Viewing Journal: 6/18/2010

27) TOY STORY 3

(2010 dir. Lee Unkrich) Date Seen: June 18 2010

A worthy end to Pixar's preeminent TOY STORY trilogy. These films could function as emotional therapy for we millennials. Countless life affirming moments. Their writers/animators know how to craft quality comfort movies. This newest installment has the most potent sentimentality of the 3 & honestly some of the most exciting action I've ever seen in an animated film. I guess it all started with that impressive climax of the first TOY STORY. I remember being on the edge of my baby seat in '95 during that film's entire final 15 minutes. The only thing that got my heart racing faster at the time was maybe Spielberg's JURASSIC PARK; albeit for different reasons. TOY STORY 3 has more thrills to offer audiences this weekend than any of the moronic action films aimed at older folks do. Unkrich may have outdone himself this time. Gracias to Pixar's animators for cooking up so many classics for me and my future chitlins to enjoy.

26) THE MARRIAGE 

            OF MARIA BRAUN
(1979 dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 4th Viewing: June 18 2010

My 2nd favourite Fassbinder next to ALI: FEAR EATS SOUL (1974) and undoubtedly one of the best films of 1979. I must point out that the current version Netflix "watch-instant" has streaming of this does not look very good. Like an old VHS tape.. RWF's work cries high definition.

25) THE MESSENGER
(2009 dir. Oren Moverman) 2nd Viewing: June 18 2010

Haunting for most of its runtime. Ben Foster is a national treasure, gosh darnit.

Viewing Journal: 6/17/2010

24) HOLY ROLLERS
(2010 dir. Kevin Asch) Date Seen: June 17 2010

Missed opportunity.. A very interesting story presented in a tired cinematic mould. Probably Mr. Eisenberg's best character role though. That is, I predict, until THE SOCIAL NETWORK comes out later this year.

23) COLLAPSE
(2009 dir. Chris Smith) Date Seen: June 17 2010

"We're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine,

And the machine is bleeding to death"

I would never brush this Michael Ruppert guy off as a mere conspiracy quack, but he is definitely a paranoid ideologue. Perhaps even an under-qualified one? But I think he offers enough food for thought to make an interesting documentary subject. Most everything he brings up taps into fears I already have about energy and finance, and I think a lot of his conclusions are sound - Where the pragmatic optimist in me breaks with him is on his rigid outlook on alternative solutions to peak oil. His views seem extremely obtuse when it comes to that. Director Chris Smith channels Errol Morris a bit too much for my taste here, but I didn't think it was enough to spoil the entirety of the film. Just a little distracting. After all, how many recent docs haven't been influenced by the great Errol? I love Chris Smith's AMERICAN MOVIE and THE POOL much more than COLLAPSE, but I think it's still worth the undivided attention of those who are concerned with the current shit sandwich civilization is in.

Viewing Journal: 6/16/2010

22) MARY AND MAX
(2009 dir. Adam Elliot) 2nd Viewing: June 16 2010

Watched the brand new blu-ray of this today! Remains one of my favourite animated films of 2009. An unbearably sweet story full of human longing. Crafted with great love and voiced by great talent.











21) THE A-TEAM
(2010 dir. Joe Carnahan) Date Seen: June 16 2010

This has been a particularly bad summer for action movies in my opinion. Though this is not anywhere near as horrid as his previous SMOKIN' ACES (2006), Joe Carnahan still too often directs his last few actioneers like a subnormal Tony Scott. There are only a handful of modern directors left that still know how to choreograph and frame dynamic action, and it seems this guy is sadly no longer contributing anything new. I'm beginning to fear we may never see the return of the same slick genre dude that once brought us the ultra-gritty NARC + the admirable student flick BLOOD, GUTS, BULLETS AND OCTANE. One redeeming aspect of this new A-TEAM is the amusing cast. They do all the heavy lifting in bringing charisma to the characters and that's no small feat when dealing with a pretty conventional script. 

I shudder to think I actually liked THE LOSERS a little more than this. & that wasn't some masterwork either.

Viewing Journal: 6/15/2010

20) MID-AUGUST LUNCH
(2010 dir. Gianni Di Gregorio) Date Seen: June 15 2010

Warm & genuinely humanist. Def one of the kindest slice-of-life movies I've seen in a long while. 

Viewing Journal: 6/14/2010

19) LOVERS OF HATE
(2010 dir. Bryan Poyser) Date Seen: June 14 2010

employs its claustrophobic setting and darkly comedic performances to strong effect. Though sometimes its cheap cinematography shot on mini-DV aesthetic lends a stylistic flatness to the proceedings. I'd be lying if I said that didn't undercut a lot of the psychological tension for me at times.

18) SOLITARY MAN
(2010 dir. Koppelman/Levien) Date Seen: June 14 2010

For the most part - this offers a compelling examination of aging, denial, and self‑destruction; Anchored by a nuanced Michael Douglas performance. Unfortunately its reliance on a familiar character trajectory diminished its ultimate emotional resonance towards the end, for me personally.

17) SERENITY
(2005 dir. Joss Whedon) Date Seen: June 14 2010

[I know for a fact I went to see this when it was @ theatres but twas late at night & my bitch-ass fell the F asleep. I was happy today to discover my roommate has it on blu-ray] 

Joss Whedon usually only works for me as a writer but he did an admittedly great job directing this. It successfully elevates television narrative to cinematic scope, showcasing his usual witty banter & cohesive world‑building within a dynamic sci‑fi framework.

Viewing Journal: 6/13/2010

16) GONE WITH THE WIND
(1939 dir. Victor Fleming) 3rd Viewing: June 13 2010

Sweet sassafras molassASS, this blu-ray is outstanding to look at! Transfer is impeccable & the technicolor is vibrant in a way I've never noticed before. Orgasmic clarity. Too bad about all the racist shit & empathizing with literal traitorous slavers

Viewing Journal: 6/12/2010

15) MATINEE
(1993 dir. Joe Dante) Date Seen: June 12 2010

I adored this movie & cannot believe I had put it on the backburner for so long. It may very well be my new favorite Joe Dante film











14) HUNGER
(2008 dir. Steve McQueen) 2nd Viewing: June 12 2010

Still THE cinematic statement on "The Troubles" in my eyes. Few films about war pack this type of visceral gut punch.











13) THE HAUNTED WORLD 

       OF EL SUPERBEASTO
(2009 dir. Rob Zombie) Date Seen: June 12 2010

I'm probably being entirely too generous with my rating here, but I really appreciated Zombie's latest anarchic vision. Also his first animated outing since his hallucinatory segment of BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA (1996). Even though I prefer his other 2009 masterwork HALLOWEEN II, SUPERBEASTO is worth a gander for fans of his particular brand of eccentric pop-art. Crass and vulgar? You bet. But also brazenly original and transgressive for long stretches. The animation isn't quite as admirable as old school masters like Ralph Bakshi, but the humor is as subversive and amusing at least. Akin to Tex Avery cartoons on psilocybin.

Viewing Journal: 6/11/2010

12) THE 

FATHER OF MY CHILDREN

(2010 dir. Mia Hansen-Løve) Date Seen: June 11 2010

I found Mia Hansen-Løve's latest to be extremely moving. It paints a complex portrait of a family unit during serious tragedy.










11) LOOKING FOR ERIC
(2009 dir. Ken Loach) Date Seen: June 11 2010

An interesting departure for Ken Loach. Not as good as I was hoping, but still pretty entertaining. For a sports icon, Eric Cantona is a remarkably natural actor.

Viewing Journal: 6/9/2010 - 6/10/2010

10) CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'
(2007 dir. Cristian Nemescu) Date Seen: June 10 2010

Finally got to see this & now I'm even sadder we lost writer/director Cristian Nemescu. He was a true independent with a distinctive cinematic voice. Will light a candle for him tonight.







Viewing Journal: 6/9/2010




9) TONY MANERO
(2008 dir. Pablo Larraín) Date Seen: June 9 2010

a troubling (and at times hypnotic) descent into madness.. I frequently have a hard time putting my thoughts about movies into text - especially when the movie in question is meticulously paced & thematically deep like this; So idk if I just started this journal to merely log things I've been watching with zero personal insight. but now I fear that's what it might become.. Suppose Bret Easton Ellis wrote Chilean Psycho instead of American Psycho and then a filmmaker similar to Andrea Arnold made a kitchen sink realist film out of it. Even that description still doesn't quite begin to sum up what makes TONY MANERO uniquely transfixing or depressing.

Viewing Journal: 6/1/10 - 6/8/10

I'm going to start logging all the movies I see here to try and gauge how many I view in one year.  Also because I have O.C.D. and would like a diary to look back through over the years.. Should be interesting.

8) GET HIM TO THE GREEK
(2010 dir. Nicholas Stoller) Date Seen: June 8 2010

thought this was servicably funny if ultimately not a comedy revelation. I didn't like it as much as FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (2008). If you like Jonah Hill, Elisabeth Moss, or Rose Byrne; you definitely should get around to watching it eventually. It's hilarious that Diddy essentially plays that absurd character Chappelle turned him into in his Making The Band spoof.. But on the DL, i've heard that Diddy's actually like that!











7) DEFENDOR
(2009 dir. Peter Stebbings) Date Seen: June 7 2010

Maybe I'm just burned out on superhero revisionist pics (or superhero films in general), but this movie wasn't a home run for me. It's funny at parts while not being particularly clever. As a novelty though, I suppose it is "cute". Woody Harrelson is really the main reason I would recommend it to anyone. He's just a charismatic dude.










6) OWL AND THE SPARROW
(2007 dir. Stephane Gauger) Date Seen: June 6 2010

A charming vision of Saigon street life made accessible via conventional indie aesthetics. I didn't think it was anything new in the way of the childhood coming-of-age dramas, but did appreciate its genuine romantic sentiment. And even though I feel the director's outlook on Vietnam's poor might be a little too soft, I would never accuse OWL AND SPARROW of being "poverty porn" (ala KAVI). If you're interested in contemporary Vietnamese cinema, you could do a lot worse than this.









5) SPLICE
(2010 dir. Vincenzo Natali) 2nd Viewing: June 5 2010

Right off the bat: Vincenzo Natali is obviously no David Cronenberg. He may present many of the same philosophical ideas through genre like his fellow Canuck, but Natali never really fleshes them out with quite the same level of prestige or depth. I think he's more interested in pushing an audience's buttons and manipulating their sexual hang ups. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. He crafts some pretty darn entertaining schlock. 

SPLICE is just thoughtful and disgusting enough to be engaging. And I found the overall design of the mutations aesthetically pleasing too. The main creature, Dren, reminded me of that weird alien girl from the "Mental Wealth" PlayStation commercial Chris Cunningham designed in the 90s. Creepy yet beautiful. On the downside, I do think it devolves into a bit of a lame monster movie in its last act. I guess what I'm getting at is, it's too outrageous a movie to be truly transgressive and too derivative of other classics for me to consider it a masterpiece. For what it's worth, it's a lot of fun throughout most of its runtime. I have to give a film props for at least trying to show the average audience crazy biological accidents.









4) SMILEY FACE
(2008 dir. Gregg Araki) 3rd Viewing: June 4 2010

May very well be the most tonally accurate depiction of being blazed ever committed to film. That is to say dumb as hell and completely scatterbrained! Ha.. But also pretty darn amusing. Anna Faris is always funny to me. It doesn't matter what she's in (THE HOUSE BUNNY, OBSERVE AND REPORT, SCARY MOVIE, etc.) or how silly a character she's playing, she just cracks me up. Not my favourite film of Araki's, but I really enjoy it every time it's on. You can tell everyone involved had fun making it. 

Also, is it just me, or does it seem like many classy auteurs have been trying their hand at the stoner comedy lately?








3) PRINCE OF PERSIA: 

           SANDS OF TIME
(2010 dir. Mike Newell) Date Seen: June 3 2010

I don't know what else to say besides I thought this was dumb as hell. You don't deserve production values this slick if you're going to stage your action this boring. Also shockingly racist casting practices.

Sad to think all of this silliness was once based on the prestigious Arabian Nights.










2) RIDE WITH THE DEVIL 

(1999 dir. Ang Lee) Date Seen: June 2 2010

Director's Cut

A vast improvement over the theatrical cut in my opinion. I still have a hard time connecting with it on any real emotional level though. The academic in me is drawn to the literary tone and details of the period, but the dramatic narrative still feels pretty flat. As well as some of the characters. I actually prefer Lee's much-hated 2003 version of HULK over this. But hey, I'd take an ambitious misfire like RIDE WITH THE DEVIL any day over other contemporary Civil War fluff like COLD MOUNTAIN.

#Criterion #bluray








1) MOTHER AND CHILD
(2010 dir. Rodrigo Garcia) Date Seen: June 1 2010

I liked it a hell of a lot more than PASSENGERS, that's for sure. Good performances all around by the entire ensemble this time. It's emotionally effective for most of its runtime if crazy schmaltzy only for few parts. I would say it was kind of a mixed bag if there wasn't so much that actually moved me in it. 

Hopefully Mr. Garcia's cinema will continue to grow on me, 'cause I really appreciated this one.