| | So, here's the thing-- I'm spending too much time on blog maintenance lately, and not enough time actually writing stuff. I'm maintaining two MySpaces now, both for promotional purposes: one for Films On Consignment, one for Karl & Bernie (plus one for Theatre On Consignment, though I'm not the only one taking care of upkeep there), plus the two Xangas. In the interest of simplifying, I've decided to fold my movie review Xanga blog back into this one. I originally started it because I was doing regular published film writing for the City Paper, and I wanted a place to collect that stuff seperately (and to try to get more writing work) without having to mix it up with, you know, my ramblings and pictures of our cats. However, since that paper folded, it's become kind of a chore to keep that one going, so I'm gonna close up shop there and work movie reviews into the rotation here (an easier decision since I was getting very, very few hits over there). Try not to cry. If you weren't reading over there, I threw together a few lines from the current reviews to get you back up to speed; here's some thoughts on movies currently in release: Michael Clayton *****
The opening frames of accomplished screenwriter Tony Gilroy’s directorial debut suck you in and never let go; this is a superbly crafted, masterful film, entertaining and thought-provoking, thrilling and heartbreaking. Although its thriller elements are effective (and come to a rousing, terrific climax), Michael Clayton is a thoughtful character study masquerading as a Michael Douglas movie, a beautifully written and delicately acted examination of what happens when smart people get in over their heads. See Michael Clayton. It’s one of the year’s best films. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ***** It may have a long and unwieldy title, and a running time to match, but make no mistake about it: Andrew Dominik’s epic drama is fascinating, lyrical, and fucking spellbinding. To be sure, Assassination is a plenty leisurely film (about 2 hours and 40 minutes), and it’s in no hurry to get where it’s going. It is no doubt a film that will find many detractors (indeed, it has found plenty already)—many don’t have the patience, energy, or interest in a long, delicate film like this one. It’s their loss. The Assassination of Jesse James is one of the finest films in recent memory. Lust, Caution ****
Ang Lee’s latest is flawed movie but still a pretty goddamned good one, difficult and slowly paced and too damn long but fascinating all the same. In its best moments it recalls Last Tango In Paris—insofar as its already-notorious graphic sexuality is neither gratuitous nor intended (solely, anyway) for titillation, but is a vital component in understanding its leading characters and their relationship with each other Lee’s made plenty of masterpieces (Brokeback, Crouching Tiger, The Ice Storm), so I think we can let him get by, once in a while, with one that’s merely very good. The Kingdom ****
So here’s action picture with a brain, a revenge movie with a conscience, a film that wants (admirably) to have it both ways, and mostly succeeds. It throws the crew-of-experts police-procedural into the blender with a Syriana-lite style political drama, and while it’s an occasionally lean mixture, it is well-made and superbly acted and often brutally effective. The Kingdom isn’t perfect, but boy is it engaging. The Darjeeling Limited ****
I still can’t decide whether Darjeeling’s place as the fifth film of director Wes Anderson is a blessing or a curse, or both. Did I like the film more than I should have, because of the goodwill I brought into it and the high quality of Anderson’s previous works? Or was I holding it up to too high a bar? Would I have fallen all over myself, raving and praising, if it were the first film of some new talent? Overall, It’s a good film, but it doesn’t quite fill some big shoes. We Own The Night ***
There's two terrific set pieces here, and some nice performances (especially by the always-reliable Robert Duvall and the unfailingly sexy Eva Mendes), but you've seen most of We Own The Night many, many, many times before. There's a Departed-lite vibe to the whole enterprise (especially thanks to Mark Wahlberg's inolvement); it's not a terrible film, but it certainly isn't essential viewing. Across the Universe ****
I may just be partial to the Julie Taymor’s Fab Four musical because I’m a Beatles freak, but there are some really clever things happening here—some wonderful re-arrangements, several terrific performances (Bono’s electrifying take on “I Am The Walrus” is a standout), and it’s a beautiful picture to look at. It’s a little long (particularly in the second act), but I can’t think of much I’d want to go without; even its less successful sequences (like Eddie Izzard’s strange, talked-up, Robert Preston-y version of “Mr. Kite”) are at least of a passing interest. Not everything works, but this is tricky material, and if you want to know how badly it could have gone, run out and rent that Frampton/Bee Gees Sgt. Pepper movie. Into The Wild ***
Sean Penn directed Wild and wrote the screenplay from Jon Kraukauer’s nonfiction book, and it is a film that is consistently interesting and well-made, while simultaneously irritating and occasionally infuriating. In all fairness, my disconnect with the film could have everything to do with my inability to idealize any of what happens in it; the title of Into the Wild might as well be 140 Minutes of Things Jason Would Never Do. But I did have trouble identifying with the hero, and by the end of the film, I was downright angry with him—fuck the Grizzly Adams fantasy, kid, and get to a goddamned doctor. In The Valley of Elah ****
Paul Haggis’ follow-up to Crash is a far better film than that one, though much of its success is due more to the performances than to Haggis’ script, which veers wildly from effective understatement to clichéd boilerplate. It is primarily worth seeing for the pitch-perfect leading performance of Tommy Lee Jones, who is incapable of a false moment here—never reaching, never pushing, every gesture and line reading completely natural and entirely believable. In The Valley of Elah misses its marks occasionally, but it has moments of greatness, and shows an occasionally overvalued filmmaker growing and learning. Eastern Promises ****
David Cronenberg is a director who I frequently admire but am rarely engaged by; there’s much of his new film that’s good, yet I was never sucked into it the way I wanted to be. The overall tone is strange and sterile and kind of all over the place, but man, when this thing works, it works; the already-notorious bathhouse fight sequence is a stunningly visceral piece of action cinema. As it is, I found Eastern Promises to be a fascinating exercise but short of greatness; how much you agree may have a lot to do with how you feel about Mr. Cronenberg. Lake of Fire *****
Tony Kaye’s epic documentary on abortion is hard, hard, hard to watch. It runs over two and a half hours and is an utterly unflinching look at the abortion debate—including the depiction, twice, of the abortion procedure itself. It is also an incredibly accomplished documentary, even-handed and unbiased, beautifully shot and masterfully constructed.
My Kid Could Paint That ***** Riveting and thought-provoking, Amir Bar-Lev’s documentary about Marla Olmstead, the four-year old girl who made national news when her paintings were taken up by modern art connoisseurs, generates genuine suspense and real pathos. 2 Days In Paris *****
Perhaps the most valuable element of writer/director/star Julie Delpy’s astonishingly assured film is that it is one of the few great romantic comedy/dramas in recent memory that is written from a female perspective; most of the good ones (like High Fidelity or Garden State) have female characters that are well-drawn but nowhere near as complex as their male protagonists, and most of the female-penned rom-com is that horrible vanilla bourgeoisie crap that Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers spew out. Delpy’s film is a quiet one, yes, but in many ways, it’s a revelation. I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With ****
Writer/director/star Jeff Garlin’s semi-autobiographical, semi-improvisational comedy mixes huge laughs (and there are some big ones) with moments that cut very close. Garlin never goes for easy sympathy (as an actor or a filmmaker), and the film is better for it. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that he gets so many funny people (Sarah Silverman, Bonnie Hunt, Amy Sedaris, Dan Castellaneta, Richard Kind, etc.) to fill out his supporting roles. I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With may have an awkward title and feel like a vanity project, but it is a funny, telling little movie. The End. |
