Catching Up
July 27th, 2008
With The Wire finally out of the way — none of the screeners piling up by the door could possibly compete — I’ll try and quickly catch up with some of the bat-free movies I’ve seen over the last few weeks.
Charlie Bartlett
Warm and funny coming-of-teenage tale about a wealthy kid (Anton Yelchin) who dispenses wisdom and prescription drugs in the public school bathroom and falls for the principal’s daughter (Kat Dennings). Scenes, situations, and jokes seem to have been lifted from Rushmore in their entirety, but Charlie Bartlett’s wry tone owes at least as much to Harold and Maude, which is referenced in a hilarious rendering of “If You Want to Sing Out”. With Hope Davis and Robert Downey Jr. Jon Poll, 2007. ***
Romance & Cigarettes
I was with John Turturro’s mainly silly, occasionally transcendent musical about a suburban marriage threatened by the man’s flaming passion for a filthy-mouthed red head (Kate Winslet) until the final maudlin twist ruined it for me. With James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Steve Buscemi, Mandy Moore, Christopher Walken, Barbara Sukowa, and Mary-Louise Parker. John Turturro, 2005. **
Wall-E
Cute but overpraised. The wordless first act and the robots’ weightless space dance reach moments of poetry, but when the plot takes over, the movie flattens out into predictable kid’s fare. The puffy, grub-like humans are painful to look at. Andrew Stanton, 2008. ***
Hancock
Did low expectations and the unsuspected pleasure of sneaking into this movie on our way out of Wall-E warp my judgment? Possibly — but I thoroughly enjoyed Hancock’s antics, Jason Bateman’s schmuck shtick, and the revelation of Charlize Theron’s secret — even if I forgot all about it half an hour later. Peter Berg, 2008. ***
Mad Detective (Sun taam)
The title’s the pitch: this time around, Johnny To’s hero is an investigator who, when he goes off his meds, can see people’s “inner personalities.” With his usual economy and panache, To cleverly uses the possibilities of this damaged character for a witty & involving crime story. Johnny To, 2007. ***
Hotel America (Hôtel des Amériques)
First of the four films in a new André Téchiné (The Witnesses, Strayed, Changing Times) box set we’re very excited about. Set in Biarritz, Hotel America is about a lone woman with a history (Catherine Deneuve) and her amour fou for the shady, needy operator of a bed and breakfast. André Téchiné, 1981. ***
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
Never more than a passing fan of the series, I was nonetheless glad to see David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson on the big screen again. Unlike most critics, I found the film’s modesty admirable — no globe-spanning alien conspiracies here, just a solid, creepy thriller plot and enjoyable interaction between Mulder and Scully. I wasn’t particularly bothered by the admittedly heavy-handed thematic overlay, and while it’s true that most of the film plays like a supersized TV episode, it earned its right to be a movie in the final scenes. Chris Carter, 2008. ***
The Wedding Director (Il Regista di matrimoni)
After a run-in with the law, a famous director ends up in Sicily, where an impoverished Prince hires him to film the wedding of his daughter. At least I think that’s what happens in this intriguing, multi-layered, and surreal movie that felt like the sun-bathed love-child of Lynch and Fellini. Anything that ends in fireworks and features Italian ingenues as beautiful as Donatella Finocchiaro is ok by me. Marco Bellocchio, 2006. ***
Furthermore:
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Joss Whedon, 2008. ****
Fear(s) of the Dark (Peur(s) du noir). Blutch et al, 2007. About.com review coming soon. **
In Search of a Midnight Kiss. Alex Holdridge, 2007. About.com review in the works. ***
Dreams with Sharp Teeth. Erik Nelson, 2008. ***
Charly. Isild LeBesco, 2007. ***
Charly Wilson’s War. Mike Nichols, 2007. **
Grosse Pointe Blank. George Armitage, 1997. ***
The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite). Faith Akin, 2007. ****
Battlestar Galactica, Season 4 (half). ****
Konsum: Behind the Curve
January 17th, 2008
Since I’m behind the curve on most items in this Konsum roundup, the soundtrack for today’s post is provided by Talking Heads, performing “The Great Curve” in Rome in 1980. You can download a DVD of the entire show from Dimeadozen.
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
As apparently the last critic in New York City to see the freshly Academy-snubbed 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, I don’t have much to add to the universal acclaim the film has garnered — only this: if you take a look at the Rotten Tomatoes page, you’ll see adjectives like “excruciating,” “harrowing,” “wearing,” “wrenching,” “bleak,” and “unblinking.” All of those fit, but it seems to me the terminology applied to blockbusters like The Bourne Ultimatum isn’t inappropriate, either: 4 Months is also an edge-of-your seat thriller.
4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile. Cristian Mungiu, 2007. ****
Woman on the Beach
My favorite at NYFF06 — at least until INLAND EMPIRE showed up — is currently playing at Film Forum. Reason enough to take another look. Lo and behold, it’s still a wonderful film. J. Hoberman.
Haebyonui yoin. Hong Sang-soo, 2006. ****
The Duchess of Langeais
An About.com review of Rivette’s Balzac adaptation starring Jeanne Balibar and Guillaume Depardieu is forthcoming.
Ne touchez pas la hache. Jacques Rivette, 2007. ****
The Wire, Season 1
Yes, we’re ridiculously far behind, so I can barely participate in the conversation at this point. Anybody who’s been following this blog knows that I’m a sucker for structure, and The Wire’s intricate plot lines left my head spinning. Looking forward to catching up with the remaining four seasons, like, this weekend. ****
30 Rock
I love every single character on Tina Fey’s show, from Alec Baldwin’s head of TV and microwave programming to nutso Tracy Morgan and Kenneth the Page, and I haven’t seen a TV show that delivers as many smart laughs per minute since the first season of Arrested Development. 30 Rock makes me happy. ****
Californication
Thoroughly enjoyable HBO series about a sex-and-booze addicted writer (David Duchovny) who is still in love with his ex-wife (Natascha McElhone), and whose novel God Hates Us All was adapted into the “Tom and Katie” vehicle Crazy Little Thing Called Love. ***
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
January 13th, 2008
Occasioned by There Will Be Blood, this revisit was slightly disappointing. My childhood memories of this film were absolutely devastating — I’d probably never seen a tragic anti-hero before — but some of the changes the characters go through feel forced by contemporary standards. Walter Huston’s Oscar-winning turn as leathery gold digger is very amusing and certainly informs Plainview.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. John Huston, 1948. ****
Sweeney Todd — Or Not
December 5th, 2007
Because of a bloody embargo, I can’t yet share my thoughts on Tim Burton’s adaptation of the Sondheim musical, starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Instead, here are clips from twelve musicals I love. Enjoy.
What good is sitting alone in your room?
“Cheek to Cheek”
“Wig in a Box.” I once saw John Cameron Mitchell perform this with the Polyphonic Spree, and it was a perfect fit.
Lars gets his Björk on — in DV!
“Well Did You Evah?” with Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Some people apparently prefer The Philadelphia Story, but I don’t.
“Let the Sunshine In/The Flesh Failures”
I wish there was a longer clip of “Crash the Party” online. Anybody?
I like the island Manhattan.
The video of “Girls & Boys” from Prince’s woefully underrated second film. Also: Mountains. Wrecka Stow!
Israel in 4 B.C. had no mass communication. Also: Gethsemane.
“Falling Slowly”
The first time I ever teared up over a YouTube clip.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Tim Burton, 2007. N/R
There Will Be Blood
November 29th, 2007
There will be puns, there will be awards, there will be awesome. Based on Upton Sinclair’s Oil!, Paul Thomas Anderson (whose movies I often failed to appreciate in the past) has made a magnificent epic about the price of the precious resources, liquid and otherwise, that we extract from the ground — and from other people. Daniel Day-Lewis is reliably fantastic as Daniel Plainview, a prospector turned wealthy oilman and all-around American monster, but the real stunner here is Paul Dano as his nemesis, the pimply-faced fire-and-brimstone preacher Eli Sunday.
This one’s got “movie of the year” written all over it, and I’m already itching to see it again as soon as possible. We’ll have much more on this before the December 26 release. I drink YOUR milkshake!
UPDATED: My gushing review is now up at About Worldfilm.
There Will Be Blood. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007. *****
- Karina Longworth found two tacks from the terrific score, and here’s the latest trailer:
Konsum: Turkey Parade
November 27th, 2007
The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford
Dullsville and then some. Artfully shot, for sure, but ripping off Malick isn’t as easy as it looks. The voice-over narration, always describing what we already saw, doesn’t create openings but locks the movie down even more than the airless, repetitive scenes between paranoid outlaws. Sam Shepard disappears much too early, and soon thereafter, the drama completely stalls. After thirty minutes, I was begging for Casey Affleck to shoot Brad Pitt in the head already, but there were two more hours to go. Andrew Dominik, 2007. *
3:10 to Yuma
Now, this is how you do a western: engaging, exciting, and steeped in sepia tones. Russell Crowe plays a bandit who has to be brought to justice; Christian Bale is the one-legged stand-up guy to do it. Together with his performances in Rescue Dawn and I’m Not There, Bale is one of my favorite actors this year. James Mangold, 2007. ***
The Bucket List
The trailer for this movie is so hideous, we just had to check it out. Also, we might have been drunk. If Jack Nicholson throwing up in a hospital gown or jumping out of airplanes is your idea of fun, go right ahead. Sanctimonious Morgan Freeman is starting to get on my nerves. Rob Reiner, 2007. *
In Between Days
We had high hopes for this unassuming coming-of-age story about a Korean immigrant. I’m perfectly willing to stomach a slight story, mannered direction, or uncommunicative main characters — but if you heap them on top of each other, I’m probably already asleep. 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. So Yong Kim, 2007. *
The Brave One
Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard have what they call “good chemistry” in this surprisingly gripping tale of New York City revenge. Neil Jordan, 2007. ***
In the Valley of Elah
Worlds better than Crash, but that’s not saying much of anything. Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron try to solve the murder of his son, an AWOL soldier on leave from Iraq. In the process, they discover all sorts of truths about important issues. See Redacted instead. Paul Haggis, 2007. **
Once
Every bit as lovely the second time around. I finally discovered the title in the film, and I have a new favorite line: “Can I bring my mother?” Marcy’s review. John Carney, 2007. ****
No Country for Old Men
Wildly overpraised. Yes, I can see the expert filmmaking here, but all the sumptuous cinematography and vivid attention to detail is lavished on a story full of walking cliches and a lousy third act. On second viewing, the glaring problems with both plot and character — what Marcy called “lack of soul” — are impossible to ignore. Llewelyn’s too foolish to care for, the Coens avert their gaze at the crucial moment, and Bell’s defeatist retread of Marge Gunderson leaves us with a dire moral: “you can’t stop what’s coming.” Oh well then. No Country wastes a lot of hard-boiled effort on a tale that ends with an Old Testament shrug. Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007. **
Lust, Caution
September 28th, 2007
Marcy already reviewed Ang Lee’s latest, so I’ll limit myself to one point: Lust, Caution is continuing evidence that unsimluated sex is making inroads into mainstream films and more traditional styles and genres. Hardcore fucking in serious movies started out, of course, with the French (Romance) and pretentious art movies both domestic (Brown Bunny) and international (Battle in Heaven, 9 Songs). Then came Shortbus, which I consider a watershed movie because it was the first to successfully integrate real sex into a relationship comedy. Likewise, Lust, Caution, an otherwise old-fashioned spy drama with surprising turns, absolutely relies on graphic sex as a decisive element for both plot and character. The story simply wouldn’t add up if we hadn’t seen what happens between Tony Leung and Wei Tang during the NC-17 scenes. Lust, Caution opens today.
Se, jie. Ang Lee, 2007. ***
Redacted
September 28th, 2007
More than with any film I’ve seen at the New York Film Festival so far, I’ve been struggling to find a way to talk about Brian De Palma’s Redacted, a movie that attempts to recreate the appalling images which have been systematically removed from the “news” about Iraq. The devastating reconstruction of the rape and murder of a 15-year-old Iraqi girl by American soldiers in Samarra in 2006, told entirely through “found” footage, the film felt like a well-aimed punch to the gut — or perhaps a stab in the heart. Whether blunt or sharp, the film’s impact is impossible to dismiss. Even though I thought I was handling the brutalities on screen well (usually by leaning over to scribble something in my notebook), I found myself unable to get up once the final credits started to roll; it had become physically impossible to move. Redacted sent me reeling.
Redacted. Brian De Palma, 2007. ****
