Film schooled

Comment has published my article on The Class and Happy-Go-Lucky.

Sunshine Cleaning

My review has been posted by The Curator.

Viewing Trailers

Read the Comment article here.

Changeling and Standard Operating Procedure

Most of my film writing now appears in Comment.

Here is my latest article on Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure and Eastwood's Changeling.

WALL-E - 7

My review has been posted by Comment.

The Happening - 2

I wanted to give M. Night Shyamalan an other shot to prove his film-making greatness like the films Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village...but he has not delivered. In fact, this film is worse than Lady in the Water which I didn't like all that much, but can see some merit to. This is his first R rated film, which I assume is a marketing ploy by the studio. It makes the film worse by showing gratuitous violence. The film attempts to be a story about nature taking its revenge on humanity for its ill treatment. The main story is actually about a troubled marriage. Elliot (Mark Wahlberg) and Alma (Zooey Deschanel) are drifting apart and this scare and their care for a friends daughter shows them that they really do love each other. While the pieces were in place for a great film: good director, good actor and actress, the film is a flop and a total waste of time and money.

I'm Not There. - 6

This film is a creative take on the life of Bob Dylan. Dylan is played by six different characters throughout the different phases of his life and career. Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin, and Cate Blanchett, each portray Dylan as a iconic figure known for his influence in music and writing lyrics. Overall the film has a sense of the mysteriousness of Dylan as a public figure who both wants to use it, but also is unsure and at times shies away from the spotlight. While the film is beautifully shot and directed by Todd Haynes, it seems aimed at the Dylan fan more than a general audience. What seems like six stories that are interconnected seems to depend on the viewer understanding the intertextuality that makes sense of the narrative and Dylan's historical influences. This narrative complexity is sophisticated, but also at times confusing. The soundtrack can't help but be great with many covers and originals of Dylan's work.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - 5

This sequel had quite a bit to live up to. The first film (again directed by Andrew Adamson), not only had a great story to work from, but was able to keep all the essential elements and let the Christian allegory not come off as manipulative. This film has what I think is a somewhat harder story to tell, and the allegory is not completely but almost lost in the cheap shots to integrate CGI battle scenes and cheesy romance. The characters of the Pevensie children are under-developed. What is great about this book and film series is that it is suitable to a younger audience while also showing and speaking of real evil. While the books obviously focus on the development of the reader's imagination, these film adaptations show some great visuals to hopefully jump start those lacking a grand an imagination (I include myself in this latter group). For me, the film was somewhat of a disappointment.
What all the books in this series do well is tell a story that relies ultimately on grace: that humans alone cannot somehow earn or work their way to their own selfish good. Rather we are in need of help and rescue from beyond that really is better for human beings in community and relationship.
What might be the ultimate surprise though is the ending ballad entitled "The Call" by Regina Spektor. Unexpected, but a welcome surprise.

Snow Angels - 6

Comment has posted my review of Snow Angels.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days - 7

It took some time but I was finally able to see this much anticipated film. While 2007 seems to be the year for unexpected pregnancy films, this film takes the audience on a much more heart wrenching ride than the many others that seem to work out despite the challenges. This film is Romanian and is set in the 80's when abortion there was illegal and severely punished. The story follows two friends who live together in a crowded apartment building. When scared and naive Gabriela reveals that she is pregnant, Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) arranges for the abortion. The film shows the dedication and sacrifice that friendship involves and the difficult choices that begin to define what friendship and being in a relationship mean. The film both shows the harsh reality of the situation, as well as showing Otilia's existential questioning of what her life means and where it is headed. This is probably the one film about unwanted pregnancy this year that takes it deadly serious.

Ronin - 4

This is a standard covert operations film. Made in 1998 it looks older somehow. A small team of strangers are hired for a task to get a package. The package of course turns out to be a MacGuffin, and the story revolves around the issues of trust and who is conning who. A decent action film, and less formulaic than a James Bond film, but not anything to go out of your way to see. I would have liked for there to be a greater connection to the background that gives the film its title. The main stars are Robert De Niro and Jean Reno.

Eagle vs Shark - 7

This is the Napolean Dynamite of romantic comedies. It has awkward characters who are just trying to make a connection in a fragmented and broken world. Made in New Zealand by artist-turned-director Taika Waititi and staring Loren Horsley as ex-Meaty Boy employee and Jermaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) as eccentric Jarrod, it also features plenty the indie music of The Phoenix Foundation. It also features a few illustrated portions reminiscent of Michael Gondry films. The basic story is that Lily is in love with Jarrod who hooks up with her at a Fight Man video game party. He then asks her brother for a ride back to his hometown to beat up a former bully from when he was in grade school. All the characters are weird including Jarrod's family, but the lesson here is that human beings have a need to connect, and no matter how rotten we or others are, better to attempt love and relationship than waste away on a deserted island.

Lust, Caution - 6

Director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) and screen-writer James Schamus (The Ice Storm, The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman) team up once again to adapt this short story by Chinese author Eileen Chang. To over simplify, or rather to make an unnuanced comparison, this film is similar to Verhoeven's 2006 film Black Book. This film is also set during WWII, but in Japanese occupied Shanghai, rather than German occupied Holland. A young university student, Wang (Wei Tang), uses her beauty to get close to the enemy as a part of a resistance movement. After a failed attempt early on with some of her young theater friends, she later is recruited to once again get close to Mr. Yee (Tony Leung). As lust turns into love, it becomes harder to tell who is deceiving whom, or even if it is deception anymore. And after all the build up of developing an intimate relationship it all comes down to the crucial decision of what they love more: the causes they work for, or each other.

Dial M for Murder - 7

In this Hitchcock film, the perfect murder is planned and put into motion. Anymore information about the plot would take away from the excitement of trying to follow it as it zigs and zags. It is an intricate story with plenty of twists and turns as the plan is fouled up but always being covered by Tony (Ray Milland) as he controls the situation through control of the story that people hear and believe. Grace Kelly plays Margot, Tony's wife and the victim of his scheming. This film is a great suspense film, as the audience is in the know, but is still guessing and waiting for the police to solve the case. Hitchcock's excellence at his art once again comes through, no scene, dialogue, or shot is by accident.

The Battle of Algiers - 7

This classic and influential film, tells the true story of the events in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria, Africa. Algeria was colonized by the French and in 1954 started a revolution called the National Liberation Front (NLF). Using grassroots methods of strategic bombings and killings, the cell groups were eventually eliminated by the French paratroopers. But Algeria was eventually able to gain independence in 1962. The parallels to the current war in Iraq are striking. And may help explain why the French were oppose to the US invasion, assuming that the current French government are true students of history. Amazingly this film was made only four years after the final events of the film. The film shows both the strategy of the NLF as well as the French Military (including conversations about the definition and use of torture). It provides a large picture of the battle, rather than a personal narrative focusing on one character or group. It almost seems as though it wants to work as a documentary or creative archive of the events. In current time it has many strikes against it. It has subtitles, it's in black and white, it's old, and while containing action is pretty slow paced. With all that said it still may be worth your time and consideration.

Into the Wild - 7

I was skeptical of this story when I heard about it, first as a book by Jon Krakauer and then as a film adaptation directed by Sean Penn. Stories of this type- people going to live "back" in nature, can get a lot of things wrong and be rather off putting especially if they simply reject modern life. One possibility is to pit nature as inevitably violent to man. Another option is to pit man as inherently violent against nature. Hyperbole makes for a diatribe rather than a story. At the same time, if the film contains no conflict it tends up being boring. What this film does beautifully is to ask good questions. This relationship of how we are to live in the world is a necessary question in order to get the audience to think about the complexity and nuance of what the good life is. The film is nicely divided up into chapters that show how Christopher McCandless arrived at his end (in both senses of the word). His story is one of a searching for wisdom. He got a college degree, he came from a "good" family, but all of that did not add up to who he thought he was or could be.
It would have been easy for this story to have been turned into one of a martyr- an idealist killed by a materialist society. Instead Chris becomes an inquirer into the human condition, something everyone can learn from and should probably try to pursue. This film makes a good discussion piece on the long list of huge existential, but real, questions about life and living and the wisdom and foolishness that are revealed.
The film is nicely accented by the soundtrack written by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder.

Beowulf - 4

When criticizing the adaptation of this ancient tale, the writers of this version have beat the critic to the punch. Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary are clear that this is there version of what they consider to be an ever evolving text. Since the original was passed down orally and then copied repeated by monks with paper and ink, Avary and Gaiman claim that personal edits are an inherent part of this particular story. So if you are going to dislike the film for this reason you'll want a degree in English and some history lessons in the genealogy of the text. My dad keeps telling me that I am half Frisian, which are the descendants of British and Dutch vikings, so this story is suppose to be in my blood. And I guess, lucky for me, I find these stories more interesting than the actual story of Beowulf. Robert Zemeckis' motion capture filming technique that he started using with The Polar Express annoys me. I think it looks dumb. How's that for a philosophical critique? I don't mind the reverse Oedipal interpretation of this telling of the tale (Grendel's mother is now the super-sexualized Angelina Jolie), it was mostly just the bad graphics and voices and the aesthetics of the piece that turned me off to it. If you like this type of animation and adventure tales then this will probably satisfy your tastes. As for me, I'm going to go back to reading up about Frisians on Wikipedia.