Scotland, PA - Billy Morrissette (2001, DVD)
Extremely clever version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, set in a small town fast food restaurant in 1975. I didn't realize what the gimmick was until seeing Shakespeare's name in the opening credits, and from that point on I was hooked. The shift of setting probably could have been played in a more deadpan manner, but the movie is made lighter in tone with goofy surrealism; it's a black comedy rather than a tragedy. Maura Tierney stands out as "Lady Macbeth".
| Comments (77) | TrackBack (409) | link me | February 2003

Y Tu Mamá También - Alfonso Cuarón (2001, DVD)
I didn't know anything about this movie going into it, and loved it. This is the best road trip movie I can remember seeing. It's also the most honest (and graphic) depiction of teenage male sexuality I've ever seen, simultaneously illustrating both its intensity and its absurdity. It's alternately melancholy and hysterically funny, and leaves you aching for more when it has to end. Every sixteen-year-old should see it.
| Comments (148) | TrackBack (836) | link me | December 2002

The Virgin Suicides - Sofia Coppola (1999, DVD)
Somehow this didn't engage me fully, so I don't have a lot to say about it. Well-executed, at least, and not as oppressively gloomy as you might think from the premise.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (105) | link me | October 2002

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - Clint Eastwood (1997, DVD)
I'll let this movie speak for itself: "This place is fantastic; it's like Gone With The Wind on mescaline." Surreal, twisted Georgia courtroom drama, made all the weirder by the fact that the outlandish story and characters are apparently grounded in reality. (Watching the behind-the-scenes interview with the real-life eccentric inventor with the vial of poison and horseflies on leashes is worth the DVD rental all by itself.) Goes on a little long and the core plot elements aren't as interesting as they could be, but as with Twin Peaks, it's the weirdos surrounding the scene of the crime that make the show enjoyable. Kevin Spacey is great as usual; John Cusack is held back a little too much in a straight-man role.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (222) | link me | October 2002

Signs - M. Night Shyamalan
We saw Signs in a digital projection at the Metreon. Even without my glasses, I found myself distracted by projection-hardware artifacts (vertical striping like you'd see on an older laptop screen, for instance) and digital aliasing and banding. Digital projection still goes through optics, so focus can still suck, moths can still fly into the spot, etc. This is technology in search of a problem to solve, I think. Oh yeah, the movie. I really don't want to give any spoilers here; I think my enjoyment of it was hurt somewhat by having read a detailed review in one of the weeklies. It's pretty good. Like Shyalaman's other movies (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable), Signs is only spec/sci/weird fiction on the surface; deep down it's human drama. The dialogue seemed a little awkward in spots, not something I noticed in Shyamalan's two earlier movies. It felt like it had been rushed through a rewrite (IMDB claims that the F/father part was rewritten for Mel Gibson), or like someone was unwilling to tell mister big shot writer-director that the script needed a bit more work. The review I read opined to the effect that Shyamalan is the best director of children working today, and I have to second that. The kids in this movie are really good, particularly Rory Culkin. I'm not usually that vulnerable to family tearjerkers, but I had a lump in my throat about fifteen minutes in, and didn't even try to stop the tears later on.
| Comments (1) | TrackBack (28) | link me | August 2002

The Shipping News - Lasse Hallström (2001, DVD)
Wonderfully poetic loss-and-redemption film. Not hugely ambitious, but the impressive Newfoundland location shots and the solid execution of the story make it well worth watching.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (128) | link me | June 2002

Amélie - Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain) (2001, DVD)
Beautiful, romantic, hilarious. I can't say enough good about this film. Go see it.
| Comments (13) | TrackBack (109) | link me | June 2002

A Beautiful Mind - Ron Howard (2001, DVD)
A little ways into this movie, you may think "this is idiotic". Keep watching anyway. Not worth its Best Picture Oscar, but not a bad film.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (220) | link me | June 2002

The Great Escape - John Sturges (1963, DVD)
The classic WWII-POW escape flick. Well worth seeing.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (216) | link me | May 2002

AI - Steven Spielberg (2001, DVD)
Have we already mentioned that Haley Joel Osment is a great actor? This one is well worth seeing, though as with many Spielberg movies, it sort of goes off the rails towards the end. Jude Law steals a number of scenes as a stylish android gigolo.
| Comments (11) | TrackBack (453) | link me | March 2002

Horsey - Kirsten Clarksen (1997, DVD)
A nice lyrical slice of garage-band drug abuse, but it never really goes much beyond saying heroin BAAAAAD. The director does quite a bit with a small budget, though, and contrary to the IMDB review, I thought the acting was pretty good.
| Comments (2) | TrackBack (121) | link me | February 2002

Baise-Moi - Coralie Virginie Despentes (2000, DVD)
Thelma and Louise crossed with Natural Born Killers. I found it very hard to watch, particularly the graphic rape scene near the beginning: be warned that this was too much for it to even get an NC-17 in the US.

Bearing in mind that the actresses in this scene have an adult movie background adds subtextual layers: it's ostensibly repulsive, but for the actresses it's almost exactly the same work that they've done in the past for ostensibly arousing results. You have to wonder if the intent is to show a brutal thing unflinchingly, and the choice of actresses is thereby forced, or if the point is to merely to generate as much cognitive dissonance and controversy as possible. As with Natural Born Killers, nothing else in the movie suggested to me that there was any real point to be made here.

I'm a to-the-death supporter of free expression, so I wouldn't dream of saying that my inability to find much redeeming value in this work means that it ought to be banned or boycotted; I will say that I found that it demanded a lot of me and didn't give much in return. Do as you will.

Lighter point: In junior high or high school, I was taught that the verb "baiser" meant "to kiss". (Babelfish backs this up in French->English mode.) Yet colloquially it appears to mean "fuck". (Babelfish backs this up too, in English->French.) Doesn't this cause all sorts of problems for the French? English slang terms like "make out" or "snog" can connote varying degrees of, uh, intimacy, I suppose. Is there an unambigous way to say "kiss" in French?
| Comments (6) | TrackBack (194) | link me | February 2002

Ghost World - Terry Zwigoff (2001, DVD)
The film of choice for young misfits with Steve Buscemi fetishes. Hi Courtney! A strange little movie, and hard to see how it got made. If you need a lot of plot or action, you won't like it, but it's not bad.
| Comments (1) | TrackBack (318) | link me | February 2002

Queer as Folk 2 - Menhaj Huda (2000, DVD)
Less believable than the first series; worth watching if you liked it.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (283) | link me | December 2001

Catch 22 - Mike Nichols (1970, DVD)
Another one of those movies I'd seen in bits and pieces on TV a couple of thousand times. Like M.A.S.H., this is horror dressed in comedy, an illumination of what Joe Haldeman calls "the sheer assholery of war" in terms that Americans could face at a time when the Vietnam War was still underway. Still powerful and important, well worth seeing, but not a pleasant thing.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (269) | link me | December 2001

Babette's Feast - Gabriel Axel (1987, DVD)
Foodie porn in 19th-century Denmark, of all places. Mmmm, Quail en Sarcophage!
| Comments (1) | TrackBack (96) | link me | December 2001

Chocolat - Lasse Hallström (2001, DVD)
A romantic drama; like Lasse Hallström's later film, The Shipping News, Chocolat deals with newcomers in an established, conservative community, which easily induces both amusing and dramatic cultural clashes. Very nice film.
| Comments (8) | TrackBack (249) | link me | November 2001

Erin Brockovich - Steven Soderbergh (2000, DVD)
This was more entertaining than I thought it was going to be, and Julia Roberts was less annoying than she sometimes can be. If you suspect you'll be wanting a grain of salt with that, a slightly different take on the story can be found in this Salon article.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (77) | link me | October 2001

Amores Perros - Alejandro González Iñárritu (2000, DVD)
Gripping and powerful look at interconnected lives in a Mexican underworld. The narrative mechanism of three interlinked stories could come off as gimmicky, but it works perfectly. Contains some hard-to-watch dog fight scenes; I couldn't believe while watching that they were animal-safe, but a making-of bonus on the DVD shows that they were.
| Comments (41) | TrackBack (343) | link me | September 2001

The Girl - Sande Zeig (1999, in theatre)
It's a lot like Bound in that you've got the lesbian romance threatened by a dangerous man. It's a lot unlike Bound in that nothing interesting happens. "You can tell it's a French film because no one does anything that makes any sense."
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (237) | link me | September 2001

Dancer in the Dark - Lars von Trier (2000, DVD)
This is the saddest movie ever. I'm a big girl's blouse, I admit it, I've gotten a little sniffly at the movies from time to time, but I broke down sobbing at the end of this one, it just squashed me like a bug. Admittedly, we were in a pretty fragile emotional state — the weekend after the 9/11 attacks.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (70) | link me | September 2001

Panic - Henry Bromell (2000, DVD)
Blah. Decent performances but uninteresting, unmemorable story. I had some trouble accepting William H. Macy in his role (possibly because I typecast him from Fargo); he seemed far better suited to his role in Focus, for example. "Panic" is, however, a really popular film title.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (274) | link me | June 2001

The Watermelon Woman - Cheryl Dunye (1996, DVD)
Another low-budget lesbian film-school job, a mix of personal drama and faux documentary. Interesting.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (332) | link me | June 2001

Queer As Folk (British TV Series) (1999, DVD)
Yowza! Okay, so someone told me that QAF was pretty explicit, but somehow I got the impression that meant I was gonna see men kissing and groping, not, um, licking and thrusting. So color me surprised. Anyway, it's pretty good queer soap opera. I find myself yelling at the characters onscreen as I watch, which at least must mean I care...
| Comments (1) | TrackBack (279) | link me | June 2001

Shadow of the Vampire - E. Elias Merhige (2000, DVD)
Hmmm. The IMDB user comments probably say more about this than I want to. Somehow I didn't have the right impression going into the movie; I was expecting historical drama (James was expecting black comedy) instead of... psychological horror? Is that what it was? Maybe I just need less subtle movies, or maybe I just have trouble connecting with Malkovich (see The Ogre, below).
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (150) | link me | June 2001

Thirteen Days - Roger Donaldson (2000, DVD)
Excellent historical drama. The Cuban Missile Crisis was before our time, of course, so this served as both history lesson and entertainment. The book it's based on was written by people who edited the relevant White House tapes, and appears to be pretty accurate. Costner's part is a sort of eye-of-the-hurricane role, so even though he's in most every scene, he doesn't get irritating.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (274) | link me | June 2001

Cast Away - Robert Zemeckis (2000, DVD)
Fairly absorbing, worth a watch even if you aren't a big Tom Hanks fan.
| Comments (1) | TrackBack (274) | link me | June 2001

Finding Forrester - Gus Van Sant (2000, DVD)
A bit better than so-so: Fairly clichéd, but well-executed.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (273) | link me | June 2001

Traffic - Steven Soderbergh (2000, DVD)
A good, if a bit heavy-handed, multiperspective look at the "war on drugs", interleaving stories of users, dealers, the DEA, and Mexican police. Interesting cinematography, using hand held cams and different filters, adds to the impact.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (49) | link me | June 2001

If These Walls Could Talk 2 - Jane Anderson and Martha Coolidge (2000, DVD)
Anthology piece about three sets of lesbians in the same house in different decades. The first piece, featuring Vanessa Redgrave, is heartwrenchingly moving, the second, with a butch Chloë Sevigny, is sexy, the third, with Anne Heche directing then-partner Ellen DeGeneres and Sharon Stone as a couple trying to have a baby, is funny. Pretty good stuff all told.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (94) | link me | June 2001

The Right Stuff - Philip Kaufman (1983, DVD)
I'm a fan of all things space-related; this dramatization of the lives of the Mercury program astronauts, and the hot-shot jet pilot culture that spawned them, stays engaging for over three hours.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (104) | link me | June 2001

State and Main - David Mamet (2000, DVD)
Amusing. Plus it has Rebecca Pidgeon. James could fix her.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (177) | link me | June 2001

Chutney Popcorn - Nisha Ganatra (1999, DVD)
Cute, low-budget lesbian family drama. Writer/director/lead actress Nisha Ganatra plays Reena, the black sheep of an Indian (as in India) family living in New York City, caught between obligation to family and selfish independence. Her "perfect" straight older sister is unable to have a baby, so Reena decides to have one for her; hilarity and angst ensue in approximately equal measure. It's not hugely groundbreaking, and it's a little raw in the production values department, but it's pretty clear that everyone involved in the film had a great time doing it, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Ganatra comes up with next.
| Comments (2) | TrackBack (78) | link me | June 2001

Almost Famous - Cameron Crowe (2000, DVD)
Hugely enjoyable film in the tongue-in-cheek-nostalgic mold of Boogie Nights. Some excellent performances from both the leading and supporting cast members, particularly our endearingly dweeby hero (Patrick Fugit in his first feature film role).
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (231) | link me | March 2001

Being There - Hal Ashby (1979, DVD)
I understand.
| Comments (0) | TrackBack (254) | link me | March 2001

Last Tango In Paris - Bernardo Bertolucci (Ultimo tango a Parigi) (1972, DVD)
The "new classics" raids continue. Heavy, intense movie about a sexual affair between a young French woman and a middle-aged American (Marlon Brando). Rated X when originally released, this is the kind of film for which the NC-17 rating was invented — though it might have to be toned down even today to get it. While a few of the scenes were sexy, others were brutal enough to be turnoffs; overall it was pretty grim. I'm not so very American that I need a happy ending to every flick I see, but this had only a few fleeting moments of joy in it. Still, very interesting and worth seeing. Since it's written and directed by an Italian, set in Paris, with 90% French dialogue, I figure I can't give it full weight in my ongoing Determination of Epoch because it's inherently separate from my culture, but it did feel more modern than not.
| Comments (131) | TrackBack (84) | link me | March 2001

The Ogre - Volker Schlöndorff (Der Unhold) (1996, DVD)
Hmm, more adults kidnapping and exploiting children. John Malkovich is good in a very strange role; I don't think I can explain or really comment on the movie except to say that it's striking and worth a watch.
| Comments (16) | TrackBack (254) | link me | March 2001

Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me - David Lynch (1992, VHS)
meriko hadn't ever seen Twin Peaks (movie or series), so we had to remedy the situation. Over the holidays we managed to tackle the first half of the series and the movie. I can only really recommend this movie to serious fans of the series. Thus, if you haven't seen it by now, you probably don't need to.
| Comments (1) | TrackBack (165) | link me | January 2001

Quills - Philip Kaufman (2000, in theatre)
Good movie. Despite being set in the 18th century, it's really more about modern debates on freedom of expression. I thought Joaquin Phoenix did a great job as the sympathetic priest/warden playing opposite Geoffrey Rush's de Sade; they managed to strike a balance of strong characters rather than letting the madman steal the scenes. Unfortunately, someone felt the need for an obvious villain, so Michael Caine wound up playing a fairly weak bad-guy caricature. Don't go in expecting historical accuracy or a biography of de Sade; it's more of a fable about censorship than anything else. If nothing else, we're always willing to watch Kate Winslet in a corset.
| Comments (7) | TrackBack (99) | link me | January 2001