Last night I finished quite an entertaining 24 hours.
It all started with some late night Direct-to-DVD, Dolph Lundgren helmed action in the form of last year's Command Performance. Dolph Lundgren stars as Drummer Joe. I think that's all that matters. He's in a band, terrorists show up, and he saves the day. The story doesn't work too hard to make sense, which is fine, since it clearly is unimportant. I had fun, but I don't recommend it. 4.0
Shit got awesome later with Bong Joon-ho's latest Mother. It must be said. Joon-ho is flat out a fucking master of his film game. He is three for fucking three in my book, with previous films The Host and Memories of Murder (his segment in the compilation film Tokyo! is good also, best of the bunch in fact). His movies are all long, and they all waste absolutely zero seconds, frames, and even lines of dialogue. His stories always pay off in big ways due in part to this attention to detail and a narrative totally without any fat. He masterfully weaves extremely complex narratives while never straying away from the emotional centers that make stories truly great.
So Mother is about a mother obsessed with finding the man who framed her mentally handicapped so for murder. Plot-wise, it's much closer to Memories of Murder intense crime procedural, but its obsessions with family and familial love reminded me at times of his monster/horror film The Host. This film also boasts another powerhouse female lead performance in Kim Hye-ja as Mother. 9.6
And how did I cap this 24 hour period off? The best way possible: The Room.
Wow holy fuck me, right? The Room and its director/writer/producer/star Tommy Wiseau have been written to hell, so I won't bother with doing it myself. Hilarious reviews are everywhere. I'll just keep it quick. It lives up to the hype. I want to give it a number rating, but Tommy has engineered his film to defy all grading systems, as well as logic and time continuity.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Forgiveness Rock Record
More like Forgive This Boring Record. Sorry BSS. Forget about how your past two records were amazing achievements in the art of building huge walls of noise and infectious pop that coalesced into beautiful music. Changing the formula is fine by me. I encourage it. The real bummer here is that the new one fails to satisfy even a base level of enjoyment I need while listening to music. It just doesn't sound fun, barring a couple of tracks. I was bored listening to it.
Movie catch up:
Un Prophete, Jacques Audiard (2010)
A prison drama thinly disguising a mob epic. For the most part it works, except for when Audiard sometimes indulges these ridiculous visual flourishes. I felt this had a lot in common with last year's similarly cold mob film Gomorra. I'm finding that the cold, distant, impartial stance these films are taking is not drawing me in as much as I feel I should be. Un Prophete is definitely the better film, though. It offers a more centralized story with a strong main character. 7.4
Vincere, Marco Bellocchio (2010)
A stunning film about Benito Mussolini's secret mistress with whom he had a son. When he returned from war, a decorated hero with a new wife, he forced his former flame into an asylum. The asylum takes up most of the second half of the film, but the first half dazzles with vibrant colors and beautiful cinematography as Bellocchio tells a beautiful story of a young woman falling for a fiercely passionate and handsome young man. It really is too bad that the second half can't maintain the first's spirit, but the film is never less than good. And the all leads to a powerful ending. Giovanna Mezzogiorno gives a brutally intimate and revealing performance. 8.2
And a movie I've seen a billion times, Albert Moyle's 1995 classic Empire Records. I watched the Remix Super Fan Blah Blah Whatever edition for the first time. It adds 15 minutes to a 90 minute movie, while cutting about portions of subplots, adds more overwrought music cues, and obviously redubs a significant amount of dialogue. All the new audio is inserted with the care of a toaster, often having different background presence and being significantly louder than the original soundtrack. I know producers like money, but whatever superfans a movie like Empire Records could have would most likely have shelled out the 20 bucks for a new dvd edition without any "improvements". It's not like I have any real love for the movie, but my group of friends did throw it on all the time in high school and it holds a minor sentimental value to me. And i don't love for any decent/good movie to be worsened.
Movie catch up:
Un Prophete, Jacques Audiard (2010)
A prison drama thinly disguising a mob epic. For the most part it works, except for when Audiard sometimes indulges these ridiculous visual flourishes. I felt this had a lot in common with last year's similarly cold mob film Gomorra. I'm finding that the cold, distant, impartial stance these films are taking is not drawing me in as much as I feel I should be. Un Prophete is definitely the better film, though. It offers a more centralized story with a strong main character. 7.4
Vincere, Marco Bellocchio (2010)
A stunning film about Benito Mussolini's secret mistress with whom he had a son. When he returned from war, a decorated hero with a new wife, he forced his former flame into an asylum. The asylum takes up most of the second half of the film, but the first half dazzles with vibrant colors and beautiful cinematography as Bellocchio tells a beautiful story of a young woman falling for a fiercely passionate and handsome young man. It really is too bad that the second half can't maintain the first's spirit, but the film is never less than good. And the all leads to a powerful ending. Giovanna Mezzogiorno gives a brutally intimate and revealing performance. 8.2
And a movie I've seen a billion times, Albert Moyle's 1995 classic Empire Records. I watched the Remix Super Fan Blah Blah Whatever edition for the first time. It adds 15 minutes to a 90 minute movie, while cutting about portions of subplots, adds more overwrought music cues, and obviously redubs a significant amount of dialogue. All the new audio is inserted with the care of a toaster, often having different background presence and being significantly louder than the original soundtrack. I know producers like money, but whatever superfans a movie like Empire Records could have would most likely have shelled out the 20 bucks for a new dvd edition without any "improvements". It's not like I have any real love for the movie, but my group of friends did throw it on all the time in high school and it holds a minor sentimental value to me. And i don't love for any decent/good movie to be worsened.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Fuck a man's will
Don Argott's recent art doc The Art of the Steal tells an entertaining and infuriating story of corrupt politicians and lawyers out to to acquire one man's private treasure after his death. Argott starts off making you think you're watching a run of the mill, boring documentary about Albert Brooks, a massively rich private art collector. He does this intentionally to draw you into the crazy shenanigans that take place after his death.
Brooks left his art collection to a board of trustees with a huge chunk of money and a will that explicitly stated that the collection could only be used for educational purposes, could never be moved, and could never be sold. After a few peaceful years, the lawyers and politicians get involved in trying to get the art out of Barnes' home and into a venue where they can make some money.
The movie ends up playing like a heist thriller, focusing on how the bad guys ultimately got away with stealing the loop holes in the legal system. It's not the JFK of art documentaries, as I've read elsewhere, but it is very entertaining and thrilling, while keeping things mostly apolitical.
Argott does balance the picture nicely by emphasizing how great it would be for the general public to see all of this amazing art. Barnes' will initially allowed for his house to open to the public 2-3 days a week for free. While Argott condemns everyone trying to stomp on the will of a man, he recognizes that more than a couple dozen people a week need to see this art.
8.o
Brooks left his art collection to a board of trustees with a huge chunk of money and a will that explicitly stated that the collection could only be used for educational purposes, could never be moved, and could never be sold. After a few peaceful years, the lawyers and politicians get involved in trying to get the art out of Barnes' home and into a venue where they can make some money.
The movie ends up playing like a heist thriller, focusing on how the bad guys ultimately got away with stealing the loop holes in the legal system. It's not the JFK of art documentaries, as I've read elsewhere, but it is very entertaining and thrilling, while keeping things mostly apolitical.
Argott does balance the picture nicely by emphasizing how great it would be for the general public to see all of this amazing art. Barnes' will initially allowed for his house to open to the public 2-3 days a week for free. While Argott condemns everyone trying to stomp on the will of a man, he recognizes that more than a couple dozen people a week need to see this art.
8.o
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Stuck
The problem with writing something about every single film I watch is that I just don't have the time to give every film the lengthy and thoughtful write-ups they may deserve. Some films that I really like end up getting the short end, like The Eclipse, when I'm feeling tired or busy. Then there are films, regardless of whether I like them or not, that I just don't feel inspired to write much about.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man is one of those uninspiring films. It's about a man who hits a "metal fetishist" with his car and is subsequently haunted by him when the fetishist starts a slow transformation of the man into scrap metal. That's pretty much it for story. It's certainly visually interesting and unique, and it was probably made for almost nothing, but it is the epitome of "Fucked up shit". People that say they like "fucked up shit" would like this movie. The kind of fucked up that is only surface weird. On some level it does present a disturbing perspective of a post-industrial society, but I thought it was only effective in the first 10 minutes or so of the film. Give me "Fucked up", but make it affect me psychologically, make it something I'm still thinking about later.
The man's penis becomes a huge power drill bit. I mean seriously. Oh yeah, directed by Shinya Tsukamoto and released in 1989. 1992 in the U.S. 4.0/10
Tetsuo: The Iron Man is one of those uninspiring films. It's about a man who hits a "metal fetishist" with his car and is subsequently haunted by him when the fetishist starts a slow transformation of the man into scrap metal. That's pretty much it for story. It's certainly visually interesting and unique, and it was probably made for almost nothing, but it is the epitome of "Fucked up shit". People that say they like "fucked up shit" would like this movie. The kind of fucked up that is only surface weird. On some level it does present a disturbing perspective of a post-industrial society, but I thought it was only effective in the first 10 minutes or so of the film. Give me "Fucked up", but make it affect me psychologically, make it something I'm still thinking about later.
The man's penis becomes a huge power drill bit. I mean seriously. Oh yeah, directed by Shinya Tsukamoto and released in 1989. 1992 in the U.S. 4.0/10
FU!!!
Last night I made an effort to watch something with some friends that I was sure would be stupid. I succeeded, and luckily it was also a perfectly enjoyable movie. Fired Up! is the kind of movie that tries to appeal to the horny 14-year-old in all us that for whatever reason feels like it needs to have some sort of narrative thread. These films usually end up disastrous because the boobs and plot are not very well balanced, but this one somehow came out on top.
Two highschool star football players/poon winners, played by Eric Christian Olsen (the clever one) and Nicholas D'Agosto (the one who gets an arc). They decide to ditch two weeks of masculine football camp in favor of winning more poon at the cheerleading camp with all those girls there and stuff. They go. Blah Blah. Shit happens. D'Agosto falls in love with the morally upstanding cheerleader (Sarah Roemer), Olsen gets hit on by gay dudes, everybody has copious amounts of high school sex, and then it ends.
At some point the movie is forced to make Olsen care about, and so they do. They achieve this simply by suddenly making him say as much. This is the kind plot development writer Freedom Jones has used to fill out his/her (I just can't tell from that name) story. There's also all kinds of flat humor, tasteless homophobia, and awesome Lou Bega karaoke. That's right. Freedom has created a wonderful character in Dr. Rick (David Walton), Roemer's douchebag college boyfriend. This guy really blew my mind with stupid douche jokes I could not stop laughing at.
And to be completely honest, this film is adequately put together by Will Gluck's simple direction. I've certainly seen worse. I'm glad there are some movies made to be nothing but stupid entertainment for virginal middle schoolers that can actually deliver on the promise.
Fired Up! : 6.2
I also watched they early Emily Blunt film My Summer of Love. Pawel Pawlikowski's film of young lesbian love failed on almost every level to hold my interest. This is probably not fair, given that last night might qualify for one of my strangest double features, but it's telling that the highest compliment either I or my friends could muster was, "Well, there were pretty colors in the beginning."
And that's all I got for that one. 5.8
Two highschool star football players/poon winners, played by Eric Christian Olsen (the clever one) and Nicholas D'Agosto (the one who gets an arc). They decide to ditch two weeks of masculine football camp in favor of winning more poon at the cheerleading camp with all those girls there and stuff. They go. Blah Blah. Shit happens. D'Agosto falls in love with the morally upstanding cheerleader (Sarah Roemer), Olsen gets hit on by gay dudes, everybody has copious amounts of high school sex, and then it ends.
At some point the movie is forced to make Olsen care about, and so they do. They achieve this simply by suddenly making him say as much. This is the kind plot development writer Freedom Jones has used to fill out his/her (I just can't tell from that name) story. There's also all kinds of flat humor, tasteless homophobia, and awesome Lou Bega karaoke. That's right. Freedom has created a wonderful character in Dr. Rick (David Walton), Roemer's douchebag college boyfriend. This guy really blew my mind with stupid douche jokes I could not stop laughing at.
And to be completely honest, this film is adequately put together by Will Gluck's simple direction. I've certainly seen worse. I'm glad there are some movies made to be nothing but stupid entertainment for virginal middle schoolers that can actually deliver on the promise.
Fired Up! : 6.2
I also watched they early Emily Blunt film My Summer of Love. Pawel Pawlikowski's film of young lesbian love failed on almost every level to hold my interest. This is probably not fair, given that last night might qualify for one of my strangest double features, but it's telling that the highest compliment either I or my friends could muster was, "Well, there were pretty colors in the beginning."
And that's all I got for that one. 5.8
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Magnolia On Demand Capsules
Conor McPherson's new genre hybrid The Eclipse balances tones exceptionally well, subtly melding its romantic aspects with its more supernatural ones. It features some of the most beautiful cinematography I've seen recently, and also sports a fantastic lead performance from Ciaran Hinds, a strong character actor with supporting roles in more than a few great films. I need to go to Ireland. 8.4
The new to America Jet Li vehicle The Warlords is quite a bit more morally ambiguous than your average big budget Asian historical war film, but not necessarily better. Jet Li enlists two bandits and an army on a crusade to free all of China, but the quest is more personal vendetta than selfless. The best action comes too early in the film, and the plot twists and drama in the second half can't keep the film afloat. 6.6
I'm tired, thus me writing barely anything.
The Tallest Man on Earth is finally releasing a new album on Tuesday. The Wild Hunt doesn't change up his folky formula much, but his songwriting has clearly improved. He does venture off the path for the final track "Kids on the Run." It's a 70s style piano ballad, and it's fucking beautiful. Shit. download this album.
The new to America Jet Li vehicle The Warlords is quite a bit more morally ambiguous than your average big budget Asian historical war film, but not necessarily better. Jet Li enlists two bandits and an army on a crusade to free all of China, but the quest is more personal vendetta than selfless. The best action comes too early in the film, and the plot twists and drama in the second half can't keep the film afloat. 6.6
I'm tired, thus me writing barely anything.
The Tallest Man on Earth is finally releasing a new album on Tuesday. The Wild Hunt doesn't change up his folky formula much, but his songwriting has clearly improved. He does venture off the path for the final track "Kids on the Run." It's a 70s style piano ballad, and it's fucking beautiful. Shit. download this album.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Fish Tank
I decided to catch Fish Tank on IFC On Demand months after its initial theatrical release, right as it is to be removed, because I've just read so many things that make it sound wonderful. I avoided it at first, as I had no special love for Andrea Arnold's previous directorial effort Red Road. But the good reviews combined with my appreciation for her Academy Award winning short Wasp finally got me to sit down and watch.
Well, Fish Tank is not, as its Metacritic score would have you believe, wonderful. It is good, with moments that really stand out, and it also features some seriously powerhouse performances. It's also much more Wasp than Red Road.
Katie Jarvis, in her debut role, astounds as a teenager in the slums of Essex, living with her single mom and her latest boyfriend, an often shirtless Michael Fassbender. Jarvis dreams of getting out of her bleak surroundings and becoming a hip-hop dancer. She and Fassbender eventually form a relationship of sorts, where he does things like give her money to get wasted and give her a camera to film her dancing for a contest entry. Then things go awry, as plots are wont to do.
Fish Tank moves leisurely through its story, letting the audience enjoy its more rambling moments of a teenager trying to gain comfort with her budding sexuality. It's when Arnold's script tries to get a real plot moving that I have problems. The increasing melodrama present in the second half of the film really works against the realistic style established in the beginning. Arnold also seems to be hung up on symbolism that too obviously hammers the impossible disconnect between Jarvis' feelings of being stuck and her dreams of dancing and getting away. Things with balloons, horses, and music videos.
But I did get to come away from this movie loving Michael Fassbender. His performance in 2008's Hunger, and I was really hoping it was not a fluke. I'm ecstatic to say he is clearly an actor capable of broad range.
I'm going back to number ratings.
Fish Tank: 7.3
Well, Fish Tank is not, as its Metacritic score would have you believe, wonderful. It is good, with moments that really stand out, and it also features some seriously powerhouse performances. It's also much more Wasp than Red Road.
Katie Jarvis, in her debut role, astounds as a teenager in the slums of Essex, living with her single mom and her latest boyfriend, an often shirtless Michael Fassbender. Jarvis dreams of getting out of her bleak surroundings and becoming a hip-hop dancer. She and Fassbender eventually form a relationship of sorts, where he does things like give her money to get wasted and give her a camera to film her dancing for a contest entry. Then things go awry, as plots are wont to do.
Fish Tank moves leisurely through its story, letting the audience enjoy its more rambling moments of a teenager trying to gain comfort with her budding sexuality. It's when Arnold's script tries to get a real plot moving that I have problems. The increasing melodrama present in the second half of the film really works against the realistic style established in the beginning. Arnold also seems to be hung up on symbolism that too obviously hammers the impossible disconnect between Jarvis' feelings of being stuck and her dreams of dancing and getting away. Things with balloons, horses, and music videos.
But I did get to come away from this movie loving Michael Fassbender. His performance in 2008's Hunger, and I was really hoping it was not a fluke. I'm ecstatic to say he is clearly an actor capable of broad range.
I'm going back to number ratings.
Fish Tank: 7.3
Anderson's Mr. Fox
I finally got around to watching indie-auteur Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox last night. I must say that, while most of my friends were a good bit more enthusiastic about it, I really enjoyed it.
George Clooney is the voice of the titular fox pining for the life of crime he left behind to please his pregnant wife (Meryl Streep). His son, a hilarious Jason Schwartzman, is athletically inept and generally unpleasant, which his father only helps to encourage. When Clooney moves his family to luxurious new tree hole next to the three most feared farmers this side of the river, he immediately rises to the challenge by stealing a lot of of chickens and cider. Evil farmers quickly band together to kill the fox, soon trapping the whole, angry critter community deep underground without food or water.
The animation. It's wonderful. The real fur that was apparently a pain in the ass for animators really pays off. The world rendered is breathtaking and full of life. The performances are uniformly excellent. Jason Schwartzman has a particular way of elevating Anderson's (I imagine intentionally) on the nose dialogue to seriously moving heights. Roald Dahl's classic children's novel could not have asked for a better adaptation.
But about the style? The whole story is told through Anderson's trademark curt and witty dialogue, and meticulously choreographed tracking shots. It is here that my praise slows down a bit. As enjoyable as this film is, it's still very much a Wes Anderson film made in the same way as all his others. Prior to Fox, I admit, I was beginning to slip off the Wes wagon. I found Darjeeling Limited to be a sorry rehash of all of Anderson's common themes placed into an exotic location. I'm now not so worried about his future films. The animation and source material add a much needed spark. I like that the daddy issues are dialed back in favor of the greater story here. But in the end, there aren't many deviations from his past films. I can't see anybody who disliked Rushmore or The Royal Tennenbaums finding anything new to enjoy in Fantastic Mr. Fox.
George Clooney is the voice of the titular fox pining for the life of crime he left behind to please his pregnant wife (Meryl Streep). His son, a hilarious Jason Schwartzman, is athletically inept and generally unpleasant, which his father only helps to encourage. When Clooney moves his family to luxurious new tree hole next to the three most feared farmers this side of the river, he immediately rises to the challenge by stealing a lot of of chickens and cider. Evil farmers quickly band together to kill the fox, soon trapping the whole, angry critter community deep underground without food or water.
The animation. It's wonderful. The real fur that was apparently a pain in the ass for animators really pays off. The world rendered is breathtaking and full of life. The performances are uniformly excellent. Jason Schwartzman has a particular way of elevating Anderson's (I imagine intentionally) on the nose dialogue to seriously moving heights. Roald Dahl's classic children's novel could not have asked for a better adaptation.
But about the style? The whole story is told through Anderson's trademark curt and witty dialogue, and meticulously choreographed tracking shots. It is here that my praise slows down a bit. As enjoyable as this film is, it's still very much a Wes Anderson film made in the same way as all his others. Prior to Fox, I admit, I was beginning to slip off the Wes wagon. I found Darjeeling Limited to be a sorry rehash of all of Anderson's common themes placed into an exotic location. I'm now not so worried about his future films. The animation and source material add a much needed spark. I like that the daddy issues are dialed back in favor of the greater story here. But in the end, there aren't many deviations from his past films. I can't see anybody who disliked Rushmore or The Royal Tennenbaums finding anything new to enjoy in Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Centauri Agent
A quick note:
One of my absolute favorite bands, Natural Snow Buildings, released an online only, free LP a few weeks ago. I've mentioned this band here before, putting two of their albums in my best of the decade list, and another in my top albums of 2009.
They play beautiful ambient droney music, using a lot of folk instruments. I can't recommend them enough, and this new album, The Centauri Agent, is a great place to start. I'd call it their most accessible work, given that it' a relatively brief (for them) 1 hour and 40 minutes, and it's on the internet. Usually these albums go out of print in about a week, it seems.
The writer of the fantastic music blog A Future in Noise has it up for free.
the link:
http://www.afutureinnoise.com/2010/03/natural-snow-buildings-centauri-agent.html
One of my absolute favorite bands, Natural Snow Buildings, released an online only, free LP a few weeks ago. I've mentioned this band here before, putting two of their albums in my best of the decade list, and another in my top albums of 2009.
They play beautiful ambient droney music, using a lot of folk instruments. I can't recommend them enough, and this new album, The Centauri Agent, is a great place to start. I'd call it their most accessible work, given that it' a relatively brief (for them) 1 hour and 40 minutes, and it's on the internet. Usually these albums go out of print in about a week, it seems.
The writer of the fantastic music blog A Future in Noise has it up for free.
the link:
http://www.afutureinnoise.com/2010/03/natural-snow-buildings-centauri-agent.html
Back
After suffering a string of devastating blows such as a broken lap top, a terrible slump in my movie watching, and then a bout of crippling laziness, I am finally back to this land of blog.
So I'm going to try something new. I'll be writing a little something about every movie I watch. Whether it be something new in the theater, or my favorite movie I've seen a million times, I'll write at least something. Cuz I feel like it.
I'll start with what I watched last night: Black Dynamite (Scott Sanders, 2009)
A magnificently hilarious movie from opening to closing frames. I watched this late at night, in the dark, by myself, and yet still could not contain my constant bursts of laughter. I know the spoofing of B-movies is nothing remotely new, but Black Dynamite hits every note so perfectly. Even the easy moments such as when a boom mic slowly creeps into the shot work much better than they should. The filmmakers really go above and beyond just spoofing a blaxsploitation film here. An absurdly over long scene where Black Dynamite and his gang figure out what the villains are planning by tracing similar sounding words, acronyms, and Greek mythology to end up at the word Kansas is particularly inspired.
The dvd featured a trailer for for Blood and Bone a serious movie also starring Michael Jai White that looks like it is exactly what Black Dynamite was spoofing. Drunk viewing, anybody?
And so writing just happened. That's what's up.
So I'm going to try something new. I'll be writing a little something about every movie I watch. Whether it be something new in the theater, or my favorite movie I've seen a million times, I'll write at least something. Cuz I feel like it.
I'll start with what I watched last night: Black Dynamite (Scott Sanders, 2009)
A magnificently hilarious movie from opening to closing frames. I watched this late at night, in the dark, by myself, and yet still could not contain my constant bursts of laughter. I know the spoofing of B-movies is nothing remotely new, but Black Dynamite hits every note so perfectly. Even the easy moments such as when a boom mic slowly creeps into the shot work much better than they should. The filmmakers really go above and beyond just spoofing a blaxsploitation film here. An absurdly over long scene where Black Dynamite and his gang figure out what the villains are planning by tracing similar sounding words, acronyms, and Greek mythology to end up at the word Kansas is particularly inspired.
The dvd featured a trailer for for Blood and Bone a serious movie also starring Michael Jai White that looks like it is exactly what Black Dynamite was spoofing. Drunk viewing, anybody?
And so writing just happened. That's what's up.
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