That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)

This is a Bunuel film, so it's good. I didn't like it, but it's good. A middle-aged to older, wealthy French gentleman becomes entranced with his beautiful maid. He makes advances, she quits. He runs into her again, she encourages him, he gives her money, she leaves. This continues - he chases, she teases. She tells him she's a virgin, and teases him mercilessly.

And interesting point is that Conchita is played by two different actresses. They don't look alike, and they have very different temperaments. It's an effective conceit. She claims to be a virgin and never lets him touch her or have sex.

These two people are so messed up and so unlikeable that the movie isn't necessarily fun to watch. But we've all seen these couples. Maybe not this extreme - but we've seen them. And the conceit and arrogance of this rich man is insane. But the gal - she's just as arrogant. Youth and sex appeal and beauty are her assets, while his is money. And they are perfect for each other.

If you like movies, watch this one.

Robot and Frank (2012)

This is an interesting movie. It has a great cast, solid to great performances, good pacing and a film style that really works. But the end is pretty sad. I'm not sure I want to watch it again, because that end was realistic.

Frank Langella plays Frank, an aging jewel thief who is sinking into dementia. He wants to live alone, but it's getting harder. His son gets him a home health care robot (this is a bit in the future), which Frank originally detests. But he soon figures out that his robot can help him become an active thief again.

The memory issue is not going to go away, however, and that's why the ending is sad. I'm glad it was.

Susan Sarandon and James Marsden are great in this. I recommend it.

Brute Force (1947)

This is a decent prison movie, but a bit too sappy for me. It has a good ending though.

Burt Lancaster plays a tough con trying to break out of prison to get to his cancer-stricken girlfriend (sappy). Hume Cronyn is the violent, piece of shit prison guard who hopes to use the prison break as a stepping stone to warden.

Best part of the movie? Burt Lancaster picking up Hume C, holding him overhead and throwing him out of the guard tower.

Prometheus (2012)

This is a hot mess by Ridley Scott, and he should have known better. Prometheus is the ship that takes us to the beginning of the Alien / Aliens saga (because 4 movies already weren't enough?), and it does so poorly. I still don't understand the opening scene. Answers to the story really aren't shown to us, they're given in declarative sentences by characters - because the movie makes no sense.

Basic problem with Prometheus - too many story lines and too many characters. The best of the earlier films had a core group slowly getting picked off. This has a father / daughter conflict, sex, a pregnancy - all kinds of predictable shit that doesn't belong in an Alien flick. It needs to be tight and tense.

Second problem - we've seen it all before - and done much better - by Ridley Scott himself. Skip this and pop in the first two again. They are still groundbreaking and fresh.

Best thing about the film? Scott likes strong females who survive. But Noomi Rapace is no Sigourney Weaver; she was miscast.

Pitch Perfect (2012)

This is a totally predictable movie about an all-girls a cappella group that has lost its way, only to be revitalized by new members - who totally care about the music.

It relies a lot on stereotypes and way, way too much on vomit humor. They should have skipped the vomiting and had more singing. Also - Rebel Wilson was underused!

Anyway, it's a decent rental.

Taste of Cherry (1997)

This is a very highly regarded and well reviewed movie, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's fun. The movie starts with a man driving around Iran (city and then country) looking to pick someone up off the street. He approaches several men, and there is an interesting ratcheting up of tension here. As a viewer, I started by assuming he was looking for sex, for he keeps saying he has a job for the men - an easy job that will pay well. But before he explains the job it somehow becomes apparent that this is not about sex. It's much more serious.

Eventually we learn that the man wants to commit suicide. He has dug a hole in the hills, and wants someone to come by in the morning to bury him. We never learn why, but the man is adamant.

This driving tour introduces us to many types of people, and we see something of life in Iran. And we hear some philosophy about life. And the ending is really cool. But this is not cheery. If you are interested in what movie industries around the world are up to, you should see this one.

Angel Face (1952)

This is really good noir directed by one of the best, Otto Preminger. I particularly like Jean Simmons playing against type as the bad girl.

Robert Mitchum is Frank, an ambulance driver who meets 19 year-old Diane when her step-mother almost dies from a gas leak. Diane hits on him, steals him from his girlfriend, and brings him on as chauffeur in the home of her father and rich stepmother. Frank soon understands that Diane wants to kill her stepmother, and he leaves. But the stepmother dies, and Frank is implicated in the murder. They get married to have a better defense, but Frank now hates Diane. Will she let him leave, though?

There are some great lines in old noir, like this one:  Is it a complicated thing, or could anyone do it, even a woman?

Funny - murder is too complicated for a woman? Noir tells us again and again that that is so much hooey.

Peeping Tom (1960)

I could not look away from this movie! I was expecting something really disgusting, because it apparently killed the career of director Michael Powell. Well, times have changed. This movie is disturbing, but not particularly scary. We discover in the first scene that our guy is a murderer, and a particularly grisly murderer at that. We then see him peeping in the ground floor windows of his apartment building. Despite this, he is likeable.

We learn through films of him as a youngster that his father experimented on Mark with various methods of torture. Mark is soon one messed up kid, and then a murdering adult. He's also a photographer.

This movie is about watching, and about how a camera can remove the photographer from the people in front of the lens. If you're interested in the evolution of horror, pick this one up.

Onibaba (1964)

This is an interesting movie about fear and paranoia and what makes a person human versus an animal.

In feudal Japan a woman and her daughter-in-law make a living by killing isolated samurai and selling their armor for food. They are close to starvation and scrounging food wherever they can. The scraping and struggling they go through is well portrayed. Even without the murder, these two feel very far from human.

When a deserter arrives home and tells the women that their son / husband has died, things start to disintegrate. The daughter-in-law takes up with the deserter, each of them scratching a sexual itch that is interesting to watch. They run through the fields and fall to the ground in the tall grass just like they are in heat. Which is exactly the point. The mother becomes very concerned that her daughter-in-law will leave her for the deserter. When she kills a samurai who wears a mask, she starts to put it on in secret and hides in the field in order to frighten her daughter into returning home.

But things backfire. The mask won't come off. And when it does, she looks demonic even without it, and her daughter-in-law runs in fear. I didn't like this movie, and don't want to watch it again, but it was mesmerizing. 

Sansho the Bailiff (1954)

This reminds me in mood of The Bicycle Thief or Umberto D - life is hard and people treat each other like shit.

The setting here is 11th century Japan, where a local nobleman is exiled for defying the military and helping the peasants. Before leaving, he tells his young son to remember mercy for others is the most important quality in a person.

His wife and children are eventually kidnapped, separated and sold into prostitution and slavery, respectively. Ten years pass, with the mother trying to escape continually; eventually her captors cut the tendon in her foot, hobbling her. The brother and sister grow up in slavery, and the brother forgets his father's lessons on mercy. But one day he and his sister are breaking branches in the forest, and the action is identical to their actions the night before their kidnapping. The son remembers his father and starts to change.

This movie is a classic by Kenji Mizoguchi, and it will grip you. By the end I was hating humanity, particularly since there are still slaves in the world. It seems like we've learned nothing. But the movie is wonderful.

The Paperboy (2012)

This movie is a mess. It was directed by Lee Daniels, who previously directed Precious. Some of the tricks that worked in that movie, like dream sequences, do NOT work in this film. They make this movie harder to follow and more jittery, and it already has plenty of problems.

The first problem would be the script - it has too many story lines (adapted for the screen by Lee Daniels). The relationship between two brothers, their housekeeper, their womanizing dad, their missing mom. There is a murder mystery, closeted homosexuality, the psychology of a woman who is attracted to prisoners, racism, corrupt sheriffs. Some of these stories needed to go, but instead they're all crammed in.

Perhaps even more problematic is the mood of the film. There are many types of disturbing that can occur in a film. Quentin T pushes buttons and disturbs, but his movies attract while they repel. The subject matter of some films disturbs while being artistic. This film was disturbing in its ugliness and its jarring behavior.

John Cusack plays a repellant, evil criminal. Why Nicole Kidman's character is attracted to him is beyond comprehension and not explained. They have a nauseating and bizarre sex scene in a prison interview room in front of three witnesses - and I don't know why. I don't understand what it added to the film. Most of the people in the film wear clothes, but Zac Efron spends half his screen time in tightie - whities. He's very attractive, but I'm not sure there's a reason for the lack of clothes. The film is jarring. Some of the performances are interesting, but they don't hang together as a whole. I applaud Matthew M for trying new things, and it's too bad this movie is not a better representation of his abilities. Macy Gray as the housekeeper was the high point for me. Nevertheless, I would skip this one.

Near Dark (1987)

This is Kathryn Bigelow's second film, it appears. She also co-wrote this one. A very young Adrian Pasdar (married to Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks for many years) is a cowboy who falls in lust with a beautiful young gal one night in the parking lot of the corner store. He gives her a ride home, and she bites him. He becomes a very reluctant vampire. He doesn't want to kill and would rather return home to his dad and sister. He cannot, though, as he must stay close to Mae, the vampire who bit him.

I  believe this is a cult classic. It is atmospheric, violent, has a strong Mad Max vibe, and great performances. There is a little kid vampire who is really great. He is played by Joshua John Miller, the half brother of Jason Patric. An acting family.

Bishop and Lt. Vasquez from Aliens are in this movie, which always makes me curious. Did they recommend each other for various rules in different movies? Is there a common producer I didn't notice?

The ending of this is a little different - not traditional vampire, and not traditional at all really. (There is more than one person saving the day, including women.)

The Old Dark House (1932)

This was really cool! I read about this movie in a book on horror - it's very early, black and white, plus it is pre-code. The pre-code means the sexual overtones are strong - as are the images of a madman attacking the hero with his teeth.

It is not scary, but it's a lot of fun. A bunch of travelers get stuck at an old mansion on a dark and windy night, and the family in residence is bonkers. The butler, Morgan, is played by Lon Chaney - he's unrecognizable, as usual. Lon Chaney was a master with makeup. I recommend this for movie lovers.

Altered States (1980)

This movie starts out to be really fun! An asshole scientist (played by William Hurt - is anyone better at playing an asshole intellectual?) believes that by entering a hullucinatory state (taking drugs) he can perhaps regress into visions of the creation of man - identify the true self.

Well, instead he reverts into a caveman, running around and slaughtering goats or sheep at the local zoo. He's still an asshole, and doesn't care that he might hurt people during his caveman state. But his wife still loves him, and they overcome in the end.

I hated the end! Stupid stupid stupid American ending. The effects are terrible, but this was 1980. Why are women naked in movies more than men? But the beginning was fun. You could do worse for a rental.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (1985)

God I miss the 80's. But with movies like this around, I can re-visit them at will.

This movie showcases a young Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt, and a very young Shannen Doherty. SJP is new to town and meets wild and crazy Lynne (HH) at private school. The local dance show is auditioning for a new duo, and the gals sneak out and audition. The get grounded, meet new guys, crash a party and overcome the machinations of the local rich bitch.

So basically, there is limited plot and abundant cuteness. It was great.

Saw I through VI

Well, I've been making fun of these for years, so I finally watched them.

Saw (2004) - Watchable, but not scary. Low production quality, terrible makeup (final scenes with Carey Elwes - check the white Kobuki crap going on) and really bad effects. Illogical, but an interesting story. The crimes are very disturbing but not particularly graphic. Carey Elwes is a terrible actor! How was he so fabulous in The Princess Bride - was it an aberration?

Saw II (2005) - Better than the first. Watch the car chases, etc. This is a crack-up. These movies are really made on the cheap! And they are not at all scary - they are sucking people in with the continuing saga of Jigsaw and his manifesto.

Saw III (2006) - Boring and too many long camera shots of feet being twisted off, etc. Hardly watched this one.

Saw IV (2007) - Gross out beginning. Not my thing. Thank GOD for the FF button. I wasn't curious to start with, but now I'm actively bored.

SAW V and VI - I don't care. Cannot bring myself to pop them in.

Amour (2012)

I was not particularly looking forward to watching this one, but it's nominated for awards, so off I went with a couple of friends. Sometimes I love having low expectations!

This is a fantastic work of art - and it is aptly named. Amour is a love story, but it's not about new love; it's about what happens to love when sickness and death arrive. It is not an uplifting story. I never want to see it again, but I'm very glad I've seen it.

Michael Haneke directed Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva as the couple in their 80's, living a privileged life in Paris. She gets sick, and everything ends. George and Anne have had a good life, and the changes they face are dramatic.

My friends felt it dragged in parts, and should have moved more quickly. I feel this slowness was intentional. It puts us better in the shoes of a couple who are living with a situation that is interminable.

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Werner Herzog is one of my favorite directors, but this is not my fav Herzog film. This is a fantastic film, and an amazing endeavor, but not my fav.

Herzog wrote this epic, a story about Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (called Fitzcarraldo by the South American natives), who wants to build an opera house in the jungle. He's broke, however, so he borrows money from his girlfriend, Molly, in order to buy a steamboat. And here the story really gets interesting. He and a team take the boat up the Amazon, then attempt to portage it over a mountain. Herzog actually did this in the film, as that's how he rolls. There is a reason for this plan - by carrying the boat over the mountain, the group can avoid a dangerous rapids.

The scenery, the cinematography, the story - all top-notch. Fitzcarraldo is played by Klaus Kinski, and Molly is played by Claudia Cardinale. Both are fantastic. But I will confess I fast-forwarded over a lot of the long scenery shots.

The Last Wave (1977)

This is a solid and unusual film, but not my favorite by director Peter Weir. Richard Chamberlain stars as an attorney, David Burton, who is brought on to defend a group of aboriginal men accused of murder. There are possible tribal overtones to the murder, plus end-of-days type weather events occurring throughout the country. Burton is having strange dreams that appear to be premonitions. In true Weir fashion, the ending does NOT clear things up. Which I like.

Also try Picnic at Hanging Rock and Green Card, two very different and very good films by Weir.

End of Watch (2012)

This is a really solid movie. It follows two young cops, Brian and Mike, played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena, as they move through their days in South Central LA. This is an ugly world, but these two seem to be a couple of genuine good guys. They see every day how horrible people are, but they are still happy with their family, their job, their friendship.

They make life a bit harder for a Mexican cartel; they end up on a hit list. Through it all, we get a real sense of how profound the friendship between a couple of cops can be - or has to be?

The horrible violence they see every day is shown primarily through hand held video. This method works for the film, the acting is great, the distractions are few, the criminals are truly frightening. If you like a cop film, this is far better than most.

Trees Lounge (1996)

This movie was written and directed by Steve Buscemi (the "funny looking guy" from Fargo; Nucky from Boardwalk Empire), so I guess it's a vanity project. And I suspect that half the cast (Samuel L.  Jackson, for example) is friend or family. But does it count as a vanity project if the character Buscemi portrays, Tommy, is a total dirtbag?

Tommy is an unemployed, alcoholic mechanic. He's been ditched by his long-time girlfriend and his best friend, who are now together and expecting a baby. They both still like him - Tommy's a likeable guy - but there's no helping Tommy. He sinks lower and lower, ruining every relationship in his life.

That life centers around a bar, Trees Lounge, where we see the regulars. Old men and women who spend all their waking hours in the bar, playing cards and drinking and talking to each other if sober enough. It's a sad sight, and this is a sad movie - but not maudlin. We like Tommy, but we definitely see where he is heading. And so does he - that's what makes it so sad.

As far as the writing and directing go - this movie is well done. The famous case shows itself to advantage, whether in the tiniest role, and the pacing is awesome. There is tension, disappointment, and resignation. It's a good show.

Your Sister's Sister (2011)

I didn't like this much. It is really cute and sweet, and the characters say all the right things after doing really stupid things.

Mark Duplass plays Jack, who is in love with Iris (Emily Blunt). She's in love with him, too, but neither acknowledges it. Jack goes to Iris's family home, supposedly empty, to clear his head, and finds Iris's sister there. Hannah, played by Rosemarie DeWitt, is a lesbian who just walked out of a seven year relationship.

Hannah and Jack have drunken sex. Iris shows up to tell Jack she loves him, and it's all pretty stupid. It gets more stupid than I've described, but you'll have to watch it yourself for that surprise.

Ruby Sparks (2012)

This is not my favorite romantic comedy - not by a long shot - but I don't think it wants to be. It has an interesting premise, probably because it was written by a woman. Zoe Kazan wrote and starred in this movie (she plays Ruby Sparks) - which is one way to solve the problem of finding good roles as an actress.

Paul Dano plays Calvin, an author who found incredible success as a 19 year-old. Ten years later he is alone and lonely, and not exactly what he seems. His shrink (Elliott Gould) tells him to write a page of a novel, and further suggests it be a bad love story.

Calvin starts a bad novel about his dream woman (really - he saw her in a dream) and enters a state of writing bliss - until the woman appears in his house. His writing made her real. Other people can see her and talk to her, but she does exactly what he writes - as soon as he hits the return bar on his typewriter.

Ruby doesn't know she is fiction, and she finds out in a horrifying scene that demonstrates Zoe Kazan's abilities as an actress. The supporting roles are also fantastic - in particular I liked Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas as Calvin's mom and step-dad. 

I recommend this - and I'm curious if you feel that the first part of the movie is ridiculous and sweet. I did, but that was the build-up, and it eventually worked for me.

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

In terms of technical ability and skill, this is probably the best movie of the year, yet Kathryn Bigelow was not nominated for Best Director. How frustrating and confusing. What was the Academy thinking?

This topic is complicated, yet the movie is not hard to follow. The pacing is excellent, the tension builds to a fantastic level, and she covers ten years of time without weird editing problems and bad decisions about where to focus. She gives us a character to root for, even if we are not able to understand that character's motivations all the time - which actually makes the character more interesting, I think.  There is one ending and one beginning. There was one line I felt to be out of place (how picky am I?), but it was supposed to be comic relief.  So ok.

And yet she did not get nominated. What the fuck are you supposed to do to get nominated?

This is about the ten year hunt for Osama Bin Laden. It is told primarily from the view of an agent who follows down leads in this search over ten years. That agent, Maya, is played by Jessica Chastain, and she is a cypher. It's a great perspective for the story, and Chastain deserves the Best Actress nomination. And considering that Marion Cotillard did not get nominated, she might deserve the win.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)

About this time of year, you will find endless "best movies of the year" lists out there. Some of them will blow you away because you'll disagree with the picks so much.

I believe my favorite reviewer in the country is Manohla Dargis from the NY Times. I enjoy her top ten for the year, even though I usually haven't seen half the films. This is frustrating, but half the films critics see are not available to the regular viewer, unfortunately. Also, Manohla usually has some surprises on her list. This year, she listed The Pirates! as one of her picks for Best Picture, and Hugh Grant for Best Actor.

I hadn't even heard of the movie. But I have now - and it's awesome. This is animation of the Wallace and Gromit style, which is cool. The dialog and humor are pure British, which is fantastic and refreshing. (The best thing about being a pirate is Ham Night, for example.)  I watched it twice.

Hugh Grant is the Pirate Captain, who desperately wants to be Pirate of the Year. He's been nominated and denied for 20 years or so. The problem? He's not a very good pirate, even though he loves "running people through" and making them walk the plank. Adventure takes precedence over gold. But this year he is determined, and trouble follows.

Pick it up.

Footnote (2011)

The best movies about family dynamics that I've seen over the last couple of years have been A Separation (Iran) and Footnote (Israel). Both these movies show how complicated relationships are - how one person can be both good and bad, and how impossible it can be to do the right thing. What is the right thing? Would you know it if it bit you in the butt?

In Footnote we meet two male Shkolnick family members - father and son - Eliezer and Uriel. Both teach Talmudic studies, but the father has toiled in obscurity and the son has become a star. The father is obviously bitter and jealous of the son. The son loves being a celebrity. When the father mistakenly gets a call informing him he has won a hugely prestigious prize, he starts to celebrate. Unfortunately, the call was supposed to go to the son. What's the right thing in this situation?

This is a great story, well-filmed and well-acted. It has a jaunty attitude and excellent pacing, and I really loved the ending. Pick it up. The director is Joseph Cedar, and I need to see what else he's done.

The Impossible (2012)

This is a solid movie that chronicles one family's vacation turned hell during the December 26, 2004 tsunami. The family is by the pool when the water hits. The dad, Ewan McGregor, is in the pool with their two younger sons. Mom, Naomi Watts, and the oldest son are both standing in different places outside the pool. 

Amazingly enough, the entire family survives, which means they had a pretty good vacation if viewed from the distance of several years. The movie shows many families who do not fare as well. Most of the movie chronicles the path of Maria, the mom, and the oldest son. They both emerge in the moving water within sight of each other, manage to get close and hold on. Maria is injured badly, but they get to a hospital. The chaos of the hospital, the kindness of strangers, the desperate search for family members, the upheaval all around - that's what the movie is about, and it is is well portrayed.

The movie is not perfect, but it is really good. The kids' performances blew my mind. It's tense, though, and hard to watch at times. I recommend it. 

Killer Joe (2012)

This movie is twisted. Disturbingly twisted - but good (not excellent). If you don't mind twisted, and you want to see a couple of good performances, pick this up.

The good performances are by Matthew McConaughey and Juno Temple, playing very odd roles. Matthew M is blowing my mind this year. I'm very glad he is halting the rom-com action.

So here's the deal - there's a family in this movie. Gina Gershon is stepmom to the son, Emile Hirsch, and the daughter, Juno Temple. The dad is Thomas Haden Church. The son is a loser, and he and stepmom dislike each other intensely. Dad is a loser, and he probably knows it. Most of the family dislike each other, but they all like and care for the daughter / sister, Dottie. Dottie is impaired in some way, but it's not discussed. She is out in the world, and can buy food, and cook, but she doesn't work, and she's not all there. She lives in a trailer with stepmom and dad.

The son, Chris, is in trouble with drug dealers, and needs some money. Dad doesn't have it, but is open to the idea of killing his ex-wife for a life insurance policy supposedly listing Dottie as beneficiary. Nobody wants to do the actual killing, so they decide to hire Killer Joe, a cop who does contract kills on the side. Joe (Matthew M) is one twisted fucker. Joe doesn't work on a percentage - cash up front only. This family doesn't have cash up front, but Joe has taken a shine to Dottie, and takes her as a retainer. Dottie does what her family wants.

And then things get really ugly. The end of this is movie is very interesting. If I ever meet this family, or a cop like killer Joe, I really hope I recognize it. Because I will run.

One major beef - two females here show full frontal nudity, but not Matthew M. I am sick of this shit! Why the hell aren't the guys stepping up? Matthew M appears to have all leg and chest hair removed. I want to see more.  What's he got going on that he doesn't want us to see?

The Wedding Banquet (1993)

I love Ang Lee, and yet I had never seen this film. And it's awesome. How did that happen?

This film is not evidence of pure mastery like some of his later work (Crouching TIger, Brokeback, Life of Pi), but it's great on several fronts. First, as a non-Chinese person, I really enjoyed learning about and watching traditional Chinese culture meet American life. It's fascinating. The wedding banquet scene alone is priceless, but watch the various scenes to see who carries luggage at the airport - this is shown to us multiple times for a reason.

The basic story is about a gay Chinese guy living in American with his American partner. His parents in Taiwan do not know he's gay, and they want babies. So he marries a tenant who needs a green card to get them off his back - and of course that doesn't go too well. There is nothing mean in this film - everybody is basically good, and sometimes that's a fun thing to watch. Maybe when the director is Ang Lee and he knows what he's doing.