance that, yes, there are strange th ngs n the wor d, ke Coca Co a s gns, that don t a ways need exp anat on. Genera y keab e but a b t s ow-mov ng.
2004-05-04 LEIGH, MIKE HIGH HOPES --> Rating: 7.90
Cyr and Sh r ey are eft st, work ng c ass fo k v ng n a poor but not terr b e ne ghborhood. They have a rea rapport, but Sh re y wants to have k ds and Cyr does not. H s mother ves on her own n pub c hous ng, and gets trapped outs de her apartment. She ca s on the ne ghbors, Laet t a and Rupert, for he p-- they can hard y bear to de ay the r departure for an opera. Meanwh e, Cyr s s ster uses the opportun ty to see "what they ve done w th" the r apartment. And so t goes. As a ways, w th Le gh, rea fe at t s darkest and depress ng, and yet, a ways w th that hope generated by the pure human ty of h s characters. We acted. Poor y f m, genera y, but not annoy ng y so.
2004-05-07 WEBBER, PETER GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING --> Rating: 6.00
Bad y m sca cu ated pompous treatment of a f ct ona zed re at onsh p between Dutch pa nter Johannes Vermeer and a servant g r , Gr et. M chae Medved m ght recommend the mov e-- that s how bad t s. Noth ng happens. Even worse-- the d rector dec ded that he wou d commun cate great, deep fee ngs and deas through " ooks", as n the mean ngfu ook a w fe g ves her huusband wh e he s mean ngfu y star ng at the servant g r who s mean ngfu y star ng at the butcher s son. The on y quest on s-- why d d they bother? Sumptuous sets. N ce recreat on of 18th century De ft. Bor ng.
2004-05-08 HEDGES, PETER PIECES OF APRIL --> Rating: 7.90
L keab e, ow-key f m about a dysfunct ona fam y. Apr ves n New York and nv tes her skept ca fam y to Thanksg v ng d nner at her apartment n a dangerous ne ghborhood. The mother s dy ng of cancer. Her s ster and brother are ea ous s b ngs. Father s a to erant peace-maker. Apr strugg es to f nd someone w th an oven she can use to f n sh the turkey, wh e her boyfr end s out on some dub ous poss b y drug-re ated errand. The sceens of the fam y n the car are h ar ous,and the res dents of the apartment bu d ng are co ourfu w thout be ng too ethn ca y correct or cute.
2004-04-01 VON TRIER, LARS DOGVILLE --> Rating: 8.70
Controvers a , unp easant, host e but abso ute y un que f m about a sma town n the Co orado mounta ns dur ng the depress on, and the way the c t zens at f rst we come then abuse a beaut fu g r on the run from the aw. F med ent re y n a stud o, us ng cha k mark ngs to demarcate the nd v dua houses and even pets. A actors are on stage at a t mes, v s b e through the r transparent wa s.
2004-04-23 ALTMAN, ROBERT COMPANY --> Rating: 9.00
Lesser A tman, but st A tman. A c ose-up ook at the day-to-day ves of a group of ba et dancers n Ch cago, members of the Joffrey Ba et Company, and the r tr a s and tr bu at ons. You must ke ba et f you want to en oy s tt ng through the ent re mov e-- I d d and I d d. And Neve Campbe gets a b g thumbs up for accept ng a re at ve y m nor ro e even though she was the producer of the f m. She seemed to accept that the f m wou d be better w th A tman udg ng the over-a ba ance of performance components.
2004-04-04 JENKINS, PATTY MONSTER --> Rating: 8.00
Everyth ng n th s mov e s rea y about Char ze Theron and her consc ous y courageous portraya of A een Wurnos, who was sentenced to death for a ser es of murders comm tted n F or da. Wurnos s one amaz ng creature, a v ct m of abuse and neg ect who became a prost tute, and then began to murder some of the men she encountered. At one t me, she c a med that the murders were n se f-defense, but at other t mes she seemed to concede a more s n ster mot ve. Th s unf nch ng mov e features a performance by Therson that s so good that you a most don t m nd how sure she s that she s great.
2004-02-01 HANKS, TOM THAT THING YOU DO --> Rating: 7.00
Tom Hanks genera y d d th ngs r ght for th s mov e. He he d a contest among rea mus c ans for the t t e song, and he had the actors rehearse the r nstruments for 8 weeks. The deta s are r ght, and the f m occas ona y fee s r ght, but ust don t take off. The one th ng that d dn t work s that the actors st ook ke they re fak ng t when they p ay the r nstruments. And the r " ve" performances are v rtua y nd st nqu shab e from each other. N ce try.
2004-04-17 NAKATA, HIDEO RINGU --> Rating: 8.40
The Japanese or g na of the creepy "R ng". Unusua y, th s t me the or g na s not as creepy or edgey as the Ho ywood remake. The same bas c story ne, even some of the same bas c scenes, but doesn t bu d qu te as ntense y. A very, very c ever story that hangs together we r ght up to the except ona y r ch tw st at the end.
2004-01-01 VERBINSKI, GORE RING --> Rating: 8.50
Un que y terr fy ng and unusua horror f m about a strange v deo tape that fa s nto the hands of some teenagers out for a weekend of fun at a cottage. After p ay ng t and watch ng t s strange d s o nted mages, a phone ca nforms the v ewers that hey are go ng to d e n one week. And apparent y they do d e. Naom Watts p ays Rache Ke er, the aunt of one of the v ct ms, and a ourna st, who hears the story, watches the v deo anyway, and then nvest gates. She uncovers a creepy story about a rancher and h s w fe and daughter. We acted, and we f med. Genu ne y creepy.
2002-01-01 NAKATA, HIDEO CHAOS (KAOSU) --> Rating: 7.70
The w fe of a bus nessman consp res-- or does she-- w th a k dnapper to extort a ransom from h m, but th ngs go awray, nev tab y, and t becomes unc ear who s the v ct m. C ever and occas ona y ntr gu ng, and a tt e d sappo nt ng. But st c ever.
2004-03-01 GONDRY, MICHEL ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND --> Rating: 8.00
There s a masterp ece h d ng n there somewhere. But I can t f nd t and I don t th nk M che Gondry found t. It must have been a fr ghten ng task to ed t th s f m. Where do a the p eces go? Where s the framework? J m Carrey s Joe Bar sh, a shy, nervous dweeb, who meets C ement ne Kruczynsk (Kate W ns et) at a beach party and fa s n ove. The re at onsh p s a tt e b zarre, because C ement ne s a tt e b zarre-- she s mpu s ve, extroverted, no sy, and fun- ov ng-- the oppos te of Joe . When the re at onsh p sours because Joe accuses her of us ng sex to make peop e ke her, she has h m erased from her memory, w th a new techn que created by Dr. Howard M erzw ak. When Joe d scovers what she has done, he attempts to undergo the same procedure. Part of the way through-- and here the fun beg ns-- he changes h s m nd and dec des that some memor es are too va uab e. W th n h s memor es, he tr es to "h de" them from the techn c ans, Stan (Mark Ruffa o) and Mary (K rsten Dunst). Meanwh e, Patr ck (E ah Wood), tr es to take advantage of h s know edge of Kate s memor es to start a re at onsh p w th her. Th s s fun and ntr gu ng and there are ser ous ssues at p ay here-- s t better to keep memor es that have become b ttersweet after a re at onsh p ends-- or to get r d of the pa n, and the memor es. Of course-- you th nk-- t s better "to have oved and ost". So the fun s not n any k nd of surpr se, but n how Joe f nds out that he d rea y rather keep the memor es, and how he tr es to h de them, and how they beg n to b end w th h s own ch dhood memor es, and h s purests des res and needs. Strange mov e. Exot c and provocat ve. Doesn t ent re y succeed, n the way that "Be ng John Ma cov ch" (a so by Char e Kaufman) succeeded. Carrey s try ng, ke Rob n W ams before h m, to become a ser ous actor. H s comedy s muted and h s performance restra ned-- as f that s what makes a great actor out of a comed an. I found t weak, and I found that Kate W ns et, w th noth ng to p ay aga nst, a so d m n shed herse f. Joe s such a vacuum of a character, that t s hard to be eve that the re at onsh p cou d ever have been pa nfu enough for C ement ne to want to have t exc sed from her memor es.
2004-03-20 LEIGH, MIKE ALL OR NOTHING --> Rating: 8.80
Th s s a dysfunct ona fam y. Ph s an overwe ght tax -dr ver who s eeps n too ate every day to make an ser ous money, and who can t seem to manage h s own fam y, et a one the househo d budget. Penny s h s w fe, who works at a grocery check-out counter. She s the on y one n the fam y who sn t fat, but she has begun to ose her fee ng for Ph . The r son Rory ays on the couch and watches te ev s on and eats a day. When he p ays soccer w th some ne ghborhood k ds, he gets nto a f ght and s accused of bu y ng. Rache works n a nurs ng home, putt ng up w th the sexua y ns nuat ng conversat ons of a fe ow worker, a war veteran. They ve n someth ng that ooks ke a hous ng pro ect, though t s not near y as run-down. They f ght, scream, cry, and f a away at fe, frustrated and depressed by how th ngs have turned out for a of them. There s a cr s s and a ow-key reso ut on. Th s f m s so b t ng y rea , that t s un ke anyth ng e se you w see th s year. It s powerfu , f a tt e s ow-mov ng at t mes, and haunt ng. The act ng s abso ute y conv nc ng, w th the poss b e except on of the end ng, when Penny must accept or re ect Ph , and both devo ve nto cop ous tears. It s not arr ng, but a b t broad, and b t more demonstrat ve than you w see n rea fe, wh ch s odd for th s f m.
2004-03-20 MAMET, DAVID SPARTAN --> Rating: 7.80
Dav d Mamet has wr tten some of the most ntr gu ng and st mu at ng f ms of our era, nc ud ng O eana and G engarry G en Ross. Wh ch s why Spartan s so d sappo nt ng. Make no m stake about t-- t s a super or thr er, and unusua y we -constructed chase f m. But that s about a t s. H s powerfu ns ghts nto the ma e ego, fema e empowerment, and greed, are absent from th s f m. It s as f he ust wanted to make a thr er, f the theatre w th exc ted young ma e aud ences, and f up h s pockets w th co d, hard, cash. The bas c p ot s hokum: the pres dent s daughter s k dnapped. Va K mer p ays the spec a agent brought nto the rescue effort. That s mportant-- that s the super or part-- th s mov e doesn t g ve you that nonsense about on y a s ng e man who can save the wor d. K mer works w th others and t s not a ways c ear who answers to who. Nor s t a ways c ear what s go ng on. Why was the g r k dnapped? D d the k dnappers even know who she was? What was the pres dent s daughter do ng n that p ace n the f rst p ace? The troub e s, the daughter craved her father s attent on, the father was see ng a m stress, the g r was k dnapped not by terror sts (c che of today) but by wh te s ave traders (the c che of yesterday). And they are Arab c. And Va K mer has to exerc se the usua absurd ty of beat ng a man up unt the te s the truth. Except that n rea fe, the man wou d say anyth ng to stop K mer from beat ng h m up or k
ng h m, and K mer has no way of know ng f what he was to d rea y s the truth. (As t
turns out, t appears to not be true, but th s mov e s not concerned w th what happens to the v ct ms of po ce bruta ty.) And then, surpr se, what they sa d turns out to be true. Are there rea y wh te s ave traders out there? I ve never heard of a ver f ed case. I m surpr sed Mammet wou d make that such a centra part of h s story.
2004-03-11 SAYLES, JOHN LIANNA --> Rating: 6.00
Very st ff, a most fe- ess account of a young woman com ng out. Po t ca y correct n the worst poss b e way, none of the characters are fu y deve oped or even nterest ng. L anne s a th rty sh co ege professors s w fe whose husband s rather pred ctab y se f sh, b and, and m d y abus ve. When she catches h m hav ng sex w th a student n someone s backyard sandbox, she s ready for a break. And Ruth, a esb an professor at the same co ege, nv tes her over and draws her nto a sexua re at onsh p. After d scover ng that Ruth s st n another re at onsh p, and that her husband wants a d vorce, L anna f nds herse f v ng a one and forced to come to terms w th the consequences-- the pr ce-- of her freedom to come out. Th s s an honest, s ncere f m. And bor ng. The scr pt s read, and the camera seems to be ocked on a tr pod at the same ang e. Sound s very uneven. Not a very accomp shed f m, even f you apprec ate Say es work ng-c ass perspect ve. John Say es 2nd f m.
2004-03-12 SAYLES, JOHN LIMBO --> Rating: 7.10
Very uneven, unexpected y abrupt f m about a man named Joe Gast neau who who takes a woman--a s nger-and her daughter up a ong the coast of A aska on y to end up stranded on an abandoned s and. The r on y potent a rescuer s a p ot who may be n the backpocket of the drug dea ers who murdered Joe s brother. The daughter, Noe e, reads from a d ary that she found n an abandoned cab n that they have taken over, every n ght. That s the mbo. I suppose you cou d say the f m s rea y about re at onsh ps, about Noe e s search for a good, re ab e man, and Joe s w
ngness to face the water aga n after a d sastrous out ng many years before.
2004-02-20 MORRIS, ERROL FOG OF WAR --> Rating: 8.00
Pedestr an documentary wh ch cons sts ma n y of an utter y compe ng conversat on w th Robert McNamara, about Wor d War II, the bomb ngs of Japan, and the V et Nam War, and what he earned from h s exper ences. D sappo nt ng footage shown, much of wh ch sn t rea y a that d rect y re ated to McNamara s po nts. None of t rea y adds much to the deas d scussed. But McNamara s e oquent and honest and t s remarkab e sten ng.
2004-03-04 RENOIR, JEAN GRANDE ILLUSION --> Rating: 7.70
Doesn t trave very we . Very n ce y f med and acted drama about four French f ers captured by the Germans and he d n pr son camps. The f rst ha f s about how honorab e they a are to each other-- host ng d nners and treat ng each other w th respect. Then the men try to escape and the story turns more ser ous as one of them s k ed. But the f m s rea y about the re at onsh ps between Bo e d eu, the ar stocrat (P erre Fresnay) and Lt. Marecha , the pro etar at, w th no t me for someth ng as "deep" as a p ay-- on y for b cyc es. Bo e d eu has more n common w th Capt. von Rauffenste n (Von Strohe m), who s of h s c ass, than he does w th Marecha , or w th the Jew sh off cer, Lt. Rosentha . It s hard to p ace th s f m at t mes, because t s so qua nt y theatr ca at t mes. War bare y seems more than an annoyance n the charmed ves of these protagon sts, and w thout a powerfu dramat zat on of the consequences of war (as n, say, the P an st), the modern v ewer may f nd t hard to absorb the ant -war sent ment of th s f m. St , t s a andmark of t s era, and po shed and we -acted.
2004-03-07 TAKAHATA, ISAO HOTARU NO HAKA --> Rating: 7.80
De cate and at t mes yr ca , "Grave of the F ref es" (as t s known n U.S.) s the story of two ch dren, Se ta (Tsutomu Tatsum ) and Setsuko (Ayano Sh ra sh ) whose mother s k ed dur ng the f re bomb ngs that preceded the use of the atom c bomb on Japan. Se ta takes tt e Setsuko to an aunt s house to stay, where they are not we comed; eventua y they move nto some k nd of abandoned she ter near a sma pond. Se ta strugg es to f nd enough food and Setsuko becomes . Th s mov e s egendary for evok ng tears even n v ewers who are not nc ned to sent menta ty. And Hotaru no haka s never sent menta . It s unf nch ng y sketches these two tt e ves dur ng a per od of great hardsh p n Japan, w thout ass gn ng b ame or po em c z ng. It s mov ng, and a f ne f m, but I found the an mat on a tt e d sappo nt ng y convent ona .
2004-03-05 CHADHA, GURINDER BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM --> Rating: 7.00
If on y Chadha hadn t pushed so many c che buttons-- the tr umph over advers ty, the co ourfu ethn c ty, the generat on gap-- th s m ght have been a very keab e, a be t not very or g na f m. But by the end of the two hours, the c ches have gone on too ong and even K era Kn ght y can t save th s f m from dra n ng tens on away ke ...
2004-02-14 ANDERSON, WES RUSHMORE --> Rating: 8.70
Wes Anderson s w thout a doubt one of the most extraord nary d rectors work ng today. Not on y are h s f ms unpred catab e and w d y unusua -- they constant y ra se quest ons about trad t ona expectat ons about what a character w or w not do. Not on y does he shatter Ho ywood c ches, but he turns around and nverts c ches about cha eng ng Ho ywood c ches. Max F scher s a student at Rushmore. It s what he wants to do more than anyth ng e se, and he even says he d ke to be a student at Rushmore for a of h s fe. Unfortunate y, he an academ c fa ure, though he a so wr tes p ays and part c pates n a most every c ub mag nab e. H s best fr end, D rk, acts as a k nd of reta ner secretary. He befr ends a wea thy bus nesman, Herman B ume (B Murray), who g ves a cyn ca but franks speech at an assemb y. But he s a so sm tten w th Rosemary Cross, a teacher at a oca e ementary schoo , who wrote down a str k ng p ece of w sdom n a Jacques Cousteau book that Max happened to check out of the brary. In the course to pursu ng Rosemary, Max creates r pp es of d sturbances, among h s fr ends and c assmates, and Rushmore tse f, and he s expe ed. Noth ng f ows as pred cted. He s expe ed but t s not an un ust expu s on, and the pr nc pa , Ne son Guggenhe m (Br an Cox) rather kes h m. Max s dad s reasonab e and sweet. Rosemary te s Max frank y that she cou d never have a re at onsh p w th h m-- t s on the tab e mmed ate y, nstead of sku k ng be ow the surface as you m ght expect. H s r va for Rosemary (one of them), Peter, an ntern, s rather n ce and p easant to Max even after he has been rude to h m. Another examp e of how c ever by ha f Anderson s, he uses cheesey songs from the 60 s-- and some good ones-- to max mum effect by p ay ng them oud. They aren t background. When Donovan s "Jersey Thursday" gets th s k nd of fu fronta exposure, you th nk, for a moment, that t s a br
ant song-- but t sn t. It ust works. As n "The Roya Tenebaums", characters n Rushmore
seemed to have steered themse ves nto ruts and have troub e gett ng out, but they m ght, and th ngs m ght go we , but then aga n, they m ght not. It s c ear that Max at east does th ngs-- he p unges n, w th a h s energy and pass on, and that s what c ear y keeps h s c rc e of fr ends and acqua ntances adm r ng and respectfu , even as he somet mes a enates them w th h s demands. A remarkab e, charm ng, de ghtfu f m.
2004-02-06 BURTON, TIM BIG FISH --> Rating: 7.90
L keab e but f awed mov e from a d rector w th a reputat on for w d y mag nat ve concepts and mages, but sent menta themes. B g F sh s about a father who te s ta ta es, and the son who becomes a ourna st-concerned w th the truth-- and the conf ct between rea ty and fantasy. Pred ctab y-- unfortunate y-- Burton comes down on the s de of fantasy, wh ch sn t ent re y unreasonab e, but makes the f m seem unsoph st cated and contr ved at t mes. We know where th s s go ng to end, and Burton s f na e s somewhat c umsy and unsat sfy ng. That sa d, the f m s enterta n ng and keab e and charm ng at t mes, and most of the performances are very good.
2004-01-28 NAIR, MIRA MONSOON WEDDING --> Rating: 8.10
Exuberant and sp r ted story about a young br de and her wedd ng, set n the Pun ab, and f ed w th co orfu and amus ng characters, w th a dramat c subp ot that works because d rector Na r ma nta ns a fee of authent c ty and candor. Ad t Verma s engaged to Hemant, a computer programmer from Houston, who was se ected for her by her parents. Ad t s hav ng an affa r w th a marr ed over. Her parents La t (Naseerudd n Shah) and P mm (L ete Dubey), are pretty typ ca of upper m dd e-c ass parents everywhere: they want the best for Ad t but they respect fam y and trad t ons and they are stressed about the mpress on they w make upon the groom s fam y and the r own re at ves and fr ends. Ebert r ght y compares the f m to A tman. The ma d, A ce, draws the nterest of the wedd ng p anner, P.K. Dubay. Ad t s cous n s nterested n an Austra an fr end.
2004-01-29 PADILHA, JOSE BUS 174 --> Rating: 9.00
Abso ute y r vett ng trag c documentary about a former street k d, Sandro De Nasc m ento, who took passengers hostage on a bus he was try ng to rob n June 12, 2000. Sandro has a gun and the po ce are d sorgan zed and confused and genera y ncompetent. As the drama unfo ds over about 4 hours, the f m recounts Sandro s persona h story, the murder of h s mother when he was 8, h s fe on the streets, h s ncarcerat ons and escapes, h s drug use, and h s surv va of the nfamous Cande ar a Massacre of street ch dren n 1992 (he was s eep ng among the group that was attacked probab y by off-duty po ce). Bu ds to an nev tab e but stunn ng c max. In Portugese w th Eng sh subt t es.
2004-02-02 JARECKI, ANDREW CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS --> Rating: 8.30
Outstand ng remarkab e documentary on a fam y torn apart by accusat ons of ch d mo estat on aga nst the father. But th s fam y s a ready severe y dysfunct ona and the pressures of the prosecut on, aga nst a son as we , create unbearab e tens ons for the who e fam y. Undoubted y, Arno d Fr edman, the father, s gu ty of someth ng-- or s he? Hard to be sure. What s beyond quest on s the ncompetence of the presecut ng attorneys.
2003-11-01 OZON, FRANCOIS SWIMMING POOL --> Rating: 7.70
Char otte Ramb ng s cr me-thr er nove st Sarah Morton. Bored and t red n London, she accepts her pub sher s offer of a week or so at h s cottage n France. But the pub sher s daughter unexpected y shows up and her brazen sexua ty and f ppant nsouc ance grates on Sarah. Improbab y, they do beg n to connect, ust n t me for Sarah to p ay a cruc a ro e n extr cat ng Ju e from a trag c deve opment. And then there s a tw st, eav ng you wonder ng how much of the exper ence was rea and how much was mag nary. The prob em s that the tw st doesn t add any k nd of reve at on about Sarah to the story, at east, not one that s suff c ent y deve oped to have the mpact you th nk the f m-makers expect you to fee . We acted, and e egant, but unsat sfy ng.
2004-01-24 FARBERBOCK, MAX AIMEE AND JAGUAR --> Rating: 8.40
Ta k about be ng n the wrong p ace and the wrong t me. Not on y s Ber n res dent Fe ce Schragenhe m Jew sh, and fema e-- she s a so a esb an, who happens to fa for a sturdy German housew fe, L y Wust, mother of four ch dren, and husband of a so d er n the Wehrmacht. To ca th s affa r " -fated" s to ca the pope catho c. Based on a true story, by L y, who surv ved the war and ved nto the ate 1990 s n Ber n, A mee and Jaguar are the pet names L y and Fe ce gave each other. Fe ce, amaz ng y, s a secretary to the ed tor of a Naz newspaper, wh e feed ng nformat on to the underground, and shoot pornograph c photos for the troops. She s a party g r , a charmer, funny and w tty and exuberant, you can see why I se, her over, becomes ea ous of L y s re at onsh p w th her. (Remarkab y, the f m does not concea the fact that L y probab y contr buted to Fe ce s doom w th a we -meant but thought ess y stup d act after Fe ce had been arrested.) You don t get the sense-- rea y odd here-- that the f m presents any k nd of romant c zed or homogen zed v ew of L y. It s pretty stra ght. Perhaps because she d d far worse th ngs that she cont nues to concea , or, more ke y, because as an ag ng, sp r ted woman, L y d dn t care what peop e thought of her. E ther way, the story s carefu y ba anced, beaut fu y unfo ded, touch ng and compe ng.
2004-01-23 CHEN, JOAN Tian Yu --> Rating: 7.30
Rough but nterest ng mov e about a young g r forced to "resett e" on a farm w th a o der farmer who ost h s pen s n a war aga nst T bet. She comp a ns about the pr m t ve fe-sty e compared to her e egant prev ous fe, and desperate y tr es to get back to the c ty. X u X u s so desperate that she w s eep w th any man who prom ses any k nd of he p. Lopsang, who c ear y adores her, can on y watch n he p ess gr ef as she destroys herse f. It s here the f m becomes fam ar-- but more ke Ho ywood exp o tat on than po t ca commentary.
2003-12-28 CLEMENT, RENE FORBIDDEN GAMES --> Rating: 7.40
Very dated f m n a bad sense. The act ng and techno ogy are v s b y weak, even by standards of the 1950 s. The ch d actors are remarkab e. Pau ette s parents are k ed n a straf ng attack by a German f ghter p ane. She s a "adopted" by M che Do e, and h s fam y, uneducated farmers who are re g ous but eas y confused. So s Pau ette, under the gu dance of M che . They start stea ng crosses from the church and the grave-yard to put over the r dead an ma s. And M che s the on y one that Pau ette trusts. The truth s, pretty bor ng.
2003-12-28 GUEST, CHRISTOPHER MIGHTY WIND --> Rating: 7.60
The scht ck runs out. And I don t th nk I can forg ve Guest and Levy for eav ng po t cs out of th s otherw se charm ng treatment of the 60 s fo k scene. It cou dn t and shou dn t be done: po t cs was at the heart of the fo k scene n the 1960 s and c ear y the on y reason they comp ete y om tted any reference to t was to se more t ckets. That s a se -out. It wou dn t have mattered so much even whether they chose to augh at or w th the po t ca s de-- you s mp y can t do a parody of the fo k mus c of the 60 s, however, w thout at east acknow edg ng t. As de from that, Eugene Levy s odd, d osyncrat c portraya of M tch, doesn t resonate w th any part cu ar rea ty I know of. It s not funny, therefore. It can t be a parody f t doesn t have a target. M ckey, yes, has that mother-earth tone down r ght.
2003-08-01 NORRINGTON, STEPHEN LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN --> Rating: 6.00
Messy, preposterous co ect on of sh ocky spec a effects and ado escent fantasy.
2003-12-22 RITCHIE, GUY LOCK, STOCK, AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS --> Rating: 7.70
Super or cr me thr er-- a caper f m-- about four gangs co d ng n a ser es of co nc dences and m sfortunes, over drugs and a bund e of cash. Very funny and w tty and sty sh.
2003-12-20 RITCHIE, GUY SNATCH --> Rating: 7.90
Super or caper f m, part y due to the fact that most of the actors are unknowns, and cr sp y presented, and therefore more conv nc ng. Extreme y s m ar to Lock, Stock, and Two Smok ng Barre s, R tch es prev ous effort to th s one. Fun and exuberant and s m ar to "Ita an Job 1967" n that the cr m na act v ty s treated as ne ther mora y r ght nor wrong, but s mp y adventurous and exc t ng. The Po ce are arge y rre evant-- these are thugs aga nst thugs, and the ones that get away w th the most are not necessar y the most smart or even the toughest, but ust the uck est. R tch e doesn t take h mse f too ser ous y, and doesn t a ow h s actors to. They caroom through the story ke sp r ted p nba s, bounc ng off obstac es and each other. Enterta n ng and sty sh. Ade reported y showed up to app y for a secur ty ob at the set when he was offered the ro e of Tyrone, the dr ver. He s terr f c. Brade P tt begged for the part of M ckey O Ne , the p ker f ghter w th a terr f c r ght. There s an 84 carat d amond at p ay, a dog, an underground box ng match, and too many other sub-p ots to count.
2003-12-23 GOLDWYN, TONY SOMEONE LIKE YOU --> Rating: 6.30
L keab e but fe ess rehash of oppos tes attract, a mode worn out by the t me Dor s Day and Rock Hudson got around to t. But Ash ey Judd s charm ng and Hugh Jackman cred b e for ha f of the mov e. Judd, as Jane Gooda e, supposed y h ts upon a br
ant theory for understand ng ma e behav our but one of the
d sappo ntments of th s f m s that there rea y sn t anyth ng d st nqu shed enough to even ca a "theory".
2003-12-22 LEE, SPIKE DO THE RIGHT THING --> Rating: 9.00
Sp ke Lee s one of the f ve best d rectors n Amer ca and th s f m demonstrates why n every respect. A hot day n Brook yn end ng n tragedy at Sa s p zzar a, when m sunderstand ngs, anger, and tens on bo over nto an unfortunate confrontat on. Abso ute y r vett ng because t s so obv ous y ke someth ng Ho ywood has ever done.
2003-01-01 LEE, SPIKE 25TH HOUR --> Rating: 9.00
Somebody f nked on Monty Brogan and he s conv cted of dea ng n narcot cs and rece ves a seven year sentence. 25th hour dramat zes h s ast 24 hours of freedom as Brogan (Edward Norton) eva uates h s opt ons, and h s fe, and cons ders who t s that m ght have f nked on h m. He rum nates, n d sturb ng deta , about what w happen to a sk nny, weak ng wh te boy ke h mse f n a state pr son, cast to the wo ves. H s two c ose fr ends pr vate y d scuss how he w never recover from pr son, and the r comments are know ng, streetw se, and shatter ng n a way that no pr son mov e has ever ach eved. Frank, whose apartment over ooks the rema ns of the Wor d Trade Centre, cons ders how d sproport onate the pun shments are for drug-dea ers and for bus nessmen who b ked peop e out of the r pens ons. At east, he observes, the drug user knows what he s gett ng for h s money. H s other fr end, Jacob, a nerd sh h gh schoo teacher, cons ders putt ng the make on a student of h s whom he th nks s f rt ng w th h m. He s tempted though he knows that soc ety reacts a most as hyster ca y to men who abuse pos t ons of trust for sex as they do to drug dea ers. Another of Frank s observat ons: currency dea ers cou d throw tens of thousands of peop e out of work w thout suffer ng the s ghtest approbat on. A remarkab e mov e, the f rst I know of to open y cons der the resu ts of 9/11, the mora mp cat ons of Enron, and the harshness of our drug aws, frank y, honest y, and d sturb ng y.
2003-02-01 MANN, MICHAEL INSIDER --> Rating: 8.80
Remarkab y compe ng story of Jeffrey W gand, a former tobacco company sc ent f c research and v cepres dent, who was f red, and eventua y agreed to sp the beans, about the tobacco ndustr es adm tted know edge of the add ct ve propert es of n cot ne-- to CBS s 60 M nutes. The f rst ha f of the story focusses on W gand and the persona costs of h s dec s on. The second ha f becomes a b t conography-- Lowe Bergman, the producer whose determ nat on saw the story through a number of obstac es, s rather sa nted. The story exaggerates h s ro e n the Wa Street Journa s dec s on to p ck up the story after CBS execut ves ordered 60 M nutes to drop t. Abso ute y essent a for understand ng se f-censorsh p and contro of U.S. med a-- even 60 M nutes was afra d of B g Tobacco for a t me. Super at ve performances by every one.
2003-12-13 ZWICK, EDWARD LAST SAMURAI --> Rating: 7.10
Pompous, over-bear ng, phoney ep c about an Amer can-- of course-- who o ns up w th a respected Samura eader (Ken Watanabe) who s ead ng a rebe on aga nst the mper a government of Japan n the ate 1800 s. Katsumoto s obv ous y based on Sa go Takamor who, to th s day, rema ns one of the most revered f gures n Japanese h story. The truth s, though, that Takamor w shed to restore feuda sm and attack Korea, among other th ngs. The Last Samura suggests a h gher, nob er purpose--- the preservat on of honor and trad t on-but that s a na ve read ng of h story.
2003-12-08 FIRODE, LAURENT HAPPENSTANCE --> Rating: 7.50
Not a very memorab e precursor to Ama e, about fate and chance and that somet mes coy European attachment to chaos theory.
2003-01-01 OZU, YASJIRO TOKYO STORY --> Rating: 9.00
Incred b y prosa c and exqu s te y mundane f m about an ag ng coup e, Shuk sh and Tom H rayama, who trave from the r sma rura town, Onom ch , to Tokyo to v s t the r son, Same, a doctor, and h s w fe, and the r daughter, Sh ge, who runs a beauty sa on, and her husband, and the w dow of another son. They d scover that the r ch dren are se f-absorbed, po te, but not attent ve. The ch dren send them off to a spa for a few days-- to get them out of the way-- but the spa s too no sy and they return to an amb va ent we come. Iron ca y, the r w dowed daughter- n- aw, s the k ndest to them. They return, a tt e saddened and d s us oned, to the r home v age, where the mother becomes , and the ch dren must return to her beds de. Everyth ng n th s mov e s subt e and ow-key. The ch dren are dut fu and po te, but not very car ng. The daughter- n- aw, Nor ko, s k nd, but av sh y k nd. There s tt e outward emot on expressed n the f m, but the story bu ds so carefu y, comp ete y, and de cate y, that the conc us on s shatter ng. Beaut fu y f med. Yes, t s about the deter at on of the fam y un t n post-war Japan, but Ozu res sts s mp f cat on. Tokyo Story shows that th ngs cou d not rema n as they were, but sheds a tear for the oss of fam y nt macy, the d stance between fam y members, n the modern, mob e, se f-absorbed fam y.
2003-12-05 HARDWICKE, CATHERINE THIRTEEN --> Rating: 8.30
Sear ng portra t of a rebe ous th rteen-year-o d g r , based on the rem n scenses of N kk Reed, who a so p ays the ro e of Ev e Zamora, who, n the f m, eads Tracy Free and (9Evan Rache Wood) astray. There s no concea ng the fact that Tracy s mother s fe sn t a that much better than the d saster she appears headed for: mother dr nks, s d vorced, scrapes by do ng some babys tt ng and ha rdress ng, and has no dea what Tracy does w th her spare t me. Tracy s mot ves are obv ous y peer-acceptance, w th some fam y ssues thrown n (Dad s neg ectfu ; mom s man pu at ve), but the causes of her behav or are, thankfu y, not much e uc dated upon. "Th rteen" s most y ust about the n ghtmare Tracy nf cts upon her mother, her se f-destruct ve mpu ses, and the chaot c wor d of ado escent g r -hood n Amer ca. Superb y acted. The c nematography s more than occas ona y contr ved and annoy ng.
2003-12-04 NELSON, KRISTINE I AM SAM --> Rating: 7.00
A r ght. Sam works at Starbucks-- product p acement, anyone?-- and has the menta capac ty of a 7-year-o d. He a so has an adorab e daughter--conce ved w th and abandoned to h m by a home ess woman. The daughter s gett ng smarter a the t me, of course, and beg ns to worry about be ng smarter than her dad. She dec des to p ay dumb at schoo , wh ch causes the schoo author t es to take not ce, and eads to Sam be ng depr ved of custody. M che e Pf effer s the adorab e awyer who takes the case-- pro bono, of course-- w thout much hope. One of Sam s adorab e charms s that he s obsessed w th the Beat es, and the sound track features taste ess cop es of the Beat es mus c (because Penn cou dn t afford M chae Jackson s ask ng pr ce, I guess, for the r ghts to the or g na s). As Roger Ebert po nted out, the mov e-makers sharp y d sagree w th the aud ence on a ma or ssue: s t a good dea for Sam to ra se Lucy, not ust through grade 2, 3, and 4, but through ado escence, and her ear y teen years? To be fa r, the mov e acknow edges th s prob em at the end, w th a tacked on deve opment of conven ence, but that eaves the average v ewer watch ng the rest of the story uneas y. Sean Penn s serv ceab e as Sam, and Dakota Fann ng s exce ent as Lucy. M che e Pfe ffer ooks ess and ess conv nc ng n every ro e. R chard Sch ff gets the thank ess task of p ay ng a v a n who s r ght.
2003-01-01 KAPLAN, JONATHAN LOVE FIELD --> Rating: 5.00
There s a concept here somewhere. Lurene Ha ett ves n Da as. It s 1963 and she s obsessed w th Jack e Kennedy, marr ed to an abus ve ug, and amaz ng y na ve about race re at ons and po t cs. When Kennedy s assass nated, aga nst her husband s w shes, she dec des to go to the funera and sets out by bus. On the bus she meets Pau Cater who has ust retr eved h s 5 year-o d daughter from a home, where she had been v ng s nce her mother s death. Among the mudd ed e ements of th s story s the c umsy reve at on that Jone , the daughter, has been phys ca y abused n the home. Later, we see that Lurene s phys ca y abused by her husband, and Pau s phys ca y abused by rac sts wh tes. The hand ng of the race ssue s emb emat c of a the prob ems w th th s f m: at t mes, the characters seem utter y unaware of the fact that she s a young, attract ve, wh te woman, and he s a robust- ook ng b ack man, and they are trave ng together n the deep south n 1963. When he casua y touches her shou der on the bus to wake her, you ook for some s gn that the f m-makers are aware of how potent a y exp os ve such casua fam ar ty can be. The p ot becomes torturous y convo uted by the end as the wr ters str ve to bu d up some k nd of exp os ve f na e. It wasn t needed. Th s cou d have been a f ne f m, f they had s mp y et the characters p ay out an nformed consc ousness of who and where they are.
2003-11-29 SINGER, BRYAN X2: X-MEN UNITED --> Rating: 8.00
Reasonab y ntr gu ng sc -f spec a effects extravaganza w th s ght y more nterest ng p ot than most thanks to the a us ons to rea soc a ssues-- rac sm, of course-- and a enat on. And some good actors here, nc ud ng Jackman and McKe en and Janssen, and expec a y A an Cumm ng as N ghtcraw er. The p ot, such as t s, features an ev Genera W am Stryker (Cox) p ott ng to k a the mutants by turn ng the government and pub c aga nst them by stag ng an "assass nat on" attempt ng nvo v ng a bra n-washed N ghtcraw er.
2003-11-27 LABUTE, NEIL SHAPE OF THINGS --> Rating: 7.90
Rache We sz p ays a woman, Eve yn, who meets a nervous, ackward young co ege student work ng n a museum as a guard-- (Pau Rudd) named Adam, and dec des to remake h m, mprove h m, a ter h s sty e and appearance. He becomes her work of art-- qu te tera y, when he d scovers that he s, n fact, her sen or art pro ect, n an end ng that must be regarded as brave y preposterous. The fa ure of the end ng s ent re y due to a m sgu ded des re to human ze Jenny, g ve her some amb va ence, a consc ence; I th nk t wou d have been more be evab e f she had been shown to be ruth ess. You can te that th s was a p ay f rst-- t s terate and genera y we -wr tten, but stagey and conducted n set-p eces. There s a b g end ng, where everyth ng s unreso ved or reso ved.
2003-09-01 NELSON, TIM BLAKE GREY ZONE --> Rating: 8.00
"The Grey Zone" covers an obscure and dark corner of Wor d War II: the use of Jew sh s aves to he p adm n ster and run the exterm nat on camps. Th s s the f rst mov e I know of that exp ores that waste and of mora amb gu ty, where cooperat on n the exterm nat on of your own race buys you a few weeks, months, perhaps, and your refusa to cooperate makes no d fference at a . The set was des gned from the actua b uepr nts for Auschw tz. The Jews do, n th s story, f na y stage a rebe on (based on a true story). It s, of course, neffect ve, but t does g ve them the d gn ty of hav ng res sted, wh ch m ght, after a , have been as mportant as anyth ng e se g ven the r c rcumstances.
2002-01-01 HAYNES, TODD SAFE --> Rating: 7.90
Where s th s f m go ng? Starts out as a soc a document on the dangers of env ronmenta po sons, but ends up exp or ng the psycho og ca state of a woman who m ght ust be a tt e parano d nd rrat ona . M nd-b ow ng, but not ent re y successfu . CAro Wh te (Ju anne Moore) breaks out n nose-b eeds and se zures and var ous doctors and psych atr sts can t seem to he p her. Then she catches an nfomerc a for "Wrenwood", a retreat for peop e w th env ronmenta nesses. C ear y, Wrenwood s a scam run by Peter Dunn ng, and Caro retreats even more, w th n the retreat, unt she s qu te so ated from everyone and everyth ng. What does t mean? I m not sure, and t seems most cr t cs are not sure. It s an ntr gu ng fa ure of a f m.
2001-01-03 CUKOR, GEORGE GASLIGHT --> Rating: 8.80
There s an odd story about a prev ous vers on of th s f m, from 1940, starr ng Anton Wa brook, D ana Wynyard, and Frank Pett nge . Apparent y, MGM tr ed to have a negat ves of the 1940 vers on destroyed when they re eased th s, the 1944 vers on. At east some cr t cs th nk that that s because the 1940 vers on was super or. In any case, the 1944 vers on w th Ingr d Bergman and Char es Boyer s superb, taught, compe ng, and fast d ous y f med n a good way. Th nk about the cha enge of try ng to dep ct a husband try ng to dr ve h s w fe mad. How wou d he do t? You th nk, as you watch th s, prec se y as Char es Boyer d d t-- by pretend ng to have your w fe s best nterests at heart wh e s y y not ng that she had become forgetfu and de us ona on occas ons. The p nnac e of th s approach s when she seems to have taken h s watch and put t n her purse, a fact he d scovers at a mus c rec ta -- the poor woman has to be ed from the room n hyster cs, most of wh ch are actua y rooted n her awareness of how he s man pu at ng her. The end ng s cheesey. Looks ke they wanted the mage of Ingr d ho d ng a kn fe to Boyer s throat n there somewhere, and the on y way they cou d reach t was to stage a rather preposterous sequence where n a detect ve eaves a suspected murderer a one, t ed to a cha r, n the att c, so wh s w fe can have a word or two w th h m. Surpr se-- that s a very young and sexy Ange a Lansbury p ay ng Nancy, the ma d. And she s very good. Marve ous f m, a c ass c. Based on the p ay by Patr ck Ham ton.
2003-11-17 CURTIS, RICHARD LOVE ACTUALLY --> Rating: 8.10
Reasonab y enterta n ng, h gh-end vers on of "Love Amer can Sty e", about e ght coup es strugg ng to deve op romances-- and somet mes fa ng-- around Chr stmas t me. B y Mack, the rock s nger try ng to cash n w th a re- record ng of "Love s A Around", s the most enterta n ng, w th h s frank adm ss ons of tawdry mot vat ons. Some of the stor es, ke the one about the best man n ove w th h s fr end s new w fe, are more compe ng than average because there s a po gnant e ement at work-- he s not go ng to get the g r . And Emma Thompson s "Karen" f nds out her husband has purchased an expens ve Chr stmas g ft, a neck ace, for someone other than her. And no, t doesn t turn out to be a m sunderstand ng. How does the mov e work? There s rea y noth ng br
ant y or g na about t, but t p ays w th expectat ons, and heaps on sent ment, and
pop mus c, and attract ve persona t es. When a young man goes to W scons n because he s conv nced that sexy Amer can women rea y go for the Br t sh accent, he s proven -- unexpected y-- r d cu ous y-- r ght. And the segment fo ow ng the two body doub es work ng n a f m-- they do the c ose-ups for the sex scenes-- has an nterest ng sp n on t, though, as w th many of the other str ngs, the dea teases more than de vers. Some sound deas are under-deve oped. B y Bob Thorton as the Amer can Pres dent s on y s ght y ess f uffy than Hugh Grant as the supposed Pr me-m n ster-- those scenes are not near y we ghty enough to be anyth ng more than f uff. And you do get a tt e t red of these Br t sh men star ng numb y at beaut fu women, ncapab e of mak ng the s ghtest advance on the r own, as the women wa t around, d sappo nted or d sappo nt ng. You ust know that one more f m ke th s (from the d rector of "About a Boy" and "Br dg t Jones D ary" and t s go ng to get nauseat ng.
2003-11-16 HACKFORD, TAYLOR PROOF OF LIFE --> Rating: 7.30
Workman ke product on about team of profess ona who spec a ze n dea ng w th k dnapped execut ves and eng neers n d sorder y th rd wor d countr es. Ryan and Crowe carry on a steamy romant c nterest wh e he s supposed to be organ z ng the rescue of her husband-- t s a s de ght that doesn t qu te prove nterest ng. The actua act on sequences are notab y rea st c and absorb ng.
2003-11-16 MOSTOW, JONATHAN TERMINATOR 3 --> Rating: 7.20
Fa r y sturdy nsta ment of the Term nator franch se. If there had not been a Term nator 2, m ght have seemed more mpress ve. But th s var ant adds tt e to what we a ready know about John Conner and Skynet and cons sts of, arge y, one very ong chase scene. N ck Stah s d stress ng y w mpy as John Conners, even f he s supposed to be somewhat weak, as a pre-war vers on of h s ater hero c se f, but aud ences w remember that John Conner as a k d had more chutzpah than th s schme . C are Dane s takes over the cute-but-tough scht ck that L nda Ham ton created, but doesn t carry much we ght here.
2003-11-16 KUBRICK, STANLEY KILLING --> Rating: 7.70
Very ear y Kubr ck, and d sp ays an nc p ent master of c nemat c forms, w thout the revo ut onary sens b t es he began to br ng nto focus w th "Paths of G ory" short y afterwards. U t mate y, th s s a convent ona thr er, w th Ster ng Hayden as Johnny C ay, an ex-con who dec des that f you re go ng to r sk do ng t me, t m ght as we be a good r sk, that pays off better than a two-b t burg ary. He p ans, met cu ous y, the robbery of a race track. But the f aws are obv ous. Many of the met cu ous y p anned d vers ons and nc dents are actua y unnecessary or rre evant to the success of the robbery, and he re es too much on sp t-second t m ng, wh ch can t, of course be guarranteed n the rea wor d. Kubr ck d sp ays an except ona but convent ona ta ent at th s stage of h s career.
2003-11-10 MORRIS, ERROL GATES OF HEAVEN --> Rating: 7.60
Th s was a h gh y pra sed documentary about a pet cemetary n Ca forn a and some of the eccentr c peop e who worked t and patron zed t. If t hadn t been not ced before, a s ght tone of condescens on can be detected-- why e se wou d the d rector cons der so many of these meander ng tt e d a ogues to be so worthy of nc us on? And there sn t rea y a story-- ust mpress ons, strung together.
2003-11-10 BOYLE, DANNY 28 DAYS LATER --> Rating: 8.00
An an ma r ghts group has broken nto a ab to free some v ct ms of nhumane corporate research act v t es. One of them s carry ng a dead y v rus. Before you know t, a most everyone s nfected w th a d sease that turns them nto b ther ng y man aca b oodthursty savages. Th s f m has someth ng go ng for t, but s ma n y an update of "Dawn of the Undead". Creepy and evocat ve, but ends w th about 30 m nutes of spew ng cartr dges and b ood ed faces. The extras on the DVD make you th nk th s s some profound y new dea, but t s not, and t s not even the best express on of the dea.
2003-11-03 POLISH, MICHAEL NORTHFORK --> Rating: 7.60
Lyr ca but somet mes p odd ng fab e about a group of peop e who refuse to eave the r homes n the face of a new dam that w f ood the r va ey. And four ange s try ng to f nd a m ss ng ange , who s actua y a tt e boy dy ng n the care of a preacher.... The bones of the p ot: s x agents are sent nto the r ver va ey to try to br ng out the ast re uctant c t zens. If they br ng out 65 or more, they w each rece ve some pr me and on the new ake. Rea y, k nd of a m ess. Poss b y str v ng for the k nd of poetry of W ngs of Des re, but w thout the nsp red d rect on of a W m Wenders. Beaut fu y f med and genera y we -acted and memorab e-- odd y.
2003-10-18 PULCINI, ROBERT AMERICAN SPLENDOR --> Rating: 9.00
Amaz ng drama/documentary about Harvey Pekar, a fr end of Robert Crumb s, an a -amer can sh ep who became famous for h s stor es about h s own persona fe and frustrat ons, ustrated by Crumb and others. Pekar even appeared on Letterman severa t mes (before a me t-down on-a r), but never seemed to make enough money to qu t h s crummy ob at a VA hosp ta n C eve and. The f m s an odd comb nat on of dramat zed ep sodes and actua on screen nterv ews w th Pekar h mse f and some of fam y and fr ends. The mov e tr es to make drama out of h s bout w th test cu ar cancer, but the nterest ng part s Pekar s own "everyman" exper ences, h s caust c, rreverent w t, and the compe ng story of how he and h s th rd w fe, "adopted" the daughter of one of h s ustrators. Best doub e feature w th: Crumb.
2003-10-22 HANSON, CURTIS 8 MILE --> Rating: 8.80
Not very many mov es tack e the nner-c ty fe and cu ture of the b ack commun ty w th any degree of authent c ty. For that a one, 8 M e deserves spec a pra se, but th s s a so a we -d rected, we -acted drama about a young man s strugg e for se f-respect under caust c c rcumstances. Famous y p ayed by Em nem, J mmy Sm th r. ("Rabb t") s a budd ng rap art st, compet ng aga nst tougher, rougher b acks, n Detro t. He tr es to keep h s ob at a manufactur ng p ant, and h s g r , wh e v ng w th h s mother n a tra er park. Mother has taken n a erk, but not a of J mmy s troub es are the resu t of externa c rcumstances. He h mse f s vo at e, temperamenta , and abras ve. Except ona .
2003-10-24 FINKLEMAN, KEN AIRPLANE II: THE SEQUEL --> Rating: 7.40
As de from a hyster ca ten m nutes of W am Shatner as a moonbase commander, a b t of a hodgepodge of everyth ng, as f the d rector cou d not res st a s ng e b t of s apst ck or okey doub e-entendre. Funny n sp te of tse f at t mes, but a so s ogs c ums y through parts of the p ot that seem tw sted ust to ocate a s ght gag or pun. Lots of ns de okes. Ken F nk eman, the d rector, s Canad an.
2003-10-25 EASTWOOD, CLINT MYSTIC RIVER --> Rating: 8.00
Th s f m garnered much favorab e cr t ca comment nked to Eastwood s reputat on for v g ant sm, as an actor, and the way Myst c R ver seems to comment on ssues of ust ce and truth-- s t a k nd of penance for D rty Harry and Magnum Force, both f ms that g or f ed a spontaneous v o ent urge for revenge? In Myst c R ver, the forces of revenge are unfocussed, and confused, and the targets-- as we a ways knew-- ess c ear. That sa d, Myst c R ver s pedestr an n many ways, und st nqu shed art st ca y, though we -acted and ser ous. It s a super or f m w thout the nsp rat on that can somet mes ft even an average f m nto h gh art. I had the fee ng Eastwood approached h s mater a w th honesty, ntegr ty, and a s ncere des re to make an mportant f m-- but not a s ng e scene seems nsp red or unforgettab e. Marred by Penn s ser ous y ndu gent bereaved father scene. That sa d-- Myst c R ver s a f ne f m. Penn p ays a father whose beaut fu daughter has been k dnapped and murdered. He comes to be eve that a ch dhood fr end, Dave Boy e, m ght be respons b e. Bacon p ays Sean Dev ne, a cop, and one of J mmy Markum s ch dhood fr ends as we . When J mmy nd cates that he w take matters nto h s own hand, Sean tr es to prevent a catastrophe. Meanwh e, the w ves of J mmy and Dave nterfere w th unfo d ng events, and Sean cons ders h s own marr age.
2003-10-20 COPPOLA, SOFIA LOST IN TRANSLATION --> Rating: 9.00
B Murray p ays Bob Harr s, an ag ng f m star from Ho ywood n Tokyo to f m some commerc a s for wh skey. Scar ett Johansson, who p ayed the sou fu counterpo nt n "Ghost Wor d", s Char otte, the w fe of a h p rock n ro photographer, stay ng n the same hote . Harr s spots her n the e evator one day and f nds her face ntr gu ng. After bump ng nto each other n the hote bar, they beg n ta k ng, and ta k ng, and spend ng t me together. Th s s what the mov e s about-- the r re at onsh p, wh ch beg ns to touch on the most mportant ssues n the r ve, and how they ease each others d s us onments for a short t me. Murray s abso ute y superb-- the k nd of marve ous, nuanced performance you somet mes see from a great comed c ta ent after they ett son the manner st baggage from the r careers and focus on character and fee ng. Johansson s compe ng as a thoughtfu , cur ous, sens t ve sou , who kes Harr s attent on (and s hurt when he beds a ounge s nger nstead of her) but sn t qu te sure where the re at onsh p f ts. She doesn t know the man she marr ed, but "Lost n Trans at on" s too honest to force the story nto a pat end ng. Th s s a gent e, nte gent, yr ca f m that deserves to be seen tw ce.
2003-10-05 PARKER, ALAN LIFE OF DAVID GALE --> Rating: 6.50
The L fe of Dav d Ga e has an odd y ntr gu ng prem se. S nce no dead man can ever be ega y retr ed, t s d ff cu t to "prove", n the Un ted States, that an nnocent man has ever been executed. "The system works" say t s proponents. So what f you cou d prove, beyond a reasonab e shadow of a doubt, that an nnocent man was executed? You have Dav d Ga e. The troub e s that th s mov e s actua y smarter than t s prem se. You can te that Parker wants to account for certa n f aws n the prem se-- he wants to exp a n why a sane man wou d g ve up h s fe for an dea (that cap ta pun shment s wrong) and a good chunk of the mov e s devoted to show ng that Dav d Ga e has good reason for want ng to d e anyway. But that s a defens ve pos t on that weakens the mov e. It takes the ayer of d a ogue to an ssue you don t need or want: why d d he do t. What f the f m-makers had s mp y accepted that Ga e had some very we rd dea and a very we rd k nd of emot ona comm tment to the dea-- wh ch s not so hard to be eve-- and then ust gone w th t? Not a tota waste, and not as bad as some cr t cs be eved, but st very f awed.
2003-09-24 CARO, NIKKI WHALE RIDER --> Rating: 7.50
Fresh, touch ng, occas ona y c umsy story of a 12-year-o d Maor g r who s he r to the pos t on of Ch ef but s re ected by her grandfather, the current ch ef. Her father, the og ca he r, has eft the v age after h s w fe and son d ed n ch d-b rth. Pa (Ke sha Cast e-Hughes) s the tw n, the g r , who cannot cont nue the ne, accord ng to her stubborn grandfather. When her grandfather dec des to beg n tra n ng other boys to be ch ef, she s perm tted nto the c ass on y f she s ts at the back. She refuses and s expe ed, and thereupon seeks to acqu re the know edge from others. The fundamenta story-- of re ect on by a oved and respected f gure-- s strong enough to carry th s mov e, a ong w th the screen char sma of Ke sha Cast e-Hughes. Some of hte scenes of r tua and ce ebrat on have the authent c, ns der s fee of a nat ve f m-maker s work. En oyab e and fam y-fr end y, f that s what matters the most to you.
2003-09-14 CAMPION, JANE HOLY SMOKE --> Rating: 6.60
Th s mov e s amb t ous but ends up a great b g s oppy mess, a aded fantasy by the Camp on s that seems to ndu ge the amaz ng, somet mes stunn ng, p ab ty of stars W ns ett and Ke te . Ke te p ays PJ Waters, a deprogrammer from the U.S. who comes to save Ruth Barron (W ns et) from the moon es-- n th s case, a re g ous cu t n Ind a that absorbs her nto t s ashram. Her fam y wants her back. Waters s no gen us but c a ms to be 95% effect ve. Ruth p ays a ong w th the three-day program, but t s never who y c ear who s deprogramm ng who. But t fee s as f the wr ters had a nn dea but d d not work t out fu y, and cou dn t rea y conceptua ze how t trans ate nto act on or d a ogue. Instead, we get var ous ep sodes of Ruth and Waters hav ng sex or f ght ng or provok ng each other, unt t s Waters who appears to ose h s m nd. A f m that ra ses very mportant ssues-- s there any such th ng as deprogramm ng? Isn t t a ways "reprogramm ng" nstead, but t seems to erk the v ewer around. Waters refuses to subst tute h s own author ty for that of the char smat c cu t eader, but the f m s weak on the spec f cs of how, then, he changes Ruth. What s c ear s that th s s no Beaver C eaver suburban Amer can fam y w th w se and understand ng parents who are ust y bew dered when the go den ch d turns her back on a they stand for. The fam y tse f s a mess, w th Yvonne, Ruth s s ster- n- aw, try ng to cheat on her husband, and a mother who can bare y ho d herse f together emot ona y. Ruth s an en gma. When she dresses Waters up as a woman, nc ud ng pst ck, t s baff ng. You sense that the d rector s hop ng for the benef t of the doubt, for the v ewer to see someth ng n th s scene that she mag ned but d dn t succeed n express ng.
2003-09-15 GUEST, CHRISTOPHER WAITING FOR GUFFMAN --> Rating: 8.00
Very enterta n ng treatment of commun ty theatre, w th a cast of ste ar ta ents mprov s ng and hamm ng the r way a ong. Guest works w th an out ne of a story and then shoots h s actors mprov s ng scenes and then ed ts nto a usua y amus ng ta e that humours t s sub ect wh e gent y mock ng t. In th s case, a sma -town cast gets carr ed away w th an or g na show pay ng tr bute to B a ne, M ssour s h story. It s rumoured that a Broadway producer, Guffman, w be attend ng.
2003-05-01 LEIGH, JENNIFER JASON ANNIVERSARY PARTY --> Rating: 8.00
And nterest ng f m made by Jenn fer Jason Le gh and A an Cumm ng for themse ves and the r actor fr ends, set ent re y n a home n the Ho ywood H s, and w th the fee of M ke Le gh s mprov sed tt e odes. Joe (Cumm ng) and Sa y (Le gh) throw a party for the r 6th ann versary, and nv te a number of fr ends who are a nvo ved n the mov e bus ness, except for the r ne ghbors, Mon ca and Ryan Rose (M na Bad e and Den s O hare) . Joe and Sa y are hav ng a t ff over the fact that Sa y doesn t get to p ay the ead n Joe s new mov e. Gwyneth Pa trow gets that part, though, v sua y, she doesn t ook a that much more ke an ngenue than Le gh. Kev n K ne faces a s m ar connundrum: no onger the obv ous ead ng man, wh e h s w fe (Phoebe Cates) s stay ng home to ra se ch dren. Jerry Adams, Joe s bus ness manager, and h s oudmouth w fe (Parker Posey) show up as we , and everyone sett es n for a n ght of shock ng reve at ons and emot ona ep phan es, ubr cated by ecstasy, and the usua party games. Each character revea s h s or herse f to be somewhat ess or more than we th nk they are, and that s what keeps the mov e nterest ng-- the act ng s so good and the d sc osures so authent c that we don t m nd the convent on. Shot on a Sony DSR-500
2003-05-30 MIYAZAKI, HAYAO SPIRITED AWAY --> Rating: 9.20
Exqu s te and mov ng Japanese fantasy about a tt e g r ost n a k nd of underwor d of gods and sp r ts. To surv ve, a tt e boy adv ses her, she must seek work n the bathhouse of the gods, where she meets an array of terr fy ng and amaz ng creatures. The ru er of the bathhouse, Yubaba, to erates her for a wh e, but s determ ned to turn her nto a p g and eat her eventua y. Ch h ro (the tt e g r ) a so makes fr ends w th L n, who he ps her f nd her way. One of her obs s to ass st a horr b e monster w th h s bath, and th s sequence, one of the mov e s best, s remarkab e. She d scovers a "thorn"-- actua y a b cyc e hand e-- n h s s de, wh ch Yubaba orders her to remove. A the attendents p tch n and a cascade of po ut on gushes from the monster. I saw both the Japanese vers on subt t ed nto Eng sh, and the eng sh-dubbed vers on, and preferred the subt t es. Language s not a neutra transport of deas-- t works better w th Japanese sounds and syntax.
2003-05-30 WANG, WAYNE CENTER OF THE WORLD --> Rating: 5.00
Very se f- ndu gent soft porn by Wayne Wang, ostens b y about a hooker and a na ve computer wunderk nd who go to Vegas for a weekend together w th certa n str ct cond t ons: no k ss ng on the mouth, no penetrat on. R chard Longman (Peter Sarsgaard) fa s n ove w th For ence (the ever-w
ng Mo y Parker) but she
represses her fee ngs for h m unt she gets carr ed away one even ng. He doesn t care that he s pay ng her for whatever sex she offers, but she does-- t means she can t ove h m. Or can she? It s hard to even be eve that he oves her the way the f m wou d have you be eve.
2003-05-31 HICKS, SCOTT HEARTS IN ATLANTIS --> Rating: 5.00
Tota rehash of "Stand by Me" and any of a dozen other K ng stor es or m tators thereof. Anthony Hopk ns s Ted Graut gan, a myster ous stranger who moves nto L z Garf e d s second f oor. Someone wants h m for someth ng and tt e Bobby (Anton Ye ch n) nev tab y sucks up to the o d man. A th s through the eyes of Bobby as an adu t (Dav d Morse) rum nat ng over how great fe was as a k d. Of course there s a g r , who d es, for unknown reason, wh ch n t a y prompts Bobby to rem n sce. Wast of t me.
2003-05-31 TAYMOR, JULIE FRIDA --> Rating: 7.40
Somet mes amaz ng and somet mes pedestr an-- d rector Taymor has a ead ear for d a ogue but occas ona spurts of mag nat on when Kha o s pa nt ngs are ncorporated nto the mov e. In fact, the eader on the DVD was mesmer z ng, but I have a strong susp c on that those segments were not d rected by Taymor.
2003-06-06 ANDERSON, PAUL THOMAS SYDNEY --> Rating: 8.00
Str k ng character stud ed carr ed by Ph p Baker Ha as "Sydney", a myster ous o der man who befr ends a vagrant named John and teaches h m how to gamb e n Reno, Nevada. Gwyneth Pa trow p ays a wa tress who does tr cks on the s de and becomes John s ove nterest. The two deve op a father-son re at onsh p that s not fu y exp a ned unt the reve at on at the end. Not much happens n th s mov e. It s a about d a ogue and character and wh e I st f ed the occas ona yawn, the characters are nterest ng and you can t wa t to see what happens-- even f you re not sure anyth ng s go ng to happen. There s a tr ck gone awry and a k dnapp ng and f ght, and a confrontat on between Sydney and J mmy (Samue L. Jackson), John s fr end, whom Sydney doesn t respect. Pau Thomas Anderson s f ms are h gh y d st nct ve, r ch and nuanced, and a ways a surpr se.
2003-06-06 MARSHALL, ROB CHICAGO --> Rating: 8.20
John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the mus c and yr cs for Ch cago, and w th Bob Fosse created Cabaret. The neage s there but Ch cago s a d screte work w th a k nd of cyn ca edg ness to t that even Cabaret cou dn t match. The story s based on a p ay based on a book based on newspaper accounts of the rea -- fe Ch cago tr a s of Be va Gaetner, a show-g r who shot her over, and Beau ah Annan. Both shot the r marr ed overs who were try ng to eave them. Gaertner famous y qu pped, about shoot ng men: "They aren t worth t. There are a ways p enty more". That that s the heart of Ch cago.
2003-02-01 ZEMECKIS, ROBERT CONTACT --> Rating: 3.00
The bad s gns are there r ght from the beg nn ng. When the f rst so-ca ed contact from fe forms n the un verse arr ves at Dr. E eanor Arroway s ab, the ent re crew reacts as f h t by a thunderbo t. In other words, the perce ved phenomenon of rad o waves and no se announces tse f to them unamb guous y and c ear y as a en s gna s. They don t for a second cons der any other poss b e exp anat on: stat cs, rhythm c cyc es of meteor showers, bounced s gna s from earth, sate te em ss ons, or a pract ca oke. They act as f they knew exact y what the f rst a en transm ss ons recorded by an earth stat on wou d sound and ook ke. And off we go. Dr. Arroway graduated from MIT "Magna Cum Laude", though MIT doesn t award that d st nct on. The argon as they ana yze the s gna s a h gh schoo sc ence student s vers on of techno- ngo. Apparent y many of the scenes of space are naccurate, as know edgeab e peop e on the nternet report. Joss g ves her a compass from a Cracker Jack box--- wh ch d dn t conta n have pr zes n t after the 1970 s. And so on and so on... Even a mathemat ca formu a E es uses to argue about the poss b t es of fe on other p anets s ncorrect-- d d nobody bother to even check the math here? Or s Zemeck s ust utter y determ ned to nsu t the aud ence s nte gence? Th s mov e s a mess. It s a hodgepodge of very bad sc ence f ct on, a ted ous romant c subp ot that s emot ona y r d cu ous (after the romant c nterest for Arroway prevents her from rea z ng her fe- ong dream of trave ng to v s t the a en fe forms, she nstant y forg ves h m), and the mush est mag nab e new age dr ve . E e s fee ngs are a ways r ght-- foo s preva , as they d d n Forrest Gump, another Zemeck s f m. Toss n a few c che s and some mpress ve spec a effects (espec a y the worm ho es and the transportat on dev ce tse f), and you have one of the worst expens ve f ms ever made. Even Foster, norma y a br sk, cerebra actor, comes of shame ess y exh b t on st, and dumb. When she dresses up to the n nes for a forma recept on-- you rea ze that the d rector s out of contro -- he doesn t know what he s work ng w th here, or how t s supposed to hang together. What on earth was B C nton do ng n th s f m? He appears, as pres dent, severa t mes, to make vague reassur ng comments about how the U.S. government s hand ng the cr s s. There s a funny ep sode of an ana nte gence off c a (James Woods) mak ng ready to defend aga nst an a en nvas on. And there are scores of te ev s on persona t es p ay ng themse ves, nc ud ng Jay Leno and Harry Brown, and even Novak and Ferraro. How th s humbug ever got off the ground bogg es the m nd. Incomprehens b y, some rev ewers, nc ud ng Berard ne , and Ebert, regard Contact as an exce ent f m that doesn t patron ze v ewers when t come to the sc ence. I m baff ed by th s. I am sure the f m p ays to aud ence preconcept ons, much ke Forrest Gump-- another f m most rev ewers oved and I hated. The stereo-types abound-- the m tar st c author tar an type, the sp r tua type, the pragmat c type, etc. The phon est scene of a - the nqu ry nto what happened when Arroway " eft" to v s t the a ens, s so r d cu ous that t s a most com ca . Don t buy t-- th s f m s a p ece of sh t.
2003-05-02 PAYNE, ALEXANDER ABOUT SCHMIDT --> Rating: 8.00
Good f m about a rare sub ect (for mov es): ag ng. Jack N cho son p ays Warren R. Schm dt, a non-descr pt ret red nsurance execut ve. We o n h m on the day of h s ret rement n one of the most memorab e scenes n the mov e-- Schm dt s tt ng at th s desk on h s ast day wa t ng for the c ock to t ck off the ast few m nutes of h s career. He goes home and the f m fo ows h s ad ustment to ret red fe, wh ch s short y d srupted by the death of h s w fe He en (June Squ bb). H s daughter comes for the funera w th her f ance, whom Warren desp ses. Then the story eads us on a cross-country excurs on as Schm dt takes h s motor-home to attend Jeann e s wedd ng to Randa Hertze (Dermot Mu roney), a f akey water-bed sa esman who be eves n pyram d schemes. A ong the way, he exper ences Amer ca as an o der, ret red man, a tt e bereft of purpose, ost n h mse f, grouchy, but apparent y open to someth ng new-- f t can on y h t h m n the r ght way. Some of the nformat on about Schm dt comes from the etters he wr tes to a ch d he has sponsored n Tanzan a ca ed Ndugu (whose photo s of a rea - fe ch d, Abda ah Mtu u.) Ebert n h s rev ew, qu tes Thoreau-- "the mass of men ead ves of qu et desperat on". That came to my m nd as we as I watched th s mov e, espec a y as Schm dt gradua y d scovers that h s rep acement at work has found Schm dt s accumu ated fe s w sdom ent re y d spens b e. Other nformat on about Schm dt comes from h s exper ence w th h s daughter s f ance s fam y. They are exuberant and trashy and exot c to Schm dt, and, pred ctab y, he s repe ed by them. It s comp ment to Payne you aren t c obbered w th the contrast. You can t see what Schm dt takes from them, because he s such a ho ow man to beg n w th that there s noth ng to atch on to.
2003-01-26 TORNATORE, GIUSEPPE LEGEND OF 1900 --> Rating: 6.00
Th s s k nd of a mess of a mov e w th strong echoes of "Shawshank Redempt on" (another mess, but a t d er mess) and "T tan c". The mov e s a fab e. That can mean that t s a fab e or that t ust doesn t care about p aus b ty. I m easy-- but some aud ences assume that wh e rea st c mov es can be unrea st c, fab es can t. T m Roth p ays "1900". He s born on a sh p, the V rg n an, and ra sed by Danny (B Nunn) on board. He mag ca y earns how to p ay the p ano and becomes part of the sh p s orchestra. He never once eaves the sh p dur ng h s ent re fe, though he s tempted, once, after he sees a beaut fu g r , and she responds s ght y to h m. Th s story s to d, n f m no re fash on, by the band s trumpet p ayer, Max Tooney (Pru tt Tay or V nce), w th a k nd of fey wor d-wear ness that can on y come from watch ng too many Bogart m tat ons. A ong the way, 1900 demonstrates h s ab ty to transpose fac a express on nto mus c, out-due s Je y Ro Morton, and sa s back and forth between Eng and and Amer ca, over and over aga n. When he s encouraged to eave the sh p, ust once, ust to see what k nd of poss b t es ex st outs de of that nsu ar exper ence, he reco s. You have to th nk he s wrong. It has become a stap e of art st c ns ght to we come the new, the exot c, the d fferent, as components of a r ch, fu f ng fe. We reco a tt e at 1900 s re ect on of those poss b t es. He tr es to ust fy h s pos t on, and the f m-makers ensure that you see h m as be ng super or to t, n the same way he u t mate y demonstrates h s super or ty to Je y Ro Morton. The troub e s, the f m shows you he s super or to Morton because, apparent y, he has faster f ngers. You know that th s wou d mpress a ph st ne, but the mov e wants you to be eve t s about mus ca and emot ona nte gence, wh e on y a d ettante wou d rate a mus c an s ab ty on the bas s of h s speed. A r ght-- th s s a fab e. But there are good fab es and bad fab es and even bor ng, un nterest ng fab es. What matters to 1900? It s hard to te . On the surface, t appears to be mus c, but the actua y mus c p ayed dur ng some of these extens ve scenes s too tame and showy to be a that nterest ng, and the mov e doesn t show anyth ng e se about the mus c that makes you be eve he has found anyth ng transcendent n t. The g r appears br ef y, and 1900 doesn t rea y nteract w th her very much, and doesn t d scover anyth ng about her or h mse f through th s re at onsh p. Yet the record ng of the mus c he mprov sed wh e watch ng her face n a w ndow s g ven extraord nary we ght-- t can t carry t. It s f uff and t b ows off n a second. The emot ona core of th s f m s ke taffy-- t st cks to your f ngers and stretches and bends but never amounts to anyth ng more than st cky set p eces.
2003-04-20 JONZE, SPIKE ADAPTATION --> Rating: 8.10
Char e Kaufman s g ven the task of wr t ng a screenp ay based on a book by Susan Or ean about a man caught stea ng orch ds. H s tw n brother Dona d s an asp r ng screenwr ter w th tr te deas for a new thr er. They become embro ed w th Susan Or ean (Mery Streep) s secret y hav ng an affa r w th the sub ect of her book. Is th s about dent ty? Are the tw ns actua y one? How much s fantasy and how much "rea ty" n th s provocat ve but u t mate y unsat sfy ng exp orat on of the re at onsh p of wr t ng to rea fe, of pass on to v car ous exper ence? The pr nc p es are a good, and the scr pt s nterest ng, but when t d verges nto Dona d s fantas es n the ast ha f, the mov e oses some energy. To add to the coyness, the book by Susan Or ean s rea , and rea actors appear n the f m as themse ves (Cather ne Keener, John Cusack) or, of course, as "characters". There s some ref ect on on the e us ve nature of orch ds, the pass on some eccentr c peop e have for co ect ng them, no matter what the cost.
2003-03-31 DUGUAY, CHRISTIAN ART OF WAR --> Rating: 3.00
Utter y med ocre "thr er" about a UN secret agent who gets doub e-crossed by toad es of the Tr ad and sets out to c ear h s name and undue a nefar ous consp racy to sabatoge trade ta ks between Ch na and the U.S. Th s f m s so fu of naccurac es and farc ca p ot dev ces that t bare y mer ts any cons derat on at a . Somewhat sty sh y f med but genera y dumb.
2003-03-31 GUEST, CHRISTOPHER BEST IN SHOW --> Rating: 8.00
A so wr tten by Eugene Levy. Hyster ca y funny portra t of severa dog fac ers who enter the r pooches n dog shows and make t to the b g one n Ph ade ph a. Un form y good cast, we -d rected. Expec a y Fred W ard as Buck Laugh n, who tr es to mpart a b t of Amer can b ue-co ar enthus asm to the proceed ngs. Shot n documentary sty e, though free y mov ng away to convent ona f m-mak ng when necessary. You can t he p not ce that the owners are as co orfu and cranky as the contestants n th s contest.
2003-03-15 DARABONT, FRANK MAJESTIC --> Rating: 8.00
By the d rector of "Shawshank Redempt on" and "Green M e", and made of the same man pu at ve mages and contr ved p ot. Carrey actua y sn t too bad-- but mak ng h m the v ct m of McCarthy commun st w tch-hunts d dn t take a ot of creat ve ta ent, and the dea of restor ng an o d mov e theatre n a sma Amer can town-- that never ex sted n rea ty-- s hokey. Add to that the fact that the f m s over ong and t resome.
2002-01-01 OEDEKERK, STEVE KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST --> Rating: 7.00
Somewhat amus ng paradoy of Kung Fu, mart a arts f ms, nc ud ng a preposterous y funny sequence w th a cow. L keab e enough for a m d d vers on from rea ty, and the use of 3D computer generated graph cs s un que to th s k nd of s apst ck. Th s f m, ke Woody A en s "What s Up T ger L y", uses or g na footage from a mart a arts f m "Shao L n Hu Ho Chen T en Hs a" made n 1977. As n "T ger L y" a ot of the humour comes from the contrast between the ser ousness of the actors faces n the or g na and the nonsens ca d a ogue (the v a n wants peop e to ca h m "Betty"). But, w th the techno og ca advances s nce "T ger L y", Oedekerk s ab e to a so nsert h mse f nto the mov e, even n p ace of ex st ng actors. Watch out-- we re go ng to see a ot more of th s n the future as th s techno o gy becomes more and more accesss b e. In fact, I m sure we w short y see a home-made f m us ng th s techn que.
2003-03-29 PAYNE, ALEXANDER ELECTION --> Rating: 8.30
Very enterta n ng "sma " mov e about a h gh schoo e ect on for student counc pres dent. Reese W therspoon s Tracey En d F ck who s runn ng for pres dent. She s a natura eader, an over-ach ever, who actua y s n ce f somewhat nsufferab e. Up aga nst her s Pau Metz er (Chr s K e n) who broke h s eg n a sk acc dent and was persuaded by a teacher, James McA ster (Matthew Broder ck) to enter the race. Mot ves are a b t shadey here. McA ster doesn t ke the toady ng Tracey, thought t s never very c ear why. And Tammy Metz er (Jess ca Campbe ) enters the race aga nst her brother as revenge for a broken esb an re at onsh p. Not what I expected. The f m s wonderfu y shot, and the sound s remarkab e for t s astute use of background mus c and nc denta no ses to set atmosphere and even bu d suspense. Th s s a smart f m that doesn t g ve n to obv ous temptat ons. The teachers and pr nc pa are about what you d expect from a rea schoo , and most students behave as most students rea y do. Even Tracey s affa r w th a teacher s hand ed w th tact and mpress ve restra nt. And "E ect on" s not a heavy-handed po t ca a egory e ther. It stays w th t s keab e, fu y-d mens oned characters r ght to the end.
2003-03-30 ANDERSON, WES BOTTLE ROCKET --> Rating: 7.00
"Bott e Rocket" s the name of a f rework that Anthony, D gnan, and Bob p ck up on the r escapade, and t s an mage of the vo at e but charm ng nsouc ance of these characters as they trave together and p ot a he st. As s to be expected, th s non-Ho ywood f m by a group of br ght co ege budd es s fresh and unusua . They had a un que v s on of sty e and sens b ty and Bott e Rocket bumps a ong somewhat uneven y. What everg zes the f m s the spark ng d a ogues and the conf dence the f m-makers have n the r own charm. The f m beg ns w th Anthony Adams (Luke W son) check ng out of a menta hosp ta vo untar y. H s fr end, D gnan (p ayed by h s brother, Owen) s wa t ng for h m under the fanc fu de us on that Anthony s be ng he d aga nst h s w and p ans to escape through h s bedroom w ndow. Anthony ndu ges the fantasy and they are off, pract s ng he sts on Anthony s home and then a book store-- rehearsa s for the rea target: a safe n a meat-process ng p ant. D gnan c a ms to have a team of veteran desperadoes to he p them-- they turn out to be a awn ma ntenance crew. They recru t a safe-cracker, who, s turns out, can t crack safes. The c everness of th s f m s that the desperadoes do o n n the robbery attempt and they actua y break nto the meat process ng p ant. You a most don t expect t-- s t a a dream or some de us on on the part of Anthony? A ong the way, Anthony meets and fa s n ove w th a Paraguayan ma d at the r mote . It s a s de-bar, a d vers on that doesn t rea y add a ot of nterest to the p ot, but no one seems to want to pretend that t s anyth ng more than that so the p ot carr es on. Not a part cu ar y deep or provocat ve mov e, but enterta n ng and fresh, and a s gn f cant ear y effort by the future d rector of "Roya Tenenbaums" and "Punch Drunk Love".
2003-03-07 ANDERSON, PAUL THOMAS PUNCH DRUNK LOVE --> Rating: 8.80
Adam Sand er s Barry Egan, a sma se f-emp oyed bus nessman, w th " ssues". Em y Watson s great. She g ves Egan these s ow, nger ng, assess ng ooks, and you can see how she becomes a centre of ca m san ty n h s fe. Br
ant, unusua f m, w th extraord nary sens b t es of t me and space. The camera ngers and
hangs and fo ows comp ete mot ons-- Barry runn ng down the a ey beh nd h s warehouse, to h s desk, back to the door, back to the road, or ook ng for an apartment, or carry ng a harmon um to th s desk. Very dar ng, ntr gu ng f m, about the the ntox cat on of fee ng of the t t e. Large mean ng n sma moments.
2003-03-01 FREARS, STEPHEN HI FIDELITY --> Rating: 7.80
John Cusack p ays a record store owner who wonders, a oud, to the aud ence, why he can t hang on to some of the great women he has fa en n ove w th over the years.
2003-09-01 UNKNOWN, INSOMIA --> Rating: 8.30
Pac no p ays an LA cop sent to A aska to he p w th a murder case, of a young g r . What makes th s f m unusua s that we not on y rea ze who the murderer s fa r y qu ck y, but we see that the Pac no character h mse f has ayers of dup c ty, and even se f-doubt. The suspense s prov ded by H ary Swank as an upr ght oca off cer, who beg ns to doubt LA cop s ntegr ty. The usua stup d Ho ywood end ng, but we -wr tten, and we -acted. Pac no s part cu ar y good.
2003-02-22 LYNCH, DAVID MULHOLLAND DRIVE --> Rating: 7.00
Str k ng but vacuous horror/thr er about a Canad an actress who seems to have assumed the dent fy of someone e se, as a k nd of sch zophren c response to unusua stress. As w th other Dav d Lynch f ms, the mov e s ess than the sum of t s parts, and suffers deep y, perhaps fata y, from the rather fac e use of str k ng but unre ated scenes. You tend to wonder about the over-a og c of the f m. And at the end, you say to yourse f, oh, that was t? Good performances, genera y.
2003-02-28 BIGELOW, KATHRYN K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER --> Rating: 6.00
Bad y bung ed f m vers on of a very compe ng true story: how the crew of the K-19 Russ an submar ne prevented a me t-down and potent a thermo-nuc ear exp os on, after the coo ng system fa ed n the m dd e of t s f rst m ss on. R ght from the start, the dea of hav ng a Russ an crew ta k to each other n Russ an accents s not on y b zarre but nsane. Why wou d the crew sound to each other ke mm grants? We , they don t, ent re y. The range of anguage s there, but the accents are b zarre. On the p us s de, the f m g ves you good deta about the operat on of a Sov et nuc ear powered sub, and some good v sua s, espec a y of the reactor mechan sms. Dramat ca y, the f m stumb es through c che-r dden conf cts between Capta n Po en n, who f ghts for the crew, and opposes comm ss on ng the sub because t sn t ready, and no-nonsense Capta n A exe Vostr kov, who undertakes the task of gett ng K-19 out to sea on schedu e, n sp te of mechan ca prob ems and doubts about the seaworth ness of the vesse . They set out on the r m ss on, and a goes reasonab y we at f rst. When Vostr kov ns sts on d v ng to 300 meters-- crush depth-- you get the mpress on that the crew and Po en n have never been on a sub before, or that subs are not tested to those depths. Ne ther makes sense. But the scenes n wh ch the crew try to repa r the reactor are compe ng. The ev tw n of th s mov e s "We Were So d ers". At the end, Capta n Vostr kov g ves a speech n wh ch he auds the dut fu obed ence of the sa ors who gave the r ves to save the sub. The nte gent v ewer can t he p but step back for a second and ask h mse f, for what? Rea ty Check: The Capta n, rea name Zateyev, ordered the sub to surface 2 hours after the system fa ed and tr ed to rad o for he p. However, an antennae had fa ed. E ght men entered the rad oact ve compartment to try to ury-r g a p pe system nto the reactor core to br ng n co d water. The men probab y knew t was a su c de m ss on. Rad at on escaped through steam as the coo ng water made contact w th the hot reactor, and n the water c rcu at ng through the system. Zateyev dec ded to go south n search of other Sov et subs rather than attempt the 1500 m e home ourney, dur ng wh ch most of the crew wou d have d ed. A d ese sub, the S-270, s f na y contacted. It takes the e ght severe y s ck crew aboard after "decontam nat ng" them w th sca d ng water. It tr es to tow K-19 but the nes break because of the much arger s ze of the nuc ear sub. In 1972, a f re on board k ed 28 men. It was decomm ss oned n 1991 and scrapped n 2002. Shame ess: Kathryn B ge ow (d rector) wrote a compan on book to the mov e. In t, she descr bed meet ng the w dow of the rea - fe Capat n Zateyev. She descr bed an emot ona meet ng after wh ch she was determ ned to honor the man s memory. The f m d shonors h m n every respect, from the bad y conce ved accents, to the fact that he doesn t even ex st n the mov e! Instead, to n ect a tt e conf ct, they had two f ct ona capta ns f ght over the oya ty of the crew.
2003-02-18 SODERBERGH, STEVEN FULL FRONTAL --> Rating: 8.00
The sty e s becom ng a b t of a c che-- meander ng conversat ons between terate, d osyncrat c peop e, dea ng most y w th romance, ove, sex, pesona confess on, and " ssues". Gus (Dav d Duchovny, n a very m ted appearance) s throw ng a party, and "Fu Fronta " fo ows the guests around on the day of the party as they nteract and spew forth the nt mate dark secrets of the r sou s. Woody A enesque at t mes, but more sexua . There s the tr ck of a mov e (ca ed "Rendevous") w th n a mov e and even a mov e w th n the mov e w th n the mov e. Ju a Roberts and B a r Underwood p ay Francesca and Ca v n, the actors w th n the mov e, and N cho as and Cather ne, the r characters n the mov e w th n the mov e. If there was supposed to be someth ng profound about how th s confuses our precept on of the r re at onsh p, t was hard to f nd. Meanwh e, one of the screenwr ters s d rect ng a p ay ca ed "Sound and the Fuhrer", w th a egocentr c actor p ay ng H t er as a sort of modern st fop, and aga n, the edges are b urred between the f ct t ous drama and the rea - fe personne . Some conversat ons seem to start n rea ty, then move to the stage or the f m, or off t. Is Soderbergh suggest ng that mov es and p ays have become our reference po nts for the mean ng of our re at onsh ps? The other screenwr ter s w fe (Cathar ne Keener) s p ann ng to eave h m (Dav d Hyde P erce). But her day s so bad y screwed up, she th nks tw ce, wh e her s ster p ans to meet a man she met on the nternet-- the d rector and co-screenwr ter-- who has pretended to be someone e se. F ct on aga n, ntrud ng on rea ty? At the end of the day, they sa ute the absent host of the party, Gus. A of th s s not rea , but matters n some k nd of stupefy ng way. Ju a Roberts, by the way, s better than I have ever seen her-- toned down, a textures and nuance nstead of star power. Cather ne Keener s a so exce ent, espec a y when, as a personne manager, she conducts b zarre nterv ews w th her emp oyees-- t appears, to dec de who shou d be et go. F med n d g ta , except for the "mov e" parts.
2003-02-20 FILCHER, DAVID PANIC ROOM --> Rating: 7.50
T ght and nterest ng suspense f m about three men try ng to break nto an apartment w th a secret "pan c room", n wh ch m
ons of do ars of cash has a eged y been h dden. Jod e Foster p ays the s ng e mom who
rents the apartment. She s not supposed to be there yet and the three burg ars, nc ud ng the guy who nsta ed the room, have to dea w th her. Not much more to t than that. Tens on s ma nta ned w th d fferences among the three th eves, n the capac ty for bruta ty, and the daughter s d abetes. Above average. Reasonab y cred b e except the daughter know ng morse code for "SOS", supposed y from v ew ng "T tan c". And when the burg ars pump propane nto the pan c room, t s effects appear to be gross y exaggerated. (Propane, for one th ng, s heav er than a r-- t wou dn t c ng to the ce ng, as mp ed here.)
2003-02-10 DALDRY, STEPHEN HOURS --> Rating: 7.00
The P an st fa s nto that category of mov es that are mmed ate y phoney but pay met cu ous attent on to the outward sty st c k tsch of ser ous drama. The poet reum nat ng about the beauty of nature, the ch d that s ntu t ve y d sturbed by h s mother s esb an k ss of another woman, and the wr ter who des res pass on and exc tement n her fe, nstead of the sta d convent ona ty of a country town. These are c ches that are hand ed as f they were new d scover es and we are expected to ooo and awww w th a sense of deep persona profund ty. But they are the ha marks of an externa zed apprehens on of the sub ect. Th s s a mov e that s safe for someone who adm res poets and poetry and fee s ke a better person for t but cou dn t rea y stand to put up w th e ther n any substant ve measure n h s own fe. When you add to that the c ass c fem n st den grat on of ma e characters-- they are phantoms here, of no substant a ex stence whatsoever-- you have a dreary and over-rated p cture that can be safe y avo ded. N co e K dman p ays V rg n a Woo f. K dman s fun to watch, but t s embarrass ng to see a mov e dramat se the m ndset of a wr ter ke th s: she s d stracted, th nk ng about her art, wh e her s ster and her ch dren babb e around her, and her husbands putters around n the garden. But her fee ngs are ust so mportant, you see. So we ump to Mery Streep as C ar ssa Vaughan who s throw ng a party for her ex- over, Ed Harr s as R chard the poet, who s dy ng of AIDS, and who has ust won a ma or pr ze for a nove that s extreme y d ff cu t and-- gosh, wa t for the fee ngs-- about C ar ssa. Some rev ews make a po nt of the dea that C ar ssa has to earn to stop deny ng her own needs and stop try ng to bu d her se f-esteem out of her devot on to R chard. R chard fee s smothered by her concern comm ts an act that r va s, n r d cu ousness ( n terms of me odrama), the most over-the-top contr vance n a Har equ n Romance. For a that fem n sm m ght have accomp shed, then, we are n "Gone W th the W nd", w th ess act on. And t s ows down as we fo ow Laura n the 1950 s, who ves a fe contr ved of art facts of popu ar cu ture that never d d have a correspondence to any rea ty. She s the mother n "Leave t to Beaver". It te s you a ot about the menta ty of th s p cture that her husband, p ayed by John C. Re y and m scast, I th nk-- s utter y one-d mens ona and co our ess. I suppose that s meant to c ar fy that Laura s fe s ster e and empty. But I am a tt e outraged that the mov e th nks that th s ster ty s the product of or n the nterest of her husband. Why doesn t he th nk t s empty? Why shou dn t he? Because f he d d, t wou d revea how narc ss st c these women rea y are: my fee ngs are mportant. They are so mportant, I w desert my husband and two ch dren. And then C are Danes, p ay ng C ar ssa s daughter (from art f c a nsem nat on) w embrace Laura at the end, wh ch s the mpr matur approva . It eaves me w th the d stastefu mpress on that the m ndset of "The Hours" ref ects a fem n st v ew of men as un mportant, un nterest ng, and rre evant. That a m ght very we be true-I m ser ous-- but t s a case that s worth mak ng on y f you can show me that what the women have n them s so much more v ta nterest ng than what the men offer. But t s not. It s that weepy touchy fee ng sent menta sm. It s that coy art f ce of, "I tr ed to h de my unhapp ness, but she saw r ght threw t and asked me, what s t C ar ssa-- what s wrong? Te me!" What s wrong s that Laura eft her husband and ch dren to run to Toronto (scr pt akward y c ues the v ew nto the fact that Toronto s n Canada) to become-- wa t for t-- a brar an. I suppose they thought that wou d re nforce the nk to Mrs. Da oway, the Woo f character that nsp res th s mov e. In fact, t re nforces the fundamenta tr v a ty of the p ot.
2003-02-14 POLANSKI, ROMAN PIANIST --> Rating: 9.00
Po ansk s masterp ece based on true story of Po sh p an st s astound ng surv va n Warsaw dur ng Naz occupat on dur ng Wor d War II.
2003-02-13 JACKSON, PETER TWO TOWERS (LORD OF THE RINGS II) --> Rating: 8.00
Of course the spec a effects are amaz ng. But there s rea y not much e se to mu over once the corpses have eft the screen. In fact, "restra nt" s not exact y Peter Jackson s m dd e name. The Two Towers s b g and brassy and monumenta n scope and ted ous emot ona y and not even a that suspensefu s nce you can on y ook upon the troub ed faces of our heroes for so ong before you start to th nk that they too know that they have to w n th s batt e because there s a part III to come. The Go em s the most nterest ng th ng n th s f m, at east part y because he ooks ke Co n Powe after a b each bath. But the utter un mportance of fema e characters s a drag on the p ot. It s so ev dent that th s k nd of fantasy shou d have a romant c subp ot to t.
2002-12-01 SHYAMALAN, M. NIGHT SIGNS --> Rating: 8.00
Gracefu , s ow-mov ng and suspensefu f m that s rea y about sp r tua ty, but wraps the message n an uncomprom s ng y fr ghten ng story about a en nvas on, beg nn ng, of course, w th the egendary crop s gns. Me G bson p ays Graham Hess, a former pastor who ost h s w fe n a nasty car acc dent. Joaqu n Phoen x s h s brother, Merr , a former m nor- eague ba p ayer who s famous for h tt ng a record number of home runs, and str k ng out even more often. H s two ch dren, Morgan (Rory Cu k n) and Bo (Ab ga Bres n), are precoc ous but not annoy ng y so. Shyama an has a scht ck and he executes t we , but t s st a scht ck, and t can bas ca y summar zed as "there are no co nc dences". In other words, there s a God, and there are m rac es. It s a s y scht ck, but he s not excess ve y maud n about t and the story works on the other eve -suspense and horror-- pretty we . The ch dren are both effect ve, but the cast, outs de of the pr nc p es, s und st nqu shed. Odd y-- Shyama an h mse f s effect ve n a m nor ro e as the man who k ed Hess w fe when he fe as eep at the whee of h s truck.
2003-02-07 SPIELBERG, STEVEN CATCH ME IF YOU CAN --> Rating: 7.60
Based on a true story about a man who mpersonated a surgeon, a p ot, and awyer, wh e defraud ng hote s and banks out of thousands of do ars. D Capr o st can t act and Tom Hanks st can t act but Spe berg s unusua y restra ned and the usua heavy-handed sent menta zed end ng doesn t ntrude as t does n most Spe berg f ms. Engross ng story, but not part cu ar y gracefu n execut on.
2002-12-01 SCORCESE, MARTIN KING OF COMEDY --> Rating: 8.50
I never ked Jerry Lew s "act ng" n the f ms n wh ch he made h s mark. He c owned by mak ng d ot c express ons w th h s face and body and genera y act ng ke a b ther ng d ot. For th s, France has g ven h m the r h ghest honor n the arts and someone some day s go ng to have to try to g ve me a coherent exp anat on of that. But Lew s s br
ant n "The K ng of Comedy", and Sandra Berhard stea s every scene she s n th s s
under-rated comedy from Mart n Scorcese. Rupert Pupk n (DeN ro) s a ted ous y unfunny comed an who wants to take a shortcut to stardom by conv nc ng te ev s on var ety show host Jerry Langford (Lew s) that he s ta ented enough to be featured n h s nat ona y broadcast ate-even ng show. He manages to tr ck h s way nto Langford s mo one n ght (w th the he p of Masha-- Bernhard) and makes h s p tch. It s Scorcese s gen us to mbue the subsequent events w th an a most unbearab e tens on by mak ng Langford, and h s staff, as reasonab e and reasonab y accommodat ng as they can poss b y be. You can see the whee s turn ng here-they don t want to encourage upstarts to ntrude on Langford s space, but they want to be reasonab e, and they want to get Pupk n off the r backs. So they accept h s tape and rev ew t and make some encourag ng remarks and then, qu te sens b y, urge h m to po sh h s act n n ghtc ubs before try ng to eap to the b g t me. Langford s ass stant even prom ses to attend one of h s shows and you know that she means t. But Pupk n sn t sat sf ed w th th s arrangement. He rea y wants to supp ant Langford overn ght. So he k dnaps h m and tr es to b ackma the stud o nto putt ng h m on the show. The K ng of Comedy s utter y p aus b e. You can see that Langford kes to occas ona y wa k n pub c and be recogn zed and doesn t want unnecessar y hamf sted secur ty around h m a the t me. And you see that they see what you see-- that Pupk n m ght be harm ess, but a ways presents the potent a for a true y deranged outburst. They stay back, wh e enterta n ng h s propos t ons. The resu t s a fasc nat ng, and somet mes very funny comedy about ce ebr ty and fame. DeN ro s the east funny actor I can mag ne, except maybe for C nt Eastwood, but he s effect ve, and h s odd re at onsh p w th Masha s be evab e and ntr gu ng. Note-- accord ng to commentary on the DVD, some of the scenes shot on the streets of NY were recorded as they happened, w th peop e ca ng out to Jerry Lew s as he p ayed Langford wa k ng down the street.
2003-02-01 SODERBERGH, STEVEN SOLARIS 2002 --> Rating: 6.00
Infer or remake of the Tarkovsky f m, So ar s, based on a story by Stan s av Lem, the esteemed sc ence-f ct on wr ter. A psycho og st s summoned to a space stat on (c ums y hand ed n th s vers on) to exam ne some strange happen ngs. The exp anat ons come s ow y, nferr ng that th s s an amaz ng mystery that s ust too comp ex and overwhe m ng for words. Th s creates an expectat on that th s vers on doesn t a ways ve up to. Are the persons drawn from memory who nhab t the space stat on rea or a en or ust products of the mag nat on? The weakest part of Soderbergh s vers on, ron ca y, s the d a ogue, wh ch s nvar ab y st ff and c umsy, and rem nds me often of Sp e berg s weakness for portentous fore-shadow ng.
2002-12-03 ARTETAUNKNOWN, MIGUEL GOOD GIRL --> Rating: 8.00
Jenn fer An ston s surpr s ng y strong n th s unconvet ona f m about a g r n a sma town who rea zes that her fe, as current y constructed, means noth ng to her.
2002-11-26 MOORE, MICHAEL BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE --> Rating: 99.00
Amaz ng, h ar ous documentary about Amer cans and the r obsess ons w th guns.
2002-11-22 Holofcener, Nicole LOVELY & AMAZING --> Rating: 8.60
M che e and E zabeth are the two grown-up daughters of Jane Marks. Ann e s an adopted b ack g r who has a so o ned the fam y. Jane dec des to get posuct on, wh ch eads to one of many cr ses that seem to f ow natura y from one nc dent to another n th s story. We -acted, we -f med, and honest and occas ona y raw. There s an amaz ng scene n wh ch Em y Mort mer p ayfu y asks her over to te her f there are any mperfect ons n her body. He re uctant y starts, then grows n enthus asm, as f p eased to have r sen to the cha enge. But the ook on Mort mer s face s stunn ng-- but very subt e. A f at, tr f ng, but devastat ng wave of d sappo ntment and hurt crosses her eyes. It s actua y heart-break ng. Rea y about what s beaut fu and des rab e but most y from the po nt of v ew of women d sappo nted n themse ves.
2002-11-30 WALLACE, RANDALL WE WERE SOLDIERS --> Rating: 7.00
Exc t ng batt e sequences can t h d the fact th s s a rather pompous, se f-ser ous and se f-aggrand z ng dep ct on of one of the f rst ma or batt es of the V et Nam War, between a new He copter cava ry and the PAVN (Peop e s Army of North V et Nam). The book s wr tten by the commander n charge of the reg ment, portrayed by Me G bson. He , who wou dn t want to be p ayed by Me G bson n a rete ng of the cruc a event n one s fe s story? Some deta s were made up or fudged ( ke the ast charge up the h n wh ch the Amer can overrun the PAVN command post) but the over-arch ng message of th s f m, wh ch Ha Moore h mse f says s "hate the war, ove the so d er" s so paradox ca that the move co apses on t s own absurd ty. These guys are out to k each other. W thout them, and w thout the r comp c t des re to server whoever te s them where to go and what to do, the war cannot ex st. The fact that many part c pants n th s batt e returned to V et Nam n 1993 to shake hands and pose for p ctures w th the r former enem es makes the batt es seem even more b zarre and mora y offens ve.)
2002-10-11 COEN, JOEL BLOOD SIMPLE --> Rating: 8.00
Or g na suspensefu drama about an adu terous coup e dea ng w th a potent a y v o ent husband, a pr vate detect ve w th h s own agenda, and uncerta nty about themse ves, n Texas. Ray and Abby are hav ng the affa r. Ju an Marty s her r ch husband, and he has a pr vate detect ve, Loren V sser, fo ow ng the coup e and tak ng photographs of them. When Abby eaves Ju an, Ray, who works for Ju an, drops by to see f he has been f red. When s sn t, he qu ts, but asks for h s ast two-weeks of pay. Th s sets off the cha n of events, errors, m s udgements that ead to d saster for a of them. L ke "Fargo", "B ood S mp e" s about how even bad ntent ons are sub ect to random acts of forgetfu ness, m s udgement, or acc dent, and don t work out the way we th nk. What s un que about Coen s f ms, s that th s fatefu randomness becomes the cruc a e ement of the p ot. Ray, for examp e, be eves that Abby murdered Ju an, though she d dn t, and Abby ater th nks her husband s sta k ng her when t s actua y V sser. Both Ray and Abby know fragments of the truth but because they each assume that each other knows the who e storey, they never commun cate the r fragments to each other. The f m s sty sh. Long, nger ng pans, and rav sh ng y s ow-mov ng but tens on-wrought scenes.
2002-10-17 UNKNOWN, ONE HOUR PHOTO --> Rating: 6.00
Unsuccessfu story about a f m deve oper who ves h s fe v car ous y through the photos of one of h s customers, and then dec des to nterfere when he d scovers that the husband s hav ng an affa r.
2002-10-03 KELLEY, RICHARD DONNIE DARKO --> Rating: 9.00
Very ntr gu ng ow-budget f m about a d sturbed teenager who has v s ons of a g ant rabb t. The rabb t, Frank, te s h m that the wor d s go ng to end n 28 days.
2002-09-28 SHAINBERG, STEVEN SECRETARY --> Rating: 8.30
Lee Ho oway has some prob ems. She s emot ona y unstab e, se f-destruct ve, and t m d. She takes a ob as a secretary to E. Edward Gray, an arrogant awyer w th h s own prob ems. When he spanks her after she botches the spe ng on a etter, the r re at onsh ps comes to fe. She d scovers that she kes be ng spanked, and she kes h m. He p ays the game, but s apparent y unsure of whether he s rea y nterested n her, or ust nterested n be ng sad st c, and fee ng the gr m sat sfact on of tak ng out h s frustrat ons on a ready v ct m. Not as tacky or sensat ona st c as t sounds, Lee s emot ona deve opment s carefu y nurtured a ong by the p ot, and her f na tr umph s a def ant assert on of persona emot ona fu f ment aga nst po t ca correctness.
2002-09-29 ZWICK, JOEL MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING --> Rating: 7.80
Made for about $5 m
on, My B g Fat Greek Wedd ng became a huge h t due to unpara e ed word of mouth.
Mov e-goers s mp y oved the mov e. And t s not hard to see why. The star and wr ter, N a Varda os, draws on persona exper ence to dep ct the co ourfu c ash of her Greek enthn c trad t ons w th a kab e Amer can (N a s from W nn peg, but the mov e s oca e s Ch cago) named Ian M er. Fotou a (N a) s a 30 sh daughter of a restaurant owner Gus (M chae Constant ne) who expects h s daughters to marry n ce Greek boys. But Ian s a keab e and he s game and he agrees to convert to Greek Orthodoxy and ho d the wedd ng n the church. There s a p easant authent c fee to the mov e, the k nd of honest that comes part y from ack of soph st cat on, but arge y due to the d rector accept ng the mater a w th affect on and respect, and br ng ng t to the screen w th p zazz and enthus asm. Noth ng s over the top here, and no one s car catured. If the characters and mot fs are not unfam ar and certa n y not str k ng y or g na (everyone s perfect y co ourfu and amus ng), they are certa n y hand ed w th affect on and dexter ty. The mov e works, t s en oyab e, t s unpretent ous and amus ng.
2002-10-05 CRYSTAL, BILLY 61* --> Rating: 7.00
Honest but somet mes pedestr an account of the 1961 race between Mar s and Mante to break Ruth s homerun record, focuss ng on Mar s strugg es w th the med a coverage wh ch tended to favour go den boy Mant e over the outs der from the m dwest, Mar s. Mar s and Mant e were actua y good fr ends dur ng the year but Mant e was a drunk and woman zer who pu ed h mse f together for one extraord nary year, wh e Mar s was a dour m dwesterner who d dn t ke the med a and d dn t seem to en oy the game. The coverage at the t me was out and sh. We acted but not noteworthy for art st c reasons.
2002-08-09 UNKNOWN, KANDAHAR --> Rating: 8.90
Str k ng f m about a woman from Canada who tr es to f nd her s ster n Afghan stan before she comm ts su c de because of the hope essness of her fe under the Ta ban. Fresh and unusua and compe ng, part cu ar y for the scenes of Is am c trad t ons and pract ses that are rare y seen on Western te ev s on.
2002-08-08 ARANOFSKY, DARREN PI --> Rating: 7.00
Max m
an Cohen s a beaut fu m nd-- a mathemat ca gen us who s try ng to f gure out some way of
pred ct ng the moves of the stock market. But he s a so soc a y dysfunct ona and suffers from bruta headaches and, poss b y, ep ept c se zures. He ves n a t ny apartment surrounded by computer aparatus and works on h s prob em. The mov es exp ores aspects of the actua mathemat ca dea but not n conv nc ng depth. Enter an amb t ous fund-manager who wants the secret, and a Rabb who be eves the amaz ng so ut on a so revea s the secret of God-- may even be God h mse f. Audac ous and austere, and somet mes compe ng, P u t mate y fa s because t doesn t rea y have a substant a p ot to t apart from what takes p ace n Max m
an s head, and t doesn t a ways succeed n mak ng h s head nterest ng to us. Interest ng-- the
oppos te of "Beaut fu M nd", wh ch g amour zed and homogen zed the same genera dea. Sean Gu ette, who wrote the story, p ays Max m
an.
2002-08-03 BURNS, EDWARD SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK --> Rating: 8.60
Strong Woody A enesque comedy/drama about the v c ss tudes of ove and romance n New York, focuss ng on a group of nterconnected peop e seek ng, f nd ng, and os ng partners. Has an mprov sat ona fee to t and def n te y owes a ot to A en f ms, espec a y Manhattan. But fresh and nterest ng and we -acted.
2002-05-01 UNKNOWN, NO MAN'S LAND --> Rating: 8.00
Powerfu f m about a Serb and Bosn an trapped together n "no man s and", a trench between two enemy pos t ons. A so present, the Bosn an s compadre, who, thought to be dead, has been booby-trapped by the Serbs. Enter the med a, the U.N., and var ous other support ng p ayers and we have a fa r y obv ous but compe ng metaphor for nternec ne conf ct.
2002-07-05 HUGHES, ALBERT FROM HELL --> Rating: 7.00
Very tt e s known about the egendary ser a k er of prost tutes, Jack the R pper. We know that he operated n the London area n 1888 from August to November, that the probab y had some surg ca sk or know edge of anatomy, and that he was a savage k er. A most everyth ng e se we know s sheer specu at on. Johnny Depp p ays Inspector Freder ck Abber ne, an op um add ct w th psych c ab t es who, w th h s chubby s dek ck Peter God ey (Robb e Co trane), nvest gates the cr me. One of the prob ems w th the f m emerges mmed ate y: Depp, w th s Amer can method approach, s mpers and mutters h s way a ong, wh e Co trane bursts onto the screen n fu three-d mens ona g ory. When the two are together, Depp fades nto the set. Heather Graham p ays Mary Ke y, n rea fe, the f fth and f na v ct m of the r pper, who, of course, fa s n ove w th Inspector Abber ne, and m ght be a tr f e g amorous for the ro e. Th s s odd, because the other prost tutes and street characters have an unusua degree of authent c shabb ness to them. Detect ve Abber ne consu ts a doctor, S r W am Gu (Ian Ho m), who happens to be phys c an to the Roya Fam y. Gu ntroduces the dea that the murders are a consp racy of the r ch and pr v eged upon the poor and desperate, and Abber ne becomes aware of the fact that h s super ors don t want h m to apprehend the k er. There s a b t of a sensat on n the conc us on that s not tota y mp aus b e-- the utter pauc ty of nformat on about the R pper makes any theory part y cred b e. It s an odd hodgepodge of a mov e, part y art f m, part y thr er, part y h stor ca drama. The streets of Prague served as the wonderfu y conv nc ng V ctor an d ves of London.
2002-05-19 SOLONDZ, TODD STORYTELLING --> Rating: 9.20
Todd So ondz took some heat for the way h s unusua characters n "Happ ness" were portrayed. Was he exp or ng unusua nd osyncrac es of some exot c persona t es? Or was he exp o t ng peop e s fasc nat on w th dysfunct ona humans? Exp o t ve? Storyte ng s two mov es n one. The f rst s about a co ege wr t ng student who descr bes a rather bruta affa r w th her professor, and then reads the story to her c ass, w th the professor present. Her c ass-mates r d cu e the story, dr v ng her to tears and she burst out-- " t happened!". The second s about a documentary f m-maker do ng a study of a dysfunct ona fam y. But they don t know that they are dysfunct ona . When the son who s the pr mary focus of the story stumb es nto a screen ng and sees the aud ence roar ng w th know ng aughter as h s comments about want ng to be a te ev s on star ke Conan O Br en, he observes that, we , the f m s a h t. Fresh and mag nat ve and funny.
2001-12-01 VON TRIER, LARS DANCER IN THE DARK --> Rating: 8.20
Extreme y unusua f m-- an art f m mus ca w th danc ng workers and downtrodden-- w th B ork as Se ma Jezkova, a s ng e mother w th a rea y hard fe. She s cheated of her sav ngs for her son s eye operat on by a ne ghbor ng cop (her own eyes ght s deter orat ng) and ends up go ng to extreme engths to recover the money. If on y the mov e hadn t strayed qu te so far nto me odrama, t m ght have been a gem, a rather ntr gu ng comb nat on of forms. But by the t me you get through the two hours of over-wrought tragedy and se ff agge at on, t becomes a b t too much. B ork s f ne-- audac ous-- and the c nematrography s more than nterest ng. But "over the top" m ght be the app cab e phrase here.
2002-04-01 RAIMI, SAM SPIDERMAN --> Rating: 7.00
Ho ywood does Ho ywood. Rea y noth ng spec a about th s megapro ect, as de from the obv ous, wh ch s that t cont nues to amaze that Ho ywood w spend so much money on spec a effects and so tt e effort or money on scr pt and d a ogue. They d d the r ght th ng, I suppose, by br ng ng Stan Lee n to do the scr pt, but perhaps the f m on y makes t obv ous that Sp derman s, after a , a com cbook. That sa d, t s reasonab y t ght and v sua y arrest ng, for a spectac e. K rsten Dunst ooks uc ous but doesn t have a ot of room to maneovre here, and W em Dafoe g ves the unfortunate mpress on of someone who knows he won t be as good as Jack N cho son s Joker, but has to try anyway.
2002-05-04 VERHOEVEN, PAUL SOLDER OF ORANGE --> Rating: 7.60
There s a f ash or two of fe n th s mov e, and the odd nsp red scene ( ke the tango at the Hote at the beach, between Er k and A ex), but t s not smart enough to be an art f m, or dumb enough to be a Ho ywood act on thr er. So d er of Orange stradd es the ne between two uneas y, w th spectacu ar y unspectacu ar batt e scenes, but the odd nterest ng subp ot. Insp red by Er k Haze hoff Roe fzema s account of h s act v t es n the Dutch Res stance dur ng the Naz occupat on. It s as f Verhoeven wanted to produce the Dutch vers on of "From Here to Etern ty", and somet mes h s c ums ness s m staken for art. The performances are genera y good, the act on moves a ong n f ts and starts. Some scenes-- ke where the petro seeps from a can through beach sand about twenty-f ve feet towards Er k so a care ess y tossed match can start a f re and exp os on-- are nexp cab y mp aus b e. There some nterest ng sub-texts of homoerot c sm and some rather cheerfu y cheesy sex scenes. The Br t sh secretary, who stomps on a so d er s ass wh e mak ng her way through a muddy tra n ng area-- ntroduces some much-needed sp r t nto the proceed ngs. At east Verhoeven has the grace to eave the warts n. He free y dep cts co aborators and tra tors and the nd fferent n honest preport ons, and he makes t c ear that ant -sem t sm pervaded a c asses of c t zens before the War. Interest ng but f awed.
2002-05-12 PONCHET, DENIS MURDER ON A SUNDAY MORNING --> Rating: 7.00
On May 7, 2000, a tour st from Georg a was murdered dur ng a purse-snatch ng at a F or da mote . Brendon But er was arrested 90 m nutes ater and became the on y suspect n the case. He spent f ve months n a wh e h s court-appo nted defence awyer bu t a case cha eng ng the prosecut on s conc us ons. The attorney, Patr ck McGu nness (a ong w th Ann F nne ), succeeds n comp ete y d smant ng the prosecut on s case. The ury takes a mere 45 m nutes to f nd Brendon But er not gu ty, but, n an extraord nary turn, McGu nness actua y uncovers nformat on about he rea k er. What s extraord nary about th s f m s the content-- the actua events recorded. You watch the husband of the v ct m test fy n court, and rea ze that h s test mony s naccurate, at best, and ma c ous y fa se at worst. You see po ce off cers y ng through the r teeth on the stand. You see c ear ev dence of prosecutor a ma feasance-- and the aston sh ng reve at on of the rea cu pr t (who doesn t ook anyth ng ke Brendon). It s not rea y a great f m, and probab y d dn t deserve the Oscar t rece ved, but t s a compe ng, mov ng document about nst tut ona n ust ce n Amer ca.
2002-05-03 COEN, JOEL MAN WHO WASN'T THERE --> Rating: 7.80
Over-rated f m about a ret r ng, shy barber, whose w fe has an affa r w th her boss and s mp cated when he s found stabbed to death at h s desk. B y Bob Thorton p ays Ed Crane, the man who wasn t there, whose fe takes a baff ng turn for the worse when beg ns to address h s anonym ty by mak ng some dec s ons n h s fe-ke nvest ng n a new concept-- dry-c ean ng. Where t goes to from there s murky. I m not sure I understood the po nt of h s vacuous anonym ty, s nce he doesn t rea y assert anyth ng about h mse f, except n dry ex stent a mus ngs. Just d dn t st ck w th me very much.
2002-05-04 KUNUK, ZACHARIAS ATANARJUAT (THE FAST RUNNER) --> Rating: 8.00
Produced by Canada s f rst Inu t f m company, Atanar uat (wh ch means fast runner ) s about a sma nomad c Inu t commun ty n Canada s far north, a thousand years ago. The sma band of fam es subs sts on hunt ng sea and wa rus n a very unhosp tab e and. The f m concerns two brothers, Atanar uat, the fast runner, and Amaq uaq, the strong one. The two are the best hunters n the commun ty, provok ng the ea osy of Ok , son of Saur , the eader. When Atanar uat w ns Atuat away from her husband to be, Ok , d scord and v o ence break out and Atanar uat s forced to f ee for h s fe, n an unforgettab e sequence, naked across the frozen ce. Th s f m ngers on t s moments-- a hunter return ng w th h s dogs, sett ng them down, the fam es eat ng meat around a f re, or ma nta n ng sea -o amps. Utter y un-ho ywood, n t s pat ent exp orat on of the commun ty s att tudes and customs, and how the conf ct between Antanar uat and Ok p ays out. No g amour here-- ooks ke some of the actors cou d use some ser ous denta work-- ust the roughhewn beauty of the rugged north, and the e oquent faces of the nat ve actors. A ong mov e, but we worth t.
2002-05-05 GLAZER, JONATHAN SEXY BEAST --> Rating: 8.00
Strong but v o ent drama about attempts to recru t a ret red henchman for a b g ob. Ben K ngs ey s outstand ng as gangster Don Logan. Comedy? A tt e v o ent for that c ass f cat on. Very t ght y worked up confrontat on between a man, Ga , (Ray W nstone) who s content n ret rement, n ove w th h s w fe and h s Span sh v a, and a dr ven, v o ent gangster, Don Logan, who won t take a no for an answer. No b g statement, no shock end ng, but enough sma surpr ses and de cate performances to keep t humm ng.
2002-04-05 NOVA, SHACKLETON'S VOYAGE OF ENDURANCE --> Rating: 8.00
Documentary on the remarkab e ourney of Earnest Shak eton and h s crew on a fa ed attempt to transverse the Antarct c n 1914. A hands made t back safe y, but not after endur ng one of the most dangerous and depr ved camp-outs n h story.
2000-03-02 OPHULS, MARCEL SORROW AND THE PITY --> Rating: 8.00
Very ong and somet mes s ow-mov ng documentary about the behav or of the c t zens of Auverge, France, dur ng the Naz occupat on.
2003-03-02 ALTMAN, ROBERT GOSFORD PARK --> Rating: 9.00
The usua outstand ng A tman sty e, utter y compe ng because t s so devo d of Ho ywood art f ce and pred ctab ty. Set n an Eng sh manor n the ear y 20th century, dramat zes the dec ne of c ass and corrupt on of pr v ege. Un form y wonderfu act ng performances and A tman s ncomparab e sty e.
2002-03-06 MIIKE, TAKASHA AUDITION --> Rating: 0.00
Harrow ng, d sturb ng, and shock ng. At the behest of h s grown (and sexua y act ve) son, a m dd e-aged w dower dec des to seek a new w fe by ho d ng a fake aud t on for a mov e that probab y won t even be made. He sett es on the beaut fu Asam , and fa s n ove w th her-- and she, apparent y, w th h m. But Asam s not the nnocent she appears to be. It s d ff cu t to sort out what s meant, n th s f m, to be dream or us on and what s "rea ", but she c ear y exacts a v c ous revenge on Aoyama, not necessar y for the part cu ar dece t nvo ved n the r re at onsh p, as for the dece ts pract sed by a men on a women. Is t over the top? Gratu tous? I was undec ded. W thout a doubt, one of the most shock ng conc us ons of any f m I have ever seen. We acted and nterest ng y f med, but the ght ng on th s VHS copy was harsh and somet mes gar sh.
2001-01-01 FIELD, TODD IN THE BEDROOM --> Rating: 7.00
A mov e th s s ow-mov ng and reverent a y med tat ve ra ses expectat ons from me. Instead of act on and adventure, one expects penetrat ng psycho og ca ns ghts. I m not sure t s there. In the Bedroom takes t s t me break ng down the responses of a phys c an and h s mus c teacher w fe when the r young son s murdered by h s g r fr ends ea ous ex-spouse. Perhaps the t p-off came when the d rector chose to fade a few short scenes to b ack-- the father mow ng the awn, the mother resum ng her teach ng. Why fade to b ack? It struck mmed ate y as a cop-out, a fa ure of nerve. It struck mmed ate y as the k nd of affectat on that a young d rectory wou d use to make someth ng obv ous that sn t obv ous from the mater a tse f. Matt and Ruth Fow er are about as average as can be. They have no po t ca axe to gr nd, though the mov e panders, n some nd rect, obscure way, to stereo-type of cr me-- the we -connected defendent who pu s ba and appears headed for a unfa r y ght sentence. There the mov e departs from t s r gorous adherence to convent ona ty, and, paradox ca y, becomes ess nterest ng. In the end, there s amb gu ty, and a shock ng rea zat on, and a n gg ng quest on about v car ous sat sfact on. What s eft hang ng are the o d and good reasons why v g ant sm s so frowned upon n our soc ety. A comparab e f m that comes to m nd: O v er, O v er. But O v er, O v er worked. The parent s gr ef was p ayed out to t s fu , naked convent ona ty. You understood someth ng, n the end, about fam y and ove and oss, that was a most shock ng n ts ntens ty. In the Bedroom seems to confuse stas s w th nact v ty; the parents don t move, at f rst, but ne ther do the r emot ons or the r re at onsh p. When Matt sudden y exp odes at h s w fe, and she at h m, you wonder what they re upset about. I mean, a ot of v ewers w f n the b anks w th the r own pro ect ons of who *they* fee at that moment, but that s not what s up there on the screen. On the screen, t s ust posture and express on, w thout a ot of nner connect ons. We acted, genera y, though the camera somet mes ngers on a face as f expect ng more, and you do expect more. There s no wr t ng to speak of-- some of the scenes seem mprov sed, and there s no rea story-- ust postures and express ons. Vast y over-rated.
2002-02-24 MANN, DELBERT DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS --> Rating: 7.50
Strange very terate and we -mean ng drama about a man (Preston) who oses h s ob and has to cope w th var ous fam y ssues-- a w mpy son, a one y daughter, a contro ng w fe-- wh e try ng to put h s fe back together. Unusua y top ca -- ant -sem t sm even makes an appearance-- and suffers from a profus on of hackpsycho ogy (he s unhappy because h s w fe doesn t have sex w th h m often enough; she doesn t ke sex because of a repressed upbr ng ng). The f m t ck es at t mes-- we -wr tten, genera y, and superb y acted-- but a so fa s prey to d dact c sm and the usua happy end ng. Eve Arden makes a str k ng appearance as the w fe s s ster, w th her own prob ems.
2002-02-24 KAUFMAN, PHILIP QUILLS --> Rating: 7.80
The story of the Marqu s De Sade s ast days n a pr son where a sad st c (ha ha) warden tr es to reform h m, on y to provoke tragedy and death. A tt e coy and pretent ous-- the Marqu s was not as harm ess as portrayed n th s f m, n rea fe-- but W ns ett s fetch ng and the sett ngs and costumes are ush.
2000-10-01 ANDERSON, WES ROYAL TENENBAUMS --> Rating: 9.00
Gene Hackman p ays Roya O Re y Tenenbaum, a bad father, and an "assho e", who sudden y dec des he wants h s fam y back together. Why? Because he s dy ng, maybe, of stomach cancer (wh ch doesn t stop h m from scarf ng down three cheeseburgers a day). So he wease s h s way back nto h s w fe s house (they aren t d vorced yet) and br ngs about a fam y reun on, of three ch dren and an mportant fam y fr end-- four of the most dysfunct ona peop e mag nab e. Ben St er s Chas, a prod g ous money manager whose youthfu nvestments were p fered by Roya . Gwyneth Pa trow s Margot, a wr ter who smokes (her fam y hasn t not ced) and s marr ed to B Murray (Ra e gh St. C a r), and may have an ncestuous des re for her brother R ch e (Luke W son), a star tenn s p ayer who broke down n the m dd e of h s b ggest match. E , who has a th ng for Margot, s the fam y fr end, a wr ter of pu p westerns. "Madcap" doesn t do the mov e ust ce. The story rushes ke a ro er coaster through one cr s s to another, never ett ng up unt t reaches t s hyster ca conc us on. Never do you detect the cast and crew stopp ng to adm re themse ves-- t ro s on to the next confrontat on, d saster, or reve at on. Terr f c f m. Rem nds me of A tman and M ke Le gh, though t s more frant c and b zarre than e ther of them.
2002-01-29 HOWARD, RON BEAUTIFUL MIND --> Rating: 6.50
Emot ona y resonant but suspect-- te s the story of br
ant mathemet c an John Nash, who had a huge mpact
on econom c and d p omat c theory, and then descended nto madness for a most th rty years before rece v ng the Nobe Pr ze n Sc ence n 1994. It s a great story, mov ng, and amaz ng. The troub e s, the story you see on the screen s not the story of John Nash. It s the story of Ho ywood s need to fee good about fee ng bad. When one rev ewer descr bed th s f m as "authent c", he meant that he fe t ust bad enough about Nash s sch zophren a to fee good about h mse f for fee ng bad for h m. The troub e s the "sch zophren a" n the mov e s to rea - fe menta ness what Jenn fer Conne y s to your rea - fe w fe. In rea fe, Nash was gay (and that s why he was bounced from the Rand Corporat on-- ca ed "Whee er" n the mov e, apparent y) and n rea fe, he fathered a ch d w th another woman and then abandoned both ch d and mother to a fe of poverty, before marry ng a student, A c a (Jenn fer Conne y) whom he a so, n rea fe but not n the mov e, ater d vorced. It s true that she came to be h s ma or suppport ater n fe, and they remarr ed after the Nove Pr ze. But Ron Howard s cava er way of hand ng these ssues demonstrates that th s f m s not about Nash at a , but about some m sconcept on and de us ons that make us a fee good about ourse ves. Crowe doesn t get nto h s ro e- he adopts the exter or manner sms of what a sane person th nks an nsane person s. Conne y, however, s a surpr se. She s very good, and she s the source of the rea emot ona mpact of the ater part of the story. She hand es each mportant trans t on n the r re at onsh p deft y, tastefu y, and conv nc ng y.
2002-01-30 ALTMAN, ROBERT SHORT CUTS --> Rating: 9.00
The usua A tman-- utter y compe ng, unusua drama w th a ste ar cast.
2002-01-05 HALLSTROM, LASSE CHOCOLAT --> Rating: 7.50
V anne Rocher moves nto a sma French town and opens a choco ate store. Her cand es have some remarkab e propert es and, though she a enates some of the more repressed c t zens, ke the mayor, w th her rre g ous att tudes, her cand es have a great mpact on the ves of her customers. There sn t anyth ng fresh or exc t ng here, et a one or g na or authent c. Th s s Ho ywood does "Babette s Feast" or "L ke Water for Choco ate". In fact, Choco at s shame ess y der vat ve of those ear er works. The on y th ng m ss ng, n fact, s the ho ywood end ng wr t arge. The happy end ng-- t s "happy"-- s more ow key, ke B noche s performance. Lena O n makes an appearance as an abused w fe. It s hard to f gure out f th s s a token sub-p ot or f the ent re concept on of the f m s so scattered. The scene that revea s more than t thought t d d-- a gypsy barge s set on f re by the res dent bad-guy (the abus ve husband) and B noche se zes the over-wrought moment for a scene that s so utter y fa se and forced that you a most turn away n embarrassment. There s not a chance that her daughter was k ed n the f re and the aud ence knows t, wh ch makes her over-act ng a that much harder to take. Round y d sappo nt ng.
2001-12-20 JEUNET, JEAN-PIERRE AMELIE --> Rating: 8.90
Very ve y, p ayfu , and mag nat ve story about a wa f, Ama e, v ng n Par s, who dec des to be a force for good n the wor d, and beg ns w th those around her. We earn that her mother was a harsh d sc p nar an who prevented Ame e from hav ng fr ends, and her was an unaffect onate but kab e doctor (who never hugged h s daughter). Ama e k dnaps her father s gnome and sends t on a round the wor d excurs on. She nudges a one y c erk nto a re at onsh p w th a ea ous former over of a wa tress she works w th. She takes revenge on a crue grocer. Most of a , she f ashes those beaut fu eyes and charms her way through var ous m sadventures. What s t w th the stra n of "chaos theory" on f m n recent European f ms? From K es owsky s "Red" to "Run Lo a Run", European d rectors seem recent y enamoured w th the dea that the t n est tt e var at on n events can have enormous consequences. In Ame e, t s when she drops a bott e stopper after hear ng that Pr ncess D ana has d ed. It d s odges a t e wh ch revea s a tt e box w th severa keepsakes n t. She dec des to track down the owner, wh ch eads her nto her other m sadventures. As n other recent European f ms, the sty e s free-whee ng and nvent ve. Photographs ta k, and we somet mes see what Ame e s th nk ng. And, as n the same d rector s ear er "De catessen", there s a scene n wh ch a coup e s v gorous sex causes r pp es throughout a bu d ng. Not everyth ng works out. The ea ous man rema ns ea ous. But her father embarks on h s own ourney, and she starts a re at onsh p w th a young man who co ects re ected photos from photobooths. Very keab e, w tty, and wry. Doesn t nsu t your nte gence or smoothery you n phoney emot ons. Cr sp and charm ng.
2002-01-02 BESSON, LUC LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL --> Rating: 6.30
Remembered pr mar y as Nata e Portman s precoc ous debut, Leon s a se f-suff c ent h t man v ng n New York. One day, corrupt po cemen come and murder the fam y n the apartment next to h s, wh e the 12-yearo d daughter (Portman) s out runn ng an errand. When she returns, n the mov es on y rea y compe ng scene, she wa ks r ght by the h tmen and pretends to be ong n Leon s apartment. She r ngs and begs h m to open the door as the ncreas ng y susp c ous h t men beg n to rea ze that one member of the fam y s m ss ng. From there, t s a c ass c "gr zz ed o d cyn c" vs. na ve wa f p ot-- except that Math da wants to become a h t man so she can seek revenge on the corrupt po ce off cers. Leon actua y does teach her h s craft, and though Besson s a tt e coy about hav ng a 12-year-o d g r murder peop e on screen, he does push the enve ope a tt e. Odd that t s acceptab e to mov e aud ences to see an adu t man teach a 12-year-o d g r how to take a gun and b ow someone s bra ns out, but, we , mag ne the d scomf ture f she sat on h s ap and k ssed h m.... We , that wou d be abuse r ght? The murder s okay, but not a potent a sexua re at onsh p. Not a great f m by any stretch. Goes a tt e r d cu ous y overboard w th the shoot ng and exp os ons and derr ng-do. But Portman s good. Not tota y surpr s ng that th s s from the same d rector as "La Femme N k ta", a super or f m.
2001-12-20 TYKWER, TOM PRINCESS AND THE WARRIOR --> Rating: 7.50
Odd f m about a young nurse who, wh e on her way a bank to retr eve an ob ect from a safety depos t box, s h t by a truck and near y d es. A passerby, who s actua y cas ng out the bank for prospect ve robbery, saves her fe by mprov s ng a tracheotomy on the spot. After recover ng n the hosp ta , she becomes conv nced that fate has nked her to the young man and she sets out to f nd h m. It s never qu te c ear what she has n m nd, but he s c ear: he wants her to go away. But, as f dr ven by fate, the r ves become ntertw ned. There s one contempt b e scene n th s f m that, n my m nd, cost t severe y n terms of cred b ty. As the po ce are hunt ng down the young man, he and S ss end up on the roof of the psych atr c hosp ta she works at. They eap off the edge of the bu d ng-- n a manner that d st nct y suggests su c de-- but end up and ng n a poo , from wh ch they are ab e to escape the po ce. It s a contempt b e art f ce because the d rector creates a set of expectat ons and convent ons for h s mov e, and then v o ates them to tr ck the aud ence nto be ev ng they are go ng to d e. We re supposed to go, "oh, wow-- there was a poo there! What a surpr se!" But we re not surpr sed because of a c ever p ot tw st. We re surpr sed because S ss and Bodo stand there and ho d hands as f mak ng a su c de pact wh ch s someth ng they wou d never have done f they had known the poo was there and were go ng to take the r chances w th t. Maybe t works better on second v ew ng-- maybe not. Tykver a so d rected Run Lo a Run w th the same actress-- Franka Potente. It s a far super or f m to th s one, but ra ses a d sturb ng ssue of whether Tykver has the var ety of exper ence to make more nterest ng f ms n future. Both of these f ms dea w th fate and the tw sted tr cks of chaos theory-- f one sma th ng s d fferent, everyth ng s d fferent. But they both say the same th ng w thout expand ng any further on the ssue. You hope he w move on to someth ng more exot c n h s next feature.
2001-11-01 TYKWER, TOM RUN LOLA RUN --> Rating: 8.80
Ever s nce "Occurrence at Ow Creek Br dge", astute d rectors have been aware of the p ast c nature of t me n a mov e. The d rector can contro the movement of t me, the sequence of events, the aud ences consc ousness of t me (as when an event that s supposed to occur n 60 seconds, for examp e, actua y unfo ds over f ve m nutes). Run Lo a Run s an enthra ng exerc se n the man pu at on of t me. Lo a rece ves a phone ca from her boyfr end, Mann . He s deep sh t. Seems he had 100,000 marks from a drug dea n h s hands and then he ost t, and h s boss s probab y go ng to k h m. He has twenty m nutes to come up w th the money. He te s Lo a he s go ng to rob a store across the street but Lo a urges h m to wa t unt she gets there. She w f nd some way, anyway to get the money. And then she sets out, on foot, to her father, how has a h gh pos t on w th a German bank. And here the fun beg ns. When her f rst effort resu ts n catastrophe, she says "stop" and t me, mag ca y, does stop. She starts aga n, w th s ght d fferences. On the way, numerous peop e-- some connected w th the drug dea and some not-- are affected by her m nute dec s ons (to dodge a car or ump over the hood? Go eft or r ght around a gagg e of nuns?). In Run Lo a Run, these d vers ons are more than ust p ot tw sts. The peop e she runs n to have the r own desperat ons. They are a so trapped n warped t me, n wh ch the sequence of events sp ns a web of consequence that can bare y be contro ed. There are subt e nuances to these d vers ons. Lo a s father s mak ng a profound dec s on about h s persona fe, and Lo a d scovers a shock ng fact about h m-- or doesn t, depend ng on a sp t second dec s on she makes as she runs to h s off ce. Th s s a smart, exc t ng f m that s one of a very, very few that s worth see ng tw ce.
2001-12-28 NOLAN, CHRISTOPHER MEMENTO --> Rating: 7.50
Intr gu ng f m n wh ch a person suffer ng bra n damage that has destroyed h s short-term memory embarks on a search for the man respons b e, and for h s w fe s rape and murder. He tatoos mportant nformat on onto h s body, and uses a Po aro d camera to dent fy peop e and remember the r names. But he s a so vu nerab e to man pu at on and dece t, and the fun n th s f m s n try ng to sort out what s rea and what s e ther mag ned or mp anted nto h s memory. There was a moment ear y on when I thought th s f m m ght make a ser ous study of dent ty and t me. If you can t remember one moment to the next, what mp cat ons does that have for your consc ousness of truth and h story? Do those facets of re at onsh ps become rre evant? What s comm tment for a man w th no memory of the prev ous n ght? But Memento backed away from these ssues and stuck-- not necessar y unw se y-- to the suspensefu p ot. Who s us ng whom? Who s Leonard She by s fr end-- who s h s enemy? Enterta n ng and ntr gu ng but u t mate y a tt e d sappo nt ng.
2001-09-01 COLUMBUS, CHRIS HARRY POTTER AND SORCERCER'S STONE --> Rating: 7.00
Re eased ust before the f rst nsta ment of the Lord of the R ngs Tr ogy, Harry Potter set records (he ped w th u tra-w de d str but on dea s) for t ckets and do ar sa es on t s f rst weekend. Harry Potter s an e even-year-o d boy v ng a m serab e fe w th h s unc e and aunt after h s parents were k ed n a "car acc dent". In fact, they were murdered by the ev Vo demort. Harry s a "w zard", by b rth and pred spos t on, and on h s 11th b rthday, Rubeus Hagr d, a very arge gatekeeper, comes to br ng h m to the Hogwards Schoo of W tchcraft and W zardry, where he o ns other boys and g r s be ng schoo ed n the b ack arts. He makes fr ends w th Herm one and Rona d, and together they a dark secret h dden n the cavernous schoo s chambers. It s no onger surpr s ng to see super at ve graph cs n mov es ke th s. The sett ngs and spec a effects are genera y outstand ng. However, Potter has more than a tt e p ot and d a ogue as we , and br ngs a refresh ng y unsent menta approach to the mater a of mag c, ch dhood, fr endsh p, and good vs. ev . The ch dren (Dan e Radc ffe, Rupert Gr nt, and Emma Watson as Potter, Rona d Weas ey, and Herm one Granger respect ve y) are qu te good, and the adu ts, teachers and w zards and shopkeepers, are above average. Co umbus d rects w th artfu focus. That sa d, Potter s ne ther a andmark, nor a part cu ar y outstand ng f m. It s good. We done. Enterta n ng. But t s not a reve at on ke "W zard of Oz" or even as charm ng as someth ng ke "Pr ncess Br de". And-- does anyone ever buy an a bum of mus c by f m composer John W ams? I wou d be most aston shed f they d d. He has composed for dozens of f ms, a most nvar ab y b ock-busters, and h s mus c s a most a ways over-bear ng and monotonous.
2001-12-26 PARKER, TREY SOUTH PARK: BIGGER LONGER UNCUT --> Rating: 7.00
W dy provocat ve, obscene, outrageous cartoon about the ch dren of South Park, who beg n spout ng obscen t es after watch ng a Canad an mov e and cause a near war when a group of parents dec de to take matters nto the r own hands. Parker doesn t have the s ghtest sense of restra nt here and maybe that s a strength of the mov e. It barre s through some b zarre, mag nat ve scenes (Saddam Husse n n a ove-nest w th Satan comes to m ne) w th both ears f app ng. The an mat on s not br
ant y evocat ve, but t has a sense of
sty e to t and surv ves the extended ength (South Park s a 20 m nute TV show). The d a ogue s corr s ve but occas ona y funny and nc s ve. Yeah, I en oyed t. Doesn t mean I m recommend ng t to anybody.
2001-12-01 JACKSON, PETER LORD OF THE RINGS --> Rating: 7.00
Way, way back n 1976 or so, the Monty Python troupe took a shot at overb own ep c me odrama and scored a d rect h t. A most every t red and phoney convent on of these f ms was parod ed w th the utmost w t, and w th marve ous attent on to deta . You wou d th nk, then, that w se f m-makers wou d avo d ever aga n mount ng such scenes, for fear that the aud ence wou d break out nto aughter. Not so, of course. As f pompous h stor ca ep cs ke "G ad ator" and "Braveheart" were not enough, we now have "The Fe owsh p of the R ng", based on J.R.R. To ke n s super or fantasy nove s, about a mag ca r ng, and the meek hobb t who tr es to save the wor d by destroy ng t. I had h gh expectat ons for th s f m. Some of the ear est rev ews were pos t ve y rapturous. It was supposed to be mag nat ve and c nemat c n ways that "Harry Potter", the other b g, b g Chr stmas re ease, s not. But "Fe owsh p of the R ng" s rea y ust another overb own, se f- mportant, spec a effects extravaganza. It s the k nd of the f m that re es on oud no ses and sudden f ashes of ght to scare you, and n wh ch an mated creatures ham t up for the camera. It s the k nd of f m n wh ch the spec a effects crews cou dn t res st the temptat on (shades of the r ng) to go comp ete y overboard. If ten tro s are scary, why not a hundred? If a hundred, why not a thousand? He , why not a gaz
on of them, creep ng out of every crev ce
mag nab e n some mass ve, musty, crack ed cave that s tse f a product of computer an mat on. Computer an mat on s a wonderfu art. I am tru y aston shed at the monumenta s ze of the effects, and the stunn ng v sua appea . But that makes th s mov e an effect w th a good story; not a story w th a good effect. The v sua spendor s monumenta , but not necessar y art st c. Is the story any good? I read To ke n years ago, but I don t remember the drama be ng qu te th s se f- mportant and pompous. When Borom r s h t by an arrow, and then cont nues f ght ng, and s h t by another arrow, and then another, and then engages w th Aragorn n an extended deathbed scene, one ongs for Borom r to say someth ng ke, "we , I cou d get better..." And one ongs for Cate B anchett(Ga adr e ) to announce she wou d ove to prophecy some more but has to take a qu ck pee. Or for Ganda f, fac ng thousands of tro s, "we re screwed now." But th s s a very sp rtua ep c. That means who esa e s aughter of sub-human spec es and no sex. It has to be assumed that Peter Jackson, who d rected the very enterta n ng "Heaven y Creatures", has consc ous y dec ded to go for convent ona ep c here, a a "Star Wars", wh ch s a shame, because "Star Wars" suffers from the same k nd of pompous phon ness. I have no prob em "be ev ng" that an ev w zard cou d send hundreds of "orcas" to capture the hobb ts and br ng back the a -powerfu r ng, but I have a prob em be ev ng that these orcas wou d be so stup d as to come back w th two hobb ts nstead of three, and wou dn t hang around to search for the m ss ng hobb t who, after a , m ght have the a -powerfu r ng n h s possess on. You re not supposed to not ce these f aws n og c and n a we made fantasy, you don t. But e ther you have to be eve that the ev w zard s a poor udge of performance, or that he sudden y cares so tt e about the r ng he wou d send a bunch of cret ns to retr eve t, or that the d rector, Jackson, s hop ng that you stuffed your bra n n the popcorn b n on your way to your seat. Maybe I m not be ng a good sport. You re supposed to suspend your d sbe ef, of course. But that s part of a contractua arrangement w th the d rector. You suspend your d sbe ef, and he keeps the p ot mov ng a ong br sk y and w tt y enough to engage your attent on. Jackson stops too often for these me odramat c scenes of brotherhood and oya ty and courage and tw sts your arm-- come on-- don t you be eve that Sam, who can t sw m, wou d p unge nto the ake to fo ow Frodo? You m ght, f Jackson had g ven you a sense of deso at on, or one ness, or pass on n the character. But he doesn t work from the ns de out: he works from the outs de n. You re supposed to do-- oh, he a most d ed because he wanted to fo ow Frodo so bad y. That s oya ty... In sp te of a the rave rev ews, I don t buy that th s f m s rea y any better than "Braveheart" or "G ad ator" n that sense, and, n fact, m ght even be worse. It s on y sat sfy ng on the eve of sheer v sua exc tement. F na y, my b ggest beef w th "Star Wars" was that the w ses man n the un verse, Yoda, actua y sounds ke a smug, se f- mportant foo . What k nd of adv ce s "Seek the power w th n you... use the force"? Is that w sdom? We , you know what s go ng on, r ght? Sp e berg te s you that Yoda s the smartest th ng n the un verse, and now he s got to make h m sound smart except that Sp e berg h mse f sn t very smart, so he has h m spout off vague nan t es that sound vague y proverb a and "w se". We , Ganda f has the same prob em. He rea y doesn t sound a that smart. He doesn t seem to know anyth ng that a reasonab y astute v ewer hasn t a ready thought of. He doesn t seem to have any spec a observat ons about human nature or ev or good. But he has a funny hat and a ong beard. Shou d you see t? Sure. It s k nd of fun. But don t foo yourse f nto th nk ng t s enr ched your fe n some mean ngfu way.
2001-12-20 ALTMAN, ROBERT THIEVES LIKE US --> Rating: 8.30
There s a more than a tt e "Bonn e and C yde" n th s f m, but A tman s such a d st nct ve sty st that you don t fee cheated by the resemb ence. It s A tman s take on a caper f m, on the m sadventures of three nterest ng cons, and the r re at onsh ps w th th er g r fr ends and fam es as they ve fe on the am. Bow e (Ke th Carrad ne) and Keech e (She ey Duva ) are at the centre of the story. The r un ke y ove affa r beg ns when the three cons h deout at her gas stat on. As usua y, A tman s f m doesn t fo ow a pred ctab e tra ectory, and Keech e s never demeaned by her hodd, sk nny phys ca appearance. There s a ot of authent c ty n the de cate scenes between her and Bow e, and ot natura yearn ngs and sens b t es.
2001-10-05 ARONOFSKY, DARREN REQUIEM FOR A DREAM --> Rating: 8.50
Do we need another graph c ustrat on of how drug abuse can destroy your fe? No, but do we "need" any mov e, or nove , or poem? Requ em s more graph c and powerfu than most, and features one of the most compe ng faces n f m, Jenn fer Conne y, and one of the best actresses, E en Burstyn. It a so has one of the most ntr gu ng webs tes. It s about ust how far peop e w go to sat sfy urges and des res that ar se from that nebu ous centre of the sou , the rea se f, wh ch doesn t necessar y seek what s good or pure or r ght, but what we need at any g ven moment. Sara Go dfarb (Burstyn) ves a one n her apartment, a dreary fe that seems empty and po nt ess, unt she s ed to be eve she has been se ected to appear on a te ev s on gameshow. She beg ns to d et so she can f t nto her best, most g amorous dress for the occas on, and resorts to d et p s to drop pounds. Her son, Harry, (Jared Leto), has sto en her te ev s on set (she pawned t back) to feed h s own add ct on to smack. He and h s over, Mar on (Conne y) are on a v c ous downward sp ra of the r own, and the mov e shows us n graph c deta what they w do to feed the r hab t. And that s about t. It s awfu , of course. The nterest es n the fresh persona t es, and the nk between Sara s add ct on to te ev s on and d et p s and the fa se se f- mage she has been so d by tv, and the s mp er, more d rect appet tes of Mar on and Harry.
2001-10-01 DEMME, TED BLOW --> Rating: 7.00
A edged y true story based on the fe of George Jung who became ncred b y wea thy through the drug trade unt he was cashed out by fr ends and arrested, and s now serv ng a ong sentence n Ot sv e Pr son n New York State. George Jung (Depp) grows up n a troub ed househo d. H s father s a hard-work ng, ded cated fam y man, but h s mother per od ca y runs away and then returns. H s parents f ght over-- get the s gn f cance here-- money. George moves to Ca forn a as a teenager and gets nto drugs and f nds that t s easy to make money se ng mar uana to beach bunn es. Eventua y he moves on to coca ne and beg ns mport ng d rect y from the Mede n carte n Co umb a. H s f rst w fe, Erm ne (Rache Gr ff ths) d es of cancer; second w fe, M rtha (Pene ope Cruz) turns out to be rather vo at e-- ke h s mother. The ast part of the f m focusses on h s devot on to h s estranged daughter.
2001-11-09 BOORMAN, JOHN POINT BLANK --> Rating: 7.00
On the surface, th s s a cr me-thr er, but s there more than meets the eye? Lee Marv n s Wa ker and we are ntroduced to h m at the moment s he shot and eft for dead n an abandoned pr son, after agree ng to he p h s fr end, Reese (John Vernon) p ck up some money. Wa ker recovers and then sets out to retr eve the money he s owed. What he f nds s a path of betraya and dece t that seems to ead h gher and h gher up nto some obtuse organ zat on, and nto the off ce towers of LA. Is he be ng used? Is t a a con? Po nt B ank s too smart to be a convent ona thr er, but doesn t have the g ossy surfaces of some ater con mov es ke "S xth Sense". It shares a fam y re at onsh p, but doesn t share the fam y resemb ence. There are a ot of decent actors n th s f m, and the p ot keeps mov ng, so t s enterta n ng n a tact e sense. And there s th s strange sense of humour-- the hood ums a act ke corporate ch efta ns, and when Wa ker keeps demand ng h s money of them, they try to stonewa h m the way a b g corporat on wou d stonewa a d ssast sf ed customer whose car b ew up as he drove t off the ot.
2001-10-05 FARRELLY, BOBBY & PETER SOMETHING ABOUT MARY --> Rating: 7.80
Th s f m s actua y a ot funn er than t ooks. A ot of the humour s vu gar and ow-brow, but occas ona scenes, as when St er s arrested as a ser a k er, or when D
on as Pat Hea y drugs the dog and then
a most k s h m, are very funny. Bu ds n ce y but but but.... the hokey end ng s rea y an o d-fash oned contr vance d sgu sed as "a good fun". She chooses the r ght guy n a scene that ust doesn t extract the r ght u ce from the characters. Just k nds of d es n a ump... unt , "Bu d Me Up Buttercup" comes on and fts t nto a de ghtfu tt e ensemb e cheer. The other best th ng about the mov e are the s ngers who appear, ke Nat K ng Co e and ___ n Cat Ba ou, to s ng d rges to the trag c deve opments.
2000-01-01 COPPOLA, SOFIA VIRGIN SUICIDES --> Rating: 7.50
Unusua , deep y romant c f m about four beaut fu s sters whose parents, devout Chr st ans, depr ve them of the opportun ty to ove. They a dec de to comm t su c de on the same day. Yes, rather far-fetched, but str k ng n t s r sky try for someth ng myth ca here, about beauty and ove. The ma n prob em s you don t see what s rea y so ovab e about these g r s, as de from the fact they are phys ca y beaut fu . Th s s the f m that revea s that "Lost n Trans at on" was a f uke: Soph a Coppo a s not a great d rector.
2001-09-01 HOWARD, RON PARENTHOOD --> Rating: 7.00
Steve Mart n p ays G Buckman who s try ng to he p h s young son through some d ff cu t t mes. H s brother a so has prob ems, arge gamb ng debts, and other fam y members have oads more. We -wr tten and acted, and surpr s ng y po gnant at t mes. The humour s restra ned to stay w th n the drama and there s a p easand edg ness to the humour, wh ch s about the best we can expect from Ron Howard.
2001-09-16 HITCHCOCK, ALFRED STRANGERS ON A TRAIN --> Rating: 8.00
Reputed y one of H tchcock s f nest f ms. C ever story- ne about a stranger, a wea thy d ettante named Bruno, who meets up w th an amateur tenn s p ayer named Guy on a tra n and eads h m on a r d cu ous but cred b e conversat on about the perfect murder: two strangers, meet ng on a tra n ( ust ke Guy and Bruno)agree to murder someone for the other. S nce the f rst suspect s a ways someone nvo ved n some way w th the v ct m, th s w foo the po ce and serve the nefar ous purposes of the consp rators perfect y. But Guy s no foo and d sregards the stranger, unt he s shocked to d scover that h s w fe has been murdered and Bruno now expects h m to carry out h s end of the barga n. There s a ot of w t and c everness here, great d a ogue, and an nte gent narrat ve for the most part, but some rather preposterous deve opments and confrontat ons that weaken the p ot. At t mes, Guy and h s g r -fr end, Anne Morton, the daughter of a Senator, act as f Bruno has been a naughty boy scout. But there are marve ous touches, ke the tt e boy augh ng on the merry-go-round that has gone berserk, and Barbara Morton s b unt observat ons, and the two e der y ad es en oy ng Bruno s "fantasy" about how to do away w th an unwanted husband.
2001-08-18 COPPOLA, FRANCIS FORD APOCALYPSE NOW (2001) --> Rating: 9.00
Saw th s at the Imax n Toronto. Not a of the add t ona mater a s br
ant, but an ncred b y r ch exper ence.
2001-08-14 ZWIGHOFF, TERRY GHOST WORLD --> Rating: 8.60
Terry Zw ghoff d rected the acc a med documentary, Crumb, on the dysfunct ona Crumb fam y featur ng the acerb c but somet mes scary com c art st Robert Crumb. Crumb was br
ant so hopes were h gh for Ghost C ty.
Unfortunate y, the f m s a b t of a d sappo ntment. I m st wonder ng f the c ums y hand ed humour was ntent ona y archa c n sty e or ust, we , c umsy. I m ssed the scath ng y funny humour of Crumb. Based on Dan e C owes com c book. En d obv ous y has the chops but never qu te cuts to the qu ck. Once you move past the d sappo nt ng ack of ac d, the f m s actua y qu te kab e and tr es to be qu rky and def n te y tr es to be honest. There s no p e n the face at the end, and there s def n te y asp rat ons to poetry, n the man who wa ts eterna y for a bus that never arr ves, and En d s own pecu ar fade-out at the end, wh ch rem nded me not a tt e of Chap n s wander ng tramp. En d s escapade n a fast-food out et must have been tempt ng for some very broad, v c ous humour, but Zw ghoff stays w th n the characters. He s too honest to cheat rea ty for sensat ona sm. The resu t s more ow-key but, n a way, more sat sfy ng as En d emerges as a we - rounded character w th rea and compe ng asp rat ons.
2001-08-14 Amenabar, Alejandro THE OTHERS --> Rating: 7.50
F ne y crafted and compe ng story of a woman and her two ch dren v ng n a dreary, haunted mans on on the s and of Jersey n the Eng sh channe dur ng the wan ng years of Wor d War II. Her husband s gone, d sappeared at the front. A myster ous cook, groundskeeper, and ma d arr ve short y after the prev ous staff d sappeared.
2001-08-12 KOREEDA, HIROKAZU AFTERLIFE --> Rating: 7.70
Interest ng and memorab e-- but s ow-mov ng-- Japanese f m about memory. A group of peop e who have ust d ed are nstructed to choose the one memory they w ve w th for a of etern ty.
2001-08-09 JOHNSTON, JOE JURASSIC PARK III --> Rating: 3.00
M d y nterest ng seque . About as expected. N ce spec a effects, hokey p ot, ted ous d a ogue, w th a t ny, noteworthy attempt at w t.
2001-08-06 KIAROSTAMI, ABBAS TASTE OF CHERRY --> Rating: 6.00
Very ong-w nded, and occas ona y outr ght bor ng d ssect on of a man s protracted attempt to persuade someone to bury h m after he craw s nto a ho e and takes and overdose of s eep ng p s to end h s own fe.
2001-08-10 LUHRMANN, BAZ MOULIN ROUGE --> Rating: 7.00
The f rst twenty m nutes or so of Mou n Rouge are ntox cat ng and mesmer z ng. The comb nat on of graph cs, mus c, humour, and spec a effects-- br
ant. It s a most mposs b e to descr be-- a wh r ng, sp nn ng past che
of o d Par s, dancers, narrator, and a c ever panoram c sweep of the c ty, from one oca e to another as the act on cuts nto tse f. Then... why s that aud ences that are supposed to be ab e to absorb and apprec ate the h gh y exper menta , cutt ng-edge br
ance of the montage at the beg nn ng are sudden y expected to go
bra n-dead for the rest of the p ot: the nefar ous, r ch bastard who takes the nnocent but beaut fu and morta y actress away from the oh-so-earnest and deserv ng s ncere wr ter? Why s there no amb gu ty n Sat ne s c a m that she s w
ng to go w th the ev Duke of Monroth on y to save the show? Why s Chr st an (Ewan
McGregor) so whussy as the wr ter? Because Ho ywood s a thr r de that u t mate y never wants to cha enge r g d concept ons and c ches? Because th s s u t mate a gut ess mov e that gave somebody some crazy cense at the beg nn ng on y to ree h m n ke b oated corpse for the ast hour? I wou d watch the f rst twenty m nutes aga n and aga n. But you m ght want to eave the theatre, but then, come back for a k nky "Roxanne" near the end, for fun.
2001-07-01 SODERBERGH, STEPHEN ERIN BROKOVITCH --> Rating: 7.50
Memorab e and we -d rected study of Er n Brokov tch, the woman who b ew the wh st e on Pac f c Gas and E ectr c when t po uted the we water of a sma commun ty and then tr ed to escape respons b ty by conv nc ng the c t zens that the dead y chrom um was actua y a safer var ant. Ju a Roberts actua y does pretty we here. She s bubb y and evervescent, but not annoy ng y so. Her read ng s thoughtfu and fresh, and she s fa r y conv nc ng. What s ess conv nc ng s the trad t ona Ho ywood despectrum zat on of ev . You get te egraphs every t me a ow down, mean, se f-sat sf ed awyer or execut ve appears on the scene, even when they are, ostens b y, on Brokov tch s s de. Interest ng y, the mov e pays homage to excess ve awyers fees by hav ng Brokov tch exp a n, n her sa t-of-the-earth mode, how the poor awyer has taken such a great r sk-even mortgag ng h s house!- to take on th s case, and thereby deserves 40% of the eventua $350 m
on
sett ement! Enterta n ng and br sk. Beware the conography.
2000-01-01 SPIELBERG, STEPHEN AI --> Rating: 5.00
D sappo nt ng hokum from Sp e berg a eged y based on concept by Stan ey Kubr ck, wh ch seems aston sh ng g ven the ch d shness and tr v a ty of the scr pt. Phoney from the f rst moment onwards, deta s the story of a robot boy who comes to rep ace a ser ous y boy n a young fam y. The robot-- get th s-- wants to be a "rea " boy, thereby embody ng, w th n a mechan ca dev ce, an asp rat on that can on y be human. The ast hour s a knock em down drag t out tear erker, mawk sh and embarrass ng.
2001-06-29 CAVANI, LILIANA NIGHT PORTER --> Rating: 7.00
Shock ngs story about a death camp surv vor who resumes a sexua re at onsh p w th one of her Naz torturers, n 1957 V enna.
2001-06-01 MAJIDI, MAJID CHILDREN OF HEAVEN --> Rating: 9.00
Very rem scent of "B cyc e Th ef" or "Shoesh ne"-- about a poor fam y n Iran strugg ng to get by. The young son oses h s s sters on y shoesand the two them dec de to share h s runn ng shoes unt they can get them back. Marve ous ow-key f m w th remarkab e performances from the ch dren though I m guess ng that most of the tears were nduced w th g ycer ne. Stra ghtforward y f med-- a the charm s n the deta s of fe and the emot ona nvo vement of the characters.
2001-05-26 FINCHER, DAVID FIGHT CLUB --> Rating: 7.50
L ke F sher K ng, Dead Poet s Soc ety, and count ess other "ser ous" Ho ywood f ms, F ght C ub starts out c ever and amaz ng and ac d c, and then, for reasons unexp a ned, descends nto a convent ona shoot em up chase thr er. Edward Norton s the narrator, "I am Jack", I guess, and Bradd P tt s Ty er Durden. They meet on an a rp ane f ght and create a f ght c ub that eventua y organ zes ce s of revo ut onar es a across the country and p an to b ow up a the ma or cred t card company off ces. R ght. That s the dumb part of the story. What s more nterest ng s that Edward Norton-- Jack-- ves the "qu et fe of desparat on" as an execut ve w th an unnamed "b g" car company. H s ob s to do r sk assessments of defects n the cars h s company manufacturers, to determ ne f t wou d be cheaper to do a reca or to sett e the numerous awsu ts resu t ng from acc dents. He buys Ikea furn ture-- a totem for the mean ng of the f rst ha f of the mov e-- and ves n an exc us ve condo and can t s eep. He ust can t s eep at a . He sees a doctor who w se refuses to prescr be drugs (I th nk he s w se-- I m not sure the mov e does). He starts attend ng meet ngs of var ous groups of surv vors of ser ous hea th cond t ons, nc ud ng test cu ar cancer. Rea z ng that the other members of these groups assume that he a so has the cond t on they are a suffer ng from, he o ns n the r act v t es. Meat Loaf s Bob Pau sen, who has grown breasts as a resu t of h s treatment for test cu ar cancer, and enve ops Jack n an sobb ng embrace. Jack cr es. He beg ns to ke the exper ences. He sudden y f nds he can s eep. It s a remarkab e ns ght that when he d scovers another fake o n ng these groups, Mar a S nger, he oses h s ab ty to be eve n h s own charades, and can no onger s eep. He tr es to dr ve her out of the group, but she s stubborn. They f na y agree to sp t the groups up between the two of them, a ternat ng weeks for odd one out. It s at th s po nt that he meets Ty er on an a rp ane. Soon afterwards, Jack s condo s bombed and he ends up mov ng n w th Ty er, nto a decrep d o d house among deter orat ng warehouses. Ty er desp ses the consumer menta ty and soon has Jack under h s spe . One n ght, he conv nces Jack to punch h m, ust to see what t fee s ke. Jack eventua y ob dges and they d scover that they both ke t. You cou d read a ot nto th s e ement of the story, but the mov e tse f doesn t g ve you a ot of c ues about what t s about beat ng each other to a pu p that s mean ngfu to them. It s a repud at on of the mage of success and conform ty that oppresses them, obv ous y, but a so some k nd of exerc se of pur f cat on. Soon, others o n n, and they have a c ub, and the c ub grows. Meanwh e, Ty er and Mar a have begun an ntense sexua re at onsh p. Jack sees th s re at onsh p as an echo of h s parent s dysfunct ona re at onsh p. He re ects Mar a and wants her to stay out of the r ves. And then... and then... and then Jack spends a ot of t me rebe ng aga nst Ty er s more extreme tendenc es and the mov e k nd of mps a ong po nt ess y, w th chase scene after chase scene, and the same t red rep ays of Jack s wh ny horror at Ty er s excesses. Th s s a , presumab y, supposed to make sense at the end. Some of t does, but no amount of exp anat on can rat ona ze the ong stretches of dramat c stas s. It doesn t move forward. It doesn t cont nue to engage you at the eve t prom sed n the f rst few scenes. What happened to the brand names? The po t ca undertones? The revo ut onary fervor? How are we suppose to respond to Ty er runn ng h s ce groups ke a petty tt e fasc st d ctator, when he s supposed y mot vated by a hatred of how corporat ons try to contro h s fe? What do we make of the preposterous c a m that no one w be k ed when they b ow up a of the cred t card sky scrapers because they have seen to t that the ma ntenance crews are out of the bu d ng. It s a r d cu ous c a m g ven the prem ses estab shed e sewhere n the mov e, as s Ty er s assert on that b ow ng up the off ces of the cred t card compan es w restore everyone s cred t ba ances to zero-- f they cou d poss b e account for a the poss b e ocat ons of off-s te backup computers and data, and as f they had the resources to p ace bombs n a of these bu d ngs n the f rst p ace. So, at that po nt, t s pure fantasy, but, ke those other Ho ywood mov es I ment oned above, F ght C ub wants t both ways. The mpact of the f rst ha f depends on a be ef that th s s a rea st c, sardon c ook at one man s rebe on aga nst our soc ety. The second ha f depends for ts mpact on your be ef that th s s a ust a fantasy. As ru e, that never works. See "Dr. Strange ove" for an examp e of how t shou d be done. So t s actua y "The Apartment" meets "Godz a" at the end, wh ch s sat sfy ng as t sounds. F ncher s prev ous cred ts nc ude "The Game", another h gh concept mov e that cheated n the same way. You are asked to accept a prem se, be eve n the cond t ons that are estab shed ear y on, and then suspend a credu ty for the ast hour of the f m as the d rector cheats and tr cks you nto be ev ng some m nd-b ow ng event was event s w th n the rea m of poss b t es. It can be a neat tr ck, but t s st ust a tr ck. It s a mov e that acts ke a c rcus act, not a drama. But even scar er s the way Ho ywood takes eg t mate d ssent, as expressed n Jack s rebe on aga nst h s sorry corporate dent ty, and repackages and rese s t to you as d e enterta nment. Someday soon, th s f m s go ng to be shown to you on te ev s on w th commerc a breaks. Nobody s concerned that you are go ng to be nsp red by what happens n the f rst part of th s mov e and turn your te ev s on off.
2001-05-20 ADAMSON, ANDREW SHREK --> Rating: 8.50
Every few years a new an mated feature ra ses the bar. Shrek s the atest. The an mat on s so good that at t mes you forget that the human f gures are not rea . It has reached the po nt where one r ght y wonders why an mate at a , at east, for the scenes that on y nvo ve nteract ons between human characters. The answer s rea y not a that comp cated. You can do th ngs n an mat on that you can t do w th rea actors. A though, the mpress ve ach evements n spec a effects ate y have a tered that equat on as we . Shrek s an ogre v ng n a sme y swamp somewhere. He kes be ng a one. He kes bath ng n mud and fart ng n the pond. He en oys noth ng qu te so much as peace and so tude. Later, we re g ven someth ng of an exp anat on for h s so tude, and yeah, t s pretty much what you d expect. One day, Shrek s swamp s nvaded by hundreds of fa ry ta e creatures, nc ud ng Snow Wh te, the B g Bad Wo f, the three p gs, C ndere a, etc. Shrek s nfur ated and when nformed that they are there on the orders of Pr nce Farquaad, he sets out to demand an exp anat on. Farquaad conv nces Shrek to set out on a quest n exchange for the remova of the fa ry ta e creatures: he s to rescue the Pr ncess F ona from a f re-breath ng dragon who s ho d ng her n a cast e h gh above a ava r ver. Shrek sets out w th h s donkey s dek ck to comp ete the quest. He succeeds but, nev tab y, beg ns to fa n ove w th the sp r ted pr ncess. There s a m sunderstand ng, of course, and a f ght, and the pr ncess prepares to marry the Pr nce Farquaad. And then, aston sh ng y, the me ancho c chords of John Ca e s cover of Leonard Cohen s "Ha e u ah" beg n and we are treated to an extraord nary moment of grace and beauty. At east one verse s om tted, but the effect s rather mpress ve. The story s funny, and the scr pt s sharp and w tty, and the an mat ons, of course, are breath-tak ng. The parod es of D sney are cute and to the po nt. Extreme y enterta n ng and amus ng.
2001-05-19 Minghella, Anthony TALENTED MR. RIPLEY --> Rating: 7.80
Pretty good story about an Amer can who gets sent to Europe to try to br ng back the son of a r ch Amer can bus nessman, but ends up mpersonat ng h m, w th trag c consequences. Memorab e and we -acted.
2000-05-13 MAGUIRE, SHARON BRIDGIT JONES'S DIARY --> Rating: 7.00
I ked th s f m n sp te of the fact that there s so much about t that s not part cu ar y good. The story s about Br dg t Jones, a 32-year-o d c er ca worker at a book pub sher, and her dr ve to and herse f a husband. She has two poss b t es, Dan e C eaver, her boss, an attract ve, suave, woman z ng ech (Hugh Grant) and Mark Darcy (Co n F rth) a ser ous awyer who works on human r ghts cases. Darcy at f rst a enates her w th a comment about her we ght and conversat on, and Dan e has the upper hand, but we gradua y come to rea ze that the men are not what they appear to be at f rst-- of course. The f m br ngs to fe a number of scenes but I often had the fee ng that they were st n rough draft. The t m ng was not very good. Some moments that ooked prom s ng at f rst g ance d sappo nted, as when Br dget b urts out some k nd of ob ect on at the announcement (at a party) that Darcy s go ng to New York and s th nk ng about marry ng h s snotty g r fr end. In another scene, she s do ng a te ev s on story from a f reha and s to s de down the po e on camera. She starts too ear y and ends up crash ng nto the cameraman. The dea s there, but t wasn t executed very we . Why was the camera-man d rect y beneath the po e anyway-- was he ntend ng to shoot up her dress on Nat ona Te ev s on? And they d dn t exp a n why t wou d end up on TV-- was t rea y ve? If t was, they d dn t convey that sense of e ectr c tens on that ve te ev s on crews sure y exper ence. Br dget s supposed to be ovab e, one assumes, because she s cute and honest and humb e. She s ndeed kab e. A more Amer can zed vers on of th s character wou d have her ach ev ng remarkab e th ngs by acc dent. She scoops an nterv ew w th an mm grant f ght ng deportat on but then asks h s g r fr end what she f rst saw n h m. We are meant to make a romant c connect on between the quest on and Darcy s tt ng bes de her, but t a so conf rms the mpress on that Br dget rea y s a d tz and rea y doesn t have that remarkab e charm we expect her to have. There s a s dep ot about Br dget s parents separat ng and then reun t ng, wh ch has t s moments of genu ne sadness. Sa mon Rushd e and Jeffrey Archer make surpr s ng appearances as themse ves at some k nd of terary uncheon.
2001-05-13 TARKOVSKY, ANDREI SOLARIS --> Rating: 8.30
Very s ow mov ng but e egant sc ence f ct on story about a myster ous p anet that has the effect of ca ng forth memor es from astronauts and br ng ng them to fe. The story fo ows Kr s Ke v n whose dead w fe, Khar , s brought back to fe-- and death-- by the myster ous andscape. Th s causes the other sc ent sts at the base, Sartor us and G baryan, to quest on Ke v n s mot ves and rat ona ty. Myster ous, contemp at ve, somet mes a b t ted ous, but ntr gu ng.
2001-01-01 CARNE, MARCEL CHILDREN OF PARADISE --> Rating: 9.00
Th s f m was once se ected by French cr t cs as the best French f m of the 20th Century. You can see why. It s the very def n t on of "fu y rea zed", for t s era. It s spectacu ar and ser ous and profound, at t mes, but a so romant c and sent menta . The story concerns Bapt ste, a m me, and h s career at French Theatre, and Freder ck, an actor, who beg ns h s career at the same t me. They are both n ove w th Garance, a beaut fu woman who a so enters the stage, fortu tous y. She has a th rd ove: the Rasko n kovesque Lacena re, a th ef and gen us, who wr tes p ays, but a so asp res to murder, out of pr nc p e. Garance-- standards of "beauty" ev dent y change-- she ooks o d to me-- s a free sp r t, ahead of her t me. She doesn t want to be t ed to any man, though, n the end, t s c ear that she s tru y n ove w th one of them. Faced w th charges of comp c ty n murder, she demonstrates an pragmat c, opportun st c streak, eav ng Freder ck and Bapt ste to fu f the r careers w thout her for a t me. There must be a subtext to th s story-- t was produced n France n 19443 under the nose of V chy. But t s not c ear to me what exact y the subtext s, except that c ear y aud ences w attr bute to the Naz s a the unattract ve, author tar an character st cs, and to themse ves the bertar an va ues of Bapt ste and Garance. But Lacena re s a more comp cated character-- a n h st, who stea s and murders and mp cates Garance, and bo d y confronts h s own fate. Wou d I rate t France s best p cture ever? It s certa n y a great mov e, and a c ass c, but t s a so qu te theatr ca and occas ona y pompous. As a mov e, no.
2001-04-15 ALTMAN, ROBERT LONG GOODBYE --> Rating: 8.80
A tman s as fa thfu to Chand er here as he s to anyone e se who prov des source mater a : t s ust raw co ors, p gments, ke Mar owe s (E ot Gou d s) face, or the w ndows n Wade s mans on. Th s s a meander ng, undpred ctab e, de cate, and try ng exper ment, m x ng e ements of f m no re w th A tman s post-modern sens b t es. Gou d p ays Ph p Mar ow, a pr vate detect ve who eads an a m ess k nd of fe n a gorgeous apartment next to four ove y "cand e-d ppers" who ke to sunbathe top ess and te h m what a n ce ne ghbor he s. One n ght a fr end of h s, Terry Lennox (p ayed by J m Bouton, f you can be eve t) drops by unexpected y and begs h m to dr ve h m to T uana. When he returns, he f nds out Lennox s w fe has been murdered and he s suspected of a d ng and abett ng a fe ony by he p ng Terry Lennox escape. Short y afterwards, he s off the hook when t s reported that Lennox comm tted su c de n Mex co. Comp cat ons ensue, nc ud ng a poss b e affa r between an a coho c wr ter and Lennox s w fe, and a dope dea er named Marty August ne who s owed a cons derab e sum of money by Lennox. Those are the bas c e ements of the story, and A tman, as a ways, executes sty sh y. You get the fee ng that he s utter y un ke any other d rector n h s ns stence on tak ng the t me he wants to make every shot, and to g ve the actors room to create the r characters. I never much ked E ot Gou d n anyth ng. I d dn t d s ke h m, but, as de from M*A*S*H (another A tman f m), I ve a ways found h m a b t superc ous and mannered. But the rest of the cast s outstand ng, espec a y Ster ng Hayden and Henry G bson. The wor d A tman creates here bears study. It s a murky, postmodern wor d f there ever was one. What s the anchor that ho ds any character together n th s, or any other A tman f m? Why does Mar owe do what he does at the end-- surpr s ng us-- why does he care? Part of the prob em s Gou d-- he doesn t g ve us that nner ght that wou d te us.
2001-04-15 Peterson, Wolfgang PERFECT STORM --> Rating: 6.00
W d y over-rated story about a f sh ng crew that nadvertant y gets tse f caught n the ce ebrated co s on of three storm systems n October 1991. The Andrea Ga sets out for one ast run w th the usua overb own portents. Worth see ng for the spec a effects... maybe. But g ven Ho ywood s propens t es for exaggerat on, do you even trust them?
2000-07-01 Lurie, Rod CONTENDER --> Rating: 8.30
Obv ous y nsp red by the Repub can had aga nst B C nton s sex fe, the Contender s a we -wr tten, thoughtfu , med tat ve take on persona mora ty and pub c off ce. Karen A en p ays a nom nee for V cePres dent, a Senator, who may have taken part n group sex at a frat party once. The Repub cans, s y y eak ng documents and a egat ons so they don t appear to be "sensat ona z ng", try to use the nformat on aga nst her, and to p ace a more congen a Governor nto the pos t on of V ce Pres dent nstead. Th s s a snappy, smart mov e. It s wa ks the edge somet mes n terms of cred b ty, but most of the story s qu te p aus b e, g ven what we know about recent pres dents. Th s pres dent swears a b ue streak, as do many of the other po t c ans nvo ved, but we know from the Watergate tapes that shock ng anguage sn t a nove ty n the Ova Off ce. Does the f m cop out at the end? After argu ng for two hours that a person s pr vate sexua behav or has no p ace n pub c po t ca d scourse-- the mov e wants to have t both ways. It s ke argu ng for acceptance of homosexua ty wh e show ng, at the end, that the person wasn t rea y homosexua after a . Th s s a mov e that may not be eve n t s own prem se. Conf rm ng that mpress on-- the Pres dent s r d cu ous y mprobab e speech to Congress at the end, demand ng an mmed ate conf rmat on vote. After a very t ght, very p aus b e scr pt, th s end ng seems tacked on and phoney.
2001-04-01 SODERBURGH, STEVEN TRAFFIC --> Rating: 9.00
Powerfu f m about the effects of the drug trade on dea ers, users, parents, and government and po ce. Superb y f med and acted.
2001-03-20 COEN, JOEL? O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU --> Rating: 8.00
A you need to know s that T-Bone Burnett was respons b e for the mus c, and the Coen brothers for the f m tse f. The Coen brothers prov de the qu rky, or g na story and characters. T-Bone Burnett prov des some of the most raw, authent c-sound ng country and gospe tunes you w hear anywhere. The three cons are escapees from a M ss ss pp pena co ony, headed out for some treasure stashed somewhere-- the supposed oot from an armoured car robbery. The story s sa d to be based on Homer s Odyssey, but I m not sure how fru tfu that connect on s. The men speak n honest southern accents, wh ch makes t a b t of a task to understand them occas ona y-- but t s worth the effort. The r vo ces are as authent c to the south as the mus c s. Brother meanders a tt e. Occas ona y, I found myse f w sh ng that someone from the tv ser es "Ma com n the M dd e" had had a hand n ed t ng: scenes do get dragged out occas ona y. In fact, a few even seem gratu tous. Was John Goodman rea y worth h s f fteen m nutes? D d the ev pr son po ce rea y want to wa t to see what the no se was before hang ng the three of them at the end? The scene w th the KKK s v sua y nterest ng, but rather pred ctab e and convent ona . Of course, they save the r b ack fr end, and the heroes of the f m are nascent progress ves-- though they are supposed to be sem - terate pr soners n M ss ss pp n the 1930 s! They never use the word "n gger"-- a D sney-sty e correct ve to h story that s as d shonest as the mus c sn t. Worth see ng, but not one of the Coen brothers best efforts.
2001-03-24 KUBRICK, STANLEY EYES WIDE SHUT --> Rating: 8.50
Kubr ck s ast f m s about the ntegr ty of the marr age re at onsh p. Can t surv ve the truth when one partner d sc oses an mag ned or poss b e nf de ty? N co e K dman s the w fe who a most cheated on her husband; Cru se s the husband, a doctor, who, we are to be eve, was so demora zed and shocked by h s w fe s d sc osed fantas es that he dec des to take a wa k on the w d s de. Th s eads h m to a strange c ub meet ng n a huge, pr vate mans on. He stumb es through a strange sequence of r tua zed encounters that eads to someone s death. What s the po nt? You want to cred t Kubr ck w th someth ng here, because, on the surface, th s appears to be a standard fab e about nf de ty-- you pay for t some day, a sent ment that seems a tad s mp st c for th s d rector s reputat on-- for the d rector of "Lo ta" and "C ockwork Orange". On the other hand, noth ng n Kubr ck s past suggests he wou dn t be sympathet c to th s po nt of v ew.
2000-01-01 SCOTT, RIDLEY HANNIBAL --> Rating: 7.00
Seque to "S ence of the Lambs", w th a scr pt by Dav d Mamet (and t shows), one of the more horr fy ng psycho-k er dramas of recent memory. Interest ng at t mes because Hann ba s made out to be urbane, soph st cated, and honorab e, n h s own dev ant way, though the d rector doesn t stoop to the cheapest dev ces for th s ang e. Ju anne Moore s good as FBI Agent, C ar ce Star ng. They are fo s for each other, but there s an mputed erot c connect on between the two. And that over-the-top scene w th Ray L otta s bra n-- th s f m was rated AA-- do you be eve that? The most nterest ng scenes are n F orence, where Lector has taken a ob as some k nd of museum gu de, and s sta ked by Pazz , a down on h s uck detect ve who needs the reward money (G ancar o G an nn n a tasty b t.) Foster w se y turned down the ro e, but Moore does pretty we n t. But he mp ed erot c sm between her and Lector never rea y comes off as anyth ng more than some k nd of dopey obverseness. Note: Dav d Mamet d dn t rea y wr te the f na scr pt. He started t, but t was taken over ha f-way through the pro ect and most of the f na d a ogue was wr tten by Steven Za an.
2001-03-15 ANNAUD, JACQUES ENEMY AT THE GATES --> Rating: 8.00
Super or war drama about two sn pers confront ng each other n Len ngrad dur ng the he ght of the Naz offens ve. One s a Russ an farm boy, Vas y Zaetsev, who earned to shoot wh e herd ng sheep. The other s a soph st cated man of the wor d, a Ma or Kon g (Ed Harr s). The f m makes no bones about whose "s de" t s on, downp ay ng Sov et ant -sem t sm n a s de p ot that doesn t rea y have much to do w th the rea story. (Th s s a eged y based on a true story.) But both men are shown as honorab e and nte gent, though not to the po nt of absurd ty: when t s t me to k , t s t me to k . Some of the w de shots are breath-tak ng, though presumab y computer generated. Act ng s good, and the act on s compe ng. Most of the nc dents are reasonab y cred b e, though Annaud hypes the s gn f cance of the campa gn ust a tad. It s true that the fa of the Naz s began w th the r defeat at Len ngrad, but the batt e of Br ta n and D-Day cou d certa n y be rated as equa y s gn f cant. Qu bb ng. The deso at on and waste of the destruct on of Len ngrad are amp y exposed, but we don t get much from the s de of the stubborn peasants who a so refused to g ve even an nch. [2013] A tt e ess mpressed the second t me around. Utter y contr ved romance between Zaetsev and a woman sn per. Ed Harr s s great, but Jude Law s terr b e. And rea y, th s was a great story w thout a the BS about Ma or Kon g, of whom there s no h stor ca record whatsoever: ust Zaetsev s bragg ng.
2001-03-16 ANDERSON, PAUL THOMAS MAGNOLIA --> Rating: 9.00
Beaut fu and remarkab e f m about severa peop e who have bad y messed up the r ves, and the potent a for hea ng as each encounters a need from another, and odd co nc dences. We -acted, we -wr tten, and except ona y we d rected. Even Tom Cru se p ays we , as a ruth ess se f-he p preacher who can t reconc e w th h s dy ng father (Robards). Best f m of 1999? Probab y.
2000-03-01 ROEG, NICHOLAS WALKABOUT --> Rating: 8.00
Beaut fu , dy c fab e about a young g r and her brother ost n the Austra an outback (after the r father shoots h mse f and sets f re to the r car) where they meet a young boy on a "wa kabout"-- an abor g na r te of passage n wh ch the ado escent must surv ve a per od by h mse f n the w d. They deve op an nterest ng re at onsh p-the g r and her brother dependent on the hunt ng and surv va sk s of the boy. There s a b t of c che s postur z ng about nature vs. c v zat on, and the ast scenes k nd of b te. She remembers the "wa kabout" fond y, as her nerd sh husband brags about some k nd of promot on. But t s a weak conc us on to an otherw se remarkab e f m. You have to adm re Roeg s nst ncts to go for the shot he wants, w thout regard to Ho ywood convent on or, at t mes, propr ety (h s ow ang es on Agutter as she c mbs a mounta n n a short sk rt, or hangs ups de down from a tree). And he doesn t homogen ze the amb guous re at onsh p between the boy and the g r -- there s a sexua e ement that s unrea zed.
2001-01-01 Singh, Tarsem CELL --> Rating: 7.00
Jenn fer Lopez p ays a ch d psycho og st who has to enter the m nd of a comatose ser a k er n order to determ ne where he has mpr soned h s atest v ct m n a k nd of water-torture chamber that w drown her w th n 48 hours. Ted ous y absurd at t mes, but there s at east some compass onate understand ng of the fact that ser a k ers don t emerge from a vacuum-- the r own suffer ngs p ay a part n the format on of the r bent characters. Otherw se, a fa r y predestr an story w th some except ona y v v d, beaut fu , and horr fy ng mages, most of wh ch have been sto en from somewhere or another.
2000-12-05 Hoblit, Gregory FREQENCIES --> Rating: 6.00
Interest ng f somet mes confus ng story about a young man who s ab e to reach h s dead father n the past through an o d ham rad o set. By do ng so, he s ab e to nf uence past events n ways that don t work out as he expects. But that s an extreme y s mp f ed cast of a very comp ex, mu t - ayered p ot that revo ves around a ser a k er, the 1969 Wor d Ser es, and the young man s prob ems ho d ng on to h s g r . Schmau tzy at t mes, and more than occas ona y ntr gu ng. It ho ds your nterest and your cur ous ty at the same t me that you m ght be appa ed at the gross sent menta ty. And, odd y enough for a fantasy, t acks mag nat on and p ayfu ness. There s a ot of ntr gu ng poss b t es n th s k nd of story, but most of them are not rea zed and the story k nd of wadd es nto sent menta ty. Th s theme was done r ght n the Shoe ess Joe Jackson f m, "The P ay ng F e ds".
2001-01-04 Roach, Jay MEET THE PARENTS --> Rating: 8.20
Ben St er p ays a ma e nurse n ove w th a beaut fu , charm ng teacher. He s about to propose to her when her s ster announces her own wedd ng. Apparent y, t s mportant, n th s fam y, to get the consent of the father, p ayed by Robert Den ro.
2000-10-09 CROWE, CAMERON ALMOST FAMOUS --> Rating: 8.00
Interest ng, ve y com c-drama about a 15-year-o d boy who s ass gned, by Ro ng Stone Magaz ne, to cover a new band on the r cross-country tour. H s mother re uctant y agrees wh e warn ng h m, at very opportun ty, to "don t do drugs". But that s part of the nterest ng co our of th s f m-- t must have been tempt ng to turn the mother nto a com c facade for conservat ve, out-of-date va ues, but, nstead, she s a nuanced, r ch character who, n the end, has someth ng va uab e to say to the young rock stars do zed by her son. Lester Bangs takes the boy under h s w ngs after rece v ng some of the boy s work. Bangs warns the boy that the current crop of rock stars are on y out for themse ves, that rock s dead (strange y enough, he s a fan of the Guess Who, a Canad an band that was not exact y known for cutt ng-edge mus c). Then Ben Fong-Torres of Ro ng Stone ca s h m and g ves h m the dream ass gnment. A ong the way he meets group es and band members and road crew and, part y because of h s youth, becomes pr vy to a s de of rock n ro not norma y v s b e to the pub c. But here the mov e gets s de-tracked. He deve ops a pass on for one of the group es and becomes sens t ve to the sem -abus ve re at onsh p between rock stars and the r fans. Eventua y, he even saves her fe-- d d th s rea y happen, as Crowe c a ms t d d?-- and ends up somewhat d s us oned. We -made and acted and, ke other Crowe offer ngs ( nc ud ng "Say Anyth ng") w th an edge that fts t above an dea that cou d have rather pedestr an n the hands of a more convent ona ta ent.
2000-09-20 Smith, Kevin DOGMA --> Rating: 6.00
D sappo nt ng parody that makes the m stake of attack ng browbreat ng, heavy-handed re gous dogma w th brow-beat ng heavy-handed sat re. Actua y-- that s the prob em. After a wh e, t sn t sat re anymore-- ust browbeat ng. At one po nt the two "ange s" go to a corporate board meet ng to pun sh the s nners. W th a b zarre nod to po t ca correctness, the on y woman on the board supposded y d dn t do anyth ng wrong. A the men are b own away. Bor ng and stup d. Started out very funny, but about 60 m nutes too ong.
2000-06-21 WICKI, BERNHARD BRIDGE --> Rating: 8.00
L tt e known German f m from wh ch Sp e berg a most certa n y der ved genera deas, shots, sequences, and tone, for "Sav ng Pr vate Ryan". Very b tter drama about so d ers who defend a br dge, sacraf c ng many ves, on y to d scover that the br dge s to be destroyed anyway.
2001-01-01 Veninger, Ingrid Modra --> Rating: 7.50
Underdeve oped f m about a young g r , L na, who mpu s ve y nv tes a h gh schoo acqua ntance named Leco to o n her on a tr p to her nat ve S ovak a, her parents home town, Modra, after be ng dumped by her boyfr end. Wh e nodd ng occas ona y to p aus b ty, the mov e exp ores the r grow ng attachment and the r nsecur t es and the r ado escent conf cts fo ow ng an unpred ctab e tra ectory. The townspeop e, a p ayed by non-profess ona s (the g r too s Ven nger s daughter) are co orfu and qu rky, but not too qu rky, and the nev tab e cu ture c ash s occas ona y amus ng, but rema ns a b t underdeve oped. The mus c s above average.
2011-05-10 Scorcese, Martin Age of Innocence --> Rating: 9.00
State y and de cate study of a man v ng n the ear y 20th century engaged to a ove y, ref ned woman of utter convent ona ty named May. When he meets her cous n, and adventurous non-conform st named E en O enska, who has eft her abus ve Po sh husband, a count, he beg ns to mag ne greater poss b t es for h s fe and strugg es to free h mse f from May. But the fam y, consc ous n some undef ned way of the danger, c oses ranks and, ndu g ng n rank hypocr sy of the h ghest order, suppresses the danger. Beaut fu y acted and f med, subt e and r ch.
2011-04-28 Scorcese, Martin Age of Innocence --> Rating: 8.80
Br
ant, sear ng story about betraya , romance, and decept on, n V ctor an Amer ca.
2011-04-30 Kieslowski, Kristof Short Movie About Love --> Rating: 8.70
Needs notes.
2011-04-30 Ritt, Martin Sounder --> Rating: 8.20
2011-04-29 Satrapi, Marjane Persepolis --> Rating: 8.50
Mov ng, unsent menta vers on of a graph c nove about Mar ane Satrap s fe as a prec ous ch d and then confused ado escent, from the fa of the Shah to the repress on fo ow ng the Is am c revo ut on.
2011-02-21
