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 *
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

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

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

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 *
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 *
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

Tropic Thunder *
Ben Stiller, 2008
US
@ Regal Meridian

See also: IMDb

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 *
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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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 *
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

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

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