2005 Film List - Page 8

I agree with Edwin, the strip club sequence made me smirk and grimace. and I think it takes a certain amount of balls to actually show the nudity in a serious documentary rather than using 'tease only' B-roll.

And I seem to remember more nudity or at least sexual activity in Inside Deep Throat.

like Seth, I didn't follow Enron too closely, wasn't even aware really of Jeff Skilling because I'd only really heard headlines and maybe read one or two initial articles. Ken Lay = bad man in charge (but best buddy of Bush) was about the extent of my knowledge of the case. I didn't feel it was tabloid at all, relentless yes, but it seemed more See it Now than 60 minutes or 20/20, journalism rather than sensationalism.

Why do they call strip clubs gentleman's club? No person could reasonably, in my estimation, call themselves a gentleman if they attended one.

I also think that if Alex Gibney was going for something gratuitous that first shot dramatizing the suicide would have been more violent than necessary.


When you have the Sean Hannity's and Rush Limbaugh's of the world proclaiming they don't know what a lap dance is, Gibney telling us just like it is and what actually goes on at these strip clubs was all the more appropriate. After all, this is a serious and educational documentary aimed at adults so why try and hide or sugarcoat what actually goes in these places, in light of the actual expenses that was spent and approved by Enron for entertainment purposes. Let's face it, guys don't go to strip clubs to drink their overpriced $5 Budweisers.

Enron is the most comprehensive, most telling and most concise documentaries I’ve seen last year. While others would prefer their documentaries to be one sided (Fahrenheit 9/11), or have the filmmaker inject themselves (Grizzly Man) or their own views, or narrated by a well-known person such as Morgan Freeman (March Of The Penguins), I’m glad Enron did not have any of those ancillaries and just stuck with presenting the details of its subject matter culled from voluminous and extensive resources that are available in public domain and others that were obtained through investigative work.

This type of journalism sets it apart from the 60 Minutes or 20/20s of the world.

~Edwin

Enron reports on known events and is a well-known story in the public consciousness. There was little in the film not in newspaper articles, magazines, and news shows of the time when the scandal broke. Yes, it pulls everything together in easy-to-digest bits for people who aren't that informed about what happened, but I maintain it lacks insight and revelatory information. If these filmmakers didn't make this movie someone else would have and likely would have made a film of reasonable quality too.

And I've been in strip clubs and virtually every guy I know has too, and I've seen plenty of women in the crowds at the clubs. Strippers are part of popular culture seen in zillions of sitcoms, films, and other media. Cinemax has a programming strategy built around the concept. If you say "stripper" virtually every person has a mental image without having to be shown one.

It wasn't even a major point in the film, it was a 2 second aside just to show some boobies. An E! True Hollywood Stories moment.

Back to my 1st paragraph point, I want the voice of the artist, the filmmaker. I want a human story that illuminates some facet of the human condition I was either unaware of or knew about but am shown in a way I'd never considered.

Werner Herzog provides that in his films, Steve James provides that in his films, Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, Mad Hot Ballroom, Murderball are these sorts of films.

If you're going to make a journalistic/reporting type documentary film, than I expect more than just a laying out of the facts if I'm going to think of it as outstanding.

Like Waco: Rules of Engagement that calls into question what the media reported about the events and provides, rightly or wrongly, new ways of thinking about what happened. Hearts & Minds attacks the very foundations of how we think and feel about war.

Enron is certainly not a bad film, it just resides on a lower tier for me because it never challenges the viewer.

Dark Water (2005) - As a drama about a woman trying to hold her life together and take care of her daughter while going through a divorce, Dark Water is not bad. Jennifer Connelly is convincing as a mother who will do what it takes even if it means settling for a crappy apartment. I also liked John C. Reilly's brief comic turn as a sleezy apartment manager.

However, Dark Water is ostensibly a horror film, and here it fails horribly. From the "desaturated color = atmosphere" school of modern horror, it has no suspense, scares, dread, nothing. It falls completely flat. It is also the umpteenth "scary ghost kid" film to come out of Japan. Top it off with a ending of sheer "only in the movies" stupidity and you have a film that I can only hope doesn't linger long in my memory. - D

Given the appropriate amount of research one can invest, the same can be said for most documentaries that are released these days with information being readily available on the internet and other media. If that's one criteria, then many documentaries fail in this regard.


Just what exactly do you mean by challenging? Is Fahrenheit 9/11 more challenging than Enron because it challenges the viewer to either refute or believe the position it's author takes? If that's the criteria then F9/11 scores one in that area.

Does a documentary have to provoke to make it better?

The subject matter in Enron is, for the most part, a one-sided affair, for which it should not be penalized. The other films you mentioned contain the elements that provide for presenting the arguments for both sides of the issue. It doesn't go into the psyche of an individual as to why he/she did what they did unlike Grizzly Man. But in some ways, Enron does provide its own insights.


For me and for this film, the voice of the filmmaker was not necessary. Some documentaries become too clouded or one-sided when one injects their own opinion when none was called for. It is simply amazing how one's view can be readily affected by one's opinion. On the other hand, just give me the facts and I'll decide for myself.

The human element is certainly there amidst the complex web of characters and events leading to its downfall.

~Edwin

This is all well and good, but it's also problematic. Proselytizing is not necessarily the best tact for informative documentaries, and deliberate injection of voice, be it Sweet Misery, Super Size Me or Fahrenheit 9/11 can be fascinating and can be the reason to watch or keep watching or it can be fatally crippling.

The NYT just had a brilliant article on Aspartame, but the documentary on it, Sweet Misery is just pathetically made piece of preaching to the choir. The NYT article suceeds because of journalistic and clear presentation of the facts and acknowledges the complexity of the issue and presents both sides fairly, the documentary made up its mind long ago and it just becomes a journey of repetition and tedium, with a series of interesting facts) because of the individual voice of the documentarian.

I would not be surprised to be severely depressed by Michael Moore's take on the health care paradigm simply because I've done so much of my own reading on the subject that I'll probably just be frustrated at editorializing created by his voice. I'd much rather see a documentary on the health care paradigm in America by the team that put together Enron Smartest Guys in the Room. Moore will only succeed in sensationalize some issues and completely suspend constructive discussion and debate on most of them because of his personality and the tendancy his voice has to polarize people into spitting irrationality.

Adam

I don't have much time to debate this today without seeking a divorce...

Certainly there are good and bad documentaries of either type. I was stating my preference and what I feel makes for a better film, but obviously it isn't a method that works for every film or filmmaker. Not to give George Kaplan too much credit , but there is a beauty to the simplicity of his "do I want to watch this again" ratings system. And for a film like Enron, once I've seen it, there isn't really a reason to watch it again. I've digested what it has to offer. Whereas I could watch Hoop Dreams every day for a week and not exhaust my desire to see it again. It doesn't make Enron a bad film, but it is one reason why Hoop Dreams is a great one.

The Baxter - A "baxter" (presumably named for The Aparment's C.C. Baxter) is a nice guy that finishes last. In this romantic comedy, Elliot the nice guy accountant has an attractive fiance he is about to marry. Their relationship is threatened when an old boyfriend shows up who is everything Elliot isn't. At the same time he develops a friendship with his plainer and quirky temp secretary (played by Michelle Williams). Antics ensue as he begins to act out of character to try and save his impending marriage.

This film offers a few chuckles, a charming performance by Michele Williams and a funny appearance by Peter Dinklage as a wedding planner. However, the writing and other characters are as bland as the titular baxter. The film is never as clever as it thinks it is (Dinklage's character is named "Benson Hedges" ha ha) and fails the basic tests of both comedy and romance. - C+

Transporter 2 - The Transporter returns, this time as a driver for a wealthy family. When their child is kidnapped while in his care, it's up to him to track down the perpetrators and deliver some butt whuppin.

This sequel doesn't live up to the quality of the original. It has a solid car chase and a couple of good action sequences, but lacks the tightness, energy, and inventive stunts of the first film. Transporter 2 also deletes almost all character moments in favor of buddy comedy schtick. That said, I still enjoyed the film because I really like Jason Statham in this role. He's believable in the action scenes, can handle the dramatic moments, and he is comfortable with comedy. Statham is one of the very few action stars today who can project that Marvin-Bronson old school toughness, instead of merely acting tough. Give him some of The Rock and Vin Diesel's roles and I might actually want to watch those movies. - B-

Café Lumière (2003, 2005 US Theatrical Release) - Japanese studio Shochiku commissioned Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsia-Hsien to make a tribute to Yasujiro Ozu for the Ozu Centenary. He created this film which reflects the changes in Japanese society since Ozu was making his 1950's family dramas. Centering around a young woman involved in researching the career of a Taiwanese composer, we see her relationship with her family, a bookshop owner secretly in love with her, and how she relates to the world around her.

While it includes such Ozu signatures as laundry on the line and repeated shots of trains, it doesn't attempt to ape Ozu, and is stylistically of a piece with other Hou films. Often shown in discrete long shots, its characters communicate but never really connect with one another. An event like the daughter's pregnancy, which would be a family crisis in an Ozu film, is here taken with resignation and no fireworks. The film is thematically interesting, includes some beautiful images and expresses sadness for a more intimate family life lost in modern Japan. But the distance from the characters and lack of drama make for problematic viewing. Another problem is Hou's overuse of extended shots of landscape. Whereas Ozu used "pillow shot" interludes, Hou almost reverses this to the point that delivering lines and doing something beyond walking and looking becomes the interlude. For all of Ozu's formal aesthetics, he never failed to tell a compelling, humanistic story. - C+

Ma Mère (2005) - Taking the phrase A boy's best friend should be his mother. to the extreme, Ma Mère sets up a devout young man (The Dreamer's Louis Garrel) home for the summer from Catholic school at his parent's Riviera chateau. After the sudden death of the father, the wild child mother (Isabelle Huppert) takes her son on a journey of sexual exploration, including incest.

The film is generally a frightful bore. It offers some pretty images (like Bill McA's current sig pic), but is otherwise a slow-moving exercize in watching bored people trying to find meaning in their lives through mechanical sex and S&M. It isn't that their behavior is particularly repulsive, nobody's being raped here, it's that unlike Barbet Schroeder's Maitresse, the characters and story aren't interesting enough to merit watching what they do to one another. Garrel's main character is completely amoral and unsympathetic. The film spends a long time setting him up an almost monk-like character, a man of faith lost in a sea of immorality, and yet he drops all his pretensions as quickly as one of the women drops her clothes. Then he proceeds to shift back and forth between extremes two more times. None of the characters are consistently drawn, they act whichever way the script requires them to for a scene, then their personality may completely shift for the next one. Top it off with an ending of such utter mindlessness; a cheap shock tactic I can't imagine any human being actually performing, it left me dumbfounded. - D-

Elizabethtown (2005) - As I said somewhere else, I gave this film 35 minutes of my life and that was as generous as I could be. I've seen many a terrible film, but I just couldn't force myself to stick this one out. It just has nothing to offer, I was annoyed and bored within the first minute. Seemed like Crowe was trying to write like Wes Anderson and doing a really, really poor job of it. Plus Kirsen Dunst was just accepted for membership in the Renee Zellweger Club for Actresses who Annoy the Hell Out of Me. - BOMB/Incomplete

Me And You and Everyone We Know - 0
It's been about five weeks since I looked at this but I didn't know just what to say until I saw Brook's post on Elizabethtown, perfect summation of my feelings.


Junebug -

Stupid film about a pregnant woman who is about a 'six year old' in intelligence and personality and is married to a sulky fellow who is almost a sulky 'three-year-old,' and their estranged brother (except he's seems more of a brother to his sister-in-law than a brother to his brother and she and her husband act more like siblings than spouses) but Amy Adams is brilliant and luminous. She deserves an Academy Award nom just for having to say those lines and getting at least 60-70% of them to sound like a real person might say them in the given circumstances.


Oh and there's some bizarre plotline about a crazy old man who draws crazy pictures that is the reason the main couple is in the south and the motivation for the eclectic one-sheet art.

Actually you could make a fun drinking game out of taking a shot everytime a character decides to suddenly be in a different movie than they were in the last scene or if all the characters/actors are in different movies rather than actually working together in a scene. It would be fun because you'd be drunk in fifteen minutes and then not have to watch the rest of the film.

The editing on the hymn scenegets that to work as well. the amy adams and guy-who-is-not-her-husband-or-her-brother scene at the end that is Adams' last moment in the film is also pretty good.

However two good scenes and one excellent performance to not make this watchable.


Adam

Downfall -
Die Reich ist fallen...

Superb film that is perfectly titled. Because although much of the film is about Hitler (and what an astonishing, superb performance, one of the all time great performances), the film is truly about how the Downfall affects every individual we see in a different and truthful way. From the shrieking of the nurse to the resignation of the senior officer to the mad devotion of Goebbels and his Madea-like wife. A truly fascinating portrait of people whose world and existence is collapsing around them, and as the weight of the crimes is finally begun to be felt, some collapse and some choose to kill themselves seeing only a life of horror and imprisonment ahead of them. On some faces you can read an expectation of prison camps, afterall, 'we would do it, so why wouldn't our enemies.' And there are some people who seem truly innocent. The main secretary, for instance, who never fails to be a bit shocked at an irrational spouting about Jews from Hitler, she wrapped herself in ignorance to protect herself.

masterful marvelous film, as a 2004 film it would be in my top 5, as a 2005 film it'll go at number 11 on my list.

Adam

Après vous... - Daniel Auteuil stars as a head waiter who saves a man from committing suicide and then tries to turn the man's life around, in this ok romantic comedy. Of course conflict ensues when Auteuil meet's the man's ex, the break-up of their relationship triggered the suicide attempt, and they fall in love. But in typical romantic comedy fashion, Auteuil feels he can't steal the man's girl and tries to get them back together even as he pines for her.

Other than the seldom seen Fabrice Luchini, Auteuil is my favorite current French actor. I enjoy watching him even in an average film the same way I might enjoy Nicholson or Pacino, and Apres Vous is certainly average. It seems to want to be screwball, but is never crazy enough. There aren't many laughs to be had. The object of their affection doesn't offer much onscreen to hold up the romantic scenes either. The film just mostly goes through the motions on its way to the inevitable conclusion. It's a credit to Auteuil that I still have slightly positive feelings for the viewing experience. - C+

Forty Shades Of Blue - Winner of the 2005 Sundance Dramatic Prize, Forty Shades of Blue revolves around the unhappy Russian emigre wife of a philandering Memphis R&B producer (played by Rip Torn). When the producer's son comes for a visit, she begins to lean on him for emotional support, but he has his own problems to deal with.

There are a number of very positive reviews out there for this film, but I was less than impressed. The son is a brooding character of little interest. Torn gets some firework scenes where he gets to make boozy speeches but it's really a secondary role ultimately of little importance. The wife gets a few strong scenes as a person lost in the world she inhabits. This film just doesn't offer much to chew on dramatically; just lots of "meaningful" staring and crying on shoulders. The ending feels like something out of an entirely different film. - C

Last Days - Last Days is an imagination of the final two days of Curt Cobain's life. Played by Michael Penn, Cobain (named "Blake" in the film) shuffles around his crumbling estate, bathing in the river, making mac & cheese, passing out, speaking in mumbles, hanging up on his producer, and avoiding the coterie of hanger's-on living in his house before the inevitable end.

Last Days exhibits some interesting visuals, a through-the-window shot of Blake/Cobain repeating the same guitar chord as the camera slowly retreats and pulls focus is the highlight. Penn's performance is downright eerie at times, there's a scene where he seems trapped within his own skin. But the film, at only 77 minutes, is a tedious affair. Watching Penn mumble around and stumble from place to place might be a realistic depiction of the final throes of drug abuse and might have some resonance were I a devoted Cobain fan, but it left me, as has happened all too often lately, wishing to mentally speed up the agonizingly slow passage of the DVD time counter. Asia Argento, Harmony Korine, and even the great Ricky Jay make little impression as people we know nothing about and have no discernible purpose. (Jay is a detective of some sort, but they already know Blake/Cobain is at the house and he doesn't try to compel him to leave, so one wonders what exactly he was there to detect?). I liked where Van Sant was going with Elephant and Gerry; this feels like either a step backward or carrying this stylistic concept beyond the point of utility. - C-

Red Eye - A purely by-the-numbers affair with a silly, cliche-ridden story. Perhaps I am being overly harsh to what I suppose passes for average in Hollywood these days, it's the way the film flaunts the cliches: the picture on the table borrowed from Foreshadowing 101, the arrogant villain parcelling out his master plan, or the way that Rachel McAdams turns into Wonder Woman when the script calls for it; that irritated me into disliking the film. And would it be possible to outlaw the "shove it up your ass" kiss-off ending? It's the 21st century writers, can we get some new cliches? - D

Kim Ki Duk’s 3-Iron – Not as lyrical, meditative and satisfying as his last film, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… And Spring -

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of The Were-Rabbit -

At Bat: Me And You And Everyone We Know
On Deck: North Country

~Edwin

Wal Mart the High Cost of Low Price - for content,
- for quality
average rating -

I've known and worked with people who worked at Wal-Mart from the Sam Walton era through his death. I've gone to school with people who've worked at Wal-Mart in the modern era. I remember when Wal-Mart was a big deal and a Super-center an even bigger deal. I've been to one of the only Hyper-Mart's in existence in Kansas City (Mini Mall+grocery+WalMart+foodcourt). I've shopped at Wal-Mart a lot, and I've sat in the car with my grandpa because he refused to set foot in one, no matter if gramma needed to take two hours to shop for nine grandkids and three kids plus inlaws etc. I've been in and out of them of all kinds of size in all kinds of towns in all kinds of states. The atlas in my truck is a wal-mart atlas, and we often use those atlas as guides to find reliable places to stock up on road trips.

And I do not like Wal-Mart but I do tolerate them, Sam's Club is generally more tolerable (I got my TV from them, component inputs and collapsible raster from the remote into a 16x9 display for anamorphic dvds). they get almost no money from me now, but they still get a big chunk of my mom and dad's pay checks every month.

On the other hand, I don't like the mafia, and don't tolerate them because I won't patronize a casino.

eh go figure, Same tactics, Wal-mart is just more softball about it.

Anyway about the documentary, it's annoying how they edited it, especially the use of the flip/flop on single camera interviews when they want to cut the interview, either use two cameras so the lighting is consistent or don't hit the flip/flop button on the avid and do it properly with a dissolve or jump cut. It's also very brashly done with some statistics and the music cues are overbearing. It's not as aggrandizing as Michael Moore, but it's not as pleasing to watch either, he definitely has skill with documentary.

But the collection and recitation of facts is outstanding. On the otherhand they didn't give enough emphasis to the tactics Wal-Mart uses if they're defeated by a community, such as going outside the city limits or going to a neighboring community, which can often be more devastating to the original community. This story is just as often occuring as the litany of defeats Wal-Mart has suffered, but it's ignored for the triumphant music. But I bet at least half of those defeats were turned around and a Wal Mart was built within twenty miles anyway. This is why you don't find a WalMart at the intersection of the 60 and 63 US highways, but find supercenters in both Mountain Grove and Houstan, approximately 15 miles west and 20 north respectively, the town at the intersection rejected a wal-mart and it's just as devastated as if the one wal-mart had gone in at Cabool in the first place, except they get no benefit from the sales tax.

Wal-Mart in communities across the country is like having a vampire say "we're going to terrorize your town, but we'll only harvest a portion from your town, but suck dry all the neighboring areas until there's nothing left. If you don't like our terms we'll go to the neighboring towns and suck you dry instead. Now if you'll all just kindly line up every week, and come and let us suck only some of your blood you'll be much better off and so will we."

ka-ching.

But hey, I go to the school where the wal-mart heiress thought nothing of paying a mere $10,000 a year (25% of average tuition+ expenses, for her it was probably closer to 12%, considering how the spoiled children here at SC live) to her roomate to do all her classwork so she could 'enjoy' college life.

On the other hand, her entire family, gave a mere $6,000 to the Wal-Mart employee relief fund.

I've been told first hand stories of just how shittily Wal-Mart started treating their employees when Sam died. Hell I know the nostalgic stories of Walton encounters and the particular one about why they're supposed to count back cash to the exact penny (he visited the moberly, MO store and the electricity was off so the electric register wasn't working and the employee had no idea how much money he should get back when he checked out. He was furious).

I also know from first hand stories just how shittily wal-mart treats employees now.

I also know how terrified and ruthless every job I've worked at is of Overtime, I don't know if its because of Wal-Mart or unions, probably both having their own nasty long-term effects on the system. But yeah I've had hours routinely altered all the time at every job I work so I don't get overtime. I worked 6-10 hour shifts at my high school job (averaged 20-25 hours a week to pay for an SC summerschool I attended before jr. year, still graduated 16th, but then I didn't give a shit about grades, which were dependent on my like/dislike of the teacher (and I despised the grade-mongering valedictorian who had her loaded daddy pressure the principle into firing the AP biology teacher when she got a B on a paper--revenge is she also got denied to Princeton, despite the most padded resume imaginable, I had one of the best interviews of my life with them, but still didn't get in :p ) and anyway I had the highest ACT and SAT in the school by far). because at that job, although we closed at 10, it took two-four hours to clean and prep for the next day. I was told, "you'll still be paid, but regular wage cause we can't have any overtime or I'll lose my job and corporate will throw a fit."
Once I got home on a particularly nasty Friday night at about 3:30, stupid athletic buses arriving five minutes before closing after one of the busiest nights I've ever worked. I still got paid for every hour, but in Missouri if you don't work over forty hours they're not required to pay you overtime.
I also get paid for every hour at SC, I just have to alter my timesheet or sign off on timesheets I've watched supervisors alter that balance out to exactly 20 hours so I don't get a cent of overtime since poor impoverished SC might have to pay a full workstudy wage for an extra 0.2 hours if I came back five minutes early from lunch each eight hour day, like I usually do. Nope overtime is not allowed.

Then I guess that's not really all that different anywhere eh? At my brother's nice, salaried white collar 'nine-five' job it's just expected he does a ten hour day, same for his wife at the same company.

Damn this movie just set me off on a tear, didn't it?

I don't like WalMart and this film put together a nice collection of facts to make me like them even less. Vampire stockholder beholden bastards that they are. (warning straw-man!) All hail the holy bottom line and an extra .00001 profit percentage, 20000 people make another 100,000 from that ten-thousandth meanwhile, 100,000 american workers are SOL in terms of healthcare, so they stick the government for 1.5 billion that wal-mart won't pick up, gotta make those 20,000 super stock holders more rich after all, They REALLY REALLY REALLLY REALLY NEED IT! BAAAAAD! And then millions in other countries around the globe suffer an unimaginably shit life so those same 20,000 can add another 500,000 to their portfolio this year, gotta buy that yacht, after all it's what God wants cause we're rich because he said so or at least wants us that way!

Boy, Wal Mart pisses me off.

Adam

Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know held my attention for most of its running time. But in the end, the payoff just wasn't there.

~Edwin

You're kidding, right?

As to Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, while I've enjoyed many of Bob Greenwald's work in the past, this has got to be the least insightful, very manipulative, slapdash and haphazardly crafted documentary he's put on in the last 2 years.

David Faber's piece on CNBC that has been airing for over a year now is definitely more informative. And I'm indifferent about Wal-Mart.

~Edwin

Here's my problem with it. As it was used and presented in the film, it made the viewer (and filmmakers) no better than the exec they are complaining about.

"See this filth. Look at it. This is what he was looking at and wasting money on. I mean just keep looking at this stuff. Can you believe that he sat here for hours on end looking at this. Um, hey, can we get some ones over here please."

Hard to have the condemnation impact when you're effectively doing the same thing. If it's supposed to be "unseemly" then the film should take that same approach and treat the material as if its offensive to even show. Lingering on it, exploiting it even, removes any punch the point is supposed to have, except to shock us at what the filmmakers themselves are now focused on just as badly as the guy they are condeming.

I have to disagree with this. There was extensive use of not subtle metaphorical images used throughout the film, intended to obvious comment and inject a viewpoint/theory on the situation.

Note the constant visual comparison's to risk taking, going as far as using non relevent motocross footage that was clearly not the Enron execs as a representation of their "risk taking" attitude.

For all we know their motocross outings involved getting "crazy" by getting 2 feet in the air, and anyone that got hurt did so on rather tame falls just because any sort of motorbike riding (or bicycle for that matter) can get you hurt if you fall, even with safety equipment and while using caution.

I once saw a guy break several fingers and give himself a concussion riding an apparently new motorcycle at about 5 mph. He was about 100 yards down the road from me as I drove home from work (in Houston ironically in the context of this discussion) and just suddenly dropped out of sight behind the tall grass lining the curved road.

When I got up to him it looked like he hit the lane divider bumps and just lost it. But he was really out of it and pretty roughed up. He was wearing his helmet and proper attire too.


The point of that is that when they say they went and rode these bikes, and some people got hurt, it doesn't mean they were doing freaking supercross. And yet this is the footage the filmmakers use, plus at other points some base jumping footage is thrown in as well.


I understand that they were putting Enron in worse and worse positions and in that way perhaps taking a risk ("perhaps" because maybe it wasn't risk, but just wanton attempts to get away with it and a total disregard toward being caught).

But the film is creating a position very strongly that these guys were pushing the limits like a thrill/risk junky, rather than just being greedy theives that didn't care about anyone else.

It's not that I agree or disagree even, just that the film isn't exactly more subtle about its commentary than Herzog IMO. And at least when Herzog discusses the guy's behavior he then shows actual footage of him behaving that way, not some other guy interacting with bears (say at a circus) with the implication that this was the same type of behavior.


Again, so the motocross footage doesn't exist probably. You can't find footage of other regular guys doing these motocross things, and instead you show us guys doing 20 foot high table tops with one hand on the bike? That's dramatic sensentionalism to me, just like the excessive strip club stuff.

How about blurring out the nudity at least? The fact that he doesn't is what makes it gratuitous.


BTW Adam, I wasn't being 100% certain on the Inside Deep Throat thing, but I'd be willing to measure the times with the feeling that they might work out pretty close.

When you consider that IDT is about the most famous porn film ever and that Enron is about a business scandal, should the amount of nudity really be that close?

My point is that IDT treated the subject of sex and nudity with discretion and deemphasized it to a large degree. The entire film could have featured porn footage backdrops and it would have remained relevent. Even the explicit deep throat moment is cut extremely quickly, showing no more than to quickly say "hey, this is what kind of stuff we are talking about".

I recall it running short enough to be counted in frames more than seconds. Maybe I don't remember it correctly, and if so then obviously my point isn't valid.

But I would bet right now that there are no moments in IDT in which nudity/sex are shown over 4-5 seconds, while Enron certainly does linger on it that long and without an appropriate blurring effect.

Again, it bothers primarly because it reeks of sensationalism. Herzog saying "destroy this tape and let no one hear it" is on par with that, I admit. But I took that scene to also be footage of a guy that was going to use it until he heard it, and the impact of a person hearing it emphasized the horror of the moment that this guy had created for not just himself, but for his girlfriend.

It can come off as him grandstanding, but I sort of felt that he was just that legitimately shaken up and upon seeing how shaken he was he realized it made the best surrogate for any footage/recreation of the actual bear attack.

Maybe I'm wrong and he was just going Geraldo on us.

Cache (2005) - A couple's (Daniel Auteuil & Juliet Binoche in top form) lives are disrupted when they receive a videotape anonymously left on their doorstep. The tape shows their house and their comings and goings under surveillance. Who is watching and why?

Director Michael Haneke's film uses the structure of a mystery to bring his theme into clear focus. Cache, perhaps more aptly titled Hidden in English, is about looking without seeing. It is about the ways we insulate ourselves in personal cocoons of habit, never noticing or caring about the people we pass on the street. The news stories of suffering that are pushed out of our minds every 30 seconds as another in the overwhelming stream that we are innundated with daily is shown. How our daily tasks leave us too "busy" for even those closest to us.

Haneke augments this with breathtaking filmmaking. He can pull the strings of filmgoers like few directors today. From the earliest images of the film, he doesn't allow the audience to become comfortable with what they are seeing. You must observe and see what he is putting on the screen rather than passively looking at the images. Time and again he gives us information that calls into question and makes us re-evaluate what we have seen before. The film demands your attention and rewards the attentive viewer. With Cache he has created one of the best films of 2005 to stand tall alongside his string of outstanding work like Funny Games, The Piano Teacher, & Code Unknown. Michael Haneke continues to prove himself one of the most skillful and interesting filmmakers of this era. - A

Hey, I saw films too.

Lord of War
7 of 10
What worked for Gattica has failed Niccol in his other work. S1mone and Lord of War both feature the same cooled emotional state that made Gattica so powerful, but in these other cases it seems less appropriate to the material. Gattica was great because it went against expectations of Sci-Fi, it thought instead of falling back on action. It was the cool, antiseptic future that shocked and gripped the viewer.

Lord of War stuggles with this because its been done before, even Traffic or Syriana present these global political issues with the same pessimism, or at least indifference of the characters, but yet with a stronger underlying emotion.

Niccol wants us to feel Yuri's moral conflicts, but they just aren't presented very well. And in fact Lord of War falls back on action moments more than his previous work too, which doesn't exactly help (though its relevent to the material).

There are moments when this is a very good film, and Hawke clearly understands how to read Niccol's scenes, but Cage often struggles with it and that is probably the most damaging aspect. His character is disenfranchised (like Niccol's other characters) but Cage keeps trying to work in too much warmth, humor and connection to humanity and it comes off awkward most of the time.

Great script, and often visually interesting. But to me Niccol is a tough artist for others to grab on to and understand. His films will apparently remain very reliant upon the rest of the people involved to determine the final results.

He clearly does have a voice as a writer, and if you reflect on all of the scripts he has done (and the story for The Terminal) they are all about a single man feeling isolated from his surroundings despite being entrenched in them (Truman Show and Terminal being very literal version of this in fact).

I'm glad he keeps getting work, but I hope he is able to recapture the perfect balance as a director that he pulled off with Gattica.


Hide and Seek
3 of 10
Anytime you are watching a thriller and guess the plot well before the end, that's a bad sign. The acting is very good from Dakota and DeNiro, but otherwise this film is painfully template and bland.

Throw in some cliched red herrings and even a cliched coda, and you've seen it all before and done better for the most part. Put most of the blame squarely on Polson and Schlossberg's shoulders, or the producers who perhaps discouraged any innovation.

The essential story and the 2 leads presented them with the opportunity to make a great thriller. Instead they tried to play it safe or simply weren't up to the challenge of creating much of anything new.

Gee, I go to casinos because I fully endorse the mob and their activities. Doesn't everyone?

Planning on skipping Hide and Seek. Thanks for taking the bullet Seth.

Been too busy at work to write many of these at once. I'm falling behind again.


Rent (2005) - This was my introduction to the famous Broadway show and I can't say I was impressed. I just didn't respond to the music, outside of the first song I didn't like any of it and that makes it pretty difficult to enjoy a musical. The story was also extremely thin. One moment the characters are singing about not being able to pay the rent, but Taye Diggs' evil landlord character never requires them to. One scene they arrived to find their apartment locked and everything gone, but do they have to live on the streets? No because in the next scene everything's been magically restored and is a-ok. There's jazz about saving a tent city of bohemians from evil developers but it is dropped as quickly as it is brought up. What's left is the love stories, but since this is told through music I didn't enjoy, I couldn't appreciate these scenes either. The only thing I did like was the choreography and the little bit of dance the film had. - C

Cable, not even OAR which makes it only a semi-fair treatment, but frankly I don't think the problems were created by any framing losses. It kept getting pushed down my Netflix (where I throw in any and everything and then adjust what I'm interested in to the top).

You had me dreading a film myself, but I put it in anyway and somewhat enjoyed it, hella more than you did that's for sure.

You and Me and Everyone We Know
7 of 10
Yes, it can come off as pretentious art, but the fact is that film shouldn't have to be narrative to be good. I wasn't sure at first, but within 3-4 scenes I began to understand that the film I was watching was meant to be a performance art piece much like the main character in the film creates.

I had no idea going in that the star, Miranda July, who played that artist was in fact the writer/director. So it was obvious to me just from the presentation and then after the fact I said "yeah, that makes sense that she was the actual filmmaker".

I enjoyed I Heart Huckabees a ton, and I loved Punch Drunk-Love and Waking Life, all of which are heavily metaphorical films that would frustrate a viewer determined to force a narrative reading of them. I was comfortable letting go and listening to the ideas being thrown out and looked at, knowing fully that the character's actions were not going to make truly literal sense most of the time.

I would have scored it higher, but even as "metaphorical film" it lacks the power and cleverness of the other films I mentioned. It's good, but at times it does still get pretentious or sophmoric. Not too shabby though, but don't recommend it to anyone that just wants to see a good story told.



I don't think its in anyway like Wes Anderson. It's not quirky characters saying odd things. This is the total abandonment of real people in real situations, instead using the situations to represent some ideal or concept.

There is a scene where the 2 leads walk together on a sidewalk in which they discuss it being symbolic of the life of a relationship. The entire film is doing just what they are doing in that moment, and it can only be read properly that way IMO.


The Constant Gardner
8.5 of 10
At times the film soars, both in script and visually. Throughout the film the acting is top flight, no surprise out of Fiennes but nice to see out of Weisze. She's been showing promise but hasn't really had a role this good (impressive in Sunshine though).

What bothers me about the film is that it sometimes falls flat into action/thriller cliches to advance the plot, stuff right out of Mission Impossible, The Net or whatever. Need to find out some info hidden in a computer, call in the 12 year old whiz kid. Need to get out of the country secretly, contact the vaguely referenced shady underground contact to get your forged passport, as if all of us were a mere phone call away from this person.

I was waiting for Fiennes to go into the newsgroups and start posting biblical phrases till Deep Throat contacted him. And, yes, the film does have the forced along plot of "I'm a bad guy but I want to help now because otherwise the plot is stuck". This happens several times and each are pathetically excused no less with things like "I'm dying anyway" or "I'm bankrupt and ruined anyway". Good thing all this bad luck falls upon guys in the know and that their attitude to it is "Fuck it, I might as well help this guy if I'm ruined anyway."


But in the meantime there is a vivid, tragically beautiful tale of the real African continent and the problems it faces. These are not H'wood sets and cliched versions of life in Africa, and the struggle for power both good and bad is shown in all its nuances. Questions of morality, choosing to help on an individual level or the grand scale, and other issues are all addressed well within the film.

There is also an odd, but rather effective device of placing the viewer in Fiennes confused and jealous viewpoint for the first 45-50 minutes of the film, in which the fidelity of Weisz is called into question very obviously by the film, going out of its way to imply that she is unfaithful to him. This is consistant with his view, so the audience is really going along for the ride with him, trying to understand her.

And yet this is never really in doubt based on how she is presented as a person, so it doesn't take and for me felt awkward and out of context with the rest of the film. Their romance on the other hand is done to perfection, another reason why the infidelity plot doesn't really take shape well.


Very good, often beautiful film, but with a script that just can't help but try to wedge itself into the mainstream thriller genre way too much.

I think you were addressing some of the stuff I wrote about Me and You. But ratings wise, I think I gave it a B which is the equivalent of your 7. I laughed a good deal and enjoyed some of the side characters. I love when directors put so much of themselves in their films. I just found her personality and style off-putting, her writing voice not fully formed, and I took the ending to be dour and not fit the rest of the film's hopeful attitude.

Still have a few on my rental list I'm leary of - Flightplan, Skeleton Key, In Her Shoes, Domino, and to a lesser extent Walk the Line.

I think you rated Constant Gardner higher than I though we had some of the same criticisms.


But she has had a better one:

The Shape of Things

Niki Caro’s North Country could have been more powerful if not for the occasional courtroom melodrama and heavy-handed antics. Still it is worth a look if only for the issue it tackles and the performances of Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand.

(out of four)

~Edwin

I liked it much better than you did, Edwin:

North Country - I was surprised at how much I liked North Country. It uses a heavy hammer in portraying its subject of sexual harassment in the workplace, but I think it was warranted here. It certainly worked on me. I felt an outrage and reaction to some of the scenes of harassment and molestation in a way that I really haven't in most other films that contain similar subject matter. Part of this is due to Charlize Theron's fine performance (IMO more impressive than her Oscar winning Monster role) and the rest is Nikki Caro's filmmaking. I see her talent here where I didn't in her much lauded breakthrough, Whale Rider. She uses long shots of the foreboding industrial landscape that, if not quite Antonioni in Red Desert, still evoke an isolated, ominous environment that these women are working in. She also does very well in the family scenes, particularly those between Theron and her son. Caro's camera allows the scenes to develop and fully play out. People are allowed to pause between words or consider events in silence without being immediately cut off by jumpy editing.

The film does falter in the courtroom drama scenes, which come off as cliche and lazy. Especially in the 5 millionith time in movie/TV history we see a lawyer cause a witness to break down and reveal the film's key moment simply by yelling at them and insulting them. North Country may be saddled with the negative connotations of being an "important film" or a "social problem film", but that doesn't mean that it is a mediocre film. - B+

Schultze Gets the Blues - A retired and bored German miner gets a yen for Cajun culture when he hears zydeco music on the radio. He eventually will come to America for 1st hand experience in this exceedingly odd German film. I could never get a read on the Schultze character, who is so impassive I found it hard to tell what he was thinking from scene to scene. When he goes to America one might think he would want to listen and absorb as much music as he could, but he flees from every situation where music is being played after listening to one song. Instead, he mostly putters around the swamp in a little boat. None of the reviews I read had these problems with the film and most were positive. I found the film simply baffling. - C

Received Walk the Line, Skeleton Key, and Three Extremes today.

Heh, you should like Three Extremes - that second story is truly sick.

FWIW, In Her Shoes was a lot better than I expected.

"This place is gettin' better all the time!"

Jon Favreau's Zathura - A solid family adventure-drama from start to finish along with a big heart.

(out of four)

~Edwin

Updated with Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain

~Edwin

Updated with James Mangold's Walk The Line

~Edwin

I saw movies too:

The Constant Gardener -
I have no great love of drug companies myself, though great respect for the advances of emergency medicine and sanitation since William Harvey proved blood circulates. Too often profits interfere with health (statins, anyone?).

Anyway. I love how this film was made, the editing style and rhythms, the different tones of cinematography for different times and how Ralph Fiennes anchors the film throughout (Rachel Weisz is brilliant back upsupporting even though the film is about her, she's almost a macguffin). I think about the only thing I kinda don't like about the film, is the sudden flight to exactly the right person to person to person to person. The chain is so clear and helpful that while fascinating it kind of lacks drama in the detective work. A bit of thin man suspense here and there might help. It just seems terribly easy for these conversations and discoveries to take place. "tell me." I don't want to "tell me anyway" well... okay.

Excellent film though.

by the way a big study in India just had a 100% cure rate for tuberculosis with 10,000 IU of vitamin D daily. Miraculous, sanitariums a hundred years ago (for those lucky enough to afford them) did the same thing by baking their patients in the sun (body makes vitamin D) and switching to a rustic country diet (compared to the more unhealthy city water and sanitation and food conditions).

-----------
North Country -

Excellent film, but it helps to know beforehand that what happens in the end of the film pretty much is exactly what happened in real life Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

I felt this was beautifully made, especially the direction by Niki Caro, who is now two for two for her lead actresses getting Oscar noms. Hte performance by the boy was also quite astonishing and the relationship between him and his mother and especially how that is resolved is the painful honest and powerful beating heart that made this movie both hard to watch and great. Caro really has a fantastic grasp for family relationships, brilliant, brilliant work. AndArizona looked very good standing in for northern USA .

Mirrormask -
bizarre and beautiful and bending wonderful filmwith a greatlead performance, goes a bit over the top at the very end showdown but overall jsut an enormous amount of trippy fantasy fun. Very well made and I feel I should consider it higher but it feels somewhat incomplete or a bit dodgy in some intangible way--and that's part of the charm of the film.

Corpse Bride - downgrade to

definitely a better film wiht an excited audience and perfect presentation, both films from Burton this year don't stand up to repeat viewings Not nearly as magical as I remembered and the awkwardness of the plotting andsongwriting is made terribly clear by the DVD format.

Adam

The World - Vibrant Chinese film about the lives and loves of a group of young adults working in and around a Beijing amusement park comprised of replicas of world land marks (the Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, the Parthenon, NYC skyline, etc). The setting and camera direction make for many visually arresting scenes. The World is nothing if not a feast for the eyes. As with a number of multi-character dramas, some characters are more intersting than others, such as when the main actress befriends a Russian worker despite the language barrier.

The World's subtext shines brighter than the character-based story. It shows us a modern, urban China whose people dress and talk just like their counterparts in other nations, right down to the ubiquitous cell phone. However, the director certainly doesn't hold that this is a good thing, and is resigned to the loss of Chinese traditions and family bonds amidst the economic and technological upheaval. Without their cell phones, these people might be completely isolated from one another, and certainly from their families, though on the other hand, the cell phone turns a conversation into brisk phrases and grunts of agreement. The setting plays into this too, showing China eager to grasp and copy the achievements of other places in whatever ways will fuel it's economic engine. Even the amusement park's slogan "See The World in a day" rings hollow for young people living under a government that restricts their ability to travel outside China and that seeks to control and censor information from the outside world. Beautiful to look at and often thought-provoking, The World provides a different view of China than the rural poverty or historical dramas that are usually imported here. - B+

The Interpreter (2005) - A by-the-numbers thriller that even stars like Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn can't bring much life to. I found the security procedural elements well-executed and interesting. Catherine Keener provides her usual rock-solid support in a small role. Beyond that the film doesn't have much to offer, though at least the chosen ending is miles better than the "alternate ending" provided on the DVD. - C+

The Weather Man - Nicholas Cage stars in this very strong character study about a man trying to pull the fractured elements of his life together and wondering where it all went wrong. I was impressed by the intelligent writing that often hit uncomfortably close to home in defining the character's outlook on life. Cage once again proves that he's very good at quirky comedy as he clumsily tries to repair his relationships with his kids. Michael Caine is terrific as Cage's father, a scene where they discuss the term "cameltoe" is comedy gold, and he grounds the film with a responsible, philosophic outlook. Director Gore Verbinski is smart enough to not get in the way of the matierial and provide the right level of style necessary to convey the story and themes. - B+

Three Extremes - Asian horror compilation composed of 40 minute-ish segments from well known Japanese director Takashi Miike, Korean director Park Chan-Wook, and the unfortunately lesser known Hong Kong director Fruit Chan.

Fruit Chan leads off with "Dumplings", about an aging TV star who seeks out a cook known for the restorative powers of her dumplings whose "fountain of youth" is powered by a special ingredient. Tightly directed and well-shot, the ickily entertaining story tails off into a too-abrupt ending. - B

Kidnapping and torture seems to have replaced pale scary kids as the horror movie subject du jour. Park Chan-Wook turns in his latest entry in this subgenre with "Cut" in which a film director and his wife are imprisoned in their own home by a disgruntled extra. Chan-Wook brings his unique imagination and some wry twists to the story as it winds toward its bloody conclusion. The best of the 3 tales. - B+

The tireless Takashi Miike turns in the 3rd installment "Box", in which a girl, jealous for the attentions of their father, accidentally kills her sister. Set in a strangely stylized circus, Miike's story is a visual treat but like several of his other films, the story lacks enough coherency to truly satisfy. - B

OVERALL GRADE - B

Walk the Line - Cash biopic that follows the usual movie template. Enlivened by the performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Resse Witherspoon, like last year's "Ray", it is a better film when the music's playing then when it's detailing their addiction-fueled antics. Witherspoon is especially good in the music sequences, with her exuberant, toe-tappin' portrayal of June Carter. Walk the Line's addition of a cold, cruel father elevates the dramatic story line. But would have been better had it given a wider context to Cash's career during this time. I also would have liked to have seen some of the recording studio-type material that "Ray" had. - B

The Skeleton Key - Another going-through-the-motions horror flick finds Kate Hudson stuck on the bayou nursing an invalid (John Hurt) while his wife (Gena Rowlands) lurks suspiciously in the background amidst tales of ghosts and hoodoo. Hudson lacks the gravitas to make the material anything but what it is, a pedestrian script that was given stars and a healthy budget. The movie can't even get any mileage out of the inherently creepy qualities of the setting and voodoo mythos. The only redeeming factor was the ending. I liked it but I'm not sure it was worth slogging through the previous 100 minutes to get to it. - C+

Ha!

At the "Call this number if you ever feel too old to drive" point, I paused and wondered if I would be able to make it to the end.

At the "Email wouldn't even exist if it weren't for AIDS" point, I was like "fuck it, I am done". This was at the 51 minute mark, and splicing Citizen Kane into the remaining 40 minutes (probably 30 without credits) was not gonna improve my feelings on this one.

Do away with conventional narrative and be weird if you wish, but then give me some interesting visuals, characters, mood, something. Weird for the sake of weird doesn't fly over here.

for the 60 second walk to Tyrone street scene.

--
H