The 39 Steps - 1935 - 3½ Stars

Actors: Robert Donat, Madeline Carroll

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

My totally haphazard old film knowledge fails me when I see a film like The 39 Steps - I should probably not even bother rating such a film. The 39 Steps could be re-named the 39 Deus Ex Machinas - our heroes fall into and out of trouble so fast that we might miss it if we blinked. The film's plot is also exceptionally similar to North By Northwest (regular dude hears some spy shit, has to lam it).

One of the film's strengths is its 86 minute running time - modern directors would've made this 125 minutes, with a jive-talking pop-culture referencing panda and ponderous scenes of exposition where all the nonsense that happens in this movie gets explained - Hitchcock merely lets it all happen. Hitchcock also throws in a few inventive camera shots that suggest his later genius.

Zodiac - 2007 - 2½ Stars

Actors: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo

Director: David Fincher

Zodiac belongs in a genre I call a theater movie. I suppose all films are theater movies - better experienced on a giant, mind-blocking screen. What's more important about a movie theater is that it's generally time-blocking. We get immersed in the film and time disappears.

On a small screen, however, Zodiac's 2 hour and 40 minute running time is painfully obvious. And while it's a solid thriller that follows the story of the mysterious Zodiac Killer, it is simply far too long for what it tries to accomplish. There has to be a way to tell this story more economically. Fincher stuffs everything in because he doesn't want the film to be merely a police procedural, so we're treated to bone-chilling murders and murder attempts. We're also treated to Jake Gyllenhaal's character, who appears entirely irrelevant until halfway through the film.

If I saw Zodiac in the theater, I'd've given it 3½ stars, maybe 4. 2½ hours of this film, however - Hitchcock correctly noted that any film can always be shorter.

Ratatouille - 2007 - 4 Stars

Voices: Patton Oswalt, Brad Garrett

Director: Brad Bird

It's been a long time since I've seen a Pixar film - I think the last one was the original Toy Story when it came out. I really want to hate Pixar - critically acclaimed and wildly popular? There has to be something insidious going on. Maybe Brad Bird rapes pelicans, or The Incredibles is actually an allegory about Aryan supermen. That all may be so, but they make a damn fine film. Ratatouille is thankfully free of pop-culture winks, it has a simple, timeless story that's told effectively.

Helping me through was the voice of Patton Oswalt, a most unlikely lead voice in a children's animated film, but he is pretty much note-perfect as Remy the Rat.

Dogville - 2004 - 4 Stars

Actors: Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgaard

Director: Lars Von Trier

Dogville opens with a shot set above a 'street' - it clearly isn't a street, but a representation of one. We can see the tops of people's heads as they are in their homes - their homes are labeled Other items around the town are also labeled. I thought this was a cute Wes Anderson way to begin a film - that we'd soon be transported to a real movie set with actual houses, streets, etc. As it turns out, that's the entire film set.

A film with basically no set must rely very heavily on acting, and this film is lucky enough to have amazing actors. Though I give it full marks for the acting performances and utilization of style, the film fails in many other respects. It can also be painful to watch at times. Still, this sort of experimentation should be encouraged, even if it does result in an overwrought and heavy-handed film that runs nearly three hours in length.

Glengarry Glen Ross - 1992 - 4½ Stars

Actors: Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Alec Baldwin

Director: James Foley

Glengarry Glen Ross has lost little of its luster since I last viewed it four years ago. A tale of four real estate salesmen in competition to keep their jobs, using every sales deception imaginable, with the least ethical path usually winning out. It's also an acting clinic - watching these great actors alternately squirm and bluster, wince and connive.

Writer David Mamet tries to show the pitfalls of wrapping up one's identity in one's job - for if a person like this is no longer good at their job, what are they? Lemmon's Shelley Levene, who is at points confused, scared, confident, triumphant, pleading, and wheedling, manages to state this central point without saying it.

My Best Fiend - 1999 - 4 Stars

Director: Werner Herzog

Note: Spoilers for Fitzcarraldo ahead

My Best Fiend looks at Werner Herzog's relationship with the legendarily troubled actor Klaus Kinski, with whom Herzog made five films. Kinski's incredible intensity on screen was dwarfed by his intensity off it, as he constantly stormed into rages whenever something was not the way he wanted it.

I get the sense that Herzog is stretching the truth in this documentary - he seems like that sort of truth-stretching sort. Regardless, there is one moment that captures their relationship - as they are filming the famous scene near the end of Fitzcarraldo where the boat is smashing into the sides of the river, a cameraman gets seriously injured when the boat rams into a bank with great force. Kinski and Herzog are unharmed and recounting how far they flew while this cameraman nurses his bloodied hand - there is little concern for him, as both are more interested in telling their experience of what went on. It is this self-absorbed quality that a great artist must have.

The Taking Of Pelham 123 - 2009 - 1 Star

Actors: John Travolta, Denzel Washington

Director: Tony Scott

I don't normally review films this putrid on this blog, but I alighted upon this stunning piece of drivel on television and was compelled to watch it.

Why remake a masterpiece? The original Taking of Pelham 123 is a great film, a gritty 70s New York triumph about an attempted takeover and ransom of a New York City subway train. This movie is a complete disaster, substituting Robert Shaw's taciturn, meticulous terrorist with John Travolta ham, several subplots that are totally unneeded, a bizarre commentary on the nature of Wall Street, and terrible direction - it's as if the director thinks that if the camera stays still for more than three seconds that we will immediately become bored.

Film remakes can have some value - they can provide new interpretations of old classics, or update films for a new generation. One gets the sense in watching this, however, that Gone With The Wind needed a backtalking chimpanzee, or that The Godfather needed a courtroom scene. All Hollywood 'style', absolutely no substance, and utterly forgettable - stick with the original.