Wednesday, April 20, 2011

RV!: The American (2010)

RV!: The American (2010) Dir: Anton Corbijn Date Released: September 2010 Date Seen: November 27, 2010 Rating: 4/5

Both of Anton Corbijn's films are about slippage and its opposite. If you can fault them with anything, it's with being too over-determined. I wouldn't however because that's why I love both The American and Control so much. They're both works about artists--and George Clooney's character in The American is an artist after a point --that can't necessarily be in control of their circumstances that are also both directed by an artist haunted by that same fruitless search for perfection. To follow that imperative slavishly is not an option, it's a necessity as The American's Jack Clarke (Clooney) says in hitman-ese: "I do what I'm good at." Because everybody thinks they know who Clarke is as soon as they see him and they don't. Because even he doesn't know. Clarke is not defined by what he does irregardless of how how much the film's narrative supports that idea.

Take for instance the film's presentation of Clarke's nationality: it's an amorphous identity, one that varies based on the context of his relationships. Once Clarke's fled to Italy, he encounters a culture that is alternately confused and adamant that they know exactly who he is. A local corrects Clarke when he clumsily describes himself as "Il Americano." "No, no," the man say. "L'Americano! L'Americano!" Being American is not a possessive title ("Il") but rather a singular identity ("Le"). Clarke does not embody every American but rather is the only American there. The Italians in The American don't know what an American is--it's simply beyond their collective knowledge. So they can only anticipate his actions based on what they know from pop history.

Pop culture and signifiers stand in for American-ness throughout The American. They're intentionally impossible to miss: Clarke orders an Americano coffee when he meets a contact at a local outdoor cafe, is greeted later by a radio blaring "Tu Vuo Fa L'Americano" and even looks on as a local store owner watches Once Upon a Time in America ("Sergio Leone," the shop-keeper proudly announces to Clarke. "Italiano."). These reflections of Clarke are being projected onto him and only make it easier for people to confuse him for what he does. That's the way Clarke likes it and so that's the deceptively indulgent way that Corbijn depicts him: as a composite character.

There is no fixed reference point that confirms that Clarke is who they think he is, no clear sense that any character actually knows empirically what they tell us they know or are who they they identify themselves as. Everything is in flux until Clarke latches onto something that suits his self-fashioned. For instance, pay attention to who speaks first and in what language during Clarke's talk with Fabio (Filippo Timi), a local Italian mechanic. Fabio can speak English but responds to Clarke in Italian. Clarke reciprocates by only speaking English until he makes the first move by speaking Italian outside of the garage. Even after their introductory remarks, neither man is relaxed. Only after a few more exchanges in their respective native tongues do they start to fluidly swap languages, going back and forth in English and Italian. It's as if being inside the garage, surrounded by Fabio's tools--tools that Clarke examines, mind you--allows Clarke to tentatively accept the idea of making a professional bond.

Clarke does not follow through on that decision because something about Fabio doesn't sit well with him, something he doesn't understand until his walk in the park with Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli). In this scene, it's implied that Fabio is an illegitimate son, one that cannot escape from the indifferent but watchful eye of Benedetto. Benedetto in that way brings out Clarke's need to live in the moment in order to flee his past: "You think you can escape history. You live for the present," Benedetto says playfully. "I try to, Father," Clarke replies grimly. 

The implication that Benedetto is not exempt from the urge to be unburdened by his past establishes a number of things. Firstly, it proves that that behavior is not a uniquely American trait, as he posited earlier. Benedetto does after all confess to Clark that he's not sure if he's the one that sired Fabio: "I don't remember, signor. It was many years ago." The drive towards ahistoricity, flux and an untethered identity is part of the human condition according to Clarke and it's a behavior that Benedetto only serves to confirm. When Clarke grunts that, "All men are sinners, Benedetto adds that, "Those that seek peace have much sinning in their history."

Clarke's crisis always was, in that sense, a spiritual one. Physical sensations like his initially purely sexual relationship with Clara, Violante Placido's prostitute, are tempting but deceptive, a concept that sort of confirms Clarke's philosophy of life but only to a point. Clarke's state of mind is entirely of the minute so by investing in the immediacy of Clarke's self-determined present, Corbijn also confirms Benedetto's claim that his life is "hell'ish. Take the nightmarish repetition of shots and images in the film. It starts off benignly enough, like when we see the cobble stone steps of the town during the day, then later by night or how his exercise routine varies day by day. But then we're reminded of why that repetition of visual cues is a sign of Clarke's instability. He fears that history is repeating itself, like when Clara finds a bullet and says "Maybe the hunters are here." Clarke fears that the hunters in question are the same ones that left footprints in the snow in the film's opening sequence. When a butterfly flits by at the end of The American, it is and it isn't a facile confirmation of Clara's pet name for Clarke ("Mr. Farfalle"). The symbol is dead and its Clarke's belief in it that killed it.

Monday, April 18, 2011

387) You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)

387) You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) Dir: Woody Allen Date Released: September 2010 Date Seen: November 26, 2010 Rating: 3.5/5

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. In terms of its broad beats, it's just more of the same of Woody's recent resigned but wan recent dramedies. But his empathetic dialogue frequently impressed me and the narrative's criss-crossing scenario is frequently immersive in spite of Woody's continued ill-advised use of voiceover narration and Josh Brolin's half-baked performance. Gives me hope for Midnight in Paris...which hopefully I'll get to see at Cannes! Yeaaaaaah.

386) It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)

386) It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010) Dir: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck Date Released: October 2010 Date Seen: November 25, 2010 Rating: 1.5/5

See below video for my reaction to this lousy, crass and largely inept...thing.



385) Somewhere (2010)

385) Somewhere (2010) Dir: Sofia Coppola Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: November 25, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

To borrow a turn of phrase from my friend Matt Zoller Seitz, I appreciate and really enjoyed the stillness of this film. The duration of scenes creates crevices in otherwise long, blocky takes. For instance, I loved that the irony inherent in Coppola's use of "My Hero" during the twins' strip tease dissipates a minute or so into their routine. Given time, the song turns the girls' routine into something genuinely unsettling and even fascinating to watch. Coppola still knows what she's doing and she sure as shit doesn't deserve the pat "It's just like Lost in Translation but Stephen Dorff is no Bill Murray, da-hoik!" pseudo-observations that many of my colleagues made when this came out. It's a slow and effective formal experiment and it mostly works. Also: love love love that Maurizio Nichetti cameo. 

384) Unstoppable (2010)

384) Unstoppable (2010) Dir: Tony Scott Date Released: November 2010 Date Seen: November 24, 2010 Rating: 3.25/5

I'm not going to defend Scott as a brilliant action director because I don't believe he is one. I like his films because I enjoy their spirit of visual experimentation (dig that scene on the train where he dumps grain all over Chris Pine and Denzel to better show their bodies in motion) and Scott's comfort with generic narratives. So yeah, I enjoyed it. I don't buy the "Tony Scott is a Savant Genius" argument because, well, his work isn't ingenious, just gangly, often engaging in a shrill kind of way and frequently visually engaging. I don't care how uncool I look for saying this: make mine The Hunger.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

383) Faster (2010)

383) Faster (2010) Dir: George Tillman Jr. Date Released: November 2010 Date Seen: November 24, 2010 Rating: 2/5

Such a waste of a perfectly good macho. See my review for Slant Magazine.

382) The Milk of Sorrow (2009)

382) The Milk of Sorrow (2009) Dir: Claudia Llosa Date Released: August 2010 Date Seen: November 23, 2010 Rating: 4/5

Very satisfying anti-fairy table with an excellent lead performance. See my review for the New York Press.

381) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

381) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) Dir: Jalmari Helander Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: November 22, 2010 Rating: 4/5

Just as good as I wanted it to be. See my review for the New York Press.

380) Please Give (2010)

380) Please Give (2010) Dir: Nicole Holofcener Date Released: April 2010 Date Seen: November 21, 2010 Rating: 3.25/5

Ditto re: this. A tempest in a teacup over this? Really? Not as bad as, say, The Kids Are All Right, certainly. See my review for the New York Press.

379) The Fighter (2010)

379) The Fighter (2010) Dir: David O. Russell Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: November 19, 2010 Rating: 3.25/5

Eh. Not enough to dislike but not a lot to really like either. See my review for Wide Screen.

378) Black Swan (2010)

378) Black Swan (2010) Dir: Darren Aronofsky Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: November 18, 2010 Rating: 4/5

Oh thank goodness, he's back. See my to-the-point blurb for the L Magazine.

377) Another Year (2010)

377) Another Year (2010) Dir: Mike Leigh Date Released: December 2010 Date Seen: November 17, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

I have problems with this one. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy grappling with those problems while watching Leigh work. See my review for Wide Screen.

376) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)

376) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) Dir: David Yates Date Released: November 2010 Date Seen: November 16, 2010 Rating: 2.5/5

Blecky. The only Potter film I actively disliked. Granted, I haven't rewatched the first two films in a while. But this is really kinda lousy. See my review for Wide Screen.

375) A Film Unfinished (2010)

375) A Film Unfinished (2010) Dir: Yael Hersonski Date Released: August 2010 Date Seen: November 15, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

I like thinking about it more than I like watching it. See my review for the New York Press.

374) Death of a Snowman (1978)

374) Death of a Snowman (1974) Dir: Christopher Rowley Date Released: September 1978 Date Seen: November 14, 2010 Rating: 3.25/5

Also known as: Soul Patrol. See my dvd review for Slant Magazine.

Friday, April 15, 2011

373) Don't Look Now (1973)

373) Don't Look Now (1973) Dir: Nicolas Roeg Date Released: January 1974 Date Seen: November 13, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

Blown away. So visually playful and immersive--really, just tremendous. I love the way that it sets up the arbitrary nature of Roeg's agnostic film. Subjectivity is all. Don't have much to say about it for now but wow. Wow wow wow.

372) The Secrets of Kells (2009)

372) The Secret of Kells (2009) Dir: Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey Date Released: March 2010 Date Seen: November 13, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

Wasn't as taken with this as I expected to be but I did like it plenty. See my review for the New York Press.

361) 52 Pick-Up (1986), 369) Revenge of the Ninja (1983), 370) The Apple (1980) and 371) Castaway (1986)

361) 52 Pick-Up (1986) Dir: John Frankenheimer Date Released: November 1986 Date Seen: November 4, 2010 Rating: 2.75/5

369) Revenge of the Ninja (1983) Dir: Sam Firstenberg Date Released: September 1983 Date Seen: November 10, 2010 Rating: 0.5/5

370) The Apple (1980) Dir: Menahem Golan Date Released: November 1980 Date Seen: November 11, 2010 Rating: 1/5 

371) Castaway (1986) Dir: Nicolas Roeg Date Released: September 1987 Date Seen: November 11, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

Fabulously awful. Except for the Frankenheimer, which had potential. And the Roeg. Which is very good. See my piece on the white-washed Golan/Globus series Lincoln Center put on recently for the L Magazine.

368) Animal Kingdom (2010)

368) Animal Kingdom (2010) Dir: David Michod Date Released: August 2010 Date Seen: November 9, 2010 Rating: 2/5

Nor this. See my review for the New York Press.

367) Winter's Bone (2010)

367) Winter's Bone (2010) Dir: Debra Granik Date Released: June 2010 Date Seen: November 8, 2010 Rating: 1.5/5

This, on the other hand--I don't get the appeal of this. At all. See my review for the New York Press.

366) Due Date (2010)

366) Due Date (2010) Dir: Todd Phillips Date Released: November 2010 Date Seen: November 7, 2010 Rating: 3.25/5

Um...I liked it. For the most part. In other words: yeah, I don't buy the "and they learn a lesson" aspect of the story either. Bud I did enjoy the buddy team here and thought the film's escalating ruthlessness was pretty entertaining. Car stuntwork was pretty decent, too. Yeah, I can't complain. 

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

RV!: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

RV!: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) Dir: Edgar Wright Date Released: August 2010 Date Seen: November 6, 2010 Rating: 4/5

A more cogent piece on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, one where even I convince even myself that the film is a major player of 2010 that unfortunately got dismissed because, gasp, it's about a geek! An unwelcome revival of the thoughtless, schizophrenic, self-flagellating party line that squeals that "fanboy"ishness and pop culture must be frequently stifled began an when Kick-Ass came out. And the blowback from that idiotic and largely unqualified argument crippled this freakishly well-realized fantasy. A shame. See my dvd review for Slant Magazine.

362) Around a Small Mountain (2009)

362) Around a Small Mountain (2009) Dir: Jacques Rivette Date Released: July 2010 Date Seen: November 4, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

Breaking news: it's good! See my review for the New York Press.

RV!: Point Blank (1967), 363) Hell in the Pacific (1968), 364) Leo the Last (1970), 365) Deliverance (1972) and RV!: Zardoz (1974)

RV!: Point Blank (1967) Dir: John Boorman Date Released: August 1967 Date Seen: November 3, 2010 Rating: 4/5

363) Hell in the Pacific (1968) Dir: John Boorman Date Released: December 1968 Date Seen: November 4, 2010 Rating: 4/5

364) Leo the Last (1970) Dir: John Boorman Date Released: May 1970 Date Seen: November 5, 2010 Rating: 4/5

365) Deliverance (1972) Dir: John Boorman Date Released: July 1972 Date Seen: November 5, 2010 Rating: 4/5

RV!: Zardoz (1974) Dir: John Boorman Date Released: February 1974 Date Seen: November 6, 2010 Rating: 4.5/5

The following is a complete transcript of the introduction I gave to a screening of Zardoz I introduced when I visited San Jose...or thereabouts.



What you’re about to see is inspired madness that needs a fair amount of unpacking to be properly appreciated. It’s something of a camp masterpiece but it’s also totally and completely unique, full of the kind of crackpot ideas that only director John Boorman could come up with. Boorman, most famously the director of Deliverance, Excalibur and Point Blank, has certain key themes that he loves to explore in his best movies and one of them is the concept of arbitrary difference, an idea that’s central to Zardoz.

Zardoz follows Zed, played by Sean Connery, a violent, hyper-sexual badass that infilitrates and destroys a tranquil society of mutant pseudo-intellectuals. Yeah, let that sink in for a sec. Zardoz is set in a distant future where society is broken down into two classes: the first group is the Brutals, who themselves are divided into the Chosen, a group of armed, horseback riding zealots, and the rest of the Brutals, who are basically hunted and murdered by the Chosen for sport and to appease Zardoz, the Brutals gods. The other group are the Eternals, a group of highly evolved intellectuals that in turn shun a group called the Renegades, a cast-off collection of subversive thinkers and trouble-makers.

Boorman, who wrote the script for Zardoz, maintains that there’s no real difference between the Brutals, the Chosen, the Eternals or the Renegades. If anything, they’re all separated by their clothes. The Brutals wear this funny-looking kind of red underwear that look like they’re just a bandanna wrapped held together by the suspenders that bind their bandolier. The male Brutals, the one that get hunted for Zardoz, are all dressed in blazers. The female brutals are all less lucky as their breasts are exposed, most likely because they’re constantly getting raped.

Similarly, the Eternals are highly evolved in that they can telepathically exert control over Zed. But the Eternals also don’t know how to read or write: almost all the information their little communicator rings give them is repeated ad nauseam until they ask a new question. There are likewise a number of blatant spelling errors on the list of surplus items each individual Eternals’ community has to offer each other.

Paganism of Boorman’s spirituality: religion doesn’t nurture people, nature does. But like religion, it’s also a potential hazard and often is. Note the emphasis on bodies of water throughout his films until this point: the water surrounding Alcatraz in Point Blank, the treacherous river in Deliverance, the Pacific Ocean that traps Toshiro Mifune and Lee Marvin’s characters in Hell in the Pacific and the pool that Marcello Mastroianni’s character rediscovers his sense of empathy in in Leo the Last.

Boorman inherently distrusts religion though he also shows that on a basic level, he respects its goals. God is man-made and hence can die. Zed is shown a hall full of busts of gods and goddesses and is told that all of them are dead. “They died of boredom,” he’s told and that’s because they’re not natural but rather overtly artificial. They can die because our imagination can lose interest in them.

Boorman suggests that this tendency towards cyclical deicide is the root of idleness at the heart of the Eternals’ society. Apathy is spreading through the Vortex,” says Friend, Zed’s guide to the Eternals’ world. Everything is voted on and decided by committee, especially crimes of every magnitude. Even the punishment afforded these people allows for an eternal cerebral life: people who commit crimes get prematurely aged but they can never die. Old people are herded together in a menagerie and called “Renegades.” Eternals can’t even kill themselves because when they die, they are almost instantaneously reborn in the Tabernacle in a new fetus body. There’s a basic level of self-loathing in that idea according to Boorman that’s wonderfully expressed in the final statement of a man facing group judgment. After confessing his crimes, the Eternal says, slowly and deliberately: “I hate you all. I hate you all. I hate you all, especially me.”

But the Eternals aren’t just intellectually justified barbarians: they have potential, just like all of the other savages in Boorman’s films, like the mis-shapen boy in Deliverance, who plays the banjo with an almost savant-level of intelligence. The Eternals in Zardoz have so much potential: responsibilities are divied up totally between the sexes and everyone must do their share. Their habitat could be paradise but as it is, it more closely resembles Thomas More’s Utopia, a place where equality is equated to drudgery and similitude leads to a total lack of excitement (note the way the men all wear these elaborate effeminate haircuts and togas).

Of Boorman’s protagonists, Zed most closely resembles Walker in Point Blank. Walker, played by Lee Marvin, is a man out for revenge, just as Zed is, and they’re both agents of chaos in that way. They don’t know how they’re going to get from point A to point B but they do basically know what they want: Walker wants his money and he wants revenge. Zed also wants revenge but he wants something more than money: he wants the truth. Or at least, he thinks he does. He refuses to admit out-right that he came into the Vortex to kill the man he now knew was posing as Zardoz, a false god.

But there’s something rather funny inherent in that concept. Zardoz and the Tabernacle are all of man’s aspirations, all of his knowledge, science, theology and art. In his attempt to destroy them both, Zed and Boorman are encouraging anarchy. There is no viable alternative solution to how humanity can continue without self-destruction: vases must be smashed, art destroyed and ideas have to be digested but only so they can be violently rejected and then recreated from memory. This is what makes Zardoz Boorman’s answer to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain, a film that rejects its own seamlessness as a work of fiction and attempts to rouse the viewer into actively destroying their known environment so that they can build a new one. That level of radical thought is dated, even rather silly now, but it’s still potent thanks to Boorman’s unswerving conviction and out-there images. It’s one of the most unique and exciting American science fiction films of the ‘70s, a decade whose genre films were defined by their revolutionary passion. I don’t think we’ll see another movie quite like Zardoz ever again.

360) Sexy Timetrip Ninjas (1984)

360) Sexy Timetrip Ninjas (1984) Dir: Yojiro Takita Not Yet Released Date Seen: November 2, 2010 Rating: 2.75/5

I watched this on Election Night. It did not distract me sufficiently. See my review for the New York Press.

RV!: Dark Star (1974)

RV!: Dark Star (1974) Dir: John Carpenter Date Released: April 1974 Date Seen: November 1, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

Oh so good. See my dvd review for Slant Magazine.

359) 127 Hours (2010)

359) 127 Hours (2010) Dir: Danny Boyle Date Released: November 2010 Date Seen: November 1, 2010 Rating: 3.5/5

A damn sight better than Slumdog Millionaire, that's for sure. See my review for Wide Screen.

358) Amer (2009)

358) Amer (2009) Dir: Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani Date Released: October 2010 Date Seen: November 1, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

One of the best of last year. For serious. See my review for the New York Press.

357) Teknolust (2002)

357) Teknolust (2002) Dir: Lynn Hershman-Leeson Date Released: February 2004 Date Seen: October 31, 2010 Rating: 3/5

Militant feminism meets Alex Cox-style cine-anarchism. Starring Tilda Swinton as her own techno-clones. Uh. It was ok, I guess. See my dvd review for Slant Magazine.

356) Rubber (2010)

356) Rubber (2010) Dir: Quentin Dupieux Date Released: April 2011 Date Seen: October 30, 2011 Rating: 3.75/5

Didn't write about this until a couple of weeks ago for Wide Screen, which just confirms my theory that sometimes, when you have something to say about a film, even if it's inconsequential, it'll stay in your mind until you commit yourself to writing about it. You can be the judge of that though.

355) Megamind (2010)

355) Megamind (2010) Dir: Tom McGrath Date Released: November 2010 Date Seen: October 30, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

"Da-herk, it's just like Despicable Me!" Oh, cram it. See my review for Slant Magazine and stop being so lazy...damnit!

354) Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (2010)

354) Saw 3D: The Final Chapter (2010) Dir: Kevin Greutert Date Released: October 29, 2010 Date Seen: October 28, 2010 Rating: 1.25/5

I'll miss panning this series. Which doesn't mean that I'm done with them just yet. But still, I had hoped they'd be around forever. Because...because why not? See my review for Slant Magazine.

353) Stake Land (2010)

353) Stake Land (2010) Dir: Jim Mickle Date Released: April 2011 Date Seen: October 27, 2010 Rating: 3/5

I can see Mickle's affection for the archetypes he uses throughout his patchwork post-apocalyptic world. I just can't see much else there beyond a generally competent and thankfully sincere use of otherwise generic used parts. Stake Land reminded of Zombieland except Mickle's film is not sarcastic, just adrift and pleased-with-itself, like a kid in a candy store with money to spend and no real idea how to spend it. Who knows? I may have expected more from this than I got and my opinion could improve upon review. Still: I was there at Lincoln Center when they screened this. Full house, my best friend in tow and Larry Fessenden giggling to Mickle and the cast in the handicapped ramp of the Walter Reade Theater. If I didn't love that film then, I don't know if I can later.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

352) Legend of Hell House (1973)

352) Legend of Hell House (1973) Dir: John Hough Date Released: June1973 Date Seen: October 27, 2010 Rating: 1.75/5

More like Legend of Crack House, amirite? See my review for the New York Press.

351) Cherry (2010)

351) Cherry (2010) Dir: Jeffrey Fine Date Released: October 2010 Date Seen: October 26, 2010 Rating: 2.75/5

More good than bad but not much more. And no, the (ahem) titular assonance involved in my watching a film called Asshole earlier in the day is not lost on me. I am twenty-four years old and completely immature. So there. See my review for the Village Voice.

350) Asshole (2010)

350) Asshole (2010) Dir: Kaushik Mukherjee Date Released: November 2010 Date Seen: October 26, 2010 Rating: 4/5

Anton Corbijn-looking visuals with a very angry, gassy, rapping young Indian protagonist. What's not to love? See my review for the New York Press.

349) Blood and Black Lace (1964)

349) Blood and Black Lace (1964) Dir: Mario Bava Date Released: April 1965 Date Seen: October 25, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

I still think The Girl Who Knew Too Much is my fav Bava but this is pretty decent...when it's not a tedious procedural. See my dvd review for Slant Magazine.

348) Dead of Night (1945)

348) Dead of Night (1945) Dir: Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer Date Released: June1946 Date Seen: October 25, 2010 Rating: 3.75/5

Lots of fun. See my review for the New York Press.

Monday, April 11, 2011

347) Jacob's Ladder (1990)

347) Jacob's Ladder (1990) Dir: Adrian Lyne Date Released: November 1990 Date Seen: October 24, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

Jaw, meet floor. Floor, do you know my friend jaw? Well, I'll leave you two to get acquainted. In all seriousness, I am in awe of the empathy on display here and the power of the nightmare visions, too. Gah.

346) Stand By Me (1986)

346) Stand By Me (1986) Dir: Rob Reiner Date Released: August 1986 Date Seen: October 24, 2010 Rating: 4/5

I totally wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did. But I took a big shining to it...oh god, that wasn't a...shit. Look. All's I know is that I really appreciated the thoughtful encapsulation of what it's like to start to slowly distance yourself from your home, your family, your friends and start to become you. Really very satisfying.

345) Sometimes They Come Back (1991)

345) Sometimes They Come Back (1991) Dir: Tom McLoughlin Date Released (TV): May 1991 Date Seen: October 24, 2010 Rating: 2.5/5

A lot of funky and rather poorly hidden gay panic images strewn throughout but otherwise a fairly bland and uncomplicated revenge of '50s nostalgia pic. Seems to mark the end of an era in the '80s where '50s Americana was fetishized and used to put down Reagan's America.

344) Deathdream (1974)

344) Deathdream (1974) Dir: Bob Clark Date Released: August 1974 Date Seen: October 23, 2010 Rating: 3/5

I prefer Black Christmas only by a scooch because, well, how to put this? Bob Clark wasn't the most polished filmmaker ever either. At least he was able to sustain a mood throughout Black Christmas; here, he's got some great ideas and some really creepy images. He just didn't know what to do with already rather limited resources at his disposal. Still, I really like it in bits and spurts, especially the sound of the creaking rocking chair and the very last scene. 

343) Monkey Shines (1988)

343) Monkey Shines (1988) Dir: George Romero Date Released: July 1988 Date Seen: October 23, 2010 Rating: 3.25/5

I maintain that if George Romero were a more technically polished filmmaker, he might stand a chance of being accepted as a thinking man's genre filmmaker (ie: David Cronenberg). Like Cronenberg, Romero doesn't care about character development; his characters are walking experiments, only this and nothing more. I never got the sense that Romero cared about Monkey Shines' athletic protagonist, just his predicament, his failed relationship with his mother and the bond he has with his helper monkey. And in that sense, I can absolutely see why the movie was not taken seriously, even when I was actually really into it and the two friends I was watching the film with clearly were not. 

This was a frustrating viewing experience because I, unlike my otherwise lovely company, had already gotten used to Romero's acquired weaknesses as a storyteller (I'm hip, I'm cool, I've seen The Dark Half on the big screen). By the time Romero made Monkey Shines, he'd already become set in his ways. He already knew just about everything he was going to learn as a filmmaker and, since he hasn't made a movie as ambitious and semi-earnest as Monkey Shines ,* he's probably not bound to learn it anytime soon. Which is unfortunate, because Romero is an American icon and I enjoy his films even when they're not completely on-target. Just wish this was a bit more polished, not necessarily more empathetic or any less preposterous.

*From what I've read about Bruiser and Two Evil Eyes, I tend to doubt that either film is bound to change my mind on this issue.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

342) Monsters (2010)

342) Monsters (2010) Dir: Gareth Edwards Date Released: October 2010 Date Seen: October 23, 2010 Rating: 1.75/5

Nooooooo. Noooo! Nooo. See my review for the New York Press.

341) Oceans (2009)

341) Oceans (2009) Dir: Jacques Perrin Date Released: April 2010 Date Seen: October 22, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

Gob-smacking; really mesmerizing stuff that also happens to feature some really tedious voiceover from Pierce Brosnan. But really, who cares when you can just zone out and be so enraptured? See my dvd review of Slant Magazine.

340) Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

340) Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) Dir: Tod Williams Date Released: October 2010 Date Seen: October 22, 2010 Rating: 3.5/5

I love being pleasantly surprised like this. See my impassioned review (and apparently rather good?) for Slant Magazine.

339) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009)

339) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009) Dir: Daniel Alfredson Date Released: October 2010 Date Seen: October 21, 2010 Rating: 1.75/5

The end of this idiotic Swedish rape trilogy (great nickname, eh?). Hopefully. See my review for the L Magazine.

337) Automatons (2006) and 338) No Telling (1991)

337) Automatons (2006) Dir: James Felix McKenney Date Released: December 2006 Date Seen: October 20, 2010 Rating: 3.5/5

338) No Telling (1991) Dir: Larry Fessenden Date Released: XX 1991 (??) Date Seen: October 20, 2010 Rating: 3.25/5

Viva Glass Eye Pix. Check out my interview with Larry Fessenden (really liked the way this turned out) for the L Magazine and my piece on Fessenden's importance as the figurehead of Glass Eye at the New York Press.

336) Kuroneko (1968)

336) Kuroneko (1968) Dir: Kaneto Shindo Date Released: May 1971 Date Seen: October 19, 2010 Rating: 4/5

A leering thrill. See my review for the New York Press.

335) A Small Act (2010)

335) A Small Act (2010) Dir: Jennifer Arnold Date Released: January 2010 Date Seen: October 19, 2010 Rating: 1.75/5

This might be of interest to anyone headed to Ebertfest 2010. Also, for my future biographers, this was my first review for the Village Voice. :)