Recently viewed films

[Jack of All Parades]

Will be on the look out for that one- i enjoyed "The Artist" for what it was and this one sounds promising.

Watched with my wife last night a delightfully slight comedy- "The Big Year". One of those ensemble cast efforts that this time works. Never thought a movie about bird watching would be so engaging. The mood throughout the film is bouyant and the views from around the country breathtaking at times. But it is the cast led by Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson that keeps it going. They all under play their usual screen characters and as a result keep you consistently laughing. I really enjoyed the interplay between the three. You add the many other name stars who take small cameos and you have an extremely engaging comedy with the added bonus of a myriad number of beautiful birds.

[Jack of All Parades]

"Prometheus" last night with my wife and my very first 3D movie and a very good one to see in that format. The process sure added a depth that was visually stunning in the landscape scenes and in deep space. I really liked the cave painting scene on the Isle of Skye. Iceland makes a most convincing fill in for a deep space landscape. The opening scenes are quite memorable as Scott tries to visualize a start to life and l quite liked the visual playing with the elements of water, DNA and eventual 'seeding'. The pseudo origins of life philosophical arguments were presented with tact and entertained me more than Terrance Malick's "Tree of Life".

Probably can watch Noomi Rapace in anything- she brings energy and a palpable awe to her role and Michael Fassbender was effective as the robot who has an 'edge'[though why he has to sound like 'Hal' is difficult to understand unless you are going for the obvious aural reference] but the real surprise for me was the hard edged executive played by Charlize Theron. The story line gets wooly in the later half as Scott tries to tie into "Alien" but the sheer visual beauty of his camera shots and his vision of space is worth the two hours. The soundtrack was quite good as periodically I would hear echoes of "The Rite of Spring" and then to have the beautiful Prelude #15 by Chopin pop up at the end was a pleasant surprise. Good summer fun and a worthwhile introduction to 3D-[of which I hated the preview of the Abraham Lincoln film about Vampires, not just because of the whole storyline, but because the 3D made it look like cardboard figures up on the screen].

[Who Shot Sam?]

I actually want to see the Abraham Lincoln movie. Yeah, it's a ridiculous premise, but there's nothing wrong with that. It may well be terrible, of course.

[Poor Deportee]

On the subject of the ridiculous, I watched 'Thor' on Netflix last night (my wife being a bit of a repressed superhero junkie). You know something? It was actually good fun. Sprawling, gaudy, but with some shockingly high-end talent involved, it manages to rise above its own potential for epochal badness. Kenneth Branagh brings some deft humour and honest-to-goodness heart to the often soulless idiom of the CGI blockbuster. Anthony Hopkins is a terrific as Odin, taking a page from Alec Guinness's Obi-Wan Kenowbi and playing it absolutely straight, while the rest of the cast brings the necessary jocularity to the proceedings. If you're in the mood for some harmless, stupid-but-not-too-stupid fun, you could do lots worse.

[Jack of All Parades]

"Shame" by Steve McQueen last night with the missus. Reasonably certain now that there is not a stronger 'tabla rasa' male actor these days than Michael Fassbender. He gets blankness down to a t, just witness his work as David, the robot, in "Prometheus". Here it is eerie and most unnerving as his character goes through the film obssessed with the moment and self gratification and sex but with no intimacy just random and seemingly inconsequential. He lives and plays in glass lined offices and apartments or hotels but the character is so shut off from real feeling, hidden behind his mask of a face. In fact, the one time, other than the obligatory crying scene when he is overwhelmed by the path he is on towards the film's end, his face shows any seemingly real emotion is when his face is tortured into a hideous grimmace during a three partner sex session following a night of debauchery. It is a scary sight and the camera almost freezes on that grimmace.

Too often though the direction is too heavy handed and literal- did I need to see the word 'fuck' scrawled above a copulating couple under a bridge overpass-our hero being one of the particpants. The camera is relentless in capturing the Fassbender character's private hell- it might very well be the strongest depiction for me of the early, sordid life written about so effectively by St. Augustine in his Confessions. The movie clearly is a powerful visual depiction of that great sonnet by Shakespeare, #129, as some critics have suggested- you know the one that goes "the expense of spirit in a waste of shame".

Waste of Carey Mulligan in a film, as well. Did like the usage of several Bach Preludes in the score.

[Jack of All Parades]

"Martha Marcy May Marlene" by Sean Durkin. A first time film about identity and its fracturing and the lure of cults. One never really knows if the main character, Martha, played with a real sense of her being a cypher by a new actress to me- Elizabeth Olsen-is ever one person in this movie. Her character is so thinly drawn that you can easily see how she could be drawn into a cult and dominated by it's messianic leader played with real chills by John Hawkes. Ms. Olsen demonstrates a real ability to morph constantly in front of the camera going from a doughy presence one second to a hard edged and damaged young women in the next moment. It is a skill I admire. The constant usage of flashbacks is jarring and is maybe meant to visually give a form to Martha's fractured emotional and psychological state. The cast is well rounded with Sarah Paulson and Hugh Dancy playing Ms. Olsen's sister and brother in law who are as equally unreal to her as the cult she has escaped. The juxtaposition of the cult's anti materialistic credo and the seeming successful embrace of materialism by her 'real' family is too facile. What held my attention for the length of the film was Ms. Olsen- the camera loves her.

[Jack of All Parades]

"Cave of Forgotten Dreams" by Werner Herzog. Wish I had seen this in a theater in 3D as it was shot that way. The images of those animals captured close to 32,000 years ago by Paleolithic artists in stunning poses and lifelike montages throughout this cathedral of a cave are quite stirring. Hundreds of drawings of animals- lions, bears, horses, bison and mammoths - populate the walls with a few images of early people-most noticably a female form in conjunction with some animal- floating on the walls and incorporated into the texture and natural curves of the walls.

This location at Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc in southern France is to be cherished. The interspersed red palm prints, as if signatures of the unknown artists, are eerie. Like Herzog, I am startled by the overlapping images of horses as if they were in motion or as he postulates are we observing the beginnings of cinema. The quality of the artwork is noticable. The detail, the texture, the lines and movement. I do not know what they were used for or what the significance was for the painters. I would like to think it was the beginning of human contemplation upon the world around us- a reflection of the forces and life forms that surrounded these early people-perhaps as Herzog speculates in the film the birth of the human soul. Whatever they are breath taking and not to be missed.

[Emotional Toothpaste]

Saw Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom" last night. Came away slightly disappointed. Guess I shouldn't have read all the hyped-up positive reviews. It had lots of kind've funny moments, but like most Wes Anderson movies, tried too hard to be quirky and artsy. Its almost as good as Royal Tannenbaums, but not quite.

[Jack of All Parades]

Two of my daughters liked that movie. I know this should be about new films but I watched "Bull Durham" last night for the umpteenth time. It is amongst a handful of movies, like "Chinatown", that when it is on I cannot avoid. It is pitch perfect for me; human, funny and bittersweet all at once. It catches characters at play with one another and makes you feel deeply about them. That it centers around baseball- real baseball as I have experienced it at the Minor league level, is an added bonus. Yes, it is the 'church of baseball' as exclaimed by Annie Savoy in the opening sequence. I never think I am watching actors when it plays- just a slice of the characters on the screen lives, but a complete and fully realized series of lives. Annie Savoy, 'Crash' Davis and Eppie Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh are real in my mind today as they were in 1988 when I first saw the film. Its mixture of metaphysics and slapstick and baseball is intoxicating. The dialogue is not precious- it lives and breathes words and sentences and the thoughts of real people in their distinctively drawn voices- there are so many that stay with you-"the heart goes in the front, big guy", "a million dollar arm and a 5 cent mind", "How come when someone says they had a prior life they are always someone famous? Why do they never say I was just 'Joe Schmo?'- the quotes from Whitman, Dickinson, and Blake- the specific smells and sights of a real world. Wonderful soundtrack to go with the movie, as well- "Sixty Minute Man", Dr. John, even the that old cliche of baseball-Fogerty's "Center-field'. I treasure this movie. It is life affirming for me, something I return to with regularity for emotional and 'spiritual' nourishment just as the characters in the film do with baseball.

[Jack of All Parades]

The Artist is a great movie. Bérénice Bejo will be a big star.

'Great movie,' in the sense of Citizen Kane, might be pushing it, but there's no question this is an outstanding film. Saw it last night with the missus - it manages to be an homage to silent film that nevertheless avoid that tiresome post-modern irony and, somehow, gets you fully, emotionally involved in the characters. Really something to see. Do yourself a favour and catch it in theatres, the way it was meant to be seen.

Caught up with this one last night but unfortunately not in a theater although on a fairly wide- flat screen. Pleasant and watchable and entertaining but I am not so certain I see what all the fuss was about. I did miss a touch of 'tiresome post-modern irony' in this one. It might have kept me from wandering at times. Did appreciate the chemistry between the two leads but too obvious for me with the camera angles and taste of sound midway through as the 'movie world' shook in 1929 with the introduction of talkies-did the director really have to tilt the set at that moment? When my favorite part was an animal then I know I am in trouble. Bravo, Uggi!

[Poor Deportee]

The Artist is a great movie. Bérénice Bejo will be a big star.

'Great movie,' in the sense of Citizen Kane, might be pushing it, but there's no question this is an outstanding film. Saw it last night with the missus - it manages to be an homage to silent film that nevertheless avoid that tiresome post-modern irony and, somehow, gets you fully, emotionally involved in the characters. Really something to see. Do yourself a favour and catch it in theatres, the way it was meant to be seen.

Caught up with this one last night but unfortunately not in a theater although on a fairly wide- flat screen. Pleasant and watchable and entertaining but I am not so certain I see what all the fuss was about. I did miss a touch of 'tiresome post-modern irony' in this one. It might have kept me from wandering at times. Did appreciate the chemistry between the two leads but too obvious for me with the camera angles and taste of sound midway through as the 'movie world' shook in 1929 with the introduction of talkies-did the director really have to tilt the set at that moment? When my favorite part was an animal then I know I am in trouble. Bravo, Uggi!

Huh. Interesting. Could it be that the in-theatre experience was a critical aspect of my enjoyment of the film? I'd have to see it again to re-assess. All I know is that it knocked me out when I saw it. Perhaps it was the wine

[Jack of All Parades]

God, do not let my jaundiced eye towards this film turn off your experience of it. For me it was too much 'one note' in tone and execution. But then I am guilty of feeling very much like the character in the film when she is giving her interview and she mocks the 'mugging to the camera' of the silent era actors. I have always been enthralled by strong 'irony'- something I found very lacking in this movie- I wish it had 'winked' back at me with a greater frequency while I was watching- that it was less an 'homage' to a past era and medium.

[Poor Deportee]

God, do not let my jaundiced eye towards this film turn off your experience of it. For me it was too much 'one note' in tone and execution. But then I am guilty of feeling very much like the character in the film when she is giving her interview and she mocks the 'mugging to the camera' of the silent era actors. I have always been enthralled by strong 'irony'- something I found very lacking in this movie- I wish it had 'winked' back at me with a greater frequency while I was watching- that it was less an 'homage' to a past era and medium.

Hmm, that could be a basic difference in aesthetic preference. Personally, I find post-modern, knowing/winking/smirking irony very tiresome and played-out - almost a sign of a diseased culture, really, at least when it erupts in with the frequency with which it did in the infinitely trivial 1990s. Irony often sets my teeth on edge because it plays to a fundamental attitude of knowingness that is, all too often, self-congratulatory and smug.

Now, I'll agree that a dire earnestness is just as bad as such callow ironic suavity. Nothing, nothing is worse than a 17-year-old poet at open mic night. The trick, I suppose, is to retain self-reflective awareness about what you're doing (which is inevitably absent among the humourlessly earnest) without sliding into knowing cynicism. The more egregious forms of post-mod irony tended to proceed from the (correct) insight that true originality is basically impossible to the (agitatingly false) conclusion that all that's left is to congratulate yourself for realizing that by playing 'spot the ironic references.' But you can be self-critical and aware but still be sincere in what you say. You can tell the same old story, new, and mean every word, even as you know that we know you're telling the same old story.

You and I share a love of Dylan; his late work, an exercise in collage and re-invention, colliding references, refashioning what's gone before, exemplifies how you can combine post-modern knowingness without falling into the trap of smirking meaninglessness. Bob means what he sings. He also knows that he's not inventing it, at least not in the de novo fantasies of those who naively accuse him of plagiarism. Another musical example is the delicate balance between commitment and ironic self-deprecation achieved by U2 at what I feel is their peak (Achtung Baby, Zooropa). To my mind, the film was closer to that kind of thing. But I could be all turned around - I'd really need to see it again.

[Jack of All Parades]

PD- this is one of those times when I wish I lived in Vancouver or you in NYC so that I could sit down over a favorite libation and talk the night away over this and any other topic. As usual, you pin it, and me, succinctly as I often feel like some specimen pinned and labeled to a display card with your replies. That is a good feeling. Though perhaps not right now as alcohol is something I am avoiding as my body is filled with narcotics as I fight to rid myself of a head and chest cold that will not flee, having encamped in my body for the past three weeks. That image of a seventeen year old affixed to an open mic on a poetry night is spot on. I cannot stop laughing and that strangles my chest.

It is a fine line that artists walk when they work in the 'ironic' realm. You lay it out well. Are you at all familiar with the poet and critic DJ Enright's book titled The Alluring Problem-an Essay on Irony?You might like it. It speaks to your concerns and dislikes. I have always remembered this quote from it:

"Po Chu-i, citing Lao-tzu's words: "Those who speak know nothing; those who know are silent', asked how it was then that the man wrote an entire book."

Roundabout way of saying I liked what you wrote. I am taking my wife to see "Magic Mike" tonight. Not out of some lurid hope for titillation but more because I suspect that I will watch an intelligent and sophisticated usage of modern irony by another modern master like Dylan- Steven Soderbergh. More talk later.

[Jack of All Parades]

"Magic Mike" with the missus last night and I am awash with 'strong' irony as it is utilized by a master. The kind of irony that is noted in DJ Enright's The Alluring Problem as 'irony in a subdued sense, as a generous skepticism which can believe at once that people are and are not guilty, is a very normal and essential method.....people, often, cannot have done both of two things, but they must have been in some way prepared to have done either." A master who uses irony to "slyly cast decent doubt and yet leave the question open".

Soderbergh has turned my world upside down once again. He has taken a long time staple of Hollywood, the female naif out adrift in the world and all of its cliches of coming up against the wicked old world, and subverted them by replacing the roles with a male. It works and it must be quite empowering for women to no longer feel like they are only objects to be ogled. As my wife commented, on the drive home, "we do not have to feel we are the only 'objects' in this world". 'Passive' women no longer are looked at- the roles have reversed. This subversion is refreshing, invigorating and slyly presented to the viewer. It is something to see women act out the traditional male roles of buyers of 'pleasure'. The movie is also aided immeasurably by a dynamic and fully realized performance from Channing Tatum as "Magic Mike". His disarming and innocent take on a not so young man's struggle to make something of himself catches and holds your attention as one stares at the screen. He will be robbed if he is not remembered next early winter when talk of Oscar nominations begins. His performance is worthy of consideration.

This movie works on so many levels: intellectually, visually, viscerally. Soderbergh clearly likes to see the human body in motion and his camera work proves it. The dancing and gymnastic feats are a marvel. But it is the underlying human story that holds it all together for me. These are people one can invest some time and concern over. You care about their lives and their hopes and tribulations. Soderbergh tells a very human story and he tells it well. The TV ads for this film do it a great disservice. They would have you think it is all gyration and titillation- if you give it an honest chance and actually watch the movie- you will see something quite beautiful, a subtle and stimulating story about one young man's ambitions and how they 'butt' up against the real world.

[Jack of All Parades]

"We Need to Talk About Kevin" last night with the Missus. A deftly done look at a sociopath in the making and wonderfully played by all the cast including John C Reilly and Tilda Swinton, who is effectively on edge throughout the whole movie. The movie is shot in a jumpy style with flashbacks that keep the viewer always on edge, as well. All the elements are there in the child as you see the son grow into the 'monster' he becomes. What the film does so well though is make you, the viewer, question what you would have done in the same circumstances. In my case, upon some reflection, probably little different from the mother, played by Ms Swinton. This movie sits on your consiousness and causes anquish.

[Jack of All Parades]

"The Woman In Black". Last night on DVD on the couch with the missus. A well done and pretty effective gothic ghost story that does not have to rely upon grandiose special effects and blood splatter to earn its chills. The director makes generous usage of old time camera tricks and sound effects to earn them instead- boards creek, shadows are alive and door knobs rattle and twist at the appropriate time and instead of being cliched these effects put your hair on end at the appropriate times. The cast, led by Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarian Hinds and Janet McTeer, do a credible job of putting the scares over on the audience. But the real star for me was the reinvention of an old staple - the gothic horror story. It is nice to be reminded that this kind of tale can be revisited from time to time with renewed chills. In this way it reminded me of a movie from a few years back called The Devil's Backbone by Guillermo DelToro or that one with Nicole Kidman where she was a governess-The Others. I liked the way it ended; my wife was disappointed and wanted a 'happier' ending.

[scielle]

Had a chance to see the new Danny Boyle film this weekend with my family while in Boston, 127 Hours. Thoroughly enjoyed this movie and in particular the breakout performance by James Franco as the trapped hiker. Not for the faint of heart but you simply cannot keep your eyes off of Franco as he moves from cocky outdoorsman to a desperate trapped man nearing death. The shadings he gives to his character are astounding. I do not think I ever want to hear the sound of breaking bone again- it was chilling along with the aftermath.

My respect for Danny Boyle has gone up 10-fold over the weekend. He's such a class act.
LOCOG bosses told him on Friday - after 2 years of planning - to cut Opening Ceremony by 20 minutes so that dignitaries could get away "on time" (whatever that means). He refused to cut any of the volunteers, apparently telling them "if my volunteers go, I go". Bless him. Sad to lose some of the Pro segments in the ceremony; must be gutting for those performers.

[Jack of All Parades]

Watched The Man on the Ledge last night with my wife. Cannot really recommend this one. Much too formulaic and leaden in the performances. Very difficult to believe Sam Worthington was scarred out on the ledge particularly when you watch him gamboling about on the ledge later in the film as if he were on the ground. Just not credible. Ed Harris is looking cadaverous these days- a skull on a stick frame. Cliched plot threads that culminate in a cliched 'happy' ending. The real laugh came with the gratuitous scantily clothed young lady shot where the young actress has to squeeze her lingerie clad body into a skin tight body suit so that she can wiggle down a tight air shaft- too much!

[Otis Westinghouse]

If you're partial to a bit of Spidey, The Amazing Spider Man is well worth your time. I've liked Andrew Garfield from TV work such as Boy A onwards, and thought he was excellent. I liked Tobey Maguire well enough (though never saw the derided third volume), but Garfield is definitely a step up. Rhys Ifans also very good. Saw it in 3D, most of it was no different, and actually it annoyed me that it was darkening the natural lighting, but there are a couple of sequences that make that £3 per ticket (that goes straight to whoever it is that owns 3D) was pretty well justified, in particular a spectacular swinging through Manhattan moment which was like watching yourself in a flying dream. Wow. No doubt it will be a trilogy (at least) too. New Batman to follow too. Eternal return with technical and artistic improvements.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Untouchable. French hit of the year. beautifully done, very funny, and warmly life-affirming with it. Inspired by a true story. Super rich paraplegic and the black guy from the housing project who comes to be his helper, with their two totally different worlds colliding. The scene where they go to the opera is priceless. 'A singing tree!' See it if you can.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Skyfall. Bloody wonderful. If we're going to have blockbusters, this is how they should be. Beautifully done, with a great cast, and, as you need in Bond, a fabulous opening and credit sequence, with Adele working very well with it. Loads of London, lots of overdoing Britishness in contrast with Bardem's brilliant high-cajmp baddie. I haven't read about it all, but I would imagine Mendes grew up a fan, so steeped in Bondlore and a love of it all did it seem to be. Perfect early Saturday evening viewing with two of my boys in a packed cinema on a cold October day.

[Jack of All Parades]

Thank you for the headsup. it confirms my thoughts based on previews. Will catch it. I need to tout "The Sessions"- with John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William Macy. The two leads have sewn up the oscars for best acting this year for me. Hawkes in particular. Should not surprise me given his past work in films like Winter's Bone and Marcy, Mary etc etc. He creates a real human being with his aching need for human contact- flesh on flesh. The exploration of human sexuality is enobling and extremely powerful in its honesty as given form by these two superb performances. It is also side splitting funny. Run, run to the movie house when it comes to your neighborhood.

[Jack of All Parades]

"Flight" last night with the missus and my eldest daughter, newly returned from her far east adventures. Never the biggest fan of Robert Zemeckis but when he works in a real world mode with a great actor, like in "Castaway", he can be most effective. This one works and it is for one reason- Denzel Washington. He commands the screen as 'Whip' Whitaker- a pilot and a major drunk. His descent, both literally in a plane and in his life, is riveting. Washington catches all the nuances of this character- the lies, the charm, the venal charisma. You really cannot take your eyes off him for two hours. The sermonizing at the end can seem sanctimonious but the journey to get to that end is enticing viewing. Like the character in "Castaway" this is a man very much alone and lost in himself.

[ice nine]

I wouldn't be surprised if Denzel won another Oscar for his portrayal of the drunken pilot. We'll have to wait to see Day-Lewis' Lincoln