Shoot 'Em Up (2007)

This quirky homage to ‘Shoot ‘em up’s’ is very good at keeping me entertained for an hour and a half, but probably little else. Fun, but Tarintino does this kind of stuff better and smarter. 3 out of 5. Paul Giamatti as a heavy alone is reason enough to see this movie.

Che: Part 1 (2008)

First half of director Steven Soderbergh’s pretentious epic on the life of communist revolutionary Che Guevara. Benicio Del Toro is of course a perfect casting choice as Che, and he does a very admirable job as always, but like everything in this movie Che felt surficy. I mean I spent two hours with the man and I don’t feel I know anything about him. This movie feels like just a bunch of stuff that happens, with some of it being interesting stuff, but you never get inside any of the characters hearts or minds, so you just can’t connect. That and knowing how this valiant revolution, which had a lot of legitimate points on its side, eventually becomes a depressing dictatorship, well its Anakin Skywalker all over again. Well made, and informative on a history level, it’s still doubtless more interesting then almost anything else in theaters now. So 3 out of 5.

Towelhead (2007)

These are some first impressions that I’m jotting down on Alan Ball’s second feature film. I generally enjoy Ball’s work, he’s an envelope pusher, but I found this film, especially its first half, genuinely difficult to watch. Set during the first Gulf War this is the tale of a young Lebanese -American girl's sexual maturing in suburban Texas. Sexually uncomfortable, and populated mostly by unlikable characters, this is the most offensive film I’ve sat through since September Dawn. “He’s gone to far”, was a phrase that kept going through my mind, and I think that captures the general critical reaction to the film. People loved American Beauty, I did, it pushed the envelope plenty, but was not as graphic or harsh as Towelhead. This all being said there’s some genuine art to this film, and it has some worthwhile things to say. I also thought they did a good job of humanizing the characters at the end of the film, which I liked so much it almost made up for the bulk of the movie. But on balance I almost stopped this film several times, so uncomfortable it made me, and I simply can not recommend it to all but the most pure of Alan Ball enthusiasts. This movie almost defies my rating system, so I give it a flummoxed 2 out of 5.

Homicide: Life on the Street: Seasons 1 & 2 (1993-1994)

I remember my mom used to watch this show in the 90's, but it took a friend loaning me these first two seasons to get me into this show. This is an addictive program, its very well written, filled with great characters, and also does a killer of a season final, judging from the two I’ve seen. Simply excellent and I’m looking forward to more. 5 out of 5.

Magnificent Obsession (1935)

Compared to the later Douglas Sirk version this John M. Stahl adaptation of the Lloyd C. Douglas novel is simply disappointing. There’s just nothing memorable about this and so I’m not going to waist more time writing about it. 2 out 5, I don’t hate it, but I’m having a hard time caring about it.

Apocalypto (2006)

Mel Gibson’s second film in a dead language uses the 16th Century Maya as a case study in cultural decay. Forest hunter Jaguar Paw lives a simple, peaceful existence, until slavers from the stone city arrive, burn his village, kill his father, and separate him from his family. Brought to the temple with many of his fellows and intended for human sacrifice, Jaguar Paw is saved by an eclipse, ends up killing the lead slavers son in his attempt to escape, and is thusly pursued through the jungle by the revenge obsessed father and his men. Did I mention that all the while Jaguar Paw’s pregnant wife and eldest son are trapped in a pit near the village with no food and the threat of flood?

Gibson manages to make this ancient world enveloping, now you’ve hear about it, but you’ve never really seen it on film, and it is a sight beyond what I expected. Especially memorable is the ‘stone city’, overcrowded, cruel, beset by famine, disease, and a decadent and out of touch ruling class. These people (meaning the city Mayans) aren’t the relatively peaceful Indians of our more enlightened westerns, they warrant the title ‘savages’, and I found their civilization even less appealing then the arrogant Spartan’s of 2007's 300. In true Gibsonian fashion this film is both lambast at the crueler elements of the human condition, and bloody action flick, and can be appreciated on both levels. I find myself hoping that the director will continue this trilogy, and give us next a feature about the 1st century Christians in Rome shot entirely in Latin. 4 out of 5.

Let the Right One In (2008)

A Swedish vampire movie, sounds like an interesting, possibly campy novelty, right? Who knew it would not only be good, but it would be amazing! Quite possibly the best vampire movie ever, and defiantly one of my 10 favorite films of last year. The dark snowy landscape of Scandinavia should make a perfect hunting ground for the androgynous, perpetually 12 year old vampire Eli; though she mostly prefers to stay on the grounds of their new apartment complex, and let her mysterious, middle aged and non-vampire associate go out and do the leg work of collecting blood.

This new mysterious girl who only comes out at night quickly becomes an object of fascination for Oskar, an awkward pubescent boy and neighbor who comes from a broken home and is mercilessly picked on at school. This relationship is like no other I’ve seen on screen, it is dark, needy, obsessive, and almost disturbingly full of sexual tension for characters so young. Screw Twilight, Swedish vampire movie is Stephenie Meyer by way of Gus Van Sant. Understated direction combines with a few surprising special effect shots, and complex, haunted characters in a film full of layers and subtext. I need to see it again soon. This is a thinking, adult horror movie, that transcends genera. A triumph, that should have been more recognized during awards season. 5 out of 5.

Simon Birch (1998)

‘Straight talking’ pubescent dwarf has special relationship with God, changes young mans life. Maudlin premise had me early disposed to dislike it, but film was well executed, pretty balanced emotional arc-wise, and boasts fine performances from Oliver Platt, Ashley Judd, David Strathairn, and the two young leads. This movie is not to be confused with Billy Elliot, which I had originally intended to see. 4 out of 5, I’m a softie.

The Merv Griffin Show: 40 of the Most Interesting People of Our Time (1962-1986)

A collection of celebrity interviews of varying lengths and interest from Merv Griffen’s television talk show, spanning the early 1960's to the mid 80's. Highlights include Martin Luther King Jr., a young Jerry Seinfeld (his acts always been very consistent), and Orson Wells tapped just hours before his death (he looked awful but was as witty as usual). A nice collection of nostalgia. 3 out of 5.

Watchmen (2009)

To be lost thoroughly in an intricately crafted new world is one of the greatest feats a film can hope to accomplish, and none in recent memory has accomplished this for me in so complete and satisfying a manner as has Watchmen. Based on the supposedly unfilmable graphic novel from the 80's, Watchmen is the War and Peace of comic books, a huge cast of characters, a scope spanning decades, and density of story and back story to boggle the mind. Worth the price of admission alone for the opening montage of forty plus years of history with costumed hero’s in it. The movie is mostly set in an alternate 1985, where Richard Nixon is in his fifth term as president and a nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union seems imminent. A group of forcibly retired costumed vigilantes are pressed into action again when one of there own is murdered, all part of a conspiracy complex and varied, and ultimately gray in its morality. But the plot furthering storyline is not even half of the worth of this movie, its true joy is to be found in the fascinating alternate history created, the complexities of its characters, and the revisionist rifts and philosophical takes on comic book conventions. I find myself wanting to go back to this world and poke around its side streets, as fascinating as its main road remains. A revolution in the comic book movie, on par with last years The Dark Knight. 4 ½ out of 5.

Watchmen Video Gallery:

Official Watchmen Trailer

Watchmen Featurette w/ Zack Snyder

From the Watchmen Universe:

NBS Nightly News with Ted Philips, March 11th 1970

Saturday Morning Watchmen

Igor (2008)

Cartoon about a hunchbacked assistant who wants to be a mad scientist, and a monster who wants to be an actress. See kids you can achieve your dreams if you just believe in yourself, don’t let anyone tell you that your only fit to be a stereotype, that is the lesson of this movie. Neat production design, and oddly a mostly Louies Prima score. 3 out of 5.

Waltz with Bashir (2008)

Israeli animated documentary about the nations 1982 ‘military intervention’ in Lebanon (see Rob there’s a 1982 historical event bigger then the Falklands). Inspired by director Ari Folman's search to recover his suppressed memories of serving in the conflict as a young man, the flash animation brings a new kind of reality to what is ultimately a series of reflections by those who new him in the war. Like the previous years Persopilis this is a sort of animated memoire as middle eastern history lesson, and the two films prove that to be the mostly unlikely yet effective subgenera to come on the scene in years. Complete with some of the more impressively haunting film images of the last year. 4 out of 5.

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

Based on “the much heralded” novel by Ernest Hemingway, the part of American school-teacher turned Spanish civil war dynamiter Robert Jordan, was actually written with Gary Cooper in mind, the author and actor being good friends and hunting companions. Cooper is certainly right for the role with his quite Americanism, and Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman somehow ‘kind of works’ as the young Spanish girl he falls in love with among the Republican resistance. However mostly this movie was long and boring, it probably works as a novel, but with the exception of the much built up raid at the end of the film, fails as movie (though the cinematography is often rather nice). At 2 hours 45 minutes its too much ughh for not enough ummm. 2 out of 5. Hemingway film translations often seem a bit awkward.

For a much better movie about blowing up a bridge see: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Richard III (1995)

Shakespeare’s play about the titular, murderess, hunchbacked monarch updated to an alternate 1930's England. Instrumental to the York family’s victory in a civil war between monarchs, his brother Edward is barley on the throne before Richard has begun his bloody, conspiratorial ascent, that in the fashion of tragedies is not to end well. I knew the basics of the Richard story, but had never seen a play or film production of it before, so the Shakespear alone was worth the trip; not to mention the superb cast, a whose of who of British character greats with a couple of Americans thrown in. The 30's setting both works and doesn’t, there was a time when I would have most enjoyed this element of the film, and while the production designs pretty grand (this has got to be one of the more expensive non-commercial films of the 90's), the acting and story’s what keeps you. My biggest complaint is that story feels quite compressed and you never do get a good sense of the passing of time, the whole movie thusly comes across as unduly over rushed. Still a good entertaining time with substance, 4 out of 5.

Half Nelson (2006)

Between this and Lars and the Real Girl (2007) Ryan Gosling is fast becoming one of the my favorite working actors, which is a little embarrassing to say given he’s the guy that all the lady’s love from The Notebook (2004). Here Gosling appears in a rather unconventional take on the inspiring teacher movie, his Dan Dunne is an excellent teacher who really seeks to challenge and engage his underprivileged history students at a New York City middle school. Dan has a flip side however, he is a drug addict, and his personal life is a self sabotaged mess. When one of his admiring students (Shareeka Epps, who is excellent) chances to discover her teachers drug problem, the two forage a relationship that could prove vital to each escaping respective traps in their lives. Bold performances by both leads as these layered characters navigating a complicated friendship. I especially liked the way certain facts about the characters were reveled, such as when we meet Dan’s family toward the end of the film, and so much about why his character is the way he is seems explained by that relationship with his parents. Impressive and nuanced enough I had to watch it twice. 4 1/2 out of 5.

From UTA to Hollywood: Douglas Sirk Remembers (1991)

Documentary consists mostly of a 1980 German language interview with famed director Douglas Sirk. The interview itself feels rather narrow and incomplete, not recounting his whole film career, or even sizable portions there off, instead its largely about a Swedish actress he brought to the UTA study in Germany in the mid 30's, and two films he made in America in the late 50's, Written on the Wind, and The Tarnished Angles. In fact my favorite part of the film was several minutes tacked on at the end of street footage shoot out of a car driving around L.A. circa 1979 (the three film markees I saw were all for movies released in 1979, not counting the porn film, the famous Deep Throat from roughly 1972). This footage was not complied together in this form and released until the early 90's. 2 out of 5.

Running with Scissors (2006)

The preview I saw made this look like it was going to be funnier, instead it was really a downer. Based on the memoire by Ryan Murphy, I understand this to be a pretty accurate portrayal of what happened, but as the author himself acknowledges it feels like it strains credulity. You’ve seen most of this quirky-type dysfunctional stuff before, but as this really happened to someone, well it created a little bit of a pit in my stomach. It has its moments, but mostly I just really felt bad for all involved, and its hard to laugh about that. I just couldn’t fully grasp or embrace this movies tone. 2 out of 5.

The Wrestler (2008)

Anchored by the much heralded performance that has resurrected the reputation of actor Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler is a character study of exquisite quality and sensitivity. What has often been remarked upon is how Rourke’s character, a 50 something has-been professional wrestler known as Randy “The Ram” Robinson, is a perfect metaphor for the actor himself. Indeed actor and part couldn’t have been more well calibrated for each other, Rourke becomes Robinson body and soul and is riveting through out. He draws you in with his sympathetic performance, but he doesn’t force an interpretation on you. You see Randy at his best and his worst, his vulnerable side, the kindness and humility he is capable of showing; but you also see on several occasions how close to the surface dwells a volatile, frustrated, angry man, a self destructive narcissist. Here the performance reminded me of George C. Scott in Patton, you got the sense you were seeing the man as he was, without an subtle interpretive agenda of how your suppose to view him.

Director Darren Aronofsky has his eye on the tragedy of this man, which he surely is, but whether that tragedy is a result more of his innate character or the circumstances of his life is yours to judge. Professional wrestling here gets the Rocky treatment, these men have some creative soul, but little talent beyond their bulk and endurance, they shine for a brief moment of success, only to be reminded of its passing for the rest of their lives. Their blue-collar theater, which is a guys version of ballet meets soap opera, is a drug of cheers and momentary respect, and they just can’t live without it, though after a time it is no longer tenable. The story of Randy’s love interest, a striper past her prime played memorably by the still lithe Marissa Tomai, furthers this theme of a life path soon to run its course. This a beautiful movie that took me new places and contains much to be mined and savored, pluse even after all I’ve said you might not believe me when I tell you this is also one of the funniest movies of the year. My praise upon all involved. 5 out of 5.