Paradise Now & One Nite in Mongkok

Paradise Now is a pretty good film, but the scenes of propaganda, whether intentional or just an attempt to accurately portray what would occur in the case, really annoyed me. Plus, I really had a problem feeling any sympathy for people who would eventually kill a lot of Israelis. I have no sympathy for those who would blow themselves up in the misguided idea that that was their only recourse. As monstrous as violence is, there is never an excuse, on either side for it. Perpetuating the cycle is just as bad as starting it. That's my story, and I'm sticking with it, at least until something comes along to prove that violence solves anything.

One Nite in Mongkok is a good thriller, but what makes it definitely worth seeing is the added subtext of the reintegration of Hong Kong into China. The depressing view is that the poor rural folks are all screwed because the big city will chew them up and spit them out. Not unlike a lot of other films about rural people going to the big city, whether it be in America or China, or any other country. The movie has some good choreography, and actually is not nearly as flashy as I was expecting. The quick opening car chase is very restrained, the violence is shot very matter-of-factly. The problem is that based on everything in it, there was no other way to end the film than the ending. Pretty damn bleak. Reminds me of Comrades: Almost a Love Story, except that there isn't Maggie Cheung looking good at the middle of it. Just the almost as attractive, but not nearly as good of an actress in Cecilia. Just makes me bitter. I need to see Clean now. And one quick note on this movie. Why the hell does it have to be spelled Nite? All that does is make it more difficult for people who don't know that it's Nite to search for it.

Kings and Queen, Broken Flowers, & The Memory of a Killer

Kings and Queen is a very long French film that was highly praised by many critics. It's also just eh. I didn't like the changes in tone, I didn't like any of the characters, and I just didn't like the film that much. That said, it wasn't terrible, just eh.

Broken Flowers was also highly praised by many critics, but it also was just eh. Unless you like surprise full frontal nudity. And who doesn't, really? Bill Murray seemed to play Bill Murray, and the film just didn't seem to click. Dunno what's up with that. Maybe I'm just not in the mood for the films. Or maybe it's just that I am not in the mood for watching movies right now. I've only seen one this week so far. My DVR is getting close to being filled to capacity. I need to start emptying it. That's clearly what the problem is. I'd prefer to have more free time.

The Memory of a Killer is a pretty good thriller. I'm not sure whether I enjoyed it as much because it was in Flemish or not. It's well done, but there weren't any particularly interesting aspects of it besides the basic plot that the killer has Alzheimer's. What makes it better is that Jan Decleir is very very good as the killer. The problem is that it was made after Memento, which means that everyone has to mention it in their review. That's my mention. It's much less interested in messing with the audience's expectations than with the actual plot mechanics of Alzheimer's. Not to say that the plot is anything but pedestrian. It's pretty clear what's going to happen and how it's going to happen pretty early on. The part that makes it good is Decleir.

Constantine & Breakfast on Pluto

Constantine is interesting from the standpoint of a good comic being ruined by a bad movie version. The problem is that it isn't nearly bad enough to be completely ignored. Or even so bad it's good. It's just a mediocre movie. And whenever I hear about the Spear of Destiny, all I think about is killing Nazis in Wolfenstein. Why were there no Nazis? I want to see more Nazis die. The movie is much better than I was expecting, but the myriad changes to the comic are annoying to say the least. At least it's much better than I was expecting, even if it isn't actually good.

Breakfast on Pluto is goofy fun punctuated by violence. Strange little film, and it doesn't entirely work. Then again, neither did The Butcher Boy, McCabe and Mr. Jordan's earlier collaboration, and I liked that one as well. But Cillian Murphy is outstanding. Movie's a little long though. Full of mostly terrible music that works anyway as well. It's definitely worth watching. Everything bad about it was matched by something that overcomes it. Good movies can do that. Or just ignore the whole doing something that doesn't work in the first place.

Payback & On Demand

Payback is bad. But why is it so bad? Is it because Brian Helgeland was replaced as director and lots of scenes were reshot? Or is it because Brian Helgeland is a terrible writer and director and L.A. Confidential was blind luck? Based on his other movies, it's much more likely to be the latter. The relentlessly violent and bad movie also suggests that. God this is bad. Mel Gibson, when able to do whatever the hell he wants generally makes crap. Why the hell would you remake the excellence that is Point Blank? And Mel Gibson is only fit to carry Lee Marvin's jock. What a terrible idea. Eesh. Why did I bother? Because I thought it couldn't possibly be that bad because it has good source material? Well, that was completely messed up.

Deadwood's On Demand now! Woot! And Entourage! Well, I know how my free time will be spent until May. Well, that is when I'm not trying to clear off all the rest of my DVR. Yay for overpaying for cable!

Hostel & My Live To Live

Hostel is actually a fun little sick film. Not in any way scary. But it had lots and lots and lots of gratuitous nudity. Good for Eli Roth. I still don't like fingers being amputated, or Achilles tendons' being cut, or anything like that, but it was actually pretty watchable. Didn't need to see it on a big screen, but that's ok. The Miike cameo was also a nice touch, considering how much his movies influence Eli Roth. As for the NY Times review that said that this is one of the most misogynistic movies ever made (which is actually a major reason as to why I didn't see this in the theater), what the hell was Nathan Lee watching? And is this the Nathan Lee I went to school with? Probably not, but this movie wasn't misogynistic at all, really. It actually just hates every character equally, although there's a special hatred for the ugly American stereotype who just wants loose and easy foreign women. I was a little disappointed by the fate of Kana, because I felt that was a little too "I just want another severed head on screen". I am not sure we really got enough of a feel for her character as to why she'd want to do that. We never get the idea that she's vain, and that is exactly what that look at herself suggests. At least the movie was brutally violent to every single character in it. Who doesn't have at least a torture or a death scene? That's right, no one. About the best thing I can say for the film is that, while the ending is a little too pat, it actually is a worthwhile follow-up to the 70s horror films it so clearly loves, but without the misogyny that dominates those films.

My Life To Live suffers from my having seen it after Band of Outsiders and Masculin Feminin, which borrow either a scene or structure from this film. It's pretty good, but my favorite scene, where Nana goes dancing around the pool hall was done better in Band of Outsiders, still my favorite Godard film. And while I'm a sucker for a good dance sequence, it wasn't enough for me to put the film up there with his other works. The camera movements are sometimes a little too self-conscious, a little too "hey, I'm moving in 360 degrees and then back". It detracts slightly from it. I just prefer other Godard's, even if a bad 60s Godard is better than most others at the top of their games. And the DVD is probably the best Fox Lorber DVD I've seen, but that isn't setting the bar very high.

Tokyo Story

Tokyo Story has a weird feeling, mainly due to the fact that it is shot entirely from about three feet off the ground, with a completely static camera. Although you do get used to it eventually, anytime there's a strange shot, one different from what you'd expect in that situation, you realize that it is because of the camera placement. Even through that bit of artificiality, the humanness of the picture comes through clearly. It's strange, because it's the staticness of the camera that actually tends to draw you out of the film, rather than keep you in, like it really should. Most people are so used to watching big camera movements, or different framing on shots that watching every scene from the same view is disconcerting much longer than it should be. You are actually placed on set, out of view of the camera, but on your own tatami mat, watching everything happen. That aspect of the film, once you get used to it, means that you can't draw yourself out of it afterwards, making the conclusion of the film that much more heartbreaking, because the characters were so real.

As for the actual content of the film, it's a deceptively simple story, that tells more about growing up than most films. The importance of being respectful to your parents when you are alive, as in Confucius's saying, "Be a good son while your parents are alive. None can serve his parents beyond the grave", is also clearly the message of the film. That only the daughter-in-law seems to have accepted that message, 8 years after the death of her husband in WWII, is one of the saddest aspects of the film. Ozu clearly felt that modern life was going too fast for the proper filial respect needed. Not sure how he'd handle the Japan of today, let alone the rest of the world.

Stray Dog, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, & À nous la liberté

Stray Dog is the earliest Kurosawa I've seen. Not sure I want to go earlier in his filmography. I really enjoyed the film, but it wasn't nearly as good as his later works. Not as mature. But wow for the tension Kurosawa was able to create about the theft of one gun. Scares me that one gun could do that much damage. Us and our stupid gun laws make guns much more available, but the violence that can be caused by one gun is only limited by the amount of ammunition available. An early Toshiro Mifume film as well, so it was strange to see him looking very young.

Paradise Lost 2: Revelations just got me pissed off at Arkansas again. Seriously... that dad did it. That the police railroaded the Metallica-loving kids for those horrible murders is a tragedy. And man, I have lots of connections to Arkansas now. How can they watch this movie and not think that the kids didn't do it? Going on five anti-depressants for a lie detector test? Having your teeth taken out because they might connect you to bite marks? Jesus, you are a guilty, guilty man.

À nous la liberté clearly influenced, if not the outright source for, Modern Times. Chaplin's film, however, is much better. This is occasionally funny, but mainly just a weird combination of musical, silent film, and industrial society satire. It's the only one of those, besides Modern Times. Which, as I just said, is much better than this. Maybe I should avoid watching early French films, and stick with the New Wave. I like those much better.

Whisper of the Heart & Only Yesterday

Whisper of the Heart is typically brilliant Studio Ghibli. They have only made good movies at worst, and the best, which certainly includes this lovely film, are some of the most impressive movies of all time. I can't explain just how great their films are, and until you've seen them, you won't understand just how great they are. About the only problem with the movie is the use of Country Roads, which actually started to grow on me, and I never thought I'd say something like John Denver isn't all evil. Took a big man to say that. Maybe it was the fact that I feel very much like Shizuku in a certain way. But it's just an amazing film. It's very much more realistic than Miyazaki's films, but the biggest shame about it is that the director Yoshifumi Kondo died before being able to make another film. If you don't enjoy this film, you've no heart. I was close to tears throughout almost the entire film. While that isn't really saying that much for me, since I'm a big softie, I thought that the movie spoke to me, a mid-20s white guy.

Only Yesterday, for some reason, hasn't been released in the US on DVD. What's up with that? Is it the bit of nakedness from a preteen girl? If so, then that's just sick. What's the point of complaining about that? Or is it the sex education scenes? Or the extended bits about periods and the like? The difference between the flashbacks and the present day scenes were impressive, and the flashbacks were gorgeous in their almost watercolor backgrounds, compared to the more traditional present day scenes. Takahata's much more based in reality than Miyazaki, but his movies aren't any less impressive for being set in a real Japan. The best are usually the ones that just make me depressed and miss Duke. And miss what I had at Duke. Now I'm just going to go get really depressed. Well, I fell asleep in the middle, so I had to watch the end section again. Just as depressing when I'm actually awake, even if the credits did make me very happy. The crushing of young dreams is just not what I really expected. However, it feels much more like a Cinderella story than just a depressing one. You need the sadness before the happy ending gains the power that it has. And why must they use a Bette Midler song to make me feel sad at the end?

Crash, The Accidental Tourist, Gorky Park, & The Village

Crash was crap. Extremely earnest concerned liberal claptrap about Race. Didn't deserve any of the accolades it got. Unless you like movies all about how everyone's a little bit racist. I prefer my racism as satire, otherwise it's just crap. Like Crash. Why, exactly, did every single character need to be a racist? Why, exactly, did that soundtrack need to suck so hard? Why, exactly, did anyone watch this and think that it was a brilliant piece of cinema? It's simple trash.

The Accidental Tourist begins my William Hurt minifest. What's up with it? Just seems a little too eh to have gotten the accolades it got. An Oscar nod for best picture? A win for Geena Davis? Actually, that isn't that bad. Until you realize that it's about the same as Marisa Tomei winning an Oscar. Sometimes, the Academy is smoking crack. Just like when they gave the Oscar to Crash. Stupid old people. Anyway, I liked it, but it certainly wasn't anything amazing.

Gorky Park, the second movie in the minifest makes me wonder why I even bothered reading these type of novels? And why must there be 80s films with terrible 80s soundtracks that don't fit the movie at all? Stupid Hollywood and their bad tendency to fit music to the movies rather than allow the movies to have appropriate music. Plus, it just seemed like there was something more that could be done with the movie.

The Village, the final movie in the minifest, suffers from me not caring about any of the characters besides Bryce Dallas Howard. Maybe some has to do with Joaquin Phoenix. I still don't like him. The dialogue is terrible, the "twist" is horrendous, and most acting is bad. At least M. Night has made a pretty movie. But other than that, there's less in the movie than I could have hoped for. He made Unbreakable, which was a good twist on an old story. This constant desire to have a twist in the movie means that there's less of a reason to be surprised when it occurs. You know it's coming, it's usually going to turn the movie on its head. So just expect it and get a lot less from the movie.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, The Decline of the American Empire, The Barbarian Invasions, The Bank Dick, & Brick

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a great documentary. Fascinating, exasperating, and ridiculous. Plus, it had a great soundtrack. I guess I'll always have a softspot for Lovefool. Oh well... Didn't expect the strippers, but then again, we are living in the golden age of documentaries. Yay for that.

The Decline of the American Empire and The Barbarian Invasions really go together. In the sense that The Barbarian Invasions are punishment for any pleasure that you may have gotten from the Decline. Not that I enjoyed either. Sometimes it's not good to rent a movie and its sequel before you've seen the first one. Bunch of annoying Quebecois in both. Obsessed with sex in the first one and the problems of terrorism and state medicine in the second. Neither particularly worthwhile. Maybe if I liked any of the characters at all...

The Bank Dick is fitfully funny, but at least it's short. Definitely doesn't overstay its welcome. I guess I don't have to bother watching another W.C. Fields film, since this one is supposed to be the funniest, and I didn't entirely enjoy it.

Brick is an excellent neo-noir set in a high school, using Hammettesque and Chandlerian slang. Strange to see anyone not in a 40s film use words like yeggs and bulls, and lines like "You wanna take a swing at me, hash-head? Huh? I got all five senses and I slept last night, which puts me six up on you". I definitely enjoyed it, although it really didn't break too much new ground and why were almost all of the high school characters played by 20 somethings? They couldn't find anyone talented and actually high school aged? Some nice camera tricks, a few strong performances from some people I hadn't heard of (Nora Zehetner, Meagan Good) and some I had (Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lukas Haas). What the hell has gotten into Gordon-Levitt making some good movies? Between this and Mysterious Skin, he has two great performances. I am looking forward to Rian Johnson's next film as well. Anyone who decides to use a drug kingpin's mom like he does is certainly one to watch.

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America & list of people to hate

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America definitely works well with Bamboozled, as both are occasionally spot on satires of race relations in America, but frequently feel a little amateurish. Well, Bamboozled never feels amateurish, but it frequently feels like a mistake. C.S.A. is very enjoyable for people who have seen The Civil War a few too many times, are familiar with American history, and motion picture history. Otherwise you'd miss some of the references. However, I'm pretty familiar with it all, so I enjoyed it, even if somethings just didn't work right. Why did the CSA take over Latin America, but not Canada? How much of Europe does Germany control? Why is Women's Suffrage so anti-Confederacy? And exactly how many of those quotes are exact and how many of them were just slightly edited. The "Young Abe Lincoln"-spoof actually isn't as amateurish as most of the reviews say, because really, if you watch early biopics (or even later biopics), they're frequently terrible, and half of the amateurishness was putting an obviously extremely talented actor in a horribly stereotyped role. I wonder just how many times we've seen that happen. Oh, wait... that happens all the freakin' time.

Rob's list of everyone to hate. I think I'm only on it about seven times. That's disappointing.

The Squid and the Whale, 3-Iron, & 3 Women

The Squid and the Whale is full of a lot of characters I hated. And Pickle and Sophie. I liked them, although what kind of parent would let Pickle do anything remotely like what he did? Apparently, it's based on Baumbauch's actual family. Which is just so messed up. Excellent film, though, and I really recommend it, especially if you have no problems hating characters. Because it's so easy to hate Bernard and Joan, and even Walt for being completely incapable of having his own opinions.

3-Iron is a dreamlike fable. But it's unlike almost anything I've ever seen. And Hyun-kyoon Lee looks just like Yoon-jin Kim. I thought it was her for a long time. Apparently, even with all my experience with Asian women, I still have problems telling some of them apart. Who mistranslated that final epigram? What the hell?

3 Women is, at best, middling Altman. It's all a dream, but I don't care for it. I know that Ebert loves it and maybe if I were to watch it over and over again, I might have more of a respect for it as well, but I don't want to spend another two hours going through it again. Altman is a tremendous talent, but sometimes he just makes a movie that makes little to no sense and then some think it's brilliant. I don't. It feels like a Bergman film, but it isn't nearly as good as Persona. I feel like this movie is one of those movies that critics have to like.

Fever Pitch & Fudoh: The New Generation

Fever Pitch was just eh. It was sometimes very good, but it never was anything more than a middling romantic comedy in general. Shame about that. I really need to read the book. I think it'll be my next one after I finally finish Emma. A little too ridiculously obsessive. Plus, Jimmy Fallon is no Colin Firth.

Fudoh: The New Generation was... wow. Seriously, I did call one of the surprises fairly early on, but I really never thought I was going to see another film with a schoolgirl stripper assassin shoot darts out of her vagina while getting her period. I mean, you see one of those, you think you're not going to see it again. And then, Miike comes along. What's up with that, huh? Plus, there's the hot but disturbing sex scene. Wait, which was the hot one again? And I love that you can show an obviously erect penis in underwear but you can't show frontal nudity. Yay for stupid censorship laws. You know, this actually wasn't that weird compared to a lot of Miike's stuff. Then again, it's weird. I don't want to underplay that. It's a fairly early Miike though, so his insanity isn't quite as much as other movies. Still crazy, but not really crazy.

The Trial of Joan of Arc & TV Notes

The Trial of Joan of Arc made me think much less of other films about Joan of Arc. Specifically Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc. This is the film about Joan of Arc. I can't imagine one being better. That said, I'm not entirely sure why Catholics outside of France would respect her. Then again, I think people who say that God speaks to them are crazy in the first place. Not quite burn at the stake crazy, but still pretty crazy. Movie itself was insanely short, but it still felt like a full movie. Very well made by Bresson.

A couple of other TV notes: Wonder Showzen is hilariously wrong, in every possible way. Big Love is excellent, The Sopranos this week was great (Paulie is so screwed), and Veronica Mars is moving to Tuesday... huh? I know that Lost is killing it in the ratings... but interesting. If this show gets cancelled... seriously, something is completely out of whack with the viewing public that they don't love this show. That George Michael and Maybe were in the episode just made it better. If there is a third season, and they go to college, it would be perfect to have them both in the cast. That would make me insanely happy. Then they need to hook up for my vicarous incestual smoochies!

Capturing the Friedmans, Lost Boys of Sudan, Welcome to Sarajevo, Wonderland, & A tout de suite

Capturing the Friedmans is just a sad movie. Whether or not the actual molestation occurred or not, it's a sad movie. Well made, but little is as depressing as watching a family torn apart by accusations of sexual abuse and molestation and pedophilia. I didn't realize that the director was the brother of Eugene Jarecki, director of Why We Fight. Talented family, that. The Friedman's, on the other hand, just give me the willies.

Lost Boys of Sudan was another depressing documentary about the horrible things humans do to other humans. Except that almost all the horrible things happened to them before the documentary. Well, almost everything, as the way that they were sort of thrust into the US without all that much guidance wasn't entirely the best way to get them adjusted. That one ended up with a cult (well, really, crazy Kansan Christians aren't all that far from it) suggests that we may have screwed this up even more. But also, the way that they kept talking about black people being dangerous was sort of a surprise. Didn't expect that.

Welcome to Sarajevo was a fairly typical Winterbottom film, in that it looked like it was shot very quickly, but it was actually very good. A little fluffy at times for me, but I certainly enjoyed it. Even Marissa "The reason I don't respect the Oscars anymore" Tomei was good in her small role as an aid worker. And Woody Harrelson and Stephen Dillane were excellent in their roles as two sides of the way reporters could have covered Sarajevo.

Wonderland was pretty trashy. But it was somewhat interesting trash. Too much fancy stuff with absolutely no point. Excellent soundtrack though. But, what, Hollywood was completely out of enormous fake cocks after the one from Boogie Nights "disappeared"? Kilmer continues his frustrating career, occasionally doing something not terrible just to piss you off. Damn you Kilmer!

A tout de suite is an excellent New Wave homage, and is filled with gorgeous camerawork and beautiful images. The depressing story and the disjointed ending section hurt the movie in my estimation. Not enough for me to not really enjoy it and recommend it. Maybe I'll go watch a happy movie sometime. Probably not for a while.

Merge is doing a very good job at licensing their awesome songs in commercials (Ivanka was in an Audi commercial last year). I Turn My Camera On in a Jaguar commercial. Yay for awesome songs making more money for their awesome musicians.

And the best April Fools Day prank I've seen so far is Google Romance. The pink Slashdot is just hideous.