The Hangover - 2009 - 3½ Stars

Actors: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms

Director: Todd Phillips

The Hangover is rather easy to deconstruct as formulaic and ultimately dis-spiriting. We have Our Hero, who's a real Cool Guy and Loves To Party, and who disapproves of Lame Guy's Overly Controlling Girlfriend. Then we have The Butt Of Jokes who doesn't understand how to act in social situations (his pop culture touchstones are woefully out of date!) and whom our main characters mock endlessly.

That said, Zach Galifinakis steals the show as The Butt Of Jokes. Furthermore, the plot of The Hangover is actually quite good for a comedy film, and is the true strength of the film - like our heroes, we have no idea what happened. I am not a fan of the Todd Phillips oeuvre, but this is probably the best of the bunch. I do still lament the state of film comedy - I have low expectations for anything Judd Apatow will undertake in the future, and certainly no expectations for the Phillips machine.

A Fistful Of Dollars - 1964 - 3½ Stars

Actors: Clint Eastwood, Marianne Koch
Director: Sergio Leone

Clint Eastwood's 'Man With No Name's motivations elude me. Sure, he's a badass, and he's crafty, and he's not altogether concerned with money. And he's a legendary shot. A sense of adventure, perhaps, always up to a challenge; here, to defeat the ruthless men that have also come to the American Southwest to stake a claim for themselves.

Whatever the case, Leone's Yojimbo retelling succeeds in some places. Eastwood's character is supposed to anchor the whole thing, but doesn't quite pull it off for me - in Yojimbo, Toshiro Mifune plays the manipulative savant with Puckish flavor, enjoying every moment even as he risks his life - Eastwood's character is more taciturn, his enjoyment is internalized.

Salesman - 1968 - 3 Stars

Director: Albert Maysles

Salesman covers the travails of five Bible salesman as they go door-to-door trying to hock their $50 picture Bibles to generally poor Catholic families. This is obviously very weighty stuff - the Church has signed off on this practice, and the salesmen make sure to mention the Church and, if possible, the local priest, right away.

While Salesman is no doubt an important documentary historically, it fails to tell a compelling story. The scenes where the men are doing their aggressive pitches to people who cannot afford this product and don't realize they don't want or need it are skin-crawling in a good way, but there's not much else to this film.

Gone With The Wind - 1939 - 4½ Stars

Actors: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable
Director: Victor Fleming

Gone With The Wind should probably be longer. It's the rare film that despite its length, it feels like there isn't a wasted scene. Still, some events come across as melodramatic, a pitfall that it's difficult to avoid when adapting from a novel.

The performances are absolutely top-notch - I think they are actually aided by the often cheesy and outdated backdrops the film resorts to using. As in a play, we are forced to focus more on the characters. Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara is perfectly realized; Clark Gable's swaggering Rhett Butler a classic film performance.

A special f-you to the Simpsons for ruining the end of this film for me, though. I suppose that any time I watch a legitimate classic film I will run into this problem - someone has already polluted my brain with satire, parody, or reference.

Satantango - 1994 - 4 Stars

Actors: Mihaly Vig, Putyi Horvath
Director: Bela Tarr

I guess the question surrounding the film Satantango and its gargantuan length - supposedly 7 hours, though I admit I lost count - Is it worth it? Is it a film worth viewing? I say - maybe. It will change your perception of film by the end. You will expect to see, e.g. characters just eating. But you will also be bored at some points, that's a guarantee - the film defies you not to be bored. You will probably become depressed as well - this is far from an uplifting film. Also, if it takes you a month to view it like me, you'll only figure out the names of all the characters by the very end. Oh, and spoiler alert - it doesn't really have an ending.

So if you're up for a 7 hour slog through Eastern Europe that doesn't have a conclusion - go for it. It's unlike just about anything else you've ever seen, and there are a few sublime sequences amid all the squalor and despair.

EDIT: If you think that somewhere down the line, you might want to see this film, watch a film by Andrei Tarkovsky or Gus Van Sant's Gerry first. If you enjoy the ridiculously long takes and floating camera style, Satantango just may be for you.

Heavy Metal in Baghdad - 2007 - 4 Stars

Director: Eddy Moretti

Heavy Metal in Baghdad details the day-to-day struggles of the Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda the difficulties they have merely surviving in 2005 Baghdad, never mind finding time and space to play their music. They are the only heavy metal band in Iraq - at their rare concerts, "People don't headbang, because the authorities think that people nodding their heads in this way are performing Jewish prayers."

I thought of Hoop Dreams and the tribulations of Arthur Agee and William Gates to continue their dream of playing basketball - why do art and sport, two of the most fruitless human endeavors, affect us so when we see them restricted? Even one of the band members, in possibly the most poignant statement of the film, recognizes that there are many other Iraqis who wish to help people, but cannot due to the strife in their country. All these men want to do is to play music.

Julia - 2008 - 3½ Stars

Actors: Tilda Swinton, Saul Rubinek
Director: Erick Zonca

I should explain, based on the number of 3½ star ratings I've been giving out, what that exactly means. In my view, it means a film that takes risks but doesn't quite cohere. It may have a great concept and fail to execute. Alternately, a 3½ star film may take a poor concept and execute it as good as it can be done.

Julia falls in the 'great concept, couldn't quite pull it off' realm. I'm not sure the creators of Julia realized they were making a noir film. As a result, most of the character development comes off as hollow - we're watching a rather convoluted film. When the movie tries to pull back and show us the characters' human side, it's difficult to empathize with any of the main characters. The film also runs long at 140 minutes; I doubt this could be a 90 minute film, but it could easily be a 120 minute film.

However, despite the character issues, Tilda Swinton is phenomenal as the titular character - her performance, at the very least, was quite credible.