Kickassia (2010?)

Six part online movie made by Channel Awesome and featuring the characters from the That Guy With The Glasses website. This movie is basically an in-joke, if you know and like the characters from the website you'll probably enjoy it, if you know nothing of them, then I'd be interested in knowing why you watched the movie. The plot concerns the efforts of The Nostalgia Critic and his fellow reviewers to take over the micro-nation of Molossia, and the infighting that ensues once they do. Does make a ton of sense, but there are some funny moments, I especially liked how late in the film the story is interrupted to explain how you play the game of Risk. Anyway I liked. This one's hard to rate I'll go **1/2.

I Remember Mama (1948)

Film adapted from the play, adapted from the fictionalized memoir by Kathryn Forbes (it also later became a successful early television series). The story focuses on the Hanson family, an ideal, loving family of two Norwegian immigrants and their four children living in San Francisco circa 1910. Sweet family drama, very much in the same school as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The 'Mama' ,Marta Hanson (played by Irene Dunne) is a perfect archetype of the dedicated mother, that is not to say she is with out character, she has one, and its not all stock, I can see her as a real person. The plot is a lose one, really just a series of events in the life of the Hanson family over roughly a four to six year period. There is the death of an eccentric uncle (Oskar Homolka in a scene stealing role), the hospitalization of the youngest girl, and various concerns over school, career and status, family life stuff. It is a thoroughly pleasant and endearing work, fittingly loved by many. ****

A Dangerous Method (2011)

A Dangerous Method is a 2011 historical film directed by David Cronenberg and starring Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, and Vincent Cassel. The screenplay was adapted by writer Christopher Hampton from his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure, which was based on the 1993 non-fiction book by John Kerr, A Most Dangerous Method: The story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein.- From Wikepida.

I took an introductory Psych coarse in college, but really know very little about the field beyond what's common knowledge. I was aware however of the famous rift between one time collaborators, and the true giants of the filed, Karl Jung and Sigmund Freud. Freud was the father of modern psychology, while Jung was the favored acolyte who rebelled. Freudianism has over time slipped into some disrepute, no doubt due to its near exclusive focus on sexuality, and a very male dominated sexuality at that (i.e. penis envy is not politically correct, and gross). Jung's influence on the other hand has permeated in a wide range of fields, from psychology, to the study of religion, the self-help movement, abstract expressionism, and Fellini movies, too name a few.

Today it would appear that we "are all Jung at heart" and thusly what I knew of 'the rift' was from a decidedly Jungian prespecitve. Jung was freer then Freud, he took more things into account and cast a larger net, which is generally regarded as a good thing when trying to understand psychologically complex human beings. I did not know how large a net it was however, and that Jung's interests included mysticism, and alchemy, and how big his influence on New Age spirituality has been.

While both sides are given air time in this movie, I'd say that it comes down more on Freud's then on Jung's. This is in no small part do to the fact that Sabina Spierlrein (played by Knightly in an often mugging, Oscar-bate fashion) who had been a close associate of both men, and long time lover to Jung, seemed to side more with Freud. Jung came very unhinged, Freud notably did not. Also Freud, despite inventing 'the talking cure' had a very rigged respect for boundaries, Jung had an interest in obscuring them.

A Dangerous Method works as top flight drama, it brings you in, though I can't vouch for how accurate it is historically, no doubt it should be taken with a grain of salt. All three primary actors give strong performances, perhaps Fassbender especially. Also isn't it weird how Mortensen's become Cronenberg's muse, and that he actually works as Freud? A strong film, and not for family viewing. ***1/2

American Grindhouse (2010)

Documentary on the history of American Grindhouse cinema. First, what is grindhouse? Well its actually a little hard to define, as the genera is amorphous, changes over time, and includes so many sub-genera's. Originally the term grindhouse was a reference to burlesque shows and theater, but the term has come to refer mostly to low budget exploitation films. What's an exploitation film? Well an exploitation film is just that, a film that attempts to gain financel success (however limited) by exploiting something, particularly something lurid or niche. Hence a grindhouse film can cover anything from porn, to horror, to Kong Fu. As of late a fair amount of tribute films to the genera have been made, such as Hobo With A Shotgun and Drive Angry. Anyway if its out of the main stream and the Hayes Office would have frowned on it, its probably a grindhouse movie. The documentary covers grindhouse film making from the silent days up to say the early 1980's, when the rise of cable networks and home video killed off most of the remaining grindhouse theaters in the country. This is a survey course film, you get introduced to a lot of significant grindhouse films and its array of talking heads contains many of the 'big names' from the genera, a surprising amount of whom would go on to some success in more mainstream Hollywood. Anyway I enjoyed it, but be aware its not family viewing, nor should it be. Interesting. **1/2

See also: Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream (2005)

In Bruges (2008)

I remember when I first saw a trailer for this movie, it depicted the murder of a priest at a confessional, and that immediately left a bad taste in my mouth. So I was at first ill disposed to this movie, but then I started to hear its praise as a black comedy, and that it was unusually well written, critics liked, Colin Farrell was apparently tolerable. So when I finally got around to seeing it last week I was much better disposed toward this film then I had been at first, though ultimately its not what I expected. Well a fair portion of it was kind of like what I expected, but the ending, things really went in an unexpected direction in the second half.

The story concerns two hit men played by Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. Farrell's hit on the priest from the trailer went bad and he accidentally killed a little boy in the process. The two's mysterious boss, later found to be Ralph Fiennes, sends them out of England to lie low for a time and await further instructions, there place of exile, Bruge. For those who don't know Bruge is a town in Belgium, famous for its abundance of well maintained medieval architecture, and thus a low level tourist mecca. While Gleeson likes Bruge just fine, Farrell goes a little stir crazy there, and stricks up a sort of friendship with a 'midget' American actor ( Jordan Prentice) and finds a love interest in a production assistant/small time drug dealer played by Clémence Poésy. Plot point: you see a movie is conveniently being filmed in Bruge.

Anyway eventually Gleeson receives the long awaited call from Fiennes, only to find that his instructions are to kill Farrell for killing the kid. Gleeson reluctantly goes to do this, but when he comes on Farrell in a park he finds Farrell about to kill himself. Gleeson prevents Farrell's suicide, they have a long talk, and Gleeson sends Farrell off on a train to parts unknown for his own good. Finnes is upset when Glesson tells him that he did not kill Farrell but let him go, and so he travel to Bruge himself to deal with the situation. Farrell meanwhile is forced back to Bruge when he is arrested on the train for beating up a couple of Canadian tourist some nights before.

So they all end up in Bruge for what is sure to be a violent confrontation, and it is. Things go in different directions here, there's black comedy, and an unexpected amount of pathos, and the movie proves to be not so much the joke on violence I had  expected (ala Shoot 'Em Up) but quite the indictment of it. I was surprised, made to think a little, but much of the movie still feels directionless, and you can only take so much of Colin Farrell. It's got me curious to experince more of director Martin McDonagh's work, to bad there doesn't seem to be a lot of it. **1/2

Day of the Dead (1985)

Third film in Romero's 'Dead' series, this is a very talkie zombie movie. Most of the film is set in a bunker where a small group of scientists, solders, and private contractors carry on, ostensibly trying to find a solution to the zombie plague, but mostly just infighting. Much weaker then its two predecessors, the ending is satisfactorily exciting, but much of the film is slow and full of people gripping. The characters are pretty week, and ironically the most dynamic among them is probably a zombie named Bud. Worth seeing for completeness sake. **

The Girl Who Played With Fire (2009)

The second in the series of Swedish film adaptations of Steig Larsson's "Millennium Series." I have not read the books so this is new material for me, though having seen the first film it was neat to come in grounded enough to notice how the series opens up and gets more personal, to see the form that the arc will take. There are a lot of characters in these, and you know your just getting the tip of them, but its nice having confidence that there is substance there, even brief characters can speak to Larsson's evident skill in this area. The cast is solid and interest is kept, though I didn't feel it was quite as stricking as the orignal. I'm looking forward to seeing the last one and getting the resolution. ***

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World picks up where your average asteroid threatens the planet movie leaves off, or rather where it would leave off if the heroic last ditch effort to save the Earth had failed. The movie begins with a grave radio broadcast reporting on the loss of the Deliverance, the shuttle and its crew blew up in space and with them so did mankind's last hope of diverting the impending impact of 'Matilda'. "Matilda" is the common name given to the  massive piece of space rock whose collision with the Earth will wipe out all human life in a mear three weeks time, but at least the radio stations promises to keep playing your favorite oldies right up until the end. This sets the tone for the movie, the varied, often ridicules ways mankind copes with impending extension.

The movies lead character Dodge Petersen is played by Steve Carrell, he's the sort of sad sack, endearing, semi-looser you'd expect from Carrell, and not only is his world literaly ending, but his wife's just left him. Dodge is one of the last people to continue to show up for his job at an insurance company, a pointless exercise, much like the time he continues to spend in the company gym. He attends a party with some friends, one of whom (the cleavage bearing Connie Britton) wants to set him up with a needy friend played by Melanie Lynskey. Dodge is not interested, he has no desire to spend his remaining weeks getting to know someone new, that is until he meets Penny, played by Kira Knightly.

Steve Carrell and Kira Knightly, not a naturally credible pair, but it works, because the end of the world is the sort of situation in which people seem likely to keep a very open mind dating wise. Carrell and Knightly actually have good chemistry, and she's quite the charmer in this, she doesn't usually get to play comedy. Penny insists on taking Dodge on a final quest to reunite with his old high school sweetheart, she feels she owes him this do to her failure to deliver a letter sent to Carrell from his ex months earlier when it was delivered to her apartment by mistake. The two embark on a road trip, meeting interesting cameo's along the way, including a suicidal William Peterson, a survivalist Derek Luke, and a very friendly waitress played by Gillian Jacobs.

It's dark comedy, and it's also a rather sweet love story, and it does both well, but it can't help but awkwardly mesh. If anything could use reworking it would have to be the last act, but I don't know if any ending to a story like this could really find the right tone, though this one feels increadably close. Seeking a Friend is a likable movie, though it left me rather melancholy, an admirable and worthwhile effort to make something rather different, more people should really see it. ***

The Alphabet Murders (1965)

Lose adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel the A.B.C. Murders. The movie starts rather strangely, and I'm not referring to the murder of the diving clown, but rather to the introduction of the protagonist Hercule Poirot, in which the actor Tony Randall comes on screen as himself at a sound stage and tells you he is going to play Poirot, and then flash he's Poirot on a street in London. It's an odd, pointless introduction, for what proves to be an odd and rather pointless movie. You get the sense that the producers were not so much interested in making an Agatha Christie film, despite the little cameo of Miss Marple, but rather wanted to turn Poirot into something like a more competent Inspector Clouseau. The film emphasise is on comedy, though it largely fails to be funny, in fact I don't think I laughed once. They brought Robert Morley into the thing to be an oft humiliated comic foil for Randell, but in the end I just felt sorry for Morely having to play this undercooked part. Anita Ekberg's also in this, so there's that. Anyway a waste. *1/2

Brave (2012)

The expectations and performance of Pixar films have maintained such a high standard for so long that any 'lowering' of their reception or perceived quality, even just a little bit, was bound to seem greater then would likely be truly warranted. Now I haven't seen Cars 2 yet, and my expectations for that are not high, so it was Brave that for me was the let down movie. Now it is in fact a good movie, I enjoyed it, it just wasn't the ground breaker, or the emotional experince that so many of the previous Pixar movies have been. The movie looked beautiful, I even liked the characters, and the underlining theme, but the story was not quite up to snuff. In fact there is a reason that you don't get much of an impression from the previews as to too what the second half of the movie may hold, that's because you've seen it before, in another Disney movie.

The protagonist Princess Merida (voiced by Kelly MacDonald, who I'm rather fond of), is a head strong, feminist princess, if ever Disney had one. She's refreshing, I like her, and with the mother/daughter rift (the Queen being voiced by Emma Thompson) being the overriding emotional though line of the picture, it certainly was something I don't remember Disney doing before, also I loved the Scottish setting. The villain here is a dues ex machina, he's not really worth talking about, and in fact I can't think of another Disney film in which the villain has been less important then, well, the other Disney movie this one borrows from. Anyway I can recommend Brave, but I suggest you approach it primarly as a Disney film rather then a Pixar one. ***

The Mysterious Mr. Wong (1934)

Slight, kind of racist programmer about an herb shop proprietor in an American China town (played by all purpose period menacing ethnic Bela Lugosi) who is in fact an evil gang lord, who has his men conducting a killing spree in search of twelve mysterious coins that legend holds will give the bearer great power over a certain Chinese Provence. Yes I know, that's quite a plot. The evil Mr. Wong's efforts are complicated not so much by a well meaning Irish stereotype cop, as they are by C-string leading man Wallace Ford's wise cracking investigative reporter, whose love interest (Arline Judge) is just there so that he can have a love interest. I love how Mr. Wong has this palatial residence hidden behind his shop, how'd the police miss this? Anyway, not good. *1/2

Boxcar Bertha (1972)

Director Martin Scorsese's second feature film, his first being Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967), Boxcar Bertha is based on the fictionalized autobiography Sister of the Road by Bertha Thompson, who had been a political radical and transit during The Depression. The film was made for Roger Corman's low budget American International Pictures, and Scorsese credited his work on the project with teaching him how to make a movie quickly and economically, it was filmed in about 15 days for $600,000. The film stars Barbara Hershey as Bertha, a beguiling, wild innocent, and David Carradine (who would become Hershey's real life lover) as the labour agitator with whom she falls in love. The movie also features Carradine's father John as a railroad baron, and both halves of the writer/director team The Archers, Micheal Powell and Emmrich Pressberger have cameo roles, Scorsese himself appears in a scene as a brothel customer. The slow and low key combine with periods of energy, while the films characters and creative execution outweigh whats really a slight story. Though all around an impressive exploitation feature. **1/2

The Tree of Life (2011)

When a Terrence Malick film comes out you know its going to be visually amazing, and The Tree of Life does not disappoint. It's a tapestry of visuals and story, particularly so around the beginning and the end of the film. It's a reflection on life, its meaning, its beginning, and its ending. There are impressive sequences of the cosmos, the formation of our solar system, the rise of life on Earth, and a much commented on sequence involving dinosaurs and mercy. The framing of the story, or one of them because the birth and death of the universe is also a frame, involves a middle aged architect (Sean Penn, who's not in the movie that much) reflecting on his childhood in Waco, Texas. You get see his birth, toddler hood, birth of his siblings ect. and then it all slows down considerably to focuses on the events of one summer, when he is about 13 years of age (this sequence being set in the 1950's or maybe early 60's).  The boy Jack (Hunter McCracken) has a complicated relationship with his father, who he loves, but also fears. What's interesting about the father (Brad Pitt) is how complicated he is, ostensibly an engineer obsessed with getting ahead, he is also a frustrated classical pianist, heartbroken that he didn't get the career that he really wanted. This frustration is a major factor in his anger, but he's really not abusive, well not in a physical way, psychologically a bit, but not intentionally.

Jake's mother and father are presented as a duality, one that's made pretty explicate at the beginning of the film if you pay attention. Jack's father's way is the way of nature, the hard grueling struggle, while his mothers (Jessica Chastain, again in house dresses) is the way of grace, nurture, unconditional love. The film juxtaposes what can be called religious imagery (I'm thinking particularly of the heavenisque gathering at the beach near the end of the film) with colder, scientific imagery, volcano's erupting, microbes evolving. The film doesn't give you an answer, or at least it doesn't hit you over the head with one, you have to work it out and interpret it yourself.

If the cosmological aspect of the film is not your cup of tea, its still worth seeing for that whole middle sequence, which is a beautifully done, loosely structured, collage of childhood. Long summer nights, testing your brother, choirs, punishments, discoverers, fears. Though it may not get as much attention as some of the more showy aspects of the film, this stretch of childhood is among the most innovative, well realize, and fresh seeming pieces of film making I've seen in some time. The Tree of Life is an experiential film worthy of your attention, and on as big a screen as you can get ahold of. ****

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

Martha Ivers was orphaned young and taken in by her wealthy aunt (Judith Anderson) who wanted to mold her into the kind of cold matriarch that could run the family empire (Iverstown, PA and the associated factory).  Martha tried to run away with a local boy but the police found her and took her back to her aunts, the two then have a dispute about a cat, and Martha accidentally on purpose causes the old lady's death. Martha's tutor (Roman Bohnen) takes custody as a sort of regent, and in a kind of blackmail more or less forces Martha to marry his son Walter, who had been long smitten with her.

Flash forward from Judith's death in 1928 to the present day (1946). A grown Martha Ivers (Barbara Stanwyck) has herself become a cold, powerful matriarch. Under her leadership Ivers Industry's has grown six fold, and her husband (Kirk Douglas, in his first screen role) is the district attorney, and if Martha can help it, bound for much larger things politically. Walter alas is unhappy, he drinks, cuts corners, and is tragically in love with his wife who is cold to him and has taken many lovers over the years. The boy who young Martha once tried to run away with is now grown and has taken the form of Van Heflin. Heflin stumbles unintentionally into Iverstown (the old car trouble plot device), where he meets Lizabeth Scott, they become quite taken with each other. Lizabeth is in a little legal trouble so Heflin goes to visit his old friend Walter and see if he can't work it out. Walter thinks Heflin knows about the circumstances of Judith's death and wishes to blackmail him and Martha. Martha wants to take Heflin as a lover, Heflin kind of wants too to do that, but then there's Lizabeth, and what about poor Walter? That Miss Ivers is pretty deep in some strange love.

Anyway this is a real good movie, kind of a classic in some circles. Heflin's good but the Douglas/Stanwyck dynamic is what fascinates. A strong first performance by Douglas, he keeps up well with Stanwyck who was already very established at this point. Lizabeth Scott, a Lauren Bacall type, nuff said. A fair amount of psychological complexity, a noir, but not a particularly dark one, mostly character study stuff. It's in public domain so you can see it just about anywhere. Worthwhile. ***

Almost Famous (2000)

A recent Facebook conversation reminded me how little I really know about the work of Cameron Crowe. I had only seen one of his films, Elizabethtown, which I thought was pretty awful, and I just generally had a negative, mostly second-hand perception of his work. A friend recommended I see Almost Famous, so I did, I can defiantly recognize what people see in it, though I think that I came to it about a decade too late. It's a youthful story, fictionalized from writer/director Crowe's early days as a reporter for Rolling Stone. But I'm just not that much of a rock music guy. This is also the movie that made Kate Hudson a star, and it does have an all around good cast. I Feel a little torn about this one thought, I mean I get it, I just didn't quite feel it like I think I was suppose to. I think I can safely say that its a pretty great movie, its just not really my kind of pretty great movie. I got it, I appreciated it, I just couldn't quite love it. *** 1/2

Prometheus (2012)

I quite enjoyed Prometheus, even though I have never seen any other of the Alien films in there entirety. This film is a sort of lose prequel to the first Alien movie, it kinda sorta indicates where the Aliens in the later films came from. That being said its a perfectly self-contained piece of work. The story concerns the space ship Prometheus, on a privately funded expedition looking for the source of human life on earth, which the films protagonist Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) has determined was seeded on our planet by an alien civilization. It takes several years in suspended animation to reach the planet from which the source of man supposedly derived, during that time the Prometheus is run by an android named David (Michael Fassbender) whose a big fan of Lawrence of Arabia, and in fact looks a good bit like a young Peter O'Toole.

Anyway when they get to the planet they find some ruins, they explore them, and in coarse of time crew members start getting killed. It turns out of course that David has a secret ulterior mission that endangers the crew. The film doesn't always make the most sense but it kept my interest throughout. I liked the look and the feel of the thing, the alien world is sufficently alien, and the film has something of a 2001: A Space Odyssey vibe especially early on. Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce are in this, but its Fassbender and Rapace's film. I saw it in 3D but it doesn't really need it. I thought it was a good, slightly smarter then usual thriller. I'd say worth seeing.

Verdict: Good

Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film (2009)

Solid overview of the history of American horror films with some good talking heads. You can watch it free on Hulu.
Good

Empire of Passion (1978)

A kind of horror tale/morality play set in 1890's rural Japan. A young man recently returned to his home village from service in the army (Tatsuya Fuji), has an affair with the unusually young looking wife (Kazuko Yoshiyuki) of the local rickshaw driver (Takahiro Tamura). Fuji convinces Yoshiuki to get Tamura drunk then when he's passed out they strangle him and throw the body down an old well in the forest (the well shots are remarkably beautiful). For three years the couple continues to see each other secretly while Yoskiuki puts up a front that Tamura got work in Tokyo. Then Yoshiyuki begins to have visions of the dead Tamura, and later so does Fuji. An inspector (Takuzo Kawatani) comes to town to investigate as more and more locals start to report supernatural happenings. Yoshiuki and Fuji both start to go kind of mad, interestingly each is willing to give up themselves for the other, but neither wants to live without the other so its a wash. This is a beautifully shot film, and the story is certainly unusual, I was surprised to find out how well regarded it is. There is some pretty frank sexuality in this which is kind of uncomfortable, and Yoshiuki's hysterics get kind of old, but again its all so slow and unusual that it becomes kind of hypnotic. This would only be fair if it wasn't for the artistry of the piece. Memorable. Good 

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

George Romero's second zombie movie, after the genre starting 1968 Night of the Living Dead. Other then the presence of zombies there is no real connection to the first film, which is how Romero does things, and which works. This film concerns a group of four refuges from a rising zombie apocalypse who end up taking shelter in a mall, though unlike in the 2004 remake it takes them more then half an hour get there (I'm reviewing the directors cut in this post). The 2004 version of this story is probably the first real zombie movie I ever saw, excepting Shaun of the Dead, and I really enjoyed it so I was kind of surprised to find that I liked this movie more. It's as good or better then the remake, and though the remake is certainly more slick, I liked the rough edges here and that it felt very near guerrilla film making. Most of the film was shoot in the Monroeville PA Mall at night, and as one who vaguely remembers that kind of period mall the look of the place alone was enjoyable. The later Romero zombie films like Land of the Dead are disappointing, but Dawn of the Dead, is perhaps his best. I really liked it. Good

The Purple Gang (1959)

Kind of an early, low level explotation film about the notorious Suger House Gang, also known as The Purple Gang, a group of mostly Jewish young gangersters who operated out of Detroit during prohibition (a major bootlegging drop off point from Canada). The nominal lead is Barry Sullivan as a crusaiding police lieutent, while a young Robert Blake gets 'the star turn' as William Joseph 'Honeyboy' Willard. Willard leads The Purple Gang to success, first in oposition to the mob, then as enforcers for the mob, then back on the mobs bad side again, or something like that I didn't follow it that well. It's not much of a movie, it has something of a poverty row feeling too it. The Purple Gang does some pretty nasty stuff, including the rap and murder of a lady psychologist who was trying to help them, by which I mean keep them out of juvi. The film has no sympathy for lax do gooder types, and when Lt. Sullivans wife is murderd by The Purple Gang, well Robert Blakes cowardly break down moment is not long in comming. I supose this could have been a good movie, it had some fair parts, but on the whole it had a hard time keeping my intreset, Poor

The Life of Brian (1979)

Monty Python's Life of Brian, along with the works of Flavius Josphus are among our principle sources on life in first centruy Palistine. Actully Life of Brian is a pretty smart parody of the numerious messiah claimants to have poped up in the Roman occupided Canaan of the 1st century. The late Graham Chapman plays Brian Cohen, a Jew who joins a resistance group against the Romans only to end up mistaken as the Messiah by an impressionable group of his coutnry men, and in the end sentenced to be part of a mass crucifixation. The quality of the humor varies, its Python, some times smart sometimes stupied, though the idea behind it is rather clever, and no this not a Jesus bashing film, its a religion bashing film. All of the Python players play multipal characters which can be a little confusing at times. I didn't love this like some, I liked the idea more then the execution, but there are enough clever moments that I can appreciate the effort. I'm gonna call it Good