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• September, 2008

• King Corn (2007) 4/5

  2008-09-06 11:41

  

  King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat-and how we farm.

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• Blood Diamond (2006) 2.5/5

  2008-09-03 22:48

  

  It is a mistake to try to merge a Nation article and an action movie. You end up with all the drama and suspense of an back-east editorial and all the thought-provoking insight of a Rambo flick. This movie barely scrapes out this rating for the rather good portrayal of the "lost boys" of Sierra Leone.

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• Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the... 3/5

  2008-09-02 13:41

  

  Okay, me watching this movie is like a priest going to mass. I know the story inside and out. This muckraking documentary on America's personal-debt crisis lays bare the predatory practices of credit card companies and the Bush administration's cozy relationship with the financial services industry. Check it out.

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• Super Size Me (2004) 3/5

  2008-09-02 12:02

  

  Shut up about your genes, put down the hamburger and watch this movie.

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• Cocaine Cowboys (2006) 3/5

  2008-09-01 18:42

  

  At nearly two hours, Cocaine Cowboys (appropriately) doesn't know when to stop talking, but as a chronicle of a demented epoch, it's both entertaining and just about definitive.

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• Große Stille, Die (2005) 3.5/5

  2008-09-01 17:09

  

  The length of this film (2:41) is, in many ways, the point. This wondrously meditative documentary is an artistic portrait depicting solitude. The fact that there is no narration, no dialogue to speak of is remarkable in itself. The only place the camera doesn't go is the brewery. That's where the monks bottle their world famous Chartreuse liqueur, which sustains them financially.

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• August, 2008

• Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) 4/5

  2008-08-29 22:22

  

  Between the wry trademark Jarmusch deadpan humor (and there is quite a bit of it) and the great cast, this one is worth a look, particularly for those already in the Jarmusch camp.

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• Permanent Vacation (1980) 4.5/5

  2008-08-29 20:17

  

  This student film is surprisingly adult about its adolescent preoccupations - and well-nigh unmissable for the Jarmusch fan.

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• Down by Law (1986) 4.5/5

  2008-08-24 21:58

  

  Jim Jarmusch writes and directs movies for people who care about the world around them and don't want everything scrubbed clean and shiny. There are no heroes and villains, no easy moralities, no incessantly confident protagonist stomping around in a deluded parody of confidence. There are only people, in difficult situations, being afraid and shy and human. Real movies for real people about real people - that is Jarmusch's goal, and here he achieves it admirably.

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• Dîner de cons, Le (1998) 4.5/5

  2008-08-21 22:17

  

  Each week, Pierre and his friends organize what is called as "un dîner de cons". Everyone brings the dumbest guy he could find as a guest. Pierre thinks his champ -François Pignon- will steal the show.

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• Fitzcarraldo (1982) 4/5

  2008-08-18 20:55

  

  Director Werner Herzog returns to the exotic locales and obsessive themes of previous works in his Amazon masterpiece, FITZCARRALDO. Klaus Kinski gives a terrifying and determined portrayal of mad genius Fitzcarraldo, whose twin goals of making a fortune off the Amazon rubber trade and bringing an opera house to the jungle give the film its crushing centerpiece--the maniacal leader's Sisyphean efforts at hauling a gigantic steamship over a mountain bank. The single-minded and wickedly energetic Fitzcarraldo moves mountains (and a boat) with his will and along the way acts out a stunning and emotional battle between man and nature, as in the similarly themed Herzog/Kinski collaboration AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD. Herzog's razor-sharp attention to the minutiae of both Fitzcarraldo's madness and the jungle's corresponding apathy and enormity makes the film a breathtaking metaphor for civilization's impact on the natural world. The documentary style of the film (the cast and crew actually hauled the boat over the mountain) gives the tale an urgency and suspense that, combined with Kinski's bravado performance and Herzog's striking sense of landscape, make FITZCARRALDO an unforgettable experience.

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• Últimos zapatistas, héroes... 3/5

  2008-08-13 21:51

  

  The Last Zapatistas, Forgotten Heroes is the chilling testimony of the soldiers who fought beside their General Emiliano Zapata in the 1910 Mexican Revolution. Almost one hundred years later, these survivors of the legendary Liberation Army of the South reveal a truth not to be found in any book. They speak of the failure of the Revolution and of today's neoliberal governments, of the agrarian and ecological disaster threatening their country and of imminent civil war if the Zapatista ideals they represent continue to be ignored. These men and women are chapters of unjust history, abandoned wisdom, banners for Mexico's underprivileged .... they are the Forgotten Heroes. (This documentary includes the historic encounter between members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army and the Zapatista veterans).

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• Amores perros (2000) 4.5/5

  2008-08-08 19:15

  

  The critics were all amazed that a moral message could be the basis of such a raw and violent film. While too long by about 20 minutes, this triptych about the evil that people do, set in Mexico City, is one excellent piece of film making, one I am glad to have seen.

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• Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005) 4/5

  2008-08-05 21:31

  

  The final installment of Park's vengeance trilogy serves up another fearsome helping of human depravity in the name of "righting old wrongs".

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• Oldboy (2003) 4.5/5

  2008-08-04 22:29

  

  Continuing the Vengeance trilogy, Chan-wook Park weaves a chilling tale of imprisonment, revenge, and ultimate vengeance that must be seen to be believed.

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• Boksuneun naui geot (2002) 4/5

  2008-08-01 22:47

  

  Okay, this is a gruesome film. VERY gruesome. But, in its consideration of a world where good intentions go awry, decent people do bad things, and fate deals cruel cards, despite the coldblooded killing and trail of the dead, Mr. Vengeance feels warmly suffused with life.

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• July, 2008

• Rashômon (1950) 5/5

  2008-07-30 15:09

  

  This is the reason that the "Best Foreign Film" category exists at the Academy Awards. Kurosawa tells a story four times through different characters. The characters tell the story different four times. In flash-backs, all as the characters tell them, we see the stories. Are they lying, are they all telling their own truth or is there someone who tells THE truth? The way this is handled by Kurosawa is absolutely masterful. Of course, his direction is great. Together with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa they do a tremendous job with the atmosphere in the woods. With perfect light angles it looks beautiful.

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• The Chiefs (2004) 4/5

  2008-07-28 15:08

  

  In 1977, Paul Newman starred in Slap Shot, a comedy about a hockey team called the Chiefs who find success using constant fighting and violence during games. There really is a Chiefs and this is their story.

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• The Dark Knight (2008) 4.5/5

  2008-07-28 08:30

  

  Pay attention Hollywood - this is how you make a comic book movie.

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• Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo... 2.5/5

  2008-07-23 22:31

  

  This is a loosely strung-together collection of sex, race, and stoner jokes, and is, by any rational standard, a terrible movie, yet I kept laughing at it. Ratings Image N/A Whereas White Castle had a freshness in its humor, Guantanamo goes crude for the sake of crudeness, to the point of ruining entire scenes.

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• Miracle (2004) 4/5

  2008-07-22 22:14

  

  Gavin O'Connor has given us one of the greatest sports movies of all time and the best hockey movie this side of Slap Shot.

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• The Oxford Murders (2008) 1/5

  2008-07-20 22:15

  

  Imagine The Da Vinci Code remade by a philosophy student, set mostly in Oxford bedsits and starring Elijah Wood in the Tom Hanks role, and featuring the world's most unerotic sex scene…

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• Hamlet (2000) 3/5

  2008-07-07 09:43

  

  A Shakespeare B-movie with the plot pared down to the bloody core. The lines are read for the most part with more feeling for the angry-stepchild plot than for the iambic pentameter.

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• June, 2008

• Kung Fu Panda (2008) 4.5/5

  2008-06-29 14:15

  

  Well, that was fun! Okay, so it was entirely predictable, but the fun and antics made that completely unimportant, and Jack Black really makes the film, along with excellent visual presentation, even if I did have to sit in a theatre full of children to see it.

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• May, 2008

• Dnevnoy dozor (2006) 3.5/5

  2008-05-17 22:56

  

  Ornate, high octane and immensely fun, despite the horrible dubbing of the version I saw.

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• Garage (2007) 2.5/5

  2008-05-17 22:55

  

  Garage is a study of how a seemingly insignificant and benign mistake can unravel into a tragedy, given the right circumstances. Lenny Abrahams makes sure that we get close to Josie and fully understand him so that when the fatal mistake is discovered, we are fully invested in Josie's fate. It's a small, melancholy, intricately crafted and beautifully performed film, which unfortunately ends with an unnecessary kick to the balls.

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• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007) (TV) 3/5

  2008-05-14 14:43

  

  A chronicle of how American Indians were displaced as the U.S. expanded west. Based on the book by Dee Brown, this offers a pretty even-handed portrayal of one of the most embarrassing and depressing periods in American history.

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• P.S. I Love You (2007) 1/5

  2008-05-13 14:38

  

  If this is what passes for a "chick flick" (or the "chick lit" it is based on), then it seems that the last 50 years of feminism haven't accomplished anything aesthetic or psycho-social. The moral of the story seems to be that the solution for finding yourself a (horror) woman without a man is to play with shoes and date your dead mans friends.

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• The Golden Compass (2007) 1.5/5

  2008-05-06 21:04

  

  Putnam's books had better be than this boring sequel set-up, but the movie didn't really make me want to find out.

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• April, 2008

• Trigger Man (2007) 4/5

  2008-04-12 18:47

  

  Technique reigns supreme in this very low budget indie horror thriller about three buddies being stalked by a killer. Maximum tension with minimum story - there is no explanation, exposition or character development to speak of, but the atmosphere is spot on and a marvelous sense of time and space.

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• Vantage Point (2008) 1/5

  2008-04-12 11:33

  

  How to create a "political thriller" film, and fail at it: Begin with a naively reductive political view of global terrorism, the sort that affirms, rather than challenges the viewers prejudices. Add to that a high concept film-making gimmick badly executed, with a wrapping so loose and flimsy that you have to stuff it full of red herrings just to make it look taut and interesting. Sprinkle liberally with far-fetched "plot" twists and coat with bombastic excess. Bake for 90 minutes in the fires of wooden acting and pop culture cliche. When it comes out, realize how awful you've mucked it up and tack on a gratuitous chase scene. Watching a badly produced episode of "24" from ten angles doesn't make it better, it makes it a monumentally stupid film. This movie will not challenge your prejudices or views, only your patience.

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• Kurt Cobain About a Son (2006) 4.5/5

  2008-04-12 08:20

  

  Beautifully shot montages of the Pacific Northwest with Cobain explaining his life in voice over. Haunting and sad, this is extremely personal documentary film-making.

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• The Prestige (2006) 2/5

  2008-04-11 22:16

  

  You'd think that in a movie about illusionists, titled after the reveal at the end of the trick, that you wouldn't give away 'the prestige' early, like some bumbling amateur mechanic.

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• Rounders (1998) 2.5/5

  2008-04-11 20:12

  

  I really wanted this movie to be better, but no. Not even the combined talents of Gretchen Mol, Edward Norton, John Turturro, Martin Landau, and Famke Janssencansave this script from itself. Too simple to be engaging, really.

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• Blood Tea and Red String (2006) 2.5/5

  2008-04-02 09:57

  

  I can't really fairly review this film as I only saw about half of it. There is nothing wrong with it technically; the story, animation, etc... are all fine and dandy, but it simply did not hold my interest.

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• March, 2008

• Triplettes de Belleville, Les (2003) 4/5

  2008-03-31 20:02

  

  The brilliant animated story a boy named Champion trains relentlessly for the Tour de France, with the help of his loyal grandmother and overweight dog, Bruno (who loves to bark at passing trains). When the big race comes, Champion and a few of his fellow racers are kidnapped by some box-shouldered thugs who spirit them off to Belleville (a surreal impression of 1930s-1950s Manhattan) where they are forced to pedal as part of a clandestine gambling operation. Bruno and Grandma set out across the sea in a paddle boat to rescue their boy, but once ashore they soon become lost, hungry and penniless--that is, until the frog-eating Triplets of Belleville, former scat-singing jazz prodigies turned experimental musicians, come to their rescue. Filled with inspired, twisted imagery, this nearly dialogue-free film is a crowd-pleaser of unusual power, with the strange, measured pacing of a dream, and a great soundtrack of bizarre, alternate-reality '30s jazz. It also offers a touching and believable evocation of a dog's life. A great throwback to the time before animation became dominated by CGI effects, TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE is a very strange, very loving, and very French salute to obsession, affection, and persistence.

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• Donnie Darko (2001) 4.5/5

  2008-03-30 21:55

  

  Like Being John Malkovich and 2001: A Space Odyssey and too few others, this is one of those mind-melting cinematic achievements.

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• Southland Tales (2006) 4.5/5

  2008-03-23 19:01

  

  Okay, so for the first time, I am going to disagree totally with RottenTomatoes on a film. I thought this was a brilliant, hallucinogenic comedy full of dark, bitter humor. Ham-handed? Yes, but also uproariously funny in the same way Donnie Darko was.

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• Espinazo del diablo, El (2001) 4.5/5

  2008-03-22 19:12

  

  During the Spanish Civil War, newly orphaned Carlos is taken to a school for the children of those who died fighting against fascism. He is given the bed that formerly belonged to Santi, a boy who recently died during an attack in which a bomb dropped, landing in the school's courtyard undetonated, a reminder of impending danger. As the amputee headmistress (Marisa Paredes, ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER) and the embittered caretaker, Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), engage in a love affair, the headmistress' cuckolded husband, the impotent but benevolent school doctor (Frederico Luppi) sits by passively. Meanwhile, after Santi's ghost repeatedly reveals itself to Carlos, another student spooks Carlos with a dark secret about the boy's death. War surrounds the school, violence infests it from within, and Carlos sets out to avenge the death of Santi. Taking on themes such as the brutality of war and the loss of innocence, Guillermo del Toro's (MIMIC) film skillfully combines elements of war, gothic horror, melodrama, and adventure to create a work that functions as both a genre film and a politically resonant piece of nostalgia. THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE uses history as a means of transforming what would otherwise be a routine ghost story into a powerful and affecting statement.

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• If.... (1968) 4.5/5

  2008-03-17 21:43

  

  Malcolm McDowell warms up for his role as Alex in A Clockwork Orange by unleashing his adolescent fury on a private boarding school in a hail of bullets and bombs.

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• Charme discret de la bourgeoisie, Le (1972) 4.5/5

  2008-03-17 20:12

  

  Brunel's comic masterpiece. A complex, shifting, virtually plotless web of dreams within dreams within dreams, centered around a group of six outwardly respectable upper-middle class members of society and their repeatedly thwarted attempts to have a meal together - the interruptions becoming more and more surreal as the film progresses.

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• Dumbland (2002) 3.5/5

  2008-03-17 19:40

  

  Okay, most people will be alternatively bored and disgusted by this "dumb stupid cartoon", but as a sledgehammer blow to the face of suburban banality, 'tis rather effective.

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• Zwartboek (2006) 4/5

  2008-03-10 21:55

  

  Sex, treachery, brutality - this is definitely a Verhoeven film. It also happens to be the only entertaining war-adventure film in a long time.

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• "Guns, Germs and Steel" (2005) 3/5

  2008-03-09 19:15

  

  This documentary offers some vital clues as to why there is such a huge economic and cultural divide in the population of the world--and the results are startling. Writer Jared Diamond set off on a globe-straddling tour to figure out this conundrum, with the answers gleaned over a 30 year period. A Pulitzer-Prize winning book followed, and now, so does this fascinating visualization of his findings. Diamond posits the theory that guns, germs, and steel are at the root of all the world's inequalities, and he presents a convincing case for his findings. Drawing on a variety of social, economic, and scientific factors to back up his claims, Diamond takes viewers on a thought-provoking ride, resulting in a refreshing perspective that provides an entirely new angle for viewers to ruminate on.

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• What Would Jesus Buy? (2007) 3/5

  2008-03-08 22:37

  

  My take is that it should be renamed the Church of Stop Yelling at Me Because You've Made Your Point.

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• For the Bible Tells Me So (2007) 4.5/5

  2008-03-08 19:35

  

  This rational, human and very serious documentary by Daniel Karslake gets at the historical distortions of the Good Book as well as the ease with which holy writings have been used in America to propagate hate.

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• Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007) 4.5/5

  2008-03-07 22:04

  

  Jean-Dominique Bauby's autobiography The Diving Bell and the Butterfly gets a miraculous treatment by Julian Schnabel and screenwriter Ronald Harwood: ravishing to look at, mercifully unsentimental, blissfully avoiding almost every cliché of the genre.

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• Buffalo '66 (1998) 3.5/5

  2008-03-04 22:59

  

  An electric directorial debut (seven years in the making) by New York artist/musician/model/actor Vincent Gallo, BUFFALO '66 combines the experimental techniques of the French New Wave and the realistic grit of seventies filmmakers such as John Cassavetes, resulting in something inventive and original. Gallo portrays Billy Brown, who has just been let out of jail. Before returning home to visit his parents and murder the kicker who missed the field goal that sent him there in the first place (in order to repay a debt that he didn't have the money to extinguish), he kidnaps a bored ballerina (Christina Ricci) and makes her pretend that she is his wife. Though she doesn't seem to object to the abduction, Billy is emotional, angry, and sensitive. As the trip progresses--including an explosive visit to his childhood home, where his indifferent parents still reside--the two continue bicker back and forth, but begin to form a real bond.

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• Dead Man (1995) 4/5

  2008-03-03 22:57

  

  In bringing his distinct vision to the Western genre, writer-director Jim Jarmusch has created a quasi-mystical avant-garde drama that remains a deeply spiritual viewing experience. After losing his parents and fiancée, a Cleveland accountant named William Blake (a remarkable Johnny Depp) spends all his money and takes a train to the frontier town of Machine in order to work at a factory. Upon arriving in Machine, he is denied his expected job and finds himself a fugitive after murdering a man in self-defense. Wounded and helpless, Blake is befriended by Nobody (Gary Farmer), a wandering Native American who considers him to be a ghostly manifestation of the famous poet. Nobody aids Blake in his flight from three bumbling bounty hunters, preparing him for his final journey--a return to the world of the spirits. Jarmusch once again employs the beautifully contrasted black-and-white photography of Robby Müller, which sets a poetic, dreamy mood. He also fades in and out of scenes in order to better reflect Blake’s dazed, weak mental state. Adding an even greater depth to the film is Neil Young’s haunting score, which completes the overall effect. DEAD MAN stands firmly as a timeless work of art whose impact only increases upon subsequent viewings

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• There Will Be Blood (2007) 5/5

  2008-03-02 23:32

  

  As I said in reviewing Orphée, the better the film, the more poetic it is. Well, this masterpiece now stands in that rarefied air along with Cocteau's masterworks.

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