movie

The slow pace, the lingering visuals, the sparse dialogue, even the self-referential humor, I really enjoyed all of it. I knew where we were headed and I enjoyed the journey, even the title gave me food for thought. (Chalk one up for “imagination.”)

On occasion, it did glimmer with the feeling of the whole thing being an elaborate and filmic exercise in the art of stripping a story down to next to nothing, and occasionally parts felt almost trying too hard to be, maybe a little too constructed and falling into cliche. I chose to interpret these as little self aware inside jokes. As for the storytelling, absolutely minimal is where I like to be. And the cinematic visuals tip the scale for me, in favor of the directors skill.

If you’re a real movie buff or even a film afficionado, I can see why you dislike Jim Jarmusch’s offering. I however liked it a lot, probably in direct inverse proportion to the amount I dislike the types of items on a movie buff’s regular list.

Broken Embraces

Not as good as I expected, but as I read somewhere, even on his worst day Almodovar is better than 90% of what’s out there. I don’t think you will ever be able to fully anticipate how an Almodovar film will unfold, he is such a great story maker. And it was nice to see Penelope Cruz in her element.

The Young Victoria

Better than expected. I only went to fulfill my husbandly duties, but I was pleasantly surprised. I learned a lot of history, and even though at heart this movie is a romantic love story of the most severe kind, I still enjoyed myself and it even made want to go see more historical dramas. Note: not a lot of violence in this one. If you’re into a lot of beheadings and accurate battle scenes, you should skip this one.

The Hangover

Kind of terrible. It fulfilled what I dread about movies, in that almost all of the funny scenes I had already seen while watching the 30 second preview. A smidge more highbrow fratboy humor with a tinge of hipster thrown in? I dunno, just skip it.

notes to self:

1. Sadly the Hangover not even as bad as Four Christmases. I saw it? Don’t ask.
2. Curious to see what that guy they now refer to in previews for other movies as “that guy from the hangover” comes up with next. (?) he was the movie’s only saving grace. (galifianakis)

For some reason I haven’t seen Michael Moore’s SiCKO until now. I’m sure Michael Moore did a lot of cherry picking to make his point more convincing and I wish he had offered a few more opponent’s counter arguments with requisite rebuttals. But even taking all of that into account this film offers a devastating account of the health care system in the United States. Just watching this documentary can make you feel sick.

It looks like Moore tried his hardest to rally the troops and make a grass roots rebellion happen, he cites people’s propensity to take to the streets in France as one of the main reasons things are pretty good there. Unfortunately, two years later very little has budged and forces continue to conspire against any kind of change on this front.
(The sheer number of lobbyists and amount of money that is on the table for things not to change, was probably one of the more eye opening and depressing aspects of the film.)

Things like the boat excursion to Cuba, while rooted in reality, are so outlandish and obviously contrived for arguments sake, that I think he is starting to stretch the term documentary a little thin. While he makes a very convincing argument using real footage, maybe documentary is not the best term for a Michael Moore film anymore.

I’m not a Wes Anderson fanboy, but I really liked this movie. I think it was fantastic! It’s really a great film for adults and children alike, and I think I will take everyone’s advice and give it another go, apparently it’s the only way to catch all of the intricate details of the sets and action. (speaking of which I think this might be the only movie where a screen shot, as seen above, actually does the movie injustice. In a film still the little animals look terrible and lifeless, but when animated it’s hard to remember that they are even puppets.)

For some reason, I’ve never read the book version of Fantastic Mr. Fox, but I am a huge Roald Dahl fan. [The Twits is my fave.] I think that might be my only criticism, there was so much quirky Anderson-ness in it, which seems to match this animation style perfectly, that I felt like some of the Dahl-ness was lost. There were some moments that felt almost too real or gory for a children’s movie and even characters who smoked, perfect Roald Dahl, but somehow, the overall quirk, made it really feel like a Wes film. Not a bad thing though, I really enjoyed it and had few good laughs.

[if you have access to it, there was a fascinating article about this creative feat in the nov.2 new yorker. read the abstract here.]

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Can’t believe it’s based on a true story. Would love to know which parts actually a happened becasue the whole thing is pretty unbelievable.
(more…)

I finally went to see this little film. What a charming documentary it is! You really get to know the famous Vogels from this film. You get to see a lot of new york, old new york. You get to see a lot of art and artist interviews. But mostly you get to see two people living it up in the art world, and being important and integral parts of it, despite living off of the salaries of a post office worker and a librarian.

I think this movie had the perfect blend of nyc, art, artists, eccentricity, and old people. Even though sometimes I get a little sad when I see really old people, these two are true new yorkers and nothing is gonna stop them!

I fully recommend this for art lovers or documentary fans. This one is really great on both counts.

more info: www.herbanddorothy.com

wow. public enemies totally surprised me and exceeded my expectations. While not quite a film, this was truly a really really great movie with a very healthy dose of artistic flare. The camera work was amazing. The story really engaging, full of twists, suspense and an unexpected dose of love story. The director took his time setting up beautiful shots, and then wasn’t afraid to linger on them longer than usual allowing you to fully take in the 1930’s atmosphere. The clothes, the cars even the buildings all pulled you in to another time. Perhaps a little too much romance for most guys, but there were more than enough gangsters, tommy guns, and bullet holes riddling buildings, cars, and flesh to make up for it.

At first glance Crank is the opposite of the kinds of things I would ordinarily go see.  Even film and movie enthusiasts weren’t thrilled with this one. Still there is something to it. I wasn’t exactly on the edge of my seat despite it being billed as non-stop action, but oddly it was pretty close to seeing something akin to Video Art on the big screen.

Jason Statham is well cast in this fast-paced, crazy-premised, ride.  From the pacing, to the visuals, to the constantly making fun of itself, to the this is a video game feel, somehow it all came together to make an arty package. I don’t think it was intended that way, but from a purely visual stance, I liked it.

Still, in the same way it might be hard to recommend some video art,  a piece might have some great aspects artistically, but still be very hard to watch, so too Crank had it’s tedious moments despite being an interesting visual feast.

I really enjoyed Gary Hustwit’s Documentary Helvetica, even though I am somewhat of a typographical noob, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out he has another film coming out. Based on the preview it looks like it will be, not only very beautiful to look at, but also cover the subject matter of why beautiful and functional design matters. It seems there will be a lot of close-ups of creative minds at work and explaining themselves. Very engaging and close to my heart. visit the official film website.

(via a new blog find the donut project)

A triptich of films with Tokyo as their jumping off point. Each one by a different director: Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho. Of the three, Critics seem to like Gondry’s the best, followed by Joon-ho and none seem to like Carax’s. For me the order is just the reverse. Usually, I love Gondry’s films but Interior Design was my least favorite of this trio. I’ve only seen one of Joon-ho’s films previously, the Host (worth a watch in it’s own right), here Shaking Tokyo was my second favorite. Of these particular three, my favorite was Merde by Carax. The film still above is from Merde. Maybe I liked it the best because it’s the one that “follows the debased exploits of an unsightly subterranean creature.”

All three tell unique stories, and are shot really well, particularly Joon-ho’s Shaking Tokyo. You can tell these are seasoned filmmakers who are each doing their thing. Gondry’s Interior Design had the necessary quirkiness, but Merde was just plain weird and that is what I like the best. My only criticism is that although in many ways the three films are distinctly Tokyo, they are also not Tokyo enough, in each, the city itself plays only a minor role which seems an odd thing to pass up since it is such a rich source and also happens to be the title of the movie! Two Frenchmen, and a Korean make a movie that is actually three, in Gibberish, French, German, Korean, and Japanese with English subtitles. (Maybe it’s too many cooks?)

I got to see a special screening at the French Institute but you can go see the movie when it opens on March 6th.