Malena (2000)

Italian film is basically the story of an adolescent boy (Giuseppo Sulfaro) who lusts after a beautiful older woman (Monica Bellucci), set amidst the backdrop of World War II era Sicily. Fairly good, but not on the scale of the two other Giuseppe Tornatore directed films I've seen, Cinema Paradiso (1988) and The Legend of 1900 (1998), which were just amazing.

Saturday Night Live: Season 1 (1975-1976)

I watched this spread out over the last year +, it was interesting to be able to contrast the show from its beginnings to what it is now, and there were certainly a lot of changes, even in that first year, but the core of the show (sometimes topical sketch comedy and music) remains the same. John Belushi's Henry Kissinger is funnier then Chevy Chase's Gerald Ford. Fun, though sometimes uneven, nostalgic diversion.

The Box (2009)

What to say about this one? I am in the habit of writing these reviews, whenever possible, immediately after seeing the film in question, but some films do require more time to digest. Be that as it may this encapsulation, like many I write, constitutes a summation of basic first impressions. The Box is a film written and directed by Donnie Darko creator Richard Kelly, and based on a television episode from the 1980's version of The Twilight Zone, which in turn was based on the short story Button, Button by the metaphysical since fiction writer Richard Matheson. The basic story is about a married couple given a box with a button on it and informed that if they press said button they will get a million dollars, but that somebody somewhere on the face of the planet (who they do not know) will die as a result. As a moral conundrum I think this should be a simple one to solve, don't push the button, but Kelly takes what on the surface would seem a simple (if odd) scenario and complicates it, adding a lot of extra layers to the proceedings and treating us to a vaguely moody, but mostly impressively odd outing.

This film has me thinking about Kelly's (albeit limited) directorial work as a whole and got me asking if the man has a unique style, is just repeating himself, or both? Let me get this straight I liked this film, and while I'm not entirely sure where Kelly is trying to take us with his work, I think that's part of the reason I like it. It seems in all of his films, to varying degrees of success, Kelly is trying to tell us something, I think its largely the same something, but I'm not entirely sure what that is. He leaves a general sense, or impression, you get the gist and most of the pieces of the puzzle but you never get the whole thing, and I'm sure that's what he intends. This worked quite well in Donnie Darko, considerably less well in Southland Tales, and back to near Darko levels of ambiguity and quality in this film. The term 'metaphysical nostalgia' is what I've been able to come up with for his style so far, and it feels firmly rooted in Joseph Campbell and Rod Sterling. I leave impressed, thinking, and satisfied, though from what I've read on the net (and that's just the critics, the user reviews on netflix are even worse) that sounds like a minority opinion.

Homicide (1991)

No not the greatest television series of the 1990's (this pre-dates that by about two years) but rather a typically well done David Mamet movie. Joe Mantegna is a Baltimore homicide detective torn between two cases, one involving a high profile multiple cop killer, and the other the death of an elderly Jewish women. Like the television series, whose relationship to this film I can't really establish but there surprisingly similar, this film is gritty, insightful, and boasts some powerful acting and writing. I won't say much save that this is really good yet under seen, worth your time. 4 1/2 out of 5.

The Prisoner (1955)

In an unspecified eastern European state a Roman Catholic Cardinal (Alec Guinness) is interrogated by a former associate in the anti-Nazi resistance (Jack Hawkins) in an effort to break him, and gain a confession to false charges for the benefit of the Communist government. I really like the idea of this film, it could be wonderful as a play, or even better as a PBS style telea-play along the lines of God On Trial, towards this move however I feel a trifle mixed. It's honestly only been a few minutes since I finished the thing, and maybe that's soon to be writing a review because I already feel myself re-assessing the piece. I came away thinking it was good, but not in either of the two camps I'd initially have preferred to see it in, either something on a more epic scale like Preminger's The Cardinal, or as a series of dialogues between Guinness and Hawkins centering on ideas of faith, the state, and the like, this was something in between. Upon further reflection it really does work as a movie, well constructed, good acting and writing, it started with you kind of thinking you knew where it was going and that it wouldn't stray to far from the conventional, but it really went further, surprisingly good in fact. Sub-plot about the guard and his girlfriend never really seemed to go anywhere, and Wilfrid Lawson's jailer character I feel mixed about, but the central narrative is solid and has a more then sufficient deviation from expected course. I started writing this review too soon, I liked this film, it's better then I thought just not what I expected it to be. If anything it's flaw was that it could have been longer, I'd have liked to see it take a little more time getting where it was going. I'm gonna give it a 4 out of 5 because I was so unexpectedly impressed.

Somewhere in Time (1980)

I finally saw it. The very definition of a Romantic film, its saved from being saccharine only by it exquisite handling. A strange combination of near science fiction, and 19th century style Romanticism. The cast works, the locations work, the writing (mostly) works, the direction works, and the music's just beautiful. It seems a lot of critics felt almost embarrassed by it at the time of its release and it did poorly in theaters, but the film gained quite the cult following through cable and video re-showing. I didn't entirely anticipate liking it, in some ways I think the kind of love presented in the film while very appealing in the abstract is perhaps misguided, even dangerous, but its presentation hear is so sincere and warm you can't help but be swept along by it. Did I mention I love the music? An ironic alternate title for this film might be: Add a Penny, Leave a Penny (joke only works if you've seen it) .

That's Entertainment 2 (1976)

Compilation of musical and other scenes from classic MGM films. Sequel to the hugely successful 1974 compilation film That's Entertainment. Entertaining.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

No not that Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I doubt I ever bother to see that one. This Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a screwball comedy directed by Alfred Hitchcock (I know, weird right)! Anyway Hitch isn't bad at the genera, starts out a little weak then gets increasingly amusing, mostly dry funny, but also quite well constructed. Stars Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard make the picture (though Gene Raymond's excellent as the third wheel), they play a couple married three years who discover that do to a legal oversight they were never legally wed (married in Nevada with an Idaho marriage license by mistake). Anyway this whole 'the marriage wasn't really legal shtick' was considered comedy gold in the mid 20th century, they even made a whole 1950's multiple-vignette feature about it! Definitely an oddity from 'the master of suspense', reminiscent of the kind of comedy George Stevens once made. Good, though it took a bit of effort to overcome this mental block that Hitchcock pictures just shouldn't be light comedies in order for me to more fully appreciate the film. 3 out of 5.