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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.
Previous Screening Logs: 2011, 2010,
2009, 2008, 2007,
December 2006, November 2006, October 2006, September
2006, August 2006, July 2006, June 2006, May 2006, April 2006, March 2006, February 2006, January 2006
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