Not Coming to a Theater Near You
There are things you do hate, Lord. Perfume-smellin’ things, lacy things, things with curly hair.
There are things you do hate, Lord. Perfume-smellin’ things, lacy things, things with curly hair.
Seeing this for the first time after years of theorizing and interpretations, Mullholland Drive still lulls me into a contented semi-slumber, like a baby who’s just been properly fed. Some eight years and multiple viewings after seeing this in its initial release, I’ve yet to delve that deep beneath its illustrious surface. Sometimes surface is enough.
Earlier remarks / Leo’s thoughts
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Universal 35mm print
27 Dec 2009 12:11 PM | Submit Comment
The enthusiasm Quentin Tarantino has for blaxploitation is so clear in Jackie Brown that this is as charming a film as he’s made. Pam Grier’s utility in the title role notwithstanding, the standout here is Robert Forster. He has such an endearing responsibility, regularly doing the right thing despite his specious service to the court of law. When he doesn’t get the girl at the end, it’s not for want of trying, it’s because to do so would betray this tragic responsibility.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Miramax DVD
27 Dec 2009 12:08 PM | Submit Comment
Steven Soderbergh’s popularly maligned Solaris is so because, I think, it’s too slow for a mainstream movie. And let this be clear: it is a mainstream movie, one steeped in ambiguity and a weird electronic score – which I love, for the record – so it’s at ends with the audience to which it caters. For my tastes the film is actually too rushed, and no, I’m not saying this because I’ve seen the Tarkovsky version. In his effort to reconstitute what should have been a more indulgent, more oblique art film into a more digestable package, Soderbergh’s managed to temper his aspirations and yet to alienate audiences. But its pretense, to push something more unconventional into the mainstream channel, is bold, and I admire the effort.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Fox DVD
27 Dec 2009 12:06 PM | Comments (4)
Early in Psycho, Marion Crane, just prior to her departure from Phoenix, is in her apartment tentatively gathering items for her trip. On her bed is an envelope full of money, which is coercively isolated in the composition. In this moment nothing in the frame matters but the money. The bedspread, the layout of the room, Marion’s position in it—it’s all decoration for the issue at hand: that she’s becoming compromised by temptation.
Avatar is characterized by such decoration, but on an immeasurably more comprehensive scale. So much consideration goes into every corner of the frame (at least for the CGI portions) that the film is very capably a marvel. But this decoration, in all its pomp and circumstance, fails to distract us from the fact that there’s no money on the bed.
by Rumsey Taylor | Source: IMAX 3-D
27 Dec 2009 11:56 AM | Comments (1)
After a promising opening sequence in which Jason Statham beats up some high schoolers, Transporter 2 turned out to be a disappointing sequel. Yes, the action was more outrageous than in the original movie (aerial-automotive stunts, underwater fights), but this often came at the expense of poor pacing and muddled orchestration. The death of a central villain comes so suddenly that it lacks any sort of feeling: no excitement, no catharsis, and no sense of any real accomplishment on the part of Statham.
The PG-13 constraints are also extremely noticeable, particularly in its “save the kid” scenario (big action + little kids is always awkward, Commando and Kindergarten Cop are proof of this). Halfway through it switches to a “save the world from a deadly virus” scenario that just seems half-baked, and the resulting action doesn’t make up for the number of plot holes. The movie also suffers from a fragmented sense of organization, with Statham’s “action” narrative kept separate from the “spreading virus” narrative (centered around Matthew Modine), and the “comic relief” is only provided through phone calls to Statham’s house guest, the French investigator (Francois Berleand) from the previous movie, who is forever cooking fancy meals for the police.
by Cullen Gallagher | Source: 20th Century Fox DVD
14 Dec 2009 2:28 PM | Comments (1)
Richard Denning stars as an American gambler-turned-secret agent in this 1953 Anti-Communist programmer that recycles action footage from Frank Capra’s 1933 The Bitter Tea of General Yen (a riot scene and a train ambush). Like with Barbara Stanwyck in Capra’s film (as well as Gene Tierney in Josef von Sternberg’s The Shanghai Gesture from 1941), the Orientalized image of the obviously American Nancy Gates is intertwined with complex gender and racial politics, as well as Cold War ideologies. She is a site of both desire and danger, “foreign” enough to be a potential enemy, yet “American” enough to wind up on the side of good at the end.
Also, an interesting technological fantasy that I’ve never seen elsewhere in movies: invisible paint connects the hidden radio transmitter to the ear, eliminating the need for a wire!
by Cullen Gallagher | Source: Museum of Modern Art 16mm Print
08 Dec 2009 9:41 PM | Submit Comment
