Death of a precedent

Apparantly watching movies isn't my thing anymore. Time to disband the blog. Who has time to go to the theatre? This world is so busy that a two hour block is a lot to demand. I wish I was kidding. So reviews. I may not visit the matinee but I see movies on my time.

Jesus Camp: I really haven't had much time to soak this in. The filmmakers AND everyone involved knew exactly what it was all about. I want to say its a horror film but that's unfair. Oh it is scary but my being scared says more about me and not enough about the subject matter or the presentation. I have no reason to believe any of the subject matter was presented insincerely. The filmmakers succeeded in that even if portions were overdramatized, it was pretty obvious the pertinent truth wasn't being faked. The success of this film is not in what is shown but in all the elements that aren't shown. The logistics of having these kids travel all over the country to praise Jesus and to fight the war are mind boggling, but the film treats it like an afterthought. And where are the parents and who are the parents. Very well done with little Michael Moore ishness. 4.5/5

Death of a President: A second controversial film that behaves just as mundane. This was far too reminiscent of a CourtTV hour long show on some 40 year old crime. The creators lacked any creativity whatsoever. The assassination parallels Bobby Kennedy with a backdrop exactly like the inauguration 2000 protests. The government's response was perhaps as hackneyed as you could get. I enjoy speculative fiction but this film was intellectually lazy and failed to provide any insight. It attempted to cover up the extreme lack of creativity with about an hour too much about finding the assassin. I praise the filmmakers for remaining somewhat apolitical, but I would have preferred a politically charged film to this CourtTV rehash bolstered by one exciting scene (the assassination). Should have been a short film. 2/5

Judd Apatow

I've recently finished watching Judd Apatow's Undeclared which leaves me pretty much finished with his directorial repertoire. Undeclared won't hold as dear a place to me as Freaks and Geeks, but they are far less ripe to compare than they should be. Freaks is firmly grounded in reality, whereas Undeclared represents a step in the absurdist direction. It should have been expected after seeing 40 Year Old Virgin, yet the fact that Virgin and Freaks were so disparate, my definition of Apatow was rather nebulous. All three projects are very funny while retaining sympathetic characters, but the steps Apatow took from Freaks to Undeclared to Virgin were steps in the wrong direction. As a comedy movie, 40 Year Old Virgin stands out for having characters that were ripe for debasing that instead are respected. However, I think his material was the strongest when he focused on the characters instead of the absurdity. I don't doubt that he's gotten funnier, but he risks losing the aspect that his work stand out.
I suppose there may be two extremes in this brand of comedy. There is the Along Came Polly, Ben Stiller, we don't allow for positive things to befall the protagonist. And as explained prior there's Apatow's forte in crafting sympathetic characters in similar comedic situations. The masters of the latter would have to be the Farrelly brothers. They've made a career of picking offensive or tasteless subjects and crafting sweet comedic stories around them, neglecting the obsession with gross out humor. There's Something About Mary turned creepy stalking into a romantic comedy replete with retarded brother. Their examples, along with Apatow, shows that a little time spent on making good characters goes a long way in improving comedy. Well it should be a given that sympathetic characters can make any movie or book better, and even the most surreal or tasteless comedy should be allowed to get away with disobeying this golden rule.
For Apatow, Undeclared represented a departure from Freaks mostly in this bending of the my cherished rule. Compounded by the fact that the episodes weren't aired with any sort of continuity, there just didn't appear the same sort of respect for characters and their arcs. Besides the main character, none of the characters appeared to have the same motivations from episode to episode. Virgin, too, was full of many unsympathetic characters, yet it was able to be salvaged by Carell and Keener. If Apatow wants to continue moving in this direction, he should stick to movies where the rare sympathetic character is enough to stand out. Then again, it could all merely be a matter of the medium (TV versus cinema) and the fact that Undeclared was released without proper episode order and is decidedly more surreal than Freaks and Geeks. Until Knocked Up comes in 2007, I won't know for sure.

Spring break film fest

When I break, I watch movies. I mean I watch movies even when I'm not broken, I just do it much better on break.

The Upside of Anger - Joan Allen really carried the movie. I'm not a big fan of Mike Binder, but when his writing is good, it really hits. Strong cast, so where the movies drags theres usually another thread or two that pull you back in. It's worth seeing as long as you suspend expectations of what it's supposed to be. 3.75/5

Dig! - Very cool documentary. All the music is fantastic and the bandmembers are exactly the kinds of people you'd want to chill with. Very interesting look at the creative process, the music industry and so much more through the eyes of some seemingly awesome people. 4/5

The Shape of Things - I never thought I'd say it, but Paul Rudd was great. Good dialogue but the movie wasn't anything special until the final act. I think it's worth getting emotionally into just for the end. 3.5/5

A history of Violins and Other musings

I guess this is what I do now. Reviews and I guess nothing but.

Everything is Illuminated:
This movie really surprised me since the trailer made it appear really boring. It was rather funny, but the comedic moments made the transition to gravely serious really difficult. The one main character was highly similar to Ali G, but he was still capable of being funny. It was a pretty good movie, but certain parts didn't resonate with me as much as they could have.
3.5/5

Junebug:
Again, went in expecting just quirky indie movie and came out with a remarkably realistic portrait of life. It retained some 'Me and You and Everyone We Know' out there art related scenes but by the end I was wanting to see more of the family instead, and I think that was the creator's intent, too. Amy Adams was nominated for best supporting actress, and I can't say it struck me as Oscar worthy (whatever that means) but I certainly really felt her characterization. All of the acting and writing was great. Highly recommended.
4.5/5

Cache:
High high expectations for this one. Trailers made it look like a highly unique psychological trailer and buzz concerned Haneke's appraisal of racism in France months before the riots. It certainly gave much to think about, but it fell short for me. It was compelling for its somewhat slow pace, but by the end it didn't work for me. I'm fine with having some answers unrevealed at the end of the film, but far too many of the questions ended up being written like I was watching 'Crash'. Acting was good but I just didn't feel for them by the end.
3/5

A History of Violence:
I really liked this movie. Real gorgeous looking. All the acting and everything was terrific. The only thing I didn't like was William Hurt and he's the one nominated for an acting oscar. And wow, the violence, jesus christ. I mean, the movie wasn't perfect, but it was a very solid, well paced piece of cinema.
4.5/5

More Reviews

I'm still pressing along in the process of seeing acclaimed movies from 2005. So, it's time for some practice with reviews.

Grizzly Man (2005)- I very much appreciated this different angle on the nature film. Yes, I'm aware its about a man, Timothy Treadwell, but at the base is a nature film. The bear footage is pretty incredible and it almost elucidates as much about Timmy as his monologues. Tim may be troubled, to put it gently, but Werner Herzog at the least appreciates him as a filmmaker preventing the film from making Tim appear in a wholly negative light. In the end, Grizzly Man is a rather captivating story about a man who was not like us humans. 4/5

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005) - This movie completely missed my radar the first time it came around, but I'm very glad I was recommended it. Highly entertaining and surprisingly funny especially considering the oft trite world of Hollywood Crime Drama. It felt like the creators had some respect for the audience's intelligence for once. The movie does a self aware narration bit which works very well for the first 2/3rds but by the end it got a bit annoying. Kiss Kiss definitely comes highly recommended. A lot of fun. 4/5

Munich (2005)- I get the feeling I'm going to have to let this movie sit with me before I can begin to discuss its merits. On the technical front, it was very good looking and the two and a half hours did not drag too much. This was perhaps the first time in five movies or so that I think Spielberg nailed the ending. I appreciated that it never tried to extend its scope too much beyond Avner and his team. As for the part that needs sitting in, I was impressed at how this movie was at times ambiguous to a fault. 3.5/5

Competition

Three very different movies but at the root a single theme. Over the last couple days I watched Word Wars: Tiles and Tribulations on the Scrabble Competition Circuit, Murderball, and the Longest Yard. The first two were particularly intriguing as they were both documentaries.
In Word Wars, there was no glamour in the competition, these were thirty year old spelling bee champs. I didn't get the impression that the main characters did much other than play Scrabble and study words. These were people you admired only for their insane devotion to this game which frankly didn't provide much monetary incentive in the competitions. Really the best reason I can see as to why they compete is because they can. This game requires a very specialized skill set to be one of the elite players and somewhere along the line these people achieved it. Surely they chose to compete at Scrabble, but at the point in their lives that was shown in the film, it was hardly a choice.
This ties in nicely to Murderball where the initial catalyst to become a wheelchair rugby player was certainly not a choice. The way the movie portrays the players is definitely not to elicit pity for them but unexpectedly to drive respect and even envy for the players. It succeeds so wonderfully in making you forget that all the players are in some way handicapped, and for the majority of the movie they are viewed only as athletes and competitors. I can't say their livestyle was particularly glamourous either, but none of them seemed to let their conditions which make them suitable for wheelchair rugby (the paralysis) define them. The movie shows great candor and truth and reminds you that they are still very human. They want to compete because they can. Not because they need to prove anything to their more able bodied brethren, but because they are good and can.
The Longest Yard also touches on the idea of competition, but it's really overshadowed by 'Remember the Titans' messages of teamwork and such. For no good reason, the prisoners are pegged as the underdogs throughout the film. And thus, these prisoners eventually feel the need to be competitive because they can be competitive. I just can't really see this message in the film because I don't know what assumptions lead to the thought that a trained small staff of guards are THAT much more capable than an entire prison worth of athletic talent. Oh well, at least the movie wasn't bad.
Word Wars: 4/5
Murderball: 4.5/5
Longest Yard:3/5

2005

I've come to realize this blog (weblog) will be mostly for me. An archive if you will. Out of respect for my leaky memory, I'll list the movies I've seen since I went on christmas (holiday) break.
Theatrically: Syriana, King Kong, Squid and the Whale, Brokeback Mountain
DVDally: Wedding Crashers, Kung Fu Hustle, Eyes Without a Face, Puddle Cruiser
Otherally: Safe, Thumbsucker, Word Wars, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
This, for me, movie watching spree has left me with very few movies from 2005 that I want to see. The number goes from few to too many if I start considering foreign or documentaries, but I won't. Listed I think it is Match Point, Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Munich , Good Night and Good Luck and 40 Year Old Virgin. This is a nice solid change from years past where I'd be dogging DVD releases until midsummer to pull this off.
Onto more pressing issues, I'm attempting a film review.
Thumbsucker (2005) - I was really anticipating this though I'm not exactly sure why. It looks all quirky and indie and it has a solid cast and I guess in those respects it lived up what I expected. It just never went anywhere. I'm the kind of person that usually appreciates slow movies, but Thumbsucker wasn't trying to present some realistic picture of high school life, slow times and all. Actually, I couldn't figure out what it was trying to show. If was at times surreal and others really down to earth, but it never came together. The parts were far more than the whole, but without making much sense, it all kind of fell flat in the end. I was generally satisfied throughout but near the end you could feel it was going to keep some ends loose and some questions unanswered. 2.5/5

Introduction

Welcome to this contentless blog which may one day serve as a resource for discovering films or gaining new insights. Film criticism can be hard, but this is the internet so it doesn't matter. Movies matter, but they shouldn't be treated as sacred (that does not mean they should be allowed to be remade). This blog aims to bring out some of the little things in movies that detract from the experience. Nitpick if you will. I'm thinking the way it works is if you liked the movie then the nitpick points didn't bother you, but conversely if didn't like it, the nitpick things may have been what brought the ship down. Surely there will be more as I can envision this blog fighting the cliches and waging war against movies that think the audience dumb.