February 2011
23 posts
Screening Log: 31 January 2011
1. The Eagle (2011, Kevin Macdonald) [C-] [screening]
2. Cedar Rapids (2011, Miguel Arteta) [C+] [screening]
3. Red (2010, Robert Schwentke) Bruce WIllis needs to wake up, the direction should be far less cutesy and ye gods that Ocean’s Eleven knockoff score is an ill fit. But this is mostly entertaining for the expected reasons with a basically sound script. [B-/B] [DVD]
4. More Anthony...
January 2011
24 posts
Screening Log: Weekend of Jan. 28th
1. Barney’s Version (2009, Richard J. Lewis) [C] [screener]
2. From Friday evening through Sunday morning I was in a cabin in the middle of nowhere (technically, Hartley, PA). I was hanging with some friends I reconnected with from high school, and a good deal of the time was spent watching movies both trashy and trashy-respectable. Usually through thick beer goggles, I saw most or bits...
Screening Log: 27 January 2011
1. The Temptation of St. Tony (2009, Veiko Õunpuu) Need a name for this subgenre: grim black comedies that sum up all that is wrong with some Eastern European nation. To a group already populated by Cargo 200 and A Serbian Film add this more atmospheric Estonian number, in which a middle management type takes a Dante-esque descent into his country’s netherregions. It doesn’t...
Screening Log: 26 January 2011
1. Watched bits of Carlos for Skandies consideration, including the OPEC raid and the house party shoot-out.
Then it started snowing like a motherfucker. And so I tended to bourbon and sledding.
Screening Log: 25 January 2011
1. Finished Micmacs (2009, Jean-Pierre Jeunet) First half, when the fun really happens, superior to more desultory first; still sporadically annoying. I can only stomach Jeunet’s brand of mugging for so long, but this could have been better with some tightening and a less sleepy lead. [B-] [DVD}
2. A Somewhat Gentle Man (2010, Hans Petter Moland) This is the part of the job I hate. [C+]...
Screening Log: 24 January 2011
1. Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl (2009, Manoel de Oliveira) Er, I actually confused this with The Strange Case of Angelica, because I am a bad cinephile. Anyway, I had fun. Abrupt finale, ending as quickly as it began, plus traces of deadpan comedy I didn’t know Oliveira had in him. (My experience with his work is limited.) [B] [Netflix Instant]
2. Half of Micmacs (2009,...
Screening Log: Weekend of the 21st
1. The only movie I watched over the last three days was Devil (2010, some M. Night lackey) Seriously. [D] [DVD]
2. But I did watch a ton of TV. Latest episodes of Must See TV Thursday (Community, 30 Rock, The Office, Parks and Rec). Revisited some Parks and Rec on Netflix Instant: S02E05 (Sister City), S02E06 (Kaboom) and S02E08 (Ron and Tammy). Doing this reminded me that the best show...
Screening Log: 20 January 2011
1. Bhutto (2010, Duane Baughman & Johnny O’Hara) [B/B-] [screener]
More important, I saw Yo La Tengo for only the tenth or so time. And ate at Yakitori Boy.
Screening Log: 19 January 2011
1. Biutiful (2010, Alejandro González Iñárritu) No. [C/C-] [screening]
2. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010, Mike Newell) Judging these monstrosities is so arbitrary. Rough going at first, but one or two mildly clever ideas, some agreeable feistiness from Gemma Arterton, Jake Gyllenhaal trying a smidgeon, Alfred Molina plus Ben Kingsley = me not wanting to slice my eyeballs with a sheet...
Screening Log: 18 January 2011
1. Inspector Bellamy (2009, Claude Chabrol) [B] [screener]
2. Ne Change Rien (2009, Pedro Costa) [B+/A-] [screener] (above)
3. Bob’s Burgers S01E01. Forgot how much I enjoy the vocal stylings of H. Jon Benjamin.
4. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations S01E03: New Jersey.
“Relentless negativity” my ass.
Screening Log: 17 January 2011
1. Vengeance (2009, Johnnie To) FYC: Picnic shoot-out by moonlight; garbage dump shoot-out with bales of hay as cover; climax with blood used as mist. Need to see more To. [B] [Netflix Instant]
2. Watched and rewatched Ricky Gervais’ portion of the Globes, plus RDJ and Rupert Pupkin. Hart’s War ftw. [Hulu; YouTube]
3. The City of Your Final Destination (2009, James Ivory) I got...
Screening Log: Weekend of the 14th
1. The Illusionist (2010, Sylvain Chomet) Shocked to see my partisan reaction to this; assumed I would be some level of mixed, and if not I would go the positive route. But I have little tolerance for bottomless self-pity, even coming from one of my favorite filmmakers/performers. Question, though. I’m actually unsure how Tati worked. Were his scripts mere blueprints to be filled in while...
Screening Log: 13 January 2011
1. Summer Wars (2009, Mamoru Hosada) [B-] [screener]
2. Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations S01E01 (Paris) and half of S01E04 (Vietnam). I’m a latecomer to Bourdain, whose Kitchen Confidential I began late night on the 12th and am on course to finish by either today or tomorrow morning. I’ve decided to make this show, which is actually more travel porn that food porn, my go-to-bed...
Screening Log: 12 January 2011
1. The Other Guys (2010, Adam McKay) This movie gives me panic attacks. I first tried to see it theatrically over the summer; not a reel in — which I was enjoying, it should be noted — I suffered what became my so-far worst attack, wherein I actually thought I was going to pass out from anxiety, or even die right there in my comfy seat. I had to leave halfway through — more like...
Screening Log: 11 January 2011
1. Daddy Longlegs (2009, Ben & Joshua Safdie) [B+] [screener]
2. [redacted] I probably shouldn’t mention what this is — no, it’s not, like, The Green Hornet or somesuch — but just say it worked for me more than the original without being terribly different. I suspect the reason is a slightly different, less deadpan, more serious/emotional tone. Also what the fuck,...
Screening Log: 10 January 2011
1. The American (2010, Anton Corbijn) [B-] [DVD]
2. Predators (2010, Nimród Antal) [B-/C+] [DVD]
I’m playing catch-up with 2010 films for the forthcoming Skandies vote. Expect to see titles I should have caught during theatrical release (as with these two), films I couldn’t catch during theatrical release (because they didn’t play Philadelphia, even via festival) and films I...
Screening Log: 9 January 2011
The Song Remains the Same (1976, Peter Clifton & Joe Massot) So much ego. So much blow. So much Robert Plant’s penis. Also, sword fighting and construction work. [unrateable, really] [DVD]
Screening Log: 8 January 2011
1. The Portuguese Nun (2009, Eugène Green) [B/B+] [screening]
2. Mother and Child (2010, Rodrigo García) So much of this pesters me — an all-too-frequent scene: brusque person is unreasonably hyper-cruel to nice person — but hard to resist all the good acting and the odd nice touch. Think I’ve been waiting my whole life to see the scene where [spoiler, FWIW] Kerry Washington...
Screening Log: 7 January 2011
The Mechanic (2011, Simon West) Michael Winner > Simon West. Yikes. [C+/B-] (screening)
a couple chunks of I’m Still Here (2010, Casey Affleck) Watched the snow angel scene (above) like four times in a row. Total Oscar clip. So courageously obnoxious, our Joaquin. (Netflix Instant)
a bit of something called Gor (1987, Fritz Kiersch), a fantasy romp with rubber swords and a seriously...
The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009, J Blakeson) (DVD) [B]
Season of the Witch (2011, Dominic Sena) (screening) [C-]
