Day seven @ SIFF

My last day of movies. I ended up seeing 14 films in a week--not that many really. Compared to the amount I've seen in the past, averaging only two a day is barely even attending the festival. I always want to see more. Next time, maybe. 

I started off with a crackerjack Hong Kong crime film called The Beast Stalker (great title). This was classic Hong Kong: well made, kind of sentimental, great action scenes, top notch editing and very suspenseful. There is one of the best car crashes I've ever seen in a movie in The Beast Stalker. It is so violent (and artistic at the same time) that I had to catch my breath as it went down. There were audible gasps in the audience during it. The crash is that amazing. That alone makes it work seeing but it has other things working in its favor too. 

After quickly eating a deluxe + fries at the Dick's (local burger joint popular in Seattle) across the street, I went back into the Uptown to see a film from Brazil called Carmo. This was a road film that had doses of American westerns tossed in. Carmo is about a "loose" woman who meets a guy in a wheelchair; the pair start following a pair of thieves while bickering with one another (but begin to fall for each other). Okay, nothing mind blowing. 

SIFF 2009 is officially over! I'll soon be on the jet taking me east. I've rented two films (a comedy with Paul Newman and Lee Marvin I've never seen + a German romantic comedy--!)to watch on the flight to help pass the time. 

Day six @ SIFF

I left the house around 10am to see my first film of the day and got back at midnight. Long day of movies, walking around the city for miles on end, eating and visiting. It was a fun day that started off with the screening of a Japanese film called Still Walking. I really enjoyed this one. It's the very simple tale of a son going home with his new wife and stepson and spending the day and night with his family. Familiar rifts between father and son surface--but never in a dramatic way, this is a Japanese film after all and in that culture even when you don't get along with your parent--you don't scream or insult them the way you might see in an American family that is going through a tense time. Still Walking is just so leisurely and simple--two of my favorite things in filmmaking. It just tells you the story and doesn't hurry to get there. That's confident, well thought out filmmaking to me.

I went and had lunch in the Pike Place Market again. I miss this place even though it's crawling with tourists non-stop all day long. There are just so many good places to grab a quick bite to eat. I got some mac & cheese from Beecher's--they make their own cheeses in old school, open air tradition and they are really good--and a bbq pork hom bow from this little Asian pastry place I have frequented for years. I ate both of these things while just rambling the market, trying not to bump into the tourists as they posed for pictures endlessly. 

Movie #2 was at the Egyptian and it was a dark, dark film from South Korea called Hansel & Gretel. Chocked with ele

ments from the story, this was a little more intense and given a Tim Burton style feel early on. I liked parts of the film but by the end I was kind of sick of the story so it could have used some ch

opping. Watching it made me want to see a comedy next and as luck would have it that is just what I got as we (Nancy + Jamie after eating at Machiavelli's a second time) headed to the Uptown to see the French farce Daddy Cool (although it's called 15 and A Half in the opening credits). A father moves back home to Paris to live with his 15+ year old daughter for the summer and has his eyes opened to her life, his being a concerned father and just how to relate to her. This breaks no new ground but has some fun, humorous moments--I especially liked the fantasy scenes when the dad's imagination takes over about his daughter and their relationship. 

One last day of films with three more on the docket. Only fifteen films in I wish I was able to see more during the day and stay for the entire festival. It feels as though I'm just getting warmed up. 

Day five @ SIFF

Kind of a slow day since I only saw one film. I did meet my friend Michael for lunch in the Pike Place Market. One of my favorite places--World Class Chili--was out of business which really made me sad as I still consider myself a regular here dating back to when I first ate there in 1996. The owner was a guy named Joe and he was really nice but getting older. The last time I saw him in September of 2008 he'd had a hip replacement and wasn't even behind the counter. That place will be missed! We walked through the market and ate at a tiny place that serves English styled crumpets. I had a ricotta cheese, pesto and ham + a butter and honey. Tasty. 

Later on I did see a film, Beauties At War. This was pure French styled romantic comedy which means I liked it as I am into French farces in a big way. I'd watch these kinds of films all day long and never get tired of them. Afterward I went over to Scarecrow Video and browsed the sections without actually renting anything. I just wanted to pay my respects to the temple that is Scarecrow (you didn't think I'd leave Seattle without the obligatory Scarecrow post did you?). The photo is of their "redneck" and "biker" selection--note the film Oklahoma Bound. 

Busy next couple of days with three films on Friday and Saturday. 

Day four @ SIFF

Had a bizarre night screening on day four--it involves the film being stopped and people walking out of the theatre. Details in a bit. I started the day off with lunch with Nancy on the water at a place called Agua Verde. Our view was of water, bridges, houseboats and the houses that creep up the hills. Pleasant. I went down to the EMP/Sci-Fi Museum (never been) and spent a couple of hours there--too many teenagers running amok! There were legions of them it seemed. The best thing there was the terrific exhibit on the Hatch Print Shop in Nashville. They use traditional wood blocked letterpress techniques to create their designs and I was blown away by what I saw. Not only great design but with pure Americana flavor that is timeless in its simple beauty. 

Went to the Harvard Exit for an afternoon screening of Small Crime. A great thing about film festivals is that you can see films from parts of the world you wouldn't see--Small Crime is a film from Cypress. The star of this light romantic comedy/mystery is without a doubt the setting. It's set on a small island with nothing but blue water surrounded it, rocky terrain, the white + blue sun bleached houses and sun. Gorgeous. I want to hop on a jet right now and go there! I won't remember much about this film for very long but I'll sure remember where the film was set. 

Now to the events of my evening screening of About Elly. I love films from Iran. They always seem to have this no nonsense realism to them that I admire. I depend on movies to take me there as I've dreamed of going to Iran for decades. So, I was excited to see this acclaimed film from Iran and the film jumps right into the action, no credits, verite style. Thirty minutes in the film jumps back in time and I'm thinking, okay, this guy is going non-linear on us after having absolutely no credits. Then the house lights come on and a person at the front of the house addresses the crowd: "I'm sorry but we've made a terrible error. You've actually just watched the 30 minutes near the ending as the film was put together wrong. We are going to re-build it and start from scratch..." at which point there was a lot of anger in the house--a packed theatre by the way. I was not happy! They basically ruined this film for me and countless others by constructing it with events toward the end, then events toward the beginning--who knows what exact reel they'd put where? I'd invested 35 minutes in this, skipped dinner, drove like a maniac to make it to the Uptown Theatre and find a parking place, tried to figure out why the film was starting with no credits and jumping around the time frame and now we were supposed to wait for it to be rebuilt and then stay and watch 35 minutes of the same footage? I took a voucher and got in a few complaints--as did many of those in the theatre--and left. 

I called Nancy and we decided to go watch the Mexican film Rudo Y Cursi at the Guild 45th later that night. The Guild was virtually empty--everyone is at SIFF!--and we watched that disappointing film. The lone bright spot about it is that it did run in its correct order, there was no misplaced reels and the film didn't break while we were watching it. 

Day three @ SIFF

Another busy day. Lots of stuff in Seattle + got in two films. Two films a day might seem like a lot to some but this is a festival that lasts for three weeks and I've had full series passes before. That means 130+ films in three weeks. So, two films a day is nothing. I do that a lot in Tulsa. The tiring thing this week is I'm rushing around doing other things--going to favorite restaurants, shops, walking so much up and down hilly Seattle streets my calves are sore, etc etc. By the time that 9.30 screening is done and I get back to Nancy's house, I'm tired. I love it though and it's hard to only watch two films a day as my natural robot genetics make me want to watch 4/5 films a day!

First film of the day was the new American comedy The Answer Man at the Neptune Theatre. I've said it before on here and I'll say it again--I love the Neptune! I saw The Answer Man for one reason and one reason only: Jeff Daniels as a comedic lead. I'll see anything with Daniels as lead as he's one of the most professional, solid and underrated comedy/dramatic actors working. The first hour of this is surprisingly peppy and smart. It zips right along until it comes to the last third and how to finish. Too bad, as it had the possibility of being quite good. Still, the nice cast makes it charming, light and fun. 

At 9.30 I got in another Danish film in Fear Me Not. I love the Danes! A problem with this film is it was my first digital projected film of the festival and it looked like garbage on the screen. The subtitles did a pixelated flicker dance about half the time and any time there was movement on screen the image became slightly distorted. I freakin' hate digital compared to film! The film was another odd one from the Danes which only endears me to them more. Fear Me Not is kind of a comedy (of the droll Danish style) with some dark moments in the second half as a father goes on anti-depressants that unleash some inner demons. Not for everyone but I liked its slowness and its "Dane-ness". 

Wednesday has me doing more of the same: bustling about the city and then squeezing in a couple of films. 

Day two @ SIFF

I hadn't scheduled a film for early in the day so decided to head down to the Egyptian Theatre (a couple of lobby photos are included) and see a documentary called We Live In Public. I'm glad I went as it was a very interesting doc about a lot of things--the loss of our shared privacy as we willingly give away information and chunks of our lives on social networks such as Facebook, Myspace or Twitter; a profile of the .com millionaire/performance artist Josh Harris who created some ahead of its time ultra-reality experiments on the web in the late 1990s/early 2000s. The craziest was the Quiet project that saw him sink 20+ million into the construction of a bunker in NYC right as 2000 hit. Dozens of people who signed up had to stay for a month, were furnished all the food, drink, drugs they wanted, everyone slept in pods with complete lack of privacy--TVs were everywhere, in your pod, in the shower, in the bathrooms. There was an on site gun range and interrogation room meant to break people down. Everyone was urged to wear uniforms (when they weren't cavorting around naked) and have cult like meetings in a appropriately designed room. At first everyone is into it--then it turns into chaos and madness. Riveting. Harris' next online project was to show every waking hour of him and his girlfriend's living experience--so detailed cameras were installed in the toilet. Not as interesting as the bunker but that was wild. Directed by the same woman who made the documentary Dig! which I really loved, We Live In Public is a fascinating look at our culture, our attention craved mindsets and one man's extreme measures to vault himself into the public consciousness. 

Later at night I went back to the Egyptian to see a dark comedy from Denmark called Terribly Happy. I have mentioned in earlier posts about how I'm on a Danish kick and just really love their sense of humor and will add this quirky film to the list. It's full of lots of dry, deadpan moments that seem to populate their comedic style as a Copenhagen cop moves out to the boonies and discovers a town populated with eccentrics and their own way of doing things. If you go against the grain here--you run the risk of ending up in the bog outside of town. I think I'm going to like any film that makes repeated references to "the bog". I just love that word: bog. I did have to ask a couple in front of me who were blabbing away non-stop (a rarity here as usually audiences are stone silent) if they were going to keep talking to each other the entire film (only my second confrontation of the year Guy if you are reading this, ha). 

Day two--both films were worth seeing and enjoyable. Day three has another Danish film scheduled and a new one I'm watching because Jeff Daniels is in it and that's usually reason enough to check it out. 

Day one @ SIFF

My 2009 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is officially up and running--although it got off to a slow start. First up was a screening of Departures, an acclaimed Japanese drama that was pretty popular, hence long lines down the block. Nancy (aka Hidden Staircase) hadn't pre-bought a ticket so it was unlikely she'd get in...so I hawked mine to a woman and we chose to spend the afternoon walking around downtown/Belltown in Seattle. That meant record a  shop (Easy Street, where I got seven used CDs ranging from two Midnight Oil to Stevie Nicks' Bella Donna to a couple of Pet Shop Boys--their new one + an old one); various design shops (I got a great blue Lamy fountain pen at Paperhaus!); bought a new tie; hung out at a cafe on the street. Fun, but no movies.

I finally made it to my first film of the festival at 6.30 at the Harvard Exit (photo is of me standing in the long ticket holder line) with the South Korean film My Dear Enemy. This was a sweet, charming, subtle comedy that grew on me by the end. The story has two exes spending the day together after accidentally running into one another. He owes her money, she wants it, they spend the day calling and driving over Seoul meeting a variety of friends of his who might loan him money to pay back the loan he owes her. It's a simple story but done with a lot of restraint--some films might have taken the zany approach, but this doesn't try to make the characters anything other than what they are. There's a level of sadness undercutting the film that I enjoyed too.

After My Dear Enemy ended I hightailed it to my rental car and headed up to the U-District and the Neptune Theatre (search the CineRobot archives to see my post on this theatre) to see the Spanish film The Anarchist's Wife. This film, set during the Spanish Civil War, WW2 and post-WW2 was okay but I was expecting better. It unfortunately gets a little TVish melodramatic at times and the ending, which attempts to make a statement on the "healing" the Spanish have done as a people since their civil war was way too heavy handed for me. Sometimes the most effective message is one that doesn't browbeat you as you watch it. 

St. Louis/on a jet

I left Tulsa yesterday afternoon on a 4.15 flight to St. Louis. The layover was a few hours long so I was able to recharge my DVD battery while grabbing a bite to eat in the airport (the choices were slim at the St. Louis airport: Chili's Too or Wolfgang Puck Bistro; I went with Chili's due to a table near a plug in).  With recharged battery I got to finish the movie I'd started on the plane, a Norwegian drama called Clorox, Ammonia and Coffee. It's not very good. I usually watch foreign films when flying because of the subtitles make it easier to follow the dialogue due to the noise level on the plane. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

On the flight from St. Louis to Seattle I watched Japanese film Branded. This one was better as it involved two main subjects in a mostly incoherent plot: random assassins trying to kill each other and the main hit man's dalliances with various women. When I watch something on a jet I usually try to choose something that might not have offensive material--you know, lots of nudity, sex and violence. I thought I'd be safe with a Japanese film from 1967 but it had wall to wall naked girls! Oh well, there's no way it was more bothersome to those around me than the screaming baby that squealed its head off for 2+ hours in a four hour flight. Now, that was offensive. 

Seattle Film Festival schedule

I'm heading up to Seattle for a week. Lots of movies on tap. My schedule--which might grow a few more times before the week is done--is on the left. As you can see, lots of foreign films--I like to watch those because I doubt they come to Tulsa.

I'll try to check in throughout the week with updates, reviews, photos and stories. Posts will come every day or every other day (at least that's the plan).

The Soloist

There are some topics that are notoriously difficult to portray in movies. Showing writers, painters or musicians at work for example--hard to do. Realistically portraying what it's like to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia is another tough one. The Soloist tries to tackle a couple of these subjects on varied levels but kind of falls flat by attempting to do too much with the story rather than just depend on its strengths.

Robert Downey, Jr. plays Steve Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist who writes about regular people, quirky people, only in L.A. kind of stories. His interest is piqued by Nathanial Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a rambling, not quite coherent street musician/homeless man he accidentally encounters one sunny afternoon. It seems Ayers might have gone to Julliard at one time so Lopez begins to write essays about this musician who went from the privilege auditoriums of Julliard, to playing in tunnels while covered in aluminum foil.

The Soloist is one of these over earnest types of films that pop up from time to time. These films are usually well crafted (Joe Wright directs), sentimental and attempt to impact a message to the audience. The idea is usually applied with the subtlety of a ball peen hammer to the skull--such is the case here. The Soloist has two big issues: mental disease and the homeless and the ways an urban metropolis like L.A. treats both of those things. Films like these, with such blunt, overt lessons running throughout them, drain me more than they move me.

Downey and Foxx are actually pretty good in the lead roles. Can't fault their performances. A major mistake though is the useless, manipulative scenes of Ayers as a youngster, as a promising student at Julliard and when he was losing his grip on reality. Schizoprenia manifests itself in Ayers head as a lot of voices talking to him at once. The more voices, the more powerful the hold of his schizophrenia on his actions. The film should have just stayed with the present story of writer + homeless man and their forming bond and relied on their chemistry and good performances. The flashbacks are distracting at the very least and do a lot of damage to the flow of the film.

While The Soloist attempts to portray tough to film topics such as schizophrenia, writing and being a musician--it dooms itself by being overly complicated, earnest, preachy and sentimental. A little restraint and directness in storytelling would have done wonders for it. Instead, we get the same kinds of overwrought excess that seems to always screw up these kinds of pictures.

I Heart Virginie Ledoyen

Let's add another French actress to the "I Heart..." series. Virginie Ledoyen won't be the last. I love French cinema (after American films, I always watch more French films than any other country) and there are always lots of fetching women in their films. I admit, I like French girls--maybe I should just move to France and be done with it?

Ledoyen, who has been in mostly French films but has crossed over to American releases (The Beach in 2000--my one word review: ugh. This review is kind of tempered when you factor in that Ledoyen spends most of the film in a bikini!) and was even in a film from Taiwan from the wonderful Edward Yang (Mahjong). Her career has been all over the map--from French farce and romance (The Valet or Jeanne and the Perfect Guy) to crappy horror and suspense (Saint Ange or The Backwoods).

My favorite Ledoyen film is one she did in 1995 called A Single Female. This is a captivating, direct, simple tale with Ledoyen as a hotel employee with work and real life problems. The film follows her through her daily activities--not a lot of action but I was mesmerized by her rawness in this as a young woman worn down by life and job. A Single Female is a must see that might convert you to Ledoyen fandom when it ends.

Tonight I'll get to feed my Ledoyen fix at Circle Cinema, as she has a role in the new romantic comedy Shall We Kiss? (pictured). I can't wait.

Star Trek

I had my reservations but I tried my best to enter the theatre with an open mind. The original Star Trek fan in me--the one who owns a Spock action figure, has a Bones magnet on the refrigerator and keeps a working phaser in my sci-fi book section--was highly dubious of a bunch of 20/30 somethings taking over the iconic roles and mythos that is Star Trek. My fear--it would just be a vapid, glossy, Bay-esque insult to the Star Trek that I embraced as a kid and have loved ever since.

Star Trek, as a franchise, was desperate for some new blood to inject new life into its moribund body. I was obsessed with the original episodes when young, loved the Next Generation cast and crew, most of the movies (Star Trek I and V are not watchable!) but kind of lost contact in the middle of Deep Space Nine. The last couple of TV shows were as much an insult to the Star Trek world as this movie could be as they were unoriginal, rigid and minus all the adventure the original show possessed. Star Trek was long since worn out. So, I was open minded and hopeful but a little worried as the lights dimmed.

Cue giant sigh of relief and exhilaration as I loved Star Trek! It is better than I thought it would be in virtually every way. There are lots of nods to the past--in both humorous and dramatic ways. The story is complex, interesting and intense while bringing in Romulans (Eric Bana as the main bad guy), black holes and time travel (yes! One element of the time travel story made me very, very happy). And director JJ Abrams absolutely nails the various action sequences from start to finish. This is easily the best form of Star Trek to come along since TV's Next Generation. Hands down.

This Star Trek is basically a story of beginnings or origin (check out that cute baby Spock!). We see Kirk and Spock as kids, one in Iowa raising hell, the other on Vulcan sort of raising hell too (as much as a 1/2 Vulcan can). We see them at Starfleet Academy. We see how all the principle characters meet (Bones, Sulu, Scotty, Uhura and Chekov) and how they end up on the Enterprise. I'm pretty happy with the cast although some are better than others--Simon Pegg as Scotty and Karl Urban as Bones are good as they chew up their dialogue ready for more; Zoe Saldana as Uhura is hot as all get out; John Cho as Sulu, not so good. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Kirk/Spock, while no Shatner/Nimoy, they were fine.

Early on it is evident that a lot of money was spent on effects and the attention to detail is spot on. The film's space sequences are amazing and kick serious ass. I could quibble here and there about stuff like the over abundance of white/glass on the bridge, the meshy uniforms or the look of the Romulans--but I don't want to come off like a fanatic killjoy. The film is great--why get lost in the Trekkie obsessed world of over nitpicking it to death?

Star Trek exceeded all my expectations. It's perfectly paced, it's got action, humor and tension. It's got all the great characters I love who are starting to form the bonds of loyalty and friendship that they never lose. It's fun. It's got Vulcan pinches and phasers set to stun. It's even got a large dose of swaggering cool. When is the last time Star Trek and cool went together? Well, this is. I can hardly wait for more.

Twister, Seattle, 1996

Tornado season is upon us in Oklahoma. The region will have a few months of severe weather (something I love) and interrupted TV by overzealous meteorologists who compete in their expensive radar battles (something I loathe). What better to write about in tornado season than that Oklahoma set film epic of thrills, romance and F5s--Twister.

Twister is just awful. It's a terrible movie with highly unrealistic weather depictions, absurd villains (yes, even a film about tornadoes has bad guys!), a hokey as all get out love story and the always annoying Helen Hunt. I know, that sure sounds like a recipe for disaster but despite all those negative traits, I just love this movie.

My love for Twister stems from when I saw it in the summer of 1996 at the Neptune Theatre (see September '08 archives). When I live away from Oklahoma I tend to suffer extreme bouts of homesickness. I have a love/hate relationship with Oklahoma but it's a place that gets in your blood and its hard to get rid of it even during the hating stages. This particular summer, I happened to be in the throes of a strong homesick melancholy and thought--what is more home than tornadoes? Nothing. Let's go watch Twister!

Lola, who had her own share of tornado memories having spent part of her childhood in Missouri, and I made our way to the Neptune on a Saturday afternoon. The film began and I knew this was going to be a real mess when I saw the first cow flying over a field. It's a baffling kind of science when every tornado seemed to always veer in whatever direction would make it easier on the storm chasers. Ain't that friendly of the tornado?

Regarding the cast, on the plus side is Bill Paxton (who does some serious overacting but I still love the guy) and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (he's the OU cap wearing "Dusty"). Nullifying those two is the aforementioned Hunt (whose heavily made up face never gets a fleck of mud or dirt on it without magically disappearing soon after) and the always atrocious Jamie Gertz. Gertz is so lacking in talent in every movie she has ever been in I am curious what kind of sexual favors she performed to get a role. For high profile films like Twister, she must have had bruised knees for months.

Despite all the levels of shite-ness Twister has--I sat in the Neptune that afternoon and just let its make believe sweep over me. For a couple of hours I was riding along country roads as fake CGI storms raged or found myself sitting in a dank "fraidy hole" waiting out the danger. I was home even though I've never seen a tornado in my life. Not once.

Gomorrah

If you write a non-fiction book and it is embraced with passion, attention and tons of publicity--then your book is likely to be a success. If you write a book about the mafia and have to go into armed protection for years--your book is likely to be a success. It just might not be the same kind of success you may have dreamed of.

Such is the case for Roberto Saviano's recent book Gomorrah, an in depth look into the Naples crime syndicate (also known as Gomorrah). The book was a sensation in Italy when published, Saviano has been in hiding ever since. Before watching Gomorrah, check your expectations and preconceived notions at the door. Don't expect a Godfather styled mob movie--Gomorrah rejects that idea on every level as it tells its gritty story about the all reaching power of crime.

The film version of the book, directed by Matteo Garrone, is as unsentimental and labyrinthine a look at the criminal world you are likely to see. There are few protagonists and people to root for in Gomorrah. This is a film of predators, of varying ages and influence, who either want in or out of the life they've chosen (or become entangled in). There is little hope for the characters. There is no romanticism. There is just the daily grind of living in Naples and the complicated connection to crime its citizens face.

The film is broken into multiple segments and bounces from character to character. They range from a young kid drawn into the organization, wannabe hoodlums who have watched Scarface too many times, an accountant who doles out weekly pay to soldiers in the family, a tailor in the black market who gets greedy, a young guy who has a new job working to secure sites for illegal dumping of hazardous waste and an assortment of tough guys on various rungs of the criminal ladder. Some characters appear more often and some disappear from the screen for long periods of time.

At first, as the stories jump from one point to another, Gomorrah is kind of hard to follow. It's complex. It's violent--the gunshots sound like cannons going off in your face. It's full of quiet despair. It's also very powerful and seeing these people wallow in the inescapable prison that is their lives is a sad thing to witness. The bare bones style of the film has a gritty, hyper-realism to it that makes the film even more haunting.

Let's be honest, Gomorrah won't make you feel good about life. You have to work for what it offers but if you are into serious, intelligent, realistic, multifaceted stories of crime or the mafia then this is for you. It's an intense, somber look at just how far reaching and destructive this particular crime syndicate in Naples is. Enter at your own peril.

Seattle International Film Festival 2004

In a few weeks I'm heading to Seattle for a week. I'll be there during the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) that lasts about three weeks every spring. Yes, I will be watching some films--probably ones I don't think will come to Tulsa or out on video soon.

In 2004 I had a media pass to SIFF as did The Hidden Staircase. I didn't remember her making a list of what we were watching with our matching scores but a few weeks ago she sent this to me. This is the order we watched the films and our scores--I am on the left; Hidden Staircase is on the right.

April movies

Adventureland---2009---usa ***1/2
Sugar---2009---usa ****
Duplicity---2008---usa ***1/2
Frostbitten---200?---sweden **1/2
Semi-Pro---2008---usa **1/2
Observe and Report---2009---usa ***
Two Lovers---2008---usa ****
Nollywood Babylon---2008---canada ***
Fulltime Killer---2001---hong kong ****
Dead Snow---2008---norway ***1/2
Leatherheads---2008---usa ***
House---1977---japan ***1/2
Marie Antoinette---2006---usa ***
Everlasting Moments---2008---sweden ****