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2008 Screening Log
What are these ratings?
2007 Log
(s)
= short film
* = Recorded on DVR
5/3
An American Tragedy
(Josef von Sternberg, 1931)  1/2
Theater, 9th von Sternberg film
Thunderbolt
(Josef von Sternberg, 1929)
Theater, 10th von Sternberg film
5/1
Archangel (Guy Maddin, 1990) 1/2
DVD,
12th Maddin film
4/30
A Perfect World
(Clint Eastwood, 1993)
DVD,
Eastwood film
4/29
Xiao Wu
(Jia Zhang-ke, 1997)
DVD, 2nd Jia film
4/26
In the City of Sylvia
(Jose Luis Guerin, 2008) 1/2
DVD, 1st Guerin film
4/25
I Confess (Alfred
Hitchcock, 1953)
DVD, 30th Hitchcock film
4/24
The Mist (Frank Darabont, 2007)
DVD,
3rd Darabont film
I'm
willing to cut the film some slack for its Sci-Fi Channel special
effects, but not it's half-baked attempts at exploring the issue of
faith vs. reason via contrived, symbolic groups whose ideas are
explored only along the surface as characters literally spout silly
platitudes like (paraphrasing), "I can't accept that. Man is inherently
good"!
Again, even this could be overlooked had the relationships that
developed had any depth or been remotely interesting and not, say A)
two bickering neighbors B) teens who could've hooked up in high school
but only now, in, you know, the pressure of the situation share that
first kiss which has no emotional resonance whatsoever considering we
know nothing about either of them before or after the moment C) a
cliched Old Testament babbling religious nutjob used to show how
reasonable and smart the small group who doesn't fall for her shtick
are, etc. etc.
4/23
Ride Lonesome
(Budd Boetticher, 1959) 1/2
DVD, 2nd
Boetticher film
Demonlover
(Olivier Assayas, 2002)
DVD,
3rd Assayas film
4/21
Hot Blood
(Nicholas Ray, 1956) 1/2
DVD,
- Ray film
4/1-4/20
Start the Revolution Without Me
(Bud Yorkin, 1970) 1/2
TCM*,
1st Yorkin film
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
(Nicholas Stoller, 2008)
Theater,
1st Stoller film
The Story of Marie and Julien
(Jacques Rivette, 2003) 1/2
DVD,
3rd Rivette film
A Swedish Love Story
(Roy Andersson, 1970)
DVD, 2nd Andersson film
Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950)
DVD,
2nd Dassin film
Exorcist: The Beginning
(Renny Harlin, 2004)
DVD, 3rd Harlin film
3/30
Into the Wild
(Sean Penn, 2007)
DVD, 1st Penn film
3/29
Run Fatboy Run
(David Schwimmer, 2008) 1/2
Theater, 1st Schwimmer film
3/28
The Man from London
(Béla Tarr, 2008)
Theater, 6th Tarr film
3/26
Fido
(Andrew Currie, 2007)
DVD, 1st Currie film
3/24
Dominion: The Exorcist
Prequel (Paul Schrader, 2005) 1/2
DVD, 2nd Schrader film
Plodding, motonous,
heavy-handed and ineffective in its portrayal of
spiritual crisis, full of clunky narrative transitions and downright
laughable during its Sci-Fi Channel quality special effects which are
present more and more often as the film moves on. It's a shame b/c I
was hoping they ended up shelving the better version, but I'd be
surprised if Harlin's is worse than this.
3/22
Scattered Clouds
(Mikio Naruse, 1967)
DVD, Naruse film
Scattered Clouds
is yet another delicate, astutely observant
masterpiece from Mikio Naruse. Like most of his great films, emotional
resonance is accumulated through a series of subtle, understated
interactions which convey not simple linear progression in its
characters growth, but a near-constant struggle to balance personal
feelings with social expectations and, in this case, coming to terms
with the past in order to find happiness in the present. Naruse is a
master at tempering his melodrama with light-hearted touches, always
keeping the emotions bubbling under the surface beneath his actors
typically restrained performances. The small contrivance of a romance
developing between a woman and the man who accidentally killed her
husband in a car accident is easily overcome by the patience shown in
portraying both of their struggles to cope with the guilt and anguish
of the random tragedy. While Yoko Tsukasa is no Hideko Takamine,
Naruse's former muse, she has a way of communicating all of her
conflicted feelings through slight gestures and glances, creating a
character with emotional and psychological depth who is also capable of
the unpredictable decisions true to all human behavior.
This is also the first
color film I've seen by Naruse and it doesn't
miss a beat. The final act is especially gorgeous as the film opens up
to exterior locations, mirroring the protagonists attempts to battle
social restrictions and their own memories.
3/20
The Savage Innocents
(Nicholas Ray, 1960)
DVD, Ray film
3/19
Southland Tales (Richard Kelly, 2007)
DVD, 2nd Kelly film
3/18
Talk of the Town
(George Stevens, 1942) 1/2
DVD, 5th Stevens film
Starts out very promising
with its dark and foreboding, yet quiet opening with Cary Grant doing
his best impersonation of Paul Muni from I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.
Then it goes all slapstick in the first act once the law professor
shows up at the same house Grant's hiding out in and the film slowly
unravels from there. Jean Arthur does a fine job balancing her
anxiety with her desire to please the professor and the two get a few
laughs from the initial awkwardness of the situation. Once Grant
comes out of hiding, posing as the gardener, it devolves in a preachy,
black-and-white examination of the legal system, which never rises
above its oversimplified dichotomy until the end when we're reminded
that it's all of our duties
as Americans to ensure the law is protected. I mean, this
wouldn't necessarily be a deal-breaker if the film weren't so belabored
about setting up the everyman Grant vs. the bookworm professor and
failing to do anything interesting. Oh, the professor has a beard
so he's shut off from the world (WTF?) and needs to go to a ballgame to
really understand how the legal system should work (again, WTF?).
And lo the subtlety of their chess match and the multiple times Grant
points out "it's me vs. you, professor". But really, it's not as
bad as all that and Grant and Arthur assure that it remains mostly
watchable despite the consistent cringing I did throughout the final
hour.
3/16
El Sur
(Victor Erice, 1983)
DVD, 2nd Erice film
Review soon...
3/15
The Bank Job (Roger Donaldson, 2008) 1/2
Theater, 1st Donaldson film
In Bruges (Martin McDonagh, 2008) 1/2
Theater, 1st McDonagh film
3/14
Funny Games U.S.
(Michael Haneke, 2008) 1/2
Theater, 9th Haneke film
3/11
Queen Kelly
(Erich von Stroheim, 1929)
DVD, 2nd von Stroheim film
3/8
The Hitcher
(Dave Meyers, 2007)
HBO, 1st Meyers film
3/7
Hamlet
(Gregori Kosintsev, 1964) 1/2
DVD, 1st Kosintsev film
3/5
(s) Un Chant d'amour
(Jean Genet, 1950) 1/2
DVD, 1st Genet film
The Adventures of Baron
Munchausen (Terry Gilliam, 1988) 1/2
DVD, 2nd viewing
3/3
Park Row
(Samuel Fuller, 1952)
TCM*, 9th Fuller film
3/2
Vacancy (Nimrod Antel, 2007)
DVD,
1st Antel film
3/1
El Bruto
(Luis Bunuel, 1953)
DVD, 20th Bunuel film
2/29
Kes
(Ken Loach, 1969)
TCM*, 2nd Loach film
2/28
Blue
(Derek Jarman, 1993)
DVD, 1st Jarman film
2/26
Samurai Cop
(Amir Shervan, 1989) No Stars
DVD, 1st Shervan film
2/23
The
Devil
(Andrzej Zulawski, 1972)
DVD, 1st Zulawski film
2/20
Diary of a Lost Girl
(G. W. Pabst, 1929) 1/2
DVD, 2nd Pabst film
For 1929, this is
remarkably risque subject matter. The overtly sexual imagery -
explicitly showing the apothecarists intent to rape Louise Brooks, a
lesbian making a move on her, a man handing out hot dogs to a room full
of dancing prostitutes and an effeminate man milking a cow - is
inherently linked to its central conceit, the relationship between sex
and power and how one effectively corrupts or perverts the other.
Thymiane's journey takes us through several patriarchal systems of
control where power is enacted through a weird combination of
discipline and sexual perversion. Her increasing boldness in
standing against conventional authority is an incredible feminist
statement in 1929 and I'd wager there are few sequences in silent film
as delightfully anarchic and anti-establishment as the diary keep-away
followed by the girls' beat down of the creepy bald guard as Thymiane
and her friend escape.
2/17
Across the Universe
(Julie Taymor, 2007) 1/2
DVD, 1st Taymor film
It's the Dreamgirls of 2007 - a musical so
concerned with broad period details and show-stopping songs that it
forgets to have a sensable plot and create depth in the characters and
their relationships with one another. For all it's "CREATIVITY!",
it's a surprisingly limp, lifeless film interested only in celebrated
vague, over-simplified notions of love and peace while failing to
accept that these things come at an actual cost. Sure, there are
peace rallies and a brother is sent off to war, but everything is
romanticized to the degree that nothing meaningful is ever really said
and I think that's the point. Taymor's visual scheme is concerned
only with temporarily and fleetingly evoking the spirit of the late 60s
and does so in the most shallow and tactless of ways.
2/16
Brittania Hospital
(Lindsay Anderson, 1982)
Flix*, 3rd Anderson film
2/15
Dead Man's Shoes
(Shane Meadows, 2004)
Sundance Channel*, 2nd Meadows film
Jumper (Doug Liman, 2008) No Stars
Theater, 4th Liman film
2/13
We Own the Night
(James Gray, 2007)
DVD, 1st Gray film
2/10
Le Trou
(Jacques Becker, 1960)
DVD, 3rd Becker film
2/9
Great World of Sound (Craig Zobel, 2007) 1/2
DVD, 1st Zobel film
2/7
Quiet City
(Aaron Katz, 2007)
DVD, 1st Katz film
2/6
Sunshine
(Danny Boyle, 2007) 1/2
DVD, 2nd viewing
2/5
Into Great Silence
(Philip Gröning, 2007) 1/2
DVD, 1st Groning film
2/4
Eastern Promises
(David Cronenberg, 2007) 1/2
DVD, 2nd viewing
2/3
Man Push Cart
(Ramin Bahrani, 2005) 1/2
Sundance Channel*, 1st Bahrani film
2/2
Sicko
(Michael Moore, 2007)
DVD, 4th Moore film
2/1
The Assassination of
Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
(Andrew Dominik, 2007)
DVD, 1st Dominik film
1/31
The King of Kong: A
Fistful of Quarters
(Seth Gordon, 2007)
DVD, 1st Gordon film
1/29
Day Night Day Night
(Julia Loktev, 2007) 1/2
DVD, 1st Loktev film
1/27
Paisan
(Roberto Rossellini, 1946) 1/2
TCM*, 7th Rossellini film
This had some absolutely
devastating moments and while the vignettes come
together a bit awkwardly, the lack of smoothness in the editing is easy
to overlook considering the powerful images Rossellini provides us
with. The first few vignettes are infinitely fascinated with the
architecture of the area and how the vast piles of rubble redefined the
collective space. This coupled with multiple sequences where language
barriers play a critical role makes it perhaps Rossellini's most
comprehensive response to the post-war conditions. I still prefer Germany
Year Zero,
but even that film doesn't have the immediacy or frank, matter-of-fact
realism that this one does. Rossellini even allows for brief glimpses
of humor - my favorite between a black soldier and young Italian boy
after they bond. They lie on a rubble pile together and the soldier
begins to sing a soul song after the boy plays his harmonica, but as
the soldier leans back to rest, the boy warns him, "Don't fall asleep
or I'll steal your boots!" And of course, he did. I won't spoil where
Rossellini takes it, but it's perfect evidence of his ability to take
scenes or situations from one tone into something completely
unexpected, yet all-too-real.
1/26
La Moustache
(Emmanuel Carrère, 2005)
Sundance Channel, 1st Carrere film
Zodiac
(David Fincher, 2007)
DVD, 2nd viewing
1/23
No End in Sight
(Charles Ferguson, 2007)
DVD, 1st film
1/22
Cloverfield
(Matt Reevees, 2008) 1/2
Theater, 1st Reeves film
1/20
Syndromes and a Century
(Apitchatpong Weerasethakul, 2007) 1/2
DVD, 3rd Weerasethakul film
1/19
Sweeney Todd
(Tim Burton, 2007) |
Cinematic
Reflections