Ideocracy

Although not as funny as I would have liked, it is actually the most
accurate description of "survival of the fittest" one can find in
popular culture: Darwin's theory doesn't describe the fittest taking
over but, rather, the most re-productive taking over.

Understanding the World Through Extrapolation

Perhaps much of what I know about place sin the world where I have
not been is based on what I have seen in movies and related media.

So I take a sense of how places I HAVE been are portrayed in movies
-- the mis-representations, the exaggerations, the fabrications, and
the accuracies -- and use that to judge how well movies about places
I have NOT been likely portray those places. Using that calibration,
I then extrapolate what the places I have not visited, but have seen
in movies and other media, must be like.

Death of President; Westworld

Death of a President is oddly patriotic for a film critical of Bush's
America. The patriotism lends the fictional documentary an aura of
authenticity, but would be the first place to start when trimming the
running time to a digestible length (perhaps 70 minutes).

Westworld: Now I recall why it took me so many years to watch this
movie: Even now the only version of this campy sci-fi classic from
the early 70s is a pan-and-scam travesty of what was probably a very
cool Cinemascope motion picture. The film oozes "limited budget and
not sure how to stretch it" from every frame, and manages to hit
every cliche. What impresses one most, now, if the soundtrack -- not
the twangy western bits, but the incidental music, especially during
the third, chase, act.

Sunshine

Not necessarily a particularly good movie. It seems like most of it
we have seen before. But there were some personal highlights:

In New York, in the 1970s, I recall a cab driver asking my father
about his work as a solar physicist. After hearing the quick
explanation, including a few seconds about nuclear reactions, the
cabbie asked whether, when the sun dies, it would be possible to send
a bunch of atomic bombs into the sun and "re-kindle" it. Fast
forward a few decades and we now have a movie about just that idea.

That was cool connection, but not really a reason to recommend the
film.

There were many nice CGI shots of space, and the images of the sun
would not have been so real had there not been several huge
scientific efforts over the past few decades to record details about
what the sun looks like in great detail.

But to really see great shots of the sun, check out the Imax movie
Solar Max. And to see a really great movie about a deep space
mission gone wrong, revelation, mysticism, and cool special effects,
go see 2001 (again).

Grindhouse

Well, the verdict is in: Tarantino made a sort of lesser 70s
grindhouse flick. Rodriguez mimic-ed a classic.

Derailed

It really looked like it might be very bad -- the reviews and word of
mouth and plot summary looked mediocre -- but the truth is this is a
rather good latter day neo noir. Great? No. But for those that
like the genre, it's a worthwhile way to spend 2 hours. Some of the
plot twists will be familiar, but they are expertly executed -- with
the right level of paranoia and disturbing implications. Better than expected.

Day of the Locust

I am not at all sure how I managed to not see this movie for so long,
being:

1) A significant movie made during the 1970s American film
renaissance, and
2) A movie about Hollywood in the 1930s, and
3) A title I've been encountering for years,

all should have put this one in front of me years ago.

But it took until now.

So I will call this a kind of a sleeper, because that is what it
appears to be, now. No one seems to be watching it, not even the
most film-historically-literate.

It's shot in that 70s take on 30s Hollywood (a la Chinatown), and it
has surprisingly little about Hollywood, and a whole lot about people
who haven't come to embrace how their lives' reality doesn't match
what they thought it should be -- which gets in the way of them
actually achieving their dreams.

And then the apocalyptic meltdown. This is what "Perfume" wanted to
achieve but produced silliness, instead. It almost happens here, but
ends up being just what it should: A creepy turning point, instead
of a narrative failure.

Bad Timing

Few of Roeg's films have been missing in action since their release.
This was one. In addition to reworking his materials about obsessive
love and miscommunication, this film re-works consciousness and how
one recalls events more effectively than any of his other works.
Does that mean it's one of his best films? Probably not, just
because of the immaturity of the protagonists. But from a narrative
perspective, it might be his most perfect film.

Bad Timing

Few of Roeg's films have been missing in action since their release.
This was one. In addition to reworking his materials about obsessive
love and miscommunication, this film re-works consiousness and how
one recalls events more effectively than any of his other works.
Does that mean it's one of his best films? Probably not, just
because of the immaturity of the protagonists. But from a narrative
perspective, it might be his most perfect film.

The Good German

I wasn't sure what to expect from this film, but what I got was an
awesome latter day version of a 1940s noir, right down to the b/w
photography, the Hollywood backlot, the intricate plot, and the
moving score. If you are a fan of classic noirs, and in particular
of the Third Man, with which this film shares more than a passing
resemblence, you'll enjoy the Good German. If you hate Turner
Classic Movies, you'll really hate the Good German.

A Scanner Darkly

Revisited this film recently. The impression? This is the real
deal. Although I will always have a heartfelt nostalgia for
Slackers, and the Sunrise/Sunset franchise speaks even more clearly
to where our generation has gone during the past two decades, Scanner
is really Linklater's most socially relevant film.

Children Of Men

What was probably a fascinating plot in novel form becomes a
superficial excuse for a loooooooong chase scene masquerading as a
movie. Don't get me wrong: The set pieces are impressive, the peril
feels real, and the creation of a dystopic future while not quite at
the level of a Blade Runner, certainly fulfills the majority of the
genre's requirements. It's just that one doesn't really care about
the characters (save perhaps for Michael Caine's aging activist) or
perhaps even the plight of humanity enough for the jeopardy's end to
really pay off -- especially with the mighty wimpy ending (did they
run out of $$$?).

Worth watching if you like science fiction or near future nightmares
(and, really, who DOESN'T?) but unfortunately not the classic it
might have been.

The Spy Who Loved Me

It has been a long time (how long?) since I last watched this movie.
I was taken aback by just how good it was, with all the intrigue
throughout Egypt, the cat-and-mouse choreography, and other classic
Bond twists. And then I remembered just why it was such a mediocre
Bond film after all -- as soon as we got to the villain's lair, and
his plot for destruction. Yes, the later Bond film -- For Your Eyes
Only -- would be a rehabilitation of sorts -- but the first half of
The Spy Who Loved Me could have made for a far greater
rehabilitation, if someone had curtailed the excesses of the second half.

Lady in the Water

It's silly and preposterous and doesn't all work, but it's also sweet
and charming -- and FINALLY Shyamalan moves beyond what seemed like a
career built on stories with a single huge plot twist.

Alphaville

It has been 20 years since I watched this movie. It contains classic
warnings against living only logically and rationally -- but perhaps
not too much more of a critique than Star Trek -- and all of the
cliches that one now associates with "European Art Cinema" of the
1960s: portentous dialog that is often mostly just pretentious, edgy
editing, etc. To top it off, it is almost the Love Conquers All
version of Brazil -- which is an ironic criticism of such an
outsider's film.

Dressed to Kill

A bit stilted, as are so many of DePalma's films, but also genuinely
creepy -- and filmed with the trademark bravura that was (and is) his
signature style. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it works,
though I must admit that I somehow knew of one key plot twist already
and it diminished the shock value that a first blush viewing was
intended to elicit.

Little Miss Sunshine

Paint-by-numbers indie flick, without any depth or anything new.
Definitely good for a few laughs. But superficial and forgettable.
Almost a string of cliches, right down to typcasting Beth Grant into
the same role she had in Donnie Darko.

Holy Smoke

This could have been a great movie. The subject could have been
mind-bending. But the story gets silly, and the filmmakers' reach
exceeds their grasp by far too large a margin. It is a somewhat
useful reminder of how what one thinks is going on (in this case,
"de-programming" a "cult" member) is often not really what's going on
(adolescent rebellion, dysfunctional families, abusive relationships,
opportunism, mid-life crises, and implausible wish-fulfillment). But
it doesn't really work, and unlike Campion's far more accomplished
"In the Cut," one cannot grant this film enough slack in order to let
it work.

In The Cut

I really liked this raw and unpleasant film, though some of the plot
needed more work before being committed to film. It's great to see
Meg Ryan with a gritty role, because she has the chops to make it work.

Kal Ho Naa Ho: Tomorrow May Never Come (2003)

A recent Bollywood classic, set in NYC, which gives it an extra layer
of flavor and flash: Some dance numbers become an outsider's lovely
cliche about the American dream and melting pot, etc. It's long, and
fanciful -- after all, it's Bollywood -- and the genre doesn't get
much better than this!