what, when, where, format, and sometimes thoughts.
theme by nostrich.
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Tiny Furniture 4.30.12 home/demand
I had been reticent to see this, fearing I’d find it tortuous and shallow and, like multiple other current mumblecore-y lacking any type of design, presuming that by it’s mere existence it would demand merit and attention. Happy to report it was much more benign and innocuous than I anticipated. Yes, it deals with the problems of rich white artsy-fartsy types and yes there is a whole hipster-ish underbelly that exposes itself more frequently than I need to see (if you follow that) but I ended up not hating it.
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People vs George Lucas 5/1/12 home demand
Mildly entertaining but it runs out of gas mid-way through or so. I suppose if you’re a fanatic or buff it means different things to you than me. Most interesting for the question of ownership: is there ever a point when an artist’s work no longer belongs to them? or rather, does one cede ownership for huge success?
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Close Encounters of the Third Kind 4.29.12 home/dvd
I hadn’t seen this in 20 yrs or so. 1st time seeing for M. This is Spielberg at his best, the whole child-like, starry-eyed innocent thing he summons which can be toxic when it doesn’t work and sublime when it does. Typically I’m watching a film and a running intellectual dialogue is going at the same time about shots, cuts, form etc. Here that voice was silent and I just found myself watching and enjoying, thinking about nothing beyond the movie itself. If anything the how-good this movie is illuminated how-ungood Super-8 is, despite Super-8’s reverence it lacks the unifying cohesion of this film, its innocence for lack of a better term. Groundbreaking vfx, even if they don’t date that well. Love the dreyfuss-train effect, w/ locked-off camera and rotating truck. genius! Oh, and Truffaut! If there’s a criticism it’s the predictable anthropomorphism of alien life forms, but a minor complaint.
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How To Die in Oregon 4.24.12 home/dvd
This sat on our shelf for several weeks. Never could find the right moment to watch it. Finally the library due-date impelled us to put it in. I was weeping inside 90 seconds. Several intersecting facets of my life in this film. A) shot in Portland B) features a hospital I was treated at in 2005 for brain tumor C) features all the attendant details, hopes, fears, darknesses, errata that I lived through in 2005 which feel just as present and unforgiving now as then (though I got to escape back to ‘real life’ through the portal of successful treatment and exceedingly good luck) D) got to hear filmmaker Peter Richardson at a taping of Live Wire last year because my wife Margaret was also a guest. E) friends and loved ones have died or been diagnosed since 2005. All by way of saying, I was affected in profound ways by this film. The profoundest revelation is, as always, the simplest: life is short.
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The Boys Are Back 4.16.12 home/dvd
Watched this over 2 nights. A man and his sons. Rebirth after trauma. This does a decent job of being emotional w/o being saccharine even though you know every single beat of the plot before it happens. Which is a way of saying: this was better than I thought it would be considering the narrative blurb on the dvd case and the director’s prior efforts (not that I’ve seen them all. I saw ‘hearts in atlantis’ though. that was enough). Love the honeyed landscapes and the photography.
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Into the Abyss 4.12.12 home/blu-ray
a hybrid of police procedural, anthropology study, and philosophical inquiry all through the distinct viewpoint of Herzog, who lets the camera run where others would cut and who includes the seemingly meaningless chatter and small talk of his subjects that another director would omit. It’s not a barrel of yuks obviously but the fact it aims at profound, unanswerable questions is worth the price of admission.
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My Week With Marilyn 4/7/12 home/blu-ray
A mid-range sort of film that’s outshined by titular performance. I can only imagine the pressure to play someone so well-documented and iconic but M. Williams seems easy breezy and effortless in this, able to capture underlying humanity and psychosis. It’s also kind of fun to see K. Branagh playing Olivier. still, not a great or necessary story but a watchable enough enterprise.
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A Dangerous Method 4.5.12 home/dvd
the only thing I loved more than this movie was seeing DC at AFI on the extras
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The Muppets 4.3.12 home/dvd
profoundly moving piece of cinema. the best I’ve seen in many a moon!
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Margaret 4.2.12 home/dvd
watched this over 2 nights. did not like the first 45 min or so but eventually it got its claws into me and by the end I really liked it. narratively it’s a like one of those giant burritos, stuffed with all manner of ingredients (some might argue too many ingredients) that you end up enjoying even if not everything needed to be there (if you follow that). Some scenes really soared in this, some did not. Interestingly all the ones featuring the director as A. Paquin’s dad I thought failed, narratively and thespian-ally. More interesting than the film was reading about the backstory behind it. wow.
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