tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39584312012-01-13T09:43:58.287-05:00Jimnoreply@blogger.comBlogger501100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-33553524455012632672012-01-03T09:06:00.002-05:002012-01-03T09:09:15.300-05:00

Having already seen the 2009 version by Niels Arden Oplev I was a bit reticent to screen a big budget Hollywood version of it. Nevertheless, Fincher's version is an excellent film in its own right, and is entertaining enough to satisfy fans of the earlier version. (Having not read any of the books I can't say whether fans of the novels will be satisfied.) That the movie is so entertaining is,

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-82920588039907005562011-12-13T21:20:00.002-05:002011-12-13T21:26:49.378-05:00

A few years ago I was fortunate to be in attendance at the Wexner Center when Lodge Kerrigan spoke at a screening of his film, Keane. (If you've not seen it, do so. It's one of the best American films of the last decade.) During the Q&A I thanked Mr. Kerrigan for not exploiting the main character's mental illness, by playing it for cheap laughs, like in a Robin Williams vehicle. Anyone who's

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-61994708566978198842011-05-16T10:09:00.000-04:002011-05-16T10:09:02.091-04:00

2001 Read My Lips (Jacques Audiard) The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke) What Time Is It There? (Tsai Ming-liang) Time Out (Laurent Cantet) In Praise of Love (Jean-Luc Godard) Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuarón) Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat) Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-Hsien) 2002 On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (Hong Sang-soo) Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki) Blisfully Yours (

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-33801903646451366522011-04-01T00:01:00.000-04:002011-03-31T21:19:12.781-04:00

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Southland Tales is a monumental mess of a movie. It's a huge, colossal disaster. I really can't think of any way to describe it. Set in a contemporary, post-apocalyptic America which, after a number of orchestrated nuclear attacks, has devolved into a Balkanized police state watched over by a PATRIOT Act-on-steroids aided government, the film concerns the actions of

Jimnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-87344030841320620432011-02-22T21:40:00.005-05:002011-02-23T09:19:38.318-05:00

Sunrise: A Tale of Two Humans is a story told almost entirely in stereotypes. This is intentional. The story is very basic, and cluttering it with nuance or surprise would detract from his impact. A man is tempted. He overcomes temptation, but almost loses everything anyway. Once he realizes what could have been lost his life is changed forever. The end. The beauty of the movie is in its

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-11654504641443644242011-02-21T11:34:00.001-05:002011-02-23T11:58:36.640-05:00

As I write this, David Fincher's The Social Network is almost sure to win the Oscar™ for Best Picture. So, I'm late to the party, but I just watched it for the first time the other night. I don't know; I don't think it was that good. It benefits from a decent Aaron Sorkin script, but I don't think the multiple depositions as a framing device worked well. I kept waiting for that to finish so we

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-45987877779844278982011-01-01T00:01:00.001-05:002011-02-22T14:17:50.372-05:00

The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942) ***** 2010.01.18 The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) ***** 2010.01.10 Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944) ***** 2010.01.23 Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, 2007) ***** 2010.02.06 The Big Lebowski (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1998) ***** 2010.02.05 White Material (Claire Denis, 2009) **** 2010.01.21 Charlotte et Véronique, ou Tous les garçons

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-15030034854369058902010-10-31T12:13:00.000-04:002010-10-31T12:13:01.670-04:00

Un prophète (Jacques Audiard, 2009)

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1153501146500814442006-07-21T12:58:00.003-04:002011-02-23T08:00:29.432-05:00

Facets is releasing a DVD of Bela Tarr's masterpiece, Satantango. I won't be buying it.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1152541696245332272006-07-10T10:27:00.000-04:002006-09-05T19:26:25.896-04:00

I finally saw Match Point last night. While rigorously avoiding any reviews of the film, I went into knowing thata) Woody has gone on record saying it's his best film, andb) A large number of self-described 'non fans' really like this movie.I'll attempt to briefly discuss both points.1. The film, and Mr. Allen's attitude concerning it.In my opinion, Match Point is far from Allen's best work. Now,

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1147190641081703412006-05-09T12:03:00.000-04:002006-05-09T12:04:01.093-04:00

Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954)Meryl Streep as Sophie Zawistowska in Sophie's Choice (1982)Al Pacino as Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon (1975)Bette Davis as Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950)James Cagney as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)Dustin Hoffman as "Ratso" Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy (

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1143214491196342142006-03-24T10:34:00.000-05:002006-03-24T10:34:51.206-05:00

http://reel.com/reel.asp?node=features/interviews/criterion"Recently in our newsletter we had a six-degrees-of-separation quiz where we challenged our newsletter subscribers to connect two people using only directors and actors involved in films that were only in the Criterion collection. You could get anywhere you wanted, but you had to go through Jean Renoir."

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1142523110605082162006-03-16T10:30:00.000-05:002006-03-16T10:31:50.616-05:00

Big Fish (Tim Burton, 2003)This was another film I watched at my wife's request. Blasphemous as it may be, I've never been much a fan of Burton's work, or at least what little of it I've seen. Still, Big Fish was a fine enough movie, with a wonderful cast and an appropriately fantastical ambiance. The story was hackneyed and predictable, and the general theme, that we should accept our loved ones

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1142518984569128042006-03-16T09:22:00.000-05:002006-03-16T09:23:04.580-05:00

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1141911945184425342006-03-09T08:45:00.000-05:002006-03-16T01:22:26.640-05:00

A History of Violence (David Cronenberg, U.S.) 775 points 2046 (Wong Kar Wai, China/Hong Kong/France) 668 Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin, France) 549 Caché/Hidden (Michael Haneke, France, etc.) 501 Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, U.S./Canada) 490 The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach, U.S.) 474 Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, U.S.) 470 Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1141839030217613842006-03-08T12:29:00.001-05:002011-02-23T08:01:34.786-05:00

Frank Miller's Sin City is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I can't believe I actually forced myself to finish it. I had to watch it in 20-30 minute segments because it was so violent and offensive. However interesting the visuals were, the novelty of the film's 'look' wore off by the end of the first hour. It was also exceedingly misogynistic. Watching The Umbrellas of Cherbourg on the

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1141839128213962992006-02-28T12:31:00.000-05:002006-03-11T14:17:00.830-05:00

The other night my wife and I watched Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, 2004) on DVD. It was in no way a bad film. It was well written, acted, and photographed, and at no point was the pacing off in any way. It was also utterly predictable, and from the very beginning it grabbed you by the neck and screamed, "THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF, DAMMIT! YOU WILL PAY ATTENTION AND YOU WILL FEEL GUILTY AFTERWARDS,

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1141912252088378472006-02-26T09:50:00.000-05:002006-03-13T08:36:11.236-05:00

Jean Eustache's son has a blog.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1139145811085466662006-01-29T20:22:00.001-05:002011-02-23T08:09:35.110-05:00

Looking at the Metacritic site for the highest rated films of 2001, two are tied for the top spot, The Fellowship of the Ring and Werckmeister Harmonies, two films which couldn't be less alike. The first an overblown, turgid mess of adolescent fantasy wish-fulfillment, and the second a masterpiece about faith, superstition, fear, and totalitarianism.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1139146687071219692006-01-17T11:37:00.001-05:002011-02-23T08:03:44.976-05:00

So far I've caught three of the four films shown so far in the Mikio Naruse retrospective. Of the ones I've seen, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs is my favorite. It stars Hideko Takamine as a the chief hostess in a Ginza nightclub, c. 1960. It's kind of a bizarre cross between Douglas Sirk (thematically) and Billy Wilder (stylistically). I hope to write a review.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1136475330971643892006-01-05T10:35:00.000-05:002006-01-05T10:35:30.983-05:00

I love writing about movies. Sometimes it's quite easy to write about films, or a particular film. I've found that writing about Godard's works is quite easy, probably because Godard is an intellectual using film as the primary medium with which to explicate his philosophy and ideas, as opposed to someone who seeks primarily to entertain or to express emotional content in some way. I know that's

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1139146803517287682006-01-04T13:20:00.001-05:002011-02-23T08:09:47.797-05:00

Wong Kar-Wai to head Cannes film festival jury 30 minutes ago PARIS (Reuters) - Director Wong Kar-Wai will head the jury for this year's Cannes Film Festival, making him the first Chinese chairman of the panel in the event's history, organisers said on Wednesday. The Shanghai-born director of "In the Mood for Love" and "2046" won the Cannes festival's Best Director prize for "Happy Together"

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1139192669183144892005-12-30T13:23:00.000-05:002006-02-05T21:25:03.136-05:00

My 10 best moviewatching experiences of 2005Since I so rarely see "new" movies, I did this last year in lieu of a "best of" list, and I thought I'd continue the tradition. Below is a list of my ten most enjoyable filmwatching experiences of the past year, regardless of format. The only condition is that they had to all be films I'd never previously seen.Les Enfants du Paradis (Marcel Carne, 1945)

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1135783166861062272005-12-28T10:18:00.000-05:002006-03-11T14:19:27.556-05:00

OK, so I'm watching this movie I recorded off Sundance a couple of weeks ago - Une Femme de Ménage, directed by Claude Berri (Jean de Florette, Manon of the Spring). I have several problems, both with the movie and also with myself.The film is about a middle-aged man, recently divorced, who finds himself in need of someone to pick up after him. He hires a young woman named Laura as a housekeeper,

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1139192110004539722005-12-21T21:14:00.000-05:002006-02-05T21:17:10.086-05:00

DoubleTake Twenty-Five, Summer 2001A Conversation with Wim Wenders by Michael ColesMichael Coles: You seem to evoke Edward Hopper in some of your films. How has Hopper influenced your work?Wim Wenders: I encountered Hopper on my first trip to America, in 1972. I was in New York and spent quite some time at the Whitney Museum. And I had known Hopper a little before, but he hadn't made much of an

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1139146981149413112005-12-09T15:42:00.000-05:002006-02-05T08:44:10.780-05:00

Here's the trailer for Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, featuring, of all things, New Order's "Age of Consent":This looks to suck, proving that Lost in Translation wasn't a fluke.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1139151961159801102005-11-30T22:05:00.000-05:002006-02-05T10:06:01.170-05:00

An open letter to Facets, re: SatantangoTo whom it may concern:It has come to my attention that your company is planning to release a DVD of Bela Tarr's film Satantango in 2006. I should not have to tell you how important this film is; in a poll conducted by the Cinematheque Ontario it was voted one of the ten best films of the Nineties by a panel of internationally respected film scholars and

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1139155954738431362005-11-23T11:12:00.000-05:002006-02-05T11:12:34.746-05:00

I got my Deep Discount DVD 20% off order today:

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1135783308065716702005-11-21T19:21:00.003-05:002011-02-22T13:41:56.519-05:00

In a serendipitous event, The Economist ran a special on China the global economy the same week that I watched Jia Zhang-Ke's The World. As a westerner and particularly as an American, I tend to think of globalization the way Thomas Friedman leads me to think, i.e., on the way it will affect my life and the lives of other middle-class westerners. Our concerns are, to put them succinctly, "will

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1128001568689334972005-09-29T09:45:00.003-04:002011-02-22T13:31:08.977-05:00

It had been many years since I'd lasst seen Bob Rafelson's Five Easy Pieces, and really all I remembered were the oil rigs, Nicholson's swagger, and the "hold the chicken between your knees" diner scene. So I was quite unprepared for the full force of what I saw last evening. As a matter of fact, the film may be the key work of the new wave of American cinema, that glorious period that began

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1120784408331790082005-07-07T20:51:00.000-04:002006-08-19T22:25:02.420-04:00

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)What makes Les Parapluies de Cherbourg such a great movie? It's certainly not the plot, which is as trite and formulaic as could be imagined. Two young people are in love. They decide to marry. Their families object, saying the couple are too young and don't know the meaning of love. The boy, Guy, who lives with his aging godmother and her pretty

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1119621986346481622005-06-24T10:04:00.000-04:002005-06-24T10:14:40.910-04:00

Masculin-Feminin (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966)A continuing problem I have when talking about movies with friends and casual aquaintances is the eternal question, "What's the movie about?" I think to most people this question relates more to plot than anything else ("this movie's about a man whose niece is kidnapped by Indians and he spends the next decade looking for her"), or in lieu of that, some

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1119024690067032312005-06-17T12:11:00.000-04:002005-06-17T12:46:56.123-04:00

Yesterday I finished compiling the DVD Beaver film list for 2005 (only two months late!) The top 10 films:RankFilmDirectorYearPoints12001: A Space OdysseyStanley Kubrick19682622VertigoAlfred Hitchcock19582463OrdetCarl-Theodor Dryer19552234Tokyo StoryYasujiro Ozu19531875In the Mood For LoveWong Kar-Wai20001846SunriseFW Murnau192717678 1/2Federico Fellini19631597SolyarisAndrei

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1118416323688643972005-06-10T11:11:00.001-04:002011-02-22T13:49:17.259-05:00

I ran across the website called They Shoot Pictures, Don't They which compiled this master list of the 1,000 greatest films ever. They combined all these other lists from Sight and Sound, The New York Times, YMDb, etc., fiddled with the numbers (probably a lot) and came up with a list that they continue to update as their sources get changed. Geek that I am, I imported the list into Access and

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1121272226726974282005-06-08T12:30:00.001-04:002011-02-22T13:50:38.647-05:00

"Now there is no reason to prevent anybody from making a film. The technology exists, the equipment is much cheaper than it was, the post-production facilities are on a laptop computer, the entire equipment to make a film can go in a couple of cases and be carried as hand luggage on a plane. There is nothing to stop people making films." "I could write a short thesis on why there were so many

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1117656973910423462005-06-01T16:16:00.000-04:002005-06-01T16:16:13.913-04:00

I received New Yorker's release of L'Argent yesterday. I was really tired by the time I eventually got home so I only watched about the first half hour of the film, one I've never seen before. So far it's excellent, with a good transfer that is a PAL-->NTSC conversion that has some slight ghosting, but not an extreme amount. I hope to watch the rest tonight.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1139157393644820942005-02-11T11:34:00.000-05:002006-02-05T11:38:03.190-05:00

28 Days Later..."What do you mean there's no government? There's always a government, they're in a bunker or a plane somewhere!"28 Days Later... is an interesting yet flawed film, which purports to be a horror film but instead mutates into a commentary on social values and life in contemporary Britain. A horrific plague of sorts is unleashed when animal rights activists free a group of monkeys

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1100617652487050952004-11-16T10:07:00.000-05:002004-11-16T10:07:32.486-05:00

Zhou Yu's Train (Zhou Sun (2002)) In this review I'll refrain from saying anything bad about the film.Gong Li is quite easy on the eyes. This cannot be overstated.Certain parts of China photograph beautifully.Shots of fast moving trains tickle my inner child.End of review. 2/5

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1100615021131874492004-11-16T09:23:00.000-05:002004-11-16T10:07:53.510-05:00

Garden State (Zach Braff, 2004) I hate how many movies today are about the emptimess and plasticity of contemporary life. I hate that, in contemporary American indie cinema, 'quirky' has replaced intellligent and well made. I hate movies where, because the director can't illustrate a mood with dialogue, montage, or mise en scene, he does so by relying on a blaring soundtrack. I hate good

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1100553200842687552004-11-15T16:13:00.000-05:002004-11-16T10:00:34.026-05:00

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Joseph Mankiewicz, 1947) The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is a slightly unusual movie, as it's genre could best be described as "romantic horror". The main problem with this is that, at least for this viewer, the horror element was merely a put-on. At no time did I feel that any "genuine" horror was coming. So, basically this film is a slightly odd romance, where the

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1100542022671307542004-11-15T13:06:00.000-05:002004-11-16T10:14:05.800-05:00

Since Otar Left (Julie Bertuccelli, 2003) The basic plot of Julie Bertuccelli's Since Otar Left is quite ordinary and formulaic – three Georgian women, an elderly grandmother (Eka), a middle-aged mother (Marina), and a twentyish daughter (Ada) all live together in a large flat in Tbilisi. Missing is Otar, the matron’s only son, who has gone off to seek his fortune in Paris (the family is

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1094574380202411822004-09-07T13:25:00.000-04:002004-09-07T12:26:20.203-04:00

I've been trying to catch up with some of the mainstream Hollywood releases of the past few years, either on video or in the theater. Recently I've seen: Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (Rawson Marshall Thurber, 2004) A really sweet-natured overcoming adversity comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller. I didn't think it was particularly funny, although I loved the cameo by Lance Armstrong.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1084394031517998212004-05-12T16:33:00.000-04:002004-05-12T16:33:51.516-04:00

OK, here's the deal - I'm probably gonna post a lot about Cannes for a while, so just accept it. I watched most of the opening ceremony when I was home at lunch. Some French model or actress was the hostess and introduced everybody. The camera cut away every few seconds to either Pedro Almodovar (inexplicably, or so I thought) or Laetitia Casta, which is perfectly understandable. Then she

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1080665251727967642004-03-30T11:47:00.000-05:002004-11-16T10:13:53.086-05:00

La Femme infidèle (Claude Chabrol, 1969) The Unfaithful Wife is in many ways, a prototypical Chabrol film. It's a suspense thriller, starring Chabrol's then wife, Stephane Audran, set amongst the French bourgeoisie. Like all of Chabrol's films of the period, it is very stylish, with gorgeous photography by Jean Rabier, and a wonderfully atmospheric score by Pierre Jansen, both frequent Chabrol

Jimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1141915794077278562003-12-21T11:49:00.000-05:002006-03-09T09:52:08.790-05:00

Roger Ebert's 'Best Films of 2003'I can't say I agree with the list much at all but here's the link, and here's the list:Monster (Patty Jenkins)Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola) American Spendor (Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini) Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton) Master and Commander: The Far Side Of the World (Peter Weir) Mystic River (Clint Eastwood) Owning Mahoney (Richard

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-1141915624089318962003-12-18T09:46:00.002-05:002011-02-22T13:56:03.409-05:00

I finished Read My Lips last night. It wasn't really as bad as I'm making it out to be, but it was nothing special. Just your standard caper/thriller/romance, that, because it's in French and stars people most Americans don't know, somehow gets passed off as "art cinema" or something. Among my many gripes about cinema, this is near the top. And the problem is, it cuts both ways - people think

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-854332972002-12-03T12:03:00.000-05:002002-12-03T12:03:37.000-05:00

Overrated, but still not bad Berdawn and I watched Amores Perros last weekend. It was supposedly one of the best films of the year (2000), but that's a crock of shit. It wasn't bad at all, but compared to In the Mood For Love or Werckmeister Harmonies it was pretty pedestrian and mediocre. Can't believe it's got an average of 8.1 at IMDb...

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-847813152002-11-19T16:49:00.000-05:002002-11-19T16:51:13.000-05:00

R.I.P. Derek Flint James Coburn died today at age 74. He was so cool...

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-847735252002-11-19T13:59:00.000-05:002002-11-19T14:05:27.000-05:00

The "Good" Kind of Junk Mail? Went home for lunch and I had the new Facets catalogue in the mail. Probably a direct result of subscribing to Film Comment. The catalogue's fine, but everything's list price.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3958431.post-847704842002-11-19T12:20:00.000-05:002002-11-19T14:04:32.000-05:00

Damn Miramax Just found out that Miramax is delaying the US release of Hero until late 2003. They're also cutting it to about 100 minutes. I hate Miramax. Miramax are evil. They must be stopped. Any ideas?

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0