At this point if you’ve seen one (recent/semi-recent) Roy Andersson film you’ve seen them all, and About Endlessness is no exception. The latest quirky dark comedy from the Swedish veteran is made up of multiple isolated sketches tackling themes ranging from the loss of faith in religion to the overall pointlessness of life. Like any Andersson movie, each scenario is done in one single shot with the actors delivering their lines in his signature deadpan/Bressonian style. Actually, this movie, more than any other thing Roy Andersson has done, comes off like the kind of comedy Robert Bresson would have done if he had ever made a comedy or exuded any type of a sense of humor. Not only is the acting style right out of L’Argent or The Devil Probably, but the common theme of religion (The Trial Of Joan Of Arc), loss of faith (Diary Of A Country Priest), and just overall cruelty to human beings (Mouchette) makes About Endlessness an accidental homage to the cinema of Bresson.
I’ve got serious mixed feelings about this one because on one hand, I laughed out loud on multiple occasions. But at the same time this movie almost put me to sleep and I found myself checking my watch to see what time it was a couple of times. When a movie clocks in at barely 75 minutes (PERFECT runtime for a movie if you ask me), but feels like a hard three hours, there’s a bit of a problem. But there are so many aspects of this movie that prove Roy Andersson is a masterful filmmaker (or at least a master of his particular style/lane of filmmaking). His and his actor’s comedic timing is perfect and the color palette in About Endlessness is the opposite of the usual drab grays & browns that Andersson has been using recently (Songs From The Second Floor, A Pigeon Sat On A Branch..., etc).
Song From The Second Floor
You, The Living
A Pigeon Sat On A Branch...
This movie ultimately starts to feel long because after 30-45 minutes it becomes redundant. It's difficult to tell one sketch from the other after a while. Like I said earlier - if you’ve seen one (recent/semi-recent) Roy Andersson movie then you’ve seen them all. Now...if you’re a fan of his style then that’s good news. I get it. When it comes to filmmakers I love & adore I like when they stay in their lane and do the same thing over & over. So while this review may sound like a somewhat harsh criticism to some, others may look at it as a positive.
I don’t want to come down on Andersson too hard because without him I feel like there wouldn’t be a lane for folks like Yorgos Lanthimos or even Rick Alverson (mainly The Mountain).
At the end of the day, you’ll enjoy this if you’re a Roy Andersson fan. If you’re not a fan of his movies you were probably already going to avoid this. If you have the patience and are a novice to his work, I’m honestly not opposed to this being an intro to his filmography (it felt like a long 75 minutes to me but perhaps this movie will breeze by for others).
I don't wanna get carried away and make a crazy statement like: "There was an EXPLOSION of black cinema in 2011" (something I'm sure a lot of people would be quick to say) but at the same time, there was enough to make a small dent, which is better than nothing (Pariah, Black Power Mixtape & Dark Girls). Most of these films were centered around a demographic that often gets overlooked and is constantly misunderstood & misrepresented on the big screen: Black Women. I imagine some of you may be thinking; "But Marcus, what about The Help?." In my opinion, even though I love Viola Davis, the whole vibe of The Help comes off like another Drivin' Miss Daisy to me (just my opinion). It's a confusing mixture of humor, drama & oversimplified racism. From the poster, to the trailer, which came off somewhat "upbeat", it gives off this vibe as if to say: "Oh Boy that segregation sure was a doozy! Ah boy, being black in the 1950's sure was wacky, wasn't it?" I'm honestly amazed (and VERY confused) at the amount of positive reviews and acclaim The Help has been getting. But at the same time I get it. It makes (some) white people feel good about themselves and (most) black people will blindly support anything "black" without putting too much thought in to it (there, I said it). As I watched Octavia Spencer win an academy award the other night it almost made me cringe as everyone in attendance gave her a standing ovation.
Precious was another recently praised film that also confused me. It brought up all these emotions and feelings that honestly make me feel like I'm alone in this world sometimes. Upon receiving an article from my father about how Hollywood likes dysfunctional black characters (which is kind of true), stemming from Mo'nique's academy award win for best supporting actress in 2010, I had this to say (you may wanna read this article below before going any further):
And now read how my simple email response to my father slowly turned in to an essay/rant hybrid...
the person who wrote this article doesn't completely know what they're talking about.
for example:
"Okay, so we all know that Mo'Nique deserved the best supporting actress Oscar she won this past Sunday. Her performance in "Precious" was brilliant, and there’s no way I’m going to diss my homegirl"
NO! her performance wasn't "brilliant". shes not even a good actor. its just a novelty. a comedic personality plays a serious role for the first time, and people automatically jump all over it. Actually, id like someone to point out the difference between Mo'nique's character in precious and the actress who played Ice Cube's mother in Boyz N' The Hood. Where's her academy award?? Plus, the span between those two characters is almost 20 years. that's proof right there that black film isn't really moving forward. in fact its come full circle. 20 years later, and the same angry, single, bad black mother character is still being portrayed (and praised).
another example that the person writing this article doesn't know what they're talking about:
"Of the six black Oscar winners since 2002, only Morgan Freeman and Jamie Foxx played African-Americans who were even close to normal."
no way. he's talking about morgan freeman's oscar win for "million dollar baby". its like black people don't even realize that in a pivotal scene in million dollar baby, morgan freeman's character beat up a black person to defend a white person...the same white person who called him a "nigger" at the beginning of the movie. But he's morgan freeman, so no one (especially black people) can criticize him, because hes the wise sounding, smooth talking, old black guy. but i see through that. I'm not fooled. how many role's has morgan freeman played the helpful black sidekick to the white lead? or how many times has he played the wise, mysterious black person who always helps the lead white character (sometimes sacrificing his own life)? plenty.
Black people aren't critical enough if you ask me. we accept things way too easily. its like black people are saying; "did a black person just win some shiny trophy?? well, I'm gonna automatically support that person and the movie, and not even take the time to break down what the movie is about, or break down the performance of the character." and the few times a black person does criticize negative black roles, the black community pulls that "why do black people always have to tear down other black people?" crap. i don't wanna hear that shit. and white people don't want to say anything about negative black roles, because their scared someone is gonna pull the race card.
to say Hollywood likes dysfunctional black characters is kinda vague, because how many white actors have been nominated or won oscars and other various awards for playing dysfunctional characters? plenty. There's bigger issues concerning black people in film today
-Marcus
Now here we are two years later and not much has changed. A lot of the things I said in that email response above still apply today. I'm sorry (actually I'm not sorry) but characters like Tyler Perry's "Madea" (which looks like it wont be going away any time soon) and Mo'Nique's performance in 'Precious' have a negative effect on the image of black women. And I'm not denying that Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis didn't give great performances in The Help, but at the same time, I'm done with movies like that. Is it possible to make a film showing black women not just in a positive light (because that's a little vague vague), but show how beautiful, attractive, complex and talented they are? Thanks to recent films like Pariah, Dark Girls (which has yet to be released) and The Black Power Mixtape (which is starting to develop quite a lil' cult following), things are lookin' up!
PARIAH
At the very end of Pariah, a coming of age tale about a New York teen coming to grips with being a lesbian, I couldn't help but worry that newcomer; Adepero Oduye (who gave an AMAZING performance in her first starring role) might turn in to another Shareeka Epps - another young black actress who gave an equally commanding & original performance in Half Nelson, but has yet to be seen in much since (which was over 5 years ago). Sure, there may be factors as to why we haven't seen her in many other films (maybe she just didn't want to act that much or maybe she wanted to focus on school give her age). But I tend to lean towards whats probably the real reason - the American movie industry is pretty messed. Generally speaking, American filmmakers don't seem to know how to portray black female characters that don't look a certain way. I mean really, stop and ask yourself why Nona Gaye (Ali), Naomie Harris (Miami Vice), China Shavers (Beginners) and even Nia Long (who's clearly found the fountain of youth) don't turn up in more films in starring roles.Look at European actresses who have made the transition in to mainstream/American studio films like Juliette Binoche, Marian Cotillard and Audrey Tatou. How come beautiful black actresses based out of France like Aissa Maiga (Bamako, Russian Dolls) or Mati Diop (35 Shots Of Rum) haven't made the same transisiton? Surely acting ability or beauty isn't the question. I know Kerry Washington has been holding it down, but she cant do it all by herself. What makes Kirsten Dunst, Natalie Portman, Cameron Diaz or Emma Stone more attractive or more appealing than the aforementioned black actresses? I mean, I know we all know the real reason, but I'm just sayin'...
At the moment things are looking up for Adepero Oduye. At the golden globes Meryl Streep gave her a shout out in her acceptance speech and then overnight she got signed to a talent agency. Lets see how the film industry can use her.
In Pariah we follow "Alike"; a Brooklyn teen who isn't exactly in the closet, but isn't exactly openly gay either. She almost leads a double life. When she's home or around her parents (a religious mother who senses that Alike is gay, and tries to "fix" her; and a father, also in denial about his daughter's sexual orientation, although slightly more caring) she tries to dress and act more feminine. When she's not at home or around her parents she dresses more "boyish", hangs out with one of her only (also gay) friends and frequents a popular gay club. As the film progresses things kinda start to spiral out of control for Alike and she learns things about herself and the people around her which forces her to grow up and mature faster than others her age. Pariah walks the same path as films like Mouchette, Match Factory Girl & Welcome To The Dollhouse (Adepero Oduye's performance was also reminiscent of Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple).
THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE
Its obvious that the Swedish documentary The Black Power Mixtape wasn't JUST about Angela Davis, but at the same time she was (literally) the poster child for the film. Next to the section that focused on Stokely Carmichael, the parts on Angela Davis are probably the most memorable. I've always been intrigued by Davis and this documentary just heightened that intrigue. From her signature afro right down to the way she carries herself in interviews, she's one of a kind. It makes me wonder why more films don't focus on her. Its a sad state of affairs when there's more of a demand for a Sarah Palin biopic then there is for one on Angela Davis (or even someone like Assata Shakur for that matter). The Black Power Mixtape is a documentary made out of hours of edited footage taken by Swedish filmmakers in the 1960's & 1970's who went to Oakland and Harlem to document the Black Power movement for the Swedish news. The doc features great archival footage of speeches and interviews from many prominent black civil rights figures and revolutionaries (Davis, Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, Eldridge Cleaver, etc) with up to date interviews and voice-over commentary from artists like Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli & Questlove. This documentary has structure but its also chaotic and unstructured at the same time (if that makes any sense) which is what I love about it so much.
I think the most unique thing about the making of this film is that even though its captured through the eyes of white Europeans, it still doesn't objectify or misrepresent black people in any way. But at the same time I shouldn't be all that surprised given that so many modern European directors like; Michael Haneke (Code Unknown & Cache), Nicolas Provost (The Invader) and Claire Denis (No Fear, No Die & 35 Shots Of Rum) seem to be the main directors making most of the progressive films concerning black people and race issues today.
DARK GIRLS
Bill Duke is similar to Tom Noonan. As an actor he's mostly known for stuff like Predator & Commando (similar to how as an actor Noonan is mostly know for Monster Squad & The Last Action Hero) but as a director Duke focuses on more personal stories (like Tom Noonan's directorial debut; What Happened Was..., which might be one of the most personal & real stories to ever be put on the big screen in the last 25 years). Duke's latest documentary; Dark Girls addresses real issues concerning black women and could have easily been twice as long. When I caught this at Toronto it was nice to see a packed theater. When you're like me and go to the regular movie theaters I go too (Anthology Film Archives, IFC center, Film Forum, etc), you're use to being one of the only black people there (even at screenings of films that speak directly to black people).
Dark Girls is a complex film about the racism, struggles & pressure black women face all over the world. Duke focuses on internal racism inside of the black community (black men not being attracted to black women because their too dark, black women being encouraged by their family to be with someone lighter or white so they don't have dark kids, etc), and he interviews everyone from actresses like Viola Davis to "every day" women. Certain aspects of the documentary were summarized and wrapped up a little too nicely for my taste, but at the end of the day this documentary dealt with issues that other films haven't so its a success in my book.
If you're a fan of directors like Chantal Ackerman, Miguel Gomes or Carlos Reygadas, this is the perfect film for you. A simple yet hauntingly beautiful film about the relationship between humans and nature as well as a study on loneliness and how it isn't necessarily always a bad thing. Imagine all of the slow parts from films like 'The Spirit Of The Beehive', early Jim Jarmusch ('Stranger Than Paradise' and 'Permanent Vacation') and ALL of Richard Linklater's; 'Its Impossible To Learn To Plow By Reading Books' stretched out in to one feature length movie.
In the film our lead (nameless) female character lives by herself in a cabin in the woods. She seems to be happy with her day to day schedule which involves a brief naked swim in the lake behind her house, a hike in the woods and what appears to be an occasional journal entry. Directors; C.W. Winter & Anders Endstrom don't shy away from focusing on banalities and other boring things that most filmmakers (and viewers) would consider pointless (we see barely edited scenes of our main character doing things like grocery shopping, gutting fish, sitting around her living doing nothing, etc). If you were to walk in to 'The Anchorage' in the middle, you'd think you were watching a documentary about a lonely woman living by herself in the woods. Just like other films in the same vein as 'The Anchorage' like; 'Les Rendezvous D' Anna', 'Japon', or 'Foreign Land' (which can be found on the bonus disc of the 'Revanche' criterion DVD), it takes balls to make this kind of a film. Through our main character's voice over narration (which is really the only element of the film that makes it "fiction") we learn that she's a widow. Is this the reason why she lives out in the woods by herself? Does she feel detached from people now that her better half is dead? It's never fully spelled out.
This film's only climactic moment happens early on when our leading lady is visited by what appears to be her son and his girlfriend. Sometimes you never know what to expect from films like 'The Anchorage'. I thought the introduction of two more characters would totally steer the film off in to another direction and disrupt the flow. I thought maybe there would be a murder or someone would go missing in the woods, but instead our visitors fall in to the same pattern as our main character and don't really do much outside of play ping pong and sit around the living room. Eventually her two guests leave, and she goes back to her daily routine.
What 'The Anchorage' lacks in dialogue, it makes up for with beautiful shots of nature that surrounds our main character. I myself am not an outdoorsmen, but after I saw this it made me want to for a hike...
still from Linklater's 'It Impossible To Learn To Plow...'
The Anchorage shares the strongest spiritual connection with Richard Linklater's; 'Its Impossible To Learn To Plow By Reading Books', Both; 'The Anchorge' and 'Its Impossible To Learn...' focus on characters who seem to not only be content with loneliness but have a connection with nature. Much like what CW Winters & Anders Endstrom show in 'The Anchorage', we also see with our nameless main character in 'Its Impossible To Learn...' (played by Richard Linklater himself). In the film we see him interact with very few people (and when we do, the dialogue is intentionally unclear and not important) and do other typically boring things like grocery shop, write in his diary, go on hikes and other random things that would cause someone with A.D.D. to lose their mind. There's an outside chance that a rarely seen 16mm American film like this would make its way to Sweden to influence the filmmakers of 'The Anchorage', but there's too many similarities between the two works to toss up to coincidence.
'The Anchorage' is just one of many great films from two of many great filmmakers that I've discovered thanks to Anthology Film Archives in the last two years. It falls right in line with other Anthology films like 'I Travel Because I have To, I Come Back Because I Love You', 'The Portuguese Nun' and 'Our Beloved Month Of Auguest' (all films that focus more on the characters, surroundings and the unspoken elements instead of the plot). Its very strange that I decided to share my views on this film with you all because no matter how great (or how boring) I may have made this film out to be, there's a strong chance that you may not get to see it outside of some special screening at your local art house theater.
Every year I try to see as many movies as possible in order to make the most concise end of the year list. I hit up festivals, preview screenings and other special events so I don't miss anything. When I was in D.C. this past spring to judge the DMC DJ Battle, I managed to make time to see 'Bill Cunningham New York'. On 2 recent trips to Paris in the last few months I saw 'The Tree Of Life' and Roman Polanski's 'Carnage' (a film you'll be reading about in a few days on here) weeks before being released in the U.S. I mean what's the point of making a "Best Of The Year" list when you haven't really seen anything, right? As some of you my know from reading the reviews of 'Shame' and 'The Ides Of March' on the flud site, this year in addition to my regular attendance at the New York Film Festival (to see 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia' & Von Trier's 'Melancholia'), I went to the Toronto Film Fest where I saw over 40 movies in 8 days. This top 10 list below is made up of mostly stuff that I saw in Toronto ('Shame', 'God Bless America', 'Faust', etc). 2011 turned out to be just what I hoped for and more (with the exception of David Cronenberg's disappointing 'Dangerous Method' and Lynne Ramsay's 'We Need To Talk About Kevin'). It was full of surprises like Bobcat Goldthwait's hilarious road movie killing spree/criticism on America in the form of 'God Bless America' and Woody Allen's romantic comedy; 'Midnight In Paris' (this was a surprise for me because I'm not the biggest fan either Allen or Owen Wilson). In fact, the majority of the films on this list below were pleasant surprises with the exception of Nicolas Refn's homage to classic car movies and vintage Michael Mann-style ('Drive'). Michael Fassbender has officially confirmed his spot as one of the top actors with his performance in 'Shame' and we got a nice homage to classic cinema in the form of the Guy Maddin/Mel Brooks influenced 'The Artist'.
Some of these films like the Greek dark comedy; 'Alps', 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia' and the Venice Film Festival best picture winner; 'Faust' probably won't be released until early 2012, so be on the lookout for those.
*UPDATE 02/28/11- at the beginning of January I finally got around to seeing 'A Separation', which is easily one of the best films of 2011.
BEST OF 2010 NOT RELEASED UNTIL 2011:
Not everything reaches the U.S. in a timely fashion. From Errol Morris' amazing documentary about Mormons, kidnapping & cloned dogs ('Tabloid') and Takeshi Miike's homage to classic samurai films ('13 Assassins') to Xavier Dolan's surprisingly great film about a love triangle between three French Canadian hipsters ('Heartbeats'), there's a lot of great stuff that may have fallen under the radar between late 2010 and early 2011. Below is a list of the 10 best films from last year that didn't reach U.S. theaters until this year...
From Bertrand Bonello's beautiful period piece on prostitution ('House Of Tolerance'), or the problematic yet rewarding films ('Tree Of Life' & 'Melancholia') to the strictly entertaining ('Bridesmaids', 'Source Code' & 'The Ides Of March'), there were plenty of other great movies this year than just what's listed above. It wouldn't feel right wrapping up 2011 with just 10 movies (sorry but I saw WAY too much this year to not at least mention theses). So here's 10 more movies from 2011 worth mentioning...
2011 was also great because not only were there so many great movies, but great acting to go along with them. And outside of the disappointing 'Rampart' (starring Woody Harrelson as a crooked cop in one of his best performances to date) there weren't too many performances that carried an entire movie (if you notice, most of the entries on the list below comes from films that are in my Top 10). We saw Albert Brooks step outside of his comfort zone and play a mean, throat stabbing crime boss in 'Drive'. And speaking of comfort zones, how about Vincent Gallo playing an unnamed terrorist trying to survive in the wilderness in the Rambo-esque 'Essential Killing'? And if Michael Fassbinder doesn't at least get nominated for an academy award for best actor this year then somethings wrong.
Vincent Gallo (seriously) - Essential Killing
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Albert Brooks - Drive
Woody Harrelson - Rampart
Charlotte Gainsbourg & Kirsten Dunst - Melancholia
Hunter Mckracken - The Tree Of Life
Christopher Plummer - The Beginners
Brad Pitt - Moneyball & The Tree Of Life
Joel Murray - God Bless America
Aggeliki Papouli - Alps
Forest Whitaker - Mary** Goegre Clooney - The Descendants
Jean Dujardin & Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Sophie Nelisse & Emelien Naron - Monsieur Lahzar
**movie was made in 2005 but not released theatrically until 2011
Well...2012 is almost here and we're about to begin PINNLAND EMPIRE'S 3rd year. Because a nice portion of my followers are from the myspace days, I suppressed my urge to constantly write about David Lynch (with the exception of "movies for Halloween part 4" and the david lynch tv entry) in an effort to not repeat myself. But in 2012 we're gonna get in to his stuff a little more as well as Apichatpong Weersakul (somehow I manage to go from hating his work to loving it in a matter of months).
I think I've squeezed all I can outta Claire Denis & Michael Mann, so we're gonna take a break from them and focus on new and/or different filmmakers in 2012 (but I do have a review of 'Heat' set for January. But after that I'm done for a while). But don't worry, I'll still find an excuse/reason to write about something Alice Houri-related as I plan to look at Bertrand Bonello's Tarkovsky/Bresson influenced film; 'Tiresia' as well as another short film she recently appeared in that she gave me a copy of back in May. And speaking of shorts, we're gonna explore a lot more shorts from people like Matthew Barney to 'Donoma' director Djinn Carrenard.
There's a few more films from Toronto I'd like to get in to ('Alps' and 'Faust') as well as 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia', which I saw at this years New York Film Festival.
Naturally, there will be more reviews on the Flud site as well as The Pink Smoke, and I've also slowly been working on an interesting Robert Deniro blog entry. I also didn't really get in to the other films I saw in the Abel Ferrara retrospective at Anthology Film Archives this past year like; 'Mary' (one of Forest Whitaker's finest and most unseen performances), 'Chelsea On The Rocks' and the 'Gommorah' influenced 'Napoli, Napoli, Napoli'. And lets not forget that in 2012 we have new films from Michael Haneke, Terrance Malick, Jim Jarmusch and Steven Soderbergh.
Thanks for following and/or reading and I hope you continue to enjoy the content on the blog.
Hopefully you guys have been checking out my reviews for the flud watches website in addition to this blog. The content from the old flud website is gone, but thankfully i saved everything. Here's the 6th installment of older reviews that aren't up anymore. And make sure to check out the flud site if you haven't already: http://www.fludwatches.com/, featuring even more movies reviews from myself.
For those of you not familiar with Henri-Georges Clouzot, he was one of the most renowned pre-french new wave directors, most famous for ‘Wages of Fear’ (which was later remade by William Friedken as ‘Sorcerer’) and the classic thriller ‘Diabolique’ (which was also remade, but wasn't that good). In between what would be his last film, he started but never finished a film (L’Inferno), which was supposed to turn the film world upside down, and introduce something new. It was set to be his his masterpiece. This documentary explores the circumstances surrounding the unfinished film and the difficulties Clouzot ran in to while trying to make it (ranging from his bad health to constant script changes. The director of this doc sifted through over 30 hours of footage Clouzot filmed, and ultimately never used, to paste together a collage of movie clips, present day interviews with the living cast & crew of the unfinished film as well as re-enacted scenes from the script of L’Inferno. As much as I loved this film, I don’t think everyone would enjoy it as much as I did. Fans of classical film genres like; Italian neo-realism, pre-new wave and Italian romanticism will find this an enjoyable look in to the art house world. People who aren’t in to art house will probably find this boring. Even if this documentary doesn’t sound appealing, I recommend; ‘Wages of Fear’ and ‘Diabolique’ which are probably two of the most influential films ever made.
This twisted family crime drama is one of the best things to come out of Australia since 'The Proposition'. Similar to how 'Copland' (Sylvester Stallone’s shinning moment as an actor) was looked upon as a modern-day western, i’d look at 'Animal Kingdom' the same way. In fact, Its like a cross between a Los Angeles crime drama mixed with a western. A lot of the recent films to come out of Australia all seem to share the same moody atmosphere, missing from a lot of US crime dramas. Ever since the great Australian directors like Peter Weir and Nicholas Roeg moved away from the Australian film scene, there haven’t been to many classics to come out of that continent. In fact, Alex Proyas, the only somewhat recent Australian director to show some kind of promise in the late 80’s and early 90’s (Crow and Dark City) went on to make typical Hollywood films like 'I Robot' and 'Knowing'. But it looks like over the last couple of years Australia has been making its presence known in the film world (especially the crime genre). Animal Kingdom will surely be a classic (at least to the Australian film scene) later on down the road. It's is loosely based on real life events that took place in Melbourne Australia in the late 80’s. In 'Animal Kingdom', our character (Josh) goes to live with his family of criminals after his mother OD’s. His new family situation is quite strange. All of his uncles and cousins seems to be very open about their criminal lifestyle. All but one of his uncles seems to be normal/level-headed. And they all seem to be under the lead of their mother; Janine (played by Jacki Weaver) who not only exhibits some serious incestuous undertones towards her sons but doesn't seem to care that they’re criminals. After one of them is murdered by the police, the oldest brother gets revenge by murdering two random patrolmen. Josh gets caught up in the middle, and struggles with weather or not to be loyal to his family or to testify against them for the murder of the two police. Things get complicated when his family suspects he will testify against them, and they set out a plan to silence him. A lot of the moodiness in the film comes from dark, ambient soundtrack, similar to the films of Michael Mann (Collateral, Miami Vice, Heat, etc). Animal Kingdom has great acting all around, but the standout performance comes from Ben Mendelsohn (who plays the eldest brother and Josh’s uncle). Fans of movies like The Last Wave and Walkabout will surely enjoy this.
I wouldn’t call Ironman 2 bad or anything like that, but I sure found it disappointing. I mean at the end of the day, you wont feel like you’ve wasted your money. You’ll be entertained. But if you allow yourself to get caught up in the hype of “the big sequel” as well as this new renaissance of comic book-based movies, chances are you’re going to be disappointed. I sure was. In the latest Ironman movie, not only does Tony Stark do battle with the crimson dynamo/whiplash hybrid played by Mickey Rourke, but we also delve a little deeper in to Tony Stark’s personal life like his battle with alcoholism, his relationship with his father, and the damage the ironman suit is doing to his body. My main issue with this movie was that it had WAY too campy parts, and too much corny humor. I’m not one of these people who hold these new “dark” comic book movies up on a pedestal (dark knight, sin city, history of violence, etc), and think all further superhero movies should follow suit. The first ironman had its share of funny moments, so it’s not like I wasn’t expecting the same from the sequel. But it was just a bit much in this one. The worst example of this is the birthday party scene, which treads very closely to that awful club scene in Spiderman 3, where peter parker does that cringeworthy sing & dance routine. The next problem was that it seemed like more people in this film were doing that fast, witty, Robert Downey Jr-ish speak. That type of delivery works when its JUST Robert Downey Jr., but when half of the cast is talking like him, it gets annoying. And Samuel L. Jackson’s appearance as Nick Fury in this movie was a too long, because apparently Samuel L cant go 2 minutes of acting without slipping out of character and just acting like himself. And the final fight scene, is a HUGE letdown. All 90 seconds of it. Even with all that said, there are still some positive things about the movie. Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke give good performances. Also, if you’re as excited about the Avengers movie as I am, there are a couple of nice connections to the other Avengers. Anyway, I don’t know why I’m even writing all of this, because everyone saw the movie, and it made a shitload of money, so whatever. But it still could have been better.
After watching the HORRIBLE movie; 'Black & White; (which also starred Mike Tyson), i was almost certain that director James Toback had lost it. He went from directing one of Harvey Keitel’s best performances in 'Fingers' to making one of the worst movies ever. In fact, i had no idea Toback directed 'Tyson' until the surprise Q & A he gave before the screening i went to. Watching 'Tyson' in a crowded theater made it even MORE sad than it already was. In this documentary, Mike Tyson lets us in on many personal issues ranging from; his depression, almost getting killed as a kid, being taken advantage of, and his time in prison. However, all through out the movie all i heard from in the theater was laughter. I swear, if you closed your eyes and listened to the audience, you'd think they were watching a comedy. I guess its come to the point in Mike Tyson’s life that even when he’s at his most personal, no one can take him seriously. James Toback’s approach to this autobiography was slightly different than most documentaries. Instead of the Errol Morris-like face-to-face interview format like in “The Thin Blue Line”, Toback sat behind Tyson, asking a series of questions, similar to the psychiatrist/patient relationship. This type of questioning clearly worked, because Tyson really opened up. The most heartbreaking scene in the movie is the footage of his final post-fight interview, where loses to a sub-par fighter, and then proceeds to apologize to his fans for his performance. Fans of “Fat City”, “Raging Bull”, “Beyond the mat” and “The Wrestler” will love this.
It was a breath of fresh air to get a straight up thriller from a country like Sweden as opposed to the typical “art” films that we usually get over here. It’s hard to believe that the country most famous for Ingmar Bergman produced this much talked about film full of motorcycle chases, explosions, sex and violence. The film starts with the trial of protagonist and journalist; Mikael Blomkvist who’s been sentenced to a short prison term for the defamation a big time CEO. Before Blomkvist starts his prison sentence, he’s hired by a wealthy CEO to find out who murdered his 16 year old niece almost 40 years ago. The CEO hires Blomkvist for the job not only because of his journalistic skills, but as it turns out Blomkvist has a connection to the CEO’s dead niece. At the same time, as it turns out a young punk/goth female by the name of Lisbeth has been hacking in to Blomkvist’s computer remotely for months out of curiosity. When Lisbeth finally pieces together what he’s investigating, she contacts him, the two link-up and form an oddball team who work together to try and uncover this 40 year older murder. Early on in the film we learn that not only does Lisbeth have emotional and anger problems, but she’s also been to jail. We’re able to piece together that she was abused as a child, which may explain why she so emotionally attached to the murder mystery case of a young girl. I went in to this with no expectations, but ended up seeing it twice. The film is very well paced, and you don’t even realize that it’s well over 2 hours long. I imagine anyone who’s a fan of anything from the Jason Bourne movies to later Roman Polanski like; Frantic and the Ninth Gate will most definitely enjoy this. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is part of a trilogy, with the next 2 movies to be released by the end of this year. I will say that the other 2 parts don’t look nearly as good, but I’ll still give ‘em a shot. And yes, you guessed it, there’s already an American remake in the in the works, so I suggest seeing the original before the inevitable shortened 110 minute, PG-13 version.
HALLOWEENIE (Pete & Pete) Ever since season two came out, i always make it a point to watch this episode (which is one of my all time top 5 Pete & Pete episodes ever) during the Halloween season. It brings back so many memories. Aside from the tv show being a major part of my childhood, this specific episode brings back Halloween memories of all the stupid shit me and friends use to do during Halloween once we got to old to dress up and knock on doors for candy, which is basically what this episode is about. In 'Halloweenie', big Pete realizes he's getting too old for Halloween which causes a problem for little Pete. Little Pete wants to break the record for getting the most candy, but he cant do it alone and needs his older brothers help. At the same time, a gang of highschoolers called; The Pumpkin Eaters (led by recurring character; Endless Mike), plan to not only destroy Halloween for all the little kids in town, but hey also try to recruit big Pete in to their gang. Now big Pete is torn between weather or not he should help his little brother on Halloween or grow up and say goodbye to trick or treating. Any Pete & Pete episode with Endless Mike is gold. He's one of the shows best characters (even more than Artie as far as I'm concerned). If you ever wanted to turn anyone on to 'Pete & Pete', THIS would be the episode for sure. This one really highlights the shows unique sense of humor, which i like to call 'G-rated dark humor'.
PARENTS This is one of my all time favorite movies, and one of my greatest late night cable tv discoveries as a little kid. In 'Parents' (directed by Bob Balaban), a little boy suspects that his parents are serial killing cannibals. His suspicions arise due to his parent's love of eating only meat and the horrific nightmares/visions hes has that show his parents in a disturbing light. This is one of the most original (and underrated) movies of the 80's. 'Parents' has the spirit of; 'Pete & Pete', 'blue velvet', 'heathers' and 'are you afraid of the dark' all rolled up in to one movie. The acting in the movie is really great. In fact, Randy Quaid was nominated for an independent spirit award for his performance in this. The lead kid in this movie never went on to act in anything else, which is a shame because he did a really good job. Also, Bob Balaban has never directed or written anything quite like this ever since. In fact, this seems more like a David Lynch movie. As underrated and forgotten about as this movie may be, it has a small cult audience, and is slowly getting rediscovered thanks to the hulu and the youtube movie channel. Also, even though you cant see any traces of 'Parents' in any of his work, this is one of Darren Aronofsky's favorite movies.
THE REFLECTING SKIN This movie would make an amazing double feature with 'Parents'. 'The Reflecting Skin' shares the same basic plot as 'Parents'; the disturbing imagination of a child who suspects the adults around him are evil. This movie, like 'Parents' is also VERY underrated. 'The Reflecting Skin' tells the story of 'Seth' and the creepy Midwestern town he lives in. He comes from a dysfunctional home (his father is not only a drunk but has been labeled the town pedophile due to a misunderstanding that took place many years ago and his mother is overly religious and physically abusive). His brother (Played by Viggo Mortensen in one of his earliest roles), has come back from WW2 with a disease that's making him weaker and weaker. He's absolutely convinced that the British woman who lives next door to him is a vampire (she eventually becomes his older brothers girlfriend). And all of his friends are being killed off by a group a serial killers that pray on the young boys in the neighborhood (this aspect of the movie is actually very open to interpretation in that the serial killers might be a split personality of 'Seth' himself, who in reality may be the one killing his friends). This movie has its share of funny scenes, but at the end of the day its a serious film. Like some of the other movies on my Halloween movie lists, this isn't so much a horror movie as it is a psychological thriller/drama. The soundtrack to this movie is great, btw.
HOUSE This cult Japanese film from the late 70's has regained a new cult following due its recent midnight screenings at IFC and its addition to the criterion collection. If it weren't for criterion/janus films, most people (myself included) wouldn't be exposed to a lot the great Japanese films outside of Kurosawa and Ozu. Even though 'House' is more of a satirical and somewhat cheesy movie, it still falls in to the same category of films like; kwadain or jigoku (which have also been released by criterion), just a lot less serious. This surreal horror/comedy/musical will probably leave you laughing more than frightened, but it still possesses the spirit of Halloween. In 'House', main character; 'Gorgeous' takes her six friends (each with an equally peculiar nickname; 'kung-fu', 'fantasy', 'mac', 'melody', 'sweet' and 'prof') to her aunts house (whom she hasn't seen for years) for the summer, to get away from her father and new stepmother. What they don't know is that not only is Gorgeous's aunt a ghost, but the house they're staying in is haunted. In fact, the actual house itself starts to take on a life of its own and one by one, each of the girls is killed during their stay at the haunted house, each in a different hilarious way (one is killed by a piano that comes to life, one is beheaded, etc etc). The 'House' criterion dvd comes out at the perfect time for the Halloween season (October 26th). This is a great movie to watch with a group of friends.
COMMUNION 'Fire in the sky' might have one of the best alien abduction scenes ever, but the entire movie overall is pretty average. Communion on the other hand is a great movie all around (weather the events are true or not), that kinda got forgotten about over time. The movie, based on the true story of an alien abduction just like 'Fire in the Sky', stars Christopher Walken in the lead role as a man recovering from an alien abduction and the toll it takes on him and his family. This is probably one of Christopher Walken's last performances where actually ACTS instead of playing a character of himself which is pretty much what he's been for the last 15 years or so. In fact, Walken's performance is just as creepy as the aliens in the movie (christopher walken actually kinda looks like an alien to be honest). Speaking of the aliens in the film, that might be the one aspect of the movie that falls short (which is probably due to the budget, judging by how cheap the aliens look). In 'Communion' Walken is visited by two different kinds of Alien race. The first kind are reminiscent of the aliens at the end of close encounters (skinny bodies, big heads and big eyes). While the second group of aliens Walken comes in contact with are little black troll-like aliens. Some people may be turned off by the cheapness of the alien suits and special effects, while some might not mind. If can put that aspect of the movie aside, you'll be able to enjoy 'Communion' for the 1/2 science fiction, 1/2 psychological drama that it is.
ANGST Any movie that Gaspar Noe counts as one of inspirations is going to intrigue me. Thanks to a multi-region dvd, I was finally able to see this after years and years of only youtube clips. When you finally see 'Angst', and then think back on Noe's work, it'll all make sense as to why this is one of the favorite movies of the guy responsible for 'Irreversible'. In 'Angst', we follow a psychopath who's just been released from prison and the difficult time he has adjusting to life on the outside. It's clear that he should've never been released, and he turns to killing again. A lot of people will look at 'Angst' as nothing more than a slasher film that's just violent for the sake of being violent. But what sets 'Angst' apart from typical slasher movies is its cinematography, which makes me even more sense that it would be one of Gaspar Noe's favorite movies (the cinematography in 'Enter The Void' is especially reminiscent of 'Angst'). In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the cinematography in 'La Haine' was partially inspired by 'Angst'. Similar to how movies like; Bladerunner & Element of Crime, Vertigo & Lost Highway, Parent & The Reflecting Skin and Barton Fink & Eraserhead go together, 'Angst' has a similar relationship with 'Henry: Portrait of Serial Killer'. This movie isn't for everyone.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Vampires seem to be 'in' these days, so I thought id mention at least one of the few good vampire movies out there (i still have yet to see 'Thirst'). Seeing the remake to this movie last night, made me go back and watch the original when I got home. Even though I found the remake surprisingly good (which takes a lot for me to say, because I went in to the remake wanting it to be bad), it made me appreciate the original much more. The remake still retains the spirit of the original version. The story of a lonely boy that becomes friends with a child vampire and the "complicated" relationship between the vampire girl and her 'father'. But the remake is more of a horror movie, whereas the original Swedish version is pretty much an art house drama with a few isolated scenes of gore & violence here & there. The American remake has more of a traditional horror movie soundtrack (tense, dramatic strings that build up to an obvious vampire attack), way more blood, and (like most remakes) there are some parts of the original that were left out in the remake. The biggest contrast between the original and the remake is how its shot. Specifically the lighting of each film. Because the remake is made to be more of a traditional horror movie, the look of the movie is very "dark". It seemed like most of the scenes took place at night. This is a HUGE contrast to the original which is very bright and makes great use of the snowy landscape. The bright white look of the original accentuates the violent and bloody scenes. 'Let The Right One In' is easily one of the best vampire movies to come out in years.
