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Stardust
(1/1/08) Air New Zealand Flight (2007 ***) Directed by Matthew Vaughn,
based on the fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman. I'd been meaning to watch
this movie when it first came out, but career obligations got in the
way. I understand that the video-on-demand sytem on an airplane doesn't
do a film like this justice, but what the hell. I'm glad I got to see
it. It wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped, but it was still pleasant
enough. I especially enjoyed all the inventive Gaiman-esque story touches,
and overall it "felt" like his work. Perhaps I should read the actual
book someday.
|
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Extras:
Series 2 (1/1/08) Air New Zealand (2005 ***1/2) I watched all
six episodes of series 2 while flying across the Atlantic. I had truly
enjoyed Ricky Gervais' British version of The Office and had been
meaning to watch Extras. It was in my Netflix queue and everything.
The writing is simply brilliant throughout. |
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Showcase
Presents: The Teen Titans, Vol. 2 (1/2/08) Graphic Novel (2007
***1/2) Written and illustrated by various. You know what's wild? I read
the first volume on 7/1/06, about a year and a half ago. At the time I
wrote that review I hoped DC would publish the second volume, which I
figured would complete all the issues of the Titan's original run. This
volume (which was delayed several times for reasons I don't know) doesn't
quite do that, but it gets close. This volume does, however, include issue
36, which I'm pretty sure is the comic my uncle had that got me hooked
on them in the first place. Anyhow, it was a real trip to read these stories
again. It was interesting that DC was using the Titan's book in the late
60's / early 70's to try to connect with its teen audience. This is reflected
in the stories, many of which dealt with social unrest and race relations.
The volume starts out with the three issues of the book that were written
and illustrated by Neal Adams, then moves on to the landmark issue #25,
where the titans are at a peace rally and inadvertently are semi-responsible
for the death of a "man of peace" who looks suspiciously like Albert Einstein.
Immediately afterwards they exchange their colorful superhero costumes
for new, gray ones provided by the mysterious "Mr. Jupiter." I'm not sure
what was in the water back then or why the editors thought this would
be a good move for the Titans, but it did seem to work. A similar thing
was tried with Wonder Woman, who lost her powers and turned in her costume
right around the same time. |
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Kiss
Me Kate (1/5/08) Netflix (1953 **) Directed by George Sidney,
starring Katheryn Grayson, Howard Keel and Ann Miller. Yeah, I didn't
enjoy this film so much. The premise (action taking place behind the scenes
and onstage during a production of The Taming of the Shrew) was
fine, I suppose, but I was just never fully engaged. I only liked about
half of Cole Porter's songs, with my pleasure lessened somewhat by the
barely audible voices of Grayson and Keel. Ann Miller was by far the highlight
of the movie. Bob Fosse apparently played one of the minor roles, but
I could never figure out which one he was. |
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Oliver!
(1/5/08) Netflix (1968 ***1/2) Directed by Carol Reed. Winner of six Academy
Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. I have fond childhood
memories of seeing this movie on the big screen and subsequently listening
to the soundtrack until I nearly wore it out. (Sometimes I think it's
a miracle I didn't end up gay...) One historical note: I happen to know
there are legions of bitter Stanley Kubrick fans who were enraged that
Oliver! beat out 2001: A Space Odyssey, which wasn't even
nominated in the best picture category. |
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Charlie
Wilson's War (1/6/08) Glendale Mann 10 (2007 ***1/4) Directed
by Mike Nichols, screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. My wife and I were big fans
of Sorkin's The West Wing, and we went to this movie specifically
to enjoy his writing. I wasn't disappointed by the words, only by some
of the delivery: Philip Seymour Hoffman was superb, Tom Hanks and Julia
Roberts somewhat less so. I couldn't help but have the following two thoughts
as I watched: (1) Big-name stars aside, with all the dialogue-driven interior
scenes, this must have been an awfully easy movie to shoot. I mean, what
was the shooting schedule? Ten days? (2) Having watched every episode
of the eagerly-anticipated, then largely disappointing Studio 60 on
the Sunset Strip, I wonder if Sorkin wasn't spending time on the screenplay
for Charlie Wilson's War that he should have been spending on making
that TV show not suck quite as much. |
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Avengers
Legends, Vol 1: Avengers Forever (1/6/08) Graphic Novel (2001
**1/2) Written by Kurt Busiek, illustrated by Carlos Pacheco. I gotta
be honest: for about 90% of this book I didn't have a clue as to what
was going on. It was only near the end that I finally sort of put the
pieces together. I have loved Busiek's writing for some time, but this
storyline just seemed too much like reading a research paper masquerading
as a comic book. I think at some point Busiek re-read every Marvel story
ever that included Kang the Conqueror and Immortus and decided to shoehorn
them all together into a single tale that takes place adjacent to normal
continuity. My problem as a reader is (being more steeped in DC than Marvel
continuity) that I didn't have the background to appreciate this. The
story just felt largely confusing and arbitrary to me. Some of the explanation
for this lies in the introduction: Busiek tells how artist Carlos Pacheco
had become available and they had a storyline they were going to pursue,
but then it turned out that another, nearly identical project was in the
works and the first idea had to be abandoned. Busiek explains that in
order to get production started he had to start writing pages without
knowing where he was going. So basically he was just making stuff up for
awhile until he figured out what the story was. That explains a lot. What
it doesn't explain is how this largely confusing (though nicely illustrated)
mess became (as Busiek calls it) one of the readers' favorite Avengers
story-arcs of all time. |
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A
History of Violence (1/6/08) Graphic Novel (1997 **) Written by
John Wagner, illustrated by Vice Locke. I never got around to seeing the
2005 Viggo Mortensen film version of this graphic novel, but I'd heard
good things about it and so when I saw the book at a good price I figured
I had little to lose. Honestly, I was disappointed. It wasn't horrible,
but it certainly wasn't on the same level as Max Allan Collins' The
Road to Perdition. I have to place some of the blame on the story
construction, which seemed lopsided and clunky. The story itself is simple
to the point of being minimalist and it never elevates itself above that.
Moral ambivalence bordering on the sociopathic is implied (the main character
committed armed robbery as a teen with apparently zero remorse) but is
never explored. Unfortunately there's little to recommend art-wise either:
Locke's sketchy illustrations get the job done, but that's about as far
as they go. |
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Ghost
of Hoppers (1/6/08) Graphic Novel (2006 ***1/4) Written and Illustrated
by Jaime Hernandez. I'd forgotten how much I love Jaime Hernandez' clean
and graphic illustration style. Man, he's good. It's been a couple of
years since I last read one of the Love and Rockets books and after
reading Ghost of Hoppers I may just have to start reading the series
all over again. |
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The
Golden Compass (1/7/08) DWA Screening (2007 ***) Directed by Chris
Weitz, based on the novel by Philip Pullman. There were times when I was
genuinely charmed by this film. The magical inventiveness in scene after
scene made me feel like a kid again. It definitely is a story aimed at
children, even though some of the sequences are intense enough to straighten
the hair of a curly-headed ten-year-old. When the film was released I
had read some of the commentary, discussing the author's pro-atheistic
message. Some of that was in evidence here but only a hint. I wasn't bothered
by it, actually. Unfortunately the story seemed to sag toward the end
and the final battle sequence was less than exciting. The end of the film
is also devoted to setting up a sequel that may or may not get made due
to lackluster box office. |
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Save
the Tiger (1/9/08) Netflix (1973 ***1/2) Directed by John G. Avildsen,
screenplay by Steve Shagan. Set in a bleak 1970's L.A., Jack Lemmon deservedly
won the best acting Oscar for his gutsy performance as aging retail clothier
president Harry Stoner. I watched this film once in my early twenties
and wasn't all that impressed. Watching it again with considerably more
gray in my beard, I have a greater appreciation for it and far more sympathy
for the main character. This isn't a film for everybody: a lot of plot
elements aren't resolved. But I was more accepting of that than I once
was. For many, who we are in middle age isn't exactly who we set out to
be. Along the way compromises were made and the world changed around us,
often in unkind ways. Baseball is featured as a motif that comes to represent
a more innocent time and it plays a role in the first and final scenes.
I was moved to the point of tears late in the film as Harry plays a "name
game" of his own invention with a young woman he's picked up on Sunset
Boulevard. Each takes turns saying the first meaningful celebrity name
that pops into their heads. Mick Jagger and Janis Joplin, Artie Shaw and
Billie Holiday. It doesn't seem like much, but even in my early forties
I often feel my own relevance to the zeitgeist slipping away. On a completely
different note, I found it both geeky-fun and distracting to see Dark
Shadows stars Lara Parker and Thayer David as professional prostitute
and professional arsonist... er, respectively. |
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Juno
(1/13/08) Glendale Mann 10 (2007 ****) Directed by Jason Reitman, screenplay
by Diablo Cody. Well, I guess I didn't have to wait too long for my first
four-star movie of 2008. I'd heard really great things about Juno and
it was one of those rare films that lived up to high expectations. Juno
has been compared to Little Miss Sunshine but I definitely preferred
Juno. Screenwriter Diablo Cody and her past experience as a stripper
was featured recently on CNN.com. This is her first screenplay and she
has a wonderful voice: I particularly admired her ability to stop just
short of letting her hip dialogue get in the way of creating a variety
of memorable characters. Though they all sparkle in different ways, there's
a ring of truth to them all as well. Ellen Page is absolutely adorable
as the title character; She plays Juno with the right mix of self-possession
and frailty that creates a character the audience can truly love. For
that matter, the entire cast is terrific, delivering some of the best
performances of their careers. Juno is simply an all-around wonderful,
sweet film and is definitely a must-see. |
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Masters
of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
(1/14/08) Nonfiction (2003 ***1/2) Written by David Kushner. It was an
interesting choice that the publisher of this book left the words "video
game" out of the title of this book. I guess it doesn't matter; Doom
as a game and phenomenon has certainly impacted (some would say scarred)
the cultural zeitgeist. I was drawn to buying this book primarily because
of my recent experience playing Resident Evil 4, a game that certainly
owes part of its DNA to those first-person shooters produced by id in
the early to mid 1990's: Wolfenstein 3-D, Doom, and Quake.
The book centers on two of the founding members of that company, John
Carmack and John Romero. I've never met either man, though one of my friends
once interviewed with Carmack. I was fascinated throughout the book. Kushner's
style is simple but well-organized and easy to read. It was particularly
interesting for me to read about their early Apple II days and compare
them to my own experiences and development as a 3-D graphics programmer.
It wasn't hard for me to identify with what they went through. It even
brought back some especially happy memories of the sense of exploration
and discovery that came from writing code into the wee hours of the morning,
trying to discover the outer boundaries of what they (or I) could do with
computer graphics. But there was a dark side to it all too: Reading about
their later deathmarch projects brought back fairly unpleasant memories
of anxiety and sleep deprivation brought about by working far too many
hours under far more pressure than a sane man should on projects that
never seemed to end. |
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Extras:
Series 1 (1/12/08) Netflix (2005 ***1/2) Having watched series
2, I wanted to get caught up. It's a pity there are only twelve episodes
and a Christmas special (not yet available on DVD) to enjoy. I began to
notice a recurring theme: Andy Millman seems to consistently encounter
people who have far more difficult lives than his, including the handicapped
and the seriously infirm. |
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In
a Lonely Place (1/17/08) Netflix (1950 ***) Directed by Nicholas
Ray. For the first ten or fifteen minutes I was convinced I had discovered
a "lost classic," that is to say a great film I'd never seen before, one
I'm able to discover and enjoy. Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Gaynor sizzled
on the screen. The film begins looking like a two-fisted noir detective
story, with hothead Bogart the prime suspect in a murder investigation.
The story takes a detour, however and soon steers into the territory of
melodrama. The mystery plot takes a backseat and effectively ends up being
solved off screen while we take an in-depth look at Bogie's anger management
skills or lack thereof. The film was risk taking in its day and certainly
gave its contemporary audiences something to talk about. From the vantage
point of the early twenty-first century I was somewhat less engaged. It's
still a good film though, if not great, and it's certainly worth seeing.
|
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A
Year at the Movies: One Man's Filmgoing Odyssey (1/19/08) Nonfiction
(2002 ***) Written by Kevin Murphy. I admire that Murphy (who was one
of the writers of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the voice of
Tom Servo) took his obsessive love of film and turned it into a book.
In 2001 he set out to watch a theatrically-screened movie every day for
a year and write about the experience in 52 stand-alone essays, each representing
one week of filmgoing. While I think it was very smart to organize the
essays thematically, I was disappointed that he didn't include at least
a passing mention of most of the films he saw. There are a lot of movies
he watched in 2001 and I would've loved to know how he felt about them.
By not sharing his reviews with his readers, he negated the relevance
of the basic "a movie a day" premise of his experiment. I guess I'll just
have to forgive him for that. His essays dealt with various aspects of
the theatergoing experience, and he did a lot of traveling to various
theaters throughout the year, visiting one made of ice and the world's
smallest, among others. It was generally interesting and his easy-to-read
style made the book a quick read. |
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Cloverfield
(1/20/08) Glendale Mann 10 (2008 ***1/2) Directed by Matt Reeves. Once
again I find myself really torn on what rating to give this movie, but
here's the bottom line: I loved about five to ten minutes of this movie
so much that I'm willing to recommend it in spite of the remainder. Scanning
the reviews on rottentomatoes.com, it's clear that the whole "Godzilla
meets Blair Witch Project" shorthand had been worn out, but that
doesn't make it any less valid. I might have liked to have seen more reviewers
using the word "verisimilitude," but what the hell. I like to think of
it as the story of Godzilla told from the perspective of the teeny
tiny little people running away screaming in background. To my friends
who haven't seen it, I've been describing Cloverfield like this:
it takes the super-memorable, super-awesome shots and sequences from the
Spielberg / Tom Cruise version of The War of the Worlds and punctuates
a feature-length film with them. By now reports of the motion sickness
inducing qualities of the shaky-cam technique are being reported. My wife
and I went to see it and were clever enough to sit in the back row. Even
so, my wife had to leave in the middle of the film for a few minutes due
to feelings of nausea. |
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Angels
in America (1/20/08) Netflix (2003 ***1/2) Directed by Mike Nichols,
based on the play by Tony Kushner. A friend has recommended this 6-part
HBO original miniseries to me twice and I'm glad it finally floated up
to the top of my Netflix queue. The subject matter (AIDS in the mid-1980's)
will probably dissuade people from watching it, but that would be unfortunate.
Kushner's material is an utter delight and I found it to be funny, intense,
and uplifting. Angels in America is an ensemble piece, and as such
is only as strong as its weakest player. Fortunately, amazing performances
can be found from beginning to end, with most of the principles playing
multiple roles. Al Pacino and Meryl Streep remind us of why they are so
worthy of the awards they've won. Also, I was only familiar with Justin
Kirk from his role as the deadbeat brother-in-law in the Showtime series
Weeds; it was nice to see what he could do with a real character. |
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Spent
(1/21/08) Graphic Novel (2007 **) Written and Illustrated by Joe Matt.
Oh Joe Matt. Poor Joe Matt. Want a sound byte? Here you go: "Spent is
the graphic novel equivalent of watching someone going to the bathroom
for an hour... unsuccessfully." Six years ago when I read Peepshow:
The Cartoon Diary of Joe Matt it not only showed me how gutsy autobiographical
comics could be, it also inspired me to undertake my own self-published
collection of stories. When Matt created Peepshow he was in his
twenties. Now he's in his forties and he clearly has not progressed as
an artist or as a human being. The fact that he uses this as the basis
of this book doesn't necessarily make it entertaining. A couple of times
in the book Matt made a deliberate effort to alienate any remaining fan
base. I felt as though I'd been poked in the eye with a sharp stick. Why
did he do that, I wonder. I can't imagine this collection has been making
much money for the publisher, Drawn and Quarterly. After Peepshow,
I considered myself a fan, but now I think I'd be ashamed to call myself
one. The book begins with Matt living a solitary existence, his life lost
to a powerful pornography addiction. Little has changed by the end of
the book; if anything his life is even more hopeless. I was reminded of
Neil in the "Up" series of films. For many years Neil was a somewhat of
a "little boy lost," himself: adrift, homeless. But eventually Neil found
his footing again and gave us, the fans of the series, cause for hope.
For Joe Matt's sake I hope something like that is in store for him. Will
I buy his next book? I don't know. It depends. Will there be a next book?
|
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Film
Crew: Hollywood After Dark (1/24/08) Netflix (1968/2007 **1/2)
Walk the Angry Beach (AKA Hollywood After Dark) was written and directed
by John Hayes and stars a young (-ish) Rue McClanahan of Maude
/ Golden Girls fame. The Film Crew is comprised of Bill Corbett,
Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy, three of the writers/performers of the old
Mystery Science Theater 3000 show. This direct-to-video series
is much like the old one, but without the puppets or silhouettes at the
bottom of the screen. Please don't take this the wrong way, Bill and Kevin,
but I'm afraid heavyset middle-aged men -- no matter how articulate --
are no substitute for robot puppets. Sorry, guys. It will be interesting
how this series compares to the Cinematic Titanic series (not currently
available on Netflix), headed up by MST3K's original host, Joel
Hodgson. |
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Targets
(1/25/08) Netflix (1968 ***1/4) Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, starring
Boris Karloff. I'm not sure exactly how I selected this movie for my Netflix
queue, but I'm glad I did. I came away from watching it with a newfound
respect for Bogdanovich but also for Boris Karloff! Targets is
Bogdanovich's first directorial effort (before The Last Picture Show),
and story behind the making of the film is sensational: Karloff owed Roger
Corman two days of shooting, and Corman, being the legendary businessman
he was, wanted to build an entire feature film around that footage. It
was up to Bogdanovich to come up with a creative solution (a shootable
script) within that apparently impossible production constraint. What
he came up with was positively brilliant. Next, his skills as a director
elevated the overall quality of the project, and what -- in lesser hands
-- would normally have been forgettable exploitative schlock became surprisingly
good, garnering good reviews. It's not perfect by any means, but Targets
is definitely a movie that should be shown to aspiring film students to
demonstrate what can be done with a limited schedule and budget. |
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Real
Stuff (1/26/08) Graphic Novel (2004 **1/2) Written by Dennis P.
Eichhorn, illustrated by various. This edition collects stories originally
printed in serial form in the early 1990's. I bought this book about four
years ago from the author himself at the Alternative Press Expo (A.P.E.)
comic convention in San Francisco. This is the first time I've re-read
the collection since originally buying it. Sex, drugs and violence are
the major themes to be found in these mini-stories from Eichhorn's life,
and those themes are present in abundance. The quality of illustration
ranges from amateurish to professional. It's definitely not for everyone,
but if you like the work of Joe Matt, R. Crumb, Harvey Pekar and others
who specialize in the autobiographical comix genre, this may be worth
checking out. |
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Things
to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1/27/08) Netflix (1995 ***1/4)
Directed by Gary Felder, screenplay by Scott Rosenberg. Andy Garcia plays
Jimmy "The Saint" Tosnia and Christopher Walker plays "The Man With the
Plan" in this surprisingly overlooked film about a caper gone terribly
wrong. Rosenberg peppers his smart script with idiosyncratic dialogue
and that's part of the fun. He also manages to take an ending that could
be a real downer and give it an upbeat spin. (Boat drinks!) Things
to Do in Denver... would fit quite nicely on a double-bill with Reservoir
Dogs or Pulp Fiction. |
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Sherlock
Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1/29/08) Netflix (1942 ***1/2)
Directed by John Rawlins. Holmes and Watson (Basil Rathbone and Nigel
Bruce) are back, this time in present-day (WWII-era) London. There's a
cute moment when Holmes reaches for his familiar deerstalker hat and Watson
chides him: "No, no -- You promised..." Granted this film is propaganda
through and through and there's little in the way of real detective work,
but there's still something so compelling -- bordering on hypnotic --
about these characters. Maybe it's partially sentimental: my inner child
claps with glee whenever I see the plane and hear the accompanying music
of the 1940's era Universal Films logo. My personal fantasy is that someday
before I shuffle from this mortal coil that the state of the art in computer
graphics will advance to the point where studios can offer up Abbott
and Costello Meet Sherlock Holmes to the movie-going public. |
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The
Big Book of the Unexplained (1/29/08) Graphic Novel (1997 ***)
Written by Doug Moench, illustrated by various. It's been a few years
since reading any of Paradox Press' entries in the "Big Book" series.
This volume isn't necessarily my favorite, but it's a good starting point
nonetheless. The premise of the series is that potentially dry factual
information is made more exciting by presenting it in comic book form.
When I stumbled upon the first volume (The Big Book of Urban Legends)
I was thrilled that my appetite for quirky nonfiction subject matter could
be combined with comic books. I didn't mind the black-and-white presentation
or the variety of comics illustration styles. For the next several years
I sought out the books whenever I could find them and was sorely disappointed
when the series ended. |
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U2
3D (1/31/08) DWA Screening (2007 ***) Directed by Catherine Owens
and Mark Pellington. Bono, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr. and... The Edge.
I am going to admit something I'm a little embarrassed to: I have very
eclectic musical tastes but have never really familiarized myself with
U2's music. I've meant to, but never actually got around to doing so.
Sorry, folks. For a non-fan like myself, seeing this film is undoubtedly
a very different experience than for a fan. Music aside, most of the appeal
lay in the 3-D visuals. I'd seen a clip of U2 3D at a special Dreamworks
presentation about a year ago and I was totally blown away by it. This
time around... eh, not so much. The images seemed soft in the way that
sometimes digital images do, and the 3D effect wasn't as compelling. In
the past two years I've seen the following in digital 3-D: Monster
House, Meet the Robinsons, A Nightmare Before Christmas
and Beowulf. In all cases except Nightmare and U2 3D
I had a very positive experience. So what happened? Was it the projection
system in our screening room? At any rate, I'm now concerned the presentation
of 3D films and the whole 3D experience may be more fragile than I previously
thought. |
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Going
in Style (2/1/08) Netflix (1979 ***1/4) Written and Directed by
Martin Brest, based on a story by Edward Cannon. George Burns, Art Carney
and Lee Strasberg play three old friends who decide to supplement their
social security checks by holding up a bank. I had fond memories of this
sweet movie which was released two years after the first Oh, God!
movie. Though nominally a comedy, I was moved to tears several times by
the honest performances by Burns and Strasberg. Watching it for the first
time in years, I was surprised how quickly the story got going; for three
old codgers, they certainly didn't beat around the bush when it came to
committing armed robbery! If you're looking for a heartwarming rental,
this is definitely a little movie you should consider. Ultimately the
film tells a simple story in a straightforward way and isn't particularly
deep, but it's still damned charming. |
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The
Big Book of Hoaxes: True Tales of the Greatest Lies Ever Told!
(2/3/08) Graphic Novel (1996 ***1/4) Written by Carl Sifakis, illustrated
by various. Paradox Press / DC's Big Book series turns an eye on Hoaxes,
Hoaxsters and the women that love them. Clifford Irving's Diary of Howard
Hughes to Hitler's Diary, they're all here in dazzling black and white.
Sifakis' writing struck a good balance between presenting a lot of condensed
factual information and still being light and conversational in tone,
making it an easy read. It's worth noting that while many of the Big
Book's (including The Big Book of the Unexplained) have a narrator
/ host, this one didn't, but it still felt quite unified.
|
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New
Invaders: To End All Wars (2/3/08) Graphic Novel (2005 **) Written
by Allan Jacobsen, illustrated by C.P. Smith. When I was a kid I read
a few issues of Marvel's mid-1970's run of The Invaders, which
featured Captain America, The Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch.
Those stories were set in the 1940's and had The Invaders (along with
sidekicks Bucky and Toro) battling The Red Skull and the Nazis. I picked
up this collection (which includes the new series' entire 9-issue run)
at my favorite used book store. Why? The book represented a value: $9.95
for a hefty volume with cool art and glossy color printing. Later at home,
about ten pages into the book, I realized I had probably made a mistake.
C.P. Smith's realistic drawing style is eye-catching but wasn't quite
simpatico with Jacobsen's writing. And as for the writing, there are an
awful lot of long stretches of talking in New Invaders, and not
an interesting kind of Kevin Smith's dialogue in Green Arrow either.
There's also this weird thing with this USAgent character who's dressed
as Captain America and then the real Cap shows up and.... Aaarrrggghhh!
Yeah, all in all I found New Invaders to be a definite miss. |
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Michael
Clayton (2/4/08) DWA Screening (2007 ****) Written and directed
by Tony Gilroy, starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Sydney Pollack
and Tilda Swinton. Clooney plays the title character, a "fixer" at a prestigious
law firm who also owes money to the mob. Wilkinson plays an trial attorney
who -- though he may have had a breakdown after going off his meds --
still presents a substantial threat. I was thoroughly engrossed in Michael
Clayton. Its smart writing, acting and directing made me feel like
I was watching a movie for grown-ups. Gilroy wrote the screenplay for
The Bourne Ultimatum and he really knows how to write action and
suspense. There were several times in the story when choices could have
easily been made toward the cliché', but instead fresh directions were
taken. |
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Persepolis
(2/7/08) DWA Screening (2007 ***) Directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane
Satrapi. At the risk of sounding uncultured, I didn't like this animated
version of Satrapi's two-part graphic novel nearly as much as I'd expected
to. Maybe it's because I was already familiar with the source material
and maybe it's because I had high expectations going in. While I enjoyed
the visual style, which was both and upgrade of and respectful of Satrapi's
original artwork, I had several issues with the storytelling: (1) For
me the pace seemed way too slow, and I kept losing interested and becoming
bored. There's a long section in which Marjane suffers from depression,
and that's never going to translate to something that's visually interesting
onscreen. (2) The autobiographical story is particularly linear. While
that works in a book it works less well as an animated film, in that there
was no emotional beginning, middle and end. (3) The short stand-alone
vignettes, which played out as one or two-page side-stories in the book
felt out of place in the film. They interrupted the flow and took away
from any sense of unity. The litmus test with any scene is this: If it
can be removed and the audience wouldn't know the difference, did it belong
in the first place? Undoubtedly many will disagree with my critique and
I admit that perhaps I'm being too harsh. Persepolis is a remarkable
accomplishment and I'm glad it's been nominated this year as Best Animated
Feature along with Ratatouille and Surf's Up. Unfortunately,
respecting the accomplishment of a film and enjoying it are two different
things. |
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Paper
Moon (2/8/08) Netflix (1973 ***1/2) Directed by Peter Bogdanovich,
screenplay by Alvin Sargent, adapted from the novel Addie Pray by Joe
David Brown. Tatum O'Neal played Addie Loggins, a nine-year-old who loses
her mother and goes on the road with a con man who may or may not be her
father. I have fond memories of this film, one I watched several times
when I was younger. In the sixth grade I bought and read the book, which
was very different from the movie. Watching the "making of" featurettes
on the DVD, I learned why: Bogdanovich and Sargent made a lot of changes,
all of them for the better. Did Tatum O'Neal deserve to win the Best Actress
in a Supporting Role Oscar (TM)? That's a question for the ages. For starters,
who was she supporting? She's the central character of the film! Besides,
as cute as she was, she always seemed to be acting. One personal note:
As I often do with my Netflix movies, I watched it right after work. When
my wife got home and told me she'd never seen it I watched it a second
time with her. I can't remember the last time I've watched the same movie
twice in the same day. |
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Electric
Girl, Volume 1 (2/10/08) Graphic Novel (2000 **) Written and illustrated
by Michael Brennan. As I have many times in the past, I picked up this
volume at a used book store at a used book price. The artwork looked cute
enough, indicating an indy-comix potential. Sadly, upon reading the stories
contained within, Electric Girl had far too many empty calories
for my personal taste. |
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The
Last Picture Show (2/12/08) Netflix (1971 ***1/4) Directed by
Peter Bogdanovich. This is the third Bogdanovich film I've watched in
as many weeks, proving the adage, "Bet you can't watch just one!" The
last time I watched The Last Picture Show I was in my late teens
or early twenties. At the time I think I was far more interested in catching
the occasional glimpse of Cybill Shepherd's breasts than in the stories
to be found in Anarene, Texas in 1951. Older now, I appreciated this exploration
of the feelings of loss, hopelessness and confinement. Let's be honest,
the film is still pretty damned depressing. As I watched I was often reminded
of similarities to American Graffiti (1973). They both certainly
launched a lot of acting careers. The two films might make an interesting
double-feature, but who would buy tickets? |
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Chronicles
of Narnia, The: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2/16/08)
Netflix (2005 ***1/2) Directed by Andrew Adamson. Though I watched the
BBC version last year on video, I hadn't watched this big-budget version
since it was originally released. It's wonderful family film, the kind
I hope to watch with my kids someday (if and when I have kids). I'm looking
forward to seeing what Adamson and the others do with Prince Caspian.
|
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Watchmen
(2/17/08) Graphic Novel (1985 ****) Written by Alan Moore, illustrated
by Dave Gibbons. On anyone's list of top ten most influential graphic
novels, Watchmen would be pretty high up. What exactly was in the water
(or in the wind) in the mid-1980's? Twenty years have passed since I first
read Watchmen in serial comic form and it's been five years or more since
I last read it as a collected volume. I'm happy to report it still stands
up. I'm looking forward to next year's release of the Zack Snyder-directed
movie, which features Jackie Earle Haley of Bad New Bears fame
as Rorschach. |
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Once
(2/21/08) Netflix (2006 ***1/2) Written and Directed by John Carney. Set
in Dublin, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova play "guy" and "girl" in this
infectious, highly satisfying musical fable. As Carney states in the DVD
extras, the story is deliberately simple, which makes it all the more
effective. Shot on a "micro-budget" of $100,000, Carney was freed from
many of the pressures of a larger budget. As I watched, I was reminded
of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset
(2004), similarly simple movies in which dense dialogue between a man
and a woman took the place of the music in Once. |
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Double
Indemnity (2/22/08) Netflix (1944 ****) Directed by Billy Wilder,
screenplay by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara
Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson. The last time I saw this film was at
the Stanford Theater, before I moved south. Now that I've been living
in L.A. for a few years it's kind of a treat to hear so many familiar
locations mentioned. According to the unusually good "making of" DVD featurette,
Wilder and Chandler hated each other every minute they were working on
the screenplay. Somewhere in that unholy union they managed to invent
most of the conventions of the film noir, and for that we should all be
grateful. Some of the dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny, but maybe that's
part of the point. Wilder's direction is still amazing: It's somehow omnipresent
and invisible at the same time. This film is deservedly a must-see for
any serious film student. |
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Pal
Joey (2/23/08) HDMOV (1957 **) Directed by George Sidney, starring
Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak, music by Rodgers and Hart.
Perhaps it's worth explaining that we recently moved to AT&T U-Verse digital
television. For the first time we've got access to some of the HD-content
channels, one of them being HDNET-Movies, which airs uninterrupted movies
in HD. From time to time I'll be reviewing these films and Pal Joey
(not currently available through Netflix) is the first. This film (based
on the Broadway musical) is a vehicle for Sinatra that places him in a
love triangle with Hayworth and Novak. Pal Joey is blatantly sexist
and ripe with dated sexual innuendo throughout, so much so that it made
me cringe. Die hard Sinatra fans may pardon its sins, however. Ultimately,
the songs are wonderful but there's not much in the plot to recommend
Pal Joey. |
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The
Associated Press Guide to News Writing (2/23/08) Nonfiction (1991
***) Written by Rene J. Cappon. I somehow managed to get through college
without ever taking a journalism class or working for The Iowa State
Daily. Sometimes I regret that. I have a great respect for journalism,
even more so these days: I'm taking a creative nonfiction class through
UCLA Extension and having a background in "straight" news reporting would
come in handy sometimes. It is for this reason I bought and read this
book. Much like Strunk and White, it is an excellent writing reference
book, one that permits itself the luxury of brevity. |
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Spiral
Bound (2/23/08) Graphic Novel (2005 ***) Written and illustrated
by Aaron Renier. One of the blurbs on the back calls this all-ages graphic
novel a wonderful read for a rainy day afternoon. I don't necessarily
disagree. The story didn't particularly move me but I'll take responsibility
for that and not blame the book. I enjoyed Renier's deceptively-simple
illustration style, and there's something in the pacing of his storytelling
that reminded me of the Herge Tin-Tin books. I think the book is
probably better suited to younger readers. It might make a good entre
into the graphic novel format for some. |
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Advise
and Consent (2/24/08) Netflix (1962 ***1/4) Directed by Otto Preminger.
Watching the first minutes of this film, my response was that it shares
a lot of DNA with Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing. It is surprisingly
modern in its portrayal of Washington's corridors of power. Shot on actual
locations within the Capital building, there's something very cool about
the fact that it was released while JFK was in office. This could have
been a great film had it not been for one thing: Unfortunately, at about
the halfway point, the story takes a nosedive into potboiler territory.
It gives up all its momentum to a melodramatic subplot about a senator
haunted by homosexual experimentation in his past. The fact that homosexuality
was portrayed at all in a 1962 film was surprising. It's just too bad
the way in which it was shown (Who knew gay men could be so creepy?) was
so embarrassing to a modern audience. |
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Last
Action Hero (2/28/08) HDMOV (1993 ***) Directed by John McTeirnan,
starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Danny Madigan (played by Austin O'Brien)
is given a golden movie ticket that opens a portal to an action-packed
world that works very differently than real life. I'm going to admit something
a little embarrassing: I have always had a fondness for this movie, which
I probably haven't seen since it was first released. Watching it again
after all this time, I'm not even going to try to pretend that it's gotten
a bad rap. There are portions of this film -- the long set piece with
the explosive flatulent corpse comes to mind -- that aren't good by any
standard. I guess the left side of my brain just appreciates the postmodern
premise and there's enough action to keep the right side from getting
too antsy. Maybe 1993 was too early for an action movie that satirizes
action movies, but I gotta give it credit for trying, even if it was only
marginally successful. |
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The
Endless Summer (3/1/08) Netflix (1966 **1/2) Written and directed
by Bruce Brown. For those who haven't seen this documentary, Brown followed
surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August around the world as they searched
for "the perfect wave." He combined this with additional footage to
stretch the project to feature-film dimensions. According to my wife
-- who grew up in Manhattan Beach, California and has hung out with
a lot of surfers in her time -- this film changed a lot of people's
lives. By "changed" I guess they went from being recreational surfers
to die-hard zealots. While much of the footage Bruce Brown shot remains
impressive even in this day of Hi-Def video and Imax cinematography,
I was never really able to get into this film. Maybe it's because I
grew up in the Midwest (where surfers are a bit more rare) or maybe
it was because I was never able to get over the voice-over narration
/ home movie quality of The Endless Summer.
|
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Auntie
Mame (3/4/08) HDMOV (1958 *1/2) Directed by Morton DaCosta, starring
Rosalind Russell. It's unfathomable to me how this awful film was nominated
for six Academy Awards! I also can't explain how or why I watched the
whole thing: the running time is 143 minutes, but it felt like six hours.
Why so bad? I'll tell you: What the film lacks in subtlety it makes up
for in tiresome predictability. Without exception all the characters were
one-dimensional, frequently behaving far more like puppets than living
sentient beings. On top of that, any plot twists the film had to offer
were telegraphed at least fifteen minutes in advance. And yet in spite
of my criticisms the film is beloved. Why, why, why? I can only guess
people were taken in by Ms. Russell's charms, even though her acting mannerisms
were repeated endlessly and without variation. Or perhaps Auntie Mame
spoke to the hearts of those sad, pathetic creatures living in the world
of 1958 (fifty years ago!). Still, I can't imagine what message it was
they so desperately needed to hear. |
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The
Natural (3/7/08) HDMOV (1984 ***1/4) Directed by Barry Levinson,
starring Robert Redford. I was curious, so I looked it up: Levinson directed
The Natural after Diner (1982) but before Young Sherlock
Holmes (1985). For me, the quintessential Levinson movie will always
be Avalon (1990), but that's probably not relevant. The Natural
demonstrated to the world Levinson's ability to helm a big-budget Hollywood
film. It seems impossible, but I'd managed to not watch this film until
now. It's not a film for the cynical at heart, that's for sure, but if
you're: (a) willing to overlook a couple of on-the-nose plot elements
and (b) buy into the idea that dreams can come true on the baseball diamond
and it's never too late for a second chance, then this is the film for
you. But hell, why am I even bothering? You've probably already seen it,
haven't you? |
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Hustle
&Flow (3/8/08) Netflix (2005 ***1/2) Written and directed
by Craig Brewer, starring Terrence Howard as Djay. Is it, in fact as hard
out there for a pimp as this movie would have you believe? I don't know
the answer to that, but this is a pretty compelling and surprisingly inspirational
film. Howard turns in an amazing performance as a pimp-slash-drug-dealer
with a dream. The behind-the-scenes DVDs extras tell a fascinating story
of how this little film got made, and it's well worth the effort. |
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What
Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes (3/9/08) Nonfiction
(2008 **1/2) Written by Steven V. Joyal, M.D. I got the sad news two weeks
ago that I have type 2 (adult onset) diabetes, which runs in my family.
The good news is I can do something about it, and that's really what this
book is about. The book offers not only a lot of approaches for battling
the effects of the disease, but also how to prevent it. Now while it's
nice to know what preventative steps I might have taken, in the absence
of a time machine the passages that addressed this group were more discouraging
than helpful. The author also writes at length about the dangers of glycotoxins,
which apparently come from heating foods above the boiling point of water.
I guess I'm not quite ready to fully embrace that aspect of the book,
as it has widespread ramifications and greatly reduces my food choices. |
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Hoosiers
(3/10/08) HDMOV (1986 ***1/4) Directed by David Anspaugh. I have no idea
why it is that I have no interest in televised sports, yet I'm a sucker
for inspirational sports movies. I'd never seen Hoosiers, but I'd heard
good things about it. It's a pretty damned good movie. Gene Hackman does
a decent job as Coach Norman Dale, but I must admit it's hard for me to
see him without thinking of his role in Superman. I kept wanting
to yell out to the basketball kids: "Don't trust him -- he's Lex Luthor!
He's just trying to get your Indiana Kryptonite so he can kill Superman!" |
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The
Film Crew: Killers From Space (3/11/08) Netflix (2007/1954 **)
Directed by W. Lee Wilder, starring Peter Graves as Doc Martin. Mike Nelson,
Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy are back to once more to relive their Mystery
Science Theater 3000 glory days. I wish I could say I liked it as
much as the original incarnation, but I just can't. Part of it is that
the new premise isn't as engaging as the old one. I said it before and
it’s a lesson worth repeating: Robot puppets in outer space are just plain
more appealing than middle-aged men sitting in a basement. |
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Glengarry
Glen Ross (3/14/08) HDMOV (1992 ***1/2) Directed by James Foley,
screenplay by David Mamet. God bless Jack Lemmon. It wasn't so long ago
I watched one of his best performances in Save the Tiger. His performance
in this film is right up there too. Depressing as hell, there's a lot
to like in this film. Alec Baldwin's brief appearance is brilliant and
deserves to be a classic. Yeah, I loved every minute, even if I couldn't
honestly tell you what it's all about. |
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Moulin
Rouge! (3/14/08) Netflix (2001 **1/2) Directed by Baz Luhrmann.
"There was a boy, a very strange enchanted boy...." Boy oh boy, I truly
want to like this movie more. I respect it, but that's far from the same
thing. Frustrating. My main criticism when I first saw it during its theatrical
release was that fifteen minutes worth of story was dragged out over two
hours. My opinion hasn't changed in the interim. I liked the first half
somewhat more than the second, and I will admit that Ewan McGregor singing
"We Can Be Heroes" to Nicole Kidman atop her jeweled elephant was a fantastic
and uplifting scene. Ultimately, though, we're told in the first few minutes
how the story is going to turn out and no matter how you slice it, it's
a real downer of an ending. |
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Batman
& Superman: World's Finest (3/15/08) Graphic Novel (2003 **1/2)
Written by Karl Kesel, Illustrated by Dave Taylor & Robert Campanella.
I like the concept, which was to tell the evolution of Batman and Superman's
relationship over the course of ten years. Unfortunately the framing device
used -- the death of an innocent man was indirectly caused by the two
heroes failing to effectively work together -- was clunky and problematic. |
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No
Country for Old Men (3/16/08) Netflix (2007 ****) Directed by
Ethan and Joel Coen, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy. This film
won the Academy Award for best picture, placing it forever more in the
company of some of the greatest movies of all time. Much has been made
about the ending and whether or not it is properly satisfying. In my mind
it is the right ending for this story. I have heard the story described
as a good man hunting a bad man and a man caught in the middle. All of
the actors were remarkable, with Tommy Lee Jones giving probably the best
performance of his career. |
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Invincible:
Ultimate Collection Volume 3 (3/17/08) Graphic Novel (2007 ****)
Written by Robert Kerkman, illustrated by Ryan Ottley. I'll do my best
to put my finger on what makes Invincible so great. I think it
really boils down to how fresh and clean the central teenage character
and storytelling is. In many ways it would be suitable for all-ages, but
of course it's not. Invincible contains some incredibly graphic and violent
scenes. Maybe that's part of what makes it work: the juxtaposition of
violence and innocence heightens the impact of both. Ottley's solid illustration
style is a perfect match for Kerkman's writing. The high-quality art production
is breathtaking, and the beautiful color design practically leaps from
the page. |
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The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (3/20/08) HDMOV (1962 ***) Directed
by John Ford, starring John Wayne and James Stewart. I'm of two minds
on this film: At times it was emotionally engaging, but at other times
I felt I was watching an extended civics lesson. It's certainly a classic,
but is it a great film? I was surprised when I saw the film was made in
1962. My estimate would have placed it ten years before that, as the dialogue
is quite dated by modern standards. As I watched, it was obvious that
this film was taken as the model for Back to the Future Part III
(1990). Lee Marvin's Liberty Valence was clearly the model for Buford
'Mad Dog' Tannen, who also had a tendency to call everybody 'dude.' In
addition to Stewart, Wayne and Lee Marvin, there are a lot of familiar
faces and some good performances. However, at the risk of being strung
up by an angry lynch mob, I think the beloved James Stewart did more than
a little overacting. One final note: I could have sworn that the last
time I watched this film there was a catchy song that accompanied the
opening title sequence, but apparently my memory is faulty. Now, just
where did I hear that song? |
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Enchanted
(3/21/08) Netflix (2007 ***1/4) Directed by Kevin Lima, starring Amy Adams
as Giselle, an animated (near) princess exiled to the real-world chaos
of New York City. I love that Disney is finally taking ownership of the
right to comment on their rich history. It's not a perfect film, nor is
it a tale told from a particularly sardonic viewpoint, but it is a lot
of fun. Amy Adams was a perfect choice to play a wannabe princess. The
songs (three of which were nominated for Oscar consideration) were pleasant
enough, and I even caught myself with the "Happy Working Song" stuck in
my head, but I'm not sad they were beaten by "Falling Slowly" from Once. |
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Get
Rich or Die Tryin' (3/23/08) Netflix (2005 **) Directed by Jim
Sheridan, starring Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson. Once upon a time there was
a hopeful young man who kept waiting for this movie to get better, but
it never did. The end. |
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Showcase
Presents: Superman, Vol. 1 (3/24/08) Graphic Novel (2005 **1/2)
Written and illustrated by various. Much of the appeal of reading these
old stories from the late-1950's is that they often take on a surreal
quality. Unfortunately, there was much less of that in these Superman-centric
stories than in the Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane stories in the first Superman
Family volume. To be honest, I got somewhat bored by the juvenile stories
in this volume. Maybe, just maybe, I'm finally growing up. |
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Sandman
Mystery Theater: Dr. Death and the Night of the Butcher -- Volume 5
(3/25/08) Graphic Novel (2007 ***1/4) Written by Matt Wagner, illustrated
by Guy Davis and Vince Locke. Like many of the books in my graphic novel
collection, I picked this up at my favorite used book store, largely on
a whim. Volume 5 was actually my first introduction to this incarnation
of Wesley Dodds, the pre-WWII Sandman. The storytelling was strong and
the realistic/sketchy art was totally appropriate to the material. I enjoyed
this volume a lot, especially the decidedly non-superhero approach to
one of the classic, albeit minor, golden age heros. It was also fun to
see the subtlety by which Gaiman's Sandman influenced Dodds. I will definitely
make an effort to seek out other volumes in the series. |
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Justice
League: The New Frontier (3/28/08) Netflix (2008 ***) Directed
by Dave Bullock, based on the graphic novel by Darwyn Cooke. I appreciate
that they even attempted to make a "feature" length version of Cooke's
graphic novel. Unfortunately, it was painfully obvious they were working
with a limited animation budget. I understand the need to work within
production constraints, I really do, but in this case it really diminished
the potential of the source material. |
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Mary
Poppins (3/29/08) Netflix (1964 **1/2) Directed by Robert Stevenson,
starring Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and David Tomlinson. I had such
fond memories of this movie from my childhood. It seemed so magic, so
wonderful. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but Mary Poppins absolutely
fails to hold up. I'm reminded of a similar disappointment I suffered
a few years ago when I made the mistake of watching Chitty Chitty Bang
Bang. The visual effects, which were wonderful and inventive, were
probably the highlight. At the risk of offending, I thought Robert Stevenson's
direction was half-hearted at best. Much of my childhood adoration was
based on the music, and there were a few top-notch, memorable songs, but
about half the musical numbers were utterly forgettable. I also noticed
that with only a few exceptions, the songs totally stopped dead any story
progression. And what was that bird lady and her "tuppence a bag" thing?
It barely made any sense at all. One final note: Julie Andrews didn't
have much to work with in terms of character with Mary Poppins. Bert (Van
Dyke) kept going on and on about how everybody loves Mary Poppins. I actually
thought she was a bit of a bitch. |
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Hulk:
Gray (3/30/08) Graphic Novel (2005 ***) Written by Jeph Loeb,
illustrated by Tim Sale. This is a simple story, simply told about the
days following Bruce Banner's exposure to the deadly rays of his gamma
bomb. I found it consistently effective, with Sale's artwork and Loeb's
words complimenting one another. My only reservation is that there's really
so little story-wise to recommend the book more. Though it's glossed over
in this book, the real story of why The Incredible Hulk started out gray
and quickly became green is a pretty mundane one: The early 1960's comic
book printing technology had a hard time printing consistent gray values,
and so to get around this production glitch, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby decided
Hulk would be better off emerald-hued. |
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Used
Cars (3/30/08) HDMOV (1980 **1/2) Directed by Robert Zemeckis,
screenplay by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, starring Kurt Russell and Jack Warden.
Michael McKean and David L. Lander (TV's Lenny and Squiggy) appear in
a small role. This is a little embarrassing, but when I was a teenager,
my grandfather took me to a handful of R-rated movies. Used Cars
was one of them. Watching it now, for the first time in decades, I made
a couple of observations, with the biggest being how much Kurt Russell's
character reminded me of Marty McFly in Back to the Future, which
Zemeckis directed five years later. I'd never made that connection before. |
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Be
Kind Rewind (3/31/08) DWA Screening (2008 ***) Written and directed
by Michel Gondry, starring Jack Black and Mos Def. I recognized Gondry's
name. Looking him up on imdb.com, he directed Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind (2004) and The Science of Sleep (2006). Be
Kind Rewind is a sweet film that almost works but doesn't quite. The
premise is that a ragtag group of misfits make their neighborhood (and
their world) a better place by using their wacky inventiveness to make
their own versions of famous films. Like I said, it's sweet as hell, and
I surely wish I could give it a higher recommendation. |
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Funny
Girl (3/31/08) Netflix (1968 ***) Directed by William Wyler, starring
Barbara Streisand and Omar Shariff as Fanny Brice and Nick Arnstein. Hello
gorgeous, indeed. Streisand exploded to superstardom, winning an Oscar
for best actress in a leading role. I have pretty seminal childhood memories
of my mother taking me to see this when it was first released. Doing the
math, I would have been three or four at the time. I definitely remember
Streisand singing on the tugboat just before the intermission. Oddly enough,
I remember being bored and wandering around in the theater while Mom and
the other adults watched. At 2hrs:45min, Funny Girl is a movie
that would tax most adult attention spans, let alone that of a 3-year-old.
Watching it now, it's clear that Streisand's performance and vocals really
carry a film that has more than a few story-related problems. On the whole,
I liked Wyler's directing (he'd won three best director Oscars), except
for his tendency to use way too many damned lights in every damned scene. |
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Hannah and Her Sisters
(4/1/08) Screenplay (1986 ***) Written by Woody Allen. So I decided
to try something new. I was at my favorite used book store and I picked
up a couple of screenplays in book form. Being a big fan of Woody Allen,
and Hannah and Her Sisters being one of my all-time favorite
films, I thought it would be an interesting read. In a sense it was:
Several of the techniques Woody Allen uses (off-screen and overlapping
dialogue) are specified in the script. It was also interesting to see
how he specified detail and hesitation in line delivery as well. Still,
it wasn't as compelling a process as I'd hoped, but it didn't discourage
me from reading more screenplays in the future. Next up: My Dinner
with Andre!
|
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Wet
Hot American Summer (4/1/08) Netflix (2001 ***) Directed by David
Wain. I can't remember who or what recommended this movie to me. It was
actually pretty cute. It's a small movie that attempts to capture the
fun of Meatballs. Set in 1981, the movie depicts the madcap antics
of the last day of summer camp. Most of the time it's a spoof of movies
in the genre, but it also works on its own. It is fun to see some familiar
faces all in the same movie: Janeane Garafolo, David Hyde Pierce, Paul
Rudd, Molly Shannon and Amy Poehler. Watching the behind-the-scenes featurette
on the DVD, my heart really goes out to the cast and crew: apparently
it rained 20 of the 28 days of their shoot and everybody was pretty miserable. |
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A
Star is Born (4/3/08) Netflix (1976 ***) Directed by Frank Pierson,
starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. When my wife was six,
her mother took her to see this film and she loved it. I somehow managed
to get to the ripe old age of 43 before seeing it for the first time,
and I have mixed feelings. The music (much of it written or co-written
by Paul Williams) was good. The whole film was really "of its time," and
serves as a beautiful example of mid-seventies filmmaking technique. I
tried to put myself in the shoes of the people living in 1976 when this
remake was released. Having not seen the previous 1937 or 1954 versions
I didn't have that as a frame of reference. Having Streisand star in a
remake of a movie starring Judy Garland must have felt bold. Unfortunately,
as modern as it was at the time, it still couldn't escape the weight of
a largely melodramatic story about a woman in love with a washed-up has-been
drunk. My favorite dialogue exchange in the whole film bar none: Her:
"Are you an alcoholic?" Him: "Probably." |
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Powers:
Volume 8: Legends (4/12/08) Graphic Novel (200? ***1/4) Written
by Brian Michael Bendis, illustrated by Michael Avon Oeming. Awhile back
I re-read my entire run of Powers and realized at that time that
I'd never bought Volume 8. It's interesting to note that my reviews of
that series were a little lukewarm, so my expectation with this volume
was low, which may have contributed to my enjoyment. In Legends the city
reacts to sightings of a new Retro Girl and Deena returns to the police
force and gets herself into a pretty bad situation. This all added up
to a more interesting story arc than others in the series. |
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Who
Lives? (4/12/08) Play (2006 ***) Written by Christopher Meeks.
Meeks is a writing teacher of mine who wrote this play a decade ago. Set
in the early 1960's it's nominally about a selection board who decided
which patients would be allowed to use a small number of experimental
kidney dialysis machines. The play is about more than that of course,
it's also about how one measures a life. |
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Blazing
Saddles (4/12/08) HDMOV (1974 ***) Directed by Mel Brooks. I have
probably seen this at some point in my life, but I'll be damned if I can
pinpoint exactly when. Probably sometime in the early eighties during
the early days of R-rated cable TV. It's fun enough -- some consider it
a classic. Hell, it made #6 on AFI's "100 Years... 100 Laughs" list. You
know what? I didn't find it all that funny, actually. Let me try to explain:
Blazing Saddles, from start to finish felt like really polished
1960's-era sketch comedy that had been made more adult via language and
sex, race and drug references. And that's pretty much what it was. I wanted
to like it more. |
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The
Sons of Katie Elder (4/13/08) HDMOV (1965 *1/2) Directed by Henry
Hathaway. John Wayne and Dean Martin play two of the four sons of a beloved
woman, now dead. When they return to town for her funeral, they get (as
they say) more than they bargained for. At 122 minutes, this film dragged,
and I was relieved when it was done. The only bright light in the whole
thing was seeing a young Dennis Hopper as the twitchy son of a land-grabbing
jerk, played by infinitely recognizable James Gregory. |
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Superman
for All Seasons (4/13/08) Graphic Novel (2002 **1/2) Written by
Jeph Loeb, illustrated by Tim Sale. Several of the reviews of this book
I read referred to Frank Capra and Norman Rockwell's America. I sort of
got that, though this version of Superman's origin made less of an impression
on me than it evidently has on some. Maybe it's because the effect was
too superficial, too much a modern pastiche of 1930's life in the United
States. It was pleasant enough, but lacked any true emotional depth, and
I was unmoved from start to finish. That's too bad. One day someone will
write a story about the "Man of Steel" that will have me weeping inconsolably.
Kurt Busiek came close in 2005's Superman: Secret Identity. Unfortunately,
Superman is easier to work with as an icon than he is as a character.
Finding depth in Superman the man has always been problematic in that
regard, but with the setup Joeb was working with in this book I think
that might have been possible. |
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West
Side Story (4/16/08) Netflix (1961 ****) Directed by Robert Wise
and Jerome Robbins, starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn
and Rita Moreno. Winner of 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
No two ways about it, this is a brilliant movie from start to finish.
The music is some of the best ever written for the Broadway stage. I frequently
marveled at how well directors Wise and Robbins worked together. The camera
angles and movement and editing caressed the choreography, creating a
drama and a sense of depth that is still as fresh today as it was in 1961.
There is so damned much to learn about filmmaking from watching this film!
Sadly, of the half-dozen times I've watched West Side Story in
my life, it's always been on video. It is absolutely one of those great
films I hope to someday watch on the silver screen. |
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The
Guns of Navarone (4/23/08) HDMOV (1961 **) Directed by J. Lee
Thompson, starring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn. Often
when I watch an older film I try to imagine how it might have been appreciated
by the audience of the time. In the case of The Guns of Navarone,
I imagine this big-screen, big-budget, star-studded action war thriller
must have made quite an impression in 1961. Unfortunately, watching it
in 2008 on my 32-inch LCD flatscreen I found it a little melodramatic
and by the end I kept looking at my watch, waiting for it to end. |
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The
Mind-Body Diabetes Revolution: The Proven Way to Control Your Blood Sugar
by Managing Stress, Depression, Anger and Other Emotions (4/29/08)
Nonfiction (2005 ***1/4) Written by Richard S. Surwit. Man, what long
titles some of these nonfiction books have! The primary message of Dr.
Surwit's book is that the big three behavioral stressors (stress, depression
and hostility) have been shown to contribute to the development of diabetes
and patients can make positive changes in their blood chemistry by learning
how to address these problems head-on. The primary method recommended
is visualization and relaxation, and this approach is covered in depth.
However, other approaches (including pharmaceutical ones) are addressed
as well. In all, it's an excellent book for anyone with diabetes (like
me) who also has a history of one or more of these other stressors (like
me). The next time I'm driving and get pissed off at the other idiots
on the road I have a nice, selfish reason for throttling back the ol'
hostility: my blood sugar. |
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Somebody Up There Likes
Me (5/1/08) Netflix (1956 ***) Directed by Robert Wise, starring
Paul Newman as Rocky Graziano. There are a lot of reasons to like a
movie. In the case of this film, based on Graziano's autobiography,
isn't a great film by any stretch of imagination, but it's a lot of
fun to watch. I especially loved the exterior New York scenes, and the
imagery truly transported me to another place and time. Newman's over-the-top
performance was weird, but fascinating. He seemed at all times to be
imitating either Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski or -- and I know
this doesn't make sense in linear time -- Sylvestor Stallone's 1976
Rocky. I'm being facetious, but it's clear that Stallone owed
a great deal to Newman's earlier performance. |
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My
Dinner With Andre (Screenplay) (5/2/08) Screenplay (1981 ***1/4)
Written by Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory. I was eighteen the first time
I saw the film version of My Dinner With Andre. At the time I remember
being excited about the possible world of ideas the film represented.
There are very few movies that could be classified as "philosophical conversation"
films. Several of Richard Linklater's films come to mind, especially Slacker
and Waking Life. Not so long ago I read and reviewed the book containing
the teleplays from Steve Allen's first Meeting Of Minds series,
and that PBS show had a great deal of common with this film. There are
those who may be critical of the goal or value of a movie (or a play)
that consists of two people talking. Reading the screenplay made me want
to see the movie again, and perhaps I will do just that in the coming
weeks or months. I'm interested to see if it holds up to my own memories.
As for the screenplay, reading its dense multi-page passages I felt something
vital was missing, that the words were insufficient to carry the whole
meaning. I missed seeing Andre and Wally. This strikes me somehow as ironic. |
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Forgetting
Sarah Marshall (5/2/08) Glendale Mann 10 (2008 ***1/4) Directed
by Nicholas Stoller, starring (and written by) Jason Segel. So much has
been made in the press about Segel's full-frontal nudity in this film.
I personally was underwhelmed. As I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall,
I was frequently reminded of last year's Knocked Up. Unfortunately,
as likeable as he is, Jason Segel is no Seth Rogen. Overall I found this
film a little flabby, not nearly as tight as it could have been, and it
seemed about twenty minutes too long. Milana Kunis of That Seventies Show
was surprisingly good as Segel's love interest, and I hope her performance
here is enough to earn her lead roles. |
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Iron
Man (5/4/08) La Canada (2008 ***1/2) Directed by Jon Favreau,
starring Robert Downey Jr. Thank you, Iron Man, for kicking off the 2008
summer movie season. I wasn't particularly a fan of Iron Man growing
up. His red and gold costume was cool but I couldn't really relate to
him. As an adult it's easier to appreciate the story of a merchant-of-death
turned super-hero. There were plenty of cool cars and toys and guns and
stuff blowing up to satisfy the 12-year-old boy in me. I have a great
deal of respect for Favreau's directing talents and his passion for film
as evidenced in 2003's Elf and 2005's Zathura. Robert Downey
Jr. was born to play millionaire playboy industrialist Tony Stark and
he plays the role with both humor and sincerity. Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence
Howard and Jeff Bridges did fine jobs in their respective supporting roles,
but from beginning to end it was Downey's movie. |
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The
Cat's Meow (5/5/08) Netflix (2001 **1/2) Directed by Peter Bogdanovich,
screenplay by Steven Peros, based on his play. Kirsten Dunst and Edward
Herrmann play Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst in this story
of what may have happened on Hearst's yacht in 1924. There have been rumors
over the years of a love-triangle gone wrong that resulted in studio head
Thomas Ince's death. Whether you believe the rumors or not, it's still
a compelling story. Unfortunately, the dialogue didn't quite live up to
the potential of the premise and the action was necessarily limited by
the geography of the boat. Finally, there wasn't a moment during the entire
film when I forgot it was derived from a play. |
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Wristcutters:
A Love Story (5/7/08) Netflix (2006 ***1/4) Directed by Goran
Dukic, starring Patrick Fugit as Zia. The imminently likeable Fugit previously
starred in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous (2000), a movie high on
my list of films I wish I‘d made. Wristcutters takes place in a
sad, gray afterworld inhabited by suicides, where no one is able to smile.
It’s a surprisingly charming, low-key film, with just a hint of magic
and hope. I loved seeing how broken-down junk and trash can work as an
effective visual motif. Wristcutters is probably not for every
taste, but fun nonetheless. |
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Gødland
Volume 1: Hello, Cosmic! (5/9/08) Graphic Novel (2006 **½)
Written by Joe Casey, illustrated by Tom Scioli. This is another one of
those semi-random books I picked up used. I was intrigued by a blurb on
the back that read: "Casey & Scioli surprised me by taking Kirby as a
genre… and presenting an original concept within that genre." In fact,
the books dominant feature is Scioli’s over-the-top Jack Kirby-esque art.
Unfortunately, it’s often very bad Kirby-esque art that reminded me of
my own teenage efforts. In fact, I think I have some old drawings somewhere
that would have fit in nicely in the pages of Godland. I don’t want to
be overly harsh -- some of it was fun to read -- but overall the execution
did not live up to the potential of the concept. |
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Raiders
of the Lost Ark (5/9/08) DVD (1981 ****) Directed by Steven Spielberg,
starring Harrison Ford and Karen Allen. With the fourth Indiana Jones
film coming out on May 22nd, I thought it would be fun to watch the original
trio of films for the first time in years. There was definitely something
potent at work on this first one. There’s a reason this film is used as
an example over and over in books on screenwriting. From first frame to
last, watching it is like taking a ride on your favorite roller coaster.
It is effortless and exhilarating at the same time. Raiders of the
Lost Ark will also forever have a special place in my heart: the first
time I saw it was also my first date! |
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Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984 **) Directed by Steven Spielberg,
starring Harrison Ford and Kate Capshaw. In the behind-the-scenes DVD
commentary, Spielberg and Lucas blame this film’s "darkness" for its critical
failure. For years I’ve joked that somebody really should’ve known better
than to have the beloved Indy become evil and slap a kid, that it violated
a basic tenet of movie storytelling. Watching it again after all these
years, I think the true source of the film’s mediocrity is not the darkness,
but is actually far simpler: The script just wasn’t very good. In the
first movie, the relationship between Indy and Marion Ravenwood was both
believable and interesting. The romantic subplot in Temple of Doom played
as a watered down imitation of Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in
Robert Zemeckis’ Romancing the Stone. The bottom line is this movie
has a lot of problems and everybody knows it. I can’t help but wonder
if it would be possible to re-edit the film and make it suck a little
less. |
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Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade (5/11/08) DVD (1989 ***1/2) Directed
by Steven Spielberg. I would love to know technically why the third Indy
movie looks so different from the other two. The images are altogether
crisper and brighter. I suspect the film stock and lenses used, as well
as the use of a lot of rim lights in the lighting design, but that's just
a guess. Don't get me wrong, it's a marvelous story with a solid core
(the relationship between Indy and his father), but some of the scenes
looked like they were lit like an episode of Laverne and Shirley.
Maybe Spielberg and others were trying to make up for the darkness of
Temple of Doom. So... now that I've watched all three of the original
films and they're all fresh in my mind, I'm ready for Indiana Jones
and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls! Now all I have to do is try
my best to sidestep spoilers and keep my expectations in check! |
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Showcase
Presents: The Brave and the Bold, Vol 2 (5/15/08) Graphic Novel
(2008 ***1/2) Written by Bob Haney (except for one story by Denny O'Neil),
illustrated by various artists, primarily Nick Cardy and Jim Aparo. This
book contains comic issues 88-109, which were originally published in
the late 1960's and early 1970's. Bob Haney (who also wrote the original
Teen Titans comics that got me collecting as a kid) has a reputation
for the worst teen dialogue of all time. This is an unfortunate truth,
but as I read this collection I felt as though I was watching Haney grow
as a writer and really hit his stride. For anyone who doesn't know, The
Brave and the Bold was a team-up book and in each issue different
stars from the DC Comics universe would assist Batman in solving some
crime or crisis. I would love to know what editorial process was used
in choosing who would appear; some of the choices were surprising and
inspired, including appearances by Wildcat, Black Canary, Sgt. Rock, and
even Plastic Man. And here's a comics trivia question for the ages: whatever
happened to the London-based Bat Squad? I also appreciated the scope of
the stories Haney told. Many were set in foreign countries and had the
feel of an adventure movie in miniature. Finally: Jim Aparo passed away
a couple years back, and re-reading the stories he illustrated (in black
and white you can really appreciate the artwork) reminded me of how brilliant
he was. Along with Neal Adams (who illustrated many of the covers in this
collection), Aparo remains one of the definitive Batman artists. |
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I'm
Not There (5/15/08) Netflix (2007 ****) Directed by Todd Haynes,
screenplay by Haynes and Oren Moverman. This is an amazing and original
film, based on the "many lives" of Bob Dylan. I was captivated from beginning
to end. As a Dylan / Woody Guthrie fan there was plenty to love. Six actors
(including the late Heath Ledger) play facets / aspects of Dylan. Cate
Blanchet was nothing short of amazing as Jude Quinn, the most easily recognizable
incarnation. Is it for everybody? Probably not, no. The storytelling is
deliberately fragmented and at the very least non-conventional. It fails
the "would I want to watch this film with my grandmother?" test. I'm Not
There falls solidly into the experimental-yet-still-commercial genre I've
long referred to as "mindf**k" films. The studios don't make a lot of
them, but there are others, such as David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977)
and Mulholland Drive (2001), as well as Head (1968), Pink
Floyd The Wall (1982) and Waking Life (2001). |
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Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (5/23/08) Glendale
Mann 4 (2008 ***1/4) Directed by Steven Spielberg. Apparently the U.S.
Government recently passed a law stating that all reviews of this film
must begin with "It's been 19 years since Indiana Jones literally rode
off into the sunset..." There. Satisfied? I did my best to prepare myself
properly for this event: I watched all three of the previous films on
DVD. I avoided spoilers. I glanced at reviews enough to know (Tomato-meter:
70%) to keep my expectations in check. I went into it with an open mind,
knowing it wasn't going the be the greatest movie of all time. And you
know what? I enjoyed it. It was a fun ride, one that was in keeping with
the franchise. Some of my colleagues have been playing a game where they
rank the Indy films in order of their enjoyment. Raiders is still my favorite,
of course, but I liked some parts of this film even more than Last
Crusade. Tonally, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull seemed closer
to the first film than the third, which descended into slapstick a few
times too often. |
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Bigger
Than Life: A Murder, a Memoir (5/24/08) Nonfiction (2007 ***1/2)
Written by Dinah Lenney. I'm currently taking a UCLA Extension memoir
class taught by Lenney. I already had high regard for her as a teacher
who both inspires and nurtures. Having read her book -- in which she interweaves
her father's murder and its aftermath with reflections on her life --
I have further respect for her as a writer. I especially appreciated her
ability to write clear prose that still manages to communicates complex
thoughts and emotions. In addition, I admired her deft handling when writing
about members of her family. She was able to capture good and bad, sometimes
at the same time, painting what felt like an honest portrait. |
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Walk
Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (5/25/08) Netflix (2007 **) Directed
by Jake Kasdan, starring John C. Reilly and Jenna Fischer. This biopic
parody follows directly in the footsteps of Ray and Walk the
Line. While I appreciated what the writers were trying to do, which
was to poke fun at the conventions of the genre, I just wish they'd done
it in a funnier way. Also, as much as I like Reilly as a comic actor,
he doesn't quite have the charisma to carry a film like this on his own. |
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Uncle
Sam and the Freedom Fighters (5/26/08) Graphic Novel (2007 **1/2)
Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, illustrated by Daniel Acuna.
This is a reboot of the classic team whose members were frivolously killed
off in Infinite Crisis. As with many of the "random" books I buy, I bought
it used, on sale and at leat in part due to the quality of its artwork.
It's not a bad read, and it has a fairly simple story-arc. It is unnecessarily
violent at times, though. Uncle Sam is literally the embodiment of the
American spirit, which makes him a challenge as a character. There's a
political subtext I found interesting: the American people are fed up
with their government but are, against all odds, hopeful about the future. |
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Kung
Fu Panda (5/29/08) Hollywood Mann Chinese (2008 ****) Directed
by Mark Osborne and John Stevenson. Wow. I can honestly say without any
irony whatsoever that the word "awesome" comes to mind. KFP is
a beautiful film and an amazing achievement. The animation is great, the
lighting is great, the story is elegant in its simplicity, the hero is
likeable and easy to identify with. It's my favorite Dreamworks movie
since the first Shrek. I'm ashamed to admit I'm more than a little
envious of my co-workers who worked on the film. My sole contribution
was wearing a panda costume in New York for two days, but that's another
story. Oh well, maybe if this film makes the money it deserves I'll get
a chance to work on Kung Fu Panda II! |
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My Fair Lady (5/30/08)
Netflix (1964 ***) Directed by George Cukor, starring Audrey Hepburn and
Rex Harrison, with Wilfrid Hyde-White as Colonel Pickering. You want to
hear something crazy? As beloved as this film is, with a running length
of nearly three hours, I thought this film was about an hour too long.
I saw plenty of opportunities to cut it down, too. In many places Cukor's
editing philosophy appeared to be: "Don't use three shots when you can
use ten!" On top of that, it's a misogynistic (often bordering on offensive)
film with a weird ending. In spite of all of this, Hepburn is radiant
and Marnie Nixon (Hepburn's singing voice) sings and Rex Harrison talk-sings
their way through some memorable songs. |
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Kung
Fu Panda (5/31/08) DWA friends and family Screening -- Universal
Citywalk IMAX (2008 ****) Directed by Mark Osborne and John Stevenson.
I know, I know, I just saw this two days ago at the cast & crew screening.
I sure didn't mind seeing it again, though! The film looked absolutely
amazing on the big IMAX screen. I hope it does well at the box office.
What with Iron Man and Indy and Sex and the City
and Hulk and Wall-E, the theaters are so damned crowded
with content this summer. I always get so paranoid whenever one of Dreamworks'
films opens. I wonder: "Is this the film where people decide they don't
want to see any more animated movies?" So, will I see it again? You know
what? I just might -- it's that good! (One sad side-note: The day after
this screening [6/1/08] Universal Studios had a terrible fire that destroyed
the New York set, the Back to the Future town square and the
King Kong attraction.) |
