« April 2005 | Main | September 2005 »
May 16, 2005
The River on DVD, 5/15/05
Jean Renoir directed the screenplay he wrote with Rumer Godden based on her novel. A red-headed English girl named Harriet is growing up on the Ganges when she has her first crush on an aimless American ex-soldier. She has some competition for his attention from Valerie, her best friend, and the half-Indian girl next door. There's about 20 minutes of exposition where we learn about the jute trade and the customs of the sub-continent. There's even a dance sequence. The love story feels like it was written in the 1800s, but India looks amazing here. The documentary sequences on the Ganges look amazing in Technicolor and feel so real. Renoir must have figured out someway of transporting his weighty cameras on boats so he could document what he could see. The final third of the movie involves a tragedy that feels right, but the film ends with a disappointing sequence with the three girls spouting such cliched platitudes about growing up. Ugh.
Posted by deaconmf at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
Samurai Assassin on DVD, 5/13/05
Well, this is strange one. They've got Toshiro Mifune recycling all his Kurosawa samurai roles in one character and inserted him into a real historical incident. While the swordplay is excellent and Mifune acts his part particularly well, there's some big problems here. Mifune is far too old for the role. His motivations would make more sense if he looked 20 years younger. So much time is devoted to explaining the situation here, but it still makes very little sense to someone who knows only a minimum of Japanese history. It's based on the assassination of the shogun's regent at one of the gates in Tokyo. A group of samurai bent on restoring the emperor to power is responsible, but they want to find out who's been betraying their group to the secret police. Kurosawa is accused at first. They're wrong, of course. I'm sure this was made to win whatever the Japanese Oscar is. Hope Kurosawa got his Oscar. Hope this movie didn't.
Posted by deaconmf at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie on DVD, 5/12/05
Ok, so the movie is padded with about 20 minutes worth of credits. It's got a creaky plot that doesn't use the characters in Bikini Bottom well. And it's got this framing device that calls to mind a least two Monty Python flicks. But whatever. It's Spongebob and he looks great on a huge screen. His personality is intact and all the jokes remain innocently grotesque. Patrick gets to pal around with him and their big adventure has all the right surreal touches, like a strangely superpowered, but real-live David Hasselhoff. Note to self: stay away from that man's pecs.
Oh. This is a kids' movie. Get your damned mind out of the gutter.
Posted by deaconmf at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)
May 15, 2005
Reasons For Living #1
The sawing strings echo the sentiments of dying love on the Mountain Goats' "Dilaudid".
Posted by deaconmf at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2005
Distant on DVD, 5/7/05
I had no idea it snowed in Istanbul, but when it does, it looks wonderous. This is one of those very European movies where very little seems to happen, but we watch characters go about their very average lives. An unemployed man from somewhere in the mountainous countryside of Turkey goes to stay with an older, successful photographer from the same hometown. They get on each others nerves, they try to get along, they fail. It's usual a very quiet movie and, as the two move slowly toward their emotional showdown, we watch the younger man try to get a job and watch women. The older man has conversations with his ex-wife, who's leaving with her new husband for Canada. It's all quietly and deliberately observed. I probably won't remember the characters in 10 years, but I will remember a man walking by a creaky boat floating on its side as the snow falls quietly in the bright light of winter.
Posted by deaconmf at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2005
Life gets busier and time slows down
Actually, it doesn't slow down at all. It's only my writing that does.
It's been a busy couple of weeks with French tests, visiting relatives and downtown work. Looks like another busy week with bands to see. Meanwhile, the catching up continues. I'll catch up, ok? Sheesh. LOL.
Posted by deaconmf at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
Yossi and Jagger on DVD, 5/1/05
Two hot gay soldiers. A war situation. Of course, someone was going to end up dead. While the movie's mostly about these two, a good portion of this story is about the company of soldiers dealing with the Golan Heights (I think) in the winter. It's not too sentimental and it's not the ringing endorsement of gayness that an American movie would be, but the relative quiet tells this simple story simply. And yup, I'd probably sleep with most of the cast. Woohoo!
Posted by deaconmf at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster on DVD, 4/30/05
This was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. While it didn't really concentrate on the creative aspects of music, it did a great job of showing how the band stayed together with the help of a psychiatrist. I think the movie's most notable for showing how Lars and James did try to stay civil to each other while going through a lot of therapy. I'm not sure why the directors decided to show us the auction where Lars ends up making a shitload of money. That just reinforces how much of an asshole that guy is. Also, I liked that once they discussed the band problems, they jettisoned the therapist. I'm not sure why the therapist thought he was going to become part of their creative process.
Posted by deaconmf at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)