The Filmcake

March 23rd – May 29th

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Woody Allen’s Spain is a romanticized version of itself, in much the same way as the New York City of previous films. It’s almost a hyper-beautiful version of itself. Add in Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, and Penelope Cruz and the whole movie smolders throughout. And yet the one thing that the movie recalled for me was Old Joy (which I just watched last week). They both center around two characters who approach life in very different ways. In practical ways. In romantic ways. In precise ways. In uncharted ways. Both movies withhold judgement, instead allowing their characters to live their lives in their own ways.

W. – An entertaining feature-length sketch of the former President’s life. But not all that enlightening. It was fun but empty. Ultimately, it’s unfair to the man. It portrays him as a bumbling goof, when his failures were so much more.

Wendy and Lucy - Finally, Wendy & Lucy made its way to my city. It was well worth the wait. Michelle Williams is absolutely wonderful. And while it almost seems like a cliche at this point, the movie seems so revealing as our economy teeters on the brink of downfall. There is much talk about Reichardt’s films, and those of Lance Hammer and Ramin Bahrani, as showing the edges or fringes of society. While that may be true, it certainly feels like the edges are quickly folding in on the middle. They are not stories about the edges. They are stories about life. They are stories that demand understanding and compassion before judgement.

March 17th – March 22nd

Synecdoche, NY – What can I say? I love Charlie Kaufman. There is no analysis of this one that can be done in just a few sentences. So, I’ll wait on that. All I can say, really, is that this is the first movie in a while where I couldn’t wait to purchase the Blu-ray and devour it over and over again. One thing I will briefly mention–I really, really enjoyed the film blogger featurette on the disc. Movie discussions & beer. Does it get any better? I’d like to see more of that type of discussion as a special feature on future (deserving) movies.

Old Joy – In anticipation of seeing Wendy & Lucy this coming weekend, I wanted to take a look at director Kelly Reichardt’s previous film. Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Willy Loman (or, Daniel London as Tom as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in Synecdoche, NY–see above) are upstaged by Lucy (Reichardt’s dog) in my opinion. Not really, but I would be lying if I said that I didn’t want to see this one in part because of the dog. It did look like it would’ve been a really fun film shoot for a dog though.

Friends are a strange thing. The reviews and discussions of I Love You, Man bring up Paul Rudd’s character who is almost carelessly a friend of girls but who has real trouble finding guy friends. Hey, I’m that guy! Then last week I somehow got peer-pressured into finally setting up a Facebook account. Well, of course, that brings up its own quandaries. What is a friend? How much work should one exert towards finding and/or keeping friends? How passive/active to be? Does any of it matter?

Old Joy quietly and beautifully examines what friendship means after time passes, people change, and life continues on regardless. Maybe friendship is going your separate ways. Or maybe friendship simply ends right there and then. I don’t know. I still find myself very much in the dark when it comes to friendship. I’m still learning. I am truly grateful, however, that a dog is a man’s best friend. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know much of it.

March 9th – March 16th

Taken- Not exactly the first movie that comes to mind when thinking about what my parents might suggest we watch on a weekend visit. But there it is. The movie is improbable to say the least. But it’s fun enough. Liam Neeson (whose wife apparently just had a serious skiing accident) has just enough Irish gravitas to carry the movie through. But still it’s pretty much just kicking ass and not even bothering to take names.

The Hills Have Eyes – Again, not a movie I would expect the “in-laws” to suggest. But there it is again. It certainly beats Duets. I’m actually very fond of this movie (and its remake…although I’ve seen neither of the sequels). I’m kind of disappointed that I wasn’t able to get my copy autographed by Michael Berryman at the Full Moon Horror Con a couple years back (but not that disappointed).

The Visitor- Little Dickie Jenkins as the leading man. He’s all growns up. Actually, it was a pretty decent film that just hinted at immigration and national security but was really about a widower rejoining the world. Not too political, not too melodramatic. But a little bit of both. Which is just fine by me. Richard Jenkins’s quiet performance was certainly worthy of its Oscar nomination.

UPDATE: Natasha Richardson (May 11, 1963 – March 18, 2009)

March 2nd – March 8th

Frozen River – This one seemed a little overrated to me. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt. But it seemed to be badly written and poorly directed. Many of the lines weren’t just stilted, they seemed placed there simply to cover up gaps in the plot. As Sarah said while we watched it: “Show us, don’t tell us.” I wanted to let those inadequacies slip by, on account of its dreary story and setting, but in the end I just couldn’t. Not after seeing Ballast, which had its own dreary story and setting but was very competently directed by Lance Hammer. Melissa Leo was excellent here. I just wish the writing and direction had also been up to her par.

In Bruges- I was skeptical about this one. For one thing, it has Colin Farrell. For another thing, it just seemed like another Guy Ritchie type of movie. Not my cup of tea. But looking for something to watch on OnDemand, I went with this one solely on the recommendation of the Filmspotting guys.

And they were right. It was a lot of fun. And, it’d probably squeeze its way onto my Top Ten of 2008 list if I were to rewrite that one.

I almost hesitate to say this, but I found the movie (at least a heaping handful of scenes) to be original or at the very least surprisingly clever. It had a sly dark comedy about it that subverted the hitman genre and what I’ve seen of Guy Ritchie films (which admittedly isn’t much, so I may be way off base).

Colin Farrell was funny. Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes were solid as usual. Plus, it had Željko Ivanek in a small role as one half of a tourist couple. I didn’t know his name before this role, but I knew his face. He played a hostage-taker in a recent episode of “House,” John Dickinson of Pennsylvania in the “John Adams” miniseries, and even showed up in last night’s episode of “Big Love.” I’ll remember both his name and face from now on.

February 21st – February 28th

Sharks In Venice, Flu Birds, Deathlands: Homeward Bound- It’s been two busy weeks with very little time to catch a movie. All I’ve seen (besides catching up with lots of TV viewing on the DVR) are these three Sci-Fi Channel Originals (seen in one sitting). I’m not sure exactly if they went from bad to worst (in the order above) or if 4+ hours of Sci-Fi Channel Originals simply deadens the soul (or worse). By the last one, I was mentally and physically hurting. It felt like some sort of psychological torture worthy of Abu Ghraib.