![Screening Log: 30 July - 2 August 2012
Note: I’m now on Letterboxd, which does render this Log in part redundant, although the site doesn’t list, at least for now, shorts and avant-garde works, so there’s always that to keep me going. I’ll probably keep this going, but I might have to restructure it in some interesting and no doubt thrilling way. Stay tuned, but for now things will mostly stay the same. I say this not knowing if I have more than, like, two regulars.]
1. I Confess (1953, Alfred Hitchcock) Can see why Catholic Cahier critics went gaga for this, but it’s really just that one trick (i.e., Montgomery Clift holding steadfast, even as his non-actions threaten his life). That, and some dreamy flashbacks to a romance with Anne Baxter, who hubba hubba, as ever. Oh, and a stunning opening where the Hitch cameo and numerous signs reading “DIRECTION” direct us to the corpse that will set the plot in motion. Oh, and a pretty stunning climax, too. So, there is a fair amount going on here, but it’s still neither as great as its ardent fans thought nor remotely dreary, as the people who never speak about it these days would have you believe. (Note: saw before I knew Vertigo would be deemed The Greatest Movie Ever. I’ve been watching the Hitch I’ve never seen — next up: Stage Fright! — not because of the S&S Poll but because I recently tore through Robin Wood’s Hitchcock’s Films Revisted, which please do the same.) [DVD]
2. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012, Alison Klayman) Review forthcoming. But it’s fine. [screener]
3. Hope Springs (2012, David Frankel) Review forthcoming, but here’s a helpful analogy: Tommy Lee Jones’ character : marriage counseling :: Tommy Lee Jones : marriage counseling movie. That aspect, at least, is kind of amusing. [advance screening]
4. Arbitrage (2012, Nicholas Jarecki) Review forthcoming, unless Burnsy takes it. [critics screening - or critic screening, as I was the only one who showed up]
5. Elena (2011, Andrey Zvyagintsev) Review forthcoming, but short version: impressive, as expected, but don’t let anyone who thinks The Dark Knight Rises is an intentional smackdown of OWS see it. They’ll just hopelessly reduce it into a anti-poor people misreading. [screener]
6. 360 (2011, Fernando Meirelles) Review forthcoming (sight), but short version: sigh. [online screener]
7. First hour of Lenny (1974, Bob Fosse) [DVD]
8. Neil Young Journeys (2012, Jonathan Demme) Still prefer Trunk Show the most of these Demme-Young projects, but the tour stuff, with Young driving around his hometown, is lovely without being remotely cheesy, and Le Noise sounds fun. Also, “lougee-cam!” [theatrical screening, last of its kind in Philadelphia]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m86r5uB8wc1qzoio3o1_500.jpg)
Screening Log: 30 July - 2 August 2012
Note: I’m now on Letterboxd, which does render this Log in part redundant, although the site doesn’t list, at least for now, shorts and avant-garde works, so there’s always that to keep me going. I’ll probably keep this going, but I might have to restructure it in some interesting and no doubt thrilling way. Stay tuned, but for now things will mostly stay the same. I say this not knowing if I have more than, like, two regulars.]
1. I Confess (1953, Alfred Hitchcock) Can see why Catholic Cahier critics went gaga for this, but it’s really just that one trick (i.e., Montgomery Clift holding steadfast, even as his non-actions threaten his life). That, and some dreamy flashbacks to a romance with Anne Baxter, who hubba hubba, as ever. Oh, and a stunning opening where the Hitch cameo and numerous signs reading “DIRECTION” direct us to the corpse that will set the plot in motion. Oh, and a pretty stunning climax, too. So, there is a fair amount going on here, but it’s still neither as great as its ardent fans thought nor remotely dreary, as the people who never speak about it these days would have you believe. (Note: saw before I knew Vertigo would be deemed The Greatest Movie Ever. I’ve been watching the Hitch I’ve never seen — next up: Stage Fright! — not because of the S&S Poll but because I recently tore through Robin Wood’s Hitchcock’s Films Revisted, which please do the same.) [DVD]
2. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012, Alison Klayman) Review forthcoming. But it’s fine. [screener]
3. Hope Springs (2012, David Frankel) Review forthcoming, but here’s a helpful analogy: Tommy Lee Jones’ character : marriage counseling :: Tommy Lee Jones : marriage counseling movie. That aspect, at least, is kind of amusing. [advance screening]
4. Arbitrage (2012, Nicholas Jarecki) Review forthcoming, unless Burnsy takes it. [critics screening - or critic screening, as I was the only one who showed up]
5. Elena (2011, Andrey Zvyagintsev) Review forthcoming, but short version: impressive, as expected, but don’t let anyone who thinks The Dark Knight Rises is an intentional smackdown of OWS see it. They’ll just hopelessly reduce it into a anti-poor people misreading. [screener]
6. 360 (2011, Fernando Meirelles) Review forthcoming (sight), but short version: sigh. [online screener]
7. First hour of Lenny (1974, Bob Fosse) [DVD]
8. Neil Young Journeys (2012, Jonathan Demme) Still prefer Trunk Show the most of these Demme-Young projects, but the tour stuff, with Young driving around his hometown, is lovely without being remotely cheesy, and Le Noise sounds fun. Also, “lougee-cam!” [theatrical screening, last of its kind in Philadelphia]
