2005 Film List - Page 9

Edwin Pereyra · 03-12-2006, 09:21 PM

Howl's Moving Castle - Hayao Miyazagi is still doing the best hand-drawn animated work there is these days. The visuals are very striking and leave a very lasting impression. Where the film falls short is in its final act, where Miyazagi can't seem to put all of his creations - characters and subplots, into one cohesive ending.

(out of four)

Next up: The highly anticipated The Best Of Youth from Italy.

~Edwin

Brook K · 03-12-2006, 11:55 PM

I'm almost halfway through and enjoying every minute of it. Unfortunately disc 2 hasn't shippped from Netflix so I'll be waiting several days to finish.

DVD looks great too.

Edwin Pereyra · 03-13-2006, 12:17 AM

Thi Them · 03-13-2006, 01:02 AM

Ummm, Edwin, did you ever open your room's window?

~T

Edwin Pereyra · 03-13-2006, 03:35 PM

Updated with Marco Tullio Giordana’s The Best of Youth (Italy).

~Edwin

Edwin Pereyra · 03-13-2006, 03:59 PM

Brook, hurry up and finish it. You won't be disappointed.

~Edwin

Brook K · 03-13-2006, 04:04 PM

As soon as I get my hands on the disc I will. It's number #1 on my list and in stock. I have 4 discs in transit back to them with none on the way. Given their current policy of screwing me by shipping discs from Tacoma, Portland, and LA instead of the location 2 miles from my house, I may not see the rest until Friday or later.

Edwin Pereyra · 03-13-2006, 04:28 PM

I made sure I got both discs as I didn't want to wait that long to be able to finish it. It's a good thing both were in stock.

Netflix opened a distribution center in my city a little over a month ago. I am now getting most of my discs from this location. Shipping discs from other locations have dropped to a minimum - 1 every 2 to 3 weeks. Since I was grandfathered in on the 4 at a time plan, I can watch 16 films in a month or more if I wanted to. That averages to less than $1.50 per movie. No one can beat that.

I'm just hoping they don't start shipping my discs elsewhere to curtail my borrowing.

~Edwin

Brook K · 03-13-2006, 06:16 PM

I have (or had) the same deal, grandfathered 4 plus local distribution center. But I've definitely noticed the pinch of their "limitation practices" the last couple of months.

Actually I was trying to set it up so I'd get both discs at the same time, but they skipped over a couple of other movies that were in stock according to my queue and shipped me disc 1 of Best of Youth.

Back to some reviews:

Up and Down - This drama tackles racism and family ties in it's picture of contemporary Czech society. Not unlike Crash or a number of other films, it follows the "large cast of interconnected characters" structure. Basically broken into halves, one part concerns a couple who purchase a black market muslim baby from human smugglers. The second half of the cast revolves around a family reuniting due to the patriarch's brain tumor and life-threatening operation. Complicating matters is the fact that years ago, the father left his wife to move in and start a family with his son's girlfriend.

Up and Down's best features are the cast and how the script sets up the characters. They create people we want to know and follow through a film without the crutch of stars and recognizable faces. The man who's baby-mad wife spends their savings to adopt "a black baby" is particularly good in a stirring scene where he bodily protects the child at the cost of losing his soccer-thug best friend. On the other side an uncomfortable family reunion becomes even more uncomfortable when the bitter, jilted wife launches into a diatribe about how being the only white person in her apartment complex makes her feel like a refugee in her own country.

While it does use a not-too-subtle brush in it's Czech Republic where the soccer club is racist (not to say such characters don't exist), the educated folks are progressive, and the authorities choose the path of least resistance, the film does paint a portrait of a country struggling with newfound multi-culturalism. It does meander in spots and get a little silly in others as it tries to juggle all the story threads and characters. Up and Down doesn't reach the heights of director Jan Hrebejk's previous Divided We Fall but for the most part is well made and directed. The story even survives the moments when the "interconnection" kicks in. What it can't overcome is a "cute" coda that lets the audience off the hook. A disappointing end to an otherwise good film. - B-

In Her Shoes - I found this film about two sisters finding love and purpose in their lives to be far better than I thought it could be. It's enthusiastic cast (Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz, Shirley Maclaine) and an entertaining script that tugs the heartstrings while never becoming cloying, make for an emotional, endearing movie experience. - B