Please support the Unofficial Film School of Boston, the Brattle Theater—Sponsor my 2010 Watch-A-Thon! Thanks!Note that altho this post is dated
- PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 @AMC Harvard Square, 10/29/10.
A great horror movie. Better than the first, but in great part because of how events in this one dovetail with it. The addition of an infant and a dog to the mix definitely, successfully, upped the horror/scare factor. Was a lot of fun watching the guys in the double-date in front of me jump out of their seats. =) - DEVIL @Muvico Centro Ybor, 10/31/10.
A great little horror-iffic parable. One-by-one the five passengers on a stalled elevator, all strangers to each other, die in ghastly ways. The killer must be one of them, but as their numbers dwindle, prejudiced accusations fly, but the culprit remains unknown, even when only one remains... A wonderfully ridiculous situation framed by fun superstition offers up some decent sudden deaths and actually succeeded in keeping me entertained enough that I forgot to look for the twist, which turned out to be a fair and good surprise. - PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 @Silver Moon Drive-In, 10/31/10.
That's right, so nice I saw it twice. Or something. It was playing at the DRIVE-IN! ON HALLOWEEN! How could I NOT see it? It was fun to realize that the housekeeper in PA2 was DEVIL's Ramirez's mother. =) - CASE 39 @Silver Moon Drive-In, 10/31/10.
Eh. Skip it. With the raw materials available, the cast and the seed of the story, this should've been a lot better. The young Lilith (TIDELAND) is good for a couple of great l'enfant terrible looks and one great spooky kid-v-know-it-all adult (Bradley Cooper) verbal confrontation. The most unbelievable part of the movie for me was the alleged chemistry between Zellweger and Cooper. Are they dating in real life? Whatev. Ian McShane's Ian McShane-ness was wasted. BSG's Leoben, aka Callum Keith Rennie, was good to see on the big screen, and he was good enough, just stuck in a crummy film. Boo. - EASY A @Cinemark Festival Bay, 11/3/10.
A good and not-dumb high school flick. More fun than I expected. I appreciated its explicit acknowledgment of 80s movies conventions, but didn't love the annoying flat adults, which it seemed to try to borrow and update from those movies. I'm still waiting for a high school movie renaissance in the mainstream. Sigh. - RED @AMC Monmouth, 11/6/10.
A ton of goofy action fun. Two explosive deaths that were hilariously satisfying. - GUY AND MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH @the Brattle, 11/8/10.
A courageous attempt at a new kind of musical, but in the end, only half-successful. Visually, it's pretty remarkable. I kind of love it actually. If you're up for seeing a re-imagining of Boston on screen as Paris in the 60s, definitely check this out. But, some of its musicality breaks the film for me. It's not a musical, it's a... music-ish. Glimpses and hints of greatness, one old-school song-and-dance number, but they just don't sustain, don't build a consistent language that works in the film. If you're seeking a musical experience, lower the bar a bit and then check this out to catch those glimpses. I honestly hope that the filmmakers regroup and make another run at this genre with reinforcements and refinements.[Brattle blurb]
(2009) dir Damien Chazelle w/Jason Palmer, Desiree Garcia [82 min]
GUY & MADELINE ON A PARK BENCH is about the often uneasy but always beautiful relationship between music and love. It tells the story of a young Boston jazz musician who drifts from affair to affair, his trumpet the only constant in his life. He makes a promising connection with an aimless introvert named Madeline, who immediately takes to his music. Their relationship is cut short, however, when Guy leaves her for another, more outgoing love interest. The two separated lovers slowly wind their way back into each other’s lives, through a series of romances and near-romances punctuated by song. - MACHETE @Somerville, 11/10/10.
AWESOME. Got to see three reincarnated Losties in action: Ana Lucia, Hurley's pop, and Frank Lapidus! Also, Robert Deniro! Also also—and this is CRAZY that I didn't know about this before the opening credits—Lindsey Lohan! Also also also, well, let me put it to you the way the credits do..."Introducing... Don Johnson" AWESOME. - PAPRIKA @the Brattle, 11/10/10.
Beautiful onieric detective anime. I think it's by the same creator-animators as the PARANOIA EFFECT series. Both stories marry some fun fringe science to everyday life with crisp animation and crystalline music.[Brattle blurb]
(2006) dir Satoshi Kon [90 min]
The film world lost a great talent earlier this year, but you might not have ever heard of him. Japanese director Satoshi Kon worked in a medium where greatness sometimes goes unrecognized – animation. His work on films like Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers is marvelous. And this, his last film is remarkable by any standard. In PAPRIKA, a prototype for the DC-mini, a device that enables access to people’s dreams, is stolen and falls into the wrong hands. It’s up to a prim psychotherapist and her sprightly alter-ego, the titular PAPRIKA, to find the culprit before dreams and reality irrevocably collide! Kon’s films are smart and challenging and PAPRIKA’s artistry and unexpectedly sweet emotional payoff make it one of the most delightful films of the past decade. - SKYLINE @AMC Burlington, 11/13/10.
Eh. Skip it, sad to say. The seeds of a great sci-fi alien invasion event, but they land on the rocks and never take root. The film's plot drops the potential for a great fight-back scenario for a so-so personal scope and story, one better suited to a one-hour OUTER LIMITS. Should've been something like a kickas sprequel to BATTLE: LOS ANGELES. Bummer. - GRAVITY @Coolidge Corner, 11/14/10.
A fun little riff on the AMERICAN BEAUTY / OFFICE SPACE scenario. The routine of a successful work-a-day cog with baggage is interrupted by a traumatic event (a customer's death, in front of his eyes) and tilts his world just so, opening his eyes to dark possibilities and a partnership with an old school friend who's since turned to a life of crime. Wacky fun ensues...[Coolidge blurb]
Frederik Feinermann is an up-and-coming young bank employee who lives an ordinary life. When a client, whom Frederik has denied a loan due to the bank crisis, shoots himself in front of Frederik, he snaps. Together with ex-con Vince Holland he begins to live out a new, dark side of himself. He robs his rich bank customers' homes and gives the money to the needy. The initial rush of crossing social boundaries soon develops into an addiction to ever greater thrills. Gravity tells the story of a seemingly settled bank employee who breaks the shackles of his everyday life and becomes a wanderer between worlds.
dir. Maximilian Erlenwein, in German with English subtitles, 1h35m, 35mm - BOXING GYM @the Brattle, 11/17/10.
Wonderful! A beautiful bit of documentary meditation. I don't know the cinema jargon for it, but it's a truly naturalistic documentary, a (as) true (as possible) slice of life, y'know? No interference, interjection, intervention, or narration provided from the filmmakers. Like a nature show on boxers in their natural habitat. Just recording of events (granted, the camera's THERE, and the subjects know it, but to my mind, it's as invisible as possible) edited together just so. I couldn't keep track of the length of segments, as I was consistently drawn into the activity on screen, but the 30-second (?) clock in the gym almost dictates the pace of things. I got the idea in my head that maybe every cut lasted 30 seconds max, but realized that couldn't be the case with some of the prolonged training and discussion scenes. There's a lot of rhythm, visual and auditory, embedded in the gym's activity and it gets into your bones a bit. The experience of the film is very Zen, and shows me once again that there can be an art and craft to fighting (not counting martial arts films, WHEN WE WERE KINGS showed me the first time).[Brattle blurb]
(2010) dir Frederick Wiseman [91 min]
Legendary documentarian (and Cambridge resident) Frederick Wiseman returns to the Brattle screen with his newest film, BOXING GYM. Eschewing the languorous pace of his previous film, La Danse, Wiseman trains his unblinking camera-eye on a more kinetic subject – Lord’s Gym, and Austin, Texas institution. Founded sixteen years ago by Richard Lord, a former professional boxer, Lord’s welcomes people of all ages, races, ethnicities and social classes: men, women, children, doctors, lawyers, judges, business men and women, immigrants, professional boxers and people who want to become professional boxers train alongside amateurs who love the sport and teenagers who are trying to develop strength and assertiveness. Lord’s is an example of the American ‘melting pot’ where people meet, talk, and train. As is his usual technique, Wiseman allows the filmmaking to melt into the background, truly letting the people and the place speak for themselves. - ENTER THE VOID @Kendall Square, 11/17/10.
Beautiful, but can be a bit of an endurance test. I highly recommend it for cinephiles if you can stand some NC-17-y action and images, and following some pretty wretched characters around. It does some pretty amazing POV stuff and it's hard to tell where live/real environments end and CG (or scale models?) begin. It has some seriously trippy moments, trippy as in psychedelic, and for many minutes too long, if you ask me. Strobing lights (and full screen strobing) are prominent, so if that's an issue for you, beware - TODAY'S SPECIAL @Kendall Square, 11/19/10.
Alas, not nearly as funny as I'd hoped. The story is basic, but full of lots of potential (culture shock, romance, cuisine, maybe some magical realism?), left unrealized. Estranged son (Aasif Mandvi, who's great, but not really doing a whole lot here) of immigrant Indian parents seeks to make a name for himself in the big city as a five-star restaurant chef. When his father falls ill, he's drawn back home and resigned to taking over his father's business, the family restaurant, responsible for serving cuisine that he knows nothing about making. Unfortunately, the film only goes halfway at most into the wacky fun that should ensue. Or, if this wasn't about wacky fun, could have gone serious/sentimental in a stronger way. In the end, it's lukewarm, cute but could've and should've been better. - 127 HOURS @Kendall Square, 11/21/10.
Pretty amazing. I know Danny Boyle makes great movies, but given what I knew of the story behind this film, I let my faith waver a bit going into this one, skeptical that he could turn this thin, stark, harsh survival story into an enjoyable movie experience. My badd, DB. Plain and simple, Danny Boyle makes great movies. The true story is remarkable. Franco is perfect. The resulting film is beautiful, smart, and clever. - STRANGE POWERS: STEPHIN MERRITT AND THE MAGNETIC FIELDS @the Brattle, 11/21/10.
[Brattle blurb]
(2010) dir Kerthy Fix, Gail O’Hara w/Stephin Merritt, Claudia Gonson [89 min]
“Songwriter Stephin Merritt always seems to have a Chihuahua on his lap. Performing with the Magnetic Fields since 1991, he has composed some of his generation’s most intellectually incisive, whimsical, witty and acerbic music (Merritt has been compared to Cole Porter for his sophisticated use of language). A dedicated, growing army of admirers flocks to the group’s concerts and makes Merritt an odd sort of anti-celebrity, one who is happiest not being recognized, whiling away the hours in gay bars on either coast (his favorite place for writing music) or spending a good part of the day soaking up obscure movie classics. Ten years in the making, the film follows the famously grumpy Merritt and explores his relationship with Claudia Gonson, his creative collaborator and the band’s manager. It paints a portrait of an artist whose music brilliantly holds up a mirror to the fears, joys, and insecurities of his time.” – Film Forum, NYC - LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN @the Brattle, 11/24/10.
[Brattle blurb]
(1945) dir John M. Stahl w/Gene Tierny, Cornel Wilde [110 min]
When young and handsome writer Richard Harland meets the beautiful Ellen Berent on a trail to New Mexico, it’s love at first sight for both of them. However, Ellen’s definition of love might be a little different than Richard’s, as she reveals layer upon layer of her obsessive nature. Richard slowly begins to realize that Ellen’s jealousy could have dire consequences for them all. - THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST @Kendall Square, 11/25/10.
- ALIEN @the Brattle, 11/25/10.
[Brattle blurb]
(1979) dir Ridley Scott w/Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm [117 min]
As if H.R. Giger’s designs couldn’t be any scarier, Ridley Scott brings them to life in this 1979 film. ALIEN is about, well, an alien that terrorizes a spaceship. Sounds simple enough, but this film has become a classic, crossing over from the sci-fi genre into the mainstream, but maintaining its grasp on what made it great in the first place. Stellar performances by Sigourney Weaver, Ian Holm, and Tom Skerritt ground an already terrific script, and a baby alien bursting out of a human chest cavity doesn’t hurt. - ALL ABOUT EVE @the Brattle, 11/26/10.
[Brattle blurb]
(1950) dir Joseph L. Mankiewicz w/Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Marilyn Monroe [138 min]
“Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!” The ultimate backstage backstabbing bitchfest with Bette Davis as aging Broadway star Margo Channing who takes an aspiring actress, Eve (Baxter), under her wing. Eve, meanwhile, schemes to worm her way into every corner of Margo’s life. The dialogue (including Bette’s oft quoted line above) flies fast and furious in this quintessential melodrama. - VANISHING POINT @the Brattle, 11/26/10.
Awesome. =) The original death-defiant daredevil driver/muscle car race-against-time film, set in an EASY RIDER America, and heavily referenced in the DEATH PROOF feature of GRINDHOUSE. I have to watch DEATH PROOF again, but some of the big screen deja vu was so strong, I hafta believe that Tarentino sought some of the same locations for the chase scenes in his movie. The film's soundtrack is kick-ass, too, making for a HEAVY METAL-ish musical-cinematic experience, y'know, with a more rock-to-folk than metal flavor.[Brattle blurb]
(1971) dir Richard C. Serafian w/Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger, Victoria Medlin, Charlotte Rampling [99 min]
Heavily referenced in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, VANISHING POINT is one of the ultimate hard-driving films. Barry Newman’s Kowalski makes a bet to deliver a car (a 1970 Dodge Challenger with a matte white paintjob) from Colorado to California in under 15 hours. Think that might mean exceeding the speed limit a little? - M*A*S*H @the Brattle, 11/27/10.
[Brattle blurb]
(1970) dir Robert Altman w/Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall [116 min]
Robert Altman’s groundbreaking, counterculture masterpiece is, at its core, a movie about survival. Captains Hawkeye (Sutherland) and Trapper (Gould) go about dealing with the atrocities of life in a mobile surgical hospital during the Korean War by using humor, bad taste and the occasional sexual innuendo. - LITTLE MURDERS @the Brattle, 11/27/10.
[Brattle blurb]
(1971) dir Alan Arkin w/Elliott Gould, Marcia Rodd, Vincent Gardenia, Elizabeth Wilson, Donald Sutherland, Alan Arkin [110 min]
Alan Arkin’s directorial debut finds a young girl bringing her new boyfriend home to meet her parents for the first time. Meanwhile, a string of violent and random shootings have been breaking out in NYC and the city begins to parallel the myriad failings of the family during these times of crisis. A remarkable and underseen performance by Gould anchors this terrific film. - BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA @the Brattle, 11/27/10.
[Brattle blurb]
(1986) dir John Carpenter w/Kurt Russell, Kim Catrall, Dennis Dun, James Hong, Victor Wong, Kate Burton [99 min]
A reminder of the halcyon days of the magical Kurt Russell/John Carpenter partnership, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA follows Jack (Russell) as he and his motley crew fight Chinatown street gangs, kung fu warriors and an ancient sorcerer with really long fingernails, to save his buddy’s girlfriend from becoming the bride of the immortal and gross Lo Pan. The battles are epic and include a lot of kung fu action, Kurt Russell doing things, and claymation. The perfect trinity if ever there was one. - MADE IN DAGENHAM @Kendall Square, 11/28/10.
A brilliant and heartwarming true-story film about the struggle for fair pay by 187 so-called "unskilled laborers," all of whom happen to be women, in a Ford plant in Dagenham, UK in 1970 (I think?). The multiple levels of protest, scheming, diplomacy, and resistance, along with the interconnectedness of all the players in a factory town, all mesh really well in the storytelling of this film. A kinda nerdy observation, but I found it really interesting to see the ripple effect of the strike of 187 workers in a massive automotive plant, interrupting and influencing lives in the community, the business of the company, and ultimately, national policy. The entire cast is great, but Sally Hawkins (HAPPY GO LUCKY) is perfect. Rosamund Pike here stood out for me as well, seeing as how my most recent screen memory of her is as an almost mirror-universe version of her role here, in AN EDUCATION. Hooray for women! They're so cute. Heh. =) - UNSTOPPABLE @AMC Boston Common, 11/29/10.
Awesome! A really well-done buddy + disaster film. See it on the big screen! - DUE DATE @AMC Harvard Square, 12/1/10.
- INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM @the Brattle, 12/1/10.
Y'know, I always say it's the weakest of the films, but it's still a pretty damn fun ride. Also, I always forget, and then remember when he appears, that Dan Aykroyd has a random cameo in the film. Also also, love seeing the CLUB OBI-WAN sign at the end of the opening melee. As a kid, who maybe still kinda thought of Han Solo before Harrison Ford as being the guy who was playing Indiana, that moment had some weird movie magic in it, y'know?[Brattle blurb]
(1984) dir Steven Spielberg w/Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Jonathan Ke Quan [118 min]
This second installment of the Indiana Jones franchise hits the ground running, throwing Jones (Ford), kid sidekick Short Round (Quan), and torch singer Wilhelmina Scott (Capshaw) into the wilds of India. Although contoversial in its depictions of Indians, the scenes of human sacrifice (pulling beating hearts out of men’s chests) are so over the top, the dialogue between Willie and Indy so classically campy, the scene with the bugs so creepy, and the action sequences so fun, that TEMPLE OF DOOM stands solidly alongside the other adventures of Indiana Jones.
Anyone wanna go to the movies?
Keep on keepin on~
2 comments:
Congratulations sir! Three in one day on the 27th? Wow! - Ryan
Machete don't text!
Post a Comment