Logan’s Run. Campy disco scifi. It works, in fits and starts.
Tag: film
Dark City
Casino Royale
Casino Royale. I admitted on Twitter that I’d never seen a post-Dalton Bond film and asked for recommendations. This was the clear favorite. I like this reboot. Craig is excellent. The movie is kinda Bourne-y, and therefore great as an action film. It’s kinda eehhhhh if you’re looking for clever spy things. (Chasing baddies by text messages they leave behind on cellphones? Surely it’s harder than that…) It has basically no sense of humor. It’s a bit too long. Appropriately glamorous photography. Soundtrack is nothing special, but I really appreciate withholding the main theme until the closing credits. The arc of storytelling is not the revelation and denial of a grand evil plot; it’s gloomy, reckless Bond becoming Bond. Looking forward to Quantum of Solace!
Mean Girls
Mean Girls. This is one of the great comedies of our era. So quotable, awesome characters, great pace. Talent is put to perfect use here. I really hope Lohan bounces back some day.
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption. Second time around. Still don’t like it.
Manhunter
Manhunter. Awesome. Slow-burning Miami-synth-moods thriller. I love the pre-cellphone detective work, cops running evidence from office to office. The sitting and pondering. The prison scene in Atlanta is actually in the High Museum! I now have to see everything Michael Mann has done.
Melancholia
Melancholia. I really wish I’d seen this on the big screen. Depression, death and the end of life on Earth! Some parallel construction here with Antichrist: the super-slow-motion theatrical overture and introduction of themes, and then a brief journey to an isolated setting where the rest of the film takes place. It’s like Trier is controlling the variables of society, technology, etc. so he can run this storytelling experiment on three subjects. Speaking of, great cast. Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Kiefer Sutherland are all excellent. Side characters are good for color and occasional comic relief (see: plate-breaking scene). The recurring use of the Tristan & Isolde prelude is a smart choice. And it’s gorgeous. I do wonder how this movie would feel different if the setting were not so ridiculously wealthy and comfortable.
I’ll call this my favorite Lars von Trier film, though it’s only the third. Dancer in the Dark would be probably be second, followed by Antichrist. I’ve heard good things about Dogville. The Boss of It All and The Five Obstructions look interesting.
Thin Ice
Thin Ice. It never quite hit the right rhythm on the funny parts, and the soundtrack wasn’t sure what kind of story this was, but this was a decent, moderately entertaining movie until the last five minutes when it turned into Ocean’s Eleven. There are twists, and then there are twists that undermine everything you just saw. Turns out, the movie wasn’t about the movie you thought you were watching! Disappointing.
Out of Sight
Out of Sight. This was sooooo much better than I expected. Lots of good writing and shooting here. If you’re gonna watch a movie that’s not outlandishly amazing, might as well choose one that’s really, really good.
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits. Great characters here. The first two of the three vignettes are excellent, the third was too much for me.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture. And so it begins. I’m not sure if I want to watch all of the Star Trek movies, but at least the first few and the most recent one. Spoiler: there are no dramatic gun battles or explosions at the climax. This is mostly brainy. I thought the 10-minute interlude with Starship Enterprise flyby porn was a nice touch. I miss the days when they’d build big crazy sets instead of using CGI. The soundtrack here has a case of Last of the Mohicans-itis: when in doubt, play the rousing main theme. I didn’t remember that I’d seen this one until the last scene, which I take as a good sign. Nice twist.
Vengeance
Vengeance. I admit it: I was seduced by the cover art. Points awarded for creative use of lighting and nice work with with framing and staging and such. The plot is your basic revenge tale and I didn’t find much to stir my blood.
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games. Well, it’s got plenty of flaws (script, directing, plot, length), but it’s entertainment. Good enough to kill my interest in the books. More than anything, it makes me want to watch Winter’s Bone again. Jennifer Lawrence is the real deal.
13 Assassins
十三人の刺客 (13 Assassins). One important thing others movies can learn from this one: the diplomatic boardroom plotting in the first part of the film is perfectly balanced with an absurd(ly fun) bloodbath at the end of the movie. I’m pretty sure there was some Japanese cultural nuance here that I just didn’t get, but I still dig it. Great directing and great acting. Also, be ye warned, there is one scene early in the movie that I just can’t unsee.
À bout portant (Point Blank)
À bout portant (Point Blank). Some movies do all the clichés right. Wrongful suspicion! A man in over his head! A woman in labor! Crooked cops! A chase on a complicated urban transit system! General ridiculousness! It all works. This movie reminded me of a great episode of a TV thriller–there’s not a ton of time for bullshit conversations and plot thickeners on your cellphones, so just go go go. There’s one chase scene in here that ends perfectly. It’s exactly what I would do.
Raging Bull
Raging Bull. I liked it more this time around than the first time I watched it. Something about seeing it on the big screen and with a crowd, it seemed much funnier. I still think the last half-hour or so is a trudge, but most biopics seem to be that way.
Tucker & Dale vs Evil
Tucker & Dale vs Evil. The best genre satire embraces as much as it mocks. You could work your way down a checklist of clichés acknowledged and subverted. The two leads are really great, and some of the best moments come from their script, chemistry, and delivery. Worthwhile for sure.
The Thin Red Line
The Thin Red Line. I’ve now seen everything Terrence Malick has directed. I thought I’d like this one more. Concessions: it’s gorgeous, the hilltop battle is a masterpiece (I can’t think of any movie battle where you have such a feeling for the geography, the space they move in), the acting is top-notch.
The challenge he doesn’t quite meet here is in telling a story about humanity by letting everyone tell a human story. Badlands and Days of Heaven each had single narrators; this one has at least seven, just counting off from memory. That’s fine. Single narration isn’t a rule. I appreciate the experimentation. I just don’t think it works here. With a few exceptions, these guys almost always speak lofty Malickian. Which is also fine! I can understand an argument that this could be the Universal Voice of the Yearning Soul, or something. It just didn’t feel right to me because the language was too similar, as if it were one person with a handful of accents.
Wikipedia tells me that Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman, Bill Pullman, Lukas Haas, Jason Patric, Viggo Mortensen and Mickey Rourke were all cast and filmed, but didn’t make it into the final edit. Incredible! I wonder if keeping these guys in, with their own voiceovers, could help balance the narration. Along with all the other actors who basically got cameos (Travolta, Clooney, Brody), could this be a movie that isn’t long enough? Dare I say it?
My Terrence Malick rankings:
- Days of Heaven
- The New World
- Badlands
- The Tree of Life
- The Thin Red line
I ranked this one dead last (close call), but note that Malick’s worst has still got a good lead over the median film. I think it’s safe to say he’s one of my favorite directors (up there with Eastwood and Buster Keaton). I’d probably say that based on Days of Heaven alone. Other movies I’ve seen.
Aliens
Aliens. This is how you do a sequel. Extend, not rehash. It’s not as good as Alien, but few things are and it doesn’t need to be because it’s just as fun. The first was about trauma and violation and survival, this one about confrontation and closure. Ripley’s got a great arc. I’d always wished they’d done more with Bishop’s crawl down the tunnel. It’s one of the best shots in scifi, but then the story zips elsewhere and when you come back, Bishop is chillin’, remote-controlling a plane. I also love when Ripley makes her machine gun + motion tracker + flamethrower superweapon with duct tape. It’s the little things.
Shame
Shame. Just like with Hunger, my interest rarely wavered but I’m not totally sure what to make of it. It felt odd that a movie that’s so vivid and unafraid is also so… conservative? I’d scrap the song scene, which is a fine performance but so, so dreary compared to the rest of the movie. Michael Fassbender is incredible, though (makes me even more excited for Prometheus). Carey Mulligan is also great, with the reservation that I like her role’s characterizing-Fassbender function much more than her plot function as the movie progresses. I’m pretty sure I’ll watch whatever Steve McQueen’s next movie is.
Mark Larson 
