(Theatrical viewing="*"; Repeat viewing="/ /"; Shorts [shorter, em, than 45 mins]="sXX"; past first hundred shorts: t, signifying one in the hundreds digit)
Go to the bottom.
001. (01 Jan) A Decade Under the Influence (Richard LaGravanese and Ted Demme, 2003) 37
Actually quite fascinating, despite the rating; some good clips, nice to hear Friedkin/others talking about shaping their personal style. But it also has no momentum at ALL, hammering home the same counter-culture propaganda over and over again, and from a film history standpoint it can get to be embarrassingly naive, grouping stuff that clearly has no place together. Also profoundly ironic, since it claims to be celebrating filmmaking that has a 'personal mark,' stepping outside conventional boundaries, etc., yet it's a totally bland, hits-its-marks-when-it-needs-to kinda doc, not really compelled to push its audience at all.
002. (01 Jan) Home Room (Paul F. Ryan, 2002) 29
Elements in place for a solid movie, maybe: distinctly spare, theatrical lighting, even outdoors; two lead performances bursting with raw emotion and spontaneity; a premise that seems destined to capture the inherent contradictions of the relationships between modern high school students. But it's pretty damn crappy anyway, basically suffering from the same problem as Zero Day, only moreso: it's working from a vocabulary of cultural references and caricatures, which is not bad in itself, but it uses that vocabulary in a way that's consistently pat, smug, and condescending, the message predictably anti-message and the script increasingly trite and forceful.
003. (01 Jan) /Soldier's Girl/ (Frank Pierson, 2003) 78
Still pretty much the same movie: fantastic performances, lots of things going on psychologically at once, never fails to convince, just avoids being overly messagey, etc. (bite, me, Billy Ray), though it's just not quite... you know...
004. (01 Jan) /Grosse Pointe Blank/ (George Armitage, 1997) 93
Not much to say about this old favorite, except amidst the 'tonal mishmash' and self-conscious hipness that seem to annoy people about it, there's a bunch of utterly sublime and truthful moments to be found: '10 YEARS, MAN!', followed by Cusack and Piven anxiously settling into a laugh; the cokehead's greeting at the reunion ['my mind is a... Blank']; Driver's typically Armitagian response to Cusack's late proposal.
005. (01 Jan) Assassination Tango (Robert Duvall, 2002) 43
Wanted to like this more; Duvall is clearly trying to be personal and do stuff that interests him, but there's something vaguely dishonest about the way he presents himself (and deeply dishonest about even bothering with all that assassin bullshit). Sensitivity masquerading as masculinity is ever-present, and so is a need to assert that Duvall is indeed down with young people; but this need itself isn't looked upon as an insecurity so much as a mechanism for how other characters act, a ploy for direct identification rather than uncertainty. I guess I'm looking for the self-examination of someone like say, Eastwood, in Blood Work, who lets his fears take front-and-center and stows the plot away, which is the opposite of what's going on here.
006. (01 Jan) Blue Crush (John Stockwell, 2002) 52
In retrospect way too high a rating, though it was actually quite a bit higher until, say, a certain overheard bathroom conversation. That, and the ending, are really pretty awful, the sort of contrivance/bland triumph stuff I usually get very angry at, though the rest of the way through there's definitely something going on here: mobility as an abstract (Better Luck Tomorrow w/ surfer chicks instead of Asians), and Stockwell's concern for every aspect of his characters' lives, social, economic, athletic, etc., and general ability to avoid caricature in favor of capturing how those aspects mingle.
007. (02 Jan) Hatari! (Howard Hawks, 1963) 67
Enjoyable, but it actually feels pretty damn mannered, for some reason; Wayne especially came off as more a series of intimations than a character. Definite highlight here is the hunting sequences: since Hawks' camera choices seem to be defined by the way his people move, they're a perceptual frenzy.
008. (03 Jan) The Company (Robert Altman, 2003)* 60
Some stunning sequences here and there (eg the woman on the swing, near the end) and I liked Campbell's performance a lot; but some of it is just so... perfunctory. This is the part where we see off-company romance ensue (cue My Funny Valentine); this is the part where a girl gets injured; this is the part where a member gets dismissed; this is the Christmas party; here's New Years, etc. Admittedly feels better remembered than watched, like all Altman movies, but is that really such a good thing...?
009. (04 Jan) Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941) 75
I've had problems in the past w/ Sturges' broad satirical ideas, esp. in Hail the Conquering Hero!, when they overwhelmed everything else. This is certainly glibly ironic in the grand scheme of things too, a reversal of class sympathy to 'real' class integration, but I still like it a lot; Sturges is actively doing a few things that get in the way of his schemes. One Totally Awesome Scene in this respect: the big transformation for our hero, in which he sees prison mates laugh at a cartoon, could've been totally 'triumphant,' but w/ Sturges' cutaway's to the prisoners1 grimy, pathetic faces and the protag1s early uncertainty about what to do, it's actually quite irritating, and still irritating when he joins in, thereby shredding direct character identification when he teaches Hollywood moguls that comedy is indeed Good.
010. (05 Jan) The Life of David Gale (Alan Parker, 2003) 50
Why are people so outraged at the ending of this (admittedly generally stupidly made) movie? "Undermines its own message" is what they call it, but isn't turning liberal 'heroes' into psychopaths and all around fallible creatures kind of interesting? Doesn't it mean that the film doesn't really have much of a message at all, merely a question (Kate running at the start plagues a "what. is. she. running. for?", and the answer does not turn out to be simple)? And isn't that, like, sort of good?
011. (06 Jan) I Am Sam (Jessie Nelson, 2001) 57
Definitely the ultimate retard movie, in that we both get to revel in Sam's state-of-mind and be aware of his many limitations. Message is 'retards are people too,' but also implies a 'people are retards too,' as the film is filled w/ many emotionally weak yet fairly normal folks. In the process, us non-retards become more away of our receptiveness to emotional generalities, etc.
012. (07 Jan) Bye Bye Birdie (George Sidney, 1963) 66
Guess I gotta re-evaluate my position on Sidney, who once seemed like a crude, randomly gaudy hack (Anchors Aweigh, Kiss Me Kate); but perhaps by accident, his crudity and gaudiness feel pointed on occasion (Show Boat, this). Good stuff, all about 'going steady' vs. momentary fantasy; the former wins out, though this time not because the latter is 'false' but because it's overwhelmed, literally punched in the face, etc. A few missteps: some of the pieces with Leigh and Van Dyke are a snooze, and I'm not sure it makes psychological sense that Kim and Hugo would just be together again after the event, but whatever. Question #1: Did David Lynch see the bookends of this movie? Question #2: Does anyone else feel Birdie is more Maurice Chevalier than Elvis (esp. in the 'Be Sincere' number)?
013. (09 Jan) Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, 2004)* 53
Admirable maybe for its indecisive approach, sometimes broadly glorifying the band?fs attitude and sometimes putting it at a distance, but it gets to feel kind of jerky and awkward after a while, and finally just not that interesting. Editing also part of the problem: someone will say something and then we cut to or insert something that ?ebacks it up?f (ie James' alcoholism, the chosen bassist?fs playing, etc.) as if tension is being ignored outright. Isn't the point that they are getting to a point where they have to undergo therapy and work harder to make the right decisions because of past bad experiences. I mean jesus.
014. (10 Jan) /Bad Boys II/ (Michael Bay, 2003) 61
015. (10 Jan) Japanese Story (Sue Brooks, 2003) 47
Collette's amorphous anxiety is preferable to, say, those empty shells of Alienation and Disconnection in Lost in Translation, because at least in addition to smug racism there?fs a personality in there to consider. Her relationship with Hiro isn't textured much beyond the basic premise of Spunky Aussie Chick Learns to Get Along With Strange Asian Man before he [SPOILER], though, and it's all finally a laughably stupid movie, the big twist implying astonishingly naive stuff about what it takes to overcome personal biases.
016. (10 Jan) Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill, 2003)* 68
God bless Nick Broomfield: immediately reluctant and inquisitive, assertive and apprehensive, allowing his filmmaker-subject relationships to permeate the surface of his films and transcend mere documentation. Superior to Monster for quite a few reasons, first and foremost that there's no effort to make Wuornos seem sympathetic or "universal" (her swearing in court is a sight to behold); she's filled with such a complicated mix of hatred and fatalism and love, and Broomfield himself doesn't seem to know how to react to her. The moment he apologizes and she gives him the finger during their last interview (regardless of her last-minute explanation for its indirectness), remains one of the most heartbreaking film moments in recent memory.
017. (10 Jan) /Millennium Mambo/ (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 2001)* 72
Probably the ultimate movie to switch gears on, since it feels hyper-subjective and implicative, like staring up into the night sky for a couple of hours. Vicky is also more interesting than I once gave her credit for. Sorry, Vicky.
018. (11 Jan) Punishment Park (Peter Watkins, 1971)* 65
Gets more and more crude and simplistic as it goes along (the message being this could happen to you, so watch out!); the head of the board practically looks like a lizard and while those political reactionaries are out there suffering they're eating a BUFFET, for chrissakes. Still very chilling though, for the ideological ambivalence that starts to set in (and the idea that ambivalence demands as much devotion as political goals) among the group, and the image of that naive, pasty soldier who we don't know whether to be angry at.
019. (11 Jan) Chasing Liberty (Andy Cadiff, 2004)* 43
Don?ft remember much about this one, except it strives to satisfy its premise (she is chasing liberty, she attains it, etc.) and succeeds in doing that but doesn't exactly give us a whole lot of price (read: unexpected) moments along the way. I liked Jeremy Piven?fs performance for a while, until his romance w/ Secret Service Chick got to be as monotonously glib and Charming as everything else in this movie, not so much an actual relationship as a kind of philosophical manifesto for Mandy. Though that may be enough for some, so ignore me...
020. (11 Jan) Body Snatchers (Abel Ferrara, 1993)* 71
021. (13 Jan) Destry Rides Again (George Marshall, 1939) 54
022. (14 Jan) The Son (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2002) 82
023. (15 Jan) Ms. .45 (Abel Ferrara, 1981) 85
American Psycho rips this off big-time in my opinion, re: the whole abstract product of the corporate world driven to homicide thing, though admittedly the gender and symbolic contradictions have been reversed: the titular heroine is both mute (vulnerable) and utterly insane (effect of being vulnerable, I guess); it's a wildly overblown fantasy, for the most part gripping if not exactly believable. In a conventional thriller-territory sort of way, Ferrara emphasizes plot over character, but still keeps everything confined to a world wherein the way women are sexualized is questioned (in this sense it could also be the inspiration behind stuff like Demonlover, Secret Things etc.) Generally just very good, though the glory of the oh-so-meta-climax pushed it into masterpiece territory.
024. (16 Jan) Torque (Joseph Kahn, 2004)* 64
Rote but never dull, thanks to some nouvelle action cinema (eg CAFT, Bad Boys II) formalism, and general good spirits, shamelessness, self-consciousness, etc. Kahn seems to be even more focused on deriving meaning from the arrangement of his actors than those other two, and the feeling that just a small glance at the corner of the screen can give off can be electrifying. Cool Stuff: a) hot chicks bashing each other with their motorcycles; b) the race through the train (and the ensuing look across w/ a sustained strobe afterwards); c) the seemingly Canadian nerdy police guy who wears shitty t-shirts (with a twist!).
025. (16 Jan) /Crimson Gold/ (Jafar Panahi, 2003)* 74
A big change, I know, but the problems I had with it before merged with all the good stuff I noticed and formed a rather incredible cohesive whole. Filled with little social ironies, the direction stretching scenes out as far as they can go, sometimes it just feels like, okay, I get it, being a middle-class Iranian is a pain in the ass. Hossain Emadeddin?fs excellent central performance, however, which vacillates between poker-faced generosity and inner combustion, stood out to me more, and the way the final sequence at the man?fs apartment pushes his class frustration and intoxicated bliss together into a whole new universe of confusion is kind of amazing (esp. the very last 4 shots). It's stuff like that that forces reconsideration re: people like the old, grimy homeless man, raiding the broken down pizza truck and disappearing back into the darkness with nowhere else to go.
026. (16 Jan) The Tracker (Rolf de Heer, 2002)* 55
027. (16 Jan) Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (Robert Luketic, 2004)* 57
028. (17 Jan) Kounandi (Appoline Traore, 2003)* 23
Obviously horrible, equating feminine defenselessness + audience sympathies = triumph and laughing so-called 'impotent' men who do not take part in ritualistic metaphysicality = so deservin' gurl, but it's also just incredibly Ron Howard-level inept and inexpressively edited and gross and yuck.
029. (17 Jan) Le Jardin de Papa (Zeka Laplaine, 2004)* 62
Democracy, as a system of misunderstandings and cultural disconnect, where you're part of the equation, regardless of your position or neutrality. Democracy, when a becalmed white man of African descent suddenly rages against blacks, just because of an arbitrary (and actually quite indecisive) communal decision on their part. Certainly intriguing, but I'm still not sure about the numerous changes of heart or the brief Resnais-esque forays into political lyricism; sometimes you can be too representational, you know...?
s01. (17 Jan) Little Light (Alain Gomis, 2003)* 79
030. (17 Jan) The Missing Half (Benoit Mariage, 2003)* 48
Masterly command of the image competing with rather flimsy concepts (the literal and figurative conceptions of absence are colliding and filling each other, ooh); imagine a Kubrick movie about a puppy who turns out to be Jesus and you're on the right track.
031. (17 Jan) 15 (Royston Tan, 2003)* 58
Oh boy, another picture detailing the super charged lives of Asian teens. But really, it is Not That Bad; the visual tricks are less shallow and obligatory than expected, and the relationships between them more nuanced. Plus there is this awesome ridiculously protracted shot of a kid sucking on some drug thing that got multiple people to start walking out.
032. (18 Jan) Dandelion (Mark Milgard, 2004)* 66
Definitely bound to make any detractor of the new "honest" cinema cringe and vomit, and definitely not devoid of indie cliches or awkwardness, this still soars with disarming dramatic clarity and confidence. One thing that Milgard differs from da DGG on is insistently not shying away from a world beyond dazed regressiveness; along with the fields and rivers and inarticulation there are guns, drugs, sex, etc. Some of the lines even bothered me (eg the mother going "everything in this house makes more noise than you!" as she smashes up the place); it's still got 'promising debut' tattooed all over its ass, and as always Tim Orr's work is easy on the eyes.
033. (18 Jan) Three Step Dancing (Salvatore Mereu, 2003)* 44
Starts out quite badly, w/ an idyllic childhood nostalgia trip; follows through, offering up 3 more bland, traditionalist narratives, though it gets more interesting as it goes along, as you realize it's about Time passing unconsciously. It's a pretty complacent and loose and ordinary, like Fellini minus the energy. Did I mention there are 4 bland, traditionalist narratives...?
034. (18 Jan) I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (Mike Hodges, 2003)* 65
As much as I like Mystic River, I have to commend this for offering a more substantial take on the psychology behind rape. Owen's 'Ruminations on Loss' are kind of a wash, as are the flashbacks and psychological profiling towards the end, but this is involving, unfairly lambasted stuff and McDowell seems to be giving more to his (thinly written) role than his snide appearance in The Company.
035. (18 Jan) Tarnation (Jonathan Caouette, 2003)* 78
Misleading rating -- near the beginning (w/ a bizarre, out-of-place re-enactment) I was in the mid-to-high 40s, admiring Caouette's skill as an editor but finding his aesthetic choices maudlin and unnecessary. But as he develops his past (admittedly w/ some self-pity), there gets to be an overwhelmingly moving sense of self-reflection in the densely layered images, a feeling of both re-living the past and recognizing its transience and its breadth. Caouette's personality, warts and all, sticks with you. Early candidate for Scene of the Year: Confessions of 'Hilary,' Abused Housewife (for so many reasons).
s02. (18 Jan) Dysenchanted (Terri Miller, 2004)* 35
036. (18 Jan) Easy (Jane Weinstock, 2003)* 36
Boy is it hard to like this mannered, lumpy, alternately sitcommy and trite mess. Jane is too busy reveling in cheap jokes and obvious 'emotional' moments to find any depth in her heroine's confusion. The square definition of a "Sundance movie" (if you don't like Sundance).
s03. (19 Jan) Teratoma (Rupert Glasson, 2003)* 33
037. (19 Jan) Primer (Shane Carruth, 2004)* 69
An endlessly fascinating and original oddity, just the sort of thing Sundance could use more of amidst the pile of kitchen sink dramas; I would be up into the 70s if I could honestly say I got a decent grip on what was going on. 4 white collar dudes make a time machine and strike it rich, only because of budget constraints we don't see any very clear time machine magic or riches. Lots of banter abound, and it's about the duality of that, I guess, ie balancing philosophical inquiry and everyday practicality. A moving account of a friendship undergoing existential breakdown, and also moving because it believes in the possibility of 'real-world success'. Er, I'm pretty sure, anyway, I need to see it again.
038. (19 Jan) The Machinist (Brad Anderson, 2004)* 56
Problem with this (and every mental disorder/mind game movie it rips off) is that it's too concerned with being a nice little puzzle to have a whole lot of real resonance. Still, Anderson's atmospheric direction, a Herrmannesque score and Bale's seemingly having attended a concentration camp in preparation for his role keep it watchable. Have a steak, Christian, it's on me etc.
039. (19 Jan) Silence of the Sea (Vahid Mousaian, 2003)* 38
ZZZ. Why does it seem like every Iranian director is either doing really brilliant minimalistic shit or thinks they're doing that and really just partaking in facile social tracts. Abbas step up yo etc.
040. (19 Jan) Trauma (Marc Evans, 2004)* 28
Very much like The Machinist, except instead of competent hooey it's completely false and gratuitous hooey. Hey remember when Evans created the apprehension that instead of relying on the tension within any discernible reality relied on his dumb camera choices and loud jolting noises. That was stupid.
041. (19 Jan) Never Die Alone (Ernest Dickerson, 2004)* 63
Starts out routine gangster thrills, then gets smart and funny out of nowhere. Dickerson has a decent grip on the thriller aspects of this material for sure but he also plays for laughs the underlying moral hypocrisy (and outright weirdness) of a man who semi-inadvertently killed a lot of women, and substituted 'spirituality' for genuine remorse.
042. (19 Jan) Everyday People (Jim McKay, 2004)* 50
A remarkable discovery was discovered remarkably recently when it was discovered that when there are the multi-faceted Politically Relevant situations where the Other antagonizes you there is logic and sympathy within their position too actually. As a result the government has made two robots to make films capitalizing on this discovery which they are calling John Sayles and Jim McKay.
s04. (20 Jan) A Woman Reported (Chris J. Russo, 2004)* 26
043. (20 Jan) Mean Creek (Jacob Aaron Estes, 2004)* 60
Nothing really new here, pretty patchy but still perceptive and sharply characterized, and it's interesting how these types (stupid fat kid, sympathetic girl, temperamental brother) take us into territory that tends to evade the inevitable sympathy-condemnation push-and-pull dynamic. Also, Carly Schroeder is so awesome.
044. (20 Jan) The Clearing (Pieter Jan Brugge, 2004)* 40
Stilted, obvious and annoying, not really any good in any conceivable way, just a predictable Hollywoof piece. How did this oh wait never mind.
s05. (20 Jan) Mt. Head (Koji Yamamura, 2002)* 64
045. (20 Jan) The Big Durian (Amir Muhammad, 2003)* 58
A political documentary with a Weerasethakul type feel to it, digressive, oddball, genre-melding and people-loving. About modern Malaysian malaise (that sounds so cool) and ignorance of the past, but it's all rather playful and likeable, the narrator proud to be perplexed by his own cultural assimilation, doubtful of Truth and just letting his people (apparently both real and fiction) speak for themselves. Not exactly the best movie ever (esp. in terms of organization) but its sense of humor alone places it far above serious issue docs like War and Peace.
046. (20 Jan) Eulogy (Michael Clancy, 2004)* 49
Smug and annoying grieving comedy; practically never able to slow down a moment or two between jokes, though the cast is strong and its basic insincerity is never exactly overwhelming.
047. (20 Jan) Last Life in the Universe (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, 2003)* 46
Jeez, I was liking this movie, digging the enigmatic bursts of violence and elliptical rhythm, but at some point during one of those endless scenes of the protag hanging out with some strange girl or learning Japanese I just got totally lost, never to recover. Didn't help that I was incredibly tired, take the rating with a grain of salt etc.
048. (20 Jan) Maria Full of Grace (Joshua Marston, 2004)* 72
Latina Girl Makes It For Herself Despite Overbearing Family and Boyfriend film gradually morphing into the sort of utterly convincing, rigorously unsentimental slice of social realism you'd expect from say the Dardenne Bros, much less an HBO movie about shitting heroin pellets. Individual scenes have a shaky feel to them but all work to the film's benefit in the end, which gives off that rare But I Guess It Couldn't Have Happened Any Other Way glow.
049. (21 Jan) Chrystal (Ray McKinnon, 2004)* 55
BBT redemption dramas generally aren't my bag but this has plenty of interesting quirks and a campy Southern melodrama atmosphere (which I'm pretty sure was intentional) to keep things interesting.
050. (21 Jan) The Woodsman (Nicole Kassell, 2004)* 53
Might be being a bit hard on this, but evoking an audience's fears about pedophilia and being attentive to the state-of-mind of an individual is a tough balancing act, and I don't think Kassell quite pulls it off. Especially awkward is a later scene involving Walter and his brother-in-law, which seems more contrived to fit our expectations than what they would actually, like, do. Still, Bacon is pretty great and there are some really painful (in a good way), confrontational scenes.
051. (21 Jan) The Motorcycle Diaries (Walter Salles, 2004)* 42
Bland and unrevealing, spending most of its running time justifying Guevera's politics and covering expositional bases. Flaws become more evident in the closing voice-over, reaching for catharsis by asking the question "Did our views become too narrow?" Gee, I dunno, I kinda thought so...
s06. (21 Jan) Slowly Silently (Jinoh Park, 2003)* 62
052. (21 Jan) The Missing (Lee Kang-sheng, 2003)* 54
Impressive, the highlight being the grandmother's first search throughout the park, putting us in her state-of-mind through (what else?) being with her so long and offering a classic Line of Truth and Hopelessness: "you're not helping me find him, you're just scolding me!" Nevertheless yet another nail in Ennui Cinema's coffin; do we need another long-take Asian dude? Do we need more reflections on the transcendence within boredom? Surely there are ways to stimulate an audience that don't involve patiently observing an old man smoke a cigarette or eat noodles. Perhaps he could be reading a book or something.
s07. (21 Jan) Out of the Ether (Kerry Laitala, 2004)* 45
s08. (21 Jan) Thunder Perfect Mind (Micaela O'Herlihy, 2004)* 52
s09. (21 Jan) N Judah 5:30 (Sam Green, 2004)* 47
s10. (21 Jan) Careless Reef (Gerard Holthuis, 2003)* 54
s11. (21 Jan) The Cold Ones (Aaron Platt, 2004)* 65
s12. (21 Jan) Light Is Calling (Bill Morrison, 2004)* 67
053. (21 Jan) Saved! (Brian Dannelly, 2004)* 59
Quite good (until the ending); condescending but universally so, making fun of extremist Christianity while piling on the biblical metaphors and taking notice to how their morality forms that of the outsiders. Affectionate, often hilarious, but really too affectionate; the values of the Mandy and Martin Donovan characters come off as overly misguided amidst the liberal group-hugging.
s13. (21 Jan) The Vest (Paul Gutrecht, 2003)* 42
054. (21 Jan) Speak (Jessica Sharzer, 2004)* 45
I'll write something about this movie never probably.
s14. (22 Jan) Bobbycrush (Cam Archer, 2003)* 68
055. (22 Jan) Harry and Max (Christopher Munch, 2004)* 50
The titular relationship is interesting if frankly a bit too comfortable with the incest angle, but the usually strong Munch's direction feels overly theatrical and schematic (it's his Shape of Things), and there's never any particularly convincing basis for how this happened. Message = "we all like each other, but we don't have to fuck each other." So true...
056. (22 Jan) Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess, 2004)* 75
Runs out of steam at a certain point but man, for someone who's accused of condescension Hess imbues his characters with a lot of detail, and there are so many great, absurd and/or strangely beautiful moments: the opening gag which I won't reveal but rocked my world; the unfolding of Debra's letter; the sincerity of Kip's 'peace out'; the unobtrusiveness which defines the final two performances.
s15. (22 Jan) The M Word (Rocky Morton, 2004)* 47
057. (22 Jan) Book of Love (Alan Brown, 2004)* 43
I do not believe a 28-year-old woman would just start fucking a teenager on a cute little 'whim,' among other things, sorry.
058. (22 Jan) Mon Idole (Guillaume Canet, 2002)* 61
Satire-cum-male-bonding-cum-sex-romp-cum-thriller that is never boring despite all the switching around; Canet's bold use of pop music makes him a kind of DJ, spinning riffs on a theme (the seductiveness of 'reality'), and there's rich irony in Bastien's predicament, being surrounded by entertainers who want him to entertain them.
s16. (22 Jan) The 100 Lovers of Jesus Reynolds (Ilya Chaiken, 2004)* 63
059. (22 Jan) Down to the Bone (Debra Granik, 2004)* 49
Strong, honest, entrapping piece of work; everything's 'there' (cute kittens, grimaces at the convenience store, surging overprotectiveness) though I kept imagining a hypothetical (or actual, I dunno) Fred Wiseman doc in which this stuff was fleshed out a bit more.
W/0. (22 Jan) Brother to Brother (Rodney Evans, 2004)*
Don't separate, unificate, etc.
060. (23 Jan) Tiptoes (Matthew Bright, 2003)* 47
Reasonably ambivalent, but it's the sort of movie where characters talk about how ambivalent they are, and there's some truly treacly after-school special stuff (the central transformative irony being Japanese Story dumb).
s17. (23 Jan) /Destino/ (Dominique Monfery, 2003)* 76
061. (23 Jan) November (Greg Harrison, 2004)* 39
Vaguely interesting in just being about Acceptance and Perception and Memory, but its own internal logic doesn't even seem to make sense, the editing is hopelessly overemphatic, there are too many stupid contrivances (yes I know that they are not 'real'), and these unreliable narrator movies simply continue to get more and more feeble.
s18. (23 Jan) The School (Jonathan Hayes, 2003)* 33
062. (23 Jan) The Best Thief in the World (Jacob Kornbluth, 2004)* 16
I try to be easy and forgiving to these poor indie filmmakers but this is just staggeringly awful. The swearing and breaking in and hip hop beats are 'realism' and yet the movie seems to contrive them together just so that Izzy and his mom can have 'tough love' nonsense going on. Ingredients for a movie, apparently: some hedonism, some moralism, some peppy music, there you go!
063. (23 Jan) Love in Thoughts (Achim von Borries, 2004)* 57
Don't remember much about this standard period romance at all except it was gorgeously shot, fluidly edited and the lead actress is so fucking hot. Sometimes, that's all you need.
064. (23 Jan) One Point 0 (Jeff Renfroe and Marteinn Thorsson, 2004)* 31
At least the Matrix series in addition to being a 'comment' on modern dehumanization has some kind of personal struggle at its core; after this lame-o techno thriller gets its premise across (that consumerism will inevitably overwhelm us) there's little else to like.
065. (23 Jan) Garden State (Zach Braff, 2004)* 35
Meet Zach Braff: he's just a normal guy. He gets humped by a dog and he becomes nervous. His mom dies and he just doesn't know how to feel. He screams and other people scream in unison. He's attracted to Natalie Portman. He is at this weird party with all these nutsos and has some fun, though he's still a normal guy. He is also witty; when he tells a joke, people sure do laugh. And he sure knows how to write some crazy folks to interact with. Yup. He's just like you and me. Hardcore auteurists may warm to this one since Braff isn't exactly visually incompetent and this is certainly some kind of 'personal expression,' though I found it hideously solipsistic and unpleasant, and the thematic crux (trying to find something 'unique' about yourself) just makes the self-aggrandization feel more rancid (Zach Braff /= unique. Zach Braff = an 'everyman').
066. (24 Jan) We Don't Live Here Anymore (John Curran, 2004)* 81
Tender, dense, finally heartbreaking, most of the magic coming from the way Curran pushes his characters deeper into their respective voids, between happiness and the potential for loneliness, and vice versa. It's a study of perpetual dissatisfaction, whether striving for satisfaction means obtaining the upper hand, or being happy with someone else, or merely being self-confident. It creeps up on you just how exacting it is, in portraying people looking for new pleasures and reverting back to old ones. Ruffalo is on the edge of violence, Krause of misogyny, Dern of collapse and Watts of self-enclosure, and yet it never feels like they're a mirror of each other, or even a direct contradiction; the care Curran exhibits in observing their interpersonal negotiations is impeccable, and despite a script that's a tad glib in bits, this is one immediate, resonant movie.
067. (24 Jan) The Control Room (Jehane Noujaim, 2004)* 48
Valuable in that it places American journalism in a new context, plaguing questions about how we consider our war; but really it's pretty much assertive that footage of wounded bodies (aka borderline exploitation) is 'true' journalism, there's many an editing cheap shot against the U.S. gov., and thematically it never goes much beyond "there is no objectivity," (while coasting on our [assumed!] assumptions about what we hear from our media).
s19. (24 Jan) Water (Chris Graham, 2003)* 61
068. (24 Jan) Evergreen (Enid Zentelis, 2004)* 30
A strange, deeply misguided disaster; seriously, what were they thinking? The same script might've worked in an experimental, Brechtian sort of way with half of the cast wearing t-shirts inscribed 'poor' and the other half 'rich,' but as is it panders to the most pathetically base preconceptions of class imaginable which I'm sure some cavemen have advanced beyond by now. Embarrassing.
069. (24 Jan) Riding Giants (Stacy Peralta, 2004)* 67
Few (okay, no) other sports are quite as breezily enjoyable to watch onscreen as surfing in my opinion, and this is refreshingly devoid of the conventional narrativitude box that marred the otherwise decent Blue Crush. Lots of interesting, grounded anecdotes, and there's an intimate acknowledgment of the fun of surf, its dangers and its roots.
070. (24 Jan) The Park (Andrew Lau, 2004)* 42
This movie is a passable diversion, unfortunately it's also totally goddamn stupid. If it's easy for you to care about a bunch of dumb teenagers stuck in a haunted theme park and getting themselves in trouble, and you don't mind the ugliness and arbitrariness of 3-D, then hop on board, though.
071. (24 Jan) /Tarnation/ (Jonathan Caouette, 2003)* 64
Didn't 'get worse,' it's just that its impact is largely visceral, and once you're aware of these big emotional moments and the way Caouette's editing deflates and intertwines them, it's a bit harder to connect to his story, and the movement of the film from personal abstraction to trying to understand his family is kind of incoherent. Still, it's a story of personal growth to begin with, in more ways than one.
072. (25 Jan) Take My Eyes (Iciar Bollain, 2003)* 41
Respectable for sympathizing with the abuser and the abusee in a domestic abuse situation, though these characterizations feel so paper-thin sometimes that Bollain seems downright sadistic. Even-handed, but excruciating.
073. (25 Jan) /We Don't Live Here Anymore/ (John Curran, 2004)* 81
Even better the second time around (from like an 81.2 to an 81.65); probably one of the most truthful movies ever about suburban woes, because it doesn't pretend to believe in preserving myths, and heads straight into earthy, internalized specificity; most powerfully convincing among its insights that trying to always be happy ultimately leads to dislocation, whereas being judgmental merely instills a greater attachment.
074. (28 Jan) Chaos (Coline Serreau, 2001) 55
075. (28 Jan) So Close (Corey Yuen, 2002) 41
076. (31 Jan) /Bully/ (Larry Clark, 2001) 76
Thrilling dynamic here is that the Stahl character is so intelligent and 'mature' but also takes vicious pleasure in asserting those qualities over his friends; we identify with him because he's smart but we identify with Brad etc. because we don't enjoy being treated like shit. In the end I guess they've only regressed further into lacking control or self-confidence, which seems to me not Clark's 'blaming them' but recognizing the futility of both sides of it; as for the 'pointless' shots of crotches, wrapped-around legs etc? Leering > innocuity in my book, thanks.
s20. (01 Feb) Lovesong (Stan Brakhage, 2001) 73
s21. (01 Feb) Pasht (Stan Brakhage, 1965)* 58
s22. (01 Feb) Bluewhite (Stan Brakhage, 1965)* 65
s23. (01 Feb) Blood's Tone (Stan Brakhage, 1965)* 62
s24. (01 Feb) Vein (Stan Brakhage, 1965)* 64
s25. (01 Feb) The Horseman, the Woman and the Moth (Stan Brakhage, 1968)* 69
s26. (01 Feb) Fire of Waters (Stan Brakhage, 1965)* 67
077. (01 Feb) The Big Bounce (George Armitage, 2004)* 56
s27. (02 Feb) Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1955) 55
Part of me admires the meditative then visceral structure this takes on, though I'm not sure whether or not I want to commend Resnais for mortifying me. I haven't seen Shoah but the one Lanzmann doc I have seen (Sobibor etc.) I found more 'revealing' than this (while not showing footage, obviously), possibly because it was so devoted to the singularity of one perspective that it felt more inexorable than otherwise. The opening of Hiroshima, Mon Amour is also more successful in offering 'distanced' anguish, I think. I'll probably take another look at this sometime anywho but it just lacks a certain rigor, esp. for this topic.
078. (03 Feb) Full Moon in Paris (Eric Rohmer, 1984) 78
This is awfully wrenching, despite (or perhaps because of) the simplicity of its reminder, that mutual pacts made out of sympathy do have real consequence; we sure do get to wade in Louise's freedom for a while (high point being use of non-diagetic music), but for all her contemplation of Remi they're essentially, unavoidably growing further apart, and it hurts, damn it.
079. (04 Feb) Blind Shaft (Yang Li, 2003)* 65
Political subtext definitely a bit glib, though it grows progressively nifty as the sleazy, nihilistic coersion and conservative, pubescent naivete of the characters widen into something more specific and pungent; pretty much defines quietly accumulating tension, natch, and there's something appropriately disorienting about the awkward editing rhythms and fixed-exposure photography.
080. (04 Feb) Flirting with Disaster (David O. Russell, 1996) 77
081. (04 Feb) This Man Must Die (Claude Chabrol, 1969) 47
A creepy, rancid glorification of its protagonists contempt, everything those The Son detractors seem to think it was, ew, etc.
082. (05 Feb) Freddy Vs. Jason (Ronny Yu, 2003) 52
Not exactly an aficianado but I thought this was pretty decent, staying true to its mythology rather than just pumping things up with hip self-consciousness; cool stuff with 'dream' fears and 'real' fears, unafraid to push its themes into wild abstraction (ie the drug-addled encounter with the Freddy-like worm) and to treat them with a surprising amount of sincerity; problem is even though they both have a backstory, F and J just aren't on equal ground, the former being a signifier for hyperbolic, predatory fear and the latter for long-gone childhood longing. F has emotional issues too in the sense that he needs to be feared, but clearly the film doesn't make as much of an effort to have us connect w/ him as much as those flashbacks of the tortured, younger J. Also, their relationship makes no sense really (are they fighting for each other's territory or together? decide, etc.); still enough here to temporarily convert me.
083. (05 Feb) Warming by the Devil's Fire (Charles Burnett, 2003) 50
084. (06 Feb) The Butterfly Effect (Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, 2004)* 61
Not too profound I guess, just keeps piling on these unresolvably rotten situations, and generally phony and convoluted; but it plays with the way we think about its characters in a variety of fascinating ways, Kutcher's Descent into the World of Compromise is surprisingly touching, and it's really kind of a blast, despite general indefensibility and all that.
085. (06 Feb) The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci, 2003)* 54
Wavers between keeping the weirdness of the brother-sister relationship in and out of check beautifully, one minute evoking what seems to feel like "normalcy" and the next actually ends up being a continuation of Matthew's seduction. Cinephilia clumsy but sometimes ravishingly eloquent, ie the Mouchette homage. Kind of a mess, really, not really getting across satisfyingly enough the trio's relationship to the developing political atmosphere, instead resorting to rather creaky VOs, and often it feels like characters go through lurid, "free" motions practically against the will of their established personality; Bertolucci's obviously still passionate, but jesus. Final shot a stunner, but also made me feel like I had missed something.
086. (06 Feb) Touching the Void (Kevin Macdonald, 2003)* 44
What's the fuss in my opinion. Actually came close to mixed on this but it's so tame and strained, at worst like one of those America's Most Wanted re-enactments where we hear about a criminal w/ a scraggly beard and then CU to SCRAGGLY BEARDED CRIMINAL; at best an exceptional episode of Road Rules, hitting upon pocket themes like Doubt and the Simultaneous Awe and Terror of the Mountains but never really going anywhere, or attempting to take its characters interactions beyond anecdotes. Gerry for philistines, which works to its advantage in that we get to see the decline of Everymen rather than philosophical representations, and works to its disadvantage in that it's mostly artless. Best bit: clawing into the lonely cavern while repeatedly, pointlessly screaming.
087. (07 Feb) Private Duty Nurses (George Armitage, 1971) 42
More of a Corman film than an Armitage film. Has a bit of his signature tone, but it?fs clearly in fetal stage.
088. (07 Feb) Uptown Girls (Boaz Yakin, 2003) 37
Bump that rating up a few points if you haven?ft experienced every non-moment in this tediously generic treatment of a potentially *cough* fascinating dynamic. If I could remake one crappy Hollywoof movie this would be it.
089. (09 Feb) Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen, 1940) 82
090. (09 Feb) The Mask of Dimitrios (Jean Negulesco, 1944) 74
091. (09 Feb) Porn Theater (Jacques Nolot, 2002) 61
092. (10 Feb) Bombshell (Victor Fleming, 1933) 53
093. (11 Feb) Husbands and Wives (Woody Allen, 1992) 63
094. (11 Feb) /The Stupids/ (John Landis, 1996) 58
095. (11 Feb) Once Upon a Time in Mexico (Robert Rodriguez, 2003) 57
096. (12 Feb) Manic (Jordan Melamed, 2001) 68
One of those enthralling, crappy-one-moment-incredible-the-next monsters where you can't be sure if the goodness is intentional: Oh no! Why'd they have to put a cliched temperamental cracker character in -- Oh wait! The film is somehow channeling annoyance at Cracker in a productive way, and showing how his strange personality can translate to amiability with Cheadle, wow! But oh fuck! Why did they have to have the bad dad visit and espouse sympathy for the Native American boy but wait! N.A. boy blocks off emotion and also projects it intriguingly but crap! Clasping artifact shot = BAD idea but wait! Thematic strands of nihilism dangling ever-effectively from many directions, informing stupid painting symbolism with a deeply felt philosophically developed kind of Hope (as opposed to just Bland Uplift, which I'm sure might've been the aim).
097. (12 Feb) A Child's Garden and the Serious Sea (Stan Brakhage, 1991)* 51
Obviously rich and brilliant and beautiful -- for about 10 minutes I was in the low 90s, I swear to god -- but requires interaction on so many levels that I was just too pfft tired to be truly up to the challenge, and I left feeling defeated and ready to curse Fred Camper's name in vain. Said levels consist of: revelling in evocative nostalgia while paying immense concentration to the complexity of Brakhage's visual patterns, connoting his images to personal memories to form 'real' emotional meaning, and also finding 'negative meaning' in those long stretches of nearly black film eventually turning back into the ocean. I mean jesus! Feel free to piss all over my corpse, A-G fiends, I probably deserve it, etc.
098. (13 Feb) The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)* 90
099. (14 Feb) Los Angeles Plays Itself (Thom Andersen, 2003)* 55
Very much worth seeing for anyone who's interested in film, and Andersen is an articulate, insightful speaker, and an eloquent editor, but there are way too many cheap shots and redundancies along the way. His definition of the "Real L.A." is frustratingly arbitrary, and really pretty whiny; his cases for Cassavetes over films like L.A. Story and Grand Canyon are convincing, but he relates it toward this argument that single-handedly kind of devours his film from then on: that class politics and misery are above all else representationally, and the lives of the satisfied rich are impossible to capture accurately. Dude, what about Whit Stillman? Oh that's right, he's never filmed Los Angeles. Whatever. Also, stop complaining about bus policies, etc. At least it's pretty clear why Rosenbaum loves this.
100. (14 Feb) The World's Greatest Sinner (Timothy Carey, 1962)* 21
101. (14 Feb) Bright Future (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2003)* 59
The inspiring story of how politically symbolic, venomous jellyfish can enrich our lives with their beauty, even after we die. One shot that says more about the influence of Che Guevara than the whole of Motorcycle Diaries. Fun, if slight.
102. (14 Feb) Strayed (Andre Techine, 2003)* 43
Hard to fashion an effective parable about the Immediacy of War when your 4 principals are invariably so calculated, and to the same pitch of "fragile, yet basically strong-willed,"; the arrival of the soldier promises to take the characters in interesting places but he basically only exists to a) signal Beart's strength (duh), b) the young man's presumptuousness (duh), and c) the boy's precocity (duh). Cuts to b&w war footage also kind of agonizing, in my opinion.
103. (15 Feb) /L'Histoire de Marie et Julien/ (Jacques Rivette, 2003)* 54
104. (15 Feb) The Magic Gloves (Marti?Ln Rejtman, 2003)* 58
105. (15 Feb) Playing "In the Company of Men" (Arnaud Desplechin, 2003)* 52
An interesting enough review of Desplechinian themes (theatricality, class, social consequence) but they feel so cobbled together and inorganic, finally incoherent; a series of devices and dramatic ventures more than an actual film in its own right. Highlight: any bit with the grudging black ex-soldier.
106. (15 Feb) Catch That Kid (Bart Freundlich, 2004)* 38
Thought this would be interesting because of Freundlich's downfall from cheaply cynical pseudo-arty movies to cheaply cynical kiddie movies, and because of Kristen Stewart, so fiercely hypocritical (both contemptuous and "poetic") in the inexplicably acclaimed, fascinatingly awful Speak; um, it does contain a great deal of both of their personalities but it turns out that's not exactly a good thing. An "auteurist" work in that the details of the performances seem so anguished by the constraints of "family," (ala World Traveler) and in the occasionally exciting controlled utopia of the three friends; and not-so in the fact that Freundlich is still willing to make awful, bumbling villains and a turgid happy ending.
107. (16 Feb) /Manic/ (Jordan Melamed, 2001) 71
108. (16 Feb) The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, 1938) 84
109. (16 Feb) No Rest for the Brave (Alain Guiradie, 2003)* 70
110. (16 Feb) /The Return/ (Andrei Zvyagintsev, 2003)* 73
111. (17 Feb) Marci X (Richard Benjamin, 2003) 62
W/O. (18 Feb) The Prince and Me (Martha Coolidge, 2004)*
s28. (20 Feb) Waiting (Sky Hirschkron, 2004)
112. (20 Feb) Robot Stories (Greg Pak, 2003)* 36
Possible reference point here is Thornton Wilder, so upgrade accordingly if you don't passionately hate that dude's work. Basically what I am talking about is the forcing of the characters into place until they turn into some Statement about the connection between technology and humanity. Lacks a firm grip on about 200 things: are we supposed to respond to the sexual harassment of a robot with disdain (if so, why, honestly)? why did the adopting mother simply disregard the horrifying reality of her situation just to recall some random childhood memory? why is the 'what is True reality?' stuff in the last segment any less dopey than Identity?
113. (20 Feb) The Girl Next Door (Luke Greenfield, 2004)* 48
114. (20 Feb) Abouna (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2002)* 53
Or The Departure; decidedly the inverse of Zvyaginstev's film in that it's all about absence, thus making the tension between the two brothers infinitely more vague and airy, and the presence of an authority figure more abstract and uncertain. Not engaging, but I certainly admire it...
115. (20 Feb) 50 First Dates (Peter Segal, 2004)* 51
116. (21 Feb) My Life on Ice (Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, 2002) 59
117. (21 Feb) Scarlet Diva (Asia Argento, 2000) 64
118. (21 Feb) The Black Angel (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 1994)* 41
119. (21 Feb) White Wedding (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 1989)* 57
120. (21 Feb) Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (Sara Sugarman, 2004)* 76
Hard to say exactly what makes this so much more enjoyable than the Uptown Girls and Prince and Mes of the world; maybe it's that in those films, transformations of character laboriously spread themselves over whole scenes, whereas here it takes about a line or two of dialogue. Some sentimentality here obviously but it's grounded in hysteria (the encounter w/ the Sidarthur frontman is masterfully handled, not forcing any kind of 'Now she can't enjoy the music' impression, esp. in the context of the later reconciliation) or something of the like (Ella's inspirational speech to Lola in fact doesn't have that much to do with her turning around, moreso with undercurrents of her character running through the entire film, a fave moment being her distressed ambivalence over being pushed into a wall at the concert venue). Catty arguments between Lola and Carla are even kind of wonderful, because there's just so much going on between them (Lola's desires to please, idolize and defeat her [which occasionally collide]; Carla's willingness to milk any situation for what it's worth regardless of whether she's been defeated, and balancing being potentially 'impressed' by Lola and repulsed). If there's one situation Sugarman knows how to breathe life into, it's defeat, best set piece being the dance game, just seething with 'but neither of us has really lost yet' despite that momentary high of being the best and that expected, emphatically electronic exclamation of 'loser.'
121. (22 Feb) A Brutal Game (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 1983)* 45
Okay, so most of this is pretty good. But Dumbest. Ending. Ever. Not only is it thematically irrelevant, it's insipidly pushy; pleas for sympathy for rotten-to-da-core characters do NOT work at the very last moment, sorry.
122. (22 Feb) Ce?Lline (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 1992)* 47
123. (22 Feb) Workers for the Good Lord (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 2000)* 73
124. (22 Feb) Sound and Fury (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 1988)* 65
125. (23 Feb) Confusion of Genders (Ilan Duran Cohen, 2000) 64
126. (26 Feb) Muriel's Wedding (P.J. Hogan, 1994) 40
Wouldn't it have been awesome if as soon as we found out Muriel's friends were bitches in the opening scene we found out that she actually wasn't that pathetic and those bitchy friends were just being bitchy all along. Guess not. Anyway this movie basically sucks but the-younger-Collette bursts through the condescension w/ transcendent bubbliness in a few scenes, and there's a little undeserved resonance re: us connecting (or not) with the extremes of her obsession. Also, generally mean treatment of ex-best-friends and parents, and an attempt to account for that later on with some hokey 'everyone needs to be happy' bullshit, conversations in the abstract ("I want to win." - South African swimmer husband guy referring to swimming. "So do I!" - Muriel referring to lifelong wedding fetish.), etc.
127. (28 Feb) /Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen/ (Sara Sugarman, 2004)* 63
128. (28 Feb) Eurotrip (Jeff Schaffer, 2004)* 51
129. (28 Feb) Good Bye Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003)* 24
One thing to strain for an 'elegiac' sentimental tone and pretend to take political transition/disconnect seriously, another to be all slapsticky and goofy with cute little comic cues, and another, uniquely unwatchable thing to do both at the same time. As xenophobic and juvenile as Eurotrip may be it's like actually funny in parts, has an 'anything goes' feel to it (as opposed to one thematic point being hammered hammered hammered repeatedly until death), etc.
130. (29 Feb) /Storytelling/ (Todd Solondz, 2001) 68
131. (29 Feb) The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973) 52
Some things are going on here that I really wish I could love, but it feels like Altman is doing less a full-scale 'subversion' of Marlowe than a modernization, replete with his own motto and theme song, and cementing him as a rare laid-back guy among hustlers, weirdos, and new-agey types. Gould's affable sarcasm (--> occasional nastiness), and ultimate moral assertion is too easy to identify with for its own good, in my opinion, and Altman's hand isn't really sure enough in reigning back the caricaturistic qualities of his supporting characters. However the ending really shook things up for me, esp. the final shot, perhaps taking a stand against laziness, in more than one way (both in judging Marlowe's behavior and in shaping his characterization). Still not sure if I like it though...
132. (02 Mar) Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (Shane Meadows, 2002) 62
133. (02 Mar) /The School of Rock/ (Richard Linklater, 2003) 69
There is literally one shot that holds this back from greatness for me. That's right, you know the one. The Asian dad going "I think your son is talented" and the other dad responding "Thanks, yours is too" or something along those lines. I mean really, jesus.
134. (03 Mar) Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (Richard Schickel, 2003) 29
s29. (03 Mar) A Woman (Charles Chaplin, 1915) 66
135. (04 Mar) Cold Creek Manor (Mike Figgis, 2003) 53
Better than Sandy Fog House, actually, in that it actively satirizes the dreams of its protagonists rather than embracing them. Yes, it is ridiculous to move out of the city when your son gets hit by a car. Yes, it is ridiculous to be frightened of a few snakes being unleashed in your house. But that's the point, esp. when the family's vigilantism begins to feel somewhat justified.
136. (04 Mar) The Rundown (Peter Berg, 2003) 59
137. (05 Mar) Hangmen Also Die (Fritz Lang, 1943) 77
138. (05 Mar) Gray Lady Down (David Greene, 1978) 56
139. (05 Mar) The Trial (Orson Welles, 1962) 46
Formally dazzling, dramatically tedious. I'll definitely be kicking myself for not seeing this in a theater, because while the magnificent sense of space in these compositions is rarely matched, there's only so much Allegory that Welles can pile on Perkins until his actual character disentigrates and whatnot.
140. (05 Mar) /Freddy Got Fingered/ (Tom Green, 2001) 65
141. (06 Mar) Scary Movie 3 (David Zucker, 2003) 52
142. (07 Mar) The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, 2004)* 55
Not good, but interesting. Certainly doesn't give us a very clear reason to 'believe in Jesus' since Caviezel portrays him as a mumbling, semi-schizophrenic weirdo; I think Caviezel balances the circumstancial (as in hurting, etc.) and 'spiritual' elements of the character very well and I certainly favor a Jesus mauled and anguished into abstraction (like Spider as directed by Friedkin) over some peaceful flower child motherfucker. I even liked the Satan encounters because they took each mythical role as a given and played with them, as opposed to just having lots of sneering going on. There is also a nice balance of good/bad/mixed samaritans, some just going 'what the...' which is awesome.
143. (07 Mar) Starsky & Hutch (Todd Phillips, 2004)* 47
144. (11 Mar) /Shane/ (George Stevens, 1953) 34
Dull and flatly edited; also mildly offensive in its portrayal of poor farmer types: the ineffectual, whiny mother, the seemingly strong but ultimately vulnerable patriarch, the utterly passive and randomly hyperactive little boy. I used to like this movie, I think because it has a vague, grand sentimentality that was appealing but just seems overly sensitive and kind of nonsensical now. If Shane represents restoring stability to the community, why does the score continue to swell up and shudder in disbelief at the possibility of danger? Shane's influence is clearly being celebrated, but the film does him no favors by placing him alongside such losers.
145. (11 Mar) Carnage (Delphine Gleize, 2002) 58
A smooth, virile, watchable piece of filmmaking, for sure, but while the consistent spirit of creativity keeps it alive, it also sends the movie flying in directions that it can't connect. Closest I could come up with is that the device of the bull is being undermined as childlike; in coming out of the initial bull segment through the little girl's POV, the mysterious man entering the seminar to become naked and 'nurture' the performer woman, the distress of the man over losing the eyes being equated with the kid's dazedness. Whatever, though; the best compliment I can give Gleize is it never feels like she's just 'heightening the drama,' good job, etc.
146. (12 Mar) Spartan (David Mamet, 2004)* 71
147. (13 Mar) Mona Lisa Smile (Mike Newell, 2003) 40
148. (13 Mar) Kitchen Stories (Bent Hamer, 2003)* 56
149. (13 Mar) /In America/ (Jim Sheridan, 2003)* 65
This almost went way up for me, actually; I find Sheridan's mix of idealized notions of family life / the city and naturalistic aura of social detail at worst slightly dopey, at best totally orgasmic. Plenty of the Hounsou stuff is misguided, but the complex tension of living with a gay black artist is sustained and not so cheap either, giving rise to great moments like the one where he tells Considine how much he 'loves his family.' Also completely baffled as to why a film this organic and vibrant gets dismissed as 'manipulative' while The Frickin' Bicycle Thief is a classic; could it possibly have to do with the Spielbergian philosophical bent, purportedly purporting that imagination > reality? Sure, but that's small consolation for characters who can at the same time be irrational and lovable, confident and vulnerable.
150. (14 Mar) The Night of the Shooting Stars (Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, 1982) 64
151. (14 Mar) I Was Born, But... (Yasujiro Ozu, 1932)* 73
152. (14 Mar) Monsieur Ibrahim (Francois Dupeyron, 2003)* 54
Just how harmful is it to fashion what is ostensibly a film examining Jewish-Arab relations, and actually just a sun-dappled, vaguely pornographic hunk of nostalgic Franco-Americana? Probably quite a bit, though kudos for the ambivalent treatment of the father figures, and for the way the kid's misogyny develops ambiguously out of the unavoidably conventional and comfortable sexual environment. Still probably a wholly undeserved rating, if only because it has the most resoundingly goddamn awful final scene since Bad Santa.
153. (17 Mar) /Nosferatu/ (F.W. Murnau, 1922) 62
Boo, it's a vampire, oh no.
154. (19 Mar) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)* 67
Weird how many of these things there are; this has that comfortingly creative, overreaching Kaufman quality, and an absolutely incredible pre-credits sequence (the best piece of film this year has yet to offer), but lacks the cryptic lucidity of a Primer, the committed desperation of a Butterfly Effect, or the philosophical coherence of a No Rest for the Brave, which it trades in for bordering on being Love Actually for people with an IQ of 75+: a celebration of a) love conquering technology and b) the nature of a) being universal, throwing technology?s operators into the mix, wink wink nudge nudge and all that. Supremely great when it focuses on struggling with Winslet in both the ordinary relationship sense and the its-own-reverse-nature sense, less so when Kaufman gives into the clich? he knows all too well (ordinary-thriller bits like running from a disappearing wall in the nick of time, or dime-store memories like hey, here's the time Carrey got caught masturbating). Still, half an awesome movie ain't bad.
155. (20 Mar) /His Girl Friday/ (Howard Hawks, 1940) 97
A movie like this leads you to wonder why bitter, contemptuous sarcasm and profound compassion have become such segregated ideals for movies to pursue nowadays; it's an overload of both: the ending asks us to both despair for the fiancee and his mother, but also perhaps quietly mock their complacency under our breath.
156. (21 Mar) My Mother's Smile (Marco Bellocchio, 2002)* 63
Bellocchio IS the Italian Brisseau, searching to forge those lost connections between the sleazy and the spiritual. Cool in showing all these kinds of dissatisfaction: the artist who wants to retain some kind of meaning in life but still despises religion, and his lover, the religion teacher who 'dabbles' in art and poetry but seems to loathe herself for doing so; the discussions of canonization, which hint both at underlying sympathies and almost satanically pragmatic notions. Not bad or anything, though I did watch it the day after revisiting some of My Night at Maud's, which anything about personal spiritual/sexual baggage is gonna look pretty sad (in the pathetic type of way) next to.
157. (21 Mar) Twentynine Palms (Bruno Dumont, 2003)* 79
*VAGUE SPOILERS*
Things That People Hate About Bruno Dumont: not just the redundancy of his characters' explicit sexual anguish, but the interruption of so with embarrassing, abstract wailing; not one but two endings taken right out of superb Breillat films; a landscape that refuses to be dominated by sensible, likeable characters but almost Dadaistic forms of repression and expression. Perhaps it just takes a step outside of narrative flirtation for Dumont's formal games to wear on people, but I was thoroughly gripped by and am still struggling with his relentless carnality. This is also the most creative distortion of an iconic American landscape since Punch-Drunk Love, imbuing roadside diners and hotels with the European mystique Thom Andersen resolutely decreed in his recent L.A. doc (loved the bit where we hear the overblown, possibly misunderstood joke about the waitress' tallness and then see her enter and serve, shoulders down) but with a slightly more modernistic Haynes-Van Sant edge, with low, threatening buzz or country on the soundtrack and endless fog ahead. There also is a certain rigor to the way Dumont uses his primitivism to deepen our psychosexual understanding of his characters, undermining the final grandiose act of hetero-guilt with pointless, stupid self-mutilation, and not using the arbitrary similarities of his characters as a gateway (which they do, in several giddily charged anecdotes) but as a black hole, as if his films were made for Martians rather than us petty humans who simply want to advance.
158. (23 Mar) Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (Lone Scherfig, 2003)* 49
159. (23 Mar) Under the Skin of the City (Rakhshan Bani Etemad, 2001) 64
160. (23 Mar) Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946) 74
161. (24 Mar) Beyond Borders (Martin Campbell, 2003) 50
162. (24 Mar) On_Line (Jed Weintrob, 2002) 51
163. (24 Mar) Broken Wings (Nir Bergman, 2002)* 57
164. (25 Mar) Too Late the Hero (Robert Aldrich, 1970) 68
Brass-balled, sarcastic war movie in the vein of Aldrich's Attack, where increasing internalized paranoia among the British is countered by the depiction of the Japanese, who are gradually revealed to be much more sincere than anticipated in their compromise; the 'message': corruption and false exaltation are not institutionalized.
165. (25 Mar) Montparnasse 19 (Jacques Becker, 1958) 59
166. (25 Mar) Strong Shoulders (Ursula Meier, 2003)* 39
Didn't like much about this movie. Didn't like the approx. 4 endless scenes of feminine-mother-scruffy-daughter banter ("Oh please, just buy one skirt!"), didn't like the approx. 3 'bittersweet independence' scenes with the men in Sabine's life (because as far as I can tell they either didn't mean that much to her to begin with [dad and the coach] or were just some bland asshole [Rudi]), didn't like how everything is about how Sabine is so so so so so fucking determined to win and then is essentially negated by an ending that hardly even makes sense; it may contradict the usual expectations for this type of deal, but I still found it about as resonant as a Gatorade commercial.
167. (25 Mar) In Your Hands (Annette K. Olesen, 2004)* 52
168. (26 Mar) Jersey Girl (Kevin Smith, 2004)* 12
At first I thought Smith's random vulgarity and new-found sentimentality would somehow work with each other and balance each other out, but no, this is merely a truly stupid, naive piece of shit on several levels at once.
169. (26 Mar) Taking Lives (D.J. Caruso, 2004)* 45
170. (26 Mar) The Ladykillers (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, 2004)* 73
171. (26 Mar) The Middle of the World (Vincente Amorim, 2003)* 33
172. (26 Mar) Dig! (Ondi Timoner, 2004)* 66
173. (26 Mar) Touchez pas au grisbi (Jacques Becker, 1953) 78
174. (27 Mar) /Raja/ (Jacques Doillon, 2003)* 64
175. (27 Mar) Dawn of the Dead (Zack Snyder, 2004)* 43
Hollow stuff, not quite as incompetent as last year's Texas Chainsaw Massacre but made with the same lazy, too-hip-to-care efficiency (a swing version of a popular hard rock song! how coy!) that gets increasingly troubling as the body count grows and the mayhem reveals its basic meaninglessness. You can just hear Snyder listening fervently to those execs going "Make sure you put in the money shot of the zombie [SPOILER] baby, you don't even have to have a reason to put it in there because zombie babies are so inherently awesome."
s30. (27 Mar) Post Card (Anna Matysik, 2003)* 27
176. (27 Mar) Seducing Doctor Lewis (Jean-Francois Pouliot, 2003)* 9
I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that every single shot or line of dialogue in this beast is meant to make fun of its characters rather than discover anything interesting about them. Small towns are stoopid, har har har, etc. Mind-boggling.
177. (27 Mar) Eager Bodies (Xavier Giannoli, 2003)* 56
Above average execution of a supremely tricky premise; mostly just deserves points for not being insanely maudlin, really. Hard to tell whether Charlotte's fits are coming from her disease or just general neuroses, though the dovetailing of her psychosis and self-consciousness/depression works pretty well. Also, a film that asks, can chemotherapy patients be hot, and answers, yes, which I'm not sure I buy.
178. (27 Mar) Greendale (Bernard Shakey, 2003)* 82
179. (28 Mar) My Life Without Me (Isabel Coixet, 2003) 49
Takes on terminal illness in the same way The Woodsman takes on pedophilia, trying a little too hard to make an exotic subject accessible via introspective voice-overs and ambivalent outsiders. Also, why does everyone in this movie seem to talk about the things that 'matter in life' (Polley's friend recounting taking care of the siamese babies, etc.); you'd think that if you were obsessed with that stuff, the rare times when it did come up in normal conversation would seem even rarer; though I suppose if the options are In My Skin style absolute isolation and My Life style 'communicative' sop, this is decent middle ground.
180. (29 Mar) One from the heart (Francis Ford Coppola, 1982) 65
'Everything's become so fake,' sez Harry Dean Stanton as the unglamorous male protag's bud in this incredibly ironic joke of a movie, albeit a seductive, beautifully rendered one. The aesthetic overload of the filtered lighting, the surreal flourishes and gaudy edits almost kills it, but there is a point here: that the sentimentalized central relationship is no more or less phony than the obligatory escapism (which actually has more grounding detail, i.e. Raul Julia's dude actually just being a waiter and us having to comply with his incompetence). Not exactly profound stuff, but it holds the attention (and that's the point!, &c &c).
181. (29 Mar) /Croupier/ (Mike Hodges, 1998) 61
182. (01 Apr) /Double Indemnity/ (Billy Wilder, 1944) 64
Just the third film in a row I've gone way, way down on second viewing during my time-wasting scratch-the-surface film class. My theory is the class is meant to compartmentalize directorial decisions into nice little packages of 'well-done' or 'not-so-well-done' which makes me not so much angry as numbed and unable to respond. Oh yeah, the movie... still has its pleasures, though they mostly tend to revolve around direct reversals of expectation (stunning final shot, though it's merely the opposite of Robinson becoming suddenly unfriendly and 'taking a stand' against MacMurray).
183. (01 Apr) Happy Together (Wong Kar-Wai, 1997) 69
184. (02 Apr) Hellboy (Guillermo del Toro, 2004)* 62
185. (03 Apr) A Ticklish Affair (George Sidney, 1963) 42
186. (05 Apr) Radio (Michael Tollin, 2003) 40
187. (05 Apr) Pootie Tang (Louis C.K., 2001) 52
188. (05 Apr) Thousands Cheer (George Sidney, 1943) 63
Still don't know what to make of Sidney at all. Ticklish Affair was bland, sexist crapola (with a few nice grace notes, hence the rating); this takes one of the most irrelevant (and long) digressions from its petty narrative imaginable, a variety show for troops (with occasional horny reaction shots by a minor character) and comes out on top as a grab bag of minor, simpering pleasures; since it also starts to feel empty as hell, it's best looked upon as a kind of jingoistic time capsule, celebrating 'universal' multinational comraderie and finally willing to leave Love behind, in favor of spontaneous gestures (it's notable that Kelly first kisses Grayson not out of affection but of desperate obligation) and tremulous negotiation.
189. (06 Apr) /The Manchurian Candidate/ (John Frankenheimer, 1962) 74
190. (07 Apr) Honey (Bille Woodruff, 2003) 38
191. (07 Apr) The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Norman Z. McCleod, 1947) 29
192. (07 Apr) Stone Reader (Mark Moskowitz, 2002) 45
Admittedly going into this with some issues (don't read nearly enough, so felt like I was being pestered by my old librarian); still, even if these guys were going on about how film is a magical experience wherein we connect with auteurs, experience their spatial complexity in all its glory etc., I would just be like "yeah, and..." Literature-speak rarely advances beyond the vaguely exalting here. It's pretty pleasant stuff anyway, with some 'real-life concerns' and bits of 'human connection' thrown in for good measure, but by the time Moskowitz shot the boy opening the Harry Potter book up I was spitting at the screen.
193. (07 Apr) Tin Cup (Ron Shelton, 1996) 66
194. (08 Apr) The Crucible (Nicholas Hytner, 1996) 53
195. (09 Apr) Lovely to Look At (Mervyn LeRoy, 1952) 47
196. (10 Apr) Lili (Charles Walters, 1953) 67
197. (10 Apr) /The Ladykillers/ (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, 2004)* 54
I dunno, the first time I dug the inconclusiveness about racial harmony, the tweaking of stereotypical expectations (Wayans' ungratefulness towards Simmons, Hall accepting Hanks' plea then refusing again) but the fact that they are stereotypes remains, as does that they have more irritating mannerisms (Wayans has to say 'nigga,' the timid jock has to go 'duh' all the time) than actual interesting character traits.
198. (10 Apr) Ella Enchanted (Tommy O'Haver, 2004)* 46
199. (11 Apr) /Late Marriage/ (Dover Koshashvili, 2001) 80
200. (11 Apr) The Cheat (Cecil B. DeMille, 1915) 70
201. (11 Apr) The Tall T (Budd Boetticher, 1957) 83
202. (12 Apr) Give a Girl a Break (Stanley Donen, 1953) 41
Three competitive sympathetic characters were apparently too much for Donen to handle, so he has to teach us that they're both absolutely intent on getting the titular break and completely happy with the life they live. Generally as calculated as humanism gets, but at least one of the three, Joanna, completely defies the idealizations of the lusting audition committee with her married life.
203. (13 Apr) The Courtship of Eddie's Father (Vincente Minnelli, 1963) 72
Exuberant portrait of single fatherhood, and a really nice antidote to the lies of a Jersey Girl. Minnelli takes Ford's paternal insecurities as a given, and as insufferably sincere as the father-son rapport may be here, there's so much unforced compromise and melancholy at work; the scene in which Eddie is waiting to be punished after running away is a masterful handling of fears and sympathies. Ending possibly a bit of a cop-out, though we're still able to view Eddie as an unreasonable kid and Rita as an adequate mother.
204. (13 Apr) /Henry Fool/ (Hal Hartley, 1997) 75
205. (14 Apr) The Edge of the World (Michael Powell, 1937) 64
206. (14 Apr) Flesh (John Ford, 1932) 65
All about the strange, ineffable notion of power, embodied by Laura's two loves: Nicky, the product of a community that mimics chaos by controlling it, has to exert his power on her whenever convenient, and Polokai, whose matter-of-fact "You can't leave me, Laura," is both endearing and frightening. He's a loveable goof, and ultimately the film's hero (in favor of honest, forthright emotion rather than gloss and schema); but he's also destructive and sexually repulsive, fundamentally unable to communicate on her level.
207. (14 Apr) The Long Kiss Goodnight (Renny Harlin, 1996) 67
208. (15 Apr) /Kill Bill, Vol. 1/ (Quentin Tarantino, 2003) 80
209. (16 Apr) /Planet of the Apes/ (Franklin J. Schaffer, 1968) 32
210. (16 Apr) Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2004)* 84
211. (17 Apr) /Kill Bill, Vol. 2/ (Quentin Tarantino, 2004)* 80
Still beats V1 by a little bit, though... thoughts to come, probably...
212. (18 Apr) Texas Carnival (Charles Walters, 1951) 51
213. (18 Apr) To Catch a Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955) 78
214. (18 Apr) /Safe/ (Todd Haynes, 1995) 92
215. (18 Apr) Midnight (Mitchell Leisen, 1939) 58
216. (19 Apr) Rembrandt (Alexander Korda, 1936) 71
217. (19 Apr) /The Hole/ (Tsai Ming-Liang, 1998) 60
218. (20 Apr) Dummy (Greg Pritikin, 2002) 23
219. (20 Apr) Green Snake (Tsui Hark, 1993) 44
220. (20 Apr) Gun Fury (Raoul Walsh, 1953) 62
221. (20 Apr) Senso (Luchino Visconti, 1954) 55
222. (21 Apr) Little Big Man (Arthur Penn, 1970) 41
s31. (21 Apr) Voices of a Distant Star (Makoto Shinkai, 2002) 68
223. (21 Apr) La Guerre Est Finie (Alain Resnais, 1966) 70
224. (21 Apr) Southern Comfort (Walter Hill, 1981) 76
225. (21 Apr) Side Street (Anthony Mann, 1950) 52
226. (24 Apr) Man on Fire (Tony Scott, 2004)* 42
Interesting conceptually, furious righteousness mismatched by a manic-depressive, self-consciously overbaked style, but a challenge to actually sit through. The most openly sadistic movie in many a moon, in a way that's neither cheap nor compassionate, always somewhere between: the major time-bomb setpiece is obsessed with detailing the escalating frailty of the villain, but takes an ice-cold pleasure in his demise through Denzel's expressionless exit. Wants to have it both ways (not necessarily a bad thing), viewing him as both a mentor, punisher, and martyr, but Scott's impressive stylistics ultimately serve as more evasive of these contradictions than insightful, signaling when Denzel and Dakota have Moments together (I mean, come on, that was not even much of a belch) and tacking on egregious, weird crap like the final eulogy: there are other ways to emulate the Reality of Death that don't involve fulfilling the aesthetic requirements of a Special News Report, etc.
227. (25 Apr) 13 Going on 30 (Gary Winick, 2004)* 55
228. (26 Apr) /The Graduate/ (Mike Nichols, 1967) 69
229. (26 Apr) Freeze Me (Takashi Ishii, 2000) 54
s32. (26 Apr) Cat Soup (Tatsuo Sato, 2003) 47
230. (26 Apr) The Tall Target (Anthony Mann, 1951) 66
231. (27 Apr) /Margarita Happy Hour/ (Ilya Chaiken, 2001) 65
232. (28 Apr) Lan Yu (Stanley Kwan, 2001) 59
233. (28 Apr) Underworld Beauty (Seijun Suzuki, 1958) 63
234. (28 Apr) Viva Las Vegas (George Sidney, 1964) 73
235. (29 Apr) The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951) 48
236. (29 Apr) Paperhouse (Bernard Rose, 1988) 68
237. (01 May) /I Stand Alone/ (Gaspar Noe, 1998) 71
238. (01 May) Housekeeping (Bill Forsyth, 1987) 91
I can't think of another movie that shifts its emotional center so gracefully. A utopian reticence both brings the sisters together and forces them to make an escape that they (and we) gradually discover they differ on. Could be seen as an attack on ignorant fundamentalism, with the policeman and church group becoming more and more unreasonable and invasive, finally acting as a release, with Ruth's blooming, enervated resistance at the forefront; though there's still some lingering uncertainty about whether Sylvie's behavior was enough to justify such an outrage.
239. (01 May) Alice's Restaurant (Arthur Penn, 1969) 49
240. (01 May) Profiles in Courage: John Peter Altgeld (Daniel Petrie, 1965)* 42
241. (01 May) Winstanley (Kevin Brownlow, 1975)* 27
242. (01 May) Mean Girls (Mark S. Waters, 2004)* 37
Okay, so one bit rang stunningly true to life: I heard a bunch of girls having the conversation about how they can get away with dressing like sluts on Halloween literally... yesterday. But even in that case, it's used here for a really cheap, half-assed series of gags about its protagonist's inability to conform. Can't an incidence of understanding stand by its own rather than as an answer to or set-up for misanthropy? I guess I'm surrounded by vague offshoots of these "types," and they obviously don't act inferior and condescending in neat little patterns that are easy to triumph over and laugh at without feeling a little guilty myself. They also don't make stringent rules governing who they're friends with (who does?), because friendship is inherently transient, a difficult beast to manage, etc. I dunno, maybe it's just my school.
243. (01 May) /Dog Days/ (Ulrich Seidl, 2001) 73
244. (02 May) /Good News/ (Charles Walters, 1947) 88
245. (02 May) Blackboards (Samira Makhmalbaf, 2000) 46
246. (02 May) A Return to Salem's Lot (Larry Cohen, 1987) 61
247. (02 May) Summer Stock (Charles Walters, 1950) 64
248. (03 May) Get Carter (Mike Hodges, 1971) 79
249. (06 May) /The Birds/ (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963) 100
250. (06 May) All the Vermeers in New York (Jon Jost, 1990) 67
Too much going on here: Rohmeresque account of romantic miscommunication, building on forthrightness to reveal fragility, wrought with a sensibility willing to abandon characters and merely traverse pure space, light, texture, etc. Presumably the two intertwine in Vermeer Moments of static, lucid mystery, but when the coherence comes it makes all conceptual and no psychological sense. Still, mostly groovy, hence the rating.
251. (07 May) Parents (Bob Balaban, 1989) 68
252. (07 May) Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg, 1932) 85
253. (07 May) /The Cedar Bar/ (Alfred Leslie, 2002)* 77
254. (07 May) Laws of Attraction (Peter Howitt, 2004)* 60
255. (08 May) The Dead (John Huston, 1987) 65
256. (08 May) Kanto Wanderer (Seijun Suzuki, 1963) 70
257. (09 May) Finger of Guilt (Joseph Losey, 1956) 69
It's incredible how this movie seems to be headed toward a pessimistic, schizo-chic ending and doubles back on itself for deceptive simplicity and figurative optimism pertaining to leading "double lives" and shit; trouble is, the relief doesn't feel fully earned. Reggie's tired submission to Evelyn's utterly transparent persistence (wouldn't she seem more convincing if she at least acted generally distressed at his anger?), and his increasing cruelty even after the revelations signal that the mystery's over seem to push the audience to share his sex-associated cynicism and self-doubt. And then everything is fine again. Oh well.
258. (09 May) Tokyo Drifter (Seijun Suzuki, 1966) 75
259. (10 May) Blind Beast (Yasuzo Masumura, 1969) 62
During the last couple minutes of this I went to myself "What the... why am I even watching this," which is something I don't do very often. Masumura gets some indirect pleasure from the torture of the model and particularly fetishizes the infantile psychology of the sculptor, and soon enough all that indirect pleasure is transferred to tedious S&M hammering once her devotion is no longer fake or ambivalent; we trade pain and pleasure with her, in effect. Not uninteresting, but Masumura's shots at grandiosity, esp. late in the game with the cuts to the giant clay parts, prove distracting and almost antithetical.
260. (10 May) /Rosetta/ (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 1999) 56
261. (11 May) /The Rules of the Game/ (Jean Renoir, 1939) 94
262. (11 May) The Milky Way (Leo McCarey, 1936) 72
263. (12 May) The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946) 68
264. (12 May) Tattooed Life (Seijun Suzuki, 1965) 47
265. (13 May) /Psycho/ (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) 63
266. (13 May) Johnny English (Peter Howitt, 2003) 49
267. (13 May) The Bonfire of the Vanities (Brian De Palma, 1990) 53
268. (13 May) Cruising (William Friedkin, 1980) 78
269. (14 May) Troy (Wolfgang Petersen, 2004)* 38
270. (15 May) Antitrust (Peter Howitt, 2001) 57
271. (15 May) It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) 77
272. (16 May) Abigail's Party (Mike Leigh, 1977) 66
What a crowd; the only semi-bearable guest here is Susan, and like her, we cringe at the party but also want hang around, if only because of that painful, fading-away feeling in the air. Point of course is that the anxious, stuffy thirty-somethings act like teenagers themselves, desperate to make a futile point, searching for a moment, finding something impressive about their life. A worthy film, but a totally unpleasant one: qualities like Tony's opaque dominance are kept to a low hum, until they need to develop into (say) a capital A asshole. Nothing wrong with taking us there, but it almost makes me wish Leigh's films were all a little shorter so there was no trouble sustaining and enriching the tone.
273. (18 May) /Small Time Crooks/ (Woody Allen, 2000) 44
274. (20 May) In a Year with 13 Moons (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1978) 73
275. (21 May) Heaven Can Wait (Warren Beatty & Buck Henry, 1978) 40
276. (21 May) Heir to an Execution (Ivy Meeropol, 2004)* 20
277. (21 May) Torremolinos 73 (Pablo Berger, 2003)* 50
s33. (21 May) The Catskill Chainsaw Redemption (Matt Unger, 2004)* 47
278. (21 May) The Locals (Greg Page, 2003)* 48
Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Leave the Ghost Town with Hot Zombie Chicks from the 80s. Pretty involving, but conflicts like that are all about keeping a sense of choice intact, in my opinion.
279. (22 May) A Good Lawyer's Wife (Im Sang-soo, 2003)* 41
280. (22 May) Roberto Succo (Cedric Kahn, 2001)* 84
281. (22 May) Red Lights (Cedric Kahn, 2004)* 77
This has got its flaws, in that it pulls all of its strands together with a pretty lazy contrivance, and is just so obviously meant to be a Test of Faith for its couple. But Kahn is still working at a thrilling level of mastery most of the way through, effortlessly hinting at potential stuff he doesn't follow through on (note Darroussin's wearied gaze when asked the immortal question "What if it isn't her?") and countering the emergence of aspects of the plot with his transition from confident to drunk to incapable to desperate and back again.
282. (22 May) Baadasssss! (Mario Van Peebles, 2003)* 45
283. (22 May) Azumi (Ryuhei Kitamura, 2003)* 3
Oh boy, 2 hours of empty, aestheticized sadism. Note to self: never see another movie by the dude who made Versus.
284. (23 May) A Thousand Clouds of Peace (Julian Hernandez, 2003)* 58
Mostly notable for its stark, creamy B&W photography, meditating on its protagonist's homosexual angst with exacting focus pulls and rapturous pans over graffitied brick walls. A bit too mannered and full of itself, but so was Akerman's Je, Tu, Il, Elle, which is sort of a precursor to this. Hernandez' biggest mistake was to actually manifest the guy's physical abuse, I think, rather than stick to the contemplation and commiseration.
285. (23 May) The Twilight Samurai (Yoji Yamada, 2003)* 54
286. (24 May) Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948) 75
287. (26 May) The Boy with Green Hair (Joseph Losey, 1948) 49
288. (26 May) The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940) 67
289. (26 May) Harold & Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971) 64
290. (27 May) 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957) 50
At least you get the sense there's an effort to make this seem remotely unschematic, with the sole jury member who switches position from guilty, to not guilty, back to guilty, as well as the one who switches but doesn't really "*care*," etc. But I have a really hard time getting past this rousing, stomp-the-ignorance dynamic; defenders would point to the fact that we're never informed of the defendant's actual guilt as ambiguity, and this is addressed consistently. But if so, why does doubt of his innocence have to also be consistently attributed to "You know, those people,"-type speeches, and how is everyone transformed from conservative assumptions to liberal fairness? There's character detail here and there, but always the same, see-the-light gaze when the realization hits. The trajectory is from unconsciously eager to consciously compassionate, and it's so mapped out and universal that the consciousness loses its meaning. The movie's watchable because of the individual jurors' approaches to this transformation, but it's not enough. Points detracted of course for the coda of the old man thanking Fonda, a wholly self-congratulatory gesture.
291. (28 May) The Day After Tomorrow (Roland Emmerich, 2004)* 57
292. (29 May) Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936) 47
293. (29 May) Coffee and Cigarettes (Jim Jarmusch, 2003)* 44
294. (29 May) Norma Rae (Martin Ritt, 1979) 53
295. (29 May) The Miracle Woman (Frank Capra, 1931) 80
296. (30 May) Cutthroat Island (Renny Harlin, 1995) 60
297. (01 Jun) /Airplane!/ (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, 1980) 58
298. (02 Jun) /Glengarry Glen Ross/ (James Foley, 1992) 76
299. (03 Jun) Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks, 1983) 61
300. (03 Jun) Broken Lizard's Club Dread (Jay Chandrasekhar, 2004) 32
DNF. (03 Jun) You Got Served (Christopher B. Stokes, 2004)
DNF. (03 Jun) Tokyo Godfathers (Satoshi Kon, 2003)
I don't plan on finishing either of these, so I might as well put up here that I watched some of them; approx. 20 minutes of the former and 30 of the latter. I actually liked Kon's Millennium Actress, and both have some impressive images and moments with a big fat pile of nothing holding them together. Guess my tolerance level has gone down. Oh yeah, and every principal in TG (the precocious teen, the queeny hag, the gruff loner) rarely transcends vehemently obnoxious stock character whininess. Please stop yelling at me, thanks.
301. (04 Jun) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuaron, 2004)* 63
302. (06 Jun) /Donnie Darko/ (Richard Kelly, 2001) 78
303. (07 Jun) The Boys from Brazil (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1978) 35
304. (08 Jun) Soul Plane (Jessy Terrero, 2004)* 23
305. (08 Jun) \Grand Illusion\ (Jean Renoir, 1937) 82
s34. (08 Jun) /Desistfilm/ (Stan Brakhage, 1954) 76
s35. (08 Jun) /Desistfilm/ (Stan Brakhage, 1954) 76
s36. (09 Jun) /Wedlock House: An Intercourse/ (Stan Brakhage, 1959) 62
s37. (09 Jun) /Desistfilm/ (Stan Brakhage, 1954) 76
I expected some Brakhage Withdrawal Syndrome after being so used to narrative film lately, but this held up pretty well. This perfectly captures the embittered interplay of a party full of friends who have something against each other and let it submerge just underneath the surface: one minute, a sexual image is filtered through a romantic, flirty POV, the next it's the object of a lot of drunk peeping-toms, and the two come together in the transcendent final moments. Dog Star Man is another story, on the other hand...
306. (10 Jun) The Conqueror Worm (Michael Reeves, 1968) 52
307. (10 Jun) Hell Is for Heroes (Don Siegel, 1962) 65
308. (10 Jun) The Verdict (Don Siegel, 1946) 58
309. (10 Jun) Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940) 66
310. (11 Jun) Torn Curtain (Alfred Hitchcock, 1966) 68
311. (11 Jun) Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941) 48
312. (11 Jun) Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941) 71
313. (12 Jun) waydowntown (Gary Burns, 2000) 67
314. (12 Jun) Love Me If You Dare (Yann Samuell, 2003)* 49
I wouldn't save this movie from a burning building. But unhealthy? I dunno... It's appropriate that the resolution, similarly laying complacency over nostalgia, is so reminiscent of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg: Samuell sees a literal fight there, and Demy sees an admittedly simple contradiction, with reticence as a viable option. Samuell tries every single bittersweet Act of Catharsis in the book: tragic loss, mutual death, and an agonizingly cutesy, senile manifestation of childhood longings. In its own way, it is expressive, like Julien and Sophie, ever searching for a way to conquer the seriousness of their lives and coming off as pathetic. But ultimately, Samuell, like his heroes, goes one step too far, prioritizing impact over a vital reality.
315. (14 Jun) Dangerous When Wet (Charles Walters, 1953) 54
316. (14 Jun) /Autumn Tale/ (Eric Rohmer, 1998) 64
317. (14 Jun) Lifeforce (Tobe Hooper, 1985) 62
318. (14 Jun) I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943) 96
319. (15 Jun) The Wrong Man (Alfred Hitchcock, 1956) 55
320. (16 Jun) The Big Knife (Robert Aldrich, 1955) 51
321. (16 Jun) Les Bonnes Femmes (Claude Chabrol, 1960) 81
322. (18 Jun) The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1993) 65
323. (18 Jun) 36 Fillette (Catherine Breillat, 1988) 86
Standard coming-of-age flick of victimization, only the heroine is so relentless and on top of everything that any feelings of empty sympathy are overrided. Perfectly observed down to the last detail, esp. the arguments with the parents in which it's refreshingly difficult to recognize who the most explosive or oppressive family member is, and any compromise reached has a stinging impermanence.
324. (19 Jun) The Terminal (Steven Spielberg, 2004)* 61
325. (20 Jun) Apache (Robert Aldrich, 1954) 57
Lancaster is miscast as "The Last Apache," the role requiring a sort of jaded, brutish paranoia that he can't really key into, not to mention the fact that Burt Lancaster as a Native warrior is just so silly. It's an interesting film because that brutishness is so clearly innate in his personality, and in his efforts to escape persecution he realizes it won't get him anywhere; the ending, a tragedy because Massai is forced to settle down, and an epiphany because it represents a second coming and new generation of farmers, is really moving.
326. (21 Jun) I Dood It (Vincente Minnelli, 1943) 36
327. (21 Jun) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2004)* 65
328. (22 Jun) Sergeant Rutledge (John Ford, 1960) 74
329. (23 Jun) Three O'Clock High (Phil Joanou, 1987) 45
330. (23 Jun) Sylvia Scarlett (George Cukor, 1936) 89
331. (24 Jun) Kissed (Lynne Stopkewich, 1996) 68
332. (24 Jun) Goodbye South, Goodbye (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1996) 56
333. (25 Jun) Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore, 2004)* 48
334. (25 Jun) Le Boucher (Claude Chabrol, 1969) 90
335. (25 Jun) Son Frere (Patrice Chereau, 2003) 67
336. (26 Jun) L'ennui (Cedric Kahn, 1998) 58
337. (26 Jun) 4 For Texas (Robert Aldrich, 1963) 62
338. (26 Jun) Marathon (Amir Naderi, 2002) 47
339. (27 Jun) Nada (Claude Chabrol, 1974) 68
340. (27 Jun) Brief Crossing (Catherine Breillat, 2001) 73
341. (28 Jun) Good Men, Good Women (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1995) 76
342. (28 Jun) /Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story/ (Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2004)* 65
343. (29 Jun) Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi, 2004)* 41
344. (02 Jul) /Napoleon Dynamite/ (Jared Hess, 2004)* 75
345. (03 Jul) /Flowers of Shanghai/ (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1998) 79
346. (04 Jul) Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)* 93
347. (05 Jul) Vamanos con Pancho Villa! (Fernando de Fuentes, 1936)* 57
348. (05 Jul) El Compadre Mendoza (Fernando de Fuentes, 1934)* 70
De Fuentes has a pretty populist sensibility, but he does a few crucial things right: not bringing the romance between the beloved zapatista and passive housewife to fruition, in fact almost disregarding disgust with her slob of a husband altogether. This and Vamanos con Pancho Villa! begin with an unmistakably pro-revolutionary slant, and gradually collapse into cynicism. Here the collapse is seen from the perspective of a desperately ambivalent hacienda owner, whose political connections simultaneously bring him ruin and fortune. Not even totally sure that the (wrenching) final decision was necessary for the guy to go through with, from a basic financial standpoint, and it almost seems like a cathartic easy out, but it's still pretty wrenching...
349. (05 Jul) The Longest Yard (Robert Aldrich, 1974) 42
350. (06 Jul) /Romance/ (Catherine Breillat, 1999) 71
351. (06 Jul) The Eye of Vichy (Claude Chabrol, 1993) 37
352. (06 Jul) Hell Without Limits (Arturo Ripstein, 1978)* 53
353. (06 Jul) The Change (Alfredo Joskowicz, 1971)* 40
354. (07 Jul) How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1971) 75
355. (07 Jul) The Devil, Probably (Robert Bresson, 1977) 69
356. (07 Jul) A Gentle Woman (Robert Bresson, 1969) 54
357. (07 Jul) Moonrise (Frank Borzage, 1948) 63
358. (09 Jul) Les Rendez-vous d'Anna (Chantal Akerman, 1978) 66
359. (09 Jul) Dust in the Wind (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1986) 60
360. (09 Jul) Autumn Leaves (Robert Aldrich, 1956) 64
361. (09 Jul) Nazarin (Luis Bunuel, 1959)* 72
362. (09 Jul) Los Olvidados (Luis Bunuel, 1950)* 67
363. (09 Jul) Naked Childhood (Maurice Pialat, 1970)* 80
364. (09 Jul) We Will Not Grow Old Together (Maurice Pialat, 1972)* 81
365. (10 Jul) Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Adam McKay, 2004)* 49
366. (12 Jul) Disney's Teacher's Pet (Timothy Bjorklund, 2004) 66
367. (13 Jul) The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (Larry Blamire, 2001) 59
368. (15 Jul) Against the Ropes (Charles Dutton, 2004) 45
A scene in a car containing a young black man listening to rap music, interrupted by a white woman changing the station to soft rock, followed by an older black man changing the station to (who would've guessed?) soul music. A big-ticket boxing contractor exclaiming publicly, "Send him back to the ghetto!" with no consequence whatsoever. Clearly this script is not the epitome of narrative invention or even remotely up-to-date racial or sexual politics, to put it mildly. Somehow, Dutton's straightforward competence and Ryan's wounded surefootedness survive.
369. (15 Jul) /The Butterfly Effect/ (Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, 2004) 61 [the director's cut!]
Not sure what to make of this ending. It pushes the original's nihilism even further (some will say to its natural conclusion) yet packs an essentially identical punch, a solace in romantic bittersweetness from the burden of past pains. A nice measure of what kind of release works for you more, I suppose -- hopeful or sacrificial -- and I find the former more appealing.
370. (16 Jul) Barbershop 2: Back in Business (Kevin Rodney Sullivan, 2004) 44
371. (19 Jul) The Mouth Agape (Maurice Pialat, 1974)* 78
372. (19 Jul) Loulou (Maurice Pialat, 1980)* 68
373. (20 Jul) The House in the Woods (Maurice Pialat, 1971)* I refuse to rate this thing in my opinion
374. (20 Jul) Graduate First (Maurice Pialat, 1979)* 75
375. (20 Jul) A nos amours (Maurice Pialat, 1983)* 67
376. (22 Jul) Love Is Colder Than Death (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1969) 41
377. (23 Jul) The Bourne Supremacy (Paul Greengrass, 2004)* 47
378. (24 Jul) Police (Maurice Pialat, 1985)* 66
379. (24 Jul) Under the Sun of Satan (Maurice Pialat, 1987)* 87
380. (24 Jul) Le Garcu (Maurice Pialat, 1995)* 82
381. (26 Jul) Secret Window (David Koepp, 2004) 18
382. (26 Jul) The Door in the Floor (Tod Williams, 2004)* 60
383. (30 Jul) A Real Young Girl (Catherine Breillat, 1976) 58
384. (01 Aug) The Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme, 2004)* 36
385. (04 Aug) /Primer/ (Shane Carruth, 2004)* 94
As confusing as this once was, it was worth it to have to work through. The concept isn't just fodder for nitpicking and elaborate write-ups. It's a premise that invites kid-in-a-candy-store anxiousness as well as a deep, penetrating sense of panic and loss. It's to Carruth's credit that the film stays on track with its characters' uncertain path of self-discovery; moral, metaphysical, and otherwise.
386. (05 Aug) /demonlover/ (Olivier Assayas, 2002) 51
387. (06 Aug) Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (Guy Ferland, 2004) 52
388. (06 Aug) /Last Life in the Universe/ (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, 2003)* 68
389. (07 Aug) Collateral (Michael Mann, 2004)* 50
390. (12 Aug) She Hate Me (Spike Lee, 2004)* 42
391. (17 Aug) /We Don't Live Here Anymore/ (John Curran, 2004)* 81
392. (28 Aug) Seventh Heaven (Benoit Jacquot, 1997) 64
DNF. (30 Aug) Scandal at Scourie (Jean Negulesco, 1953)
393. (01 Sep) /Before Sunset/ (Richard Linklater, 2004)* 93
394. (04 Sep) Intimate Strangers (Patrice Leconte, 2004)* 31
395. (11 Sep) Cellular (David R. Ellis, 2004)* 69
The law enforcement corruption stuff here is pretty disposable, but that's just one aspect of the Larry Cohen World of Everything Turned on Its Head, a place full of mass-produced robots wearing Lakers jackets and Lord of the Rings backpacks, too busy with their lives to smell what's right under their noses; and where the only way to do something "right" is to fuck everything up some more. Most purely fun movie of the year, with obstacles and tight spots popping up like gophers, of course only to be hit down again by taking moves from 10th grade biology and knocking down fishbowls. Dangerously close to turning into a video game, but Evans' immaturity and callowly burgeoning responsibility make him more like a fourteen-year-old holding the controller than the chiseled, brooding goon on the screen. The latter description works perfectly for Statham's villain, but his intimidation is fast and cruel and logical enough that it's hardly a distraction.
396. (17 Sep) Marcelino pan y vino (Ladislao Vajda, 1955) 51
397. (17 Sep) Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)* 21
Senseless, in every sense of the word. Snyder's film looks rigorously humanistic in retrospect (and, ugh, I guess I should've seen Romero's by now). It's tough to imagine a modern take on this premise that doesn't devolve into numbing bloodlust. Not to deny bloodlust as an essential part of Humanity, of course, but these are barely-dimensional sitcom characters, ready to spout spiffy, vapid one-liners and obvious, static identifiers in the face of agony and chaos. The few funny, inspired moments here (White Lines; the stock-character doubles meeting up) seem as shallow and insulting as everything else once you get past their cleverness.
398. (19 Sep) Marius (Marcel Pagnol and Alexander Korda, 1931) 75