Flipside Movie Emporium

[Danny Baldwin]

6/27 - 7/3

Okay week. In preferential order:

The Woodsman (Kassell, 2004) - While the coinsidences Kassell instills to further the film's commentary on society's utilitarian concepts are rather ridiculous, I found the film intensely fascinating as the portrait of a man's psyche and the way in which his own temptation jars him. There is a truly sickening scene at the end, undeniably one of the most disturbing ever committed to film, but despite being tough to watch, the ambition behind such is what makes for The Woodsman's most affecting material. Kevin Bacon is amazing.

War of the Worlds (Spielberg, 2005) - The first half contains some pretty tense stuff--and I prefer the exploration of the familial dynamic then over it in the latter portion of the movie too--basically because of the terrifying uncertainty of it all. However, once the aliens' plot has been established, the movie grows melodramatic and far too ridiculous for its own good; only special effects and Spielberg's direction allow it to narratively hang in for its final act. Tim Robbins' character is awful and the ending is hogwash, but for its amazing first third and certain passages later on, I'm recommending it.

Girlfight (Kusama, 2000) - The POV is logical, but I'm not sure I like the way it's packaged; nothing in the movie seems too intense. The score doesn't help this; its "clap-clap" track is especially ridiculous. But despite these flaws, I admired its grounded, daunting realism and its ability to tell a story under it. Michelle Rodriguez is terrfic here, and over the years, she has deserved more than S.W.A.T. and The Fast and the Furious, even if the roles have fit her.

In The Realms of the Unreal (Yu, 2004) - The subject of the documentary, Henry Darger, a janitor at a Catholic Hospital who wrote 30,000 pages--which included a 15,000 page novel--that were a mystery to everyone he knew until the final weeks of his life, is absolutely fascinating. The assembly, on the other hand, is entirely elementary, making the actual substance in the film seem somewhat uninteresting.



Gunner Palace (Epperlein/Tucker, 2005) - Filmmaker Michael Tucker almost abuses the once-in-a-lifetime oppurtunity to live with the soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery in Uday Hussein's bombed out palace and follow them as they execute orders. Instead of concentrating on the influence of war on humans in everyday life--which is what he claims he wanted to do--he provides a narrow-minded and generalized account of the war as a whole by utalizing the footage he took. There's also something deliberately wrong to me about depicting soldiers as alcoholic, crude people, even if the playful spirit behind such is inoffensive. Not to mention, Tucker should've gotten another narrator; he sounds like Keifer Sutherland in Phone Booth in his voice-overs to the extent at which he sometimes needs to transcribe them using onscreen text.



The Pacifier (Shankman, 2005) - Vin Diesel is surprisingly fitting in the role, but that doesn't excuse the fact that the movie takes the easy way out--even for a good-natured children's "comedy"--allowing the characters to evolve overnight and display such in ridiculous montage-sequences. It lacks in energy and edge, but I suppose its worthy themes make it a better video-babysitter than most other garbage.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman (Grant, 2005) - It's hard to get too mad at because of its modest intentions, but somewhere between the lines "I love you so much I would buy you feminine products!" and "I know you don't believe in fairy tales, but if you did, I would like to be your knight in shining armor!" there wasn't any room for me to try to deny the fact that it's just awful. Tyler Perry is somewhat entertaining in his cross-dressed role for all of fifteen minutes, but other than that, the thing is laughably bad.
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Danny Baldwin

View My Reviews

[matt header]

I rented the Dardennes' The Son from Blockbuster and the DVD was totally scratched up and wouldn't play past 65 minutes! WTF! What happens?! I really really liked what I saw! Dammit!

I also saw:

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (Leiner, 2004) C

War of the Worlds (Spielberg, 2005) A-

Bright Future (Kurosawa, 2003) C+

Spielberg has a way of grounding his escapist fantasies in realistic characters and believable actions like few other blockbuster directors; War of the Worlds is, I think, completely impressive. Although Robbins' character does present a bump in the movie's otherwise perfect pacing, the whole sequence set in his cellar has a great Gothic-horror-meets-new-age-sci-fi vibe to it. And the way everything looks when Rachel and Ray step out of the cellar into the backyard...stunning!

Harold and Kumar is better than most teen comedies and is at least aware of the stereotypes that most movies of its type play into. Unfortunately, it tends to play into them as well, although we could give it the benefit of the doubt and say it's spoofing such narrow-minded conceptions. Also, it's only sorta funny in a few spots.

With Bright Future, Kurosawa proves he knows how to deliver a metaphor in a movie; unfortunately, the movie lacks identifiable characters and feels like it borrows from the aesthetic of half a dozen other filmmakers, especially Wong Kar-wai.
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"I don't like talking to people I know, but strangers I have no problem with." -- Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

[Michael Scrutchin]

[Danny Baldwin]

[beltmann]

[beltmann]

[Danny Baldwin]

[j miller]

[beltmann]

[beltmann]

The first two films Ingrid Bergman made with director Roberto Rossellini. Stromboli concerns a woman stuck on a volcanic island, trapped in a hopeless marriage (which seems ironic since during the film's making Bergman left her own husband for Rossellini, leading to the same moral dilemmas and public condemnation that her character faces.) In Europa '51, Bergman plays a high-society woman who discovers a surprising compassion for the plight of the working class. Clearly advocating the principles of socialism, the movie also takes a sharp swipe at how the advantaged fear any kind of challenge to their system of exploitation: Bergman's desire to help others eventually lands her in an asylum. I was reminded of Dickinson's "Much Madness Is Divinest Sense":

Much Madness is divinest Sense --

To a discerning Eye --

Much Sense -- the starkest Madness --

'Tis the Majority

In this, as All, prevail --

Assent -- and you are sane --

Demur -- you're straightway dangerous --

And handled with a Chain --

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

[j miller]

beltmann,

Did you ever hear of a movie called "Hope and Glory"? It's about a boy who gets interested in the Blitz during War War II. I missed the beginning of it, but it looked pretty good.

What did you think of the ending to War of the Worlds?

Other movies that I've watched in the past week or so:

War of the Worlds - One wild thrill ride. The special effects and the imagery were great.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (repeat) - One of my favorite Steve Martin movies. The chemistry between Martin and Candy is priceless.

A View to A Kill (007) (repeat)

Josh
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My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.

--Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

[the night watchman]

[Danny Baldwin]

[the night watchman]

Ah. Gotcha.
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"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[beltmann]