Movie tickets #22

Shutter Island + Street Fight

Shutter Island. Martin Scorsese is better than messes like his 2010 release Shutter Island. I finally got to see it on blu-ray and now see why it was delayed from a theatrical release: it's not any good! In fact, this is my least favorite film by Scorsese since Kundun in 1997. That's a long ways back to go to find something that didn't totally work for the legendary director. Even though I wasn't overtly swooning at recent films such as The Aviator or Gangs of New York, those are at least big, epic films fascinating to watch. Shutter Island? It is just a bad movie. Period.

Technically well-made, it is Scorsese after all, but the story of Shutter Island is an endless series of ridiculous, overwrought scenes of psychological fantasy that lead to twists that I didn't care about. I had no interest in resolving any of the mysteries the characters are trying to get to the bottom of. Not a single one. This delving in the make-believe world of real v. unreal doesn't suit Scorsese's style. There's no intimacy and virtually everything on the screen is overblown--from the pounding score to the knock you on the skull acting of the cast.

Scorsese's got a bunch of films he's producing or directing in the next couple of years. He's 68 years old--is he feeling the pressure to create more to help build on his cinematic legacy? I sure hope not. The Departed (2006) was a tense throwback, but Shutter Island feels completely off and you'd never guess who the director was. It could have been any hack young Hollywood director delving into the current style of loud filmmaking with no subtlety or nuance. As I said earlier, Scorsese is much, much better than this junk.

Street Fight. A week into January and I've already got a contender for favorite documentary of the year. Street Fight is a 2005 film from director Marshall Curry that attempts to follow the 2002 mayoral election of Newark, New Jersey while a brash upstart named Cory Booker attempts to unseat long-term incumbent Sharpe James. I generally try to avoid the purely political documentaries as they tend to fill me with disgust at our increasingly messed up government, but Street Fight is a riveting examination of all that is right and wrong with our broken system.

Plagued by violence, poverty, corruption and hopelessness, Newark is a city that has seen better days. Booker is a 32 year old lawyer, who went to Stanford and Oxford, and is outspoken, idealistic and likes to lay the blame at the feet of Sharpe and his political machine. Sharpe will not be voted out without a fight and uses every means at his disposal including police intimidation, manipulation of mass media, blatant lies, threats of violence, fraud and pretty much every dirty trick his team can come up with. Down and dirty politics ain't a pretty picture and this race for mayor is as vile as a local election can get. Street Fight is a terrific documentary that will make you angry as much as it will entertain.

2010 statistics!

Total films seen in 2010: 243

By Month

January: 23
February: 18
March: 21
April: 18
May: 16
June: 16
July: 33
August: 18
September: 16
October: 12
November: 20
December: 32

By Decade

1920-29: 2
1930-39: 1
1940-49: 2
1950-59: 6
1960-69: 5
1970-79: 26
1980-89: 20
1990-99: 6
2000-2009: 98
2010: 75

By Country

156: US and A!
16: England, France
4: Canada, Spain, Sweden
3: China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico
2: Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Romania
1: Chile, Greece, Finland, Indonesia, India, Israel, Netherlands

Who I Saw 'Em With

104: Alone
96: Sarah Jesse
28: David Nofire
8: Aaron Mankekar
7: Lillian Blevins
6: Bart Ford, Peter Klein, Brandon Pleake
5: Krista Chamberlain, Mandy Durham, Tim Spindle
3: Scott Booker, Cassie Tudyk
2: Mary Beth Babcock, Donnie Bostwick, Nancy Churillo, Lance Miller, Greg Younger
1: Jacob Booker, Gunter Bostwick, John Cooper, Candice Due, JR Due, Susan Green, Tom Huettner, Trevor Koop, Bill Lloyd, Jada Maxwell, Kim McMillen, Joe O'Shansky, David Vance, Sara Younger

Where I Saw 'Em

202: Tulsa, Oklahoma
6: Pryor Creek, Oklahoma; London, England
5: Seattle, Washington; On a jet
4: New York, NY
2: St. Louis, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
1: Paris, texas; Virginia Water, England; Kansas City, Missouri; Miami, Oklahoma; Vancouver, Canada; Memphis, Tennessee; Dadeville, Alabama

In a theatre: 102
Documentaries: 33
Tearjerkers: 9

UTW review of How Do You Know

Go here if you want to read my recent review of the James L. Brooks comedy/drama How Do You Know. It stars Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson. It's a negative review if you like reading about how I couldn't stand a certain film. Those are often the most fun reviews to write to be perfectly honest. I want to see films that cause me to either love or to loathe--any reaction is better than no reaction.

Pete Postlethwaite 1946-2011

Long-time readers of CineRobot know I love character actors more than the movie stars that get more press and attention. I just love their ability to be acting chameleons from role to role, film to film as they play both good and bad. These actors, who are usually not blessed with the looks and physiques of the leading men/women, have to craft performances that make their smaller screen time memorable and unique. They are often the glue that makes a movie better and the best actors in a movie are often these people who unfortunately go unnoticed or unappreciated way too much. Well, not by me.

The English actor Pete Postlethwaite was just the sort of actor I loved to watch. Not a traditionally handsome man with his prominent nose and grizzled, angular features, Postlethwaite had as much charisma and on-screen presence as anybody he shared the frame with. Postlethwaite, a lifelong smoker, recently died at the age of 64 from cancer.

The most recent thing I saw Postlethwaite in was a few months ago in The Town, a better than average heist film directed by Ben Affleck set in the working class neighborhoods of Boston. Postlethwaite does what he does best in the film--takes a small role and makes it his own in such intelligent, invisible ways that you can't help become captivated by his gangster ringleader as he masquerades as a semi-legitimate florist. 2010 was actually a great year for Pete as he was also in one of the most-buzzed films of the year in Inception. He was in a third big release too, but I didn't see Clash of the Titans, so I'll go no comment on that one.

Let me give you some recommended titles for films where Postlethwaite shines that are worth checking out on DVD if you haven't seen them or want to re-watch. Start with the previously mentioned The Town to see what he was doing right before he died and then work your way back through his catalogue. In the Name of the Father (1993) got Postlethwaite his only Oscar nod--a best supporting actor nomination--in a terrific movie where he shared scenes with the always heavy-duty Daniel Day-Lewis. His most well-known film role is probably in 1995's The Usual Suspects, but one of my favorite things he did was Brassed Off (1996), a sweet film about a plucky group of coal miners who live for the brass band they love to play in that will be threatened if the mine closes down.

The masses can have their glamorous movie stars with their increasingly wrinkle free faces, their imperfections erased by chemicals, surgeries or Photoshop trickery--I'll take people such as Pete Postlethwaite every time.

Hannie Caulder + Red Riding 1974

Hannie Caulder. I love westerns. I watched a lot of them while growing up and it's comforting for me to watch a film from this genre. No matter how many I see, they always take me quickly back to my childhood as they were always a popular option among a variety of family members. Hannie Caulder (1971) is one of those westerns that has been kind of "lost" from the DVD world and was just given a release. Having seen a bunch of westerns, I thought I'd never seen it, but early on I realized I had seen it although I may have ten years old at the time. Who knows? It was buried somewhere in my memories, an increasingly foggy place to be located.

Directed by western genre specialist Burt Kennedy, Hannie Caulder stars sexpot Raquel Welch as a woman seeking revenge on three foul, dirty, murdering (they kill her husband), raping no-gooders. Unfortunately she doesn't know the first thing about shooting a weapon until she meets a bounty hunter (Robert Culp) who teaches her the way of the six-shooter. Donning some tight leather britches (she shrinks to a snug fit by wearing them into a bath) and a Mexican poncho with seemingly nothing underneath, Caulder is a smokin' hot vigilante, hell-bent on putting these three into the ground. Ignore the poster with the skin-baring Welch posing friendly with these men--she wants them D-E-A-D.

The three bad brothers are as good as it gets for a western from this era: Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam and Strother Martin. That's top-notch casting right there. You can almost smell the stench that is wafting off of them as they are bearded, filthy, greasy-haired, loud, obnoxious and lacking all sense of morality. They are perfect villains for a revenge western such as Hannie Caulder. I almost wish I could have seen more from them and wish they weren't portrayed as such bumblers. They should have been doing more raping and killing, upping their evil quota before the final showdown with Hannie. This is a fun western that may have been missed or forgotten about through the decades.

Red Riding 1974. Earlier this year a trio of film's were released from England that has been getting a lot of buzz. Originally made for English television and known as the "Red Riding" trilogy, the series starts in 1974 as a serial killer is on the loose, praying on young girls. The mystery is pursued by a young reporter (Andrew Garfield from The Social Network) and he's eager to uncover the who and the why of the murders. As he gets more and more embroiled in the chase, the bloodier he becomes as there's a trail of corruption and nasty people in the midst of the story.

The "Red Riding" world is based on a group of novels by David Peace and they are as much about the corruptible nature of being human as much as they are the actual serial killer (at least the first one is, I haven't seen 1980 or 1983 yet). At times, it's small screen status rings too strongly--it just doesn't feel like a "film" at key moments. It's still a a gritty tale with a lot of darkness in the story. I hope it will expand with each jump forward in time, despite having new characters introduced, or old characters erased, as we get closer and closer to the truth of who is behind these killings and why there are people in power attempting to hide it. While not as blown away by this as some critics, I'm intrigued and have part two in my queue to see soon.

UTW review of The Fighter

Toward the end of every calendar year, a slew of better films come out and The Fighter is one of those kinds of movies. Go here if you want to read my review of it in Urban Tulsa, but the short version is I really liked this boxing based film from director David O. Russell. Among the many things I loved about it is it has probably my favorite cast in 2010. Dead-on casting across the board.

December movies

In a few days I'll post one of my favorites of the year--the 2010 statistics! That will have the complete list of who, what, when and where (but no why will be given). Until then, be happy with the rather mundane monthly list of what I saw and my 1-5 ratings. As December usually is, this was a busy month with me watching 32 films that saw a couple of 5 stars (including the first time I have ever watched the pretty amazing The Treasure of Sierra Madre) and a bunch of films poised to get nominations come award time.

Taxi Driver---1976---usa   *****!
Heartbreaker---2010---france   ***1/2
Hannie Caulder---1971---usa   ***
Last Train Home---2010---china   ***
Red Riding 1974---2009---england   ***
Mr. Death---1999---usa   ***1/2
Frozen River---2008---usa   ***1/2
The Tourist---2010---usa   ***
Triangle---2007---hong kong   ***
Black Swan---2010---usa   ****
Humpday---2009---usa   **1/2
True Grit---2010---usa   ****
The Legend of Jimmy the Greek---2010---usa   ***
Red Riding 1980---2009---england   ***
A Prophet---2009---france    ****
The Fighter---2010---usa    ****
The Pursuit of Happiness---1971---usa   **1/2
The King's Speech---2010---england   ***1/2
Four Lions---2010---england   ***1/2
Bomb It---2007---usa   ***1/2
How Do You Know---2010---usa   **
The Furies---1950---usa   ***
Whatever Works---2009---usa   **
It's Kind of a Funny Story---2010---usa   ***
The Treasure of Sierra Madre---1948---usa   *****!
A Solitary Man---2009---usa   ***
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison---1957---usa   ***1/2
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector---2009---usa   **
I Love You Phillip Morris---2010---usa   ***
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale---2010---finland   ***
Tron: Legacy---2010---usa   **1/2
Scott Walker: 30th Century Man---2006---usa   ***1/2

Baghead + The Other Boleyn Girl

Baghead. I liked this more than I was expecting to considering it's a horror film (sort of) based around a villain who wears a brown paper bag on his head. Not exactly Michael Myers creepy. It's a standard, run of the mill brown paper bag and its normalcy might be the key for it causing fear or uneasiness as Baghead unfolds. The story, done up in as much comedy as fright by brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, concerns two women and two males heading out to a remote cabin for the weekend to work on a screenplay they can all be in. When there, drink is consumed, lusts are born and strange things begin to occur. You know, unknown types with a bag on the head emerging from the darkness or appearing in rooms.

I enjoyed another Duplass brother film a few years back called The Puffy Chair. Baghead has the same low-budget, improvised feel and mood. There's a casual spontaneity among the four cast members as they banter back and forth about films, what is happening to them or drunkenly make romantic passes at each other. It's a very flimsy premise, but the likable group of actors and some weirdness toward the end with Mr. Baghead make it funny in an awkward way and kind of eerie in a silly way. Nothing says terror like a killer with a bag on their heads, right?

The Other Boleyn Girl. Take my advice on this very, very subpar monarchy set melodrama from 2008: avoid it. Granted, films set among royal families of any nation are not something that interests me. Ever. Add The Other Boleyn Girl to the list. It's not that I just don't like these sorts of king/queen films (although I don't!), this is just a bad film and would be hard-pressed to please people into this world or time in history. It's a failure at everything it tries to be. Romance, historical drama, suspense--all of these do not work. The Other Boleyn Girl is dull, poorly written, poorly acted and full of characters I didn't care if they lived, loved or had their heads chopped off by the king.

Set in 16th century England during the reign of Henry VIII (played stiffly by Eric Bana), two sisters vie for the king's attention. Desperate for a male heir, the randy king takes sister Mary (Scarlett Johansson in heaving bosom mode) as a mistress, but then takes sister Anne (Natalie Portman) as a wife. It's complicated in the king's bedchambers. One sister will end up without a head. There's a decent cast in this, but it's ruined by a heavy handed script and direction, The Other Boleyn Girl confirms my long-held thoughts about the monarchy that will make me pass on the next film set in this period among this or that king/queen.

Metropolis poster

Metropolis, one of my favorite silent films of all-time recently played here in Tulsa with all the added footage that has made it a must-see for the film geek in 2010. The 1927 dystopian science fiction film directed by Fritz Lang while he was working at UFA (Germany's major film studio from 1917-1945) also has one of my favorite film posters. In fact, variations of this poster I've seen are also pretty mind-blowing as well. I so loved this female robot that when Dan Fritschie created the CineRobot propaganda poster in 2009, I asked him to channel his inner foxy robot--see CineRobot poster below for comparison.

UTW review of The Tourist

Go here if you want to read my review of The Tourist in a recent Urban Tulsa Weekly. It's a blatant star-vehicle kind of picture with real, honest to goodness movie stars Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie doing what they do best in the thriller/action genre that this exists in--be movie stars. To know if I liked it or not, you'll have to click the link and read on...

I Heart Melissa Leo

In the opening moments of the 2008 drama Frozen River, the camera lingers on the face of its lead character played by Melissa Leo. In this brief, intimate moment we come to an understanding about this person--she is tired, worn-down, frightened, worried, emotional and angry. No words are said as none are needed, Leo tells us everything we need to know simply by showing us her face. And what a glorious face it is too--the face of a 50 year old woman who is also a great actress. What a novel concept!

In this day and age of surgeries, chemical injections and other medical attacks on aging that turns people into deformed mutants rather than making them look younger, Leo appears to have have rejected that path. Who ever truly knows though, unless the person has gone full-freakshow with their faces? The best thing about this for Leo--and other actors who are worried about the tolling bell of getting older--is that her career has never been better. She got a deserved best actress nod for Frozen River and has been a busy, busy performer of late among the cast of recent films such as Conviction, The Fighter and a prominent place on the acclaimed HBO series Treme.

I first became a fan of Leo's in 1993 when she took on the role of Kay Howard, a tough-talking detective in an all-male world on the wonderful television series Homicide: Life on the Street. There were some powerhouse actors on Homicide (Andre Braugher, Ned Beatty, Yaphet Kotto among others) and Leo more than held her own as Howard was a feisty, independent, complicated, well-thought out character. After the show ended, Leo went into bit-part purgatory before emerging from the wilderness with the gritty, low-budget Frozen River. I hope Leo keeps getting these good roles too for evidence that not every woman (or man) of a certain age doesn't have to carve up their face into some kind of mysterious plasticine version of the way they think they look.

I sometimes wish I was living in New York City again

I'm going to try to not knock on Tulsa or Oklahoma on this post as I'm happy to be living in the area where I was born, raised, have most of my family, went to school, have friends I've known for 30+ years and feel both comfortable and inspired most of the time. But, sometimes I read about cultural events happening in other cities and dig deep into that area of my heart populated by wanderlust. It gives me serious pause. I ask myself: why am I not living in New York City, the absolute mecca for all the cultural things that I love?

For example, MoMA just opened this massive exhibit related to German films called Weimar Cinema, 1919-1933: Daydreams and Nightmares. It absolutely sickens me that I can't go experience the most comprehensive exhibit on German cinema in American history. There's posters, film stills, material and more than anything--films. 75 feature length movies from this vibrant period including such legends as Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau and G.W. Pabst. Many films will have their first screening in decades or are restored film prints that were "discovered" post-German reunification. It makes my heart ache in longing!

But, I'll stay with Tulsa with sadness in my bones when I read about events such as this. It's not so bad, right? I have my Netflix queue with nearly 200 films ready to be shipped to me. I have my beloved Circle Cinema, where it takes a while for films to get here, but at least they get here.  It could be a lot worse for me film wise, I could be living in the godforsaken movie town of Oklahoma City after all. Now that would be truly depressing.

Image from 1925 film Variety.

UTW review of Tamara Drewe

Go here if you want to read my review of the English pastoral sex farce Tamara Drewe. Directed by Stephen Frears and starring the lovely Gemma Arterton, this is kind of a hit and miss comedy with lots of pretty views of the countryside (and of Arterton!).

Taxi Driver + Heartbreaker

Taxi Driver. It's a very difficult proposition to list my favorite Martin Scorsese films, but if I had to make one (anyone who knows me knows I love a good list so this isn't exactly torture) Taxi Driver would be a solid number three. The sad thing for it, no matter how many times I watch it, chances are it will stay at number three. No way I will ever move it ahead of my two favorites Raging Bull and Good Fellas. Those two are as good as it gets for cinema as a whole, no matter the director. Future Scorsese movies? No hope they will eclipse these three.

Released in 1976, Taxi Driver still packs a tremendous punch as a visceral look at urban isolation, decay and seediness as a socially inept war veteran (Travis Bickle) goes off the deep end whilst coming up with ways to clean the streets of the "scum" he encounters while driving his taxi. Robert De Niro's first post-Godfather II (1974) role is as Bickle and it's a legendary performance with lots of classic scenes ("You talkin' to me?" being the most well known). The only thing about it that never stops bugging me is why De Niro wore a skullcap rather than shaving an actual mohawk on his head. I don't care about sequence filming or any of that. He should have taken razor to skull. How is that method acting, Mr. De Niro? Taxi Driver has a relentless script from Paul Schrader and it's just as dark today as when it originally came out. Great supporting roles by Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Cybill Shepherd, Jodie Foster and a brief, wonderful scene by Stephen Prince as a gun salesman named Easy Andy that kills me every time I watch it. Taxi Driver belongs in the category of must see over and over cinema.

Heartbreaker. Now for something different--French farce! I love French cinema and there's nothing more enjoyable from there than witnessing their version of the American romantic comedy. If I had to choose between something similar between France and America regarding romantic comedies--it's France. Sorry patriotic Americans but Hollywood has dumbed down this genre so much they are increasingly painful to watch. The French know how to deliver chemistry, physical comedy, intelligence and more edge than the parade of blander than bland movies Hollywood creates. Let's add Heartbreaker to that list of how the French do it better than the Americans.

Starring the charismatic (and desperate for a cheeseburger and fries skinny) Romain Duris as a lover-for-hire, paid to break up relationships by seducing unhappy females by concerned loved ones. He works in a team of three (more comedy fodder obviously) and he takes the job very seriously, doing research, creating elaborate ruses to further woo his target. Trouble ensues when he meets Juliette Van Der Becq (Johnny Depp's l'amour Vanessa Paradis), an extremely wealthy, independent and not interested since she's about to be married. Or is she?  Of course she is! It wouldn't be a farcical French romantic comedy if she isn't tempted by Duris' charms. Light as a feather, Heartbreaker delivers laughs and romance as it beguiles the characters on the screen and the audience as well.

UTW review of 127 Hours

Go here if you want to read my review of 127 Hours in a recent Urban Tulsa Weekly. Based on real events, it's Danny Boyle's follow-up to Slumdog Millionaire and stars James Franco as a young man trapped in a Utah canyon who'll do something desperate to survive. It's pretty good too.

Movie tickets #21

UTW review of The Tillman Story

Go here if you want to read my review of The Tillman Story in a recent Urban Tulsa Weekly. It's a documentary that tells the story of professional football player Pat Tillman's journey from the NFL to the mountains of Afghanistan, where he was killed in action as a member of the Army Rangers. It's one of my favorite documentaries of the year and will likely get your blood boiling as the government lies, bullies and tries to trick the family and public all in the name of a jingoistic patriotism. Recommended. 

The Runaways, Atonement + Spirit of the Beehive

The Runaways. I'm pretty critical on films about rock bands or rock music. I just can't tolerate all the mistakes in story, tone and detail errors these kinds of films continuously have. Very rarely do I see a rock music related film where I think the subject matter and the music were captured correctly. Control, a 2007 English film about Joy Division from director Anton Corbijn is an example of a film I loved that got everything right. The Runaways is another of the long-list of rock n roll movies that irritate much more than they satisfy me. Something that I couldn't overlook for the entire film is just how little to do with the story Lita Ford was given. I guess she didn't sell her life rights to the producers so her participation in the band (and movie) was miniscule. I could not let her invisibility go. 

The Runaways were an all-girl teenage rock band that played in the 1970s.  Kristen Stewart actually does a surprisingly good job playing the young Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning takes on singer Cherie Currie [check out the awesome poster I dug up online].  As mentioned, there is virtually no Lita Ford in this film version of The Runaways. I liked some of the early scenes of the band learning how to play, write songs and go on tour, but by the end it's devolved into an after-school special about the dangers of too many drugs and too much rock n roll lifestyle. That's original. The Runaways is just another Hollywood misfire in the world of rock music. It did make me get out Joan Jett's first two records and re-listen to them so that's something. 

Atonement. In preparation for a Tulsa City-County Library panel event I was a speaker on, I read Ian McEwan's novel Atonement and watched the film version. As usual, book defeats movie. There's really no comparing the two worlds as the novel is such an intimate experience. The movie is just a watered down taste of what the world McEwan creates on the written page. When I saw Atonement in 2007, it never quite felt right to me in tone. After this avalanche of it in my life and thoughts--it still doesn't. I just can't buy the entire Briony escapade by what we get delivered to us on the screen. In the novel, yes, but not the film version. The book makes it clear to me that there's too much WW2 stuff and not enough of the early portion of the story, but I imagine that was what helped get the film funded and director Joe Wright gets to show-off with an epic long-shot on the beaches that deliver the madness of war. That particular shot, while impressive, is actually rather distracting. I spent the entire time wondering when it was going to end rather than pay attention to what Wright was trying to film. Go with the novel. 

Spirit of the Beehive.  I have to admit, I'm including this 1973 Spanish film Spirit of the Beehive because I absolutely love this poster. Amazing! The film itself is slow, dreamy, plotless, haunting, contemplative and open-ended. If this makes it sound like a foreign film that's because it reeks of its European heritage. The story is about a girl whose family is fractured and after she watches James Whale's 1931 film Frankenstein, she loses herself more and more to the inner world of a child. You have to be in the right kind of mood to watch Spirit of the Beehive, but if you stay with it long enough, it will reward you. What can be enjoyed year round though is that poster on the left. There's something about a hexagon that I'm really drawn to. I love hexagons! 

November movies

There Was a Crooked Man---1970---usa   ***
Cairo Time---2010---canada   ***
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu---2006---romania   ***1/2
Nowhere Boy---2010---england   ***
The Runaways---2009---usa   **1/2
Object and Memory---2009---usa   **1/2
Atonement---2007---england   ***
Sweetgrass---2010---usa   ***
The Best That Never Was---2010---usa   ****
Tamara Drewe---2010---england   ***
Morning Glory---2010---usa   **
Spirit of the Beehive---1973---spain   ***1/2
The Tillman Story---2010---usa    ****
Xanadu---1980---usa   **1/2
Whip It---2009---usa   **1/2
127 Hours---2010---england   ****
Baghead---2009---usa   ***1/2
Love & Other Drugs---2010---usa   **1/2
The Other Boleyn Girl---2008---usa   **
The Girl Who Played With Fire---2009---sweden   ***1/2