Viewing Journal: 11/5/2014

519) ACTRESS
(2014 dir. Robert Greene) Date Seen: November 5 2014

In terms of form, this is one of the greatest documentaries I've ever seen. A deeply affecting, richly textured film that uses one woman's midlife identity crisis (Brandy Burre) to tell a moving and universally relatable story. I especially loved the way director Robert Greene infused so many scenes with the saturated colors and theatrical lighting of classic Hollywood weepies, creating a visual style that felt uniquely dreamlike.

 

518) PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE
(2014 dir. Roberts Gannaway) Date Seen: November 5 2014

I appreciated that this sequel at least tried something different by centering the story around rescue adventures, which makes it a modest improvement in terms of narrative imo. Still, I couldn't shake how strangely uninspired these films make flight look—it's kinda baffling; You’d think a movie called PLANES wouldn’t make being airborne feel so whatever. Watch this film right after a screening of Miyazaki’s PORCO ROSSO and you’ll understand the gulf of “room for improvement” I’m hinting at.

 

517) RAZORBACK
(1984 dir. Russell Mulcahy) Date Seen: November 5 2014

As a kid I remember renting GRIZZLY (1976) on dvd from our local library, solely because i was captivated by the scary box art..

Then i got home & actually watched the thing and its lameness overwhelmed me. "the box is scary; So why the hell does the movie suck?!" A film like RAZORBACK is what I was really looking for back then and I'm sad it took us this long to find each other. A super effective and suspenseful creature feature. It's also photographically one of the best looking films ever made. Very few filmmakers could make a movie this stylish now even if their life depended on it.