Movie Tab II

Fixed, and it was... Sheesh! Just awful.

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I'm still on an action movie kick, so i watched:

Judge Dredd - Ok, I loved the comic books as a kid, my friend Brian and I had a ton of them and read them till they just about fell apart. This movie has so little to do with the comics, it's like they barely read them. But it does have the really cool ABC robot, Mean Machine, and the best use of Rob Schneider ever, so I'll give it a passing grade. It's not nearly as bad as I'd been lead to beleive, it's actually quite fun.

"Bitch!"
"Judge Bitch!"

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Iraq in Fragments (Longley, 2006) -

Good god -- I honestly can not recommend this enough. I was shell shocked after viewing this film, it is absolutely stunning.

Just see it -- I promise you that you will not be disappointed.

Xanadu



I don't know how I missed this movie back in 1980 considering I was 15 and this looks like it would have been right up my alley, but I did. This was an entertaining film and I was pleasantly surprised since I've heard how horrible it is. Horrible is Big Trouble in Little China, this was fun. But I love musicals and Gene Kelly, so the two together? I'm in.

It was great to see Fee Waybill from The Tubes in there, and what looked like the solid gold dancers. Ah... good times, good times.

There is a Xanadu appreciation thread on this movie for the uninitiated, and SamsoniteDelilah and Holden give in-depth reviews of it there. Check it out if you haven't been there yet.

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Wait a second: Xanadu is OK and Big Trouble in Little China is somehow horrible?!? And what were you smoking as you composed this post?

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (Montiel, 2006) -

I was channel surfing, and came across this film on the Sundance Channel. Based on the memoirs of Dito Montiel, and directed by the author, it's a gritty, fairly impressive first effort.

I'm not sure Montiel would be able to work with a script not his own, but he did a good job bringing his own life story of growing up in Astoria, Queens, in the 1980's to the screen. New York in the 80's - from Manhattan itself to the outer boroughs like Queens (and Brooklyn, where I lived) - was a battleground. Racial tensions were at an all-time high, and Montiel shows those tensions in all their profane, ugly reality.

The film boasts an impressive cast; Chazz Palmintieri is terrific as Montiel's father, who believes that ambition shouldn't stray beyond your own front door. He's appalling, and infuriating, and real; he's every guy you know who has no ambition, and resents the fact that his kids might have some.

Montiel himself is portrayed by two actors - Shia LaBoeuf and Robert Downey, Jr. I had to work pretty hard to believe that the pinch-faced, loose-limbed LaBeouf matured into doe-eyed, coiled Downey, Jr., but his performance helped me tremendously. I hope his success in films like TRANSFORMERS and INDY 4 (which I hated) doesn't deter him from acting in films like this; he has genuine chops.

Downey, Jr., as usual, doesn't set a foot wrong. This was another indie step in Downey's march to redemption, and it's easy to see why the industry was so willing to take a chance on him again. He drills straight down to the pain and confusion of someone who left his childhood in ruins, fleeing to the other side of the continent, only to have to come back and confront the father he loved and despised in equal measures. Downey's seamless transition from angrily calling Palmintieri, "Pop," in that scene to his pleading, "Daddy," is a master class in acting.

The film itself is choppy, and has some questionable directorial choices (actors breaking the fourth wall, only to say banal things like, "I like to ****"? No thanks.), but the performances are raw, genuine, and bring to life a slice of the mean streets of New York before "Giuliani Time."

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Our mileage must vary...

Tortuga's new favorite actor: Robert Downey, Jr.

And I never heard of that movie!

LOVE Rickman. I know you do, too, Tramp - have you seen BOTTLE SHOCK? Terrific little movie, and vintage Rickman!!!

I agree about The Dark. It kind of fell apart at the end, and took the easy way out. But Bean did look fabulous, so it wasn't a total loss (yup, I'm shallow!), and Bello's always solid.

Nope, missed Bottle Shock, here and gone before I could get there.

Have you seen Snow Cake? You will love him in this.

And yea, Bean looked incredibly HOT in The Dark. I wonder what those hot flashes were from....

No, I didn't see Snow Cake. It was on IFC On Demand, and I just never got around to it. I'll check for it on IFC soon, though!

As for the other "Cake," I saw that, and really enjoyed it. I love those British mob films, and thought Craig was quite good in it.

Always enjoyed his work, but never wanted to get too attached, because he always seemed to be circling the drain. I spent most of my time saying, "Oh, that poor thing..."

But now? He's back, baby! So I'm catching up on the stuff I didn't even know existed. It's a wondrous thing.

The Driver (Walter Hill, 1978)



Hill's sleek L.A. cat-and-mouse neo-noir still holds up quite well and gives Ryan O'Neal his most badass role and Bruce Dern one of his more prominent. If you actually listen to the dialogue, it doesn't amount to much, but it clearly identifies all the characters. What the film is all about, besides the car chases, destruction and double crosses, is a sense of the hunter and the prey, lucky streaks and dumb breaks. Hill's next film was the cult flick The Warriors, another violent urban "fairy tale" set on the opposite coast. I think The Driver should be a cult item too, if it isn't already. I mean, just the scene with the Mercedes-Benz is enough to qualify it.


Magical Mystery Tour (The Beatles, 1967)



I suppose it's possible for there to be a bigger fan of the Beatles than I am, especially now that I'm an "even-tempered elder statesman", but in general, I think I'm certainly way up in the top one percentile of Beatles fanatics. They truly influenced me more than any other individuals during my formative years. I'm giving you this info because I love the Magical Mystery Tour album and comic book, but the "film", made for British TV to be shown at Christmas, has never seemed anything but complete junk to me. However, this is by far the highest rating I've ever given it. Seeing it in the context of pre-Monty Python and the even-earlier radio program The Goon Show, it does have a few interesting skits and visual ideas, but it still seems that I laugh more at how idiotic the whole thing is rather than it actually being funny. The music remains untouchable though, including the seemingly-throwaway tunes ["Flying", "Blue Jay Way", "Your Mother Should Know" (that last one is actually a personal fave)].

Flight of the Red Balloon (Hsiao-hsien Hou, 2007)



This film is set in modern-day Paris and somehow is supposed to be inspired by and dedicated to Albert Lamorisse's classic The Red Balloon (1956), but it's cut from a completely-different cloth and contains absolutely no magic at all. However, it's a critically-lauded film, and I find it INCONCEIVABLE (think: Wallace Shawn in The Princess Bride here) that this isn't one of the strongest recent examples of the Emperor's New Clothes in "criticism". Watching this film, I felt I was watching a home movie where no one had the guts to cut out anything at all. It almost feels like a film which could have been filmed, edited and scored in a week. I'm also leaning toward the idea that this film didn't even have a written script. For people who applaud "modern film realism", be my guest and carry the torch for this praised film, but I have to call them as I see and feel them. That is why I'm warning people not to watch this film. If you want to get into "modern film realism", take a camera and make your own video. A minute of it will have more meaning to you and your loved ones than the entirety of this almost two hour exhibition of anti-cinematics. Oh yeah, Juliette Binoche is in it, but she spends over five minutes of the film doing one of the most-obnoxious voices ever for a puppet character. There; that's as close as I get to a positive comment.

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Mon oncle Antoine - Claude Jutra (1971)

A very warm and bittersweet french Canadian film (consistently listed as one of the best Canadian films of all time) about the life in a small rural town somewhere in the 1940's I believe. It revolves around a young boy who works in his uncle's all-in-one shop (grocery, hardware, clothing and coffins). Great naturalistic performances from the actors, documentary style filmmaking, and a fuzzy soundtrack make for very enjoyable viewing. The ending didn't really work for me so I give it -

Le feu follet - Louis Malle (1963)

I was convinced this was a Melville film for some reason and kept thinking how despite the morbid subject matter, it had so much more life to it than Le Samurai. Well, turns out it's not, but rather my 3rd Malle film and best I've seen from him yet (only seen Elevator to the gallows and Lancombe Lucien, the latter of which I didn't particularly enjoy even though, as I've found out from the spectacular Criterion bonus features, it's actually his favorite film). For those not in the know, it's based on a book of the same title by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle about his friend who committed suicide (he also ended up taking his own life some 25 years later). The film is set in (then) modern day Paris and follows the last 48 hours of Alain Leroy (played by Maurice Ronet from Elevator to the gallows in what is apparently the best performance of his career) who has decided to end his life on 23 of July. He is a recovering alcoholic and has battled depression for most of his adult life. During his last hours he travels to Paris and visits his old friends in what is perhaps the final attempt to "reconnect" with life. The film is naturally shot very well, and has some great editing (especially during the climactic scene in the apartment of his well off friends), as well as an incredibly well fitted and moving soundtrack by Erik Satie (obviously soundtracks are very important for my overall impression of a film). There was some lagging pacing and the ending was rather awkward cinematically so the rating is -

And finally, about 3/4 of
Be kind, rewind - Michel Gondry (2008)
I struggled to keep watching for the most part but just couldn't hold on to the end. I simply don't like the man's writing, it's like kids humor wrapped up in adult packaging. Not even Jack Black could have made this film entertaining. -

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October is right around the corner. Well, close enough for me. One of my favorite months, with one of my favorite holidays.
That, and a thread on another board, got me in the mood for some fabulous horror movies. I've watched these so far today . . .

Nosferatu (1922)


Night of the Living Dead (1968)


These are next . . .

Rosemary's Baby (1968)


The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)


Halloween (1978)


They are all a 5/5, in my book.

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Well, I mean no offense, but you should probably see his other films before this one. You might have had a beter idea for what to expect, rather than jumping into it. This is very minimalist filmmaking, which I find to just be stunning. Minimalism is the style; if he had deviated from it, it simply would not have worked. He captures a very un-cinematic element of life; which is suffice to say, life itself -- not attempting to use any gimmicks or plot-points to help tell a "story".

Being a fan of Hsiao-hsien Hou, I believe he makes beautiful films -- I highly recommend you try Millennium Mambo. That might be a good starting point.

Very nice -- I like Malle a lot. My favorite is Elevator to the Gallows.

Word. And if you haven't already, Marko, be sure to check out A City of Sadness, too. It's one of the few Hsiao-hsein hou flicks I've seen, but it's a good 'un.

I will put those films in my queue, but I find it hard to believe, without the films' supporting evidence, that those films are any better. Flight of the Red Balloon got an 86 at Metacritic, and I'm a total Metacriticaholic (being their most prominent Moderator), but I call them as I see them. Did you guys ever read Holden's review of this "thing" here?

Hitman (Xavier Gens, 2007)

Well, I don't really know what I was expecting, but this was still a major disappointment. I am a huge fan of the games and this thing did them zero justice. Totally missed the mark on both tone and substance. I don't even blame Olyphant. He's horribly miscast, yes, but he gives it his all and he's not as bad as I thought he'd be. He's got a lot of the mannerisms and whatnot down pat, but he's just not right for the role. He still fares better than everyone else in the cast, especially the very bland Dougray Scott.

The film doesn't work as an ode to the video game series and it doesn't work as a straight popcorn flick, either. And it doesn't make much sense, because these games the movie was based on are so cinematic in nature. You'd think a film adaptation would practically direct itself, but apparently not. I can only guess it was laziness on the part of the filmmakers, because they had a product and a piece of source material here that really could have been something special.