Been away a bit… May 16, 2008

..so, for anyone who has been reading my blog…I apologize for lack of updates lately.

I’ve seen some stuff, but have been crazy busy, and so, haven’t been updating.  So, here is what I have seen lately…the list of COMING ATTRACTIONS  for my site…including:

SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS -  SPEED RACER!!!   IRON MAN!!!

2007 CRITIC’S DARLINGS -  JUNO!!!!   BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD!!!

CREEPY J-HORROR!!!  [REINCARNATION]

BLOODY BLOODY BLOODY FRENCH HORROR!!!    INSIDE

and a rewatch of CLOVERFIELD!!!!

stay tuned…..

INSIDE - The Wrong version….part 2 April 22, 2008

So….went to Blockbuster at lunch today to “switch” my rental.  I asked the manager if I could, and he asked what was wrong with it.  I told him, that this wasn’t the movie that I thought that I was getting.  He gave me the blankest stare you could imagine.

I launched into this story of not realizing it was R and not unrated, and that was what I wanted, but he didn’t have it, blah blah blah…he gave in, and told me that they really don’t do that, but he could do this just this one time for me.  Thanks man…but come on…don’t make me feel like an ass for being duped and wanting something that they apparently weren’t even planning on putting on the shelf.  I tried to engage him in conversation about movies, etc., ratings, but he wasn’t having it.  I think that there should actually be some sort of qualification that, to WORK at a movie rental store…you should actually GIVE A CRAP about movies.  Or at the very least pretend that you do.  Anyway, I swapped it for Juno and left.

Now, I was on a quest…I thought…I’ll just go to Target and buy it…they didn’t have it…drove past Family Video…sure enough, they didn’t have it…drove over to Best Buy…looked all through their horror section…couldn’t find it.  I saw all sorts of Dimension extreme releases…Storm Warning…13:Game of Death…unrated….what the hell Blockbuster???  The version I rented from you was R!!!!!!  DONE with you dudes…well, never say never I suppose…

–Anyway, I did see Blue Underground’s new Suspiria release, and I only have a crappy dubbed VHS copy of this, one of my favorites…so I got that…and decided to look through the new releases…and sigh…there it was.  Boy, this was a lot of build up, and I was hoping that I wasn’t going to get too worked up and ruin the movie because of heightened expectations…

I am on my way out with the bloody unrated Inside box, and Suspiria, featuring a woman’s body dancing in blood….when who do I see looking through the CD section?  One of my pastors!!!!  I was like…”oh crap” I can’t let him see me with these…how awkward would that be?!?!!  So I ducked and commando shimmied over to the check out counter…expecting him to line up behind me and ask what I was getting….”oh, yeah, some gory horror movie about a pregnant woman being attacked in her home….no….it could be a modern classic….but…..come back……..!!!!!”

No dice…I escaped.  So now I own the movie that Blockbuster/Dimension apparently didn’t want me to see…I am pretty pissed about that whole thing, and their weird “BLOCKBUSTER EXCLUSIVE” trying to force me to rent what they think I need to rent……now, if there were only a way to have bought this without money going to Dimension for their rotten tricks….oh well….I will be watching my movie soon, so in the end…that is what matters, right?  But what a waste of time.

Of course, if I am scarred for life from what I see…I might have to blame Dimension and Blockbuster for not protecting my impressionable mind well enough…

INSIDE - the WRONG version!!! April 18, 2008

So I had heard about this French horror movie from last year called INSIDE that is supposed to be intense, scary, and really bloody…I heard from many places that this is definitely a movie to see…and it sounded pretty original.

After a long couple of days, I was kind of in the mood for something intense to relieve some stress…and while working on my computer I listened to the guys doing Cinecast at rowthree.com and while talking up the DVD releases for this week, Kurt mentioned INSIDE…and how great and scary and intense and bloody it is…crowds at the midnight screening at TIFF going wild, moaning, etc.  I was hooked.

I went out to get groceries, and “happened” to swing past Blockbuster, who, apparently has “Blockbuster Exclusive” rights to Dimension Extreme releases.  I went in, saw it, and looked at the box…saw that it was rated R for “strong bloody violence, gruesome and disturbing content, and language”  the teenage boy inside me giggled…

something in the back of my head, though was nagging me…is it rated R?  or is there an unrated version?  Well, the thought in the front of my head said, they are closing the doors, and you REALLY WANT TO SEE THIS NOW…well, yes I do…so I rented it.

I get home, and promptly got online to look.  First place was dvd.ign.com and sure enough, their review was for the unrated movie.  Shit.  I look at the box, yup, the UNRATED stamp nowhere to be seen, I check amazon.com, bloody disgusting, best buy, circuit city, netflix, family video…all had the unrated…and I couldn’t find the rated R version online no matter how hard I tried.  Even blockbuster.com only had the UNRATED version!!!!  What the hell???

So, I thought, well, if the run times are similar, maybe I can just watch it, and revisit the unrated version later if I end up liking it.  As far as I could tell, there AT LEAST 7 minutes cut out…I could probably live with a couple since the copy was sitting in my lap, but 7??!?!

I resigned myself to try and bring it back tomorrow…at least trade for a different rental…it really isn’t the movie that I thought I was getting (even though I foolishly didn’t pay too much attention)…but 7 minutes in a movie that is full of shocking setpieces and tension couldn’t be helped by that much of a cut…and if the blood is as advertised…well, it almost seems a crime NOT to watch the unrated version.

So…I won’t ask what strings you had to pull or where you had to get that rated R version that apparently can not be bought by average joe’s…and why?!?!  I know that there is some ridiculous policy about certain content, but that is completely non-consistent when you peruse the shelves…seeming to make little logical sense…I am sure there is manager preference too, but to quote Ron Burgundy…”that’s just dumb…”

Here’s to hoping I can get my hands on a copy soon…this has only stoked the fire, and now I’ve got to go to bed.  Dammit!!!

THE BEYOND (1981) April 16, 2008

DATE: 4/15/2008

WHERE: at home, on DVD.  Alone.

I had gotten the itch to re-watch this some time ago.  I had seen it a number of years ago with PZ, on tape when Anchor Bay released it.  I had never seen it and was very excited, but we started it so late, I was kind of dozing, and have always felt kind of cheated.  A while back I put the DVD in my Netflix queue, and it quickly got listed as “unavailable”. ??  So I looked around to buy a copy, and lo and behold, the uncut Anchor Bay versions are all out of print.  I happened to come across a copy of “Seven Doors of Death” at pre-played for 3 or 4 dollars.  I picked it up.  I knew that this was the title of the heavily edited US release, but this was released from Diamond, which is “supposedly” an unsanctioned dub of a laserdisc print of the uncut movie.  Not great, but hey, until a re-release, it will have to do.  If it is really what it claims to be.  Well, I recently listened to the Black Lagoon podcast where they did a retrospective of Fulci’s apocalypse or “Gates of Hell” trilogy (good stuff, btw).  So…with Robyn visiting her mom at her hotel here in town, and Bryan busy with homework…I popped it in.  Nice way to celebrate filing taxes….???

THE GOOD: atmosphere; over the top gore; the image of the hotel filling with shadows of the returned dead

THE BAD: some odd editing transitions; hilarious dialogue

THE WONKY: sign reading “DO NOT ENTRY”; man’s eyes following the angry mob back and forth; Martha/Arthur; sinister oozing goo across the floor

Hell on earth as one of the 7 gates of hell are opened…in New Orleans.  The movie was pretty much as I had remembered, although there were a number of scenes and gore…explosions…that I had forgotten about.  This is pretty much a textbook Italian horror nightmare on film.  there really is a lot to like in terms of the idea for the story anyway, and the deliberate atmosphere that flows through the movie.

The movie isn’t really about a plot so much as a happening.  Or many happenings.  Yeah, a lot of things don’t necessarily make sense, but that is part of what works here.  Things seem more straightforward up front, but as you get closer to the gate opening and hell on earth coming, things just start going crazy, and not adding up, things/people appear and disappear, people are inexplicably frozen in fear, then have something terrible happen…that creepy piano music keeps popping up…some really nice stuff giving a real sense of the world closing in on the characters, and they are completely helpless to do anything about it.

Some of the pacing and editing choices kind of take away from that, unfortunately, killing some of the suspense or making something creepy seem a bit comical, but never so much as to completely take you out of the nightmare.  Some of the visuals and camera work are really good…which help to balance some of the not so good…in particular some of the camera moves between characters and following them through rooms, the hand over cam peering at zombie Joe’s facing through his fingers (even though his hand is clearly over Martha’s mouth and NOT her eyes)…and I really liked a lot of the set ups for the recurring eye imagery, and reflections/mirrors throughout.

Some of the gore is completely outrageous…including not 1 but 2 eyes popping out (3 if you count the spider scene)  And how hilarious are the puppet spiders?  I also thought it pretty ironic that Zombie Joe the Plumber is discovered in the tub of water after Martha finds what?  A huge clog of hair in the drain!  The last 15 minutes are great (and the doctor’s violent shooting of the zombie’s in the stomach and chest is classic)…but as hell descends on the protagonists all of the build up from the previous hour comes to a head and it is awesome. 

I also loved the way that even geography starts breaking down, as the hospital leads right into the basement of the hotel…I had even thought to myself when there is the shattered glass explosion from the French door in the hospital, why would they put THAT there?  But no…it was probably another instance of the hotel and hospital connecting…

One thing I totally didn’t get though…Emily, the blind girl…at one point when she feels the painter’s presence…takes off through the door with the dog.  To which Liza calls after her, and then proceeds to try to close her eyes and replay her running out through the door…but why???  She replays it in her mind about 3 times, and I am not sure that anything was gained…maybe she just really liked Emily’s shoes…

Anyway…I am not sure…but if I had to rank the 3 movies in the unofficial trilogy…I think I would have to give a slight edge to Gates of Hell/City of the Walking Dead; then The Beyond; then House by the Cemetary (which I liked, but wasn’t as impressed with)  maybe that is due to the number of times I have seen each one…GoH maybe 4 times…The Beyond 2 and House 1…

In any event…great stuff…I do love me some nightmarish narritives that don’t follow conventional rules

7 out of 10

Thoughts on the 10th Annual Wisconsin Film Festival… April 16, 2008

This year’s festival was from what I could tell…very successful.

Screenings had long lines, people crawled all over the city throughout the weekend, and I caught a number of people on the street just talking movies, which they liked and didn’t, how many they were going to, etc.

I love just being around during the festival weekend…if I could hang around all weekend I would.  to be surrounded by so many people who are excited to be seeing and talking movies is really exciting, and intoxicating.  It was also fun this year to be able to see a bunch of movies with my son and get him excited about the films and the festival.  And just fun to hang out…
The program this year seemed to offer quite a bit of different choices…although I would love to see more movies have multiple screenings.  When real life rudely intervenes, it is tough to not be able to see something because of one showing…or heaven forbid…have to choose between 2 that I want to see!!!

Of those that I saw, here is my ranking:

1) OSS-117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
2) My Winnepeg
3) Timecrimes
4) Chop Shop
5) Fermat’s Room
6) Big Man Japan
7) Constantine’s Sword

It is somewhat hard to rank, because how do you do it?  Enjoyablility?  Technical merit?  Storytelling?  I tried to wrap all that into one “feeling” and rate them.  I liked something in each of these…didn’t dislike any of them…so that is the mark of a good schedule…or good choices by me?

Bryan saw Nerdcore for Life and liked it…but was a bit annoyed by MC Router being in the audience cat-calling at the screen constantly.  PZ saw Mad City Chickens, and wasn’t overly impressed…

Some that I missed that I had wanted to check out:

You, The Living

The Subsitute

Hallam Foe

Yella

Stuck

Up the Yangtzee

The Case

Girls rock!

In the City of Sylvia

Waiter

Loose Cannons

The Meaning of Tea

Prague

Taxi to the Dark Side

Urban Explorers

——————-

Kudos to Meg Hamel for organizing such a well planned, well oiled event with great programming and venues.  thanks to all of the other people, too….volunteers…projectionists etc….this is one of my favorite times of year…the films, the atmosphere, the excitement…

Now if only people in Madison could stay this excited about film throughout the rest of the year…me included…think of what Madison’s film culture could become…

FERMAT’S ROOM (2007) April 16, 2008

DATE: 4/6/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: Orpheum main stage, part of the 2008 Wisconsin Film festival. with Bryan

My last film of the festival. After having dinner at Amy’s Cafe with Bryan we headed down to the Orpheum. We got there about 30 minute before the start, and the line went down the street and around the corner!! Got a coffee at Espresso Royale, and we got in line down by the parking ramp around the corner. Who do I see but the guy who was attending the line the night I was there for Timecrimes. Tall guy, constantly talking, and has a mic on his ear, with his own fanny pack speaker! He was chatting up and down the line, and he walked past us. I asked if he had been home at all during the festival, since I saw him there Friday at near midnight. He launches in to a 5 minute history of how many hours he has slept, where he slept (girlfriend’s dorm…TMI dude!) and how he has been a volunteer for 9 years and that he is good friends with Meg Hamel and she trusts him to work all the time because he will do a good job and no he hasn’t seen any movies that’s not why he does it and he learned long ago that his voice would be ruined from talking and shouting all weekend without help, thus he is the ONLY volunteer that has his own speaker system. Whew! Bryan just laughed, and we decided that maybe I shouldn’t have asked him the question…but he’s a nice guy…and odd guy…but nice. We got a sweet seat, and Bryan got to talk to Mr Holtan, his history teacher, who was still volunteering, and had been at the Orpheum all weekend (WITHOUT his own speaker system). Meg addressed the crowd and gave a nice talk about the festival, the volunteers, lots of thank you’s…flowers were given. She talked about the film, and how a group of high schoolers had seen the film Friday for world cinema day or something, and that this was the first venue for screening in N. America…although, Tribeca Film Festival called and wanted the NA premiere, so ours had to be called a “special screening”. Whatever.

THE GOOD: premise; fun logic puzzles

THE BAD: how could you enter some of those answers into the pda??

THE WONKY: saving the arguing and postulating until the group was under a time constraint!

This movie is a fun little thriller with a neat premise, that pretty much tosses you in right away and drags you along for the ride.  There are a number of math and math history references (many of which were laughed at heartily by a large group of what seemed to be math students in the balcony) which add to the fun, and if you don’t rely too much on logic (har har) the plot is a lot of devilish fun.  The beginning line “If you don’t know what a prime number is, you should just leave now…” is a perfect start…

The device of barely introducing the characters, letting us fill in the details from their actions and what we find out really works to the advantage of the mystery.  Room crushing in on the math whiz’s the longer they take to solve puzzles really is a lot of fun too…some are easy, some are crazy, and yay! I could answer some of them!  Bryan did comment on how most of the puzzles were really more logic puzzles than math puzzles, but eh…it worked.

some of the contrivances don’t really hold up if you think about the details too long, but that’s not really what this movie is going for…it’s more math themed thrills and the interpersonal relations of our group more than anything.  And the poor guy with his daughter in a coma…that guy just couldn’t catch a break.

The film-making was sure handed-great cinematography, many of the shots giving us clues or information, and always keeping us engaged.  The seeming increase of close ups as the walls came in were effective, and lots of overhead shots not only looked great, but gave you the sense of a) someone watching the proceedings, pulling the strings and b) giving you the sense that you are staring down at a puzzle…working on it, seeing how the pieces fit together.   And one of the final shots is killer…once you find out who is responsible for everything, there is a close up of the face, talking and smiling, with an overhead light and spinning fan casting shadows…the character looks completely menacing and evil…nice.

At times I caught myself thinking that something like this could have shown up on “Numbers” on CBS, crimes tied into math, young hot shot mathematicians…which isn’t a bad thing…I like that show too.  Lots of fun…have fun Tribeca…you’re getting a good one…

7 out of 10

CHOP SHOP (2007) April 13, 2008

DATE: 4/6/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: MMoCA, part of the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival…with Bryan.

Bryan and I scooted across the Capital Square to try and get to the Overture center. We were starving, and stopped at Walgreens to get snacks to pound as we speed walked. This was my second time in this venue (My Winnepeg), Bryan’s first, and it was pretty packed. Meg Hamel was there to introduce the film, talk a bit about the film and Ramin Bahrani. She thanked everyone, and asked for feedback…someone in the crowd wondered why this year the number of films from Africa was much less than last…she humbly explained the booking process, and her still growing but incomplete knowledge of world cinema, especially from Africa, but that she is trying.

THE GOOD: cinematography; connection with personal stories of characters; Ale

THE BAD: tough lives that are lived right in the shadow of affluence

THE WONKY: huge pile of shopping carts dropped from walking bridge;

This is, simply, exciting filmmaking…shot in a style that feels like a documentary, a sort of cinema verite style of film-making, with many characters living in Queens…the shop owner actually being the shop owner. This feels like a completely realistic portrayal of what it is like to live here…grow up here. But, with that, the visual style, the composition of shots or images, is at times stunning. It really adds to the theme of hope and beauty that permeate the lives of these characters.

Ale is a smart, sweet kid, who has dreams of getting out of his life, and of taking care of his sister, or at least being able to stay with her. They try to raise money to buy a food truck that they can own and run a business out of, by any means necessary, whether honest or not.

The film is less plot than it is spending time in this life, watching how things are. There are ups and downs, but there is always hope, always friends and family. The strong sense of community and helping each other is strong throughout: Ale and Issa’s bond, shop owner helping them out, Ahmed helping Ale deal with his truck mistake, Ale learning the skills at the auto shop - including the great shot of him sanding a car, and a worker’s giant hand quietly resting on top of his and helping to show him how to do it.

Dreams are also huge - the 2 main characters constantly dream about their future, there is a huge billboard near Shea stadium that says “Making Dreams Happen” or something like that, taking place in the shadow of Shea, an institution where dreams are played out…even the pigeons…who remain free to fly. I liked the ending that uses them to quietly show hope and reconciliation between Ale and Issa…and how Carlos, feeding them, says “they always come back to me…they like me” Loyalty and community again.

One other scene that I really liked - Ale and Issa in bed after he finds out that she is turning tricks. He is pretending to sleep, but knows…she has just returned, and in thought…speaking volumes without saying anything.

I really liked this, and can’t wait to see MAN PUSH CART.

8 out of 10

CONSTANTINE’S SWORD (2007) April 13, 2008

DATE: 4/6/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: Majestic Theatre, part of the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival…with Bryan.

This was my lone documentary of the festival. I always feel like I should see more, but usually only end up seeing one, maybe 2, each festival. The topic of this film sounded interesting, and Bryan actually wanted to see this over some of the other ones in this time slot. Going back to the Majestic was pretty neat…I hadn’t seen a movie here for a long time, and hadn’t taken Bryan here since it was a dedicated movie theatre. After waiting for Robyn to come home from out of town, we bolted, parked and walked over. We sat in the balcony, close to the front, with a railing cutting off part of the screen, but that was ok…not as distracting as I expected. Of course, about 20 minutes in, Bryan fell asleep (seeing Nerdcore for Life the night before at 11:15)…so I couldn’t discuss the movie afterwards with him The crowd was totally into the movie, and in fact, pretty audible in their surprise and disgust for stuff presented. The ladies next to us gasped about every 5 minutes….

THE GOOD: exploration of a hot/controversial topic

THE BAD: digitalization of images; felt manipulated

THE WONKY: Ted Haggard…oh man [in a reprise in his role from Jesus Camp!]

James Carroll really starts off with a bang here. Right away you know that this is going to be a personal journey for him…and his exploration of supported Christian evangelizing at the US Air Force Academy is pretty eye opening stuff. Juxtaposed with interviews of Jewish cadets, Ted Haggard from New Life church the story he tells is chilling - equating fervent faith with being warriors for the cross - instead of love, grace and salvation it seems that fear, exclusion and disgust for those not “in your camp” is the norm.

This launches an exploration of Jewish discrimination by Christianity throughout the ages - one which is as much fascinating as it is abhorrent. A lot of great information is brought up here, a lot explored, a lot of which modern churches would rather not talk about…a checkered history to say the least.

There is a lot to chew on here, and a lot to like, a LOT for discussion. It is too bad, then, that ultimately, there is maybe too much taken on…the focus wanders a bit. Not only that, there seems to be an underlying personal agenda of anti-Catholicism. Maybe I am reading into that, since J Carroll, the author of the book on which this movie is based, grew up strong in the faith as a Catholic, was ordained a priest, became disillusioned with it, especially its stances during the Vietnam war, and blames it in part for a wounded relationship with his father. I couldn’t help but feel there was a little bit of that venom coming through the story.

Also, unfortunately, I felt like there was a bit too much manipulation of the audience. I don’t say that just because my audience was very vocal about a lot of the things presented…

I didn’t like the way that still photos were digitzed/manipulated/photo-shopped to try and create effect…or the seeming digital zoom on the current pope

J Carroll claimed that the robe of Christ was based on something written in the Psalms, as if to heap on the fallacy of its claim as a relic. I think that relic worship is pretty much bullshit myself, but for Carroll, as a former priest, it struck me as a bit irresponsible to claim that, when it IS written about in the New Testament (and as prophecy fulfilled)…the validity of THAT or of how the relics were used…OK, debate that,

I also didn’t agree with one of the narration choices - most non-English speaking people in the film had subtitles- but when we got to a Holocaust survivor who was a child at the time, and he saw his mother for the last time as they were being ushered into Auschwitz. A terribly tragic story…but instead of letting the man speak, we get an Eli Wallach voice over in English relating the story. Not a big deal I supposed (and I like Tuco from the good the bad and the ugly) but it seemed to me like a cheat…

I realize these kind of stories often have personal bents and want to get an opinion across. But in many cases there just seemed too much of one side, too much of only showing so much information to say “see? SEE????” But that is an angle taken, and that’s ok…here is where I would have liked a bit more focus, or maybe a couple movies splitting the topics to cover ground in more detail, and ultimately be more damning, but in a way that allows atonement as opposed to simple revulsion…

The nitpicks aside…I did enjoy the movie, or at least the journey and what the movie was trying to accomplish. There is a lot of important stuff here, and I will probably visit this again, maybe with more people to discuss with next time…

6.5 out of 10

TIMECRIMES (2007) April 9, 2008

DATE: 4/4/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: Orpheum Main Stage, part of the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival.

I had heard some good things about this movie. I didn’t read much, wanting to go in knowing as little as possible, but knew the basic premise and that it delivered. Out of all of the films that I got tickets for, this was one that I was really excited about. I grabbed a coffee at Espresso Royale and got into line on State St. It wasn’t terribly long, and there was a volunteer outside telling us how it wasn’t even close to the line for the previous movie (Bon Cop, Bad Cop). Kind of chilly out, as we stood and watched a bachelorette party across the street, the bride to be rubbing all over the security guard at the Overture Center. There was a guy standing in line in front of me that was pretty annoying. He met his girlfriend in line, who had been saving his spot, and then proceeded to speak in an overly hyper way about how she ditched him, etc., etc. I caught bits and pieces of his annoying-ese, but my favorite (?) was when he started chastising the movie that we were in line to see. “Timecrimes? What a stupid title. That doesn’t really make it sound very promising. Who would choose to go to a movie called Timecrimes based on its title? Probably the same crowd who would go see THE BANK JOB….ha ha ha ha ha ha ha” [And I kind of want to see THE BANK JOB, but that is beside the point...!] His girlfriend then told him to shut up because she picked it and wanted to see it. He asked about the plot. She said that the time travel was the plot. He disagreed and said that was a plot POINT. He then hoped that it would be hilarious….I promptly tuned them out. Meg Hamel showed up to talk to people in line…she is so cool. And we went in. I saw Mr Holtan, Bryan’s history teacher…gloriously in charge of removing the mic from the stage. The film was introduced by Meg, who thanked us, told us that this year they decided to skip having the Orpheum lobby party so that they could show a late film on Friday night…told us that if we enjoyed this, we should check out another Spanish language thriller, FERMAT’S ROOM (which we’ve got tickets to), but that one isn’t nearly as scary as this one. People groaned and got a little uncomfortable…cool. The projector moved at one point, and had to be fixed, but it wasn’t right away, and the agitation in the room was great. Some guy finally blurted out “SOMEONE FIX THE PROJECTION PLEASE!!!” And there was applause when it was…too funny.

THE GOOD: time travel plot; suspense/tension; gorgeous girl on bike
THE BAD: bike girl’s complete trust in bloody strangers
THE WONKY: Hector’s bubbly swollen face; gorgeous girl on bike’s breasts refusal to stay off camera

I really enjoy time travel movies. The more you think about them and try and unravel their mysteries and layers, the better they become. The good ones, at least. And this movie is a good one. A number of times I was amazed thinking about the level of planning and attention to detail that goes into a movie like this. In conceptualizing the story and how everything fits together, backward and forward. In filming scenes from various angles, multiple times…creating this puzzle and making it both believable, relevant and not gimmicky. This is such a well crafted story…not flashy either…focusing on an “ordinary” man and a small window of time in his life…but within that, the movie encompasses moral quandries and questions of perception of reality.

At first I was a little off put by the fact that you don’t really get to know the lead character(s). You get very little information about Hector, apart from the fact that he apparently needs to sleep, and that he loves his wife. He then quickly plunges himself into the time travel plot and you’ve got to run along with him. But as I was seeing things unfold, I realized that this works to the movie’s advantage…here is a person that you know very little about, but have already made assumptions about, from limited information and our perception of him. You then see, as he makes decisions that you don’t want him to make, what he is capable of…and you wonder…is the kind of person that would…??? !!!!! Many of the things he does are pretty reprehensible…and you realize…maybe that’s what he’s like… But in any event, it is an effective mirror for the way that, throughout the film…he also makes decisions on limited information, perceptions of his that turn out to not be exactly what he thought.

As the threads become more and more intricate, and you keep wondering what, if anything Hector will change, the other powerful aspect of the film comes out. Hector has a number of chances to alter things, to change them for the better, or at least keeping something horrible from happening. And you think that he will…but invariably, he keeps things moving, and sometimes ENSURES that these terrible things will happen…just so he can get back to his life the way that it was before HE messed them up in the first place. That is the creepiest part of the movie…what he is willing to do, to preserve what he jeopardized…keeping his life with no regard to his soul.

Along those lines, it is interesting that he begins to undergo a sort of Dorian Gray aspect. The more that he attempts to preserve his “perfect” life, the more bloodied and swollen, and horrible looking he becomes. He is consumed with himself, and stops at nothing. It is a wonder to, as to whether or not there is some sort of “cosmic force” of time that is forcing events to remain in motion, so that the harder he tries to change things, the harder the universe tries to stop him.

While most of the events seemed destined to happen - it is interesting in the scene where he bandages his face (pretty creepy looking by the way) that it seems like this is the turning point. Here is where he makes the conscious decision to become the force that undoes himself. Yes there is a bandaged man…although you don’t see him well for quite a while…but it almost seems like he decides that HE is going to force events then…especially with the way that the arm wound and the time travel fluid (?) mixed with blood are emphasized…as well as that mixture dripping and soaking into the car. His blood is now being infused into time-space, and he can no longer escape.

The performances are great, the story is really well constructed, and the tension built throughout is wonderful. So much so that a number of humorous things in the movie really caused the audience to laugh…big breaks of tension, and pretty consistently. Really well made film, on par with PRIMER, intelligent and entertaining…that really deserves repeat viewings.

8 out of 10

BIG MAN JAPAN (2007) April 9, 2008

DATE: 4/3/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: Orpheum Main Stage, part of 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival.

Festival screening #3…in 1 day no less. PZ and Kate had to take off right after OSS-117 to get to Monona Terrace to see MAD CITY CHICKENS. Bryan and I headed off to Noodles so that we wouldn’t pass out from hunger before the next film. Bryan had been really excited to see this movie, from the description and the promo pictures alone. And with him just coming back from Japan last summer, and our love of kaiju movies (esp. Godzilla). For this screening we went up to the balcony…where we saw one of the Sequoya library employees! 9:45 on a Thursday is a bit late to start, and after a long night, there was a spot in the mid-section where I was zoning out. Not sleeping…but getting close. I began not really reading the subtitles, but my brain was doing its own translating so that I “thought” that I was hearing the character speaking in English. Well, at least speaking to ME. So…there are a couple of stretches that are …hazy? I made it, though…

THE GOOD: faux-documentary style; perception of “hero”

THE BAD: could have trimmed a bit; some of the battles felt like they were in slow motion

THE WONKY: the comb-over on Strangle Monster; Stink monster sex; the crazy ending; Baby Monster…ok ALL the monsters; volcano nipples

There is quite a bit to like about this movie. the mock documentary style really works in giving a personalized view of Big Man Japan, his thoughts, and what it takes to protect Japan. I liked the somber tone, and the fact that, as a hero, he feels a duty and pride with what he does…but, as would be the case in today’s society, the public is cynical and ungrateful, and he is exploited by the media, and by his agent (selling ads on his skin…”you can’t use my hips…they are my best part!!”). That is all interesting…how he is viewed, the toll his lot in life takes on his family and on him.

Then there is the ridiculous battles, and more ridiculous monsters. These were fun, but somehow…they felt a little off…too slow, or too…cgi? That didn’t really bother me, but something about how they played out didn’t grab me…I found myself outside a lot of the fights. The monster design was pretty absurd and fun…and the conversation Big Man had with the Stink Monster was pretty funny. “Go away!” “No! I just got Here!!!” “what do you want?” “SHUT UP!!!!” but it ended with a completely bizarre and gross monster mating scene.

For me, I think that the movie was a bit too sprawling…too much to cover, going back and forth a bit much…I liked the shifts in tone just fine…and a lot of it was hilarious…but I think that the pacing between all of the elements ended up slowing things down and taking away from the overall experience of the film.

The ending…completely off the wall…but somehow fit right in with the movie’s sensibility. Wasn’t sure if it was a comment on the absurdity of everything, a shout out to Ultraman et al, Japanese culture, but it was fitting. Bryan wasn’t sure he liked the ending…and liked the movie ok, but I think that he wanted to like it more also.

I did like BMJ’s tendency to be drawn to things like umbrellas, dried seaweed…things that “only get big when you need them to”…although…I think that we would have benefited from BMJ getting big a couple times less…

6 out of 10

0SS-117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES (2006) April 9, 2008

DATE: 4/3/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: Orpheum Main Stage, part of the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival.

This was my second film of the festival.  After coming out of MY WINNEPEG and scooting across the street in the rain I met up with Bryan, PZ and Kate.  We went in, found our seats and got drinks.  I was excited to be at the opening film of the festival…I had never done that before.  There were the requisite speeches and thanks given, and it was pretty cool.  Meg Hamel gave a good speech about the festival, it’s history, and what to expect for the weekend.  The crowd was big…and there was quite a nervous energy in the air…good nervous, not nervous bad.  For the crowd this night…the movie was a smash hit.  The comedy played them like a violin.  I did have a bit of my brother’s luck when the guys behind us commented on things throughout the entire movie…but, it was ok…most of the laughter drowned them out.  I had contemplated going to this movie or WAITER, playing at the same time.  I definitely didn’t go wrong with this choice.

THE GOOD: Jean Dujardin; “retro” look of the film;

THE BAD: if I had to pick something, it would probably be white subtitles on bright backgrounds - some were hard to read

THE WONKY: underwater skeleton graveyard; OSS-117 fixing his bed head

I have to say…this film is completely hilarious.  In fact, I came away thinking that it may have been one of the funniest movies that I have seen in a long time.  I imagine that some of my enjoyment may have been enhanced by the crowd being completely into the humor, and laughing non-stop, but in any event…I had a blast.

The filmmakers seem to understand this genre inside and out, constructing a film that not only IS a spy movie, but a spoof of a spy movie at the same time.  The humor permeates the entire film…but jokes are never done in a condescending or post-modern way.  What is also wonderful is the deft use of so many different comedic elements too…from sight gags, slapstick, political humor, dumb humor, running gags, absurdity…and always played at the perfect moment.  Jean Dujardin may have just been conceived to play this role.  His portrayal is so dead on that it is scary.  His face and facial expressions alone are responsible for a huge chunk of laughs.  The first face that he makes when he realizes that the 2 hottest women he knows are balls out cat-fighting and ripping their clothes…may just be one of the most perfect reactions I have ever seen.  For me that was one of the biggest out loud laughs.  I would watch this movie again JUST for that alone.

Some other comedic highlights were his conversations with Larmina, his flashbacks to cavorting with “Jack!”, his mambo, the man constantly calling on the phone, the one-upping with the cliched one-liners at the dinner party…to name only a few.  Oh and when he takes Larmina off the bed and dumps her onto the lounge so that he can get under the covers…

Bryan and I continued to recite lines and scenes hours afterwards, and would always bust out laughing.  I loved it because it looked just like 60s era spy films that I enjoy…loved it because it was hilarious…and I loved it because I had such a great time watching it.  Great opening film…great kick off to this year’s festival.

8 out of 10

MY WINNEPEG (2007) April 8, 2008

DATE: 4/3/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA), Overture Center. Part of the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival.

This was my first film from the 2008 WI film festival. When I saw that this movie was showing, I was pretty excited. I had heard about it, and heard good things on both the Filmspotting podcast (including an interview with the director and their thoughts from Sundance where Maddin did live voice over narration) and the rowthree.com Cinecast podcast. The problem was this: the first screening was at the same time as one of Bryan’s baseball games. The second was at the same time as another film Bryan and I wanted to go and see. I asked PZ to get tickets to the Thursday afternoon screening, on the off chance that there would be bad weather and the game was cancelled. Well, there was still snow on the field, so no game!! Bryan had practice, so he couldn’t make it, but I went downtown, parked, met up with PZ, got tickets, and went. I had never been into the lecture hall of MMoCA, so it was a neat first venue to go to. It was also a nice, calm way to ease into the festival. It was too bad that Bryan couldn’t come along, and PZ had other plans…and towards the end I started freaking out that poor Bryan would be sitting alone out on state street waiting and waiting for me to get out too close to the 7pm showing of the next movie that we were going to see…but it all worked out…

THE GOOD: black/white cinematography; Maddin’s unique voice throughout

THE BAD: a lot of shots of the people falling asleep on the train

THE WONKY: frozen horse heads; re-enactments of childhood memories with actors and real mother

I couldn’t have picked a better film to start my festival with this year. This film is a pastiche of a little bit of everything….humor, weirdness, documentary footage, nostalgia, heart….all woven together to make, not a complete picture per se, but a complete examination of a city from one person’s point of view. Now, I had heard and read about Guy Maddin before this screening, and had been meaning to see any one of his films, but for whatever reason, never gotten around to it…this was my first.

Even though I maybe could have done without the many cuts to the passengers falling asleep on the train (though I do understand their relevance to the film)-everything here fit together in a beautiful meditation on life, as seen through a life lived, and it’s ties to the life of the city it was lived in. Some of my favorite moments included the frozen horses, the childhood re-enactments, the seance scene, the girl’s academy’s “role” during the famous strike…and snow fossils. The meditation on breaking the sleepwalking trance to escape the pull of the city led through the city’s history (in part) but also remained tied to Maddin’s life. The most poetic example of this was his discussion about the destruction of the hockey arena he had grown up with, and that his dad worked at for so many years. He equated the death of the building to the death of his father, and in a touching and heart breaking way, pined over the absence of both, and wondered what it would be like if events like those could be reversed, or how life would be, had they not happened.

That, more than anything for me, brought everything together-life defined by places, actions, memories…and what happens to that life when those pieces are lost or changed? And for being seemingly isolated, Winnepeg seems to be as connected to us all as anywhere…at least through Maddin’s eyes.

Beuatiful…

8 out of 10

13: GAME OF DEATH (2006) April 6, 2008

DATE: 3/25/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: at home, DVD from Blockbuster.

I had heard about this movie while trolling around reading about Thai/Asian cinema a while back…can’t remember where I first heard of it, but I do know I did read some info on Twitch

I tried to keep as uninformed as possible, and had been awaiting word of a DVD release for quite a while.  Imagine my excitement when I saw that Dimension “Extreme” was releasing a region 1 DVD!  I got the bug to see this and watched it about as soon as I could.

THE GOOD: premise of the game; lead actor’s performance

THE BAD: slightly disappointing last 15 minutes;

THE WONKY: the meal task…ugh; black humor that pops out occassionally

As a “contestant” in a seemingly harmless reality show…what would you do for money?  The movie initially seems like it might be a gimmicky take on reality tv designed to disturb you…and on the surface, I suppose that it is.  But, there are a lot of different things going on here, and while maybe all of the pieces don’t completely work, the whole of the movie and the meditations on a person’s motivations under different situations turns out to be pretty effective.

Basically, the protagonist has his quiet life quickly turn terrible, in a way that is completely believable, and relate-able.  He doesn’t have a lot of money, and bills are slowly building up, and is only ok at his sales job, and all at once…his life is turned upside down as his job is lost, his car is taken away, he has to pay rent, owes a ton on credit cards, and his mom is asking for money.  He quickly goes from being disaffected and apathetic to frantic…suffocating under his dire situation, with no clear way out.

Then his phone rings, and he is asked to play the game with 13 tasks he needs to complete in order to win up to 100 million bhat.  The tasks are very simple at first, and you know that they are going to get rotten…you just know it…but what really works here is the fact that the movie focuses somewhat less on the actual tasks as it does on the character’s choices…how he weighs his morals against what is being asked of him.  How far is he willing to go, and for how much money?

As Chit moves down the path, he is asked to do things that are degrading, or down right terrible, and in each case he has the choice to not do it…the game would end…he would have the money that he already earned, but couldn’t get any more.  So how much money will satisfy him?  He eventually gets to a point to where the question is…well, I’ve already done THIS…so it’s not that much worse to do THAT…why not?

The driving force is money (at least in his case)…and we watch as his soul is what is actually in question, what is getting tarnished.  You wonder if the game is a sadistic exercise for those watching, or if it is an attempt to crush the soul of a human being.

What becomes interesting is towards the end it is suggested that the game is being played fairly widely.  One of the people in charge of it mentions that most people have masks on, and once you remove those…EVERYONE is capable of terrible things…and once pretense is gone…when given the choice…they will choose awful things…what a horrible way to see human nature…but chilling in the truths of that statement.  After that, one of the thoughts I had was “were some of the other people on Chit’s journey actually playing games themselves??”  It sure seemed like it…which added an extra level of this existential outlook on humanity.

The ending to the game portion was a tad unsatisfying, although seeing that Chit retain some shred of decency was a bit refreshing in the face of everything that had gone on (and was seemingly going to continue).  While not really plausible, a lot of the elements here were close enough to truth where you couldn’t quite shake it all off as “just a movie”  and I constantly found myself wondering what I would do, and how far I might go…especially if someone knew my buttons, and how to push them.

7 out of 10

BULL DURHAM (1988) April 6, 2008

DATE: 3/24/2008

WHERE: at home, on AMC. with Robyn and Bryan…and Aaron in the room.

I hadn’t seen this movie all the way from start to finish probably since I saw it with my friends in the theater in Marinette! I would have been in either 8th or 9th grade. Robyn really wanted to sit down together and watch this…pretty cool. I had forgotten a lot about this movie, and it was nice to see it again. Unfortunately, AMC has a bunch of commercial breaks, and a lot of the dialogue is edited out. The scene where Crash gets thrown out of the game for calling the umpire a @#*!sucker was almost completely silent…which was funny, just not in the way intended.

THE GOOD: the baseball; great characters/jokes; “lollygaggers”

THE BAD: the times when Kevin Costner slips into classic Kevin Costner wooder line readings

THE WONKY: Walt Whitman; the ballpark clown; Nuke’s garters

It was great revisiting this movie. I am stoked right now about the start of the new MLB season, and this was perfect timing. This movie is a bit cheesy, but it is a pure baseball classic, and completely captures both what is exciting and absurd about baseball. It has nostalgia and baseball as both intertwined with life, and as a metaphor for life. Players wide eyed and thrilled to be playing, and players who are disenchanted, but don’t know anything else.

I enjoy the character of Annie, because of her passion for baseball, and how she incorporated it into EVERY part of life…and includes Walt Whitman readings, among others. But this time, I liked how she was portrayed…both as this electric woman who knows as much if not more about baseball than the players…and in many cases, life…but that she is also naive in many ways about life. There are some nice subtle ways this is shown (like the parasol in the rain) that quietly show how she has an appearance of knowing more than everyone, but maybe, not quite as much as even she would like to think.

Classic lines ["it was like he knew I was gonna throw a fastball" "he did" "how's that?" "I told him"], classic scenes…and the bull getting beamed with a fastball never really gets old. And it really is nice to see Tim Robbins before he became annoying.

Baseball…what other sport can capture all facets and speeds of life? <sigh>

7 out of 10

SHOOT ‘EM UP (2007) April 2, 2008

DATE: 3/23/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: at home. DVD, from Family Video. with Bryan.

THE GOOD: hilarious action scenes; Clive Owen

THE BAD: Paul Giamatti

THE WONKY: sex scene shoot out; the “cool” dude getting his ponytail removed; carrot kills

This movie is absolutely crazy. Non stop crazy. In a fun way though.  From the beginning when Clive slides a hundred feet on oil, to delivering the baby amidst shell casings, I knew this was going to be a ride.  This thing is pretty much non-stop…never takes itself seriously, and just flies.  I think that is the biggest thing that pulls from the momentum…the non-stoppiness…not much place for a break in between the craziness.

I was down for the mood and for the cartoonish, video game like action…but maybe it was too much?  Not sure…now, to be fair, I think I dozed in a couple of spots, since Bryan and I watched this kinda late after lots of Easter action.   I did love Clive Owen’s character, and his constant “you know what I hate…?”  Paul Giamatti really surprised me with how uninteresting and un-fun to watch.  It may be worth checking out again, maybe with some buds and suds, but overall, this was fun, but a bit tiring.

6.5 out of 10

30 DAYS OF NIGHT (2007) April 2, 2008

DATE: 3/22/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: at home, DVD from Family Video. with Bryan.

I wanted to see this movie when it came out last October…being the Halloween season…generally good reviews… I had also read the graphic novel on which this movie is based, liked it, and was curious to see how it was adapted.

THE GOOD: production design; building dread in the first half of the movie; Ben Foster; creepy girl vampire; overhead “eye in the sky” shot of vampire attacks

THE BAD: the vampires’ convenient disappearances at key times; disappearance of tension and dread from the first half; deputy’s reaction with his family to the hopelessness of the situation…ick!

THE WONKY: Danny Huston; muffin monster; melted cell phone pile

This is a solid vampire movie that does a number of things well, but kind of lets some of that go, adds some goofy stuff and logic mis-steps to take away from some of the good stuff that it has going for it.  I knew what to expect, at least story wise, because of having read the graphic novel…and over all I think that the movie did a nice job.

The introduction of setting and the characters is done well here…not much is over explained as you infer characters and relationships from many different cues.  There are plenty of stock characters, but they are vampire food primarily, so what do you expect?  The layout of the town is shown, and you get a feeling for the isolation of the town.  And slowly, things start happening which are at first odd, then weird, then creepy, then foreboding…a really nice job of tension building here…by the time the shit hits the fan you are really on edge…and Ben Foster is really creepy in the “Renfield” role.

The vampires are beasts…as a friend said, it’s nice to see vampire’s that aren’t mopey and goth.  They are truly creepy…feral and seemingly unstoppable.  However, I wasn’t into their weird language with subtitles (many of which were nonsense and silly) and for as much as they were bad ass, they seemed to pick and choose times when they had to be full force attack or slow, around or conveniently somewhere else.  They had great scenes of them “playing with” their food like a pack, but then were suddenly kind of just standing around staring at people.

Their initial attacks were very effective, and I wanted to see more of them going after people, or toying with them, instead of just playing a record with a nail to…be cool AFTER they had just eaten people??

I’m not a big Danny Huston fan over all.  Something about him just kind of annoys me…Constant Gardner, The Proposition, Children of Men…he just sort of grates on me.  He had the look here, but I couldn’t get into him as this unstoppable monster leader of the vampires…something was missing…not sure exactly what.

Some of the pacing and weird logic leaps in the second half did in what was a pretty effective first half…David Slade directed with a sure hand, with the same look and intensity that he had with Hard Candy…though some of the fast edits were a bit much, and the ripping of the throats was a bit lame.  Visual style…very nice…including the great overhead attack shot…overall this was a solid vampire movie.

7 out of 10

THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES (2005) March 28, 2008

DATE: 3/12/2008 FIRST VIEWING [actually /3/20.2008]

WHERE: at home, DVD from the library.

So…I have film festival fever. As I have been going over and over the 2008 WI Film Festival schedule, and feeling that there are just so many movies there that its hard to know which ones to pick. I decided to look back at past festivals..there are many films presented that get me excited or intrigued, and then, I never try to seek them out. And so…looking over past festivals recently, I came across this title, that seemed incredibly intriguing. Directed by The Quay Brothers - animators who put together a number of videos for Tool - this movie sounded too surreal and potentially mind blowing to pass up.

THE GOOD: visually amazing; nightmarish atmosphere

THE BAD: payoff not as grand as the ride once it is over; some dialogue sounded “student film-ish”

THE WONKY: the woodcutter puppet; just about everything that happens…

So…I tried to watch this on the 12th, got about 20-30 minutes in while folding clothes, and had to go to bed.  I decided I needed to re-start it to be fair…and because, I couldn’t remember what the hell was going on.

On some level, it didn’t really matter…I don’t think that the movie is really designed for you to know “what is going on”.  It is more ideas and themes presented in a strange world with puppets, resurrected (?) opera singers and automata.  And a piano tuner who can hear to eternity, including when buildings were built.  And who may or may not be another character.  Oh, and the women in his family never gave birth.

I didn’t really expect much in the way of coherent plot, and I didn’t really get it, which, I guess, thumbs up!  It is more for the experience, and that’s cool.  I was down for that.  The biggest problem was that I think it could have been shortened a bit, maybe a little less sprawling…the images and unsettling happenings may have seemed more immediate, and maybe more organic to what was going on than just weird shit that would pop up every once in a while when you think that maybe, something is going to happen.

By the time I got to the end, I knew that I had enjoyed some of what I had seen, and over all appreciated some of the meditation on obsession, the role/importance of art, artifice vs real life, but all in all, put together, it was a bit underwhelming.

May have benefited from being seen on a large screen…some of the visuals would be killer when projected.

6 out of 10

SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR (2000) March 28, 2008

DATE: 3/19/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: at home, DVD from the library.

This movie was part of the WI Film Festival in 2002. I had seen this on the shelf before and had been intrigued. The director, Roy Andersson, has an entry in the 2008 WI film fest called “You, The Living”, in reading the description for that, I was reminded of this film (his previous) and decided to check it out.

For whatever reason, there was a section of this movie near the beginning that would freeze, skip, go back and forth…10 minutes took about 30 to watch. I was convinced it was the player, since the disc looked almost pristine. I tried to play it in the PS2, and it told me “unable to read” at the same point. I eventually got past it, missed a few seconds here and there, grumbled a bit, but hey…it was free.

THE GOOD: cinematography/shot composition; depth of field; humor
THE BAD: can take a while to orient yourself to the juxtaposed humor/drama/tragedy; hard to take everything in on first viewing
THE WONKY: the “slave driving” suits; “ay! ay! ay! ay! ay! ay! “; man in the cab

Not sure where to start with this film. First off, the look and visual style of the film are so striking that, frankly, it is exciting to watch. Nearly every scene or vignette has unbelievable depth of focus with something going on deep in the frame. Each shot is composed for effect, lines of sight are drawn, often with crowds or people’s reactions…emotion or plot are forwarded just by how the frames look…just wonderfully done.

This is an incredibly dense film, with A LOT to think about and to take in. What is humanity’s place in modern society? What does it mean to be us? Why does it matter? What is important? Within that is the search for or absence of religion…with many religious conversations and images. There is the horrible scene with the girl as she has been chosen by a community and seemingly church elders, to be a sacrifice for…? Presumably because everyone is clueless as to where to look for answers…and well, this is at least doing SOMETHING…

With all of that, there are nice touching moments, and some completely absurd and hilarious moments. You never know what to expect, and if any of the scenes connect, or what exactly is going on in some of them. But, by the end, there is a logic, and if nothing else, all of the vignettes and the different responses and emotions that they portray and evoke, come together as a “tapestry” that explores what human life can be like.

It’s not simple, and mostly doesn’t make sense, and is filled in equal measure with joy, heartbreak, tears, horror, boredom, exasperation, confusion, laughter, and huge traffic jams. Is it the end of the world? Maybe…that would be scary…but, after exposing humanity with its many faces…it might be scarier if it weren’t…

Hard to describe, a lot to process, and bizarre…there is an existential Ingmar Bergman feel to it…but also wrapped in absurdity (Python-esque I suppose…) but really an exciting film that has a lot to offer.

–I did notice that a lot of the characters began to repeat dialogue of other characters…not sure if it was because of repetition of “cliched” responses, or if it was a technique showing that any of the characters could be interchangeable into any of the situations…??

7 out of 10

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (2007) March 23, 2008

DATE: 3/18/2008   FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: at home. DVD from Netflix. With Bryan.

Finally catching up with this one. We had wanted to see this one last summer. Considering how much I liked the first 2 in the series, I was excited. Once it got great buzz, and then started popping up on lots of best of lists for 2007 I was dying. Of course, it sat on my shelf for a long time before we actually sat down to watch it. After watching at home, part of me wished to have seen it in the theater - the DVD, though seemingly pretty clean, skipped a number of times, most within the last 30 minutes, when things are most tense, there is a big car chase, and right at the end…we actually missed about a minute at the very end. We figured out what happened, as if the TV voice over was written for such an occasion, but man was it annoying.

THE GOOD: Matt Damon; Joan Allen; the action/chase scenes; intelligence of movie and how it treats the audience

THE BAD: same story as the last 2 for the most part; Julia Stiles’ black hair

THE WONKY: rooftop chase through apartments felt like the end of Ferris Bueller; Bourne’s kick-swim at the end

In terms of pure action and adrenaline, this movie is pretty great. The set-pieces that they construct, are not only brilliantly staged and executed, but lots of fun. Waterloo station: probably my favorite, partly because the reporter is the one being chased, not Bourne, but Bourne is watching and helping,giving commands to him. You get a peek into Bourne’s head, you see what he sees, watch how he works, and just how quickly he assesses situations and makes decisions. Pretty great.

The chase in Turin through the streets and across the rooftops was good as well - poor Julia Stiles, she just wants to help - the best part about this cat and mouse foot chase was how you really got a sense of geography, and felt like you knew where each character was, in relation to the other, and how they each struggled to get to where they needed to go.

NY city car chase - very cool, but a little short. The drive off the parking garage and the crash at the end were pretty kick ass though.

I like Joan Allen’s super intelligent tough as nails agent with a conscience. She really plays it well, and David Strathairn is excellent as a slimy kill at most opportunity CIA operative, who is unfortunately a bit too one note. Julia Stiles is ok…Albert Finney unfortunately has little to do.

The story is a bit the same, which isn’t terrible, since it’s really about the chases, but, it is starting to feel a bit of the same things again and again. My other tiny gripe, if I have to find one, is that, once he discovers “where he came from”, and realizes that he signed up for a lot of what he has gotten into…he is pretty nonchalant about it…”oh ok…that makes sense…see ya. greengrass has gotten really good at constructing these, using his editing style to his advantage…the ticking drum action music works to ramp up the tension, but it is amusing that it seems to signal “here comes some action!!!” And boy, does Scott Glenn look OLD!

I hope that the next installment will take the characters in a new direction, because these movies are so much fun, that it would be a shame if they started to feel stale.

8 out of 10

Film Fests from Days of Yore… March 23, 2008

So…it is official. I have Film Festival Fever.

Well, between Four Star Video Heaven , Netflix , and Madison Public Library I have access to a huge amount of the movies screened.

As I am looking over this years lineup, I am ruing the fact that I can only see so many, but more than that, the fact that there are so many movies that I want to see, that sound great or intriguing…

I had the thought that, well, I can always try to catch up with these when they hit dvd, and with the 3 resources that I have at my disposal, it should be somewhat doable. But I started thinking…just how many of the films that I had ID’d in festivals past as “must see’s” have I actually gone back to see? How many movies from each fest have I actually seen??

I went back and looked at the lineups that are still posted online. Fests from 2001 on: which have I seen? How many of these would it be feasible to see?

I tried to look at only feature length movies, mainly because the shorts would be much harder to track down, and there are so many that I will never see anyway, I had to start cutting somewhere.

So…how many of the films that have been screened over the past 7 WI film festivals have I seen?

2001: 4/51

2002: 2/64

2003: 8/66

2004: 3/65

2005: 1/69

2006: 3/84

2007: 12/100

Allowing for any mistakes made in counting that makes 33 of 499 So, out of about 500 movies, I’ve seen about 6%….hmmmm

I by no means think that I have a realistic chance of seeing all of these, but, would like to try to make an effort to see more than this, and I think that I am going to set up a spreadsheet, and try and keep track. Who knows, it might be good for me…???

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER (2000) March 10, 2008

DATE: 3/9/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: At home, DVD from library.

THE GOOD: the visual style/colors; the glorious squibs

THE BAD: weird homoerotic subtext between Dum and Masehuan; lead actress - especially the number of times that she says “Dum!”; the way Dum holds his pistol

THE WONKY: the “DID YOU CATCH THAT?” dialog card - and repeat slow motion bullet tracking; obligatory dancing midget bandit; Sgt. Yam’s mustache consisting of 2 circles of hair underneath his nose

This movie is absolutely crazy.  A bizarre mixture of spaghetti style western and romantic epic, done in a completely over the top way, with wonderful visual style, a quirky classic kung fu feel, over the top violence and crazy comedy.  It definitely has an “everything and the kitchen sink” vibe about it.

The movie is fun, for what it is, but at times its split personalities and weirdness takes away from its enjoyment.  It really feels like it is going to be a western from the way that it starts.  the outlaws have cowboy hats, there are some well done Leone style close-ups and framing, there is a lot of harmonica playing, and the “good guy” could easily be the “bad guy”.  The scene in the beginning where Dum takes out a hoodlum hiding behind a pillar across the room by shooting a bullet that ricochets about 8 times around the room and gets him in the head is pretty funny, and kind of cool, in a way that reminded me of “Desperado”.  THEN, the story freezes, a title card comes up and asks “Did you catch that?” “Here it is again!”  And the bullet shot is replayed, in slow motion, with a close up of every ricochet!  I couldn’t believe what I had just seen.  It never happens again either, or nothing like it.

There is the stand off between Dum and his jealous (and lustful?) friend Masehuan, in front of a painted backdrop - and another tableau where the characters are OBVIOUSLY in front of a superimposed backdrop of an ocean.  These look cool, but are kind of just stuck in.  Some of the uses of enhanced color and shot compositions really look good…and then you get a midget riding a horse and a split second closeup of a brain before someone’s head explodes.  Speaking of that…there were a lot of effects shots in the last 20 minutes that were so over the top and ridiculous that I had to pause and rewind to make sure I had just seen what I thought I did.

A movie that is so bizarre that should be seen to believed, but the same weirdness plays against it at times and gets in the way of the fun.

6 out of 10

CITY OF GOD (2002) March 9, 2008

DATE: 3/8/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: DVD from the library, at home.

Another movie that I heard a lot of good things about for a while now, and was able to check it out this weekend.

THE GOOD: the cinematography; story construction

THE BAD: violence involving children hard to watch

THE WONKY: the opening chase scene with the chicken

What a completely exhilarating movie. The first thing that you notice is the camera work, which is flashy, but really helps to set the mood, tell the story, and put you into the action. The camera work on the chicken chase alone - apart from it being funny - is pretty great, rivaling what you might see in a normal foot chase in another movie.  Then there were some great tracking shots, the spinning camera moves, the overhead and through the street shots, the freeze frame shots like photos tying in to the main character’s hopeful profession…all just really strong and assured.   The fragmented storytelling with the flashbacks and cutting back and forth really worked well too, bracketing different stories until they became part of the whole picture - very nice.  Another other stand out scene included the dance scene for Benny’s farewell, leading to the strobe light and the violence that occurs.

The character of Rocket is really likable and you really pull for him, and the movie really gives you a sense that you watched him grow up.  The narration that he has over the entire film helps with that as well.  Li’l Ze is a larger than life villain that also permeates the film because his power reaches so many places.  You really get vested in the lives of these characters and really feel terrible for Benny and some of the other characters.

The little runts are at first cute, but when you realize that they are nothing more than very young versions of the older hoods, they aren’t as cute, and when some of them are tortured and killed for their actions, it is pretty tough to watch.

The fact that this is based on a true story is unsettling.  I know in my head and heart that life is like this in places all around the world, but seeing it fleshed out really grabs you.  The film also really wonderfully illustrates the futility of violence, and how it perpetuates itself…in both striking and subtly heart-breaking ways.  The name of the real life “city of God” seems to be anything but, as the people there are either involved in gangs, crime, or often caught in between.  There seems to be little chance of escape…that there is a message of hope throughout all of this is pretty incredible.  Great movie.

***cool to see Seu Jorge (guitarist and actor in “The Life Aquatic…”) as Knockout Ned***

9 out of 10

WISCONSIN FILM FESTIVAL TICKETS ORDERED March 8, 2008

I ordered tickets today for the film festival.  Bryan (son) is going to go to most with me…should be a good time.  Hope to be able to go with our friend PZ too.  Because of some other stuff going on that weekend, we were mostly restricted to Thursday and Sunday…and here is what we got tickets for:

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies

Big Man Japan

Timecrimes

Constantine’s Sword

Chop Shop

Fermat’s Room

Bryan is probably going to see Nerdcore for Life  with PZ, and I would like to try and catch My Winnepeg if I can swing it.

—MORE INFO ON THE FILM FEST’S SITE : www.wifilmfest.org

There are few documentaries in my list, which is odd, since at least 50% of the program seems to be documentaries.  There are a lot of great movies, and it was hard to choose, even with pretty specific time frames to work with.  We kind of tried to vary the type and the mood too, so that it wasn’t all of one topic, or a completely depressing or challenging afternoon.  After last year’s viewing of Jodorowsky’s EL TOPO followed by THE HOLY MOUNTAIN my brain was about ready to explode.

Should be a good time…and I am going to start doing exercises to make sure that my butt does not fall asleep…

In a side note—the people at the box office were really great in helping place my order, and actually ended up charging me a bit less money to help place my order rather than have me suffer through some complex back and forth with their computer ordering system that my order ended up causing.  WAY COOL…the staff running the festival really knows how to take care of it’s audience and customers.  Kudos!!!

WISCONSIN FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAM ANNOUNCED TODAY!!! March 6, 2008

The 10th annual Wisconsin Film Festival announced its program today.

The dates are April 3-6, 2008.

The website can be found at http://www.wifilmfest.org/index.php

The festival is a great time, with lots of amazing films to be seen.  I saw 8 films last year…and I had a blast.   There is one problem, though……TOO many to choose from…AAAAAHHHH!!!!

But seriously, go if you can…support film-going in Madison.

THE HAMILTONS (2006) March 6, 2008

DATE: 2/26/2008 FIRST VIEWING

WHERE: At home, DVD from the library.

Another of the 8 films to die for! Thanks for the hook ups library. And it is a little crazy that 2 came in at the same time. But in any case, I’ve got another notch in my belt.

THE GOOD: unexpected twists;
THE BAD: most of the acting;
THE WONKY: David’s repressed rage freakout; the “shaky cam”; “I’ve got to go…”

Not great, but not bad. There are some interesting ideas here as you slowly find out what is going on and what the family’s deal is. Over all the family is kind of irritating and not really all that fun to hang around. They all do a decent job here, but something is just kind of annoying. I don’t want to knock it too much, because there are some decent things here, some pretty good shots and visuals, interesting ideas, and it is low budget, so take it for what it is worth. Also, it has to be said that it looks pretty good for being shot completely on DV and edited completely on Final Cut.

I was expecting some sort of captivity/torture sort of thing at first…and then when the monster in the box was introduced, I thought, oh that’s kind of cool. Even when you get the start of what is going to be some sort of “preparing” of one of the bodies with surgical tools, etc., the camera moves away, and you are given a couple images, and then that’s it. It was done in a fairly subtle (?) way. Then other things start popping up, and new wrinkles are added, and it seems now that it isn’t quite just that either, and that there may be more going on than meets the eye. When you get the money scene…the scene where the friend is stalked around the house and attacked, and then…eaten…or at least, feasted on…it’s somewhat clear, and then the end…the vampire reveal is kinda neat. Except Lenny’s emergence from the box…it was pretty silly when it was just…a kid. I understand, yup…get it…but it was still silly.

Overall, a nice effort, with some decent things going on…but that’s about it.

5 out of 10