Actors: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Note: Vague spoilers ahead
It's been quite some time since I watched a Tarkovsky film, and indeed there are not many left for me to see for the first time. The thing I forgot about Tarkovsky is that one has to be prepared to be clueless for part of the film, and indeed I was both confused and bored for the middle third of the film. What follows is one of the most captivating and audacious endings to a film I've seen in quite some time. You get your usual Tarkovsky features here - philosophical conversations, lots of mirrors, lots of shots of flowing water - and like many a Tarkovsky it will probably make less sense as the film ends, but oh how I'd like to be in some 1980s coffee shop discussing what this film means after having seen it in a theater. I really should rate this one twice - 2½ stars for the first 2 hours, and then a big 5 stars for the finish.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Destiny Turns On The Radio - 1995 - 2 Stars
Actors: Dylan McDermott, Nancy Travis
Director: Jack Baran
I normally don't review movies I watch for goofs. I wouldn't know about this movie if I hadn't heard David Cross tell a story onstage about working with Jim Belushi. That anecdote wasn't very interesting, but when I found out that Destiny is the last name of a character called Johnny Destiny and that he is played by Quentin Tarantino this moved into must-see territory - how could this movie be anything but a disaster?
It turns out that this movie is actually not terrible. It's certainly not good - it's like a bad version of Wild At Heart, with McDermott doing an ill-concealed impression of Nicolas Cage. So it's easy to see why this movie is totally forgotten - it's a mash-up of better movies and its craziness isn't totally batshit. If you like to see a naked and electrified Quentin Tarantino emerging from a hotel pool, this movie is for you.
Director: Jack Baran
I normally don't review movies I watch for goofs. I wouldn't know about this movie if I hadn't heard David Cross tell a story onstage about working with Jim Belushi. That anecdote wasn't very interesting, but when I found out that Destiny is the last name of a character called Johnny Destiny and that he is played by Quentin Tarantino this moved into must-see territory - how could this movie be anything but a disaster?
It turns out that this movie is actually not terrible. It's certainly not good - it's like a bad version of Wild At Heart, with McDermott doing an ill-concealed impression of Nicolas Cage. So it's easy to see why this movie is totally forgotten - it's a mash-up of better movies and its craziness isn't totally batshit. If you like to see a naked and electrified Quentin Tarantino emerging from a hotel pool, this movie is for you.
Monday, September 29, 2014
The Unknown Known - 2014 - 3½ Stars
Subject: Donald Rumsfeld and his career at the highest echelons of decision-making
Director: Errol Morris
I'd watch anything Errol Morris does, so I'm not really a good person to review his films. Some might find his visual style distracting, and while it wasn't particularly inspired this time around, it's still far superior to the talking head style that dominates most factual-type documentaries. There can be unnecessary visual irony in Morris films, but here, the ironies are almost all audio-based. And there's some doozies.
Note: Some Spoilers Ahead
Morris is unkind to Rumsfeld - I wish that he had let Rumsfeld hang himself more. We don't get a real good account of Rumsfeld's early career - how did he rise to power? Morris's film seems to imply it's by Machiavellian means. We don't get much of a look at what he was doing between stints in the White Houses, and we don't get a clear explanation of why George H.W. Bush hated him. The strong implication from the film is that Rumsfeld is somewhat of a stooge - he's the kind of person who runs to the dictionary when he's asked what something means. He holds press conferences on a war where he appears absolutely delighted to be the center of attention. He's vainglorious and condescending. He seems to offer no answers to questions he's not interested in answering - not even half answers. Indeed, the final question of the film is a brutal gut punch, because I think I believe Rumsfeld when he says he has no idea why he agreed to do this film. He must've seen Morris's A Fog Of War, which at least to me portrayed Robert McNamara as a guy who had the wrong idea about stuff but a man who could explain himself. Rumsfeld's lies are barely concealed, and indeed, he seems like a walking affirmation of the Peter Principle. Shame for the nation, then.
Director: Errol Morris
I'd watch anything Errol Morris does, so I'm not really a good person to review his films. Some might find his visual style distracting, and while it wasn't particularly inspired this time around, it's still far superior to the talking head style that dominates most factual-type documentaries. There can be unnecessary visual irony in Morris films, but here, the ironies are almost all audio-based. And there's some doozies.
Note: Some Spoilers Ahead
Morris is unkind to Rumsfeld - I wish that he had let Rumsfeld hang himself more. We don't get a real good account of Rumsfeld's early career - how did he rise to power? Morris's film seems to imply it's by Machiavellian means. We don't get much of a look at what he was doing between stints in the White Houses, and we don't get a clear explanation of why George H.W. Bush hated him. The strong implication from the film is that Rumsfeld is somewhat of a stooge - he's the kind of person who runs to the dictionary when he's asked what something means. He holds press conferences on a war where he appears absolutely delighted to be the center of attention. He's vainglorious and condescending. He seems to offer no answers to questions he's not interested in answering - not even half answers. Indeed, the final question of the film is a brutal gut punch, because I think I believe Rumsfeld when he says he has no idea why he agreed to do this film. He must've seen Morris's A Fog Of War, which at least to me portrayed Robert McNamara as a guy who had the wrong idea about stuff but a man who could explain himself. Rumsfeld's lies are barely concealed, and indeed, he seems like a walking affirmation of the Peter Principle. Shame for the nation, then.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Spartan - 2004 - 3 Stars
Actors: Val Kilmer, Derek Luke
Director: David Mamet
I think Spartan is probably a failure. It's about 45 minutes of dynamite Hitchcockian thriller. Then it's about an hour of plot threads coming together in a way that reveals the weakness of the plot. Hitchcock films are almost universally ridiculous, plot-wise - the way they work is by letting the viewer know as much as the protagonist. Mamet violates this rule about halfway through the movie and it leaves us wondering when the protagonist will realize his error - and we know that he must, otherwise there's no movie - and what's left is us knowing both more and less than the protagonist. Either way it's got some fun Mamet-y dialogue - not enough to save the film. I give it 3 stars on the basis of the beginning alone, really. When you shoot for a modern Manchurian Candidate, sometimes you end up with this.
Director: David Mamet
I think Spartan is probably a failure. It's about 45 minutes of dynamite Hitchcockian thriller. Then it's about an hour of plot threads coming together in a way that reveals the weakness of the plot. Hitchcock films are almost universally ridiculous, plot-wise - the way they work is by letting the viewer know as much as the protagonist. Mamet violates this rule about halfway through the movie and it leaves us wondering when the protagonist will realize his error - and we know that he must, otherwise there's no movie - and what's left is us knowing both more and less than the protagonist. Either way it's got some fun Mamet-y dialogue - not enough to save the film. I give it 3 stars on the basis of the beginning alone, really. When you shoot for a modern Manchurian Candidate, sometimes you end up with this.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Boyhood - 2014 - 4½ Stars
Actors: Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke
Director: Richard Linklater
Boyhood is a splendid film - it's hard not to give it points for the difficulty of its construction. Requiring over a decade to tell its story in stages, it very easily could've turned out to be an unsalvagable, self-indulgent mess. Instead, it grabs at all sorts of slices of one's childhood - it makes one's heart ache to remember being that young. Regardless, the film doesn't just seize at your memories in an attempt to bring them to your brain and make you feel stuff - it succeeds in being emotionally captivating in its own right.
Chuck Klosterman said that cinema verite is his least favorite style because any attempt to make the film look 'real' only highlights its artificiality. While Boyhood is not shot cinema verite, the film is attempting a kind of realism that can sound and look awfully tin-eared during its few missteps.
Director: Richard Linklater
Boyhood is a splendid film - it's hard not to give it points for the difficulty of its construction. Requiring over a decade to tell its story in stages, it very easily could've turned out to be an unsalvagable, self-indulgent mess. Instead, it grabs at all sorts of slices of one's childhood - it makes one's heart ache to remember being that young. Regardless, the film doesn't just seize at your memories in an attempt to bring them to your brain and make you feel stuff - it succeeds in being emotionally captivating in its own right.
Chuck Klosterman said that cinema verite is his least favorite style because any attempt to make the film look 'real' only highlights its artificiality. While Boyhood is not shot cinema verite, the film is attempting a kind of realism that can sound and look awfully tin-eared during its few missteps.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
American Hustle - 2013 - 3½ Stars
Actors: Christian Bale, Amy Adams
Director: David O. Russell
American Hustle gets a lot right - it's got fun performances from a long list of solid actors. It's a period piece so we get to enjoy the 1970s. It's got some tense scenes. In all though, it's a film about con men, and one of the problems I have with some con men films is that I can't care about the protagonist's happiness. He's a chronic liar driven to do so by whatever drives him. I suppose the title 'American' in this film is supposed to indicate that the characters are microcosmic of America, but I'm not buying it. Fun film but I'd be surprised if I remembered much about it three months from now.
Director: David O. Russell
American Hustle gets a lot right - it's got fun performances from a long list of solid actors. It's a period piece so we get to enjoy the 1970s. It's got some tense scenes. In all though, it's a film about con men, and one of the problems I have with some con men films is that I can't care about the protagonist's happiness. He's a chronic liar driven to do so by whatever drives him. I suppose the title 'American' in this film is supposed to indicate that the characters are microcosmic of America, but I'm not buying it. Fun film but I'd be surprised if I remembered much about it three months from now.
Friday, August 1, 2014
The World's End - 2013 - 4 Stars
Actors: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost
Director: Edgar Wright
The World's End is the conclusion to a trilogy of sorts, and so there is quite a lot of meta stuff about rehashing the past and repeating what you've already done, trying to make it better. The best part about said meta stuff is that it functions perfectly well narratively in the film. Furthermore, it is refreshing to see a comedy that is not just 10 scenes of improv dashed together - this is a legitimate film, with Edgar Wright providing outstanding direction. Even though things flag near the end, it's still an achievement.
Director: Edgar Wright
The World's End is the conclusion to a trilogy of sorts, and so there is quite a lot of meta stuff about rehashing the past and repeating what you've already done, trying to make it better. The best part about said meta stuff is that it functions perfectly well narratively in the film. Furthermore, it is refreshing to see a comedy that is not just 10 scenes of improv dashed together - this is a legitimate film, with Edgar Wright providing outstanding direction. Even though things flag near the end, it's still an achievement.
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