Screening Log

This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.

April 2006 activity

Total Log Entries: 73

Total Comments: 32

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L.A. Confidential / USA / 1997

An enjoyably twisty thriller, but a mile away from James Ellroy’s vicious, grimy novel. Curtis Hanson’s LA feels bright and twinkly, there’s no real threat here, no flies or sweat or toil. And the political edges are filed off, too- Ellroy’s attacks on, among others, Walt Disney and Howard Hughes clearly weren’t considered suitable for mainstream audiences. A shame, because there’s a lot more to be said here, about the birth of a city and, by extension, a nation, about exploitation and the corruption of innocence, about the masks powerful men construct to hide their true faces. This is a film about heroes- morally compromised, dark- edged heroes, perhaps, but genuine red- blooded American citizens nonetheless. The shamefully undercooked happy ending only throws the filmmakers’ lack of ambition into sharp relief.

by Tom Huddleston | Source: BBC1
26 Apr 2006 10:37 AM | Comments (1)

Comments / 1 total / Submit Comment

  1. Chiranjit / 26 April 2006 / 2:13 PM / URL

    All that stuff about “the birth of a city and, by extension, a nation, about exploitation and the corruption of innocence, about the masks powerful men construct to hide their true faces” seemed woven into the film pretty well for me, only smuggled instead of featured. As well, the bright sun (a California signature) that Hanson shines upon his film only seems to add to the idea of LA/Hollywood/film as a total fabrication, or at least mirage.

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