Stay

Almost a really good movie about synchronicity. Still unlike almost anything else, and worthwhile. I'd tell you what single film it reminded me of, but that would be a spoiler. Yes, it's that kind of movie.

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex

A fascinating nail-biter about good intentions gone terribly awry.

Avatar

Pretty remake of Dances with Wolves, with a new ending.

A Christmas Tale / Un conte de Noël

A French mashup of Bergman and Altman. The best dysfunctional Christmas movie in quite some time.

500 Days of Summer

Reminds me of a saying we have in my home country: "even Zooey couldn't save this one!".

Eyes Wide Shut

Today, it seems the secret sex society and conspiracy theories are either a distraction from (or a Trojan horse to sneak in) a story about infidelity and the procreative urge.

It Might Get Loud

More interesting than a documentary about any one of these three guitarists, though the parallels between them (and the synergies with them together) are less fulsome than the filmmakers intended. But if this doesn't inspire you to pick up your guitar you should probably sell it on craigslist.

Inglourious Basterds

Better than I expected. In fact, better than most of what Tarantino has done in more than a decade.

Cube 2: Hypercube

One classic way to write a joke is to start with the punch line, and develop a story to get there. It can be mighty tough to work it the other way -- start with a story and hope to find a punch line.

A mystery is written in a similar fashion: Know the secret reveal ahead of time, and construct an interesting path to reach it.

Unfortunately, with Cube 2, the reveal is far less interesting than the journey -- undermining all that might have been interesting along the way.

You have been warned.

Julie & Julia

Perhaps the best "Hollywood" movie of the year. Not perfect, but about as good as Tinseltown gets.

Funny People

Reach exceeds grasp but it's a good first try to say something.

The Last Starfighter

A campy mashup of Lucas and Spielberg without the spark that inspires either. So it's either cynical or hilarious, depending on one's mood.

Transformers 2

The story is even more dumb than before, and the depiction of Egyptian geography is laughable, but the CGI is pure eye candy.

Easy Virtue

I'm a fan of Noel Coward and wild takes on classics (Dicaprio as Romeo!) but the source's wit is not to be found in this tone-deaf adaptation.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

It may not be PC, but it's a funny movie with good intentions -- right down to its "I'm Spartacus!" denouement.

Playtime

Candidate for the most cynical movie of the 20th Century.

State of Play

An interesting (if reactionary) premise -- with the most pedestrian narrative structure imaginable.

Sunshine Cleaning

I am so glad that Amy Adams has finally had a role that demonstrates she can act.
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The Girl on the Bridge

A good romance though it makes one long for the best: Wings of Desire, Secretary, Casablanca, or even The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

The Class

A brilliant portrait but be warned: no plot and not much hope. This is not Stand and Deliver.

The Visitor (2007)

A good reminder about what we lose when we close political or personal doors.

Fracture

A nice little policier.

Wild Boys of the Road

A slightly stilted, hyperbolic title, yes. But also a great slice of life film from the first Great Depression, shot on location in places many films of the era didn't shoot.

Big Love Season Three Episode Nine

The penultimate episode of the season drew much interest and ire from the LDS establishment -- or, rather, from those LDS defenders who did not fall in the line with the official Church suggestion to just ignore the fact that a secret Temple ritual was on display in a television show.

What's most interesting though about the episode, from a public relations standpoint, was not the Temple Ritual. Let's be honest. The internet is filled with accounts of such rituals, and even printed accounts of the rituals exist. What the Mormon establishment should have been much more worried about took place later in the program, where an excommunication is performed. Why? Because the ritual was a positive portrayal of formalized spirituality. And had the genuine enthusiasm for that which is greater than oneself that one might associate with Sufi mystics or a Grateful Dead concert.

But the excommunication was like a ritualized witch burning, or sadistic psychological manipulation.

If I was seeking to bolster the public's positive predisposition towards my religion, I would welcome the Temple ritual portrayal as respectful and positive. And I would cringe and then weep about the cruelty of the excommunication -- and seek a path which doesn't involve such rituals.

What's most interesting to the cineastes, of course, are the musical queues and dramatic constructions that mimic Hitchcock's Vertigo. Too subtle to distract from the story, but present enough to entertain -- and add to the tension. Bravo.

Speed Racer

I had to watch it again. Ecstatic cartoon camp, a plot about manipulating short term stock price fluctuations, and only a handful of needlessly slow interludes.

Watchmen

Plus: Novel-like structure.

Minus: Length, narration, story.

Middling: weird needle-drops, odd set design homages (Dr Strangelove AND The Man Who Fell To Earth), & more blue member than any other big budget American movie, ever.

Knowing

Clearly I am an uncritical fan of apocolypse movies if I enjoyed Knowing's take on the Rapture.

Gran Torino

Though a fantasy and not a drama, other than Eastwood's hamming it's not bad.

Waltz with Bashir

War is not cool.

Away We Go

Mostly funny, with some shallow serious bits, until the maudlin ending. Kind of like "High Fidelity" with a road trip instead of a record store. But I did guffaw.

Diary of the Dead

Better than his last zombie movie.

It didn't have the deep look into personal ethics of some of the earlier films.

But I thought it still retained some incisive social commentary -- though at times it was a little conflicted.

For example, the idea that when CNN goes offline, it becomes too complicated (according to the narrator) to know what the truthis -- while alternately lauding having many points of view from all the
people online uploading their own "news reports" which help to
communicate about what's really going on, and how it's being "covered
up".

The Reader

Just in case you were waiting on a remake of The English Patient.

Chunking Express

Almost every time Doyle starts his camera, the result is worthy of being printed and framed.

The International

It's unfortunate Tykwer couldn't turn the action knob up to "11". The premise accurately portrays how some global finance works, but all of the season's good action sequences ended up in the otherwise offensive "Taken." "The International" is left with one great set piece (which is probably the most transgressive and exciting thing that has been on display in the Guggenheim in quite some time).

Seven Pounds

Will Smith is sincerely trying to demonstrate his good intentions. He still hasn't found the right vehicle.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I didn't like Forrest Gump the first time, and I still don't like it, backwards.

Valkyrie

After supporting Hitler for more than a dozen years, a group of Nazi aristocrats decide that since the Allies are about to win the war, they should kill Hitler to try to avoid utter defeat.

The Last Lullaby

The hit-man-with-a-heart-of-gold is a cliche second only to the hooker. But this straight noir is a reminder that a cliche became a cliche for a good reason -- and can be re-invented when a filmmaker pays attention to the details, characters and story.

This film, while also dealing with revenge, raises questions a film like Taken doesn't know exist.

Taken (2008)

A
silly movie. Some good action, but a simple plot with a resounding
message: Americans should stay home. The world is a dangerous place.
When threatened, attack with deadly force.

Mostly French
produced, set, written and directed. To paraphrase "The Man Who Fell To
Earth": maybe we're not so different, after all.

Thank you, Mr. Besson.

The Bucket List

This would have been an interesting movie if Nicholson's character hadn't been filthy rich.

Tell No One

More film noir than policier, more policier than Dick Francis novel, more Dick Francis than Law & Order.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

When the best movie of a franchise is not the first in the series, one is always hopeful that a new entrant will be worthwhile. Oh well.

Contraband

Engaging wartime "thriller" with all the British trappings of the era and the luxurious conventions of 1940s film-making. The kind of movie I start "just to see what it looks like" and end up watching until the end. Kind of like Hitchcock from the same era. A perfect specimen of a lovely old British spy movie from WWII.

Caprica

More William Gibson-esque than any movie actually based on his writings. It's a tv pilot, so it opens up plot-lines rather than tidily resolving them. And you'll have to wait until 2010 for episode 2. But that doesn't detract from enjoying it as a standalone movie.

I've Loved You So Long

A remarkable film that kept becoming more remarkable, days later.  I know of no better testament about getting through grief.

My first reaction was to admire the portrait, and find the reveal (not really a twist) to be gratuitous, or explain away the rest.  But my first reaction was wrong.

Doubt

Except for Viola Davis there is almost no "there" there. And she almost makes the watching worthwhile. Everyone else does their reverent best with what little they are given to work with.

Kudos for the translation from stage to location shooting. The film doesn't feel claustrophobic nor contrived in its settings. But it's still a play in the sense that it relies on a very theatrical set of innuendo to elicit its effect. And it doesn't.

Hairspray (2007)

Amy Adams should watch her back. Nikki Blonsky is the real deal.

The film? A snappy comedy about civil rights. I guess we will have to wait 40 years for the gay marriage musical that Main Street will embrace.

They All Laughed

Awesome technique. Non-verbal communication to top the real thing, in the real world, and it bests even some accomplished "silent" era masters.

Great to see Hepburn.  Sad to see her in a role that mimic-ed her real life at the time.

Some good laughs.  Ritter is in top physical comedy form.  If he wasn't trying to be such a stand in for Bogdanovich his verbal performance might have matched his physical performance.

But that's the problem, here.  A little too much of the real world got in and colors the whole thing:  The affairs surrounding the film, the murder of Stratten who would have otherwise been forgotten, and the director's eventual affair with both sisters.

Leave all that aside, however, and the laughs are fun.  Otherwise, there is very little that this movie has to say.  Dalliance palliates.   The end.

Movie Servers Could Have Been The Next Big Revenue Stream

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/technology/24dvd.html

Before this news report, I hadn't heard about Real's push to build the software into set top boxes and make a poor-person's Kaleidescape.  That would be very cool.

It's either ignorance or a bargaining chip that Hollywood doesn't like this software:  It cannot be used to make a copy of a movie, since the version is makes and puts on a server is encrypted in a way that is stronger than the original DVD encryption.  So either Hollywood really thinks people will buy giant hard drives and save everything they rent from NetFlix (unlikely those "backups" are lost sales) -- or Hollywood knows better but wants a big old licensing fee from Real before they green-light the software.

Frost/Nixon

The film feels like it was probably harder-hitting in the late 1970's. In the late 2000's it feels soft, like a "well, duh"-kind of foregone conclusion. And yet we still haven't really learned the lessons we should have, from the Nixon fiasco. Rather, we've almost grown to accept lawbreaking Presidents as appropriate and to be expected. And no one apologizes, anymore.

The film, like the interviews themselves, doesn't really get up to speed until the end, and then it's over. Of course, we saw the money shot (I mean, line) in the trailer. So that's a non-starter, dramatically. "If the President does it, it's not illegal."

In fact, the only things in that are in jeopardy are Frost's personal financial situation and his career. Assuming we, the audience, care about either -- which is a big assumption because there is little to get us emotionally invested in Frost -- it's hard to judge just how much jeopardy there is. Is he really going to be bankrupt if the project goes poorly? The film is as cagey with us about such details as Frost and his cohorts are with one another about the same topic. This means we don't quite know enough to even understand the gravity of what his accountants may have been telling him.

And from the views we have into his other television activities, one might surmise that the world would have been better off without those programs. Which is to say, we have so little reason to like Frost, that it actually makes Nixon look better than he should. Which may explain why the Nixon library, and everyone involved with the former President, supported the film with open arms.

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Reader Matt makes a good point about the drunk-dialing scene. He's right. That was by far the most interesting and revealing and meaningful and insightful scene in the film and arguably the only "fabrication" in the script. It's a clear case where making up a story conveys more truth than simply recounting what happened.

A Matter of Taste / Une affaire de goût

An intriguing premise, and good setup, that paid off nothing. For some reason, I was reminded of Secretary, which wrote the opposite story and result.  Which is to say Secretary was a great love story and Une Affaire de Gout wasn't great at all -- except for a chance to see childhood hero Leaud do a brief turn as a judge. He's still not quite a leading man, and for that, I commend him.

Film Music

It strikes me that classical music IN SUPPORT OF SOMETHING ELSE has always been the norm (church music, opera, dancing) and continues to be the norm (film, television) and when we talk of people who "don't like classical music" we really mean people people who don't like the music removed from what it accompanies.  Of course, Zander's talk is about liking it even removed from what it might otherwise accompany, which is a worthwhile pursuit (and a secret passion worth learning and sharing).

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html

So while he doesn't speak about music to accompany drama, he might help us to appreciate scores without the context of their drama.

Family Man

I am intrigued by movies that say "It's okay to not follow your dreams." 

They don't really feature anti-heroes, and yet they're not classic heroes, either.

Family Man follows in the footsteps of Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" but does it backwards. Wonderful Life tells the "everyman" that his life wasn't wasted, and that if he hadn't settled for what fate dealt him, but had followed his dreams, his community would have suffered.  Family Man shows the man the followed his dreams that they were empty, and foolish, and that he would have been much more fulfilled if he had let them go.

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There is something interesting in Family Man, beyond the mirror-image-of-Wonderful-Life-but-saying-the-same-thing.

Cage's character awakes into a wholly new and different world -- and manages to struggle through it, and eventually survive, based on the environment in which he is placed.  That is, especially once he stops trying to get back to his "real life", he take queues and clues from the people and circumstances where he finds himself, and is able to "fake it" and fit in.

This suggests that for the passive person, without a dream or vision or plan or grand desire, it is possible to just let one's life lead one by one's nose.  Perhaps there's even a stronger message:  That as soon as he starts down such a path, he is "done".  He has made the key choice, and the rest follow and fall into place.

I suppose that is why one might classify Family Man as a horror film, and place a quotation from Thoreau at the beginning that says "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."  And such a life is what Family Man aspires to say is the kind of life one should be happy with.

Timecrimes, Let The Right One In, Twilight

Timecrimes: It's a Spanish reminder that slow learners should not time travel.

Let the Right One In: The best vampire movie of 2008.

Twilight: The worst.

Less Than Zero, and Role Models

Less Than Zero

I recall thinking the book was a bit hyperbolic, even in the 80's, but I should have waited even longer (like forever) before seeing the movie.

Role Models

A few great South-Park-esque laughs, otherwise marred by a cookie-cutter plot. Props to the creative anachronism nod.

Synecdoche, New York

Mostly unlike anything else, in mostly a good way.

Many many many moments of brilliance (example: the deft handling of the difference between clock time -- years -- and emotional time -- feels like weeks -- when processing certain life-events) marred by Kaufman's adolescent, wallowing navel-gazing. Far more interesting than almost any other recent treatment of consciousness in cinema -- but that's setting a pretty low bar.

Note to Charlie: Not only does it not have to be dire to posses gravitas, but it would actually say more (and be deeper) if it wasn't.

Religulous

Maher doesn't appear to seek out the most articulate advocates of religious traditions -- since the most poised interviewee is actually an actor who portrays Jesus at a "born again" theme park in Orlando, Florida.

So at times it feels like he's "shooting fish in a barrel".

But it's still the funniest scary movie of 2008.

Bottle Shock

Alas the characters are empty caricatures of what were surely real people, and some of the filmmaking doesn't quite reach the level of sophistication it seeks, but I thoroughly enjoyed this underdog fairytale. Give me a "true story" set in the Bay Area in the 70's and you've already got my affections. Who needs characters? If we wanted a story about wine with characters we'd watch sideways again.

MirrorMask, Owl and the Sparrow, The Wrestler, and other quicktakes

MirrorMask: Far more successful than "The Fall" both in terms of the story and the visual splendor. Okay, there isn't too much depth to it, but it's pretty!

Owl and the Sparrow:  For those that liked Slumdog Millionaire, here is a similarly touching / slightly harrowing / slice of life that turns out to be a fairy-tale kind of movie.... set in Vietnam, instead of India.

The Wrestler isn't just the rehabilitation of beloved 80s icon Rourke but also of director Aronofsky.  The only film in the last year-plus that made my eyes moist.

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Movies that were mostly a waste of time:  Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, Pineapple Express, and, sadly, most of Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

The Tunnel

As a child, I remember seeing old LIFE magazines from the 1960s with pictoral exposes of tunnels in Berlin connecting the east and west, providing an avenue of escape for east Berliners wanting to go to the west.  Although a bit sanitized for Hollywood, "The Tunnel" vividly recreates that world.  It still smacks a little of propaganda, and one does wonder whether the lessons of that border contains wisdom we haven't applied to other borders (Gaza, or Mexico).  But it is a compelling narrative, and excepting the poor quality of the DVD transfer, a worthy way to spend a couple of hours.