Worlds of Fragments

2010-01-05T00:58:00.000-08:00

December 2009

2009-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

December 2009
The Maid (Sebastian Silva) Seven Gables ***
Heavenly Creatures (Jackson, 1994) DVD *
Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984) Blu-ray *
Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion (Blieden, 2006) Netflix ***
La Danse (Frederick Wiseman) NW Film Forum **
Nights and Weekends (Swanberg, 2008) Netflix **
Red Cliff (John Woo) Varsity *
The Road (John Hillcoat) Regal Meridian ***
Human Nature (Gondry, 2001) DVD *
Me and Orson Welles (Richard Linklater) Seven Gables **
An Education (Lone Scherfig) Egyptian
Once Upon a Honeymoon (McCarey, 1942) TCM

November 2009

2009-11-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

November 2009
Beeswax (Andrew Bujalski) NW Film Forum ***
Antichrist (Lars von Trier) Egyptian *
The Box (Richard Kelly) Pacific Place **
35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis) NW Film Forum ***
Zombieland (Ruben Fleischer) Cinerama **
Quiet City (Katz, 2007) DVD **
Import/Export (Ulrich Seidl) NW Film Forum ***
La Libertad (Alonso, 2001) NW Film Forum ***
La Fantasma (Alonso, 2006) NW Film Forum **
Il Grido (Antonioni, 1957) DVD **
The Atom Smashers DVD *
Liverpool (Lisandro Alonso) NW Film Forum *
Araya (Benacerraf, 1959) NW Film Forum **
Fistful of Dollars (Leone, 1964) YouTube *
Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze) Regal Meridian ***
The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson) Metro *
Dodgeball (Thurber, 2004) DVD *
Precious (Lee Daniels) Harvard Exit **
All the Real Girls (Green, 2002) DVD **
American Splendor (Berman/Pulcini, 2004) DVD **

October 2009

2009-10-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

October 2009
| Sweetgrass (Barbash/Castaing-Taylor) **
| Mother (Bong Joon-ho) ***
| Like You Know It All (Hong Sang-soo) *
| Castaway on the Moon (Lee Hey-jun) *
| Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (Jessica Oreck) ***
| Tales from the Golden Age (Various Romanians) ***
The Invention of Lying (Ricky Gervais) Regal Meridian **
Salesman (Maysles Bros., 1969) NW Film Forum **
Focal Points (Various, 1969) NW Film Forum *
The Informant (Steven Soderbergh) Pacific Place **
A Serious Man (Coen Bros.) Harvard Exit ***
Yeast (Mary Bronstein) Amazon.com **
Still Walking (Hirokazu Koreeda) Varsity ***
Whip It (Drew Barrymore) Pacific Place **
The Headless Woman (Lucrecia Martel) NW Film Forum **

September 2009

2009-09-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

September 2009
Arid Lands (Aaker/Wallaert) NW Film Forum *
Lorna's Silence (Dardenne Bros.) Varsity **
Thirst (Park Chan-wook) Varsity *
Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960) DVD *
Milestones (Kramer/Douglas, 1975) NW Film Forum ***
Swingers (Liman, 1996) DVD *
World's Greatest Dad (Bobcat Goldthwait) Harvard Exit *
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp) Regal Meridian **
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino) Cinerama ***
Heavy Visuals (Various, 1969) NW Film Forum **
Extract (Mike Judge) Regal Meridian

August 2009

2009-08-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

August 2009
Moon (Duncan Jones) Harvard Exit ** w/ Connor
Herb & Dorothy (Megumi Sasaki) NW Film Forum **
(500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb) Pacific Place
Public Enemies (Michael Mann) Metro Cinemas ***
Funny People (Judd Apatow) Pacific Place ***
Le gai savoir (Godard, 1969) NW Film Forum *
Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki) Pacific Place **
Tony Manero (Pablo Larrain) NW Film Forum **
Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992) Egyptian **
Smiley Face (Araki, 2007) DVD
Anchorman (McKay, 2004) DVD *

July 2009

2009-07-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

July 2009
Munyurangabo (Lee-Isaac Chung) NW FIlm Forum **
Cleo from 5 to 7 (Varda, 1962) The Auteurs *
Police Beat (Devor, 2005) NW Film Forum ***
John Cage (Greenaway, 1983) UBUweb **
Up (Pete Docter) Pacific Place ***
Made in USA (Godard, 1969) NW Film Forum *
Objectified (Gary Hustwit) NW Film Forum **
Deliverance (Boorman, 1972) Grand Illusion *
The Big Lebowski (Coen, 1998) DVD
Army of Darkness (Raimi, 1992) Fremont Outdoor Movies *
My Effortless Brilliance (Shelton, 2008) Amazon Video ***
Dazed & Confused (Linklater, 1993) Egyptian Theater
Lake Tahoe (Fernando Eimbcke) NW Film Forum **
Brüno (Larry Charles) Regal Meridian *

June 2009

2009-06-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

June 2009
| Back to the Land (Kevin Tomlinson) Pacific Place
| Daytime Drinking (Noh Young-seok) SIFF Cinema **
| Modern Life (Raymond Depardon) Harvard Exit *
| ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction (Kevin Hamedani) SIFF Cinema *
| Sweet Crude (Sandy Cioffi) Egyptian ***
| Everything Strange and New (Frazer Bradshaw) Pacific Place ***
| True Adolescents (Craig Johnson) Egyptian ***
| Humpday (Lynn Shelton) Egyptian **
| Prodigal Sons (Kimberly Reed) Pacific Place *
| Le Amiche (Antonioni, 1955) SIFF Cinema **
| The Missing Person (Noah Buschel) Pacific Place **
| Manhole Children (Taro Yakahashi) Pacific Place **
| Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly (Edwin) SIFF Cinema ***
| The Fortress (Fernand Melgar) Harvard Exit ***
| Lovely Loneliness (Martin Carranza) Pacific Place *
| The Bear (Annaud, 1989) Triple Door w/ No Age *
| Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, 1968) Harvard Exit
| Everyone Else (Maren Ade) Harvard Exit ***
| Breathless (Yang Ik-june) SIFF Cinema ***
| Home (Ursula Meier) SIFF Cinema **
| Amreeka (Cherien Dabis) Pacific Place *
| The Shaft (Zhang Chi) Pacific Place **
Bugs Bunny anthology (WB) Grand Illusion ***
The Hangover (Todd Phillips) Regal Meridian *
Mamma Mia (Lloyd, 2008) Fremont Outdoor Movies *
My Night at Maud's (Rohmer, 1969) NW Film Forum ***
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Mazursky, 1969) NW FIlm Forum
Duet for Cannibals (Sontag, 1969) NW Film Forum *
Year One (Harold Ramis) Pacific Place
Away We Go (Sam Mendes) Pacific Place **
Hated (Phillips, 1994) Pitchfork.TV *
Frat House (Phillips, 1998) Google Video *

May 2009

2009-05-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

May 2009
Sugar (Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck) Harvard Exit **
Revanche (Götz Spielmann) SIFF Cinema ***
Take the Money and Run (Allen, 1969) NW Film Forum *
24 City (Jia Zhang-ke) NW Film Forum *
Good Bye Solo (Ramin Bahrani) Varsity ***
The Limits of Control (Jim Jarmusch) **
Star Trek (JJ Abrams) Cinerama ***
| Spring Breakdown (Ryan Shiraki) Neptune ***
| The Adventures of Robin Hood (Keighley/Curtiz, 1938) Harvard Exit
| The Exploding Girl (Bradley Rust Gray) Pacific Place *
| The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (David Russo) SIFF Cinema ***
| We Live in Public (Ondi Timoner) Neptune
| Bronson (Nicholas Winding Refn) Uptown *
| The Beaches of Agnes (Agnes Varda) SIFF Cinema ***
Jerichow (Christian Petzold) Grand Illusion **
| Film Ist: A Girl & A Gun (Gustav Deutsch) NWFF **
| This Charming Girl (Lee, 2004) Harvard Exit
| My Dear Enemy (Lee Yoon-ki) Harvard Exit *
Tyson (James Toback) Varsity ***
| Warlords (Chan/Yip) Egyptian **
| All Tomorrow's Parties (Jonathan Caouette) Egyptian **
| Short in the Dark (Various) NW Film Forum **
| Bluebeard (Catherine Breillat) SIFF Cinema *
| It Takes a Cult (Eric Johannsen) Pacific Place ***
| Light Year (Mikael Kristersson) NW Film Forum **
| Disclosures (Various) SIFF Cinema **

April 2009

2009-04-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

April 2009
Collateral (Mann, 2004) DVD **
Tokyo! (Gondry/Carax/Bong) Varsity **
Southland Tales on DVD
Silent Light @ NW Film Forum
Adventureland (Greg Mottola) UA Horton Plaza **
Hunger (Steve McQueen) NW Film Forum ***
Observe and Report (Jody Hill) Regal Meridian **
Safe Men (Hamburg, 1998) Hulu
Sin Nombre (Cary Fukunaga) Egyptian ***
Waiting for Sancho (Mark Peranson) NW Film Forum *
Birdsong (Albert Serra) NW Film Forum *
Examined Life (Astra Taylor) NW Film Forum **

March 2009

2009-03-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

March 2009
Coraline 3D (Henry Selick) Regal Meridian ***
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (Pollack, 1969) NW Film Forum ***
Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman) Varsity **
Sunshine Cleaning (Christine Jeffs) SIFF Cinema *
Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight (Wendy Key) NW Film Forum *
Cherry Blossoms (Doris Dörrie) Varsity *
Rem Koolhaas: A Kind of Architect (Markus Heidingsfelder) NW Film Forum *
Crips & Bloods (Stacy Peralta) NW Film Forum **
Paint Your Wagon (Logan, 1969) NW Film Forum *
The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah, 1969) NW FIlm Forum **
I Love You, Man (John Hamburg) Pacific Place ***
See This Movie (Rosenthal, 2004) DVD
Gomorra (Matteo Garrone) Varsity **
Body Heat (Kasdan, 1981) DVD ***
Tokyo Sonata (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) NW Film Forum **
Duplicity (Tony Gilroy) Pacific Place **

February 2009

2009-02-28T23:59:00.000-08:00

February 2009
Terra Nova (Alexander Melnik) PIFF
Shall We Kiss? (Emmanuel Mouret) PIFF ***
Treeless Mountain (So Yong Kim) PIFF ***
Cape No. 7 (Wei Te-sheng) PIFF
As Simple As That (Reza Mir Karimi) PIFF *
The Friend (Micha Lewinsky) PIFF *
Wolf: The Laws of Wilderness (Daniel Alfredson) PIFF *
High School Musical 3 (Kenny Ortega) Amtrak
Medicine for Melancholy (Barry Jenkins) NWFF **
Three Monkeys (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) Varsity *
Lola Montes (Ophuls, 1955) SIFF Cinema *
The Devil Bat (Yarbrough, 1940) Twisted Flicks *

January 2009

2009-01-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

January 2009
The Feature (Michel Auder/Andrew Neel) NW Film Forum *
Wet Hot American Summer (Wain, 2001) Egyptian **
Easy Rider (Hopper, 1969) NW Film Forum **
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (Hill, 1969) NW Film Forum *
Joy Division (Gee, 2007) Pitchfork.TV *
The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky) Regal Meridian **
Alice's Restaurant (Penn, 1969) NW Film Forum
The Baxter (Showalter, 2005) DVD ***
Stereo (Cronenberg, 1969) NW Film Forum
Che (Steven Soderbergh) Varsity ***
The Matrix (Wachowski, 1999) Egyptian ***
Reprise (von Trier, 2008) DVD **
Revolutionary Road (Sam Mendes) Guild 45th **

December 2008

2008-12-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

December 2008
Frontrunners (Caroline Suh) NW Film Forum *
Slumdog Millionaire (Danny Boyle) Harvard Exit **
The Wild Child (Truffaut, 1970) SIFF Cinema *
Milk (Gus Van Sant) Egyptian ***
Virtual JFK (Koji Masutani) NW Film Forum *
Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein, 1938) SIFF Cinema
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher) Pacific Place **
Timecrimes (Nacho Vigalondo) Varsity **
Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood) Regal *
A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin) Seven Gables **
Day of Wrath (Dreyer, 1943) NW Film Forum ***
Doubt (John Patrick Shanley) Regal Meridian *

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

2008-11-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

Zack and Miri Make a Porno *
Kevin Smith, 2008
US
@ Pacific Place

Delightful as expected. Similarities to Be Kind Rewind, though on a smaller, much smuttier scale. It felt disjointed, but not in an unpleasant way.

Incidentally, the guy who wanders in drunk during one of the shoots, Tyler Labine, is part of the cast of A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, along with David Koechner, Martin Starr, Will Forte, Jason Sudeikis, and Don Johnson. I'm trying to envision it, but the mind boggles.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic | Publicity

November 2008

2008-11-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

November 2008
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Kevin Smith) Pacific Place **
The Manchurian Candidate (Frankenheimer, 1962) Metro *
Charlie Wilson's War (Nichols, 2007) DVD *
Paris vu Par (Various, 1965) SIFF Cinema *
Role Models (David Wain) Regal Meridian **
The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (Eric Rohmer) NW Film Forum ***
The Pool (Chris Smith) Varsity **
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Demy, 1964) SIFF Cinema **
Re-animator (Gordon, 1985) Grand Illusion
In the City of Sylvia (Jose Luis Guerin) NW Film Forum **
Irma Vep (Assayas, 1997) SIFF Cinema *
I've Loved You So Long (Philippe Claudel) Metro **
Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh) Guild 45th *
Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman) Guild 45th ***
You've Got Mail (Ephron, 1998) VHS *
Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredsson) Varsity ***

The Changeling

2008-10-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

The Changeling **
Clint Eastwood, 2008
US
@ Majestic Bay

I'd never been to the Majestic Bay before, and the screen was impressively large and close to the stadium seating.

I was reminded of how sad it is that Amy Ryan's stint on The Office looks to not be very long. I'm all for comedy writers doing comedy acting, but she was just so obviously better than everyone else that it was kind of ridiculous. I'd say Ed Helms is back to being my favorite, though I suppose that's just because Steve Carell is too obvious to really think about much.

How awesome is Geoffrey Pierson in this movie. So awesome, in fact, that during the trial(s) section, I started imagining this scenario as an allegory of some future reckoning for the current members of the executive branch of federal gov't rather than the LAPD in the 20's. You know, Christine Collins as the US population, her son Walter as "the American dream," "freedom," whatever you might want to call what is generally believed to be good and/or exemplary about the nation, and the protesters milling about the concerned citizens of the world. I don't even know how I really feel about the movie or these scenes in particular because what it spawned in my head was so powerful that I couldn't really pay attention to the action onscreen.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic | A.O. Scott review

Rachel Getting Married

2008-10-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Rachel Getting Married **
Jonathan Demme, 2008
US
@ Egyptian Theater

Margot at the Wedding felt to me like great black comedy, whereas this was just black for long stretches, although perfectly leavened by key scenes. The dishwasher bit was my favorite, better even than anything at the wedding. I've read complaints about the handheld camera work, and I don't always appreciate that style, but here it works very well to bring us closer to the characters and, I think, maintain an element of surprise. The characters are so bitter and the tone so wrenching that the reconciliation didn't feel rote here like it usually does.

See also: IMDb

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

2008-10-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist *
Peter Sollett, 2008
US
@ Regal Meridian

Much gayer and more Jewish than I expected. Michael Cera's blank acting works really well particularly during the scene in which he finally dumps his ex. The sound was not loud enough, so the music lost some impact. Interesting to see Bujalski's friends Bishop Allen in a bigger production. More interesting to see a guy I worked with for a while in Manhattan playing the Asian guy at the deli. I knew he did that type of work, but he hadn't been in a movie this big for about twelve years now, according to iMDB. The physical, gross-out humor contrasts nicely with the mild-mannered leads. Maybe not great, but certainly interesting here and there.

See also: IMDb

The Exiles

2008-10-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Exiles *
Kent Mackenzie, 1961
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

The film itself I enjoyed less than, say, Lionel Rogosin's On the Bowery, but Sherman Alexie really helped put it in subcultural context in his Q&A afterward.

See also: IMDb

The Godfather

2008-10-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Godfather ***
Francis Ford Coppola, 1972
US
@ Cinerama

The pacing and lighting are masterful. An absolute success at what it sets out to do, but just what is that exactly? It seems to me the violence has a fatalistic edge to it, as if there is no other way possible. There are a lot of different ways to portray violence on-screen, and I'm okay with many of them. Pulp Fiction uses it as one of the profound elements of cinematic art. Shotgun Stories suggested that violence was closer, more likely than we might think. A History of Violence suggests that violence lives under the skin, never quite going away no matter how hard we try. Clint Eastwood seems to suggest that violence will bring us down in the end, "live by the sword, die by the sword" kind of thing. No Country for Old Men: violence is performed by the deranged, but it may not in the end be a deranged act. A Thin Red Line takes a calm, dualistic view. The Godfather is sort of like a tragedy, but there are so many things I can't figure out exactly about free will, is this positive/negative/inevitable. It's tough to process because almost no one alien to this world of violence ever appears in the film. It's hard to get enough distance from the characters to discover any perspective in the writing or directing. In that way it's an incredibly dark and kind of dispiriting movie.

See also: IMDb

Othello

2008-10-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Othello *
Orson Welles, 1952
US/Italy
@ SIFF Cinema

Lots of quick cuts; couldn't tell what might have been due to the age of the film. Very cinematic retelling of a play. Some parts were almost too fast for someone unfamiliar with the material.

See also: IMDb

Pulp Fiction

2008-10-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

Pulp Fiction ***
Quentin Tarantinto, 1994
US
@ Egyptian Theater

Thrilling. I never got the physical impact of this movie on video, but it's frequently up there with Kill Bill, something I would not have expected. I also don't believe I've ever started watching it before midnight, of the four(?) times I've seen all or part of it.

See also: IMDb

My Own Private Idaho

2008-10-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

My Own Private Idaho **
Gus Van Sant, 1991
US
@ SIFF Cinema

Very good. Gus Van Sant is probably right up there with Richard Linklater for me in terms of working American directors. Doesn't hurt that he works so frequently in the Northwest. Milk will be a bit of a departure in that it's not about a young man who is either a danger to himself or those around him, as has been the case with ten of Van Sant's twelve features. The two exceptions are Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and To Die For, neither of which I have yet seen.
See also: IMDb

A Girl Cut in Two

2008-10-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

A Girl Cut in Two *
Claude Chabrol, 2008
France
@ Varsity Theater

Cold and remote. Almost too much so to have much affect.

See also: IMDb

VIFF 2008

2008-10-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

VIFF 2008
Hansel & Gretel (Yim Phil-sung) *
Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas) ***
The Chicken, The Fish & The Crab (José Luis López-Linares) *
The Juche Idea (Jim Finn) ***
Wendy & Lucy (Kelly Reichardt) ***
Under the Tree: A Bali Story (Garin Nugroho) *
Teak Leaves at the Temples (Garin Nugroho) *
Days in Between (Lola Randl) **
Chelsea on the Rocks (Abel Ferrara) **

October 2008

2008-10-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

October 2008
A Girl Cut in Two (Claude Chabrol) Varsity *
My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant, 1991) SIFF Cinema **
Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994) Egyptian ***
Othello (Welles, 1952) SIFF Cinema *
The Godfather (Coppola, 1972) Cinerama ***
The Exiles (Mackenzie, 1961) NW FIlm Forum *
Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946) Metro ***
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (Peter Sollett) Regal Meridian *
Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme) Egyptian **
They Live (Carpenter, 1988) Grand Illusion *
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956) Grand Illusion **
Appaloosa (Ed Harris) Pacific Place *
Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1985) Metro ***
Ashes of Time Redux (Wong, 1994/2008) Varsity ***
Young Mr. Lincoln (Ford, 1939) NW Film Forum ***
The Body Snatcher (Wise, 1945) SIFF Cinema **
I Walked with a Zombie (Tourneur, 1943) SIFF Cinema *
The Changeling (Clint Eastwood) Majestic Bay **

Mister Foe

2008-09-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

Mister Foe *
David Mackenzie, 2008
UK
@ Landmark Metro

A nice film. I'd expected the music to be great, but it was good. It's striking how many times we see the same two rooftop shots of Glasgow.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Burn After Reading

2008-09-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

Burn After Reading *
Joel & Ethan Coen, 2008
US
@ Regal Meridian

The best parallel I can find from their work is actually O Brother, Where Art Thou?, especially given George Clooney's character. It's less fanciful on all levels, but the characters are about as unintelligent and confounded.

Brad Pitt alone is worth the price of admission.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Cthulhu

2008-09-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Cthulhu *
Dan Gildark, 2007
US
@ Landmark Metro

Mostly I had to see this movie because for a long while the production operated out of a building a few blocks away from the MVS house back in 2006. And I kind of liked it. Prepared for the worst, the horror reminded me pleasantly of stuff like Doctor Who, wherein the atmosphere and the attempt are more important than actually overwhelming the viewer with realistic effects. And, yes, the visuals are good, except for the bizarre color which could have had to do with the projection. The reds were turned up way too high, resulting in a purple face for the protagonist and some weird looking orange soil.

See also: IMDb | David Schmader on Slog | Personal essay from writer Grant Cogswell

Hamlet 2

2008-09-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hamlet 2 **
Andrew Fleming, 2008
US
@ Pacific Place

This film presents, I think, a perfect approach to working with a moribund genre. As opposed to the series of spoofs ending in ... Movie, you know, scary, superhero, etc. Most brilliantly, Steve Coogan's idiot drama teacher lists off inspirational teacher stories constantly, making clear that he wastes no critical thinking on his appreciation of anything that comes from Hollywood, cleverly taking the place of actual references included over the course of the plot, which in this post-Simpsons & Family Guy world I'd be happy to never witness again.

Initially I agreed with Kenneth Turan: "It's uneven, but the hits are so dead-on that the misses don't seem to matter." But then I noticed that the characters are all remarkably consistent. That is, we may need to take a little while to adjust to these characters before we can laugh at them well. Steve Coogan plays a character who is simultaneously (as above) idiotic, unaware, super-sensitive, kind, delusional, self-loathing and self-deprecating but perhaps not quite enough, and even remarkably unruffled and steady. It's a lot to wrap your head around after, say, too many Will Ferrell comedies.

In terms of spectacle, the last 20 minutes or so are the most absorbing of any I've seen in a long time. In terms of voices, Steve Coogan's impossibly rich, heavily British (think Patrick Stewart or Ian McKellen) narration at the beginning is in hilarious contrast to his wheedling American (Canadian?) accent. Critics have complimented it, but there is something about his R's that just doesn't feel quite right to me, like he modeled his dialogue on old Hollywood movies or something, I don't know. In terms of genre, it meshes the aforementioned inspirational teacher drama with the 40-is-the-new-toddler immature male comedy. It plays with convention, but in a richer fashion than the last Harold & Kumar movie. A Sundance movie that puts its quirkiness to fantastic, demented use instead of blowing it on a cheap, run-of-the-mill indie dramedy.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic | Kenneth Turan review

September 2008

2008-09-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

September 2008
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968) SIFF Cinema ***
Tell No One (Guillaume Canet) Harvard Exit *
The Immortal Woman (Robbe-Grillet, 1962) NW Film Forum **
The Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin) Metro ***
Trans-Europe Express (Robbe-Grillet, 1966) NW Film Forum *
The Dirty Dozen (Aldrich, 1967) Metro **
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (Adler, 1982) Grand Illusion *
Hamlet 2 (Andrew Fleming) Regal Meridian **
Black Peter (Forman, 1964) NW Film Forum *
Cthulhu (Dan Gildark) Metro *
Burn After Reading (Coen Bros.) Regal Meridian *
Mister Foe (David Mackenzie) Metro *
The Loves of a Blonde (Forman, 1965) NW Film Forum *
Religulous (Larry Charles) Guild 45th **
Say Anything (Crowe, 1989) DVD

Tropic Thunder

2008-08-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

Tropic Thunder *
Ben Stiller, 2008
US
@ Regal Meridian

See also: IMDb

Vivre Sa Vie

2008-08-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

Vivre Sa Vie ***
Jean-Luc Godard, 1962
France
@ SIFF Cinema

The full-frame clip of The Passion of Jeanne d'Arc has to be one of the longest insertions in cinema. Appropriate given how much time we spend looking at Anna Karina's face. And she gets killed by a bunch of men at the end more or less for trying to make her own way in the world.

See also: IMDb | TCMDb

The Rocker

2008-08-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

The Rocker *
Peter Cattaneo, 2008
US
@ Regal Meridian

Charming and well-executed. What's really surprising is how infrequently anything gets overplayed. The three kids, for example, are all soft-spoken, and Jeff Garlin's father figure spends most of his screen time silently admiring his "rock star" brother-in-law. The confrontations are all basically polite, and the love interests tame. This is really admirable given that teenage fans of High School Musical and Hannah Montana (featuring some of the most outrageous overacting on televison) are probably at least one target demographic here.

I've been waiting for Jason Sudeikis to do something great onscreen for a little while now, particularly after his terrific stint on 30 Rock, and he doesn't disappoint. To be honest, Rainn Wilson might be the weakest link here. I think the supporting cast is all ready to play off of him, but he just doesn't provide enough charisma, particularly noticeable early on. Jack Black would be the obvious surrogate, given School of Rock, but there are probably others as well.

Two Ohio-specific notes: Wilson's character manages to mispronounce "Akron" fairly early in the movie, and he also waxes nostalgic about seeing metal bands at the Q back in his heyday (the mid-80's), but that arena didn't begin construction (as Gund Arena) until the early 1990's. Then again, the film was shot in Toronto, so regional specificity is something of a moot point anyway.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

2008-08-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

Vicky Cristina Barcelona *
Woody Allen, 2008
Spain/US
@ Guild 45th

Beautiful use of natural light. Everyone looks uncannily beautiful all the time. I find something ghostly about Allen's shooting style, at least in the recent films I've seen. Every time I try to articulate it more fully, though, I can't quite. Something about the way he follows the actors with his camera, kind of like how Altman's floating zoom makes the viewer feel like a spirit haunting the world of the movie. It has to do with the way he handles extras as well, though, because somehow the main action of the movie always feels detached from the surroundings, as if the city he's shooting in doesn't really exist.

The interweaving, dysfunctional relationships are trademark stuff, but somehow they don't feel consequential like they did for me in Hannah and Her Sisters or Crimes and Misdemeanors. And because of the rapid pace due to the copious voiceover narration, or really voiceover exposition, the movie feels long even under 100 minutes. Maybe it's just that this comes up against the existential dread and relatively tight plotting of Match Point and Cassandra's Dream. (I missed Scoop.)

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Medium Cool

2008-08-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

Medium Cool **
Haskell Wexler, 1969
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

Radical. Mentions Contempt directly and mimics Godard a bit here and there. Compare/contrast the images of the dirty kids swarming the news vehicle and the hippie/cop battle.

See also: IMDb | Roger Ebert review

Being There

2008-08-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

Being There ***
Hal Ashby, 1979
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

Nice to come back at the end to the only Hal Ashby film I'd seen previously. Certainly the social critique is constant throughout his seventies work, as well as a kind of indirect critique of the rich. Other than The Landlord, he rarely lampoons them directly, but rather suggest subtly ways in which those with money tend either not to deserve or not to understand exactly what their wealth means, most perfectly typified by the scene in Bound for Glory when Woody leaves the rich woman's house after letting her know how he feels about her contribution to society. He also loves an empty-headed protagonist.

From IMDb: "Shirley MacLaine's masturbation scene was shot seventeen times."

The misguided attempt at interpreting the final scene by geeks on the internet (see Wikipedia, for example) reminds me of reactions after watching Mulholland Drive in college. I fail to understand what real reward there is in trying to piece together a puzzling plot that may have had holes at the time of shooting or never even existed in a coherent form, or trying to read further and further into the actions of the characters in order to understand... what exactly? The secret of life is not to be found in such a place, and insisting on closure from a film seems not only unfair, but foolish when there's so much beauty and humor to be appreciated outside of that insane detective work and so little to gain from it.

Note: I later found this quote from Manny Farber in a blog post by Girish.

I don't see how or why anyone should be expected to get the meaning of an event in a movie or a painting. That's a place where criticism goes wrong: it keeps trying for a complete solution. I think the point of criticism is to build up the mystery. And the point is to find movies which have a lot of puzzle in them.

Masculine Feminine

2008-08-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Masculine Feminine ***
Jean-Luc Godard, 1966
France
@ SIFF Cinema

I think maybe I just like Shia LaBeouf because perhaps excepting the curly hair he looks so much like Jean-Pierre Leaud, and how nice when I'm watching a slightly dull Hollywood film (or reruns on the Disney channel) to be reminded of Stolen Kisses, Last Tango in Paris, La Chinoise, or this.

Hard to tell at times if the backward sexual politics are satirical or unintentionally funny. Highpoints: the graffiti scenes, Paul's "record," and certainly his race to the projection room to complain about an incorrect aspect ratio at the movie theater.

The more Godard I watch the less confusing any one of the films becomes. Because you can more easily identify the quirks, making connections between films, and his bag of tricks all cohere into something resembling a comprehensible style, engaging rather than imposing or just weird.

See also: IMDb

The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach

2008-08-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach *
Jean-Marie Straub/Danièle Huillet, 1968
Germany
@ home on DVD

Would certainly benefit from a theatrical screening. The long, static takes and low resolution of the DVD made for a less than enthralling viewing experience.

The musicmaking and ornamentation both of the churches and the costumes were precisely enthralling, though.

It'd be interesting to see a more contemporary musical biopic done in this fashion.

See also: IMDb

Pineapple Express

2008-08-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

Pineapple Express ***
David Gordon Green, 2008
US
@ Pacific Place

Fantastic. Basically everything I'd hoped for, and a lot more as well. I think this is kind of how I wanted the violence in Reservoir Dogs to feel, whereas I was just repulsed by the ear mutilation in that movie. I guess this kind of fits with some of the cop bits in Superbad, and the action feels like a natural extension of the cinematic world we're in from the beginning. This also does exactly what I'd hoped Hot Fuzz would do, but that movie was satisfied with being clever rather than terrific. Pretty sure you could lop off the opening segment with absolutely no ill effects.

It seems certain that there are a whole lot more tossed off references to action films and others than IMDb's "Movie Connections" page currently lists, particularly with the Asian gang members near the end.

And there's the romp in the woods, which is notable both for the beautiful location and the goofy counterpoint to all the gunshots, bodyblows, and explosions to come after.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic | Ed Howard review

Hot Rod

2008-08-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

Hot Rod
Akiva Schaffer, 2007
US
@ home on DVD

I got to thinking about a movie starring Bill Hader in a semi-serious role, probably a pretty low-budget Sundance-type thing. He seems to always play the voice of reason (here, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) whilst also generating some laughs, but frequently a little too good for his role. Then again, pretty much everyone is too good for their roles here. This kind of felt like the SNL crowd does Napoleon Dynamite which in some cases kind of worked, but there were too few wildly original bits.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Right Brain Cinema

2008-08-07T22:03:00.000-07:00

Right Brain Cinema

When Meg visited we briefly touched on the necessity of discerning and differentiating the visual language of film from the word-bound language of the novel or the poem. We agreed that you probably experience and judge the art differently once you've acclimated yourself to its essential features and values.

Momus points out the same thing on a more basic level:

If comedy [and word-based art in general] makes a concerted rush for the verbal-logical left brain, visual art heads for our primitive, intuitive right brain, a place of pictures, desires, reflexes and instincts.

Bound for Glory

2008-08-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Bound for Glory **
Hal Ashby, 1976
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

This was almost certainly the worst projection I've ever witnessed at NW Film Forum. The fact that this seems outrageous merely goes to show that generally the projection is very good, especially for a non-profit cinematheque.

I made a few possibly useful connections during the film. Last December I was appalled by Ann Powers' suggestion that there is a connection between a supposed decrease in political activism and the omnipresent iPod. Then tonight as I was stirred by Hal Ashby and David Carradine's depiction of Woody Guthrie's powerful humanitarian urges in the face of oppression both soft and very hard, I recalled a poster in the MVS house featuring Woody Guthrie's statement on songwriting. (It starts "I hate a song that makes...") and my initial reaction to it, which was that it sounds kind of manipulative and pandering. Against the backdrop of this film, though, it sounds fiercely determined and utterly admirable.

Of course I was reminded of David Foster Wallace's essay, "E Unibus Pluram," which you can probably find somewhere online but I can't right now. Generally it's about how television and the pop culture associated with it has made us all into irony-loving cynics who refuse to appear to be surprised at anything. Mostly he's trying to figure out a way to move forward in a culture that won't accept anything new, because that would require genuine intention and effort, which doesn't sound appropriate any longer. Parts of it are outdated, and it's true in some senses, not in others, but on the whole I think it shows precisely why I can't understand what Woody Guthrie is saying on that poster, that he's speaking in a mode that now sounds outlandish for a popular musician. The question is whether forthright exploration of important social issues is simply impossible via that route, or if perhaps there are other, more subtle but semantically accurate ways of broaching the same topics.

So, if you or someone you know figures out a way to couch advocacy of communitarian/socialist/humanist values in generationally and culturally appropriate terminology, let me know. I'm guessing that might be more useful than telling people not to listen to their iPods.

See also: IMDb

Cinephilia vs. Cinemania

2008-08-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

Cinephilia vs. Cinemania

From David Bordwell's hilariously apt post "Games cinephiles play":

Most obviously, both the cinephile and the cinemaniac show symptoms of compulsiveness. Each one makes lists, checks off titles seen, plans a day of moviegoing with care. When visiting a new city, s/he first scans the cultural scene for what’s playing. Both types of film lover are strict—no pan-and-scan, no colorization, no dodgy projection. Either type might have a weblog or a diary or just patient friends. If s/he has friends.

...

The cinemaniac has a favorite seat, even if it’s way off to the side. To secure it, the cinemaniac shows up early and tries to be first in line. Your average cinephile isn’t so picky about where to sit, and so may slip in at the last minute.

The Dark Knight

2008-08-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

The Dark Knight **
Christopher Nolan, 2008
US
@ Pacific Place

While there is nothing wrong with a 155-minute film (or a 455-minute film, for that matter), every one ought to be as long as it needs to be, and thus length seems a valid criticism here. Perhaps what both causes some people to complain about the runtime and others to shout "torture porn!" is the single fact that without a traditional narrative arc and conclusion the film seems to run well past what the logical conclusion of the most of what we discover in the first hour or so, into another story entirely. Thus every hostage scene in that second half feels gratuitous, but largely because the film feels distended in general. I eagerly await David Bordwell or Kristin Thompson's commentary on the dramatic structure, if one is forthcoming.

What disturbs me about this movie, or perhaps just leaves me cold, are the implications of the fact that the Joker is the only interesting thing here. He's brilliant, creative, and disarming, but we're supposed to root for the guy with high-tech firepower and no emotional range. That, rather than the bodycount or Sisyphean nature of Batman's crimefighting, seems to me the truly dark message communicated to the audience. Not that this calls to mind any direct political or social parallels, but it does strike me as unpleasant and maybe oddly Puritanical. It seems to me that dark and dull are easily confused when lots of explosions are occurring at the same time.

As the film is so long with relatively little important dialogue, I had a lot of time to ponder the interest in superheroes in general. They seem most vital when we have detached from society. That is, when we can't or won't solve our problems on a human scale by being humane to those around us, maybe we fantasize about superhuman figures or weaponry to patrol the streets and keep us safe. Backward, and kind of sad. Contrast this with the western, in which the hero was frequently the man imposing law and order (perhaps for the first time) on a frontier community. The superhero, on the other hand, supersedes the law and social conventions by instituting his own vigilante justice. Sort of like marshall law vs. martial law.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic | Hammer to Nail

Step Brothers

2008-08-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

Step Brothers *
Adam McKay, 2008
US
@ Pacific Place

Eh. There was plenty to laugh at, but generally the situations were funnier than the execution. The idea of 40-year-olds getting bullied by kids is hilarious, but out of proportion to what we actually experience. In Talladega Nights, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly were funny, and then Sacha Baron Cohen stepped in to set things off. Here there's no third party who's nearly as funny.

So obviously I don't have much problem with critics who don't find the film as funny as it could be. I do think it's a bit weird to take exception to the obscenity, though. As with In Search of a Midnight Kiss (and Kevin Smith's movies), those tend to be the most reliable bits. Is it a generational thing?

It also doesn't seem very germane to this or any one comedy in particular to lament the lack of complex female characters. Take a look at this list of highest-grossing American comedies. They're almost entirely centered around males with serious and/or sexy (ie not terribly interesting) female foils. Not much different for most successful romantic comedies that come to mind, either. (And serious movies are frequently no better at respecting their actresses.) I understand the need to repeat complaints that have not been addressed for several decades now, but it also strikes me as a bit tiresome at this point. Eventually it's got to be time for a change of strategy for feminist critics or simply any segment of the population who gets tired of seeing the same guys starring in comedies all the time. Perhaps advocacy of the few Hollywood films that do feature excellent female leads, or foreign and/or older movies that could be remade. Just pointing out that a particular movie doesn't feature complex females doesn't seem to be doing anyone any good.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Shampoo

2008-07-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

Shampoo **
Hal Ashby, 1975
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

Warren Beatty is awesomely vacant here. He's so completely blank and baffled all the time, even though he's essentially the leading man. Wealth is once again a factor here, since Beatty's character is eventually abandoned because he's not yet a breadwinner. Soundtrack was great.

See also: IMDb

Velvet Hustler

2008-07-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Velvet Hustler *
Toshio Masuda, 1967
Japan
@ Northwest Film Forum

I felt like we were on the edge of something interesting here. I understood the connections to French gangster films, New Wave or otherwise, but I couldn't figure out exactly why one would choose to watch this instead of, I don't know, Shoot the Piano Player, other than its relative obscurity. Unless you're Japanese, I guess.

See also: IMDb

In Search of a Midnight Kiss

2008-07-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

In Search of a Midnight Kiss ***
Alex Holdridge, 2008
US
Preview @ SIFF Cinema

Thrilling. At times Scoot McNairy reminded me of Jason Lee somewhere between Mallrats and Chasing Amy both in terms of scenario and delivery of weirdly obscene lines at inconvenient times. Worth seeing for so many reasons, not least of which is the recasting of downtown Los Angeles as a picturesque, resolutely urban(e) place. Maybe I haven't seen enough of the right indie romantic comedies, but Sara Simmonds' dominating performance over the first two thirds or so seemed much more like an updated screwball heroine than anything contemporary. Every once in a while an awkward moment showed through in the placement of actors, or line deliveries, but I think that says a lot about Holdridge's ambition, in a good way.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Alexandra

2008-07-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

Alexandra ***
Alexander Sokurov, 2008
Russia
@ Varsity Theater

Again with the uncomfortably low sound at the Varsity. The voices seemed almost disembodied here, although the low levels of light played a part as well. I found it hard to get into the rhythm of the film at first, but once I did it felt very right. The images are indelible.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

My Neighbor Totoro

2008-07-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

My Neighbor Totoro ***
Hayao Miyazaki, 1988
Japan
@ Northwest Film Forum

Deeply odd, but in a particularly beautiful way. There is no real conflict here between selfish humanity and benevolent nature, nor any traditional conflict at all. The children get sad, and the king of the forest cheers them up.

One thing that really stuck out to me was the bizarrely long commute the father had sentenced himself to in order to move his family to their country home. I didn't sense much of a critique here, though it might be implied by the hardship on the girls as they wait for hours at the bus stop or try to run off to visit their mother in the hospital.

Rather than just quirky, Miyazaki seems to have a fully formed "other" sensibility that runs according to its own logic. As one who often gets frustrated by what I see as limited flights of fancy, an inability to really get outside traditional Hollywood norms and values, this commitment to working in what appears to be a parallel universe is admirable.

See also: IMDb

The Last Mistress

2008-07-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Last Mistress ***
Catherine Breillat, 2008
France
@ Guild 45th Theater

Ms. Breillat’s explorations of desire and pleasure are so far from the antiseptic world of most screen depictions as to seem far out. In truth she’s just fearless, determined to show what others keep hidden — the good, the bad, the tumescent, the fluid — so she can keep puzzling through her ideas. “The Last Mistress” isn’t as graphic as some of her other films, notably “Romance,” which features full-frontal and then some. The sex in this film is far from explicit, though it features geometric formations that may be better suited for Kama Sutra students, or at least the limber. What’s explicit here is ravenous passion and the depiction of desire as a creating, destroying force that invades the very flesh. It’s terribly French.

It’s also gloriously unpredictable, even if the ways in which Ms. Breillat frames and puts together scenes tend to be less than surprising. A stubborn individualist, she is also a generally unremarkable, even on occasion awkward stylist, though one sensitive to color. You gasp at her ideas and words, not her setups and camera moves. Set amid the rarefied realm of the French aristocracy — Louis-Philippe, the last king to rule France, sits on the throne — the film has many of the trappings of a conventional costume drama, from the rustling gowns to the glowing candelabra. Everything from the costumes to the cinematography works to advance the story. Everything, that is, except La Vellini, who, like Goya’s Maja, rocks her world by the public spectacle of her desire.

Like all the unruly women who populate Ms. Breillat’s films, La Vellini rubs hard against the grain. She’s the fly in the ointment, the stick in the eye, and it’s her howls, her spit and her fury that keep everything off kilter, disturbing the peace, its keepers and the narrative flow. Ms. Breillat reserves her most adoring close-ups for Mr. Aattou, a delicate beauty with feminine pillowy lips. (She loves her boys.) But she never denies Ms. Argento, who hurtles into her scenes, at times literally, gobbling up a lot of space. She’s playing a woman whom others deride as a creature — as if she were a beast. In truth, La Vellini is a woman of pleasure, and Ms. Breillat makes certain her cup runneth over, furiously.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic | Manohla Dargis review

Last Year at Marienbad

2008-07-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

Last Year at Marienbad **
Alain Resnais, 1961
France/Germany
@ SIFF Cinema

This was the first time I've dozed off during a movie in a very long while. I suspect I didn't miss much though. It's all about repeating patterns, the same thing occurring over and over, but hoping eventually for a different outcome. Perhaps like the way in which memories mutate as you recall them over time. Ought to see this again several times.

See also: IMDb | TCMDb

Monsieur Verdoux

2008-07-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

Monsieur Verdoux **
Charles Chaplin, 1947
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

I was just reading last night that the United States was one of the first nations to recognize Franco's Spain after World War II. Except in times of dire economic crisis, we're pretty happy to sacrifice pretty much any other values in the name of capitalism. 1947 must have been a particularly bad time to release this, then.

Some people seem to have confused "greatest American comedy" and "funniest American movie" in contemporary discussions of this picture's historical status. I have no idea how you could support the second, but the first might not be out of the question. If by greatest you mean best use of the tools of film comedy to lambast libertarian greed and support of monstrous policies to pay for our way of life, then this is certainly up there. I found it to be intermittently funny, although some bits were very good, particularly the scene in the boat.

Though I've noticed it at other screenings as well, here I felt particularly sheepish when I discovered that I would laugh most before humorous events took place on screen, largely finished by the time they happened, simply because Chaplin's comedy relies on the big delivery of some mistake or pratfall you can predict, rather than a true element of surprise. In other words, I might start laughing at the point where it becomes obvious to the audience that Monsieur Verdoux is going to believe he's drunk the poisoned wine, at the moment his companion switches the glasses, rather the moment when he finally gets the mortally terrified look on his face. Not sure if it's that I undervalue the execution and overvalue the construction/set-up of the scene, or if anticipation really is more than half the fun.

See also: IMDb | TCMDb

Yella

2008-07-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Yella *
Christian Petzold, 2008
Germany
@ The Grand Illusion

It might be interesting to watch again just to check for hints that Yella is actually dreaming/dead/watching alternate versions of her life flash before her eyes. There were certainly some obvious clues but probably more subtle ones as well.

Geography is important in the movie and not made particularly clear for non-German viewers. Yella's journey is essentially from the former East to the former West, from a pretty but still depressed region to a city schooled in capitalist economics, with the River Elbe as a kind of border between the two. Thus, pic is also a portrait of an easterner finding her vocation but losing her soul.

Hadn't caught this bit (mentioned in Variety) very well.

See also: IMDb | Variety review

The Last Detail

2008-07-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

The Last Detail ***
Hal Ashby, 1973
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

Jack Nicholson and Randy Quaid make a terrific odd couple. More digging beneath surfaces, this time manlier men than he's shown elsewhere. The humor is a little bit more desperate and raw, and no wealthy people appear.

See also: IMDb

My Man Godfrey

2008-07-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

My Man Godfrey ***
Gregory La Cava, 1936
US
@ Seattle Art Museum

Relentlessly funny, sweet but not sentimental. Pretty much a gold standard for unconventional romantic comedy.

See also: IMDb | TCMDb

Harold & Maude

2008-07-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

Harold & Maude **
Hal Ashby, 1971
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

Vivian Pickles' overbearing mother is probably my favorite thing here, although Maude's notoriously shaped statue/sculpture in the middle of her house is right up there. In some ways, particularly the opening scene, this reminded me of The Ruling Class, made around the same time in Britain, but this is certainly a lighter film. The uncle appears to be a castoff from Dr. Strangelove. It was interesting to watch this keeping Rushmore in mind, cf. Jason Schwartzman's comments on Bud Cort as Harold in GOOD Magazine.

See also: IMDb | Piece on Hal Ashby

Le Cercle Rouge

2008-07-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

Le Cercle Rouge ***
Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970
France
@ home on DVD

Excellent in its own right, but I must admit to watching it solely because of Johnnie To's upcoming remake, featuring Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Chow Yun-fat, and Alain Delon, presumably in a different role. It'll be interesting to see how To maintains or changes the relationship dynamics, and whether or not he ramps up the set-pieces, like the escape from the train or the heist near the end.

See also: IMDb | TCMDb

Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind

2008-07-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind ***
John Gianvito, 2007
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

Inspiring, humorous, educational; revolutionary.

See also: IMDb

To Catch a Thief

2008-07-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

To Catch a Thief *
Alfred Hitchcock, 1955
US/France
@ Egyptian Theater

Fun but ever so slight. I kept thinking of early Bond films with the seaside location and chase through the mountains. A few charming scenes but other times Grant's repartee with Kelly or Brigitte Auber feels tossed off. Of course everyone looks excellent.

See also: IMDb | TCMDb

Wall-E

2008-07-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

Wall-E **
Andrew Stanton, 2008
US
@ Cinerama

It's weird the way critics fall all over themselves rushing to praise Pixar pictures, like no one else has ever seen them and they must alone champion the cause. Except that everyone is doing the same thing, so...

There's plenty to praise here, especially on the technical side. The attention to visual detail is astonishing, especially the dusty, sun-scorched opening. Much of the time on the ship feels like a re-tread of parts of Monsters, Inc. but still.

Another point that confuses me is the one where people try to use the presence of some vague, "green" message to give the film greater significance. It's pretty much post-apocalyptic boilerplate ("We filled the Earth with trash, and now we have to leave!") without any direct connection to currently relevant problems, and oddly unconcerned about the ability of the completely disconnected and puerile new inhabitants to actually confront the planet as it is, ie still a total junkheap, just sorted into piles. Odd that the film both lampoons the weak laziness of humankind and at the same time assumes a limitless reserve of pluck and perseverance.

I suspect none of this would matter if people didn't speak of the film in such reverential tones. The kind of creepy guy sitting behind me sounded exactly like the type of Obama partisan who is largely trying to make himself look good by associating with a fairly bland, broadly interpretable, empty brand with a shiny surface and real big bandwagon trailing behind. At least with politics you've got the excuse that with so little to get truly excited about, a possibly genuine opportnunity becomes unbearably exciting. Is that the case if you limit yourself to new Hollywood releases these days?

Perhaps what disturbs me most about the movie (and again, this is based on the suspicion that a lot people are taking this movie extremely seriously) is the way robots are located at the emotional center of the film. You're allowed zero distance from the bizarre and manipulative "love" story between Wall-E* and Eve. By using non-human characters with no place in any sort of relational scheme that could possibly exist, our reaction is based almost entirely on the score and pretty much none at all on the movie making any kind of sense. Most animated films featuring animals are predicated on the notion that what were viewing is pretty much a version of human culture, but with robots, it's as if we're expected to believe that out of nowhere love spawns in the circuitry. I suppose what I'm really trying to get at here is that it seems a bit cheap to endow pretty much indestructible, immortal machines with the emotions of barely pubescent 12-year olds. Not wrong, exactly, or unclever, but perhaps suggestive of a depth or complexity that is very much not there. The fact that the film is at-times awe-inspiring is maybe the only reason to get worked up about any of this.

A selection of terms from Metacritic's page: "honest," "substantial," "high plane of aspiration," "the best American film of the year to date," "Chaplinesque," "enduring classic," "heartfelt"

*The most brilliant piece of cinematic merchandising ever? The logo of the film is facing us directly from the front of the titular robot for the entire movie.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Up the Yangtze

2008-07-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Up the Yangtze *
Yung Chang, 2008
Canada/China
@ Varsity Theater

The basic details of life depicted here are all impressive but the filmmaking is not so much. Maybe I'd feel differently a second time around, but the tone is kind of glib when focusing on the "characters," kind of like it's a reality show based around families and their children trying to win a decent life above the future level of the river. We get no facts beyond that of the ever-present 175m signs. It's weird that I've read so few comparisons to Still Life which contrasts this film in so many intresting ways.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

The Landlord

2008-07-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

The Landlord ***
Hal Ashby, 1970
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

I feel like these days when we bother to broach the subjects of race and class we have very well-defined things we're allowed to say and specific ways in which we say them. You can basically presume what you're going to "learn" from an issue movie before you even see it.

While it's also hilarious, this film feels a bit dangerous by today's standards, mostly in terms of content but also in terms of form at some points, maybe because there hadn't been such a long tradition of "well-made" films dealing the integration, at least in which the writer could use actual terminology and not just beat around the bush whilst assuming the audience would be on the same page.

See also: IMDb | J. Hoberman review

2008: First Half

2008-07-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

2008: First Half

Notable films so far this year, of the 100 I've tracked, ranked within each category. Not included are a few things from 2007 and other stuff I'd maybe already seen.

NEWER

Startling

Still Orangutans (Spolidoro)
Loos Ornamental (Emigholz)
Still Life (Jia)
Christopher Columbus: The Enigma (De Oliveira)
Eat For This Is My Body (Quaye)
Chop Shop (Bahrani)
Captain Ahab (Ramos)
Opera Jawa (Nugroho)

Good as Expected

Ballast (Hammer)
Pierre Rissient (McCarthy)
Shotgun Stories (Nichols)
Paranoid Park (Van Sant)
Flight of the Red Balloon (Hou)
Baghead (Duplass)
Great Speeches from a Dying World (Phillips)
Momma's Man (Jacobs)
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Stoller)
Reprise (Trier)

Honorable Mention

Son of Rambow (Jennings) for cinematography
Blind Mountain (Li) for ending with an effective shock
Kung Fu Panda (Osborne/Stevenson) for fun

OLDER

Good as Expected

Sunrise (Murnau)
The Good The Bad and The Ugly (Leone)
Blade Runner (Scott)
Clerks II (Smith)
La Promesse (Dardenne)

Startling

Dead Man (Jarmusch)
Laura (Preminger)
Anatomy of a Murder (Preminger)
La Chinoise (Godard)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Peckinpah)
Daisy Kenyon (Preminger)

Average runtime: just over 105 minutes.
Average score: 1.78 stars.
Seen in a theater: 77%.

Countries (including co-productions)

US - 55 films
France - 15 films
UK - 6 films
Hong Kong - 3 films
Italy - 3 films
Thailand - 3 films
Canada - 2 films
China - 2 films

Reprise

2008-06-28T19:47:00.000-07:00

Reprise **
Joachim Trier, 2008
Norway
@ Varsity Theater

I think the sound was turned down on this, although it was a quiet film for the most part anyway. A bit hard to grasp, since the characters don't really develop as we might expect, but that's pretty clearly signalled by the false plotlines introduced, one at the beginning and another near the end. I recall some of the interior scenes as b&w given the bleached color and minimalist monochrome furnishings. Ought to see this again, and just might if it plays long enough.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Frownland

2008-06-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Frownland **
Ronald Bronstein, 2007
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

From when I saw this last September:

Keith (Dore Mann) is obviously something of a caricature, but his misadventures still resonate. He lives somewhere around Greenwich Village or maybe the Lower East Side and sells coupons door to door in Staten Island. He has a ferocious stuttering problem and minimal social skills. His roommate is a complete and total jerk. The film ends on a sour note, but no more sour than the constant tenor of the rest of the picture.

Vertigo

2008-06-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Vertigo ***
Alfred Hitchcock, 1958
US
@ The Grand Illusion

Excellent. These relationships are all so convoluted and inappropriate that anyone involved on any end of them must be guilty of something. This struck me because so many of Hitchcock's films involve a man wrongly accused, but here even though Scottie is exploited, he exploits others just as much.

Almost every location is memorable (at least that's how it seemed to me seeing this again after five years or so) and the filmmaking pretty fluid. I wonder how red Ernie's restaurant actually is where Scottie first lays eyes on Madeleine. There's a fair amount of color manipulation throughout, but general it looks like the full frame has been processed rather than a single element like the walls around the bar.

At least as suspenseful the second time around, and the end is terrifically climactic.

Particularly during the scene where Madeleine wakes up in Scottie's apartment, I noticed how uncannily some of Terry O'Quinn's mannerisms as Locke on Lost match up with many things James Stewart does here.

See also: IMDb | TCMDb

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

2008-06-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind **
Hayao Miyazaki, 1984
Japan
@ Northwest Film Forum

This was sort of weirdly silent (except for voices) near the beginning, though as the action picked up that got less noticeable. It seemed like the characters explained everything really explicitly, but maybe that's necessary in a kid's fantasy movie. It is kind of a complex story. Some of the images are haunting/thrilling, if not as technically impressive as the later stuff. Star Wars influence on a lot of the anachronistic design, maybe?

See also: IMDb

Kung Fu Panda

2008-06-22T23:14:00.001-07:00

Kung Fu Panda **
Mark Osborne/John Stevenson, 2008
US
@ Regal Meridian w/ Holly

This was great. Holly and I saw it mainly because it fit the free tickets I had, but it's terrifically colorful and a lot of fun. The action was smooth and kinetic and just kept going and going. Obviously it makes a lot of sense, but still nice to hear Seth Rogen getting some voice work. I was a bit disappointed that he (and the rest of the supporting cast) had such minor roles, but solid nonetheless. The 2-D opening was possibly even better, very reminiscent of Samurai Jack.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Indiana Jones 4

2008-06-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

Indiana Jones 4
Steven Spielberg
US
@ Cinerama

There's definitely a point to be made about Harrison Ford's somewhat humorless performance here, although it works when he's playing against Shia LaBeouf. The look of the film though, was gross. Supposedly CG effects weren't heavily used, but there seemed to be a kind nostalgic sheen on everything that looked just a little fake, and a lot of the backgrounds had the look of Lucas' digitally generated sets for the Star Wars prequels. Very distracting when all I wanted was some grit and grime.

I'm considering among a few different projects trying to watch all the Spielberg I've missed over the years (basically all of it) to figure out just why he's so highly lauded, at least among certain people for certain traits. Currently I classify him along with Scorsese and Coppola (and maybe others) under 70's "mavericks" that I find almost entirely uninteresting, although at least Scorsese is one of the few most important and influential cinephiles of his time.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

The Newton Boys

2008-06-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

The Newton Boys
Richard Linklater, 1998
US
@ home on DVD

This really lacked the charm of most of the rest of Linklater's work. Definitely at the bottom of the barrel for him with School of Rock. Bad News Bears was not at all this lifeless. Linklater was at least involved on the screenplay, although who knows exactly how much of the dialogue he had a hand in. I hope SubUrbia is a bit more worth catching up on.

See also: IMDb

The Tracey Fragments

2008-06-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

The Tracey Fragments *
Bruce McDonald, 2008
Canada
@ Northwest Film Forum

Solid, and the fragmentation of the screen pretty much worked for me, although not quite like it did for Dan Sallitt. Another viewing might reveal more.

See also: IMDb | Dan Sallitt review

Triangle

2008-06-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

Triangle *
Johnnie To/Ringo Lam/Wai Ka-fai, 2008
Hong Kong
@ Cinerama

Johnnie To's segment certainly bore some of his trademarks, and was my favorite of the the three, the funniest as well. I wonder if this was a fun project to work on, because the viewing experience doesn't seem to be enhanced in any way. I suppose it might be useful if the three directors have separate followings who would converge on this omnibus project.

See also: IMDb

La France

2008-06-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

La France **
Serge Bozon, 2008
France
@ Pacific Place

Mysterious and explained just the right amount, which is basically none. I found myself puzzling over the suggestion that Camille's search for her husband was equivalent to a search for death. It's possible that I wouldn't be able to get some things with my pretty casual knowledge of French history.

IMDb

Zidane

2008-06-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

Zidane *
Douglas Gordon/Philippe Parreno, 2006
France
@ Northwest Film Forum

A different perspective on soccer. Most of the interest lies in the editing, and perhaps the words and halftime. I wasn't as excited as I'd hoped.

See also: IMDb

Sunrise

2008-06-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

Sunrise ***
F.W. Murnau, 1927
US
@ The Triple Door

Expressive and surprisingly nuanced even though the plot seems to be laid out right from the beginning. Has the feel of myth rather than just melodrama.

See also: IMDb

Pierre Rissient: Man of the Cinema

2008-06-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

Pierre Rissient: Man of the Cinema ***
Todd McCarthy, 2008
US/France
@ SIFF Cinema

Fascinating, particularly the early years where Rissient is creating a new career for himself to precisely channel his love of cinema.

See also: IMDb

The End

2008-06-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

The End
Nikkola Collins, 2008
UK
@ Harvard Exit

The only true disappointment of the festival. One of those experiences in which people with a kind of debased, sour outlook on life try to tell you, "That's just how life is," while simultaneously revealing both their limited purview and obvious artifice of the way in which they are attempting to persuade you of the fact. Ugly, grim, fatalistic, and kind of boring.

See also: Official site

Momma's Man

2008-06-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

Momma's Man ***
Azazel Jacobs, 2008
US
@ Uptown Cinema

A slow, intermittently depressing meditation on something like a pre-mid-life crisis. It is essentially cinema of duration, in that most of the payoff, both depressing and redemptive, comes from just sitting with the main character and his parents as he awkwardly finds his own way through whatever emotional problems he's facing. I'm guessing whoever brought a whole crowd of high school kids had some other sort of idea about the film beforehand.

See also: IMDb

Still Orangutans

2008-06-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

Still Orangutans ***
Gustavo Spolidoro, 2008
Brazil
@ Pacific Place

At first disorienting, but the accumulating intensity of the contiguous vignettes builds much like a rapid succession of drinks, eventually unleashing its full effect, here pent up until the last moment. Probably less of a city symphony than a catalogue of the wildness of the human spirit, a lingering sub-humanity referred to in the title. Maybe the best thing I've seen this year.

See also: IMDb

Baghead

2008-06-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

Baghead **
Duplass Bros., 2008
US
@ Egyptian Theater

Is Greta Gerwig always going to be this good? __'s chubby brother suggests a kind of smarter, more truly endearing Jon Lovitz, and I think he could be great in big-budget movies. That is, if character actors were really valued and made use of these days. I'm also real excited about Dodecadecathlon.

See also: IMDb

Christopher Columbus: The Enigma

2008-06-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Christopher Columbus: The Enigma **
Manoel de Oliveira, 2008
Portugal
@ SIFF Cinema

I still don't really know why this worked so well for me, but it hit the spot. Almost like something you might catch late at night on PBS, at once baffling and clear in its intentions. Maybe it was just the location photography around Portugal that got me excited.

See also: IMDb

Sparrow

2008-06-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

Sparrow **
Johnnie To, 2008
Hong Kong
@ Uptown Cinema

Terminally slight, but oh-so-stylish. Simon Yam almost always has the exact same expression on his face, but he wears it so well. The umbrella sequence almost feel a bit overdramatic, but the city scenes all had such a jaunty flair that it's impossible to come away frowning.

See also: IMDb

Mad Detective

2008-06-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

Mad Detective *
Johnnie To/Wai Ka-fai, 2008
Hong Kong
@ Egyptian Theater

Movies featuring a deluded protagonist almost always feel like a letdown to me, except The Ruling Class in which Jack's delusions jibe exactly with England's insane political culture to form a brutal satire. The opening scene, though, is pretty much timeless.

See also: IMDb

You, The Living

2008-06-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

You, The Living **
Roy Andersson, 2008
Sweden
@ Egyptian Theater

Seemed comprehensible from moment to moment, but overall didn't seem to gel into a complete experience.

See also: IMDb

Blind Mountain

2008-06-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

Blind Mountain **
Li Yang, 2008
China
@ Pacific Place

Sort of a long grind, but possibly saved by the thrillingly unexpected and shockingly brief finale.

See also: IMDb

Great Speeches from a Dying World

2008-06-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Great Speeches from a Dying World ***
Linas Phillips, 2008
US
@ Harvard Exit

I suspect this would have been almost as good even if I weren't familiar with the city or anyone in the film.

See also: Official site

Ploy

2008-05-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

Ploy *
Pen-ek Ratanaruang, 2008
Thailand
@ Pacific Place

Slow and somewhat bewildering but lovely all the same.

See also: IMDb

Captain Ahab

2008-05-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Captain Ahab **
Philippe Ramos, 2008
France
@ Uptown Cinema

Kind of like a fairy tale in the best sense. Very light, nonchalant storytelling that uses setting and mise en scene to communicate some of the story. Wouldn't it be amazing if, instead of simply structuring a (possible) series of films like a three-act unit, sequels or prequels were used to get more directly to deeper themes or to focus better on intangible, ineffable qualities of what we see on the screen. Perhaps that's what the Nolan brothers thought they were trying to do with The Dark Knight, but there are certainly other, better ways this could happen.

See also: IMDb

Eat for This Is My Body

2008-05-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

Eat for This Is My Body **
Michelange Quaye, 2008
Haiti/France
@ Northwest Film Forum

Part Haitian ethnography, part historically symbolic series of set pieces featuring a white French matriarch, her daughter, and a group of Haitian boys. It's profoundly visual: the opening shot is from a helicopter approaching the island over a city, hitting the beach, then neighborhoods, slums, and increasingly scattered huts, and eventually foothills and the barren, stripped mountainsides. Also, there is an amazing food-fight scene featuring a large cake that gets totally demolished; it seems less portentous than most other scenes, but that could be misleading.

See also: IMDb

Casting a Glance

2008-05-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Casting a Glance *
James Benning, 2007
US
@ Northwest Film Forum

Fascinating in the limited scope of the work. This is foregrounded by the limited perspective of the camera, only revealing a partial view of the landscape surrounding the Spiral Jetty, and never placing it in context for the uninitiated viewer, which would pretty much be me.

See also: IMDb

Loos Ornamental

2008-05-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Loos Ornamental ***
Heinz Emigholz, 2008
Germany
@ Northwest Film Forum

Incredible.

First come a few words in German, and then there are no words at all, only images of Adolf Loos's architecture, arranged in a chronological slide show of long-held video stills inside and outside the buildings, mainly in Vienna. Loos famously eschewed ornament, reducing form to function by exposing beams, stacking grids, and letting materials express their own conditions. This makes for some genteel moments, but there's also the return of the repressed, in perfectly flat and geometric surfaces that nonetheless roar like baroque sculpture because they are made of wildly mottled red or green marble. Drunk on the dream of modernism, you reach the end of the film, where there's only a cube gravestone with the architect's name on it. It's right in the city, and a train passes close behind it.

See also: IMDb | Jen Graves in The Stranger

Continental, or A Film without Guns

2008-05-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

Continental, or A Film without Guns **
Stephane Lafleur, 2008
Canada
@ Pacific Place

A more wistful, slightly less fanciful, French-Canadian version of Me and You and Everyone We Know.

See also: IMDb

Ballast

2008-05-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Ballast ***
Lance Hammer, 2008
US
@ Pacific Place

Excellent neo-neo-realist, American regional filmmaking. Understated style serves the powerful material well. Terrific use of locations: store, two houses on one property, etc.

See also: IMDb

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2008-05-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ***
Sergio Leone, 1967
Italy
@ SIFF Cinema

Amazing in the theater, but not as astonishing as Once Upon a Time in the West. Kind of like the difference between Johnnie To's Election and Exiled, just a difference in the grandiosity, though I suspect this was also less expensive.

See also: IMDb | TCMDb

Marie Antoinette

2008-05-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

Marie Antoinette *
Sofia Coppola, 2006
US/France
@ home on DVD

I was surprised a bit by my repulsion toward this film. At no specific point is it aesthetically offensive, or less than charming, but the blinkered view of life at Versailles, and the justification that the film didn't need to encompass anything outside the palace since the subject's life didn't either, seem unwholesome. The only direct critique of her incurious ignorance comes in the form of Steve Coogan, brilliant as usual, her advisor and confidant who makes a futile attempt at keeping her abreast of international affairs.

Sofia Coppola and her supporters certainly have a point about the dearth of female filmmakers and film subjects, but why must she evoke sympathy for such vapid, boring young women? In one of the reviews I read it was suggested that Wes Anderson escapes similar criticism because he's male, and thus his bored and privileged men are not given a second thought, but certainly with The Darjeeling Limited if not prior he's fairly self-critical, assuming he's not totally dissimilar to his characters.

Perhaps it's just that I have a distaste for lavish films about the hassles of aristocracy (see Visconti's The Leopard, for instance), but now (or two years ago) more than ever seems an odd time to attempt to restore the reputation of a cruelly incompetent and neglectful ruler, damning her own country while money is being spent on a war abroad. I mean, isn't the queen pretty much just "clearing brush" at her second home for most of the second half of the movie? I can imagine someone shipping a framed edition of the Rousseau passage she quotes down to Crawford, Texas as a gift to our current out-of-touch leader.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic | Rob Nelson review

Flight of the Red Balloon

2008-05-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

Flight of the Red Balloon ***
Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2008
France
@ Crest Cinema

I enjoyed the reading of the painting at the end, both as a clue to the kid's interior life but also to our reading of the film. Some lady asked me as I left whether it had been a good movie, to which I replied yes, but it was clear that she wanted to know whether it was a good "movie" with a familiar narrative arc, clear resolution, etc. To which I had to say no, though I also tried to explain what it was that I thought made it good outside of that framework. The pacing, the choice of what to show or not, the misunderstandings between people who know each other both too well and not quite enough. The performances not in the service of some overdetermined goals or conflicts.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

The Magnificent Seven

2008-05-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Magnificent Seven *
John Sturges, 1960
US
@ SIFF Cinema

I feel like this movie gets talked about a lot, but I couldn't tell why. It's fun sometimes, but the acting is pretty glib and the directing nothing spectacular.

See also: IMDb | TCMDb