Autumn Moon (1992)

I really liked this movie.  It's a big dated in terms of style, but as it takes place before Hong Kong reverts to China, that's reasonable.  The mood is very much a mood of transition.  A 20-something Japanese tourist comes to Hong Kong in search of good food.  He doesn't find it.  Instead he runs across a 15 year old Chinese schoolgirl, and they become friends.  There is nothing sexual here, which was a relief.  She treats him like an uncle, and he treats her like the kid she is, but with fond respect on both sides.

She is in the midst of her first love; he has lost his direction regarding love.  He meets her 80 year old grandma, who feeds him fantastic meals.  It's a lovely film.  A lot happens, but it's all regular life.

Life Support (2007)

This is an HBO movie based on a true story. It's an interesting story and one I would like to read about, but not a good movie. The performances are great, but the tone is messed up.

Queen Latifah plays a recovered addict, HIV positive, who is now an AIDS activist working for an outreach program. Her husband (Bunk from the Wire) is also HIV positive, that's how she got it, and they are mostly happily married. That was the problem for me. The people in this show say all the right things and show no signs of strain. I show strain and I am not sick and taking massive meds and worried about losing my kids. I did not find these characters believable at all. As the show develops, you see Ana (Queen L) betray herself as the selfish person who was once an addict. This change in her personality, whether it's a true change or just jarring character notes, are so discordant that they are not believable either. The same is true for her husband.

Is this a writing problem or a directing problem? I don't know. This movie clocks in at 88 minutes, but it felt much longer. I would pass.

Green Street Hooligans (2005)

I cannot believe I missed this movie when it came out! It is very fun - really well done. Mainly it's good because it has a hot, charismatic lead in Charlie Hunnam. He is now in Sons of Anarchy and I might need to start watching.

The story is not particularly original, but that's OK. Elijah Wood plays a journalism major who gets kicked out of Harvard for something he didn't do. He walks rather than fight the rich kid and the establishment. He heads to London to visit his sis, and ends up hanging with a gang of soccer thugs. Much stylized violence ensues, with Charlie Hunnam in the lead. He even shows off his six pack, which worked for me. The slight "surprise" is totally predictable, the end of the movie is TOTALLY predictable, but it's still enjoyable. Elijah Wood is miscast, though, as the innocent turned hooligan. He did a credible job re-casting himself as a fighter, but his face moves naturally into pathos or blankness rather than anger, antogonism, etc. He was good, but not quite right. But I would definitely watch this movie again. And I will look for Mr. Hunnam elsewhere.

Hunger Games (2012)

I went through these books in a couple of days. They are fantastic - and I highly recommend them. I also recommend this movie - the first of three. It's not perfect, and it's not the books, but it made my day. What a great job Gary Ross did - he kept the movie true to the book, capturing the mood and the desperation and the violence.

Katniss is a great heroine. Manohla Dargis from the NY Times has written great articles about her place in literature (and now movies) as a female heroine like we have never seen. I cannot write it better than Manohla, so check out the review in the Times.

The Enforcer (1951)

Bogart has made a lot of great films, but this ain't one of them. It's a mediocre flick about - get this - the first hit men? I guess murder for hire didn't exist until the 50's. I am now going to be searching for all literary and movie references I can find for murder-for-hire prior to 1951. I hate it when this happens.

The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008)

I remember reading about this when it came out. I just don't remember what the reviews said - I hope they were not very good. This Korean flick is a mess. It's supposed to be a semi-modern gangster flick mixed with a Sergio Leone western. Personally, I could not get past the guys in modern shoes (rubber lug soles) riding horses and wearing goth clothes. Riding along next to a Clint Eastwood type in a long duster and cowboy hat, plus a band of Mongolian warriors. This was just a mess.

There are two good things about this movie - first is Kang-ho Song, a Korean star of movies like The Host and Thirst and Memories of a Murder. He's awesome as the Weird. The art direction is also great - colorful and imaginative and fun. Neither, however, could make up for the crap script, messed-up camera shots and weird editing. Pass on this.

Boogie Woogie (2009)

This movie is a microscopic view of a small group of (fictional) people related to the London art scene, and it's a real downer. It's a black comedy, I assume, but the comedy was very much overshadowed by the blackness. I don't remember any comedy at all actually. Maybe it's a satire.

Anyway, every person in this film is nasty or shallow or eminently corruptible. It left a bad taste in my mouth. It is filled with stars (I love Gillian Anderson in particular), and they all do a great job, but this is like watching children torture a bug. It's unsettling.

Plot - everybody wants to succeed in the art world, and will do whatever, with whomever or to whomever, to get ahead. If you don't feel that way, watch out. I counted three deaths, and they were all senseless. Ick.

So, the upshot. Good performances do not make a good film.

Paprika (2006)

This is a really cool movie. Did you see Inception? Well, these guys did it first - and in a cartoon. I actually checked to see if there was a credit to Paprika on the "writing" section of Inception on IMDB, but I didn't see one. There are tons of memory issue movies, and so I guess dream movies are picking up the pace.

Visually this is one of the most amazing movies I have ever seen - during the first half I was enthralled. We have people lost in a dream, crazy dialog, a parade of refrigerators, and tons of movie references! Woo hoo! I love movie references in a film. By the second half, I didn't care whose dream it was, if it was a dream within a dream, etc. I knew who the bad guy was (even if you don't get the movie references, you will have seen this villain plot-line before). I was also bored with Inception after an hour, but this movie is shorter and tighter. It also has adult content. Interesting - I recommend it for Anime fans, Inception fans, and people who have seen it all.

Mirror Mirror (2012)

I loved this. I thought it was nearly perfect - a fluffy yet slick interpretation of the damsel in distress with great performances and fun dialog. And perhaps the BEST COSTUMES EVER. And once again, the 7 dwarves steal the show (if the costumes don't). Julia Roberts has more fun here than perhaps should be allowed - can you believe this is her job? She was great, Nathan Lane was great, Armie is silly cute, and Lily Collins is so pretty I hate her. Don't go to this looking for deep thoughts. Go to have fun. You won't be disappointed.

FYI - the costume designer for this movie was Eiko Ishioka, who won an Oscar for the Dracula costumes (and she won a Grammy for album design, etc. etc.) She recently died at 73 from pancreatic cancer, which just blows. There's a great article about her in this month's W if you want a retrospective.

Criss Cross (1949)

I love noir. There is a fair amount of variety in the genre, but often it's just a guy falling for the wrong girl. He knows it's a mistake, everyone tells him it's a mistake, but he loves her. And he doesn't realize his mistake until it's way too late.

This one is top quality. Burt Lancaster and Yvonne De Carlo are the leads, and very easy on the eyes. The sets are great, the dialog steamy, and they even dance the rumba. What more do you need?