I have to hand it to Cronenberg. This is a totally weird film. The ending was a little unsatisfying imo, but this is a unique cinematic experience, and there are not many of those these days.
In this we follow the travails and clashes **** of depressed, stupid, squabbling **** in Thatcher's London. It is a Mike Leigh film, so of course low budget, gritty, unglamorous realism is the mode. Future stars Gary Oldman and Tim Roth both appear in prominent roles. Much of it is unpleasant to the eye and ear, but nevertheless I could not tear my eyes away.
I have said the same thing about many other flicks, and no doubt will say it again. This presents very cool animation but a fairly silly story. A list actors doing the voice-overs does nothing to improve it.
This begins drearily with Neesom as an older, world weary Philip Marlowe, investigating a mysterious disappearance and mixing it up with highest and the lowest of Los Angeles society in the 1930s. It picks up steam towards the end with the appearance **** gangster and his Black manservant. It is nice to look at even tho it drags a bit. Based on a novel by the fine Irish writer John Banville.
Things don't get much weirder than what happens in this troubling documentary, set in rural New York State. It focuses on the Ward brothers, a group of hick farmers who are disconnected from all things female or modern. One of the brothers has turned up dead, and it may have been a natural occurrence, or he may have been euthanized by his brother. Oh, and . . . ahem . . . there may have been a sexual relationship between the brothers (good golly). The story of the prosecution and the reactions of neighbors and the media are fascinating. The filmmakers got a lot of cooperation from all involved, so the viewer gets to see many sides of the story. This really is a unique film. Morgan Spurlock said in an interview that this was his favorite film, and that made me want to see it.
Here Sinatra stars in a film directed by Preminger and based on a novel by Nelson Algren. It is about a musician, a well-intentioned loser who, despite his efforts, keeps slipping back into drug addiction. It is a story that has been told many times in the movies, and this was one of the first instances. It must have been ground-breaking in its day, but seems pretty melodramatic now. Still worth watching.
This is crazy, nightmarish, and nonsensical; an avant garde horror-drama. The story never comes together at all. Lynch's last feature film was possibly his worst. A fine performance by Laura Dean goes wasted.
The narrative of this must have meant something to Pete Townsend; it was the basis of his most audacious album, the barrier-breaking double LP "Tommy." The story can be ignored in Ken Russell's feature film version, but the color and energy of the images cannot be. It offers us a lot to see and, almost as importantly, to discuss. This belongs in the permanent collection for sure.
Chop wood, carry water, like the Zen guy said. The villagers fear that a septic tank will poison their water. A bad plot that meanders into a pointless ending. The story lines go unresolved. A big disappointment.
This is an aptly titled, nonsensical story that follows a long, platonic romance between a young man and a slightly older woman. There is something very charming about it, even if it frequently makes for weird, pointless viewing. In this film, PT Anderson revisits his dreamlike vision of California in the 1970s, which was probably the CA of his youth.
This is rather pointless and features an uninteresting main character. Forsyth reaches for a clever concept, but fails to grab hold. A few solid sections are outweighed by some weird period pieces.
This is a stunning, exciting, bizarre documentary. I could hardly believe my eyes. It is the profile of an unforgettable, charming, terrifying character - a very capable, well-funded madman. You have seen his name on security software.
This is a strong portrayal of its time and place (New York City art world in the late 1960s). There is too much emphasis on sick, crazy Valerie Solanas, but it still makes for interesting viewing.
This operatic film is magnificent in so many ways. Yet it is weakened by unbelievable story developments and over-the-top sentimentality. It tries to be too many things: a Cain and Abel story, a look at the dramatic lives of ordinary Italians, a boxing drama, a noirish crime tale. Enough already.
This starts out slowly but the images and words get under the skin. It is loosely plotted and hard to get a grip on. There is clearly a weird mythos and spirituality at work. I wish the sequel to this were still readily available, but for some reason it is hard to pull it out of the muck.
Troubled youth in France. This was made in 1994, but it has a low budget, early 1970s vibe and soundtrack. The male lead (Cyprian Fouquet) looks a lot like Keanu Reeves.
It is hard to compare this with anything else. The first section focuses on a Coptic Church group that got heavily into marijuana in South Florida in the 1970s. A couple of them ended up doing long stretches in prison. The other main segment deals with boat smugglers in the Everglades, guys that were forced into the cannabis trade when the government took away their fishing licenses. Some pretty wild characters take the stage here, seemingly speaking openly about their sometimes sordid lives. If you like hearing "war stories" of the drug trade, this should catch your attention. It deserves to be a cult classic.
I came across this bizarre and astonishing film on Criterion Channel. Neptune Frost is as weird as it gets, but has some amazing images to show us. But what is it trying to say? Totally freaking unique but unhinged.
Here is an old favorite of mine. Some scenes have been cut from the original version, for the sake of political correctness, but they never say that anywhere in the credits. I actually called the production company to complain about this, and the girl who answers the phone just openly lied and said that nothing was missing. Anyway, it belongs in the early 1980s time capsule. And it was also the debut of some very big talents, like Sean Penn (who seems to have single-handedly created the stock character of the stoner surfer) and Robert Romanus.
A fascinating mix of alternate history, political thriller, and ironic comedy. Lots of close-ups for some reason. Never dull and never typical. Worthy of the hype.
This seems more like a wide-ranging cinema studies class than a documentary. Some interesting connections are made, mostly between the Wizard of Oz and the films of David Lynch. The main idea is that the 1939 classic (directed by Victor Fleming, who left early to direct Gone With the Wind [!].) was a major influence on much of what Lynch did, and Lynch does not dispute this. Some of the segments got me thinking, but others did not.
This has many of the same good and bad points as other David Lynch films. It answers some of the questions from the TV series, but loses much of the mystery. Some of the plot strands fizzle out.
This is one of my favorites from Woody Allen. Wilson is excellent in the Woody role. It was a deserving winner of the best screenplay Oscar. Anyone who has a thing for Paris and its great artistic period will enjoy this.
A documentary on the life and work of writer Joan Didion, produced and directed by her nephew, Griffin Dunne. It shows us both the clarity and sadness of her work, and the sorrows and successes of her life with her husband (the writer John Griffin Dunne) and daughter, Quintana.
With this film, Olivier Assayas proves that he can do a gripping, modern, neonoir thriller - as well as a relationship tale, or a family drama, the kinds of things he has mostly done in his career. It starts off well enough, an enigmatic tale of industrial espionage in the world of digital media. There is some sort of competition going on between a French company, an American company, and a Japanese company that may or not be producing an extreme, and extremely successful, hardcore S&M website. An icey, beautiful woman, played by Connie Nielsen, is some sort of spy, and the film begins with her poisoning her boss and taking her spot. She is being paid and supported by an older Frenchman, but his role in the situation is unclear. And that is about all the sense I could make out of it, as the storyline began to crumble. There follow sexual liaisons, bloodshed, double crosses, and kidnappings - and none of it adds up. The story is a mess, which is a shame, because this is a visually thrilling flick, with some very cool atmospherics, and a soundtrack by Sonic Youth.
As a collection of weird, intense vignettes, this is hard to top. But it has comprehensibility issues. The plot grabs one at first, and then takes a turn for the surreal. The "it was all a dream/fantasy" explanation appears to be the most popular one, but who knows? It contains some of Lynch's most striking images and memorable characters, and that is saying a lot. I read a long time ago that many more scenes were filmed than appear in this version, and that it was originally meant to be a televisions series, like Twin Peaks. I don't know how true that is, but I would like to see more of this if it exists. Maybe someday. I would also like to register my disappointment that Lynch mostly stopped making feature films after this, with the exception of the thoroughly loony Inland Empire.
This is the story **** of female friends and their romantic relationships and work lives. The word happy is in the title, but this is not a happy film, and it goes on for over 5 hours. Each of the main characters is struggling with relationship and work issues, and things grow progressively more dramatic as the story goes on. Jun is trying to get away from her obsessive husband, who refuses to let her leave him, and in Japan a husband has some legal rights in this area. Fumi has to deal with what might be a romantic rival to her husband, a thoughtful writer. Sakurako lives with her husband, son, and mother-in-law in what appears to be a loveless home. And Akari, the tough one of the group, is lonely and emotionally isolated. There is a lot of loneliness in this film, and it seems like an indictment of Japanese marriages, portraying them as cold and heartless arrangements that are unfulfilling for all concerned. It reminded me of the films of Eric Rohmer, in the way it seriously probed its characters' relationships and emotions. There are long, puzzling sequences, like the odd workshop that takes place near the beginning. It was cool to see Hamaguchi breaking all the rules of mainstream filmmaking by having his characters talk at length about their feelings, and behave in realistic, undramatic ways. This is a serious film that got me thinking about the characters and their lives.
Gibbs's documentary makes the point that green, renewable energy is actually not so renewable, and that much of it depends on using fossil fuels and burning trees. It touches on the danger of uncontrolled population growth, something that most environmental organizations do not want to discuss. The opinions that rich capitalists have taken over the environmental movement, and that environmental leaders like Bill McKibben and the Sierra Club have sold out is put forward. There is some effective use of TV interviews and stock footage, but overall this paints a bleak picture and offers very little in the way of solutions.
Writer John Patrick Shanley was on a roll back then; this is one of 4 of his scripts that were released between 1987 and 1990. This does not seem especially heartfelt, but it is an entertaining movie - a mix of serial killer mystery and romantic comedy, plus a little family drama for good measure. Kline stars as an eccentric and brilliant, but reluctant detective brought in to try to solve a big case.
The first 2/3 of this is a sharp, funny psychological thriller / sophisticated comedy. But then the story takes a surprise turn, and things get loonier from there on out. Resnais likes to get into mind games with his audience. Despite the frustrating finish, it is still a beautiful film to look at, with excellent camera work and settings. Andre Dussollier is fine as the male lead, and it is interesting to see Mathieu Amalric playing a cop.
Here is another excellent documentary from Alex Gibney, focusing on one of our era's most fascinating morality tales. I saw another film that was much harsher in its assessment of the great cyclist and cheater Lance Armstong. Gibney had a lot of access to his subject, and his viewpoint is more nuanced. We can see that Armstrong is a complicated man, and that while he clearly lied and connived and meted out revenge to some, he was also a positive presence in many people's lives, and he has done some wonderful charity work. Also, it is important to remember that while Lance was admittedly using banned substances and practices, so was pretty much every other cyclist - they really were all doing it. The film sets out to cover his 2009 attempt at a Tour de France comeback, and ends up doing that and a lot more. As always with Gibney's work, there is some great footage and excellent interviews to take in.
It seems that the films director Loach has made with writer Laverty are more lively and entertaining than his earlier works. This one combines social realism with a caper comedy, and the results are solid if unsurprising. There is a bit of a problem with the story, in that young Robbie is trying to "go straight" as the saying goes, but his plan to achieve legitimacy as a member of society involves stealing many thousands of pounds worth of rare whiskey. A couple of other points: If you are not Scottish, you may find yourself turning on the subtitles from time to time. Paul Brannigan is a fine actor (and kudos to the make up department for the nice facial scar he has), but this slim-shouldered fellow does not seem like the fearsome street fighter he is supposed to be - of course one could make that complaint about many movies. Also, it might have been more interesting if some of the other characters' lives got explored some more.
Bale's over-the-top performance is what really keeps this loony, dark dramedy afloat. I suppose it was only a matter of time until someone got the idea to create a character who is both an arrogrant, narcisssistic, upper crust young businessman and a vicious serial killer, but writer Bret E. Ellis gets the credit. There is not much to like here, and hardly anyone to root for, with the exception of the main character's secretary. It is Wall Street in the 1980s, and the characters are vapid jerks, lost in a world of designer clothes, reservations at chic restaurants, and cocaine-fueled partying. The cynicism is laid on with a shovel, and the outbursts of evil madness and humor are pretty bizarre. Watch while our killer begins his rampages with little critical reviews of 1980s pop music albums. Why? And why bother watching? I found myself asking that question a lot, until Bale appears to save the day.
This pokes fun at trashy, violent flicks while simultaneously being one. The narrative connections to the Ted Kennedy - **** incident and Antonioni's Blow Up add something.
Here is a portrait of a couple of very unusual lovers and their relationship. We follow their life together in New York City and on tour with Psychic TV, one of P-Orridge's bands. Despite the fact that these two are as freaky as can be, their union is a sweet and romantic one. They sought to eliminate their gender differences, and through plastic surgery and art, become one being, a pandrogyne. Still, it only presents part of their story, and it is all from P-Orridge's POV. What, for example, is the story with Genesis's kids, beyond them wishing he would buy them a car instead of new boobs for himself and his lover? And where did Lady Jaye come from, and how did she end up on her own at age 14? This does make me want to check out some of his music, even if his monotonous vocals are hardly attractive.
As I first began watching this, it crossed my mind that I might be watching a bomb of epic proportions. But no, as it went on, I began warming up to this very odd, dark, satire. It borrows a premise from some blockbuster adventure flick - at least I bet this has been done before - a big comet is on a collision course with earth, and what is to be done? A couple of well-intentioned scientists set out to inform their leaders and the public of the bad news. But surprise - this is where the flick takes a sharp turn - our leaders don't want to hear about it, and urge caution, etc. The scientists (DiCaprio and Lawrence) soon find themselves embroiled in controversies and romantic entanglements. Mark Rylance is a hoot as a Musk/Jobs-like engineering genius who comes up with a way to profit from the comet. Cate Blanchett is fantastic as a heartless talk show hostess. It is co-written by leftist journalist David Sirota. This is full of loony, funny moments - and it could irritate a lot of people.
I only got through half of this annoying, pointless, and very violent movie. I could make very little sense out of what I did see, but viewers who like lots of heartless bloodshed and cool posturing might like it. Somebody needs to tell Martin McDonagh that cleverness with no purpose behind it is not the same thing as wit and brilliance. I guess if a writer-director does not have any good ideas, then just throwing a bunch of kool murderz and top actors on the screen will at least hold a viewer's attention.
This is an odd situation for me, in that I found the filmmaking techniques more interesting than the subject - but what interesting techniques. The Long Day Closes could have only been a film, and that is saying a lot. It could not have been a book, or a play, or a painting . . . This is mostly a cinematic poem, full of images and music that are both dreary and rich. It follows the lonely life of a serious boy (around 12-14 years old) in urban England during the 1950s, and his interactions with family, acquaintances, school, church, etc. There are things going on in terms of characters and events, but mostly this is about atmosphere. This reminded me of Tarkovsky's "Mirror."
