Great New Wonderful

Bittersweet, touching, and quite funny at times.

This film will always have a place in my mind because it is the first film I ever saw at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The center is an amazing place to watch cinema and the programs they run are addictive.

The thing that makes this movie great is the way it takes a look at how 9/11 affected Americans after 9/11. There is no direct reference to 9/11. Yet through Tony Shalhoub's wonderfully subtle comic performance and then Jim Gaffigan's performance, you see those two characters interact in way that is different than it would have been before 9/11. You see a family struggling to raise a child after 9/11. Maggie Gyllenhaal shows why she is becoming the go-to actress for independent film. Her range and skill and beauty are exquisite. But it's in a way that no studio flick could ever use properly.

Stephen Colbert's appearance is damn good as it should be. His few lines and character moves the film forward, which is the key to the entire film. There isn't really a story but the characters advance the story so it becomes a model for what people might be feeling nowadays after 9/11.

6/10

Day the Earth Stood Still

10/10

Shallow Grave

I became interested in this thing the IFC channel was doing where they showed Pulp Indies Fri-Sat nights during the summer. I saw Blade Runner (a favorite) because of Pulp Indies. And so, I loaded a list and Shallow Grave was on it. Even better, I saw that Ewan McGregor was in it. So, I gave this a shot.

It was mildly disappointing. I thought it'd be a great look into the characters of people living together who bury a roommate and lie about his death and try to make money off of it, etc. This is a movie that is what it is. It's not an exemplary film at all. And after I was done or even 30 min. before this was over, I found myself saying "Why?" Why should I care?

5/10

RoboCop

I'm a sucker for the science fiction genre. I'm even more of a sucker for a simplistic movie of this nature. It's RoboCop. I am not even gonna break this down. A city's gone to hell and the city leaders need something to eradicate crime. One guy wants a giant fuckin' bot and the other wants RoboCop. Ths city is corrupt and RoboCop is not. This is like Terminator without the naked male nude scenes and no bad Arnold catch phrases. I'd watch this over Terminator any day.

9/10

Night Listener

Robin Williams gives an amazing performance in this surprisingly good film. The premise for this movie, while it is another "based on a true story" flick, is intriguing. And I like the fact that I went to IMDB.com and saw some prude bloviating about how that disturbing sex scene in the moving is filthing the young minds of America.

Rory Culkin plays a kid in this movie who has lived a disturbing childhood and he writes a book that Robin Williams' character reads. Robin does a radio show where he reads stories and the kid has listened for most of his life. The kid's mother is Donna and she is rather creepy in the movie. But the catch is you never see the mother and the kid or the kid and the mother. And if by now you are confused, understand there is no easy way to explain this movie. It' just a sweet short 79 minute film that has a great independent touch to it.

7/10

Flirting With Disaster

won't hesitate. This isn't really that good at all. And it has Alan Alda, Ben Stiller, Lily Tomlin, and... I hardly laughed and found this to be a boring and very strained story.

Did I mention this has Alan Alda, Ben Stiller, Lily Tomlin, and... so this should have made me laugh at some point. Those people seem like actors that would make a film enjoyable even if a story sucked. But nope, it didn't matter. This is just a basic cheap romantic comedy. Kinda like Home Fries. And I hated that.

4/10

Naked Lunch

I saw this purely for the fact that it was Criterion Collection. And with that, I expected something stunning and amazing. I mean, it's Criterion Collection fuckers! How could a Criterion movie suck?

So, if you haven't seen this don't bother reading farther. This is a far-out weird movie that I would probably never watch again but nonetheless found to be a nice piece of work. David Cronenberg puts together a nice hallucinogenic movie about writing and all the stresses involved. The typewriters are like aliens and well the way it starts going and how Peter Weller is an exterminator is good. It pulls you right in to this fantasy being created.


7/10

Slacker

I picked up a book about the first decade of independent cinema (1984-1994) by John Pierson called Spike, Mike, Slackers, and Dykes. (You can see Silent Bob reading this in Mallrats while Jay is reading a porno mag.) This book has an interview with Kevin Smith running throughout it. I decided I wanted to see all the movies highlighted in this book and Slacker was one of them. I did not realize I was going to see a movie from a director who had done School of Rock and Scanner Darkly, both films I liked.

I knew this movie would be low-budget. I had no idea that I was going to see a style never used before in film. The film is pure A+ dialogue and features excellent characters that you meet in this small Texas town. The film takes place in one day (a concept Kevin Smith later tapped into) and the movie advances by a changing of characters. One person talks to one who then talks to another who then talks to another and so forth.

This was enjoyable and very original. This is really a good movie and despite some lulls in the movie I liked it a lot.

9/10

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Getting down to it, how long will it take for the masses who see this picture to realize that this is smart, relentless satire that wittily goes after a culture that has dominated much of America?

Let's lay the comedy aside here for right now. Sure, the story is good for what it's worth. Ricky Bobby wants to be #1. He wants go fast. And you are either first or last. He eats a lot of fast food and Applebee's is gourmet. The French guy comes and tries to take Ricky's #1 spot. But alas, Ricky will not let that happen so after a chain of comic events Ricky comes out beating him finally keeping French guy from winning. Oh and better, the French guy is gay---he has a few same-sex kisses in the movie. So, on the surface that is satisfying for any NASCAR-lovin' fan. And for all the right wingers who love NASCAR, it sits well with them too.

Pull back the curtain to see the reality and this is Adam McKay poking serious fun at the way so many Americans think. It's outrageously funny and easy to laugh at. From all these dopey things, a great gang of characters spring forth. And I loved laughing at them. It was hilarious.

So, the big question is will the public see this as another Anchorman or a movie that fits well with a movie like Thank You For Smoking? Cause I think it serves to paint a satirical portrait of Americans more than it serves as just being fun.

8/10



Nice work Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. And thank you Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Gary Cole, and others for bringing Adam McKay's movie to life. The improv-ed scenes are awesome also.

Stranger Than Paradise

I read about this movie. What I presumed was that this was where independent cinema that we see today got its start. And I wasn't wrong for that. This is the father of all independent film. And from that, Clerks was born. Slacker was born before. And so on and so forth.

That said, I found this really boring at times to watch. I can respect a historical film in cinema, but I also have no problem admitting that there were many point where I just drifted away forgetting that I was actually sitting on my couch watching a movie. My senses are just not set up to process independent film the way they should. I get some of it but not all of it yet. I hope some day I will. But for this film, which is regarded as a masterpiece, I just saw a slow moving three act play put on film to maybe possibly tell a story.

And the story is, while slow, a good one. When you really think about it, these guys gamble for a living and live a pretty low life. This girl from Hungary comes over and visits Willie and then meets Edson, a friend of Willie's. Willie is related to this girl but he is asked to babysit. Make sure America doesn't hurt her. So, he reluctantly does but he wants to vacation and tries and tries and tries again. But they never quite get the vacation they want. Acting is very subtle and superb.

This is a low budget great, too.

The ending is great, different and deeply artistic. After all is said and done, you think to yourself that wasn't half bad in fact there's a lot of thought behind it.

7/10



---and that's totally because I believe one should respect the roots of a great movement, independent cinema.

A Scanner Darkly

Unforeseen circumstances had me walking in about 10 minutes into the movie. That being said, I probably missed an important part of the setup and establishment of the storyline. Still the same, this film was very intriguing to me. I am a fan of Philip K. Dick's work. They are always thought provoking. And what I like is being able to forget the actors and just think about the story being told.

Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, etc. all play their parts well in this animated movie. But you don't walk out remembering their performances. You walk out remembering how different and fucked up the world was that these characters were living in. You remember Substance D. And from what I saw (and without reading the actual story yet), I can only assume that the rehabilitation center was creating Substance D, the one that helps people get off of the substance supposedly. That is the enslavement part of it all. There's another layer here that I am missing. I know I will get it if I read the story. I only get the drug aspect and the scanner part is still fragmented in my mind. Where it fits in, I don't know. The drug aspect was intriguing to me. But the film is bigger when you throw in the scanner.

I don't even know what I am talking about. I give this a 7/10 but I say that I need to view it again to fully grasp all that is being said.

Greatest Game Ever Played

Nostalgic flick about an era long forgotten in golf history but probably astutely remembered by the pros, this movie was just okay. I found this to have a choppy storyline, a lack of character development, and I also found the effects used on the golf course to detract from the story.

Shia LeBeouf plays his character well. And out of all the characters and pro Harry Vardon, they are the ones you see develop. But what the screenwriter did here made it tough to answer all the questions that needed answered in the movie. The length was too short for the double storyline, which consisted of a conflict between Frances and his father and then a conflict between the British and the Americans. Actually, there is a third because Frances and the whole entire golf establishment have a conflict too. The writer has too much material here and doesn't let it develop in the time the movie lasts.

So what you have is a dull movie that just kind of peaks your interest in the game of golf. But really, every second I just wanted to watch Legend of Bagger Vance instead , which to me is a better movie.

5/10