Flipside Movie Emporium

[beltmann]

6/14 ? 6/20/04

Whispering Corridors (Park, South Korea 1998). Portentous ghost story that I found utterly preposterous and ineffective.

A Time for Drunken Horses (Ghobadi, Iran 2000). The sentimentality is as thick as any Hollywood weepie, but at least some of the images are memorably surreal: Smuggled tires rolling down a snowy hill; horses sipping vodka to brave the cold; a sickly dwarf traveling in a saddlebag; drunken horses refusing to rise.

Heart of Dragon (Hung, Hong Kong 1985). Sammo Hung gives a ?serious? performance as a cognitively-disabled adult, but his idea of playing ?retarded? is to wear overalls, play kids? games, suck on candy, and neglect his hair. It might be one of the most grotesquely insensitive performances I?ve ever seen.

Along Came Polly (Hamburg, USA 2004). Sometimes opposites attract, sure. But has this movie proven to us that these two opposites have been attracted? I never believed in the central romance, but at least the movie never treats Ben Stiller?s character as a square.

Eurotrip (Schaffer, USA 2004). Rarely have I seen a childish, slapdash teen comedy so staunchly devoted to the principles of hedonism--this is a movie that faithfully believes in the soul-cheering power of "crazy European sex," drugs, alcohol, violence, lies, and scorn. Most repulsive is a lengthy scene set in the Vatican that qualifies as sacrilegious, as Catholic iconography is mocked, set on fire, and otherwise desecrated. The movie also has utter contempt for most of Europe--in particular, the poverty of Eastern Europe is snickered at with special insensitivity.

50 First Dates (Segal, USA 2004). Crude, interminable, and unconvincing. Neither Sandler nor Barrymore even begin to approach the warmth, complexity, and nuance required to pull off this saccharine gimmick.

Spartan (Mamet, USA 2004). Perhaps more purely cinematic than previous Mamet shell games, but his laconic rhythms feel off, and Val Kilmer seems lost.

Troy (Peterson, USA 2004). Fatuous, but it grew on me a little. If, like me, you resist tales that venerate the Homeric notion of heroism, you can still luxuriate in the strong colors and notice Brad Pitt's brooding about how meaningless valor and great deeds ultimately become. That silly contradiction sums up the entire picture: It's about the folly and futility of war, but also about how cool it looks, too.

The Way We Laughed (Amelio, Italy 1998). Amelio gains emotional suspense from his gimmick structure?the movie is divided into six segments, each representing one year in the lives of two brothers?and he floats on currents of mystery and drama, but most of all, an evocation of sibling affection and sacrifice.

The Terminal (Spielberg, USA 2004). There are a few asides directed at the absurdities of Homeland Security, but I wish Spielberg had gone further into political satire--attacking how the US routinely strips foreign visitors of their dignity--or at least had used the terminal as a less syrupy microcosm of American life. As it stands, it's a romantic fantasy with minor conviction, with snappy acting and Spielberg's usual visual polish and shortcut editing.

The Stepford Wives (Oz, USA 2004). Toothless yet harmless. The original was a black satire that functioned first as a horror film; this new update is a horror film that functions first as a droll, colorful, mildly diverting prank.

Careful (Maddin, Canada 1992). In a 19th-century Alpine village, the residents live hushed lives, trying not to stir an avalanche. Whispering becomes their mode of being, and the unspoken becomes Maddin's subject. One family in particular is haunted by secrets: The father is locked in the attic because he assaulted his own daughter, and one of the sons is disturbed to find himself staring at his mother. (After fantasizing about her, he presses his lips against a burning coal, hacks off his fingers, and leaps to his death.) Maddin lampoons silent melodrama and German Expressionism, but it's a one-joke affair so arch, so stylized, and so distanced that it grows wearying.

Eric
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

[matt header]

I don't really remember what I put on here the last time I posted, so I'll just jot down whatever pops into my mind:

Bad Lieutenant (Ferrara) The acclaim this film has received blows my mind: I thought it was a truly awful film, although it has Keitel's performance to recommend it. What does it have to say, other than this character is a truly immoral bastard? Overwrought allusions to Jesus' crucifixion and the absense of religion in a shallow modern existence are not just laughable in execution, they are even more gloomy than they sound in writing: lengthy depictions of Keitel shooting up or masturbating on a teenage girl's car did not give me the sense that Bad Lieutenant was brave or honest; it seemed, instead, to be so aimless that Ferrara can't think of anything better to do with his camera. D+

Fahrenheit 9/11 (Moore) Saw an employee screening of this at the theater I work at. The faults that Moore has are still present here, which is unsurprising; but this may be his most mature, somber work yet, noteworthy as much because it displays the anguish and frustration at living the current United States, as because of its impressive rant against George W. To be sure, Moore becomes subjective and didactic a bit too often, drawing parallels that are stretching the role of the reliable narrator a bit too far. But the film struck me in all the right ways: it's doubtlessly emotional, and has perhaps the most poignant and sensitive depiction of the 9/11 attacks themselves that I've ever seen on cinema; it's extremely convincing, as Moore generally suppresses his own voiceover to present information that, honestly, is already out there and available, and simply connects the dots; and it's sadly important, since there have been so few responses to the 9/11 attacks made in America since they occurred. Will it change "conservative" minds? I doubt it, but maybe - the sight of a US soldier singing "burn motherf----- burn" as he guns down Iraqi civilians, biased as it may be, is nearly impossible to shrug off as "subjective documentation." B+

The Naked Kiss (Fuller) My first Samuel Fuller excursion, and damn, it's fun. There's a hypocritical sense of chauvinistic wholesomeness running through all of it: we are supposed to gain satisfaction from our heroine shoving dirty money into a hooker's mouth and beating her with a purse, but Fuller presents taboo subjects (child molestation, prostitution, etc.) with such flair that we're supposed to be enticed by immorality as well. If we look past that glaring contradiction - and are in the mood to enjoy the sort of purple prose that Fuller and his balls-to-the-wall crime caper colleagues were known for - then The Naked Kiss is a fascinating artifact on the border of yesterday's innocence and today's sensationalism. B

Gentleman's Agreement (Kazan) Gregory Peck poses as a Jew to experience anti-Semitism and document it for his newspaper. There's something awfully condescending about this "rescue mission," in which Peck miraculously "comes to the aid" of the prejudiced Jewish masses to preach tolerance and acceptance to all. The cinematography is gorgeous, but there's simply too much didacticism; even more bristling patches of dialogue are deprived of almost all of their fuel because the arguments are so simplistic. C

City of God (Meirelles) Meirelles knows how to make an intense, blistering action movie, using sleek style and relentless special effects to portray a world consumed by anger and desperation. (No wonder the movie was so popular stateside.) I also think, though, that there's some real interesting stuff here: nothing approaching the violent vitality of, say, Mean Streets, but it's a fine example of brawny storytelling. (It's tough and relentless without, I think, appearing misogynistic.) It also has a perfectly logical ending: our hero's personal triumph allows us to take relief in some semblance of hope, but the strong indication that the cycle of violence will simply continue does not allow us to shrug off the events as simple cinematic showboating. As much as I liked it, it's not near as good as its documentary counterpart, Bus 174. B

The Terminal (Spielberg) My full-length review (with some typos) can be found at www.uwmleader.com, somewhere underneath A&E: Movies.[/b]

[mfritschel]

Love Actually (Curtis) - Simply put this move was just a well made romantic comedy. Although incoherent at times and leaving characters for extended periods of time before returning to their story, the story moved well. kept my interested and was just well put together. Not a terrific movie, but definetly not a bad movie. A joyful homage to finding the happines in love and life, and even managed to touch on the hardships of love, something many romantic comedies often forget. B

The Son (Dardenne) - Finally a revenge movie that does more than just focus on the characters plight for revenge. It truly evokes the human aspect of it as you see the father try to fight his demons and the torture he endures throughout. Especially, how he is constantly trying to forgive and overcome and help the student, but still cannot over come what the child did to his life, marriage, and emotioal stability. A

[beltmann]

[beltmann]

[Veri]

I watched on TV last night Vanilla Sky. I really don't understand what is the bad press about this movie really about it. As far as I am concern, the movie has a very good spiritual message. Tom Cruise performance is good and Diaz is doing very well also. Penelope Cruz is terrible in this movie though...

[beltmann]

6/21 ? 6/27/04

The Weather Underground (Green and Siegel, USA 2003). Engrossing documentary about the radical group responsible for a series of domestic bombings during the Vietnam era. What?s remarkable is how the movie neither judges nor romanticizes these revolutionaries.

Club Dread (Chandrasekhar, USA 2004). As a comedy troupe, Broken Lizard maintains a deadpan style that's tough to maintain?they might be capable of a truly classic comedy, if they were only able to write witty jokes to accompany that masterfully feigned sincerity.

Fighting Caravans (Brower and Burton, USA 1931). One of the earliest sound Westerns, featuring bad acting by Gary Cooper.

Memento Mori (Kim and Min, South Korea 1999). Set in the same all-girls private school a few years after the events of Whispering Corridors, this new tale is a complete departure from the first film and a vast improvement. Here, the school environment takes center stage--really, this is a horror picture about the horror of being a teenage girl--and the evocation is totally convincing. The story involves a young girl who discovers a diary, and learns that two of her classmates are lesbian lovers. When one of them falls from the roof, she tries to discern--we're helped with non-linear flashbacks--whether it was suicide or murder. Best of all, the movie uses its horror premise as a metaphor for how the end of a relationship can sometimes feel like a form of death.

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs, & Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (Bowser, USA 2003). I prefer this chronicle of Hollywood in the Seventies over the more stately A Decade Under the Influence, primarily because the interviews are juicier, the focus is tighter, and the backstories are franker--this documentary doesn't downplay the role of sex, and especially drugs, in the making and unmaking of this era.

Secret Window (Koepp, USA 2004). The first two acts are intensely enjoyable hokum, as the writer tries to keep control of both the situation and his marriage, but the third act resolves itself with predictable and eye-rolling revelations--the metaphors for writer's block and writer's guilt are rather cornball. Still, Depp kicks the movie up a notch.



Fahrenheit 9/11 (Moore, USA 2004). "The temperature where freedom burns!" is the tagline for Moore?s Cannes prizewinner, and the movie operates almost exclusively at that hysterical pitch. As a mild fan of Moore--and no fan of Bush--I was fully prepared to groove on his wavelength but I was put off almost immediately: Of course it?s amusing to witness Wolfowitz spit-polishing his comb, but honestly, what does that image tell us about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of this administration? Moore regularly relies on such childish tactics?he regularly reduces his editorializing to name-calling, which is only the first of his propaganda techniques that had me squirming. Whereas Moore brought real inquisitive searching to Bowling for Columbine, this new picture is less concerned with deep digging than with simplistic mockery. As a polemicist, Moore raises vital issues--Bush's links to Saudi money, the bin Laden family, Enron, Halliburton, and a culture of fear--but he consistently addresses them not with sound political discourse but with cheap emotionalism, juvenile mockery, blatant selective editing, and, worst of all, dubious inferences.

Eric
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

[beltmann]

[matt header]

Well, this is going to be a meaty discussion!

[beltmann]

I?m trying to be very brief in my responses:

[Monkeypox]

Thank you, Mr. Beltmann, for coherently putting together the arguments I've been attempting to make but failing miserably at.
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Rattlesnake's Texas Cobra, you sonofabitch!

[matt header]

[stefanieduckwitz]

[smarty]

[beltmann]