Tom’s recent screening log entry piqued my interest in this one, as I’m a HUGE Carole Lombard fan (I count Nothing Sacred and My Man Godfrey among my all-time favorites), but I have to say, I found myself mildly disappointed by this offering. Lombard is her usual dazzling self, but the fact that I was rooting for the Ralph Bellamy character (played, appropriately, by Ralph Bellamy) over Fred MacMurray’s callow playboy should speak volumes.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: Universal Pictures DVD
30 Mar 2007 12:40 PM | Submit Comment
Did anyone else find it difficult to watch while John Kerry/Chuck Hagel forced himself upon Laura Bush while President Bush was off kicking Al-Qaeda’s ass? Is anyone else wondering why The Decider is spending so much time around half-naked men? Also, I had always heard that Osama bin Laden was tall, but who knew he was so effeminate? He really needs to tone down the make-up.
Jokes about subtext aside, I started to get annoyed by David Wenham’s narration. The inflection of his voice was beyond irritating.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: Warner Brothers 35mm Print
28 Mar 2007 12:07 PM | Submit Comment
I’m not really too sure if it’s odd or fitting that a movie so eager to be immersed in rave culture exudes a really strange rhythm to its narrative. Either way, it’s unexpected – or at least somewhat bracing – when the structure of Dowse’s film abruptly swings from a shrill, sneering dive to a sublime, almost cathartic ascent.
Nevertheless, Dowse’s film is engaging throughout, despite the fact that we’ve all witnessed the familiar spectacle of a modern musician loutishly destroying their life through sheer overindulgence on numerous previous occasions. In fact, Dowse’s film is one of those rare instances of a film finding an appealing pulse without containing any overly sympathetic characters (well, maybe just one).
As with his previous film, Dowse sometimes allows Pete Tong to get a little bit carried away, but he’s also smart enough to often return to the pokerfaced comic delivery that steadies his work. It’s the small jokes that work more than the loud stunts. Also, Dowse is wise to cast Paul Kaye as his lead actor. Kaye’s efforts give the film a strong foundation and he does a fantastic job at conveying Frankie Wilde’s inexplicable charisma, even if Wilde isn’t exactly likeable.
Of course, some of Dowse’s excessive moments are quite successful. Pete Tong may contain the best use of a man dressed up in a furry animal suit since Jonathan Glazer inexplicably dropped in a terrorizing bunny in Sexy Beast to create an appropriately intimidating effect. Actually, I think Dowse uses his Cocaine-Badger in a more effective manner than Glazer’s horrific bunny, but I also suspect I might be alone in my appreciation for these tactics. I might also be isolated in my enjoyment of both films.
by Chiranjit Goswami | Source: PVR
28 Mar 2007 11:53 AM | Submit Comment
As Leo noted, the fluidity of the camera movement alone would be enough to secure this movie’s place in the pantheon of great films. While I’m inclined to favor Letter from an Unknown Woman for showing greater depth of feeling, Madame de… is still a staggering accomplishment, and definitely worth catching on the big screen.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: Janus Films 35mm print
28 Mar 2007 10:16 AM | Submit Comment
Over a week has gone by since I saw this; I had hoped in vain that a bit of time for reflection would help me organize my thoughts on it, but it instead looks like a second viewing is in order before I have any coherent statements to offer up. Perhaps it’s Fincher’s aggressive merging of disparate (to me, at least) generic conventions that has me puzzled; the film is part police procedural, part serial killer film, part family drama, and part mystery, and I couldn’t help but feel that the parts didn’t quite add up, and that forty minutes could have easily been shaved from the running time.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: Warner Bros 35mm print
27 Mar 2007 9:43 AM | Submit Comment
In nearly every way, The Earrings of Madame de… is jaw-dropping, with unmatched grace and visual splendor, acting (on Visconti’s part especially) that’s pleasantly but never overly melodramatic, and a complexity in blocking and camera movement that is so difficult to apprehend (or even to believe) that it becomes overwhelming. As Hoberman put it, Ophüls taught the camera to waltz, dollying all over the place in a way that makes contemporary camera movement, for all its Cops-like agility, seem relatively sedentary. The film has Bazins in its pants, which seems to be what moves people like Andrew Sarris to proclaim it the greatest film of all time or, as Dave Kehr plotzes, “one of the most beautiful things ever created by human hands.” And as absurd as this sounds, it’s difficult to argue, at least regarding the film’s more superficial pleasures, which, to quote Monsieur de …, are only superficially superficial.
In terms of subject matter (and cinematic perpetual motion with a slightly different application), I couldn’t help comparing this to The Rules of the Game in the way that it so obviously delights in the decadence of blithe, charming upper class twits, before moralistically slapping their wrists in the final act. I find this late-game tragic mode a little unconvincing in both films, not only because it’s a bit of a bummer, but also because it’s a little dishonest, seducing with one hand and wagging its finger with the other. If I were being really picky, I’d say that Ophüls’ La Ronde is the better film, not only displaying a more complex and assured command of tone, but also more effectively integrating his famed camera movement into the structure of the film.
But what’s the point? The Earrings of Madame de… is as wondrous and pleasing a film as you’re likely to see and of a kind that — it almost goes without saying — they just don’t make like they used to. Don’t miss the chance to see it on celluloid.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Janus Films 35mm Print
26 Mar 2007 1:30 PM | Comments (2)
by Adam Balz | Source: Tartan Video
22 Mar 2007 9:48 AM | Submit Comment
Nelson Hibbert: My name is Jones…Enema Bag Jones.
One of the smartest “dumb comedies” ever has simpleton Nelson Hibbert on the run after the murder of his boss, even though he’s been cleared by law enforcement and the real killer’s been captured on video. Starring co-writers Dave Foley as Hibbert and David Higgens as the lazy and sardonic Detective Arlen, and directed by comedy legend David Steinberg, The Wrong Guy mines for unforgettable one-liners in the simplest and most overexploited of subjects—murder, narcolepsy, and the business world—while parodying mistaken-identity-manhunt films like Enemy of the State and The Fugitive. Simply hilarious.
by Adam Balz | Source: Walt Disney DVD
22 Mar 2007 9:42 AM | Submit Comment
I was really looking forward to this one, the reviews have been across-the-board outstanding. In the end it was a bit of a disappointment- perhaps a lot got lost in translation, but once the incredible first attack sequence was over I found my interest waning rapidly. I’m not entirely sure the plot made sense (perhaps it was never supposed to), the characters were great but sort of random, and the bleak ending was just weird. I’m sure someone will accuse me of failing to ‘get’ Korean cinema, but surely a good story is universal. This, I’m pretty sure, wasn’t one.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
20 Mar 2007 1:41 PM | Submit Comment
80’s genre king John Badham on fine form, with a lightweight but enjoyable crime romance, largely distinguished by some truly unfortunate face furniture.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: ITV
20 Mar 2007 1:40 PM | Submit Comment
There’s absolutely no excuse for this film to be as average as it is- Jack Black and Kyle Gass clearly believe that getting stoned and farting is a solid basis for classic comedy: surely Cheech and Chong disproved that some years ago. There simply aren’t any jokes, just a lot of hysterical situations and some fairly half- assed rockin’ with acoustic guitars. The first ten minutes or so is decent, but after that it’s downhill all the way.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
20 Mar 2007 1:39 PM | Submit Comment
I was on a fairly remote holiday the week Diana died, so this film was something of a revelation for me- thank God I was spared the sight of my countrymen transforming themselves into rabid, weeping, zombified tabloid junkies. The film depicts a state of national hysteria not seen since The Beatles, and it’s deeply unsettling.
The film itself is surprisingly effective- I was expecting drawing room drama, and there’s a fair amount of that. But the writers manage to get a real foothold on the characters, as do the actors- both Helen Mirren and particularly Michael Sheen do an astonishing job working within a restrictive cage of necessary mimicry, managing not only to convey absolutely the personalities they are invoking, but to make us care about them, which in the case of Tony Blair is an achievement little short of miraculous. Credit, too, for Mark Bazeley as Alastair Campbell, who exudes all the dripping revulsion of that most odious of all Blair’s cronies. This, too, would have been a more worthy Best Picture winner than The Departed.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
20 Mar 2007 1:37 PM | Comments (1)
Another top-of-the-class graduate from the Academy of the Overrated- there’s nothing wrong with Scorsese’s film as such, it’s fast and snappy, the soundtrack is great and there’s a clutch of solid performances. But to compare Goodfellas with, say, The Godfather, as numerous reviewers have flocked to do, is to do the latter film a monumental disservice- Scorsese’s film has none of the wit, gravitas or humanity of Coppola’s. It’s a lot closer to Scarface: brutish and pace- driven, though admittedly with a heck of a lot more class. Still, this would’ve been a far more deserving Best Picture winner than The Departed.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: FilmFour
20 Mar 2007 1:36 PM | Comments (2)
Considering the storyline, it’s something of a minor miracle that this film isn’t wildly, hideously offensive. It’s just fairly offensive. It’s also oddly appealing, and a near perfect slice of popular entertainment.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: ITV2
20 Mar 2007 1:35 PM | Submit Comment
I realize this opinion is going to put me in the minority here (see Rumsey and Leo’s screening log entries and Jenny’s review), but this film fell a bit flat for me. The disturbing subplot about the government’s role in perpetuating the public’s fear diluted much of the campy humor I had expected going in, and while the beast himself is impressively rendered, I didn’t find him particularly fearsome. Give me Jaws any day over this.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: Magnolia 35mm print
20 Mar 2007 10:37 AM | Submit Comment
Co-directed by Lucio Fulci (along with an uncredited Bruno Mattei), this uneven sequel to Fulci’s astonishing Zombie (aka Zombi 2 ) ignores every frame of its predecessor, shifting the setting from the Caribbean to South East Asia, and supplanting hazily defined zombie origins with a concrete, modern explanation: biological (and, not surprisingly, zombie-creating) weapons unleashed upon an unsuspecting populace.
Amid interminable chase scenes featuring a gaggle of hapless and forgettable characters attempting to outrun their collective fate in both slow- and fast-motion, we are treated to a few unforgettable moments of zombie-movie bliss, including a decapitated zombie head somehow able to launch itself through the air, a zombie fetus attacking its first victim through its mother’s abdomen, and a hideous zombie torso erupting out of a stagnant pool.
In addition, the film presents an interesting contribution to zombie mythology by allowing several of its lurching undead to retain the powers of speech and reason. In place of monsters intent on consuming humanity, here is a new species intent on supplanting it. Appropriately, as the zombie plague spreads, and moves into a third grisly day, an announcement is made over the still-functioning radio waves: It is now officially the year 0. A new age has begun, the age of the undead. It’s an intriguing concept, and one with great cinematic potential. Sadly, this mediocre film is mired too deeply in shoddy direction and acting to do much with it.
Related films:
Zombi (aka Dawn of the Dead )
Zombi 2 (aka Zombie )
by Thomas Scalzo | Source: Shriek Show DVD
20 Mar 2007 7:09 AM | Submit Comment
Working on the premise that the slasher killers of cinema legend—namely Jason, Michael, and Freddy—are actually real-life people who work hard at their bloody craft, a grad student documentary crew teams up with novice splatter artist Leslie Vernon in hopes of unraveling the motivations of the murderous mind. Following along as Leslie details the accomplishments of his bloodthirsty heroes, and lays out the particulars of his own myth-making performance, we learn how to manufacture a tragic backstory, the importance of choosing just the right group of expendable teens, and why proper dead body placement is so vital to a successful spree.
Although such slasher movie cliches are effectively mined for laughs throughout—intermixed with amusing lessons in pop-psychology (hiding in a closet = retreating into the womb), and several decent horror set pieces (death by post-hole digger among the best)—the film is never self-deprecating or disrespectful, and manages to be both a novel and enjoyable slasher in its own right, and a loving tribute to the genre.
by Thomas Scalzo | Source: 35mm print
19 Mar 2007 7:21 PM | Submit Comment
I suppose you could argue that this film rips off Don’t Look Nowone significant respect, but once Frank Carveth asks to join his estranged wife Nola on her new “journey,” we are definitely in Cronenberg country. Of course, the film also has a rather different view of marriage and child-rearing, presented here as a bitter, bloody, and malevolently shrieking custody battle between Frank and his crazy bitch of a wife, in the dubious care of a headshrinker (or psychoplasmicist, if you will), played by Ollie Reed.
is last respect, The Brood joins Eraserhead as yet another horror film about how women’s reproductive organs are essentially weird and gross. But where Lynch’s film plays upon a certain basic male skittishness and naïveté about childbearing, Cronenberg’s film takes a slightly more nuanced (if arguably more misogynist) view, suggesting that — watch out! — children will always partake of their batty mom’s emotional baggage. If this is not exactly progressive, it’s still evident that Cronenberg’s underlying message — that parents are responsible for the monsters they create, a well-worn horror film truism — is issued here with real sincerity and concern.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: MGM DVD
19 Mar 2007 12:23 PM | Comments (1)
Certainly not bad enough to shelve, nor clever enough to be lionized as a hidden treasure, but nonetheless a very entertaining movie, even if it’s a bit of a one-trick pony. And apparently, the future looks like the interior of New York-Penn Station.
See Rumsey’s review and attendant comments here.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Cable OnDemand
19 Mar 2007 11:50 AM | Submit Comment
Terry Gilliam’s painfully beautiful portrait of Jeliza-Rose, a girl orphaned by drugs in the sweeping grassy void of Saskatchewan, Tideland is either a magnificent depiction of and by an imagination both rampant and therapeutic, or the dullest, most overdrawn Rockwell-on-acid adaptation of Alice in Wonderland ever. My inclination lies somewhere in the middle, as the overdose of wide-angle shots left me reeling with delight but ultimately yearning for something more substantial in plot, which could have easily made a great short film. Nonetheless, I was genuinely creeped out by fleeting images of a demonic stalking shadow, the severed heads of dolls fluttering in a hollowed-out chest, and Jeff Bridges’ Noah presented to us as a tanned postmortem husk.
by Adam Balz | Source: ThinkFilm DVD
19 Mar 2007 11:09 AM | Submit Comment
Apparently, ancient Spartan military strategy involved the abandonment of armor, food, and sleep for leather speedos and tubs of body oil. 300 has more glistening pectorals and thick, shuddering calf muscles than the entire Chippendales establishment, though seeing those men climb down from the stage and engage in battle would be far more interesting. Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel is perhaps the longest, flattest, dullest war epic ever filmed, and academic historians have been queuing in droves—many in front of cameras for the History Channel—to denounce this film as neither accurate nor engaging, which doesn’t guarantee to keep the hordes of preteen fanboys from lining up to view 117 minutes of intermittent sex and endless carnage. And those historians have a point—claiming “historical adaptation” doesn’t permit anyone to make a film with English-speaking Mediterranean soldiers, all broad-shouldered and bare-chested, heaving indestructible spears and clean swords in slow-motion at more than a hundred thousand digitally rendered adversaries, all while the spilled blood disappears instantly from the ground. (Seriously, where did it all go?) I was tempted to walk out more than once, and I would have utterly detested this film were it not for the blade-limbed Executioner, who is sadly underutilized by faux-god Xerxes (played by Rodrigo Santoro, who is apparently on Lost). Still, the whole thing provided endless fodder for the ride home, much of which revolved around Sparta’s mysteriously abrupt and impractical Large Hole and the Spartan military’s wardrobe which, once again, was ridiculously homoerotic. The whole thing is green-screen war porn, and audiences will undoubtedly eat it up for years to come. History teachers, I pity you.
by Adam Balz | Source: Warner Brothers 35MM Theatrical Print
18 Mar 2007 6:06 PM | Comments (3)
Lucio Fulci’s unofficial sequel to Dawn of the Dead doesn’t have Romero’s measured plot, impressive character development, or scathing social commentary, but it does have skewered eyeballs, revenant Conquistadores, an underwater zombie-versus-shark battle, and one of the best taglines ever: “We are going to eat you!” Unsubtle, unflinching, and unwilling to offer an explanation for the horrific goings on, Fulci’s classic goes far beyond a mere homage to Romero, offering a unique brand of clay-faced ghoul, and a dour, unambiguous message: The zombies are here, and they are going to eat us. End of story.
Related films:
Zombi (aka Dawn of the Dead )
by Thomas Scalzo | Source: Magnum Entertainment VHS
17 Mar 2007 3:25 PM | Submit Comment
The legendary Carole Lombard headlines this post-Depression pick-me-up about a cash-strapped fingernail primper in search of the well-heeled man of her dreams. One day, while cutting the cuticles of a purported playboy, she turns on the coquetry in hopes of putting an end to her manicure-table existence. Sadly, just as things are taking a turn for the amorous, the truth comes out: the guy’s flat broke, wiped clean by the Crash. Determined to maintain her search for security, she cozies up to a moneyed ex-pilot, and tries her best to forget about the ill-fated affair. This being a feel-good ’30s romantic comedy, however, the girl just can’t keep her mind off the penniless charmer.
Although the story is ludicrously transparent (there is never any doubt that she’ll end up with the destitute dreamer), the film is consistently captivating and amusing, particularly when Fred MacMurray’s ebullient Theodore Drew III brazenly makes himself at home in the cramped one-bedroom apartment of Lombard’s down-to-earth Regi Allen. Brought vividly to life through Lombard’s unassuming beauty and seemingly effortless talent, Regi, despite her troubles, exudes an atmosphere of optimism and happiness. What more can you ask of a film created to make us forget our troubles?
by Thomas Scalzo | Source: Universal DVD
17 Mar 2007 12:38 PM | Submit Comment
Sarah Polley has already proven herself to be an actress of tremendous talent and versatility, so I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked at the skill she demonstrates in her feature directorial debut. Still, there’s something about the Alice Munro story she’s chosen to adapt that would suggest an older soul behind the camera. The story of a man faced with the tough decision of placing his wife, who has been stricken with Alzheimer’s disease, in an assisted care facility, it is perhaps not the most obvious choice for a 28-year old who has a made a name for herself appearing in slightly edgier fare directed by the likes of Atom Egoyan (who served as Executive Producer on this film), Hal Hartley, and David Cronenberg. That said, she does a remarkable job, bringing Munro’s unique voice to the screen with remarkable sensitivity. As the husband, renowned Canadian theater actor/director Gordon Pinsent is a revelation, and as the wife, Julie Christie has never been better.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: Lionsgate 35mm print
17 Mar 2007 9:22 AM | Submit Comment
I was inspired to rent this because it was one of the few Audrey Hepburn films I hadn’t yet seen, but to be honest, she barely registers among the ensemble cast. If the film never quite gels as the “mad-cap private eye caper” my Netflix sleeve describes it as, it nevertheless has sort of a shaggy dog charm, thanks largely to winning performances by John Ritter and Colleen Camp. Its loving depiction of New York rivals that which can be found in Woody Allen’s films of the late ’70s and ’80s, so it’s really too bad that it’s chiefly associated with cast member (and Peter Bogdanovich girlfriend) Dorothy Stratten’s tragic death shortly after filming wrapped.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: MGM DVD
17 Mar 2007 9:10 AM | Comments (1)
Downright proof that, even at age 79, Peter Falk can make the most predictable, maudlin, poorly executed, self-indulgent storyline at least somewhat bearable. (Could somebody please give this guy an Oscar!?)
by Adam Balz | Source: Allumination DVD
16 Mar 2007 8:19 AM | Submit Comment
Fine film. See Beth’s review and comments.
by Marlin Tyree | Source: Sony Pictures DVD
14 Mar 2007 4:44 PM | Submit Comment
While perhaps not quite as relentlessly awesome as The Awful Truth, this 1940 Cary Grant-Irene Dunne screwball comedy is nonetheless charming and funny as hell. The premise is totally incredible (Grant too spineless to fess up to bigamy? Maybe; Irene Dunne barefoot on a desert island? No chance), but it’s effortlessly pleasurable and deeper in its suggestions about love, marriage, trust, and fidelity than such a goofy movie has a right to be. But then, this is Stanley Cavell’s favorite kind of movie, so there’s bound to be plenty of pushing and pulling, crossing and double-crossing, and gentle power-plays before the married couple give in to one another. In many ways, it’s just Scenes from a Marriage, but nicer, several hours shorter, and without Grant kicking Dunne in the ribs.
And, if nothing else, the scene in which Grant uncomfortably admires his former “roommate” Randolph Scott’s form makes the whole thing worth it.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Warner Home Video DVD
14 Mar 2007 4:13 PM | Submit Comment
Peter Yates has had an odd career. After A.D.’ing for Tony Richardson and directing a bunch of episodes of Danger Man and The Saint in the early 1960s, Yates seems to have gotten his big break with this film, largely on his ability to shoot a car chase (as demonstrated in 1967’s Robbery). Later, he scored with a late-70s trifecta of cable TV mainstays (Mother, Jugs, & Speed, The Deep, and Breaking Away), and dished out a fascinating mixed bag of films in the 1980s, the weirdest but not the least of which is Krull.
Of course, Yates’ great legacy is that car chase: nine and three quarter minutes of squealing tires, crunches of chassis on asphalt, and loud Mustang revving. This is indeed what the film is most remembered for — plus the fact that Steve McQueen, here more than ever, is the man.
But the rest of the film is pretty fantastic, too. Robert Vaughn is wonderfully weaselly as the blue-blood politician who threatens Bullitt with a little class warfare, and Jacqueline Bisset pops up now and again to (discreetly) have sex with our hero. When I was younger, I found the film as a whole to be rather dull and hard to follow and the resolution nonsensical. And while some of these impressions linger, it’s not hard to frame this film between two other great San Francisco cop movies: Boorman’s Point Blank (for its editing) and Siegel’s Dirty Harry (for its insights into the politics of policework).
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Warner Home Video DVD
14 Mar 2007 2:50 PM | Comments (1)
The lives of two generations of monks, one life apparently a mirror of the next, is featured in this exquisitely photographed Buddhist fable. A young orphan is raised by an elder monk who looses him to a passionate affair and subsequent estrangement with a young woman. The younger monks returns, however to complete the human cycle of change, error and recapitulation. It’s a touching film – a trifle oversimplified, but effectively done. Recommended.
by Marlin Tyree | Source: Sony Pictures DVD
13 Mar 2007 4:45 PM | Submit Comment
Round Three of my unofficial monster movie triple feature (accidentally featuring films whose titles all are The ________).
I ask you: What more can you possibly require of a movie than a slimy, grey, sluglike alien, roughly the size of a large dachshund, that inhabits people’s bodies through their mouths and loves Ferraris, hookers, rock music, and killing people? With a bazooka?
For some reason, I hadn’t seen this film in full since its original video release, which was itself contemporary with my Twin Peaks obsession. Here, Kyle MacLachlan is a differently weird FBI guy — that is, an alien one — and instead of flashlighting the murky forests of the PNW with Michael Ontkean (a poor man’s Tom Berenger), he plods the streets of LA with Michael Nouri (a poor man’s Michael Ontkean).
And I’m happy to report that the film has lost nothing of its entertainment value, and watching it now, the distinct patina of 1987 Los Angeles only enhances its essential comedy and mindboggling gratuity (snorting cocaine in the back offices of a Ferrari dealership being the definitive mark of human awesomeness). This is unmistakably the work of a master of the cinematic arts (all two or three of ‘em!), so it is a wonder that, to my knowledge, Jack Sholder is the director of only one other film masterpiece.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: New Line Home Video VHS (Two-Cassette Special Edition!)
13 Mar 2007 4:26 PM | Submit Comment
Not only does The Thing feature one of the best casts of early ’80s character actors ever (spearheaded by Mr. Kurt Russell and featuring an unusually agile and unmustachioed Wilford Brimley), it’s also an across-the-board improvement on the film it remakes (1951’s The Thing from Another World) and was later dumbed down and amped up to make no less a film than Predator. This combination of superficial elements would itself be enough to make me geek out embarrassingly on the internet, but the film is also smart, well-made, gross, and bloody scary. It’s also that rarest of films, even in the macho movieworld, that features exactly zero women.
What’s consistently winning about John Carpenter, suggested perhaps by his wholly apt surname, is the workmanlike air his films have. Never the highest budgeted or most specially effected, Carpenter’s films nonetheless work because they work hard: in acting, in mise-en-scene, in defying expectation. To this latter end, the titular Thing arises in strange, unanticipated intervals (it pops up in the darnedest of places), but never appears in any “original” state because, quite simply, it has none. It is always a copy of another organism. The Thing is in fact not a thing, its chief attribute its lack of thingy-ness.
Because the Thing’s weapon is its ability to simulate, genuineness is something the viewer looks for in the protagonists, only definitively finding it in Kurt Russell. Thus, when we are given evidence that Kurt might be the Thing, our moviewatching instincts tell us otherwise: we can read his character, so we know he isn’t the Thing. Similarly, we rarely know when precisely the other characters are infected. The film relies so much on credibility in acting that we’re never quite sure that what we see as a fleeting lack of credibility in the acting is a slippage of the actor or of the Thing.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Universal Pictures DVD
13 Mar 2007 4:24 PM | Submit Comment
Ecosploitation, slapstick, cute kids, a disgusting, inevitably vaginal monster, some SARS satire, and interesting, flawed characters you are made to care (and even worry) about. Probably the most fun I’ve had at the movies since the 1980s.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Magnolia Pictures 35mm Print
13 Mar 2007 4:23 PM | Comments (1)
Arnold’s debut feature was a cause celebre for the artier end of the British cinemagoing establishment last year, and it’s easy to see why. It’s directed by a first timer (and a woman no less), it’s gritty and rough edged, there’s a fair amount of messy, explicit sex and raw emotion, and most of all it looks absolutely stunning, casting the mean backwater estates of Glasgow in a bleak, leaden, occasionally terrifying hue. But as is often the case with such things, it’s a shame that Arnold forgot to come up with much of a plot. Story wise, there’s nothing we haven’t seen before in numerous soaps and BBC dramas, and although the acting is close to flawless we never get a real sense of the characters beyond the obvious fact that they’re downtrodden and generally unhappy most of the time. As an artistic statement Red Road is impressive, but as narrative cinema it’s crying out for more- more humour, more sympathy, more life.
It’ll be interesting to see whether this film, despite it’s awards and plaudits, actually receives a North American release- if it does, I guarantee there’ll be subtitles.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
13 Mar 2007 1:44 PM | Submit Comment
I’ve not read the novel on which this was based, but I have seen Patrick Marber’s equally awards nominated Closer, and must conclude that he is a bloody minded misanthrope, the U.K. equivalent of Todd Solondz, and far from the boffinish Peter O’Hanraha-hanrahan image I had in my head (British readers will know what I’m on about, all others should endeavour to find out as quickly as possible). This film is just plain nasty, populated entirely by selfish, often sadistic characters, pitiable perhaps but not exactly warm. The performances are indeed fabulous, and Cate Blanchett has never looked more radiant. But it’s just so blatantly nasty, there’s such a calculated mean streak and down-with-people viciousness that it leaves a sour taste. Add to that the fact that the major plot point seems not only clichéd but completely unbelievable and you have a deeply underwhelming experience, enlivened only by a touch of consummate British professionalism from cast and crew.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm print
13 Mar 2007 1:42 PM | Submit Comment
Despite the fact that he’s probably my favourite living filmmaker, I’ve never had a great deal of patience for Lynch’s more self indulgent works- Lost Highway left me somewhat cold, if pleasantly startled, and Mulholland Drive is by far my least favourite of the great man’s films. Which is to say, it’s better than most people manage in a lifetime, but for Lynch it seemed somewhat inconsequential and rather bloodless, and smacked of trying too hard. I’ve always hated those people who characterise Lynch as weird for it’s own sake, there’s more heart, understanding and recognisable real life in The Elephant Man, Fire Walk With Me or The Straight Story than in the most down-to-earth works of gritty realist kitchen sink cinema, it just requires an altered lens through which to view it. And as a storyteller, despite his idiosyncrasies, Lynch has always excelled, his scripts managing to push the boundaries while still delivering on pace, action, sheer entertainment value.
Which all seems to be leading to a criticism of Inland Empire, indeed the first this website would have printed- everyone else has been rabid in their praise. I’m not going to go so far. The film has moments of such transcendent beauty, such extraordinary power that one is left repeatedly breathless. Laura Dern’s performance is astonishing, tough and hard- edged, effortlessly switching between roles and displaying none of the vaguely annoying winsomeness she’s been prone to in the past. Lynch’s capacity for provoking fear or melancholy through a simple use of music, lighting or sound effects reaches some sort of masterly pinnacle here.
But the fact remains that this is, to some extent, weirdness for it’s own sake. It requires a certain level of tolerance, even patience, to endure the entire 3 hours. Show this to a Lynch critic and they’d have all the ammunition they’d need to bash the man into the ground, and not all of it would be groundless. Lynch’s portrayal of female sexuality has always balanced on the knife edge between sympathetic exploitation and a sort of wide eyed schoolboy fascination; in this film, as in Mulholland Drive’s wincemaking lesbian scenes, it tips far in favour of the latter- there’s a scene where it feels as if the director just felt like seeing a great big pair of tits, and there they are. The rabbits, too, feel like an unnecessary indulgence- I watched the original series when it was broadcast online, and found it tedious, a joke with no punchline. So their reappearance here gave me no pleasure.
But the bottom line is that, while this film does successfully provoke emotions like horror, shock, melancholy and even awe, there’s nothing beyond that. There’s no sympathy, no love, no real sense of joy. There’s nothing to rival the infamous ‘robins’ scene in Blue Velvet, or the ending of Fire Walk With Me, both of which have the capacity to move me to tears. By contrast, Inland Empire feels cold, even manipulative, relying on those aforementioned techniques to provoke a response instead of allowing the plot, characters or context to provide an appropriate trigger.
I have a lot of respect for Inland Empire and all those involved, but in the wake of Mulholland Drive it seems to set a worrying precedent. Have we seen the last of Lynch the classical, character driven storyteller, Lynch the romantic, Lynch the crowd pleaser? Is his only audience now to be the one in his head? If there was some sign that Lynch would alternate his styles: I could happily anticipate another Inland Empire if there was another Straight Story to look forward to in the meantime. But I worry that this new fascination with DV, this new liberation that Lynch has been so evangelical about, spells the virtual death of my favourite living filmmaker. And this possibility saddens me more than I can say.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm print
13 Mar 2007 1:39 PM | Comments (7)
Despite the impressive visuals by Robert Burks (including impressive noir settings in and around Quebec)and great acting from Montgomery Clift, this melodrama at 95 minutes is far too long. Essentially, Clift, as a mild-mannered but quietly tortured priest, gets accused of a murder perprtrated by a parishoner. In between is a convoluted love-affair between Clift and Anne Baxter. Baxter over-acts. Hitchcock works the guilt-complex. It’s a fun one time ride.
by Marlin Tyree | Source: Warner Home Video DVD
12 Mar 2007 5:00 PM | Submit Comment
Attempting to circumvent a pesky oracle proclamation prohibiting him from going to war, King Leonidas of Sparta gathers 300 of his best warriors and marches north, osetensibly on a non-military stroll. In truth, his destination is a narrow defile along the Grecian coast, a spot where he plans to pit his meager forces against the entire Persian army—numbering in the hundreds of thousands—in hopes of stymying the planned destruction of his beloved Sparta. Aside from some predictable political posturing, a few touches of treachery, and a ludicrous love scene, this desperate battle is the entire picture—300 men hacking their collective way through endless waves of enemy forces.
Although plot-hungry viewers might grow restless with the copious carnage and general lack of character complexity, or find themselves snickering at the excessive use of slow motion (the crowd in my theater laughed more than once during a particularly long spear-thrusting sequence), the bulk of the balletic bloodletting is so beautifully staged, the ethereal sets so meticiulously crafted in highly contasted grays and tans, and the collective physical magnificence of the actors melded so seemlessly with the hyperrealistic environment, that any narrative shortcomings are overwhelmed by the film’s stunning visual accomplishments.
by Thomas Scalzo | Source: Warner Bros. 35mm Print
11 Mar 2007 4:18 PM | Comments (2)
Fassbinder’s statement about class division within a community of gays in Germany, circa 1976. I must admit that I saw the fate of the hapless Franz Bieberkopf, a.k.a., “Fox”, played by Fassbinder, a naïve carnival worker (“lottery queen”) who hooks up with a bourgeois aesthete, immediately. The subsequent playing out of the drama didn’t reveal anything more than what one would expect with such a scenario, though the honesty with which Fassbinder portrays Fox is refreshing and admirable. The title is certainly a cynical poke at the lack of meaningful relationships found in the pre-AIDS gay community of that time. It’s worth a viewing.
by Marlin Tyree | Source: Fox Lorber DVD
10 Mar 2007 2:49 PM | Submit Comment
The highlight of the Dynamic: 1 DVD, this is David Lynch taking up the role of furniture-maker, something he does for both sport and his movies. (Many of the sofas and chairs in Lynch’s films are hand-made.) For thirty minutes we’re allowed to observe Lynch as he crafts a fantastically abstract lamp using gauze, paint, and a large bag of Fix-It-All; there is also the occasional cigarette and cup of petit noisette, not to mention his rather simplistic tips for the wanna-be abstract craftsman-at-heart. He is Salvador Dali exorcising his inner Bob Vila, an artist whose secondary profession just happens to be filmmaking. At any moment you expect him to drop his bucket and paints and say, “Oh yeah, I gotta go direct something,” or to pull out a camera and summon his actors. Instead, he moves through his studio with intent and the requisite creative gleam in his eye, making something wickedly beautiful out of a mishmash of Home Depot merchandise. I can barely rotate my tires without referring to a manual or 24-hour help-line, but for some reason Lynch makes it seem as though even I could design and construct a bizarre “Fix-All” lamp, provided I have my morning coffee and a sink to piss in.
by Adam Balz | Source: Subversive Cinema DVD
07 Mar 2007 8:54 PM | Submit Comment
Available on Dynamic: 1 – The Best of DavidLynch.com.
by Adam Balz | Source: Subversive Cinema DVD
07 Mar 2007 8:52 PM | Submit Comment
Interesting, yes. Exciting, no.
by Adam Balz | Source: Subversive Cinema DVD
07 Mar 2007 8:50 PM | Submit Comment
Deeply touching and tragic, yes, but also truly, viscerally disgusting to an extent that I haven’t seen in a film in many years. Suddenly, I feel it might be about to time to get that long-lingering scalp irritation looked at by a specialist. Not to mention those thick, spiny hairs on my back. Oh, and that large, hard bulge in my abdomen.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: 20th Century Fox DVD
07 Mar 2007 1:42 PM | Submit Comment
The first words in the narration instruct you to look closely as the composition finds a pile of top hats of identical make. But this, for me, was an unheralded instruction. As Michael Caine so clearly establishes in his simple explanation of virtually every single magic trick in the film, the “magic” is really façile—you’re not really looking for the secret; you want to be fooled.
And fooled I was, so unexpectedly so that I watched this again immediately (which I do rarely). The gimmick here is less ephemeral than it is in Memento, but one of the pleasures of viewing The Prestige in a mini-marathon* is admiring the nuances of the performances, how Hugh Jackman coyly downs a pint with a pair of eyes that don’t seem capable of focusing in the same direction, or Christian Bale’s disinterest in showmanship, how he barely engages his audience and then performs with immaculate poise. Effectively, once its magic is ruined, the film remains unspoiled.
Tom’s thoughts | Jit’s thoughts
(*And if any of you weigh as quantitatively as I do Mike D’Angelo’s film ratings, I point you to this.)
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: DVD
06 Mar 2007 1:55 PM | Comments (2)
Featuring cameos from contemporary headliners like Dick Cheney, Mark Foley, and Mark Warner, A Perfect Candidate follows the 1994 Virginia Senate campaign, in which incumbent Chuck Robb went head-to-head against Iran Contra poster-boy Oliver “Ollie” North, and in the process reduced American politics to a shouting match of moral superiority.
Directors R.J. Cutler and David Van Taylor’s depictions of the two candidates—Robb as a dull and ideologically ambiguous wonk, North as an enigmatic but emotionally monotonous superstar—are outdone by the unheralded faces of campaigns. Washington Post reporter Don Baker makes friendly banter with the very men who deride him as a member of the “liberal media,” only to have his lifelong beliefs about the system challenged. At the same time, campaign manager Mark Goodin looks to a North victory for social redemption; his realization near the end of the campaign that all politicians, no matter what party, are indolent beaurocrats is one of the most profound moments ever caught on film, as it highlights the most frequent criticism of American democracy. That, and parents who place a shotgun in their child’s hands at an outdoor rally and instruct him, with a grin of seriousness, to only shoot ducks and Democrats.
by Adam Balz | Source: First Run Features DVD
04 Mar 2007 3:27 PM | Submit Comment
W. Blake Herron’s charmingly bizarre story of a Southern patriarch’s death becomes aggravating when the writer-director begins attaching purpose and validity. Until then, we know only that Murtis Whit has cut off her dead husband’s ear with a scissors, storing it in a small box and sucking it in private; that there’s an old camel named Robert E. living in the barn; and that the dead man has been visiting his grandson and introducing him to the Whit forefathers, all of whom have, in one way or another, embellished their rather sad and regretful lives for posterity. They’re enchanting subplots, enhanced by the Whit family’s outward simplicity. But once these elements of fantasy have been explained away, the movie sinks, fast and regrettably.
by Adam Balz | Source: Lions Gate DVD
04 Mar 2007 2:56 PM | Submit Comment
A rarity among documentaries in that the subject, Vietnam veteran Dieter Dengler, not only offers his story without tears or resistence, but seems to relish in telling it. Even as he’s bound by Vietnamese men in a recreation of his capture, his voice glows with the splendor of an enthralling storyteller.
by Adam Balz | Source: Anchor Bay DVD
04 Mar 2007 2:45 PM | Submit Comment
An ocean of neon-rainbow musicality built on the shoulders of great supporting performances: Richard Roxburgh, John Leguizamo, and especially Jim Broadbent as Harold Zidler. (You get the distinct feeling that his Oscar win for Iris was probably more of an Oscar for this film.) I loved the anachronistic touches—Madonna and Lady Marmalade in early 20th-century France—the bewildering song-and-dance numbers, and the inspired characters, though the inclusion of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” undoubtedly sent Kurt Cobain spinning in his grave.
by Adam Balz | Source: 20th Century Fox DVD
04 Mar 2007 2:40 PM | Submit Comment
Harmless coming-of-college-age tale bolstered by a fab ’80s soundtrack and a charismatic lead performance by James McAvoy.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: HBO Films 35mm print
02 Mar 2007 10:44 PM | Submit Comment
La Vie en Rose has the feel of a traditional Hollywood biopic, which is to say that what it doesn’t deliver in terms of filmmaking it more than makes up for in terms of performance. Marion Cotillard (who I last saw playing Russell Crowe’s token European love interest in A Good Year) is a revelation as Edith Piaf, channeling the singer’s tumultuous life with such ferocity and vivacity that I felt somewhat exhausted by the time the credits rolled (though the film’s running time might have also had something to do with that). It’s a remarkable performance, and if she’s not up on that Oscar podium next year, I’ll be shocked.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: Picturehouse 35mm print
02 Mar 2007 10:42 PM | Comments (1)
I’ll watch anything with Hugh Grant in it, but I’m pleased to say this is actually a worthwhile endeavor. The “Pop! Goes My Heart” video is not to be missed.
by Beth Gilligan | Source: Warner Bros 35mm print
02 Mar 2007 10:30 PM | Comments (1)
Full review at Reverse Shot
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: Zeitgeist Films DVD Screener
02 Mar 2007 5:15 PM | Submit Comment
The appeal of Orlando Bloom continues to escape me- by far the worst of the central Rings cast, his prancing elf was fey and threatless, and one gets the feeling he only survives the Pirates franchise because the audience are too busy watching Johnny Depp. When he’s called on to carry a film- such as Elizabethtown- his true colours shine through- pleasant, pretty but ultimately rather lacklustre and forgettable. His performance here is much of the same, coming off like a well- to- do English student working for an NGO in the far East and getting the chance to show the locals how to do a few things, like dig wells, bring down siege towers and surrender with honour.
At least this recut of Ridley Scott’s formerly bowdlerised historical epic is epic now, even if it isn’t convincingly historical. There’s a sense of scale and scope here lacking in all those other post- Gladiator sword-n-sandal sagas, and the supporting cast is excellent, if they do tend to get bumped off just when they’ve managed to make an impression.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
02 Mar 2007 1:19 PM | Comments (1)
They’re calling this the Godfather of spy movies, largely, I think, because it’s very long and takes place in darkened rooms. There the similarities end- if De Niro had half the 70’s Coppola’s skill and discretion as a director he might have been able to bring a hint of intrigue or intelligence to this long winded personal portrait of a man losing his soul by degrees- as it is it’s a reasonably entertaining character piece, largely bereft of insight but handsomely mounted.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm print
02 Mar 2007 1:18 PM | Submit Comment
“Have you ever fired your gun up in the air and gone ‘aaaargh’?”
Cannily scheduled to tie in with the release of Hot Fuzz, this is mondo macho slo- mo homo bondo from the heyday of the buddy action movie, with Keanu and the Swizzle facing off on surfboards, jumping out of planes and gurning at each other in the rain. It also features, as Simon Pegg pointed out on Film 2007 a couple of weeks ago, ‘one of the finest foot chases in cinema’ (though it faces stiff competition from the building site sequence in Casino Royale). Busey, too, always value for money.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: Channel Five
02 Mar 2007 1:16 PM | Submit Comment
This is essentially Unbelievably Good Looking Betty, with Ann Hathaway completely failing to convince as dowdy and down- to- earth. Sure, Meryl Streep’s performance is effortless, but that could just be because the part wasn’t particularly hard to play- mean spirited bitch, occasional hints of humanity. It’s hardly Lady Macbeth. The film itself is mostly entertaining, though a sharper look at the shallow and meaningless world of fashion would have been appreciated. It’s TV counterpart is far more convincing.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
02 Mar 2007 1:15 PM | Comments (1)
Like Shaun Of The Dead, this is about 70% as funny as it should be, but it’s still pretty magnificent entertainment, thanks largely to one of the best supporting casts in recent history: Paddy Considine, Adam Buxton, Steve Coogan, Timothy Dalton, Billie Whitelaw, Bill Nighy, Edward Woodward, Bill Bailey (twice)… the list goes on. The homages are well chosen, the action surprisingly exciting, the characterisation obvious but convincing. If only there were just a few more good jokes.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm print
02 Mar 2007 1:14 PM | Comments (4)
“I like to think of Jesus as an ice dancer, dressed in an all-white jumpsuit, doing an interpretive dance of my life…”
by Tom Huddleston | Source: DVD
02 Mar 2007 1:13 PM | Submit Comment
Mostly Harmless.
by Tom Huddleston | Source: 35mm print
02 Mar 2007 1:12 PM | Submit Comment
A truly beautiful love story.
Here’s Jit’s review and what I said last time I watched this.
by Leo Goldsmith | Source: New Line DVD
01 Mar 2007 5:37 PM | Comments (1)