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2012 Screening Log

What are these ratings?
2011 Log
(s) = short film

1/30

Honey (Semih Kaplanoglu, 2011)
DVD, 1st Kaplanoglu film
1/28

Carnage (Roman Polanski, 2011) 1/2
DVD, 10th Polanski film
1/23

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Fincher, 2011)
Theater, 9th Fincher film
1/22

The Arbor (Clio Barnard, 2011) 1/2
DVD, 1st Barnard film
1/21

The City of Life and Death (Chuan Lu, 2011)
DVD, 1st Chuan film
1/18

Mission Impossible IV: Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird, 2011) 1/2
Theater, 4th Bird film
1/17

Le Havre (Aki Kaurismaki, 2011)
DVD, 3rd Kaurismaki film
1/16

The Mill and The Cross (Lech Majewski, 2011) 1/2
DVD, 1st Majewski film
1/15

The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius, 2011)
Theater, 1st Hazanavicius film
1/14

Jane Eyre (Cary Fukunaga, 2011) 1/2
DVD, 1st Fukunaga film

Bellflower (Evan Glodell, 2011) 1/2
DVD, 1st Glodell film
1/13

Senna (Asif Kapadia, 2011) 1/2
DVD, 1st Kapadia film
1/12

The Strange Case of Angelica (Manoel de Oliveira, 2011)
DVD, 2nd Oliveira film
1/10

Of Gods & Men (Xavier Beauvois, 2011)
DVD, 1st Beauvois film
1/9

The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd, 2011)
Theater, 1st Lloyd film
1/8

Tiny Furniture (Lena Dunham, 2011) 1/2
DVD, 1st Dunham film

Bill Cunningham New York (Richard Press, 2011) 1/2
DVD, 1st Press film
1/7

Sleepless Nights Stories (Jonas Mekas, 2011)
DVD, 2nd Mekas film
1/5

Incendies (Denis Villeneuve, 2011) 1/2
DVD, 2nd Villeneuve film
Not as well-balanced and stunningly shot as Polytechnique, Incendies nevertheless offers an emotionally raw and engaging examination of a Canadian immigrants troubled past.  It borders on over-the-top and the denouement is almost too shocking to take seriously, but the central performances are subtle and subdued enough to keep a settled tone, while the twisting narrative delves into the many horrifying effects of the religious wars in the Middle East and how, despite actions, identities and personal and political histories being covered up or transformed over time, their effects are still felt by the next generation, even when they're completely unaware of the hows and whys.
1/4

Best Worst Movie (Michael Stephenson, 2011)
DVD, 1st Stephenson film
Unlike Troll 2, which, along with Samurai Cop and Gymkata, is deserved of its so-bad-it's-good tag, Best Worst Movie is a frustratingly amateurish, occasionally self-involved, more often bewilderingly aimless doc that never says anything meaningful about the cult status of Troll 2.  Instead, much of the film is spent with George Hardy, the earlier film's "star", and while he first comes off like an incredibly genuine and likeable person, as they tour around the country attending midnight screenings and conventions, even he begins to tire of the film's subject.  Had their been any self-awareness in this, perhaps an acknowledgement or examination of Hardy's growing ego in the midst of this rebirth, this could have offered something interesting. Instead, it leisurely cuts to interviews of various cast member amidst Stephenson and Hardy's palling around, hanging out in the latter's home town in Alabama.  The most interesting scenes were with the original film's director, Claudio Fragasso, who still stands behind his film, espousing its success in juggling many themes with great depth.  He's borderline delusional, for sure, but his complete inability to understand the (mostly) American response to his film as a complete joke is the conflict and counterpoint this film needed.  Unfortunately, he's mostly written off as a spoilsport and the doc would rather focus on everyone who's in on the joke than the one attempting to defend the film's integrity.
1/3

Mildred Pierce [Miniseries] (Todd Haynes, 2011) 1/2
DVD, 8th Haynes film
I could almost justify another half-star for the brilliance of episode 4, but despite the film's emotional payoffs and the expansion on many themes and subplots that Curtiz's original (also good, but for very different reasons) only touches on, too much of this film is paint-by-numbers American suburbia.  Had Haynes not already shown his hand with the brilliant Far From Heaven, his winking homage to Douglas Sirk's 50s melodramas, Mildred Pierce's more straight take (no pun intended) on the topic, albeit in a very different era, might have seemed more impressive.  Instead, the biting irony is missing and 5 1/2 hours is simply too long for this extremist weepie to really shine.  Even the mundane stretches are well-executed and the more well-developed relationship between Mildred and all her friends and loved ones makes the finale all the more heart-wrenching, but I can't help thinking a tighter version, perhaps 3 or 4 episodes instead of 5, would have made this better.
1/1

Polytechnique (Denis Villeneuve, 2011)
DVD, 1st Villeneuve film

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Guy Ritchie, 2011)
Theater, 4th Ritchie film
The first one is disposable fun, but Downey and Law are fun enough together and the modern take on Holmes amusing enough to forgive.   This one is simply tawdry for the sake of it, Ritchie indulging in all of the impulses everyone started hating him for in the past and the films incessant slow-motion shots and wham-bam action scenes render it shapeless and the mystery so poorly executed  and villain so generic, that there's nothing Sherlock Holmes about this aside from the title.