The Wandering Image: June 2015

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Viewing Journal: 6/30/2015

243) THE CONNECTION
(2015 dir. Cédric Jimenez) Date Seen: June 30 2015

242) HARD TO BE A GOD
(2015 dir. Aleksei German) Date Seen: June 30 2015

Monday, June 29, 2015

Viewing Journal: 6/29/2015

241) ESCOBAR: PARADISE LOST
(2015 dir. Andrea Di Stefano) Date Seen: June 29 2015

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Viewing Journal: 6/28/2015

240) LIVE FROM NEW YORK!
(2015 dir. Bao Nguyen) Date Seen: June 28 2015

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Viewing Journal: 6/27/2015

239) THE PRINCESS OF FRANCE
(2015 dir. Matías Piñeiro) Date Seen: June 27 2015

Señor Piñeiro seems to have the Midas touch as far as my cinematic preferences go. Blown away once again

Friday, June 26, 2015

Viewing Journal: 6/26/2015

238) MAX
(2015 dir. Boaz Yakin) Date Seen: June 26 2015

"Lassie Come Home From War"

I hate to poo poo a film with such good intentions, but I found the proceedings dull as hell. Hoping for an animal picture as thematically rich as Sam Fuller's WHITE DOG (1982), I was disappointed. A much more nuanced film about humans & animals with PTSD could've been delivered. But at least the genuine sentiment is there.

Where's the Boaz Yakin that once gave us FRESH (1994) ??

237) UN CHANT D'AMOUR

[A SONG OF LOVE]
(1950 dir. Jean Genet) 2nd Viewing: June 26 2015

this viewing was in honor of the Supreme Court's historic Marriage Equality ruling! The pictured film being one of the earliest examples of proud Queer Cinema I can think of & a triumph for the moving image. A hypnotic dream of stark contrasts. Unapologetic.

I've just been in a state of elation ever since the news this morning & wanted to watch something in praise of love. Truly one of the great civil rights triumphs of our time, & something I thought I would never ever see in my home state. Thank god my cynicism was proven wrong.

So here's to you, LGBT friends & family! You've earned this victory.

A big step in the right direction for our Republic. Now, with a renewed sense of optimism, let's extinguish the many other faces of inequality that remain.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Viewing Journal: 6/25/2015

236) TED 2
(2015 dir. Seth MacFarlane) Date Seen: June 25 2015

MacFarlane may dethrone Seltzer & Friedberg one day as enemy #1 for American comedy.. He's about neck-and-neck with Todd Phillips in that race. Sad thing is, I saw this baked & still barely laughed

Viewing Journal: 6/24/2015

235) RUBBLE KINGS
(2015 dir. Shan Nicholson) Date Seen: June 24 2015

Warriors!! ... come out an- Very well, I'll stop.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Viewing Journal: 6/23/2015

234) INSIDE OUT
(2015 dir. Pete Docter / del Carmen) Date Seen: June 23 2015

233) LAVA
(2015 dir. James Ford Murphy) Date Seen: June 23 2015

Monday, June 22, 2015

Viewing Journal: 6/22/2015

232) DOPE
(2015 dir. Rick Famuyiwa) Date Seen: June 22 2015

Might exist somewhere between "Whack" and "Aight," but certainly not "Dope."

It positions itself as something brazenly clever, but is really only a notch above something like AMERICAN PIE. It's got a slick MTV appeal giving it a slight edge over that movie. & thankfully there's a handful of admittedly funny bits scattered throughout (ex. beating off on the corner of the bed)..

Pharrell's music sure as shit isn't "Dope." That dude's corny as fuck.

Viewing Journal: 6/21/2015

231)

ME & EARL & THE DYING GIRL

(2015 dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon) Date Seen: June 21 2015

more 'film school in a box' out of the Sundance labs.

Lots of talent on display here obviously, just didn't feel any of the filmic reappropriations were very interesting. It dances a line between cute & annoying. You get a "look, ma! I'm directing" vibe from every scene. (The number of times a Fassbinder-style pan away from action occurs had my eyebrow thoroughly raised) And anyone can write this type of stupid voiceover to walk an audience through their picture. It's hard to describe what I felt while viewing this. A Coca-Cola commercial by way of Criterion Collection?

Brian Eno's music is gold though.

Have you ever noticed how Rick on Walking Dead pronounces his son Carl's name as "Coral"??

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Viewing Journal: 6/20/2015

230) BEYOND THE MASK
(2015 dir. Chad Burns) Date Seen: June 20 2015

THE REDCOATS ARE COMING via MEDIOCRE CGI

It's like THE PATRIOT (2000) meets Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, only it comes with that authenticated "Christian" seal of approval (courtesy Burns Family Studios, LLC). So you get to pat yourself on the back afterwards for witnessing a movie of bona fide faith.

For real though; screenplay so tonally muddled & historically misty-eyed, you'd believe Glenn Beck himself penned the final draft. It's a movie written at the 6th grade level pitched at old evangelicals who still think & feel at that 6th grade level. And all of this before we even begin to complain about the production, craft, staging, etc.

(for additional mental midget cinéma, see also; MEET THE SPARTANS, ATLAS SHRUGGED, anything by Dinesh D'Souza, EXPELLED NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED, LAST OUNCE OF COURAGE, BUCKY LARSON)