The Filmcake

March 15th – March 21st

Coraline — The special effects were good, but they didn’t blow my mind. The stop-motion stuff wasn’t nearly as delicious as what Wes Anderson did with it in Fantastic Mr. Fox. It wasn’t as loved and lived in. And some of the CG effects just didn’t seem to mesh naturally with the more tactile stop-mo stuff. Good, but not special. The story was creepier than I expected. I think it would be scary for young children. And despite getting a little muddled at times and turning towards video game territory in the latter parts, it was still a refreshingly smart and interesting tale.

Phase IV – Last summer, we caught Brian Hearn’s live remix of this Saul Bass sci-fi film. That one was called Phase V and featured live actors dubbing new lines over an edited version of the film. I hadn’t seen the original work to that point. But I really enjoyed the remix. Well, now I’ve finally seen the inspiration which features some nicely filmed close-ups of ants. Unlike Them!, the other ant movie which I saw last week, these are real ants and aren’t shot to look bigger. Their size isn’t what is scary, it’s the evolving hive mentality that they develop which turns homicidal. The movie is a bit slow and veers off into 70′s sci-fi trippyland too much. But it’s still worth watching, if only for the fact that it’s the only feature that Bass directed. It also features an image that appears to be a direct homage to the Luis Bunuel/Salvador Dali short Un Chien Andalou (see below).

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) — Number five in our Sci-Fi Horror Marathon. Before this one and Them! last week, I expected the sci-fi horror of the 1950s to be nothing more than drive-in fluff. I was expecting mindless creature features, but in both of these I’m finding something more profound. In Body Snatchers particularly, it is science fiction that entertains with rising tension and thrills but also comments on the concerns of the times. It does not spell anything out and can be read in different ways, but fear (intentional or not) clearly transcends. I’m curious about the 1978 and 1993 remakes, but also a little wary. I really liked this one a bunch.

Aguirre, Wrath of God – Okay, I’m now officially a card-carrying member of The Church of Werner Herzog. After hearing his voice work in Ramin Bahrani’s Plastic Bag short last week and reading up Herzog in the AV Club, I had a Herzog itch. Plus, I needed to see what this Klaus Kinski was all about. I was not disappointed. Herzog, in five minutes, shows more passion and competency in filmmaking than many directors will demonstrate in their entire careers. And a crazed Kinski is quite definitely compelling in his own right. Kinski’s performance, the location shooting in the Peruvian rainforests and rivers, and Herzog’s direction add up to a truly gritty and dirty production. Herzog brilliantly immerses the viewer in the location. Watching this movie practically invites swatting away Amazonian insects from the comfort of your own couch.

That this movie was made with a stolen camera and stolen monkeys; that the dialogue was delivered in English, dubbed in German, to stand in for Spanish; that it has inspired cinematic legend (namely Kinski acting at Herzog’s gunpoint) and influenced Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Malick’s The New World–these all demonstrate the true brilliance of its maker. Keeping on the Herzog/Kinski track, I’m going to attempt a Fitzcarraldo, Burden of Dreams, My Best Fiend triple-feature sometime very soon.

Un Chien Andalou – For some reason, it has taken me this long to get around to this one. It is, of course, the eye cutting scene that initially brought me to the movie. And having seen it, I’m just kind of shocked that it’s such a tiny piece of the film, albeit a very good shot. This Surrealist filmmaking is fun to watch, but admittedly leaves me a bit confused. I know that’s part of the point. But, I needs me some narrative, yo. Still, it was pretty damn cool noticing a shot in this one that was mimicked in Saul Bass’s Phase IV which we had just seen. The shots in question involved people with ants crawling out a hole in their hand. There is a shot in this one…and a roughly identical one in Phase IV. I assumed some Freudian connotation–of death or destruction, vaginal. But maybe Dali just really likes ants and Bass really likes Bunuel and Dali. Nevertheless, the unexpectedness of catching Bass quoting Bunuel and Dali quoting Dali was pretty cool.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist – Not a great teen comedy (very few are), but a pretty good one. For me, it was special for breaking out of the mold and introducing some new things to the genre, especially the gay guy friends (who aren’t there just to be made fun of) and the sex scene (which seemed to be all about getting her off). The fact that the leads are Michael Cera and Kat Dennings sort of instantly subverts the genre. Although at this point, neither Cera or Dennings can be described as weird or off-beat, they are the popular kids now.

Pineapple Express – James Franco is the man. We can all agree on that. Now I wonder if he can edit. Because that’s exactly what this movie needed. Like Apatow’s Funny People it was overly long. A tighter movie would have been better for everyone. In several sequences, I found myself wondering why I was getting bored in a movie full of gags and chase scenes. It’s time for this Apatow family of players to find someone who has the ability to reign them in on occasion.

March 8th – March 14th

Under Great White Northern Lights  — See review.

Academy Award Nominated Animated Short films – Managed to catch 4 of the 5 nominees in online videos (unfortunately missed out on the Wallace & Gromit short). The Oscar winner Logorama took a clever concept that ties pervasive marketing with cinematic conventions to create a cop chase turned ad-pocalypse. French Roast, Granny O’Grimms Sleeping Beauty, and The Lady and the Reaper were all adequate animated shorts. But none of them rose above my standard for animated shorts this year–the Ellie and Carl scene at the beginning of Pixar’s Up.

Paper Bag — As part of the FUTURESTATES project, Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, Goodbye Solo) has created a brilliant short film about a plastic grocery bag. A comment on both excessive pollution and consumerism, the movie also manages to be something more. With his voice work contribution, Werner Herzog allows the film to also be a touching piece of existentialism.

The FUTURESTATES project has tasked “11 renowned and up-and-coming filmmakers to take the current state of affairs in the United States, and extrapolate them into stories of the nation in the not-so-distant future.” I can’t wait to check out the other ten.

The Breakfast Club – Another one of those movies that I could say I’ve seen countless times but in reality have not seen in an un-cut, from beginning to end, way in quite some time (at least since I last had a working VCR). It certainly inhabits a Hughesian world where the “criminal” can hook-up with the “princess” by the end credits. It’s all a bit hokey and stupid, but there are enough hints at honesty and genuine nostalgia to allow the film to hold up after twenty-five years.

Hamlet 2 – An okay movie with some genuinely hilarious moments that didn’t add up to much. Steve Coogan is great. And there are some really funny scenes. And a wonderful song–”Rock Me Sexy Jesus.” But, I was underwhelmed with the film as a whole. I was wanting it to be something that it was unable to live up to.

Them! – The fourth installment in our Sci-fi Horror Marathon. This one was released way back in 1954. New Mexico State Police are soon joined by the FBI after one of the Bureau’s own goes missing in a mysterious attack. The two agencies are joined by a father-daughter team of scientists from the Department of Agriculture. After pursuing the various leads, the investigators finally discover that the attacks have been perpetrated by giant ants which have mutated as a result of recent atomic weapons testing. Eventually supplemented with military firepower, the group tracks the giant ants to the Los Angeles storm sewer system where they are eventually destroyed.

This movie was surprisingly well paced and plotted. The eventual appearance of the giant ants does provoke a modern chuckle. By today’s standards, the thing looks a bit silly. After that initial appearance though, I did not have a problem with the ant monsters. They were photographed nicely and used sparingly enough to not be off-putting.

I thought the catatonic girl who starts screaming upon smelling the formic acid was particularly creepy and added to the initial suspense of the film. The female scientist, Pat Medford (Joan Weldon), was an interesting role. While it wasn’t a major role, the fact that this female character was both a doctor and scientist and not simply shoehorned in as a romantic foil was a true surprise. There was a sexist remark made her way (something along the lines of: if she’s the kind of doctor that makes house calls, I could develop a fever real fast). If anything, the line just makes the man saying them seem like a pig.

The film obviously plays against the very real fears of the atomic age. The giant ants suggest a scary outcome to this atomic tinkering.

When Man entered the atomic age, he opened a door into a new world. What we’ll eventually find in that new world, nobody can predict.

The ants also suggest the spread of communism in the age of McCarthyism. The monster ants suggest both a domestic spread of communism as well as the fear of a global march of communism. Destroy the queen, and you destroy the colony. It is the policy of Containment used to prevent the domino-like spread of communism. Bonus: an early Leonard Nimoy appearance.

The Princess Bride – A personal favorite that I haven’t seen in quite a while (also since I had a working VCR). It’s also one that my wife has never seen in its entirety. Now that it is available on Netflix Instant Viewing…she still hasn’t seen it in its entirety (falling asleep about two-thirds of the way through). Perhaps it’s one that you just have to fall for at a younger age.

I still have a great time with it. The movie has everything. Wallace Shawn. Andre the Giant. A six-fingered Christopher Guest. A princess. Romance. Sword fighting. Poison. Pirates. Torture.

March 1st – March 7th

Fireproof — So, so bad. Admittedly, I wasn’t surprised by this fact. I went into it knowing that it was going to be awful. The movie seemed like nothing more than some pastor had a sermon (How to Fireproof Your Marriage) that he thought he could turn into a movie in order to sell a book. And like so many Christian “rock” songs, its earnestness is unable to overcome its lack of guiding talent and artful subtlety. It’s predictable, preachy, and a little bit sexist. Surely this movie will be enjoyed by those people that eat up simplistic sermonizing, but one wonders why anyone requires Jesus in order to simply show respect towards another person.

(500) Days of Summer — I do like me some MPDGs. And Zooey Deschanel certainly leads the pack. But MPDGs are usually nothing more than some quirky eye candy. It’s male fantasy. It’s seeing only those parts that you want to see and ignoring the rest. It’s mistaking a fleeting Rene Magritte reference as an honest sign of character.

That being said, Deschanel as MPDG is not a total problem here. The movie is certainly from a man’s–Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)–point of view. The movie is precisely about him remembering what he wants. It’s not about a couple or a relationship; it’s about Tom. And the way the story is presented–in a non-linear fashion–works fine to illustrate the bumpy road of a relationship.

What puts me off about this movie was that one word in the opening credits. “Bitch.” It wasn’t immediate. Perhaps the character truly deserves to be called a bitch. There are bitches in this world after all. But after seeing the entire film, that word just seemed so incongruous. I was fine with the calling-out of the real girl for whom the film was based. It rooted the movie firmly in the personal. It was the bitch part that I had a problem with. It’s not what the movie ultimately ended up being about. For me, it was about Tom coming to terms with this relationship and its demise. Sure, it’s a rough moment when Tom finds out that Summer is engaged. Perhaps, to him, she is a bitch at that moment (in truth, Summer is not a bitch, she’s just not everything Tom wants her to be). The film concludes on a hopeful note with Tom seemingly putting this relationship behind him in favor of new experiences and relationships. In the end, it just makes director Marc Webb and writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber seem mean, petty, insufferably immature, and incapable of moving on. It also dampens an otherwise enjoyable movie.

MPDG Zooey and M. Ward with “In The Sun”:

Where The Wild Things Are — I had ranked this movie as my second favorite movie of 2009 after seeing it only once. So going into it again I was worried that I may have somehow overvalued it the first time. Nope. It was just as amazing the second time around. That it didn’t garner a single Academy Award nomination is ridiculous. This movie is like a gigantic hug. It brilliantly captures Max coming to terms with his parents’ divorce and his own bad behavior. It is truly wonderful.

Dead Snow — A nice surprise. I mean, Nazi zombies pretty much guarantees cinematic awesomeness. But this movie was a solid entry into the slasher-zombie genre. It didn’t break any new ground, but it was a solidly enjoyable installment in the genre.

Sleeping Dogs Lie – After being pleasantly surprised with Bobcat Goldthwait’s World’s Greatest Dad, I wanted to check out some of his earlier stuff. Again, Goldthwait delivers. He takes a shocking moment (girl-on-dog love) and twists it into a movie with a heart. The production values here are low at times, but the talent level all around does not leave you disappointed. I still need to see Shakes the Clown and I certainly can’t wait to see what Bobcat has in store next.

February 22nd – February 28th

Hunger – The Troubles in Northern Ireland are a fascinating period of (ongoing) history that I admittedly have a very limited grasp over. It suggests the sometimes vague differences between activist and terrorist. It’s about religion–and then again it’s not. It’s on one hand so foreign and on the other hand so familiar. Director Steve McQueen depicts the 1981 hunger strike with Bobby Sands in way that is both violently brutal and fecally artful.

Invention of Lying – A good idea that was ultimately poorly executed. The premise is an interesting one, and an inspired Gervais-as-Moses scene almost makes the flawed movie worth watching, but it just finally falls flat. Jennifer Garner’s character is so flatly written that she comes of as a stereotype and the film comes of as a bit sexist. Ricky Gervais is certainly better than this.

Precious – You know, I actually ended up liking this one a lot more than I thought I would. I was expecting nothing but poverty porn, but I felt like I got something more than that. I admit that it was a bit of a struggle at first. But once I sort of gave in to the melodrama and the familiar Inspirational Teacher tropes, I felt myself going along with it more comfortably. But even that qualification seems qualified. I think there is probably a wide-spread tendency to view this film, and the monster that is Mo’Nique’s Mary Jones, and think of them as overly brutal and exaggerated. But after living with the movie for a little while, I am quite convinced that there are both Mary Jones’ and Precious’ out in the world everywhere.

A Single Man — The smell of a dog. A stiff drink. The beauty of another human being. Booker T’s “Green Onions.” Life is an island hop on the unpleasant ocean of existence. Tom Ford beautifully captures this sentiment. We’re bombarded every day with the notion that melancholy and depression are character flaws. Life is a big smile. But it just ain’t the truth. We live in a miserable world (see Precious). But it is a life worth living. The roses need smelling.

Colin Firth’s excellent performance is but another of those things that make life worth living. I may not be a fan of those movies in which his character is named Darcy and/or he sports a wet shirt, but I do love him here. That he is the one that transfixes me in a scene with Juliane Moore is a tribute to the charisma he brings to the role.

Groundhog Day, Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion, 10 Things I Hate About You — After Hunger, Precious, and A Single Man we just really needed something especially light and fun. These were three picks that fit the bill and would also allow us to test out our Roku player and Netflix Instant Viewing from the comfort of our bed. None of the three are great, but they’re all certainly re-watchable. Bill Murray alone makes Groundhog Day an instant classic and easily the best of the trio. And watching Murray only shows how much Ricky Gervais lacks.

February 16th – February 21st

Tyson – A compelling documentary from James Toback. Iron Mike is certainly a fascinating subject. That he is a more interesting figure than I had previously figured is still not enough to overcome the revulsion that I still possess towards him. A certain amount of innocent kindness towards pet pigeons is not enough for me to forgive the viciousness of his biting attack on Evander Holyfield nor his probable assault(s) on women. He will still always be a monster in my eyes.

Bright Star – A tragically romantic period piece from Jane Campion about John Keats and Fanny Brawne. A film about a poet would seem to be either excessively sweet or tragic. You expect either soft-focus romanticism or camera-shaken tragedy. While there is still love and death in this film, it avoids some of the most overt poet biopic cliches by devoting more attention on Fanny Brawne instead of the poet Keats. Abbie Cornish is wonderful as Brawne. In Stop-Loss and in this one, I just can’t seem to keep my eyes off of her. I am in agreement with A.O. Scott that she may just be the new Kate Winslet. Paul Schneider (Parks & Recreation) was also excellent as Keats’ smarmy yet protective best friend, Charles Armitage Brown.

Contact – A personal sc-fi favorite. After a long stretch with an unviewable VHS copy, it has re-entered our movie library in the form of the Blu-ray edition. while Contact broaches the relationship between religion and science, I ultimately don’t think the movie has much definitive to say about the topic. It presents the ideas, which make the movie a stronger piece of sci-fi, but it doesn’t pretend to be making an argument either way. I suppose it does say something about the dangers of fanaticism–both the religious and secular varieties. But, ultimately, the ideas don’t add up to anything particularly coherent. At least, not particularly preachy. That is a good thing–the movie remains quite satisfying to me. I still very much enjoy it. I was struck this time–perhaps because of the Blu-ray version I was watching for the first time–by all of the special effects that Zemeckis employs in the movie. For the most part, the fx is used competently and serves the story even if it is a bit conspicuous.

Sunshine – The third installment in our Sci-Fi Horror Marathon and one I’ve seen many times. This one is perhaps a little more overt than Contact in its atheism. It is, after all, the religiously fanatical Pinbacker who tries to destroy not only the crew of Icarus 2 but also all of Earth based on delusions he interprets to be the voice of god. Thankfully, the physicist saves the day. Yay, science! On this particular viewing, I was struck by the soundtrack. I adore it. And, I’m not sure why I don’t own it. Except that I might feel the urgent need to save mankind while listening to it. So that might be kind of awkward.

Mine; Home; P-Star Rising — Two docs and a short from PBS Independent Lens. Mine told the story of dogs left behind as a result of Hurricane Katrina. The documentary focuses on three or so dogs who were left behind as the result of the storm and eventually adopted to new families, but whose owners attempt to reunite with their pets after landing on terra firma. The doc is nicely balanced, putting its sympathies first and foremost behind the dogs caught in the middle. That Mine examined the uncharted territory between Katrina and the rightful home for its canine victims gives it a unique perspective. But, I sort of felt that a lot of this had been covered in previous documentaries, especially Tom McPhee’s An American Opera from 2007. Nevertheless, I’ll always watch a doc about dogs (and likely shed a tear or two as well).

Home was an excellent six-minute short by Matt Faust that morphed home videos and photographs into a personal and poignant memory of a home destroyed by Katrina.

P-Star Rising was a doc that admittedly I wasn’t too keen on sitting through. It purported to tell the successes and failures in the career of a 9-year-old rapper. I imagined that both the documentary and the child rapper would be too precious to bear. Ooh, it’s a kid! Ooh, she raps!! Too cute!!! Commence. Rolling. Eyes.

But, I was quite surprised by the documentary that I watched. It turns out that the child rapper, Priscilla Diaz (stage name, P-Star), is genuinely talented and not annoyingly precocious at all. That this child also seems to be the most level-headed, mature, and intelligent member of her family is what makes this documentary so compelling. The more I began to dislike her father, who comes off as a man-child in demeanor, actions, and dress, the more I began to like P-Star.

A Serious Man – I figured I’d like this one. It is a Coen Brothers movie after all. But, I ended up REALLY, REALLY liking it. It was so dark, ultimately, that it actually sort of ended up being kind of life affirming. Instead of worrying about other people and what they think, you have to take care of yourself first. And instead of worrying why things did or did not happen to you, you ultimately have to accept the mystery. You can’t blame the bad things that happen to you on anything else, nor can you credit the good things that happen to you on anything else. Things are what they are. For me, without a belief in God (and the corresponding evil), this is an oddly comforting thought even if I know that death is my ultimate reward. My only religion is film.

It did remind me of the questions A.O. Scott posed in his review:

So a question put before the congregation by A Serious Man is whether it makes the case for atheism or looks at the world from a divine point of view. Are the Coens mocking God, playing God or taking his side in a rigged cosmic game? What’s the difference?

Life sucks, and then you die. At least we have movies. What more is there to know?

February 8th – February 15th

The Headless Woman - I was VERY impressed with this film from Argentinian Lucrecia Martel. That being said, I’ve only seen it the one time and this is certainly a movie that might benefit from multiple viewings. While not as gimmicky as Christopher Nolan’s Memento, like that one this film does place the viewer at a confusing vantage point.

After Veronica (Maria Onetto) hits something with her car, she wanders around the film in an amnesic daze. As Veronica regains control of her world, so does the viewer begin to fill in missing pieces. Who are these people? Family? Friends? Staff? What’s with her hair? The pool? Is there a cover-up? What did she hit with her car? Did she, in fact, hit anything at all? Director Martel brilliantly doles out details with enough cinematic restraint to temporarily satiate us but still keep us in a state of confusion. I have some idea as to what I’ve seen but remain both slightly perplexed and quite eager to revisit it again soon.

On top of the mystery of it all, the film is ultimately about class. Too often, we suffer a voluntary amnesia when it comes to looking at the socioeconomic divide straight on. It is a painful reminder of the stupid diversion that is much of big Hollywood. We must rely on foreign-language films (and rare/small US independent releases) to get anything approximating social commentary with regards to the issue of class–lest we are tempted to remain with the Hollywood trickeration that wants us to think about anything but.

February 1st – February 7th

An Education – Upon seeing the trailer for this one, I was pretty certain that I was going to really like the movie. It was right up my alley. Upon seeing it, I have to say that I liked it more than even I expected. I was a little afraid that the story would devolve into a tired tale of male fantasy. A cute girl interested in interesting things (with a school uniform to boot) who fulfills the every desire of the older man. Even 15 minutes into the film, I was worried about this. Thankfully, the story didn’t turn out that way. Carey Mulligan’s Jenny is very much her own woman. Sure, she makes mistakes along the way. She is both teenager and human after all. Mulligan is wonderful and surrounded by an excellent cast.

Pandorum - The first of six movies in a Sci-Fi Horror Marathon. This is a 2009 movie starring Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid. The movie’s title refers to a form of psychosis suffered as a result of space travel and suspended animation. Unfortunately, this psychological condition doesn’t figure much into the film, except perhaps to shoehorn in a “twist” ending. If you’re going to name the movie after this psychosis, it’s my opinion that it should figure into the plot quite prominently and create a sense of psychological horror. If you’re not going to go that route, then there needs to be more monsters and more action. The monsters and spaceship here were fine. Not $40 million budget fine, but serviceable. They were adequate to support a more gory plot. I’m not sure if this director could have even pulled that off though. Some of the visual cues in the few action scenes we get are a bit confusing. There was a problem with the audio on this…although it may have just been the Blu-ray disc and/or my player. As it was, the dialogue was not in sync and the audio levels seemed improperly mixed. The score and/or fx music often drowned out Foster’s whispered dialogue. Finally, there is Dennis Quaid. I’m not sure what I think of The Quaid. I can’t tell if he’s genuinely horrible or just never quite totally invested. In this movie, he seemed to be phoning it in. In fact, he could have quite literally been phoning it in here (since half his dialogue comes off-screen through Bower’s headset).

Moon - The second installment in the Sci-Fi Horror Marathon. Much, much, much better than Pandorum. And apparently it was made with 1/8th the budget of the former. Like Pandorum, and many recent sci-fi movies, the story is predicated on the destruction of Earth’s resources. In this case, Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is sent to the moon to mine helium-3 for fuel. Just before reaching the end of his three-year stint on the moon, he crashes his rover which results in a series of interesting events. The succeeding events both allow Rockwell to shine as an actor in dual roles and explore free will and consciousness in a classic sci-fi sort of way.

While GERTY is an obvious homage to HAL from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, my favorite reference was to 2001′s computer monitors. I’ve always appreciated the design of 2001′s computer monitors…with the three-letter codes projected onto a flat screen. It always seem to hold up to the test of time much better than other “futuristic” movies where the immediately dated monochromatic and text-only monitors were employed, usually only to rapidly scroll a bunch of gibberish. The design used in 2001, and copied here in Moon, goes for something different enough to seem plausibly futuristic. On a side note, Benedict Wong who appears here briefly will figure into the third installment of this marathon.

January 25th – January 31st

I Spit On Your Grave, Peeping Tom – A couple of films I sought out after reading Carol Clover’s Men, Women & Chainsaws book. The first is a rape-revenge movie from 1978 that Roger Ebert described as a “vile bag of garbage.” In his 1980 review, he also described it as “so sick, reprehensible and contemptible” that he couldn’t believe respectable theatres were even screening it. He also equates the rapes in the film with the revenge that is taken. That was thirty years ago and there is no indication that he has had the inclination to revisit the movie. While I wouldn’t call this movie feministic, it’s also not as vile as Ebert (of 1980, at least) would have you believe. Identification of the audience with the rapists and the revenge-taker are more complicated. At any rate, Camille Keaton’s Jennifer is certainly an antecedent for Tarantino’s women of late–the girls of Death Proof, Kill Bill’s Beatrix Kiddo, and even Shosanna in Inglourious Basterds.

Peeping Tom was another film rich in controversial history. After its release, the movie was panned so harshly that it essentially destroyed director Michael Powell’s career as a director in the UK. Thankfully, Martin Scorsese championed both the director and the film to give them both a second chance. Watching it now, the movie seems so obviously “important.” It says so much about voyeurism, scoptophilia (“the morbid urge to gaze”) and the cinematic gaze. This is what viewing (and making) movies is all about.

Gomorrah – A mafia movie that quotes Scarface but doesn’t bother to be just another rip-off of The Godfather and Goodfellas. It is a slice of the horror that The Comorra has wrought. But ultimately it is a critique of capitalism and of Western notions of power (and more tangentially of the American wars in the Middle East). Success (or wealth) isn’t a matter of intelligence, or of good conquering evil. It is a matter of who has the more powerful gun. And all of us who participate, who share in its riches, are complicit. There is no escape.

Fight Club – There’s a lot that could be said about this movie. I find it kind of maddening myself. It’s about one thing. And then it’s about another entirely different thing. While it says something, I’m not sure thatsomething is consistent. Or maybe that inconsistency is what the movie is trying to convey–our identification and authenticity are as confused and fragmented as The Narrator’s (Edward Norton) mind.

Objectified, Scenes From a Parish - A couple from PBS’s Independent Lens. I was a little disappointed with Objectified, Gary Hustwit’s follow-up to his excellent Helvetica doc. This one wasn’t nearly as enlightening or entertaining as that one. Scenes From a Parish was a bit of a surprise. It was roughly about a priest’s attempt to bridge the gap between two different groups of parishioners whilst trying to get a soup kitchen built. If it weren’t for the religion and parishioners, maybe church wouldn’t be so bad…

The Room - Ahhh, it never gets old. I just hope I manage to attend a midnight screening of it at some point. In the meantime, kindly put your comments in your pocket.

Blindness - Eck. This seemed like a movie that was trying way too hard to convey a message. But what that message was is unclear. It just seemed like the work of a naive, untalented hack with a dangerous streak of earnestness. As soon as the surgical scissors were introduced I wanted nothing more than to stab out my own eyes. I’m guessing it was trying to say something about humanity (or government) or something. But since the messages it was sending out were conflicting and confused, it didn’t actually end up saying much of anything.

A Boy and His Dog – Now this was a genuine surprise…and almost made up for the awfulness that was Blindness. Up until a couple weeks ago, I hadn’t really been aware of this movie. Manohla Dargis’s made reference to it in her review of The Book of Eli, calling it another “post-apocalyptic fairy tale.” Give me a dog and a post-apocalypse and I’m SO there. I immediately added it to my queue. And, then last week I saw where it was going to be shown in Los Angeles as part of a double feature with the documentary Waiting for Armageddon (which I am also very eager to see). Well, that just shot it straight to the top of my queue. And what a delight! And with a young Don Johnson. Wow. I could certainly see a remake of this–if only so the female character (Quilla) could be better constructed. Not that every old movie needs to be remade…

Big Fan - A decent little movie starring Patton Oswalt as a devoted New York Football Giants fan. It’s not a great movie, but it has some nice moments. One thing I realized is how similar geeks are to sports fans. It’s all just a matter of what you geek out over. You could easily replace comic book guy with sports talk radio guy and still be talking about essentially the same person.

January 19th – January 24th

Jennifer’s Body - Kind of disappointed with this one. As far as teen horror movies go, it holds its own. But, I was hoping for a little more from the Diablo Cody-scripted and Karen Kusama-helmed project. It just seemed kind of flat. Not really horror. Not really dark comedy. Not really biting satire. All that stuff was lying just beneath the surface, I’m sure, but only in an impotent sort of way.

Still, the reviews of this movie did get me to buy Carol J. Clover’s Men, Women & Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film which I just finished reading. While it can be a little heavy on the Freud and psychoanalytic school of film criticism at times, it was still an excellent read. The first chapter, where she presents her “Final Girl” theory, is required reading. And a Tarantino fan can’t read the third chapter without thinking of Beatrix Kiddo.

The Messenger - While not a war movie, this one certainly belongs with The Hurt Locker among the best (so far) movies dealing with the Iraqi war. The movie takes place entirely in the United States and there are no war scenes–so it’s not a war movie. But, it does seem to say a lot about the soldiers’ experience. War changes a soldier so fundamentally that he or she see things differently than their civilian counterparts. I don’t know if it’s a question of for better or worse, just simply new and different eyes. And eye drops don’t always work.

The story revolves around a couple of soldiers who are tasked with giving notifications of deceased soldiers to their next of kin. The handful of scenes we get where the news is delivered, some of which work better than others, are truly heartbreaking. To imagine those scenes repeated 5,318 times (Operations Iraqi Freedom & Enduring Freedom, to this date) is almost too much to bear.

Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton are both excellent here. And Ben Foster is a surprise after his creepy Russell in Six Feet Under.

In The Loop - A hilarious satiric take on the incompetency (both British and US) that lead us to war (and has resulted in–unhilariously–the 5,318 deaths, mentioned above). Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker is the insult king. I will not think of horses the same way again. This movie is worth watching for his insults alone. If you’re looking for good one liners, this is certainly a better pick than the Cody-isms of Jennifer’s Body.

January 11th – January 18th

Of Time and the City - A visual poem from Terence Davies about growing older in Liverpool. This film was a slow build for me. I went into it not knowing much about it, except that some critics including Michael Phillips had included it in there best of 2009 lists. As the movie started, I was a little unsure. Then I started liking it. Liking it more. By the end, I was in love. Through music, poetry, original narration and mostly found footage, Davies stitched together a moving story about the transitions of life and city over time. It was a lovingly nostalgic tale without the misfortune of pollyannaism. Life is what it is. For good and bad. It is the only one we get.

Know Your Mushrooms - A mildly interesting if unfocused documentary about the wonderful world of mushrooms. It should have either been about mushrooms (and the science behind them) or it should have been about mushroom devotees, but not both. As it was, the movie mixed science facts about mushrooms with ridiculous claims about them to result in a mess of information and a lack of direction. On a positive note, The Flaming Lips did provide the soundtrack music. Some of us enjoy our Flips and shrooms in the comfort of the real world.

35 Rhums (35 Shots of Rum) - I loved this movie. And seeing it at OKCMOA’s Noble Theatre was my quintessential movie-going experience. It was a good movie that only got greater with discussion afterwards at the pub. It is an experience that I live for.

Claire Denis presents the story in a brilliantly subtle manner. When a French director as great as Denis does it, subtlety does not seem guarded. It just seems normal. It’s such a striking difference to most Hollywood films which are exercises in the obvious and unambiguous.

That this is a French film with hardly any white characters is somewhat of a revelation to me. The immigrant story is certainly becoming a very relevant story. And a story about emotional inertia is a universal one and one that connects on a personal level.

I look forward to seeing Denis’ The Intruder and Beau Travail.

Arrested Development (Seasons 2 & 3) – Made it all the way through this hilarious yet too short series. While I still think the best television lies in dramas (still need to make my way through The Wire), this is easily one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. All week I’ve been quoting the series (“Come on!” “I’ve made a huge mistake.”) and recalling my favorite moments with a giggle. I can now be counted among the many eagerly anticipating the upcoming movie.