Though only nine years have passed since The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan’s output has been an inconsistent jumble: his aforementioned hit garnered him two Oscar nominations, while the second is considered a masterpiece-in-waiting; Signs was a modest attempt at reducing his reputation for surprise endings, while The Village was universally panned. And now comes Lady in the Water, Shyamalan’s inadequate tale of mythical creatures come to earth.
More disappointing than bad, the film relies on convolution and convenience to stay afloat. Bryce Dallas Howard does the best she can with such an underdeveloped character, while Paul Giamatti’s Cleveland Heep elicits little sympathy or understanding, even though he should. (A subplot involving his family is overly clichéd and facile.) The story of Story, which begins as a minimal illustration, is supplemented into ridiculousness. The supporting cast, including greats like Bill Irwin and Jeffrey Wright, are barely given anything worthwhile (Wright is so stone-faced and uncommitted that each line is disheartening), whereas Shyamalan gives himself a major role with inner turmoil and complexity. Yes, the population of Shyamalan’s The Cove is flawed and diverse—a woman who takes in stray cats, a punk Japanese girl—but by the film’s end they’ve all become caricatures of our own society—laughable, unrealistic.
While I concede that the film has its moments of beauty—the pool from which Story comes is shot with an intuitive cinematic eye—much of that beauty is squandered by the awful characters and bad special effects. I had really hoped this would be a revolution for Shyamalan, a departure from our expectations, but I was sadly wrong. No, you cannot ignore this film, but I don’t see any possibility of liking it, either. As for Shyamalan, a recent article in Newsweek cautioned that his career (or at least his independence from studio execs) would come to a sour end if this film were to fail. A heartbreaking notion considering how talented he is.
(I feel compelled, however, to offer some concessions, as my friends and I were cursed with one of the most immature audiences ever—undoubtedly why I left the theater annoyed. A gaggle of teenage girls chose to sit around us despite an empty theatre, then proceeded to laugh at Cleveland’s stutter, giggle at actress Carla Jimenez, and let their cell phones ring unendingly.)
by Adam Balz | Source: 35MM Theatrical Print
29 Jul 2006 10:53 AM | Comments (1)
I’ve been avoiding Whit Stillman’s films for years under the assumption that they’d be shallow, mechanical, and lugubriously nostalgic. And, god bless them, they are. Stillman’s economical style and brilliantly jejune dialogue subtly give way to a mordant, depressive sensibility, as the unity of a very ostensible group of Upper East Side contemporaries dissolves into almost nothing. It is a quintessentially New York film, though unsurprisingly not in a Scorsese-Allen-Lee kind of way.
Also interesting to note is that this film reveals that there were still automats in Midtown in 1990.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: The Criterion Collection DVD
27 Jul 2006 1:41 PM | Submit Comment
Even before its famous climax, Bonnie and Clyde is instilled with urgency, its editing relaying a sort of impatience or haste. This works to condition the viewer; your body is prepared to absorb the shock of its final shootout. It comes – and riles you – with no surprise, but the anticipation serves to make you dread it.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: TCM
27 Jul 2006 9:56 AM | Submit Comment
Upon finishing Chris Ott’s profile of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, I returned to this film – which I still consider among the best I’ve seen so far this decade – to scrutinize its accuracy (or lack thereof) in rendering Ian Curtis’ frenetic stage presence and Martin Hannett’s unorthodox production techniques. And, it does fairly well, although the duration of Joy Division’s relationship with Factory Records – although accelerated – is only the film’s leading bookend, abbreviated (with sparing liberties) to roughly twenty minutes of screen time. This is not a complaint—this film is decidedly poised to relay Factory Records’ (or Tony Wilson’s) spotlight, but it is a fascinating, albeit short visualization of the production of one of the most brooding, atmospheric records I own.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: DVD Screener
26 Jul 2006 10:53 AM | Submit Comment
As Beth has noted, this is peak Wilder, a savage indictment of mass media and humanity’s craven opportunism, peppered with some of the greatest one-liners this side of the Catskills. As hard-boiled eggs go, the film is truly, as one character puts it, 20 minutes.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: 35mm Print
24 Jul 2006 5:08 PM | Submit Comment
Somehow I missed this when it was playing in theaters last summer (though I did see the infinitely less funny Wedding Crashers), perhaps thinking that it could not possibly live up to what is probably the greatest movie poster of all time. It does, and succinctly portrays most of the major permutations of male heterosexual dysfunction at the same time. Throw in a fantastic supporting cast and some well-placed Asia, and you have a very entertaining movie.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Cable broadcast
24 Jul 2006 5:03 PM | Submit Comment
A sequel to the 2003 Bollywood blockbuster, Koi Mil Gaya, which apparently concerns a mentally retarded man who receives superhero powers from an ugly, blue E.T. knockoff, Krrish picks up with the previous film’s son, Krishna, who is a hyper-intelligent muscle man with the goofy grin of Steve Carell’s 40-year old virgin. The film broke box office records in its home country, but while it’s thoroughly and often inadvertently amusing (the special effects are terrible), it’s not particularly notable. Still, it’s a joy to see a film so ingenuous as this, plainly wearing its corporate sponsorship on its sleeve. And in its dialogue. And in every other shot of the film. The second half of the film takes place in Singapore. Why? Because the Singapore Tourist Board sponsored the film. Boy, does Singapore look like a nice place to visit.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: 35mm Print
24 Jul 2006 4:32 PM | Comments (1)
Probably the best, certainly the most economical, of Schwarzenegger’s ’80s action films. This is only John McTiernan’s second film (followed in ‘88 by Die Hard) and already the diligent auteurist can spot his hallmarks: tight, jarring compositions, lens flares, and exploding helicopters. But this is Arnold’s film, as anyone can discern from the shot of the mud-caked Austrian Oak, holding aloft a lighted torch and screaming primitively. (This shot, I’m told by a Nashvillean, is played at Nashville Predators games to rally the fans.)
And yes, that’s Lethal Weapon screenwriter Shane Black as the bespectacled Hawkins, who’s killed first.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: 20th Century Fox DVD
24 Jul 2006 4:19 PM | Submit Comment
Is it possible that Mel Gibson is the world’s most conflicted, self-hating homosexual? There’s the rampant, uncontrolled homophobia, a good first sign. Then of course we have his celebrated obsession with flagellation and torture, a good Catholic boy’s desperate atonement for some unnamed, unforgivable sin. In this film alone he gets to use the word ‘fag’ more than once, refers to lesbianism as ‘disgusting’, shows his naked backside, gets brutally tortured and finally beats Gary Busey almost to death, the hapless bad guy pinned betwixt Gibson’s heaving thighs until he cries for mercy. Hell, even the title is questionable. It all points to a man wrestling not only with special forces terrorists but with his very nature, an apocalyptic battle, God and parentally instigated notions of propriety duking it out with Gibson’s deepest desires. Let it go, Mel! Don’t live a lie! We will all be forgiven in the end, even you.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: Channel 5
24 Jul 2006 1:54 PM | Comments (1)
Batman: Nobody wants war.
Robin: Gee, Batman. Belgravia’s such a small country. We’d beat them in a few hours.
Batman: Yes, and then we’d have to support them for years.
*This quote’s actually from the television series, but is nonetheless appropriate.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Cable TV
24 Jul 2006 9:49 AM | Submit Comment
Ford auteurists will find some connection here – his Catholicism perhaps? For the rest of us, this is a long ponderous historical epic – more than a little dull.
by Ian Johnston | Source: WB DVD
23 Jul 2006 2:27 PM | Submit Comment
There’s a stately majesty to the images here that fails to compensate for too many problematic features:Ford may be offering this as an apology for wrongs done to Native Americans in both history and cinema, but it’s a bizarrely outside view of what is meant to be one nation’s story – we never get close to the Cheyenne; the casting of Hispanics and one Italian-American as Cheyenne (even if it was standard practice for the day)is embarrassing to watch today; and the over-long Dodge City section is a pointless interlude (yes, there’s a thematic point made, but it’s aesthetically pointless).
by Ian Johnston | Source: WB DVD
23 Jul 2006 2:25 PM | Submit Comment
This has to count as something of a disappointment after Laurent Cantet’s first two films, Human Resources and especially the very fine Time Out/L’emploi du temps. It’s not that it isn’t intelligent and well thought-out, with its themes clearly enunciated: North versus South; the political ramifications of tourism; the privileged position of the Western tourist as opposed to the locals exposed to both poverty and poltical/social violence; “older women” female sexuality. But in the end there’s little force to what Cantet has to say, perhaps the result of this being an outsider’s view of Haitian life (of 30 years ago) – another kind of tourism, in its own way.
by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
23 Jul 2006 2:15 PM | Submit Comment
I can never tell if Cronenberg purposely telegraphs his ending or not. It seems quite obvious where the film is headed, considering Miranda Richardson multiple roles, but I’m always puzzled by Cronenberg’s intensions.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Alliance Atlantic DVD
23 Jul 2006 1:49 PM | Submit Comment
Brash! The overtly harsh tone of the film makes it feel very modern in comparison to his previous efforts.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Universal – The Masterpiece Collection DVD
23 Jul 2006 1:46 PM | Submit Comment
My problem with Superman is this: he’s tough on crime, not on the causes of crime. He stops people from robbing banks or mugging old ladies, but he does nothing about the crushing poverty, social deprivation, world hunger or general human misery that would have driven them to commit these terrible acts. I want to see him transporting icebergs to irrigate the Sahara, or using his super- strength to prevent the massacre of innocent civilians in Lebanon. I hate to get political, but it all feels very American- moral superiority and overwhelming power, but no real interest in solving the world’s problems.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm Print
22 Jul 2006 6:29 AM | Comments (3)
Interesting for having a gay central character whose sexuality is not the focus of the film but crashingly dull for every other reason imaginable. No plot, no surprises, no point.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm Print
22 Jul 2006 6:28 AM | Comments (1)
Despite valiant recent efforts, this remains the greatest of all pirate sagas. Packing in armed rebellion, slavery, escape, swordfights, cannon fights, treasure, rope swinging and Olivia de Havilland being snooty in a corset, it just doesn’t get any better than this.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
22 Jul 2006 6:27 AM | Submit Comment
Objection! Boring and manipulative.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: More4
22 Jul 2006 6:26 AM | Submit Comment
A satisfying little comedy- drama, injecting a much- needed dose of dry British humour into a potentially dour setup: drifting ex-con Alex (a moody- but- loveable Alan Rickman) ends up accidentally contributing to the death of a teenage girl, and subsequently finds himself looking after her mother, a high- functioning autistic played with great warmth and surprisingly few tics by Sigourney Weaver. There are no surprises here- the film stays squarely in small town indie- drama territory. But it’s smartly written, sweet and convincing, and well worth a look.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm Print
22 Jul 2006 6:25 AM | Submit Comment
Sledgehammer satire, every bit a stoopid as the reality trash and Republican chicanery it sets out to lampoon. And another mainstream pastiche which lacks the courage of it’s political convictions: even when attempting to vilify a president everyone pretty much agrees is a self- serving monster, they still have to portray him as essentially deep- down decent. Nice bad taste ending, though.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
22 Jul 2006 6:23 AM | Submit Comment
A let down. There are some terrific action sequences and a few good gags, but the whole thing seems to go round in circles, tying itself into knots of plot and subplot that don’t actually lead anywhere. Clearly the work of men trying to do too much at once (like write two movies back to back)- their concentration is all over the place, and they seem more interested in setting up World’s End than making a decent fist of this one.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm Print
22 Jul 2006 6:21 AM | Submit Comment
The 90’s really was a golden age for trash cinema- this is witty, sharp and rapturously exciting, well cast and stylishly constructed- like Death Race 2000 with fewer political braincells but heaps more ready cash. Sure, it means nothing, but who honestly cares?
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
22 Jul 2006 6:20 AM | Submit Comment
Billy Wilder at arguably his most cynical. Decades ahead of its time, the movie centers around an ambitious reporter exiled in a small New Mexico town. Eager to return to the big leagues, he stumbles upon what appears to be a golden ticket in the form of a local man trapped in a mine rumored to be haunted by Indian spirits. Knowing that the public’s interest in the man’s misfortune will only grow as the saga continues, the reporter circumvents a proposed early rescue strategy, convincing local authorities that it is in their best interest to let the drama stretch on for a week. Aided by a sheriff eager for re-election, a contractor looking to raise his profile, and the trapped man’s calculating wife, who plans to hop on the first bus out of town once the profits are divided, the reporter orchestrates a media 3-ring circus that makes all of them a household name. What he doesn’t consider, however, is that things might not go exactly according to plan.
The reporter is played by Kirk Douglas in full sleaze mode, and watching him I couldn’t help but wonder if his performance in this film at all influenced his son’s portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. Film Forum screened a new print of this as part of their Essential Wilder series , so here’s to hoping this movie will come to a theater near you.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: 35mm print
20 Jul 2006 11:28 PM | Submit Comment
I don’t need your fuckin’ sympathy, man, I need my fucking johnson!
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Cable TV
20 Jul 2006 10:28 PM | Submit Comment
Yes, I watched it again. Still the perfect movie for a lazy Sunday afternoon (along with Jackie Brown?).
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Criterion Collection DVD
20 Jul 2006 5:31 PM | Submit Comment
Please excuse me for my critical sacrilege. Perhaps it’s because of the success of the TV show, but I always wonder if Altman’s film would have been a success if he wasn’t involved. It certainly wouldn’t have been as distinctive, but the entire concept of the film seems pretty amusing on its own.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: 20th Century Fox DVD
20 Jul 2006 5:18 PM | Submit Comment
One of my fondest memories is of watching this movie with a bunch of friends while it was on TV at a friend’s apartment on a lazy summer night when we had nothing better to do. It remains one of the few instances in life where I genuinely felt happy without worry of events in the past or things to come. I was reminded of that experience a few weeks ago while I watched the film on DVD while wasting some time at friend’s house while he cooked a meal. It’s one of the rare movies that simply unspools itself with the greatest of ease and provides that fleeting sensation of total bliss.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Criterion Collection DVD
20 Jul 2006 5:13 PM | Submit Comment
Whereas the original film radiated a delightfully effervescent quality throughout (which I can still appreciate today), the first hour of the sequel is a tedious chore to endure. Honestly, I didn’t think Dead Man’s Chest captured any of the same comical vigor or gleeful delirium that the first film exuded until the 3-way swordfight started up, and yet it still never matched it’s predecessor’s sense of infantile wit and immature exuberance.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Buena Vista Pictures 35mm Print
20 Jul 2006 4:56 PM | Comments (2)
Singer’s film is a terrific piece of nostalgic filmmaking, filled with lush glow that accompanies and also counters his often somber tone. I’m also not so sure why there has been such an outcry regarding Singer’s visual allusions to Superman being a Christ-like figure, especially since Superman regularly appears as such in the film’s source material as comic-book writers and artists tend to readily admit this deliberate depiction due to Superman’s dominate and imperishable nature. It’s just a tad too long.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Warner Brothers 35mm Print
20 Jul 2006 4:40 PM | Submit Comment
Stillman’s film probably isn’t as critical of the “urban haute bourgeoisie” as he would like to think, considering he treats almost all his characters with intense affection no matter how unsavory they would be in reality, but it’s also not as bad a film as I was led to believe. Unfortunately, I can’t really share Stillman’s misery over the supposed wilting or failure of this entire class of people, especially considering old-money will always dominate the American landscape, even if they have to adjust their lifestyle slightly. At least I now know where Chris Eigeman established his smarmy on-screen personality. I’m also fairly certain that Stillman’s film heavily influence TV’s Gilmore Girls.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Criterion Collection DVD
20 Jul 2006 4:27 PM | Submit Comment
Robert Altman’s may have established his reputation based on his sprawling, eccentric, multi-character opuses, which seem to garner greater acclaim, but I always appreciate his more intimate pieces that focus their attention on a few main characters. Much like The Player, California Split, 3 Women, and The Long Goodbye, I’ve always considered McCabe & Mrs. Miller to be among my favorite Altman films. Yet unlike the other Altman films that I adore, despite the familiarity that’s created with characters such as John McCabe and Constance Miller, Altman still keeps them very enigmatic, which is perhaps a function of the fact that we don’t really spend an awful lot of time attempting to understand their motivations. In some ways, that mystery is probably why they continue to hold my interest.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Warner Brothers DVD
20 Jul 2006 4:03 PM | Submit Comment
Genuinely lovely, although not the undiscovered masterpiece it is reputed to be. Like my favorite Wilder films (Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment) human fallibility is a connecting theme as Wilder takes the famed detective off his pedestal to examine a failed case, rather than his published triumphs. This very human Holmes is intriguing to watch, although smaller details, such as Watson fabricating Holmes’ 6ft 4 stature and deerstalker costume amused me much more than the actual mystery. Following the film, a conversation began on how this is or isn’t very “Wilder,” in conjunction with its large failure at the box office; since it has a reputation of being his most personal film, one might conclude that perhaps Wilder felt some kinship to the detective, at least in his own reputation as a precise and surefire director.
by Jenny Jediny | Source: 35MM Theatrical Print
20 Jul 2006 2:45 PM | Submit Comment
What Guggenheim has created is essentially an amalgamation of a very engaging presentation by Al Gore (did I just use “engaging” and “Al Gore” in the same sentence?) and an extremely boring Al Gore campaign advertisement, which unnecessarily rehashes some unfortunate events and some redundant biography items. I would have appreciated this documentary far more if the filmmakers had simply focused on delivering their thesis to viewers, rather than diverging into a promotion of Gore’s recent activities.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Paramount Pictures 35mm Print
18 Jul 2006 5:52 PM | Submit Comment
Altman’s latest effort is delightfully charming for the most part, specifically while one can appreciate his elegant camera work, his deft handling of another surplus of acting talent, and his polished compositions. Just to behold the sparkle of all those perfectly placed mirrors feels like a cinematic luxury. Altman has always been a rather showy director, mixing the bustle of movement with all that overlapping dialogue, but A Prairie Home Companion feels just as natural as his most cherished films as it settles into a relaxed flow almost immediately. While wandering through Garrison Keillor’s ol’ fashioned and slightly eccentric programming, it’s obvious that Altman is preoccupied with making an elegant exit as a peaceful fascination with death and finale quickly immerges. It’s also refreshing to watch Keillor and Altman essentially acknowledge that their time may have passed (I probably couldn’t stand Keillor’s voice for much longer than 100 minutes), but remain hopeful that their unique efforts can forever be appreciated. Unfortunately, the only real misstep is the awkward performance of Virginia Madsen (she appears to be playing every old man’s fantasy of what the Angel of Death might look like), who delivers her dialogue so awkwardly that it makes her entire character feel superfluous. Still, the film’s flaws are minor and they never really hinder one’s ability to appreciate Altman’s talents.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Picturehouse 35mm Print
18 Jul 2006 5:43 PM | Submit Comment
While this sequel is probably not as bad as many fan-boys have decried it to be, it’s hard not to lower one’s expectations after hearing so much condemnation. Unfortunately, like all his previous directorial efforts, the only distinctive quality of Ratner’s film is that it’s quite bland. For a guy who once boasted to Premiere magazine about his ridiculously large DVD collection and his unfathomable ability to recognize homage, his films never feel anything more than adequate and lack any real unique quality or coherence. Thus, his body of work, including this latest installment of X-Men (a comic book I was quite fond of when I was younger), is rendered somewhat disposable. I doubt that’s really surprising considering Ratner’s most enthusiastic homage is a poorly executed line of dialogue by Vinnie Jones derived from an internet fan-boy voice-over joke.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: 20th Century Fox 35mm Print
18 Jul 2006 4:51 PM | Submit Comment
I’m still fairly conflicted about Zwigoff’s latest film. While its humorous depiction of art school students feels frighteningly accurate at times, it unfortunately suffers from a severe streak of bitterness. It’s also guilty of committing one of my most despised pet-peeves – a main character who fails to make the most obvious choice in the world in order to allow a preposterous plot to continue to sustain itself (someone really has to explain to me how anyone could miss the inclusion of a piece of personal ID in a morbid painting).
I’m as pessimistic as the next guy, so I can handle a film that is cynical and misanthropic. What I have trouble tolerating is Zwigoff and Clowes being so utterly pleased with their own cynicism and misanthropy while frowning on just about everyone and everything. I am certain of one thing – if I ever spot Zwigoff and Clowes walking down the street, I’ll probably just cross the street to avoid their depressing spite.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Sont Pictures Classics 35mm Print
18 Jul 2006 4:24 PM | Submit Comment
If one can get past the inherent artifice of Rian Johnson’s film, his surreal homage to Hammett-style noir is a fairly enjoyable experience and actually functions as a bizarrely vivid depiction of the high-school experience on a certain emotional level. I couldn’t fault anyone for becoming aggravated by the film’s sheer saturation in style, especially since the imagery and audio tactics become a bit brazen, but Johnson crafts his mystery with a competence that could only be obtained through affection and devotion to the noir genre (which is often quite baroque to begin with).
Situated in what must be the most barren high school in a strangely bi-polar California (the film often shifts from gloomy cloud-cover to brilliant sunshine, in between pitch-black darkness), Johnson’s film is littered with a variety of flawed and intriguing characters (his femmes all seem fatal, his tough-guys become vulnerable, and his wise-guys have broken-down bodies), yet is able to express the isolation and loneliness of high-school with startling ease using numerous alienating visuals. Johnson replaces the claustrophobia caused by towering sky-scrappers and bustling city streets with the sprawling landscape of California, perhaps influenced by Polanski’s Chinatown or Boorman’s Point Blank. Johnson is also aided by a surprisingly adept cast of young actors and actresses, who display a startling conviction to their parts, delivering dialogue with astounding dedication. Thus, Johnson sculpts a representation of high-school that’s totally unrealistic in all its heightened style and sophisticated dialogue, but that feels somewhat authentic emotionally due to Johnson’s amplification of story, character, and setting. High school isn’t really this Byzantine or ruthless, but it radiates a certain intensity while you’re attempting to navigate its murky waters. No wonder then that by the film’s final moments our protagonist, Brendan, receives a rather bitterly cold introduction to adulthood.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Focus Features 35mm Print
18 Jul 2006 3:49 PM | Submit Comment
Even a minor Eric Rohmer (one of the lesser “Comedies et Proverbes”)proves to be an absolute gem. All the familar Rohmer elements are there: the modest but very aesthetic camera style; the firm grounding in setting; and the constant and amusing talk, talk which only reiterates the disjunction between talk about yourself and understanding of yourself, between speech and action. And Rohmer’s witty enough to mock himself with the matching colours of the two newly-formed couples in the final scene at the lakeside.
by Ian Johnston | Source: Fox Lorber DVD
18 Jul 2006 1:20 PM | Submit Comment
I dreaded that Abrams might have just used this opportunity to simply create the longest, most-expensive episode of Alias ever (a show I was never all that thrilled with, no matter how much I tried). Instead, Abrams infused the franchise with qualities that it has lacked in the previous two incarnations – namely a genuine sense of urgency and peril. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the psychosis of Tom Cruise, but Abrams (like a few other directors) understands the key to using Cruise as a movie-star is to allow the audience to watch him constantly suffer, enduring enough stress to create virtual exhaustion, before pulling his character back from the point when that torment becomes excessive. Equally appealing is Philip Seymour Hoffman’s blunt portrayal of the film’s heavy, which is so indifferent and casual at times that it feels as if he’s continually irritated with even being associated with this summer blockbuster. While the dramatic moments veer between surprisingly poignant to utterly tacky, Abrams really is focused on the delivering continuous action. By cranking up the intensity and placing his protagonist in hazardous circumstances, Abrams has fashioned the most engrossing pure summer action blockbuster since Michael Bay’s The Rock (yeah, I said it). Of course, I should admit that I’m completely biased to anything that has Keri Russell involved in it.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Paramount Pictures 35mm Print
18 Jul 2006 1:20 PM | Submit Comment
Film noir is a term that gets thrown around around fairly indiscriminately at films of the forties and fifties, but despite its appearance in books on the genre, The Spriral Staircase is anything but. This turn-of-the-century, serial-killer-on-the-loose, danger-in-the-isolated-Gothic-mansion movie has more in common with the blander production values of something like Gaslight, and only really comes alive in a few scenes, particularly with the reverse tracking shot in the Expressionist shadows down in the cellar. But it’s all a long way from and far less interesting than The Killers and Criss Cross.
by Ian Johnston | Source: MGM DVD
18 Jul 2006 1:42 AM | Submit Comment
Someday, this may be considered an overlooked masterpiece, a stunning departure from the forms and styles that made Scorsese famous. But until then, it remains a dark, frenzied, and unbelievably beautiful depiction of paramedics in post-midnight New York. It’s also one of the few films that actually rivals the book, with actors and visuals adding to Joe Connelly’s gritty prose. And the soundtrack is incredible.
by Adam Balz | Source: VHS
15 Jul 2006 8:27 PM | Submit Comment
I could lick the Technicolor off the screen.
by Jenny Jediny | Source: 20th Century Fox DVD
13 Jul 2006 3:23 PM | Submit Comment
Jan Svankmajer’s Alice is an absolute nightmare, its wonderland populated by macabre dolls, corpses of small animals, and even Frankensteined skeletons of the latter. It is, by contrast, quite modest in some aspects in comparison to the more popular Disney rendition (the entire film seems to occur in only a few adjacent rooms), but it is immeasurably more disturbing—as, I think, Lewis Carroll’s source should be.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: VHS
13 Jul 2006 9:49 AM | Comments (1)
René Laloux’s masterful Fantastic Planet is, like A Scanner Darkly, science fiction rendered in animation. In both cases, I suspect, the opting for animation is an effort to more efficiently render the concept. But Laloux’s film is, although over thirty years its senior, eminently more imaginative than Linklater’s. It concerns an alien race (the Draags) on a satellite deemed the fantastic planet, and the humans — deemed “Oms” — diminutive to them. They are treated as pets to the Draags, prisoners to their captors’ sporadic affections. In the opening minutes one of the children Draags apprehends an infant, and it is horrifying to see her toy and prod the baby in the palm of her hand. Having seen this on a VHS tape of awful quality, here’s looking forward to Masters of Cinema’s forthcoming release.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: VHS
11 Jul 2006 10:48 AM | Submit Comment
The consensus is that Richard Linklater’s innovative rotoscoping is better serviced by Philip K. Dick’s source, but this film lacks the totally imaginative lapses in logic and digressions that characterize Waking Life. It also lacks the lapses in logic and digressions that characterize Linklater’s Austin-hipster universe. If Linklater’s influence (which I consider inextricable) may be excepted, this is a fine Philip Dick adaptation, and is much more compelling than Minority Report.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Warner Independent Pictures 35mm print
10 Jul 2006 11:20 AM | Comments (2)
Again I am at the whim of Michael Haneke’s sadism. This is his best film, from what I’ve seen, but enjoying it doesn’t feel like an appropriate response. You admire its craft and its stubborn, observational patience, but it’s still a trap designed to lure the viewer.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Sony Pictures Classics DVD
10 Jul 2006 10:58 AM | Submit Comment
Having little to no direct familiarity with this or any comic book adaptation’s source material, I can’t attest to how faithfully rendered this film is. (A friend scolds me for my preference for Burton’s Batmans, and not the — or so I’m told — more true-to-the-source Batman Begins.) And this is a flaw in my approach, as comic book films have often a few hours in which to either establish or sustain an entire mythology of characters and behavioral laws—one’s appreciation for them is surely enforced by knowledge of their basis.
Lacking that knowledge, my favorite aspect of most every film in this genre persists in how the eponymous heroes are often directly involved in the media that promotes them—they all seem to be partially responsible for modulating their appeal. And this is one of the many reasons Superman Returns is a disappointment. Having returned, after a five-year hiatus, to his job as a reporter at the Daily Planet, a cardboard Clark Kent resumes his gawking at Lois Lane. Contrast this to the pleasures that arise from Peter Parker’s employment at the Daily Bugle.
The opening credits of this film (and Marlon Brando’s subsequent voiceover), however, are enthralling, illustrating Singer & Co.’s integrity in maintaining a connection (as well as debt) to Richard Donner’s 1978 original. A shame no second that follows is nearly as exciting.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Warner Bros. 35mm print
10 Jul 2006 10:56 AM | Submit Comment
A.k.a. My Life Two Years Ago, but that’s another story, and besides which, my devil favored Armani.
While Meryl Streep brings a dimension to the title character that is not afforded to her in the book, I was still troubled by the film’s assertion that a woman has to behave like a beast in order to retain power. The behind-the-scenes look at the world of an overworked assistant in one of New York’s glamour industries rang true, but the film ultimately felt like one gag (“what will the evil boss do next?”) stretched out over two hours.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: 20th Century Fox 35mm print
08 Jul 2006 1:26 PM | Submit Comment
Undoubtedly the best film I’ve seen in a theater this year. Richard Linklater’s rotoscoping technique lends a fluid feel to each actor’s movements, perfectly befitting the shifting identities and paranoia at hand. As in Dazed and Confused, he captures the interaction between his drug-addled characters with pitch-perfect warmth and humor (with Robert Downey, Jr.’s hilarious monologues stealing the show), but does not shy away from showing the cost of addiction, something Philip K. Dick’s novel was also invested in. Still, this is no cautionary tale about drugs, but rather a frighteningly relevant look at a seemingly not-so-distant future in which every move is observed and government and corporate interests have fully merged. And for once, Keanu Reeves’ vacant stare serves his role – as a man whose sense of self is rapidly disintegrating – extraordinarily well.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: Warner Independent 35mm print
08 Jul 2006 1:15 PM | Submit Comment
This routinely maligned Robert Altman film (that, for it follows his decade of critical prominence in which even his obscurer efforts pale his later works) is also among my favorites of his, but not for how it exudes his trademarks. It occurs in some sort of utopian theme park in the Mediterranean (which still exists), and the accuracy with which Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall channel Popeye and Olive Oyl is uncanny. And the songs are so weird—think of Duvall singing of how Bluto is large.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Cable TV
07 Jul 2006 11:12 AM | Comments (2)
It seems that the United States is more regularly disparaged in recent films than it is honored, for its political activity as well as the easily derided personas of its Presidents hastily obscures its virtues. It is remarkable that in 25th Hour – one of the most responsible American films thus far this decade — both extols these virtues and disparages the country at once. Monty, a convicted drug dealer, pronounces and oppresses most every prominent ethnic stereotype in New York City in a tirade noticeably evocative of Do the Right Thing—he is channeling a larger, post-9-11 xenophobia. But the anger exhausts him. With nothing left to hate but himself, he begins to see the good in others, as well as his country. The final sequence in which he imagines a drive west with his father is uncommonly beautiful.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: VHS screener
07 Jul 2006 11:07 AM | Comments (1)
Is there a more loving treatment of foosball on film?
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Universal Pictures VHS
06 Jul 2006 11:26 AM | Submit Comment
Despite the silly title, by far the best of the countless Halloween sequels. Short (barely 80 minutes), sharp and genuinely scary, the film has a terrific cast (Janet Leigh and LL Cool J, together at last) and makes effective use of spooky locations and simple props- curtains, tables, most memorably a waste disposal unit.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: BBC3
05 Jul 2006 6:52 PM | Submit Comment
An extraordinary piece of television, a clear forerunner of both The War Game and The Gladiators, the sheer brutality and senselessness of war viewed through a cold and judgeless lens, rendering it all the more terrifying. The historical recreation is flawless, mired in peat and blood, the faces of the soldiers never for a moment betraying their fictitious nature.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: BBC4
05 Jul 2006 6:50 PM | Submit Comment
Inane and scatological but oddly entertaining, Reitman’s attempt at big budget sci- fi comedy is no Ghostbusters. There’s some well written buddy banter, some dreadful slapstick and an obscene amount of anal penetration gags.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: Channel 4
05 Jul 2006 6:43 PM | Submit Comment
A disappointing attempt to channel Takashi Miike into the American indie circuit, high on ick but low on atmosphere, and ultimately lacking the courage of its convictions to a staggering degree.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm Print
05 Jul 2006 6:43 PM | Submit Comment
One of the most underrated films of the decade, and the best of an average lot by a country mile. The storyline is flawed and repetitive, the characters overly familiar, but this is Alfonso Cuaron’s movie, proof positive that it’s possible to make a great film from an average script. The locations are breathtaking, the symbolism powerful and appropriate (clocks, mirrors, the changing seasons), the whole affair brought off with a sense of irrepressible enthusiasm and genuine, wide eyed wonder not seen since Spielberg at his early 80’s peak.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
05 Jul 2006 6:40 PM | Comments (4)
Very few films chart as steep a downward trajectory as this one- the first thirty minutes are like a ‘70’s Ivy League John Hughes movie, all passion and betrayal and witty, intricate conversations about the nature of adolescent passion. But it quickly plummets into a talky, disinterested satire, populated by predatory men and pathetic women, lacking conviction, interest or anything approaching real insight.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
05 Jul 2006 6:39 PM | Submit Comment
The pontificating and vagabond Johnny is the most memorable character Mike Leigh has ever crafted, managing to either offend or captivate every person he comes across within moments. Although I strongly laud this film, I can’t confute the charges of misogyny brought against it. The supplementary disc in the Criterion edition is prefaced by an interview with Neil Labute, whose In the Company of Men elicited similar charges. His defense of Leigh — which I don’t find entirely persuasive — attributes Johnny’s resolute mistreatment of women to his schizophrenic nature; locked in a perpetual resolve to benefit his present, Johnny has little patience to ensure any sort of platonic or romantic commitment for his future. The women who do commit to him are not misled, however. Like moths to a flame they are drawn to his extraordinary character, and end up harmed.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: The Criterion Collection DVD
05 Jul 2006 11:20 AM | Comments (1)
A film that contains incest, prostitution, masturbation, and two rather graphic love scenes involving a minor, and yet it’s strangely compelling and sympathetic in its depiction of a spoiled, narcissistic trio of brothers. This is a wonderful film about how privilege may not necessarily foster sophistication.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: The Criterion Collection DVD
05 Jul 2006 11:19 AM | Submit Comment
Again, my interest in The State on legitimate DVD is reinvigorated.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: DVD
05 Jul 2006 11:18 AM | Comments (1)
Low expectations going in, which probably helped me enjoy this more than I thought I would. The decision to keep the Williams score, the (still) cool title font and the little references to Christopher Reeve helped tremendously, as did Parker Posey’s amusing performance as Lex’s girlfriend.
by Jenny Jediny | Source: 35MM Theatrical Print
04 Jul 2006 10:44 AM | Comments (2)
Initially this Hawks film completely turned me off, as much of a Katherine Hepburn fan as I am. Second time around, I found it brilliant. Hepburn is much more fun here than in The Philadelphia Story, the film quoted by numerous critics as the preferable Hepburn vehicle, although the script might make you slightly dizzy (in a good way of course).
by Jenny Jediny | Source: PBS Broadcast TV
04 Jul 2006 10:38 AM | Submit Comment
The result of pondering action films enjoyed in my elementary school days. Khan is more badass than ever. Spock’s demise was not as upsetting as it used to be, but perhaps that’s because I now know of his resurrection in the third sequel. The dialogue is fantastic. How great is it to hear Kirk scream in agony, “KKHHAANNNN!!!!!!”
by Jenny Jediny | Source: Netflix DVD
04 Jul 2006 10:32 AM | Submit Comment
Aside from the awful writing, Click suffers from a severe identity crisis. What begins like a standard Adam Sandler flick, naughty jokes and all, transforms halfway through into a humorless genre hybrid that’s more awkward than appealing. The supporting actors—Christopher Walken, James Earl Jones, Henry Winkler—are given rapid and undeveloped characters that cry out for one decent line. I even weep for David Hasselhoff, whose turn as the self-obsessed CEO really doesn’t add to his career. (Then again, what could?) And the finale is predictably evasive, resolving the character’s problem while leaving subplots irksomely in doubt.
I feel compelled to mention two scenes late in the film, in which Sandler’s character is an unfeeling and gray-haired executive, because they’re surprisingly well-acted and absolutely beautiful. They’re also completely incongruous, like a bottle of wine in a vending machine. I personally would rather see a Sandler film built around those few minutes, as they’re also the only moments when I felt my time wasn’t being wasted.
by Adam Balz | Source: 35MM Print
03 Jul 2006 5:57 PM | Submit Comment
I find it more than casually offensive that the principle cast (interviewed in supplementary footage on the DVD) laud Noah Baumbauch’s script for its comedy. There is much in the film that may, perhaps too easily be construed as comedy: picking his youngest of two sons up from tennis practice one afternoon, Bernard challenges his tutor to a quick game in an effort to demonstrate the nuanced art of a one-handed backhand. It’s Goliath attempting futilely to impose his prowess upon those who should naturally respect him. (As the film casually disputes, a PhD should be an engenderer of respect in one’s elders.) Seeing Jeff Daniels sputter around his half of the court, taking his shots only as well as he can properly align his body for them, is funny because he’s doing this in a pair of jeans and a shirt that he’s probably had for a decade. But this action – and many others in the film – is a father’s fear of losing his sons’ admiration. He begins to pontificate that such admiration is not innate in his offspring, but earned. He has spent so much of his life cultivating his knowledge of ethereal subjects, that his capability in sustaining the most important relationships in his life is irreversibly compromised.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Sony Pictures DVD
03 Jul 2006 10:40 AM | Submit Comment
Most every mention of this film is devoted, at least in part, to describing its magnificent soundtrack. Many of the reggae tunes are sung and performed by Jimmy Cliff, who also stars as Ivanhoe Martin, a poor but determined man who moves to Kingston, seeking some publicity or opportunity to perform his music. He manages to cut a record, but the obnoxious persistence he’s relayed to do so inhibits him; annoyed, the studio producer who gave him a break insists, to local radio djs, to bury the record after it recoups its meager costs. Ivan now exemplifies a by any means necessary agenda in participating in the nation’s profitable ganja trade, in which he successively ascends the hierarchy by threatening (and even killing) those who would naturally inhibit him. He becomes notorious, and his record immensely popular. However, Ivan shouldn’t be perceived for the criminal his actions attend, but as a reactionary who has refused his prior life of fruitless religious and occupational responsibility. This thought is verified in the final scene in which he faces off against a team of policemen, the conflict interspersed with footage of a Jamaican audience applauding not his capture but his bravery.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: The Criterion Collection DVD
03 Jul 2006 10:36 AM | Submit Comment
Up! is the second (of three) collaborations between Roger Ebert and Russ Meyer, made with a fraction of the budget of its predecessors and with much saucier content—this is to say it’s a return-to-form for Meyer after Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and The Seven Minutes, both filmed under a contract with 20th Century Fox. Although the films that immediately precede this contract (and which are more strongly emulated in this film) are my favorite in Meyer’s career, Up! doesn’t exude the same sinister playfulness as his best films. It’s expectedly raunchy, but not subtle and seldom witty.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: RM Films VHS
03 Jul 2006 10:33 AM | Submit Comment
Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns picks up where the Christopher Reeves films left off, with Superman returning to Earth after five years on Krypton, now in ruins. Upon his arrival, he finds that the world he knew has changed dramatically.
While the film strives for individuality in a field of generic superhero flicks by making the characters more layered, something Singer and his crew of screenwriters are famous for, Superman Returns also contains some very nagging problems. Kate Bosworth’s Lois Lane, who is now a married mother, has just won a Pulitzer; yet she looks twenty-something rather than the 30 or 35 she should be. Lex Luther’s plan for world domination seems creatively evil…until we actually see the scheme unfold. And the new Jimmy Olsen isn’t given much screen time, a drastic departure from the original series.
Singer, though, should be commended for staying loyal to the original Superman films, including a short speech about the safety of air travel and some humorous observations on Clark Kent’s glasses, as well as a small jab at Batman. Rather than hiring a new actor to portray Jor-El, Singer uses old audio of Marlon Brando. And Brandon Routh’s acting fits both the suave confidence exuded by Superman and the awkward inelegance of Clark Kent. Additionally, the theme by John Williams, incredible special effects, and opening credits add an air of nostalgia to a film that accommodates all audiences. If only they’d cut the last half hour…
P.S.: Die-hard Superman fans should look for Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olsen in Adventures of Superman with George Reeves, as Bo the bowtied bartender.
by Adam Balz | Source: 35MM Print
01 Jul 2006 9:09 PM | Submit Comment
Reliant almost solely on Meryl Streep’s turn as the boorish and self-centered Miranda Priestly, a thinly-veiled incarnation of Vogue editor Anna Wintour, The Devil Wears Prada manages to find solid footing despite its banal habits. Montages are overused; the soundtrack’s diversity becomes annoying; and the plot—a young woman with big dreams climbs the social ladder and alienates her friends, only to find the top wrung a depraved and unappealing place—has been done before. Nonetheless, there’s a Fellini-meets-Steve-Martin feel to the film. The depiction of glamour as a poison rather than a cure never gets old, and “perfection” will always reveal itself to be imperfect. Add Stanley Tucci and a warehouse of arresting fashion, and the film practically writes itself.
by Adam Balz | Source: 35MM Print
01 Jul 2006 7:48 PM | Submit Comment