The Filmcake

May 18th – May 25th

Religulous- At about the midway point of this documentary, and again at about the three-quarters mark, the DVD malfunctioned. It paused and wouldn’t restart unless the DVD player was reset; and even then we had to advance the movie past where it stopped to get it to continue to play. All in all, we probably missed 5-10 minutes. Perhaps it was a sign from God to this infidel that watching the movie was not a good idea. Or not. That’s actually a preposterous thing to believe. A deep scratch on the surface of the DVD is a much better explanation for the strange behavior of the disk.

Just as in Politically Incorrect and then Real Time, as with this one, I’m mostly in agreement with Bill Maher. But as in all the others, Maher just kind of irritates me. Nine out of ten things he says are right on. But then he says something stupid that kind of tarnishes the nine before (and did I hear that he’s an antivaxer?). It’s not that the other nine things are wrong, it’s just that he’s not always the ideal spokesperson (especially if he’s an antivaxer). I liked the Borat-y parts of the movie (Larry Charles directed both)–the road trip meets gotcha film making. Sure, it’s a little unfair and sometimes makes you squirm. But if people can’t respond to questions about the most fundamental part of their life (religion) even when caught off guard, then how fundamental is it really? Some people deserve to squirm. And the candid and revealing interview with the Vatican priest was worth all of the less inspiring moments. I didn’t like Maher’s monologues at the beginning and end. Frankly, I like him better when he’s asking the tough questions rather than when he’s going off on some personal diatribe.

Girls Rock! – This was a fun and sweet documentary about a rock camp in Oregon for girls only. I was inspired. The girls went in to have fun and came out rocking without worrying too much about what other people thought. That’s advice I can certainly heed. More fun, more rocking, and less caring about what others think. I’ve been talking about dusting my acoustic guitar off and learning some old folks songs for a little while now. But, I’m certain that not only can I not sing, the sound that will come from my throat will be horrendous. But I might just be inspired now to strum the guitar with the purpose of having fun, the rest be damned.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall- The second time around on this one. It still holds up pretty well. It’s not the type of movie I want to watch all the time, and I’ve perhaps had enough of the Apatow genre, but it delivers on the laughs and enjoyability. Plus I think I could watch Russell Brand and Mila Kunis all day (for slightly different reasons).

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired – A great documentary about a great director. It was well structured as to provide a certain level of courtroom suspense without offering its own judgement. As the facts are revealed, justice seems more and more arbitrary. Polanski remains intriguing. The judge, and his actions, are maddening. It is he who comes off as the real villain. It’s unfortunate he couldn’t be the one, and not Polanski, who was exiled. I’m also reminded that I really need to see Chinatown. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.

May 11th – May 17th

Lakshmi and Me - A documentary that follows the young maid Lakshmi and her relationship with her employer, the filmmaker Nishta Jain. It’s a difficult documentary to watch. Certainly what Jain does with her camera, and how she behaves as an employer, is exploitative. It’s not that she’s cruel, it’s just that it’s inherent. But why does she even need a maid? And does Jain seriously think she can ever have a relationship with Lakshmi that isn’t foremost a master-servant relationship? And Mumbai is a depressing place to these Western eyes. But do established customs–the fact that these are just the way things are in India (destiny?)–make reprehensible norms acceptable? I think involuntary servitude is involuntary servitude. Perhaps “destiny” is just a notion that the oppressors invented to keep the oppressed in their place. Still, I also understand (though I find it very difficult in this case) the necessity of tolerating other cultures and customs. At any rate, can Jain do anything as a filmmaker or employer to really change the norm? What would it take?

Ironically, this documentary actually gave me a slightly greater appreciation for Slumdog Millionaire. Of course Slumdog Millionaire gets it wrong, but now I can better understand the desire to cling to fantasy, hope, and destiny. It’s an escape from reality.

At Home in Utopia/Wings of Defeat – Two more docs from PBS Independent Lens. One was a boring story about an apartment building with cloying narration and overuse of “Ode to Joy.” The other was an interesting and well-balanced look at kamikaze pilots.

Doubt, Frost/Nixon- I really liked both casts. Hoffman and Streep are still at the tops of their games. Amy Adams is absolutely adorable. And Langella is growing on me. I also really liked the scripts. I love the ambiguity of the former, and Nixon’s solitary yet pugnacious personality in the latter. But perhaps these stories were good enough in their original homes on the stage. I didn’t notice any cinematic elements in either movie that I imagine dramatically improved upon the previous versions. But, of course I never saw the plays and I did see the movies, so I guess that is an obvious improvement.

Star Trek – Perhaps the greatest compliment I can offer JJ Abrams is that his reboot of the Star Trek franchise did make me eager for a sequel as well as want to go back and watch the original series. And that’s saying quite a bit because I’ve never been a fan of any of the series or movies. It was a lot of fun.

A lot is owed to the very strong cast. Karl Urban as McCoy was a big surprise. Everybody else was quite solid. I do wish Simon Pegg as Scotty would have entered a little earlier. And Zachary Quinto is, in real life, only 6 years Winona Ryder’s junior. So that was a little weird. And, so wait, Kirk’s mom was named Winona? And Spock’s mom was named Winona? Weird.

The script was kind of a mess, although perhaps necessarily so. An alternate reality is a crutch, to be sure, but in this case a nice way to reboot a long-running franchise. The sequel can now, thanks to the alternate reality device, boldly go wherever the hell it wants to. And to be honest, the overly complicated and messy script still actually worked for me. It somehow fits. Still one wishes that an alternate reality would have included a more prominent role for women (Uhura aside), even if this reboot did improve on its dated predecessors. I did find it intriguing the (although not on-screen) explanation that Kirk’s mother was a Starfleet officer (as explained by the screenwriters on the Creative Screenwriting podcast).

I wasn’t too crazy about the visual look of the film. The lens flares, which Abrams has already admitted were overdone, were annoying. And his explanation that they were to represent a future that is too bright? Meh. And from what I remember, the action sequences seemed to be quite messy. Both the space fights and hand-to-hand stuff seem ineptly choreographed and edited (and not in a funny Shatner sort of way). Maybe the use of digital effects makes filmmakers lose sight of the physics and aesthetics of a good fight scene.

But it was still quite fun and well worth the price of the movie ticket. My eyes have been opened to the world of Star Trek. So even though I have my little problems with it, Abrams’ Star Trek won me over.

MST3K: The Movie – Because you can’t take any movie too seriously…

The Running Man – …especially this one (even if it has a certain gravitas with its inclusion of a former governor and a current governor).

May 4th – May 10th

Che: Part One, The Argentine – I can’t really say much about Steven Soderbergh’s Che without seeing the complete film. And unfortunately, I only managed to see the first part. I never quite got around to the theatre for the second part. But I can say that I REALLY liked the first part. The Red One Camera looked great. Benicio del Toro was great. And I thought Soderbergh’s attention to tactical detail was great. I look forward to the DVD release so I can watch the epic in its entirety.

I don’t know how to say it any better than that. I grew up periodically catching him up in the balcony with Siskel and then later with Roeper. And for quite a while now I’ve been regularly keeping up with his weekly movie reviews.

Just this week, I finished reading Ebert’s The Great Movies. It’s basically a collection of 100 of his Great Movie columns. It entertains. Ebert is a great writer. It informs. It could work as an introduction to film. But, most importantly to me, it inspires. His love for the movies he writes about is so contagious. Upon completing each column, I found myself full of an excitement about each of the films. And my love for movies in general was stronger than ever. In fact, I credit him with reigniting my desire to do something more with this blog and with writing about movies.

And Ebert’s relatively recent foray into blogging has really been quite special. He writes about more than just movies, hitting on topics of nostalgia, religion, evolution, among others. Sure these are topics droned on ad infinitum throughout the blogosphere, but in Ebert’s hands they become something worth taking time to read, absorb, and share.

His post from a couple of days ago regarding facing death brought tears to my eyes.  It wasn’t sad. It was honest. And it spoke to me in a way that little else does. It’s absolutely beautiful. And I think I’ll be returning to it periodically in the future for comfort. In a way, Ebert’s blog post acts as a companion piece to Julian Barnes’ book about death, Nothing to Be Frightened Of (which I’d also highly recommend).

And it seems I’m not the only one enamored with Mr. Ebert of late. In the Huff Post yesterday, the director Rod Lurie wrote about what it means to be a “real man”:

I’ll tell you this — you can look at all the masculine toughies you want — the Ben Roethlisbergers, the Russell Crowes, the David Petraeuses — but if you want to look at what a man should be — persevering, honest, a person who manifests his intellect into action — you need look no further than Roger Ebert.

I think Roger Ebert is my personal hero. I love that guy.

(Huff link via OFCC)

April 28th – May 3rd

The House Bunny – I didn’t pay any attention to this movie when it first arrived in the theatres. I just assumed it was going to be a gross-out comedy that wasn’t even trying to be clever in its offensiveness. But subsequently, I began to hear some positive things about it, mostly surrounding the performance of Anna Farris. So we added it to our queue to balance out some of the more dour selections.  And it was quite enjoyable. Farris is great. Her comedic timing is spot-on and she holds this comedy comfortably on her shoulders. And while the screenplay certainly wasn’t a feminist ideal, there were a few quirks here and there to keep it from being entirely predictable and chauvinistic.