Not Coming to a Theater Near You

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My Darling Clementine / USA / 1946

This is a classic Ford Western, though it’s hardly a standard of the genre. Henry Fonda plays the infamous Wyatt Earp, who with his brothers, ride into Tombstone to find the usual helping of backstabbing and murder. Victor Mature is a standout as Doc Holliday (strangely not given top billing), Earp’s initial foil but ultimate ally. Timely, underplayed acting and Ford’s sometimes sentimental but unusually lyric touch here makes this an enjoyable entertainment.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: 20th Century Fox DVD
30 Jun 2007 12:34 PM | Submit Comment

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Waitress / USA / 2007

As much as I loved the female characters—Keri Russell’s Jenna, lost in a world of cold servitude to both her customers and her husband; Cheryl Hine’s Becky, whose loveless marriage forces her to find passion elsewhere; writer-director Adrienne Shelly’s wide-eyed Dawn, who becomes the object of an awkward poet’s affection—this film is purely Andy Griffith’s. As the demanding, foul-mouthed owner of the pie diner, Griffith plays the stereotypical kind-at-heart old man with noticeable ease. But his Old Joe also dispenses the life-learned wisdom that someone like Jenna needs to hear but doesn’t recognize as important; his confession at a wedding late in the film, in which he discusses what his life has meant in terms of love, is heartbreakingly honest. At the same time, his impromptu horoscope reading (combined with Jenna’s mental recipes) makes Waitress a wonderful little film that, had the filmmaker not been so talented, would have wandered directly into kitschy Hallmark territory.

Chiranjit’s Thoughts

by Adam Balz | Source: Fox Searchlight 35MM Theatrical Print
28 Jun 2007 10:20 PM | Submit Comment

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Venus / UK / 2006

Witty one-liners aside, this is a rather gauche and unexciting film. Peter O’Toole, having been relegated to absurdly underdeveloped roles in the past two decades, is finally given another chance to shine…as a perverted and impotent old man, a trained stage actor, who is now resigned to playing corpses in hospital melodramas. He lusts after a friend’s tart niece, whose foul mouth hides a soul driven by overblown aspirations and loneliness. She is abandoned by her parents in the heart of England, and then again by her elderly uncle; when she and O’Toole’s Maurice find one another, she is looking for monetary comfort and in-studio connections, while he searches for an escape from his daunting age. At first she comes off as petty and materialistic, even attacking the old man when he cannot afford to buy her clothes; conversely, he watches her pose nude for an art class and is given rewards in the form of neck-kisses. Everything is intended to make the film seem atypical—two lonesome people who cannot fall in love, cannot have sex, yet live in a world of odd eroticism. But as the film draws to an end, it becomes what it hopes to avoid—an emotional nugget of clichés. O’Toole’s Maurice, a role meant to satirize the late careers of great stage actors, becomes just another wise old man who must pass on for the film’s message to come through. Just another man in a hospital bed with people crying around him.

But even with such an odd film, I can’t help but feel that O’ Toole was robbed of a golden statuette…again.

Tom’s Review

by Adam Balz | Source: Miramax DVD
28 Jun 2007 10:15 PM | Submit Comment

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Under The Sun Of Satan / Sous le soleil de Satan / France / 1987

Georges Bernanos wrote the novel from which this film takes its story. Gérard Depardieu stars as an unusually simple young priest questioning his faith as he journeys to a literal and figurative hell and back counselling an especially troubled young woman named (you guessed it) Mouchette. After viewing Bresson’s treatment of other Bernanos material I often wonder how he would have handled this almost supernatural-like story. Maurice Pialat does a credible job, however, of never letting the images overpower or, perhaps, over-develop the narrative. On the other hand, the camerawork doesn’t extend the themes approached. It simply documents them. Bernanos’ story, along with fine performances from Depardieu and Sandrine Bonnaire (as Mouchette), remain the most powerful aspect of this underrated and seldom discussed film.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: Connoisseur Video VHS
27 Jun 2007 5:29 PM | Submit Comment

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On The Waterfront / USA / 1954

This is icon, Marlon Brando, and director, Elia Kazan, at their finest hour, probably. Karl Marlden and Eva Marie-Saint costar as priest and sister, respectively, to a stool pigeon who squeals on a crooked dock operation in New York, circa 1954. Brando stars as a friend and reluctant informer. These are the bare-bones outlines in a masterful exhibition of the finest acting on film from this period.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: Sony Pictures DVD
26 Jun 2007 5:37 PM | Submit Comment

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Pickpocket / FRance / 1959

Based on Dosteovsky’s Crime & Punishment, Robert Bresson’s classic film about the redemption of a criminal through a personal love affair tops the annual spate of best-films-of-all-time. The ending is a bit too sweet for my taste: after depriving Michel, the main protagonist (and, subsequently, the viewer), of any human warmth for nearly two hours, showcasing an almost machine-like precision in the art of pickpocketing and the depraved lifestyle that accompanies it, we get a sudden flood of sentiment from Michel, who realizes (too late?) that love has been waiting for him all along.

Even Bresson had to admit (years later) that much of his early work with regard to spiritual redemption was a bit naïve. Still most of the film is coldly stunning. I think, however, that Bresson’s A Man Escaped covers much of the same terrain, culminates and concludes far more successfully. Here’s what Matt had to say about that film.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: Criterion Collection
25 Jun 2007 5:55 PM | Comments (2)

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Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer / USA/Germany / 2007

Someone has to explain to me how it makes sense to cast Jessica Alba as Sue Storm. I know her name provides greater incentive for comic-book fans to spend their money on these films, but it’s rather astounding that Hollywood is suddenly bereft of semi-talented blondes who could carry this franchise. It’s not as if the part requires a great deal of acting talent or physical ability. Why would anyone require Alba – whose beauty is specifically a product of her “exotic” appearance – to go blonde and wear blue contacts lenses? Alba is certainly attractive enough to pull off minor changes to her appearance, but these alterations of her image are asking a lot of acceptance from the audience. In fact, the images of Alba’s eyes only alternate between artificial, distracting, and disturbing.

The decision to alter Alba’s appearance borders on being comparable to Rita Hayworth going blonde in The Lady from Shanghai, considering how jarring the results are in both films. Unfortunately for the Fantastic Four’s filmmakers, their creative choices aren’t subdued by the softer hues of black-and-white photography. It’s also probably a safe assumption to make that Story doesn’t have as much talent to fall back upon, considering his crew doesn’t include anyone as ingenious or inventive as Orson Welles. Hence, since Story’s film never exerts or extends itself beyond the customary attempts to entertain, the entire project feels incredibly generic and bland for the most part. Thus, Alba serves as just another comic-book cog rather than as the glamorous object-of-temptation that Welles envisioned and sculpted for Hayworth, though this is kind of an unfair comparison to be making considering the diverging talent-levels and goals of each project.

Seriously, if I ever meet the genius who decided to reduce Alba to just another Hollywood-blonde remind me to smack them with my shoe. Also, someone needs to remind me to start picking better movies to watch during the summer months.

by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: 20th Century Fox 35mm Theatrical Print
25 Jun 2007 5:42 PM | Submit Comment

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Ocean’s 13 / Ocean’s Thirteen / USA / 2007

Given my routine with the previous films in this series, it was fitting that I watched Soderbergh’s latest installment after having just overcome a severe bout of nausea. I still have no idea why the colour-pallet that Soderbergh applies within these films feels so soothing, but whatever the reason, it’s weirdly effective.

While I remain among the minority that didn’t mind the second film (other than that lame dance-sequence that actually made me more nauseous), I will readily admit that it wasn’t a home-run by any stretch of the imagination, mostly since the project felt so incredibly self-involved. I can appreciate Soderbergh trying to keep himself interested while making a sequel and packing it with as many reflective cinematic techniques as possible, perhaps demanding his audience participate in a slightly more active viewing-experience, but it seemed to be asking a great deal from the fans of these films, who probably expected a typical Hollywood sequel that could recreate a similar atmosphere as the first film.

Thankfully, for most viewers, the third film manages to restore most of the tone and mood from the first film, but while its familiarity provides comfort, it also predictably feels uninspired at times. Still, even if it’s undemanding, the film is amusing enough to be considered a mild-success, particularly Matt Damon’s clumsy seduction of Ellen Barkin (I’m not even going to bother referring to the actors by their character’s names considering they are essentially just channeling slightly-veiled versions of their own personas — Clooney and Pitt are seriously on cruise-control throughout this whole thing) that concludes in the inexperienced protégé, still desperate to prove his aptitude, being embarrassingly rescued from being potentially tarnished by an insatiable “cougar”. The scenes achieve their humor since we know Damon doesn’t share the same reputation as Pitt or Clooney, who we assume to have “been there” and “done that” based on their public personas. The surprising thing is that Damon’s personality in the past two films has been so dramatically different from the first film, in which he seemed entirely indifferent to the schemes of the collective. Instead, in the past two films, Damon’s desire to crawl out of the shadow cast by his father has altered his character to an enthusiastic contributor, almost too eager to sacrifice his dignity for commendation. Thus, it’s sort of fitting that he shares the most screen-time with Super Dave Osborne, while Clooney and Pitt square off against Pacino.

Of course I just enjoyed watching the scenes involving Casey Affleck and Scott Caan inspiring a mini-revolution in Mexico, which essentially served as a teaser to Soderbergh’s upcoming films involving Ernesto “Che” Guevara. If Soderbergh’s Che-biographies are anything like the sequences in Mexico filmed for his summer-blockbuster heist-flick, they are sure to be a riot.

Adam’s Thoughts

by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Warner Brothers 35mm Theatrical Print
25 Jun 2007 4:33 PM | Submit Comment

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A Trip To Mars / Himmelskibet / Denmark / 1918

This (I guess)big budget sci-fi epic (lots of crowd scenes, aerial footage etc) is a bit of a historical curiosity – although you do wonder if Fritz Lang had been watching it for both Metropolis and Woman in the Moon. The Martians, by the way, are white-garbed telepathic peaceloving vegetarians – no doubt with a lot to teach Europe in 1918.

by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
25 Jun 2007 2:37 PM | Submit Comment

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The Candle And The Moth / Evangeliemandens liv / Denmark / 1915

The premise here is of less appeal nowadays: an evangelist tells his past story of a dissolute life and false imprisonment to turn a young man on to the straight and narrow. But there’s a nice formal balance at work, the best examples being the opening and closing shots. At the beginning, the camera shows John Redmond preaching in the open air on top of a large rock, then tilts down to the young man; at the end, after saving the young man’s wife(?) from a suicide attempt in the nick of time, the camera movement is completely reversed. (Except, as an interesting supplement on this print reveals, the versions for Russia and Sweden never ended in this way. Instead, for Russia, the film ends gloomily on the successful suicide; for Sweden, the two men cut down the body and revive her as the evengelist raises his eyes to the ceiling in thanks to the Lord. Obviously Denmark was the fun place to be in 1915.)

by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
25 Jun 2007 2:31 PM | Submit Comment

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Temptations Of A Great City / Ved Faegslets Port / Denmark / 1911

The direction here is even more assured than in The Abyss, with a striking use of detailed set decoration – the use of a mirror placed in the centre of the shot to open up an off-screen space; and the symbolic application of wall paintings (a dancer’s legs when the wastrel son is phoning his cronies; a more formal 17th century couple when he’s set up home with the moneylender’s daughter). Again, it’s a cautionary tale of the downward spiral of a rich woman’s son as he seduced by the delights of the fast life (and who does his own bit of seducing in turn), but the core of the film is the relationship between the son and his proud mother, with her overplayed acting style rather unbalancing the proceedings.

by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
25 Jun 2007 2:19 PM | Submit Comment

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The Abyss / Afgrunden / Denmark / 1910

For all the predictable moralism of the story – girl of good family gets seduced by a travelling circus performer, falls into a life of debauchery, it all ends in murder – there’s nothing primitive about the control of mise-en-scene and the flow of the narrative; this for a 1910 film that predates Griffith’s more famous early efforts. Was this a golden age of Danish cinema I’ve never heard of? There’s also a strong eroticism at work – it’s pretty sexually explicit, and Asta Nielsen brings a natural energy – and an in-the-audience’s-face erotic dance which involves her tying up a gaucho and then rubbing her body over him. Not quite my idea of movies in 1910.

by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
25 Jun 2007 2:06 PM | Submit Comment

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Brand Upon The Brain! / US / Canada / 2006

From what Jit has written, I’ve missed out on a lot, as this is the 35mm version with soundtrack (sound effects, music, voices, and Isabella Rossellini as the “interlocutor”). As for the film, it’s a fevered fantasy that anyone in love with silent film (and the memories of scratchy, jumpy prints) will repond to – although for me (as with the only other Madddin film I’ve seen, Twilight of the Ice Nymphs) it did go on for a bit too long.

by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
24 Jun 2007 1:24 PM | Submit Comment

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Six-String Saumurai / USA / 1998

A low-budget indie flick set decades after a Russian nuclear attack, when the death of Elvis—the reigning King of “Lost Vegas,” the lone holdout in post-apocalyptic America—opens the door for all surviving guitarists to make a claim to the throne. One of these men, a scrawny unkempt swordsman with coke-bottle glasses named Buddy, wields a guitar sought after from coast to coast; even Death himself, dressed in a ragged overcoat and top-hat and brandishing an electric guitar, is out for the crown.

A perfectly constructed allegory of the clashing schools of rock-and-roll: the old-school rockabilly, with artists like Sam Perkins and Buddy Holly, and the 1980s hard rock of groups like Guns N’ Roses and Damn Yankees. Buddy is, of course, a thin incarnation of Holly, while Death is Slash of Guns N’ Roses. A novel idea, especially when framed around the themes of the Cold War, but the final showdown, in which Buddy faces off against Death in a no-holds-barred rock-off outside the gates of Vegas, is too anticlimactic. Had the filmmakers decided against rushing the story, much of which revolves around Buddy’s relationship with an annoying youngster, they would have allowed us to savor the originality of seeing Buddy Holly face down a large Communist battalion and Death sidetracked by leopard-spotted shoes.

by Adam Balz | Source: Palm Pictures DVD
21 Jun 2007 9:13 PM | Submit Comment

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An Evening With Kevin Smith / USA / 2002

Remove about a half-hour of fellatio jokes, and this is actually a fun, interesting documentary—a collection of footage from Kevin Smith’s college tours, during which he discusses his start in film, his friendships with Jason Mewes and Ben Affleck, and his life outside the mainstream. Spread out rather inconveniently over two discs, this is three-plus hours of ego-free hilarity topped off by two long, hilarious, and unexpectedly frightening stories: The first concerning Jon Peters’ giant spider, and the second concerning the director’s failed Prince documentary.

by Adam Balz | Source: Columbia TriStar DVD
21 Jun 2007 8:54 PM | Comments (1)

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The Bridge / USA / 2005

The Bridge’s arguably noble intentions are obscured by the shocking footage of suicides off the Golden Gate Bridge. Almost each of these is handled with pornographic suspense: we’ll see a figure from a distance, pacing anxiously around his preferred departure, before he finally mounts the red siding. It’s dishonorable that a film so ostensibly sympathetic contrives suspense from the despair of others. This is especially true of one individual, a tall, waifish man in black with long hair, whose figure is returned to at intervals, before his own elaborate jump – backwards, with arms outstretched – will be the climax at the very end of the film.

Jenny’s review

by Rumsey Taylor | Source: IFC
20 Jun 2007 4:29 PM | Submit Comment

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The Hustler / USA / 1961

This is one of the only instances I can cite in which a character’s vulnerability or vice becomes his most endearing quality. Late in the film, a tally of losses mounting against him, Eddie Felson falls to his knees and begs his bookie to lend him more money—it’s a man at his most desperate. And we want him to get the money – to further fund his vice – because we want to see him win.

by Rumsey Taylor | Source: TCM
20 Jun 2007 4:24 PM | Submit Comment

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Sherman’s March / A Mediation to the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation / USA / 1986

This is inarguably one of the most self-indulgent films ever made, and gloriously so. Ross McElwee emerges not as a man engaging his hubris but rather his humility—that, and his libido at the potential expense of his film on the route of US Army general William Tecumseh Sherman. By the end of his journey, McElwee will salvage what exploration he can on Sherman’s march, but it is his own journey that is the film’s central thread.

Leo’s review

Features: Scorched Earth & Bright Leaves: Ross McElwee’s Meditations on the Possibility of Documentary Filmmaking

by Rumsey Taylor | Source: First Rum Features DVD
20 Jun 2007 4:22 PM | Submit Comment

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Nana / France / 1926

There’s no doubt retrospective irony in Renoir’s minimally-talented wife Catherine Hessling starring in this role of Zola’s talentless courtesan Nana. The problem with the film is that the exclusively interior sets focus attention on Hessling’s character in a way that La Fille de l’Eau didn’t – in the latter film, the natural setting is as an important a character in the film as anyone. Hessling adopts a histrionic, overdone performance style (and a bizarrely overdone makeup style) which clashes with the more controlled,restrained, and convincing style of the male leads (e.g. Werner Krauss). The enormous sets look great, but you can’t escape the grotesque performance at the centre of the film.

by Ian Johnston | Source: Lions Gate DVD
20 Jun 2007 2:21 PM | Submit Comment

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La Fille de l’Eau / Whirlpool of Fate / France / 1925

Renoir’s version of vanity publishing, this film was a vehicle to promote the less than stellar talents of his wife Catherine Hessling. Basically, it’s a hoary old melodrama of an innocent young girl sexually menaced by an array of male nasties, including her own uncle. The expressionistic dream/nightmare sequence was quite striking in its day but seems rather derivative and a distraction from the strengths of the film – the lyrical depiction of the natural setting along a quintessentially Renoirian river. (One character even ends up floating, Boudu-like, down the river – but to very different effect.)

by Ian Johnston | Source: Lions Gate DVD
20 Jun 2007 2:11 PM | Submit Comment

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A Chorus Line / USA / 1985

Faithful to the energy that made (up to that time) the longest running Broadway musical, A Chorus Line shines best when the dancers take center stage. The opening scene and all the most well known numbers (including “Tits ‘N Ass” and “One”) are exiting. As soon as Michael Douglas makes his presence felt as the choreographer and omniscent voice emminating from the back of the auditorium, however, the movie goes thud. He’s far too grave for someone who is supposed to inspire 12 or 13 poor, overworked, underpaid, but religiously dedicated dancers to create a new hit show. It works during the initial “cut” scenes but feels increasingly out of place alongside the spirit of the dancers. Still, Richard Attenborough borrows enough of the panache from the Broadway show to make an it enjoyable experience.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: MGM DVD
19 Jun 2007 5:35 PM | Submit Comment

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The Long, Hot Summer / USA / 1958

This William Faulkner story was transformed by writers Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr. (though Faulkner is given first billing) into a rather flat, dry, Southern melodrama. With such luminaries as Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Orson Welles as the despotic family head (and shoulders and stomach and spleen), one expects a hightened level of Mississippi-style histrionics. In Ritt’s hands, however, much of it comes across as desperate blustering by people attempting to force human connections. It’s not so much a hot summer as it is a drained one. And I bet you five bucks Ritt didn’t know Mississippi from Idaho.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: 20th Century Fox DVD
18 Jun 2007 5:35 PM | Submit Comment

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God Said, ‘Ha!’ / USA / 1998

While Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell are earning millions in their post-SNL careers, Julia Sweeney has been talking. Touring the country with her monologues—first with God Said, ‘Ha!’, and more recently with Letting Go of God—she has found a strong and devoted following by combining pain and humor, grief and optimism, anger and happiness, all centered around the ways life can suddenly change.

God Said, ‘Ha!’, which revolves around her brother Michael’s fight with cancer, is more a story of her family. The talk, beginning with Sweeney’s move into a new apartment, which she adapts to fit an idealistic vision of a single woman’s busy life, slowly becomes a story of love and compassion when she must adapt her new lifestyle to fit her parents and siblings, who move in to support Mike. Suddenly, she tells us, she is stuck back in childhood.

I remember listening to a version of Julia Sweeney’s monologue on NPR’s “This American Life,” which was much longer and performed in front of a live audience. Which is where Sweeney seems to feel at home—in front of an engaged gathering of fans. In God Said, ‘Ha!’, the film version of that same monologue produced by Quentin Tarantino, Sweeney’s talk is condensed and delivered to an empty theatre (though a distant laugh track, perhaps recorded from an actual live performance, is heard). She seems torn between looking out among the empty chairs and looking deep into the camera, trying to find listeners somewhere behind the curved lens. Had this been shot during an actual performance, with cameras panning out occasionally over the audience, and Sweeney feeding off their energy—the NPR recording has her laughing with them—it would be much better. Still, as a testament to someone who’s felt tragedy touch her life, this is a surprising and uplifting film.

by Adam Balz | Source: Miramax VHS
16 Jun 2007 12:22 PM | Submit Comment

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Ocean’s 13 / USA / 2007

Ocean’s 13 is Steven Soderbergh doing cinematic color-by-numbers—this is essentially his first two installments, only with Al Pacino and without Julia Roberts. (Fair trade, I suppose.) There’s barely even any plot development, save for a five-minute scene featuring Clooney, Pitt, and Izzard, which has a very grainy, shot-in-my-kitchen-this-afternoon feel to it and is utterly terrible. But magic happens when the gang of men finally reaches the casino floor, sabotaging the new Vegas Strip eyesore of Pacino’s Willy Bank. This is pure fun—harmless, predictable, but enjoyable from start to finish, with Carl Reiner and David Paymer stealing the show; though not as good as the original, it’s much better than the sequel. (Plus, any film that brings Super Dave Osborne back into mainstream popular culture is worth something.)

by Adam Balz | Source: Warner Brothers 35MM Theatrical Print
16 Jun 2007 11:48 AM | Comments (1)

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Knocked Up / USA / 2007

Rumsey’s Thoughts
Jason’s Thoughts
Chiranjit’s Thoughts Beth’s Thoughts

What more can be said? Excellent film.

by Adam Balz | Source: Universal 35MM Theatrical Print
16 Jun 2007 11:36 AM | Submit Comment

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Marnie / USA / 1964

This is an unusual Hitchcock film (panned when it was released) concerning a young, pathological, blond bombshell, played by Tippi Hedren, and the rich, single, good-looking bachelor, played by Sean Connery (fresh from the success of Dr. No) that catches and saves her from herself. Fun for lovers of the purely cinematic – it looks fabulous. It plays less convincingly. Give it a shot.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: Universal Studio DVD
15 Jun 2007 1:52 PM | Submit Comment

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Knocked Up / USA / 2007

As in his previous work (but even more so here), Judd Apatow successfully evokes a generation of twenty & thirty-somethings who are terrified of growing up. Be it Leslie Mann’s freak-out when she’s told she’s no longer “young and hot” enough to get into a nightclub, Paul Rudd’s sneaking away from his wife and kids to play fantasy baseball with his male friends, Seth Rogen and his friends sitting around and getting stoned all day, or even Harold Ramis’ [playing Rogen’s dad] admission that he didn’t quite have it in him to keep his three marriages intact, what Apatow creates is as affecting a portrait of arrested development and age-obsessed society as any I’ve seen onscreen.

by Beth Gilligan | Source: Universal 35mm print
14 Jun 2007 10:39 AM | Submit Comment

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Kind Hearts And Coronets / UK / 1949

It’s been almost six decades, but this might still hold the crown as the blackest comedy ever made. There’s been some sick stuff these past few years, but it’s hard to imagine even the Farrelly brothers getting a comic beat out of two infants (and their mother) dying of diphtheria.

It’s also the most handsome of all the Ealing comedies, and the most politically cruel. Gone is the by-golly warmth of Passport To Pimlico, this is a story of greed, aspiration and bloody class warfare. No one is innocent, and the way we are manipulated into hating each new character- and even relishing their demise- is almost frightening. It also features one of the most beautifully written voiceovers in cinema, rich with gallows wit, sexual innuendo and even a sort of sarcastic pathos.

by Tom Huddleston | Source: Criterion DVD
11 Jun 2007 12:38 PM | Submit Comment

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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang / USA / 2005

I shot him with a small revolver I keep near my balls.

by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
11 Jun 2007 12:37 PM | Comments (1)

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Casino Royale / UK / 2006

I know that for some dweebs out there this is sacrilege, but this really is the best Bond film ever made. Finally we have a character at the centre of all the mayhem. And what mayhem!

by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
11 Jun 2007 12:37 PM | Comments (2)

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The 40 Year Old Virgin / USA / 2005

Do me, yo-yo master.

by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
11 Jun 2007 12:36 PM | Submit Comment

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Vacancy / USA / 2007

It’s hard to fathom what Luke Wilson’s doing in such a desperately mediocre exploitation thriller. The film effortlessly squanders what little tension it manages to accrue, and the only person who seems to be enjoying themselves is (surprise, surprise) Frank Whaley’s villain. I may thoroughly despise Eli Roth and all that he stands for, but at least he seems to be trying. This is just pointless.

by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
11 Jun 2007 12:35 PM | Submit Comment

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Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End / USA / 2007

Or, Attack Of The Plotlines II. I mean, who’s greenlighting these things? Who read the script and went, sure, go ahead. Multiple Johnny Depps for no apparent reason, a giant goddess who dissolves into crabs, centring the film around the blandest leads imaginable while shoving your few decent characters to the sidelines- go to it! The narrative is endlessly convoluted and makes absolutely no sense, the characters are adrift in an ocean of incident and counter- incident, the jokes are atrocious and the action uninvolving. And it’s 2 1/2 hours long!

Perhaps in later years this will be rediscovered as some sort of lost psychedelic masterpiece- it’s closest relative in film to date is not Captain Blood but The Monkees’ Head. For now, it’s an embarrassment, and perhaps the most willfully daft and disappointing major blockbuster ever made.

by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm print
11 Jun 2007 12:34 PM | Submit Comment

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Brideshead Revisited / England / 1981

John Mortimer’s adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel is given a fine treatment in this three disc edition of the 1981 television mini-series. Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Diana Quick, Cair Bloom, Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, among others, give great performances. The story involves a young English artist, Charles Ryder, played by Irons, who in his association with a wealthy English Catholic family, comes into adulthood between World Wars 1 and 2. While marvellously adapted, the film has a deceptively calm surface. Lurking beneath is anxiousness and despair that accompanied the world of the fading British aristocracy and the very unquiet twentieth century.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: Acorn Media DVD
08 Jun 2007 4:43 PM | Comments (2)

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Odd Man Out / Ireland / 1947

Carol Reed’s masterpiece (though some would argue that to be The Third Man) about the outcome of a botched bank robbery led by Johnny McQueen, the leader of a fictional IRA-type organization, played by James Mason. It chiefly revoles around his attempted getaway and the community of ordinary Dublin citizens, who in an impressively fluid narrative, become involved in Johnny’s situation. This one could stand a much more extended examination and, definitely, repeated viewings.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: Image Entertainment VHS
07 Jun 2007 6:44 PM | Submit Comment

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Andrei Rublev / Soviet Union / 1969

Andrei Tarkovsky raised the bar so incredibly high with this film, even with his own work, that it’s difficult to conceive of another film that begins, develops and culminates with such a sustained level of sublimity. Of course, the film follows the famous medieval Russian icon painter, Andrei Rublov, as his wanderings through a turbulent period of Russian history becomes a moving meditation on the redemption of the human soul. There’s no other way to put it, frankly. A historical epic – if you must, but watch and experience much more.

by Marlin Tyree | Source: Criterion Collection
05 Jun 2007 5:45 PM | Submit Comment

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Imitation of Life / USA / 1959

Though I’m quite fond of some of his past work, no matter how often I return to it (this is my 3rd viewing) I’m always quite ambivalent about Douglas Sirk’s final Hollywood film. Sirk has always pushed the limits of melodrama within his films and he’s usually quite successful. However, this one crosses the boundaries into excessiveness quite frequently and feels much more exuberant and vibrant than some of his other more muted and subdued films. Whether that’s warranted or successful probably comes down to the tastes of the viewer, but I’m confident the ending of this film is well-earned no matter how exaggerated and hysterical the preceding narrative becomes.

Jenny’s Thoughts

by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Universal DVD
05 Jun 2007 4:44 PM | Submit Comment

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Waitress / USA / 2007

Part of the reason this film works so well is that the filmmakers cast Keri Russell to essentially reprise the role that made her famous, though with slight variations thrown in to camouflage the recognizable aspects of the character. However, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the pitch for this film consisted of something like “Felicity living in the type of small, affable, quirky American town that can only be found in American-Independent movies that get screened at Sundance!” The particulars of such a blueprint find Russell again bouncing between two men with polar-opposite personalities (though only one option is actually a desired, if complicated, outcome) and she often narrates the film via a personal message she dictates to an unknown personality.

However, the familiarity of Waitress also allows Shelly’s film to successfully exude a comforting, almost soothing tone, while focusing its narrative upon a young woman who seems to have spent her whole life at the service of others — including the child that she is carrying — without gaining any sense of independence. Shelly’s nurturing nature as a filmmaker exhibits itself frequently, as even the most despicable characters are allowed moments of sincere humanity, though she does not provide them an excuse or a pardon for their actions. Thankfully, Shelly also had enough confidence in her protagonist to avoid allowing Jenna (Russell) to make her choices based around the males who influence her existence. Thus, Jenna makes a decisive decision to raise her daughter on her own terms, without worrying about the absence of a masculine presence within her life.

It’s a little strange that none of these recent films about pregnancy deal with the complications of child-birth, though Shelly’s film does pause to permit and admit such complexities. Frankly, things work themselves out a little too easily in the end of this feminine fantasy-film, but ultimately Shelly’s final film feels successful mostly because it understands its fundamental message and designs its entire dilemma around conveying the notion that autonomy is attainable even when an individual struggles with responsibility.

Of course, I’m utterly biased since I’m entirely infatuated with Keri Russell’s on-screen persona.

by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Fox Searchlight Pictures 35mm Theatrical Print
05 Jun 2007 4:28 PM | Submit Comment

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Knocked Up / USA / 2007

I will wholeheartedly agree with the acclaim that Apatow’s latest comedy has received from critics, which includes a couple of positive reviews on our own site. As has been pointed out previously, Apatow’s latest comedies focus on juvenile men who realize their potential through the companionship of women who are way out of their league — in fact, they aren’t even playing the same sport. I’m thinking this is yet another example of a guy writing what he knows and it works exceedingly well for him.

Having said that I do find it a little odd that Apatow continues to make these raunchy comedies centered around protagonists struggling with sexual complications while surrounded by characters engaged in immature (which I’m sure some would consider “inappropriate”) behavior, and yet his fundamental morality is so remarkably traditional. It feels like a strange exhibition of a liberal lifestyle keenly aware of its hedonistic ways, thus resigned to conformity and aspiring to more virtuous existence. It also might be an illustration of a simple fact of life that my psych professor once exclaimed: the older we get, the more conservative we become. The film also conveniently concludes before we witness the eventual reality of Ben quarantining/ostracizing himself from his stoner pals.

Truthfully, while Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl are likeable throughout the film, it’s the couple played by Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann that are much more fascinating in their mild dysfunction. Rudd continues to be a dependable comedic presence mostly due to his casual, almost charming, cynicism. Meanwhile, having finally graduated from her “french-toast” cameo, Mann somehow finds a way to make a character that could have just been annoyingly self-centered into something more sympathetic. It’s surprising to observe Mann’s ability, especially when Debbie passively mentions the color of cups she requested; thereby registering her dissatisfaction at her husband’s ineptitude, then somehow simultaneously brushing it off as a silly irritation, while never losing the understanding of the audience. Apatow’s a luck man… or he’s slowly being driven insane.

As an aside, the conversation involving the De Lorean going 88 mph is frighteningly familiar.

Rumsey’s Thoughts

Jason’s Thoughts

by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Universal Pictures 35mm Theatrical Print
04 Jun 2007 5:56 PM | Comments (3)

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His Girl Friday / Howard Hawks’ His Girl Friday / USA / 1940

While watching my favorite Howard Hawks film (or maybe it’s just one of my favorite Howard Hawks films — I guess it just depends on timing), I became dismayed by the demise of the hat in Hollywood, or at least the decline of its use as a versatile and valuable prop. It’s a shame that contemporary filmmakers rarely make use of any article of clothing as astutely as Hawks does in his verbose and chaotic battle-of-the-(s)exes, easily using the headwear to accentuate regret, shame, and guilt at one moment, before demonstrating how effortlessly it can serve as an amusing comedic apparatus.

Another obvious illustration of Hawks’ impressive ability as a director is how expertly, efficiently, and resourcefully he establishes and expresses the power of his female-protagonist, Hildy Johnson. Through frame after frame, Hawks positions Rosalind Russell to almost tower over every other actor in the shot, whether male or female. Though some of this allocation of authority is accomplished through casting some smaller males in supporting roles, Hawks quite often takes the time to have the men that surround Hildy angled as if they were subservient. In fact, Hildy’s only legitimate rival for authority within the frame and power within the narrative (though a potential mother-in-law and a mayor briefly vie for influence) is Walter Burns (Cary Grant), who is naturally the only man who displays himself to be worthy of her affection. One moment I increasingly appreciate is when Burns successfully seduces Hildy’s on a professional level by making elaborate appeals to her ego and ambition, rather than making romatic requests with tender promises of adoration and devotion. In those brief moments the film feels progressive, if only because it almost signals the genesis of the modern career-woman.

It’s just unfortunate that Hildy winds up groveling for Walter’s attention at the end, elated by the idea that he loves her enough to torment those that would try to compete with him for her affection. Plus, Mr. Burns sure knows how to keep an eye on the bottom line — he’s keeping a pretty darn good reporter in his employment.

Bonus points for the casually self-referential moment when Walter describes his competitor, Bruce, as resembling Ralph Bellamy.

by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Columbia TriStar DVD
04 Jun 2007 5:08 PM | Comments (2)

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Knocked Up / USA / 2006

This movie is receiving deserving heaps of praise across the board, and so rather than summarize the film’s plot or offer a general impression, I’m going to throw out my take on a particular aspect of the film and see if anyone bites: Paul Rudd. For some reason, Rudd’s character was throwing me off throughout this movie, because I couldn’t tell if he was a variation on his 40-Year-Old Virgin character, or was meant to be an entirely new character, devoid of Apatow’s previous film. You might be thinking, “Well, of course he’s not the same character as in Virgin, Knocked Up isn’t a sequel.” However, jumping off from Rumsey’s excellent point about Apatow’s career arc matching actual maturation from high school to parenthood in a post devoted to Undeclared, it’s getting interesting how Apatow recasts the same actors in multiple films and television series.

On the one hand it’s easy to believe that each actor is playing an entirely new character no matter how many times they are cast, but on the other hand many viewers carry baggage and realizations from previous Apatow films. For instance, as Seth Rogen and Rudd awkwardly get to know each other in Knocked Up, I kept fighting the urge to think, “Of course you know each other! You work in an electronics store together!”

A part of the problem may be that Rudd’s characterization in Virgin is particularly likeable, yet essentially Rudd-ian, whereas in Knocked Up it’s still very much a Paul Rudd character, and yet he borders on unlikable and defeated throughout the entire movie. Perhaps the context in which Rudd’s character exists in Knocked Up affected my overall impression of him more than anything. In Virgin, it is a win-win situation for all the male characters involved, because the point of the film is to pull one lonely male into a group of males, and so the story becomes one of bonding and inclusiveness. In Knocked Up, however, Rogen starts off in a group of males, is pulled away from the herd as responsibility sets in, and then there’s Rudd, a shell of a domesticated male, an island unto himself desperate for any kind of friendship, waiting for Rogen on the “other side”. It’s tough to be fundamentally a smart-ass, as Rudd clearly is, and defeated, and yet this is the character Rudd plays in Knocked Up.

It’s also interesting that Rudd is playing the opposite of his character in Virgin, in the sense that in the earlier film he was the one “experienced” male in the group desperate to have a lost relationship back and become domesticated, whereas in Knocked Up he has no male companionship and wants out of his life of a wife and kids more than anything. Perhaps most curious of all is that the entire description I’ve just laid out is a subplot of Knocked Up, and yet the Leslie Mann/Paul Rudd relationship is more complicated than the Katherine Heigl/Seth Rogen main plot.

Rumsey’s thoughts

by Jason Woloski | Source: Universal Studios 35mm Print
04 Jun 2007 3:43 PM | Submit Comment

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The Lookout / USA / 2007

Scott Frank’s film sustains far more interest while establishing its parameters, assembling its characters, and crafting its procedures than it does while executing the operation that it has been promising within its opening moments. In fact it feels as if Frank followed the advice of one of his characters (Jeff Daniels does solid work as a blind side-kick/mentor named Lewis) and started with a routine ending and then worked agonizingly hard to complicate the route his audience must take to get to the inevitable destination. Based on previous reviews of the film and Frank’s past work, I was expecting another intricate plot, but the entire scheme is fairly straightforward, if not rather ordinary, when the viewer steps back to evaluate the design.

Perhaps what’s most dispiriting about Frank’s latest film is that its conclusion partially relies upon chance. Though such a flimsy narrative might not be unexpected considering some of Frank’s previous scripts (Minority Report, anyone?), it’s a bit more disappointing in this instance since he exercised a considerable degree of control over this project. However, once one is able to look past the script it’s also apparent that Frank does a respectable job juggling his other duties as director, most notably in capturing another striking performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is quickly demonstrating himself to be one of the more reliable actors of his generation.

The Lookout’s most valuable accomplishment is that it provides me with a greater appreciation of Christopher Nolan’s Memento. Though the predecessor is often disparaged as an elaborate but hollow gimmick, lacking any substance (an assertion that I will always dispute), Nolan’s film has the sense to allow its form to match its content and thereby creates a disjointed and confusing experience for its audience that conveys the mental condition of its protagonist. Meanwhile, Frank only appears to be mildly concerned in such tactics, choosing to be far less overt with the framing and sequencing within the film, which match occasionally and merely share passing similarities while he attempts to convey the notion of habit. Subtle filmmaking decisions are generally praised by respectable critics (just for the record, I have never included myself among them), but occasionally an overt and observable style better serves its purpose. In my mind, this seems to be one of those rare occasions.

Rumsey’s Review

by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Miramax 35mm Theatrical Print
04 Jun 2007 3:12 PM | Submit Comment

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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End / Pirates of the Caribbean: At Logic’s End / USA / 2007

I spent most of this movie confused. I realized I wasn’t alone when a friend jokingly asked me as the credits rolled, “Were we supposed to be handed CliffsNotes on our way into the theater?” The ending in particular is a huge disappointment, in that — hopefully without ruining it for those who have yet to see the film — Will Turner adopts a duty that Jack Sparrow essentially was born to fulfill, while Jack is left to screw around nonsensically. How this became the Will Turner/Elizabeth Swann Show, I don’t know. To be fair, the sequence in which the boat is flipped over to turn a sunset into a sunrise is breathtaking.

Adam’s thoughts

by Jason Woloski | Source: Buena Vista 35mm Theatrical Print
04 Jun 2007 2:41 PM | Submit Comment

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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End / USA / 2007

The third (and hopefully final) installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, At World’s End is too long, too convoluted, and too empty—ninety minutes of clichéd dialogue and tiresome plot stretched into 168 repetitive minutes through unending alliances between the characters and unoriginal special effects. This is a cinematic migraine, cured only twice—once by Keith Richards as the all-feared keeper of the Pirate Code, and again through a blatant and inappropriate visual allusion to Barbossa’s massive cojones.

My sentiments are best represented by a young boy who, halfway through the film, shouted out, “Mommy, can we go home now?” His mother, busy on her cell-phone, didn’t respond.

P.S.: The “surprise” ending is given away in the first half-hour. Enjoy.

by Adam Balz | Source: Buena Vista 35MM Theatrical Print
02 Jun 2007 10:23 PM | Submit Comment

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Dirty Harry / USA / 1971

A great day-after viewing to Fincher’s Zodiac: A depiction of the public’s view of the Bay-area killer—a psychotic, animalistic loner, a social freak—against the reality.

by Adam Balz | Source: Warner Home Video DVD
02 Jun 2007 10:15 PM | Submit Comment

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