You Know, For Film.

Review Revue: The Post-Thanksgiving Game of Catch-up!

2006-12-05T15:56:00.000-05:00

I'm going to go ahead and say it... I'm a lousy blogger. So... here are mini-reviews of the last five movies I saw.

But, before the reviews... any suggestions on catching up on films the last few months? I fell massively behind and every attempt to catch up has been exhausting. I just feel like I can't do it.
Help this lousy excuse for a blogger, blogarinos!!

THE PRESTIGE.
Christopher Nolan's elegantly produced, clumsily plotted film aboutrival magicians is a bit of a disappointment. While the cast does finework, especially Christian Bale as always acting harder than he needs,Nolan keeps the film's excitement at the level of an actual magictrick. More than a momentary "how'd they do that" would have preventedthis historical fantasy from just being a so-so film. Furthermore, itsurely exposes the typically clever Nolan as maybe not being as sharpas those who give him credit. A much smarter filmmaker wouldn't havetelegraphed the film's big twist, yet Christopher Nolan does frommiles away. The only question lingering in my mind after the film was-- when does the next Batman film come out?
Grade: C-

BORAT.
Perhaps the broadest comedic indictment of American culture in ages, Sacha Baron Cohen's quasi-doc/road movie actually looks at America throughforeign eyes. What Borat sees is an interesting mix of politeness and intolerance, where the unsuspecting players often use their own words to hang themselves. Still Cohen's Andy Kaufman-like gift for playing the straight-faced prankster is what shines through the discomfort and humiliation. He has an uncanny ability to keep character and allow people to reveal themselves on camera. One of the most pointed comedic outbreaks is a bit of physical comedy in the vein of Peter Sellers, where Borat clumsily slips in an antique shop known for its Confederate goods. His ensuing numerous pratfalls are genius, and the gag works at face value while having many, many layers. When was the last time you saw a comedy this smart?
Grade: A-

STRANGER THAN FICTION.
Will Ferrell is a character in Emma Thompson's as-yet-uncompleted novel. A true delight, STRANGER THAN FICTION mixes comedy, drama, tragedy, whimsy and romance in a fashion that seems rare these days. With perhaps one cast member too many, director Mark Forrester stumbles towards the finish line, but in its graceful ending moments STRANGER THAN FICTION shines like the best of work of James L. Brooks.
Grade: A-

THE CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER.
aka The Curse of the Chrysanthemums.
Truly the year's most gorgeous-looking film. Zhang Yimou's period family drama/historical martial arts epic takes a bit to find itsproper footing. Once the cards are all laid down, though, the fun begins. Boasting terrific lead performances from Chow Yung Fat and Gong Li, CURSE ends with all the plot elements coming together in adevastating family meeting and epic battle that would make Peter Jackson jealous. The film is both a minor triumph and slight disappointment because of the two plot threads being juggled in an uneven manner.
Grade: B

CASINO ROYALE.
Bond is back. And, better than ever. That's right -- I'm laying itdown right now: Casino Royale is the best Bond film. In order to truly appreciate the toned down, lo-tech Bond that Daniel Craig inhabits, you need to have familiarity with the franchise because many of the revisionist touches would have been cringe-inducing camp in the wrong hands. Instead, CASINO ROYALE is the BATMAN BEGINS of James Bond films-- stripped down, leaner, meaner and slightly more plausible than its predecessors (which isn't hard considering the previous installment featured a villain with diamonds in his face). It meanders a bit towards its end, but the exhausting spectacle of the film's fantastic chases and ludicrous card games needed a bit of a break before a final, extravagent set piece in Venice. Emotional resonnance by the fantastic Craig makes this Bond the most human to in habit the role, even when he is saddled with some really bad dialogue. Also impressive is how the film deals deftly with the current context in which a British secret agent would be needed; again, in order to fully appreciate this watch how clumsily the Brosnan Bond films handle the post-Cold War secret agent. Personally, I can't wait for the next one!
Grade: B

RIP, Robert Altman.

2006-11-21T16:52:00.000-05:00

hello friends, readers, well-wishers.

Today, American cinema lost a true maverick, an independent voice -- Mr. Robert Altman.

Instead of my own words to explain this extraordinary artist, I will paraphrase those I once had the privelege of hearing from actress Frances McDormand at a screening of Fargo several years ago.

Somebody had asked, "What was it like working with Robert Altman?"

McDormand sighed fondly before answering the question. "You see, Bob smokes a lot of grass." Laughter met her statement before she extrapolated more eloquently on its meaning. "Bob knows everything that could possibly happen. Every conceivable way things could happen. He has it worked out in his head the hundred different ways the scene could go. He knows what to expect." There in lies the genius of the filmmaker responsible for M*A*S*H*, NASHVILLE, POPEYE, SHORT CUTS, THE PLAYER, THE LONG GOOD BYE, GOSFORD PARK and A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION.
Robert Altman, you will be missed.

A Genre Re-Born

2006-10-25T18:03:00.000-04:00

A stunning cycle of films played at select American cinemas this year that not only revitalized the presence of their genre on screens, but also served as three examples of the finest that their genre has to offer. Let it be said that for all of the disappointment and overall lack of films of substance that 2006 has proved to be the year of the concert film. Non-fiction features have experienced their height of popularity in the past six years, but there has been little emphasis on live concert documentation. However, that all changed with the release of Dave Chappelle's Block Party, Neil Young: Heart of Gold and The Beastie Boys' Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That (and to a lesser extent Al Gore's enormously successful An Inconvenient Truth). Astonishingly, too, each film--including Gore's--helps to form a vastly optimistic and hopeful view of America.

The most prominent release was Dave Chappelle's Block Party, the Michel Gondry directed document of comedian Dave Chappelle's day-long Bed-Stuy hip-hop concert. Opening in Chappelle's Ohio hometown, we get a glimpse of the down-to-earth star as he converses with his neighbors. Infectious to the tenth degree, the film is a most heartfelt gesture on the part of the Comedy Central star's effort to give back something positive to the community. Gondry, thanks to cinematographer Ellen Kuras(whose name will appear later), is able to capture this true labor of love, a portrait of the modern revitalized Brooklyn and contemporary hip-hop. This is perhaps the first movie to celebrate hip hop as an art form, a truly inspired, joyous (and at times rebellious) creation that is not merely an escape from poverty as demonstrated in several Hollywood films (see 8 Mile or Get Rich Or Die Tryin'). Boasting performances from Kanye West, Jill Scott, The Roots, Dead Prez and the reunited Fugees, it is easily the most celebratory portrait of the truly American subculture on film. Now, what makes Block Party truly exceptional is Gondry's wandering eye which catches the beauty of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn (especially in a nearby house known as The Angel House), but also Mr. Chappelle at his most candid. Tenderness and emotion are typically not virtues of the concert film, but Dave Chappelle's Salvation Army piano rendition of "Round Midnight" proves that in the hands of a capable filmmaker, even the concert film can have true cinematic moments of emotional resonance.

But, the better example of extending this tenderness throughout the course of a film is the gorgeous Neil Young: Heart of Gold, by the masterful Jonathan Demme. His Talking Heads' film Stop Making Sense has long been seen as the benchmark of the concert film, but he may have topped himself with his film of Neil Young's Nashville-based concert. Framing the narrative with the knowledge of Young's impending brain surgery, the film is immediately tinged as a sort of eulogy, even though Young is debuting new songs and looking forward. Not unlike Robert Altman's so-so A Prairie Home Companion, Heart of Gold is an artist looking back, celebrating the death of Americana and his own eventual passing. Unlike Altman, though, Young has more than a glint of sadness in his eye. "Old man, look at my life. I'm a lot like you were." Never before have Young's haggard words been so haunting (see also his performance of "Heart of Gold" that contains a brief shot of Young framed with his wife that is simply breathtaking). But, the man who once asked, "is it better to burn out than fade away?" is answering his own question -- and siding more with the latter. Wistful, and even oddly talkative, Young seems ready for whatever is ahead of him. Demme's beautiful-looking film, thanks to Ellen Kuras once again, is a true American elegy...even if it is for a Canadian singer-songwriter.

Perhaps the most cinematic of the three films, though, is the one shot on the crappiest video. The Beastie Boys' 2004 homecoming concert at Madison Square Garden was captured on 50 Hi-8 video cameras by 50 fans from all over the arena. Taking Sergei Eisenstein's claim that "editing was the essence of cinema" to heart, the film Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! is a faithful reconstruction of the show (I should know, I was there). Thanks to the ease of video editing, the task of constructing a 90-minute film from a 150-minute concert from 50 different cameras is much easier. Infusing the editing with the same sense of humor in the Boys' music, making for a film that pushes the very boundaries of the concert film. No longer is the static framing and flawless editing of Jonathan Demme the epitome, but now just another stylistic choice. Instead, in the Beastie Boys' hands, the concert film becomes a democratic experience, from all angles can we see what went down -- and not just on the stage. Detours into the crowd where they dance, drink and take bathroom breaks sit alongside the performances. Eisenstein wouldn't just be proud, he'd be jealous.

Concert films are not a dead genre anymore, thanks to Block Party, Heart of Gold, and Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That. Even if these films were not box office smashes, they still represent a vital part of forming a portrait of America. Music is a universal language(and, yes, your the level of enjoyment still hinges on your level of appreciation for the music in the films presented here). Concerts, and their filmed counterparts, bring together a wide range of people in myriads of ways. There is simply no denying that. If pop-culture reflects our current state, then, these concert films are also part of that mirror. What do they show us exactly? In Dave Chappelle's words, "it's a celebration, bitches!"

Trade Screenings

2006-10-13T15:55:00.000-04:00

Bonjour Blogarinos,

It feels great to be back in the blogosphere-o-diarama-rama! Thank you to all who welcomed me back with open arms and open links (thank you, GreenCine!). Coincidentally, or not, Roger Ebert had his first review since undergoing emergency surgery back in June published today. It is great to see Roger back at the helm. He has surely been missed!

But, today, I won't bore you with any reviews or predictable points of view. Perhaps, I can offer some insight into one area of the theatrical distribution process. How to secure a movie screens is perhaps the most intriguing part of the job I do. On paper, you would think it is as easy as saying "Hey! Do you guys want to show the new Jet Li movie?" But, it is not...

Due to legislation in more than 20 states, a studio is required to screen a movie before its release to exhibitors. The practice is known as "trade screening."

Before trade screenings were mandatory, many studios simply told exhibitors what they were releasing, and from there exhibitors would make an offer for the film. This is known as "blind bidding" for a film. In the 1970s, The National Association of Theatre Owners had gotten legislation passed that outlawed blind bidding in 23 states. Exhibitors in those states have the right to view a film before they see fit to show it in their theatre. Part of my job is to book these screenings, typically a few weeks prior to publicity and press screenings.

Contrary to what you might think, trade screenings offer little benefits to studios. It cannot track a film's "buzz" or playability. Recently, one film of ours played very well with exhibitors, but did not do great business at the box office. Trade screenings exist solely for the benefit of the exhibitor and, therefore, the filmgoing public.

If you would like to know more about this particular practice, please feel free to ask...

THE DEPARTED.

2006-10-06T10:31:00.000-04:00

"A History of Violence" is what they could have called THE DEPARTED, if the name had not been taken already. And just like David Cronenberg's masterpiece, Martin Scorsese's new film is an insanely fun and twisted ride. But, unlike Cronenberg's movie, Scorsese's picture fails to resonate as one of the auteur's greatest works.

Opening amidst the intense period of violence in the 1970s in Boston's predominantly Irish innercities and zipping through the INFERNAL AFFAIRS' beyond-brilliant set-up (mob grooms undercover cop, cops groom undercover goodfella), missing is Scorsese's usual sense of urgency. He saves it for later. The 20-minute opening, before a title card, should be exhausting and head-spinning, but it does improve upon the original film by using the same Hollywood stars to play younger ages as to not confuse us. Finally, though, the title drops and the music explodes: The Dropkick Murphy's signature Boston-Irish-punk sound giving us "I'm Shipping Up To Boston." Things finally get frenetic.

Now that all the set-up has been handled a little too delicately, Scorsese and company get on with the intense cat-and-mouse potboiler. Deveating very little from Andrew Lau's original film, THE DEPARTED simply Americanizes the original film; gone are the overly dramatic stings that accompany most standard Asian action pictures, here we get The Stones' "Gimme Shelter" as a sort of theme (which strikes me as arather weak choice for Scorsese). William Monahan's Mamet-esque screenplay displays games of verbal gymnastics that this fabulous cast is up for; each player is excelling at delivering this harsh, fuck-laden dialogue. Monahan is constantly elevating the B-movie leanings to greater heights with aspirations and allusions to Joyce, Shakespeare and Freud. However, his most authentic moments come from casual mentions of Irishness; this is the film that STATE OF GRACE wanted to be. The Italian-Catholic Scorsese is clearly on a similar wavelength as the Irish, making two of America's finest depictions of the two largest Irish diasporas in America (GANGS andTHE DEPARTED).

As for the cast, they are all in excellent form. Leonardo DiCaprio gets the more introspective, tortured character. He does very fine work here that we come to expectfrom him now, but compared to Tony Leung he is weak. Matt Damon, however, plays one of the most evilcharacters of recent memory; his manipulation and deceit allow himto be despicable without being entirely unlikable. He does not one-up Andy Lau so much as match his icy antagonist. With glee he saddles back into his Boston brogue; here, he is Bad Will Hunting.

Then, there's Jack. I don't even have to say his full name and you know who I'm talking about --Jack Nicholson. Nicholson is easily the most watchable actor of thelast 30 years, and again he is working on his evil mode that he elevated to a new artform in THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK and BATMAN. The Boston Jack prevents him from playing himself intially, but once Nicholson gets situated he plays "Jack" yet again, veering at times into a cartoonish category. Thankfully, THE DEPARTED shows him as an evil monster before he lets loose. In many ways, it's an extended riff on William Hurt's Philly-Irish gangster from A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE; a paranoid, violent, drunk who gets to have the best lines (notice how similar Jack and Hurt's Oscar clips will be...hint: Jack's playing drunk, too). It's not a career best performance, but watching Jack chew scenery is always a pleasure.

Two unsung heroes steal the picture whenever they are on-screen: Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg. The former is an artist at deliveringthe rapid-fire obscenity-laced dialogue, while the latter deserves the Best Supporting Oscar statue. Wahlberg's intense cop is at first charicature, but eventually gives way to an honest, hardworking Boston detective. His arch is eeriely similar to that of Kang-ho Song's character in MEMORIES OF MURDER -- and similarly, the two men's antics resonate. (oh yeah! and, Wahlberg gets to use his real voice, too!) Lastly, I cannot not write a word about Vera Farmiga who is given theweight of being the only female of the film. She does strong work here with a little role, and deserves a chance to play outside of an American genre film.

While the performances and script satisfy, the only one who leaves you wanting more is Scorsese himself. It seems as though the RAGING BULL-auteur has abandoned his normally expressive movie geek camera and settled strictly for making standard grade fair. It is a backhanded compliment, as he does unbelievably tight and solid work, but there are no flourishes of visual style that he peppers his films with. An aborted attempt to approximate a Wong Kar-Wai slow motion chase through a neon-lighted street is reduced to a single shot here. Perhaps in the pursuit of Oscar, Scorsese has forgotten why is often considered America's greatest living director. THE DEPARTED is by no means a step back, but perhaps a step forward that is a more a step-to-the-side that will give way to more expressive pictures from the New York filmmaker.

While fans of INFERNAL AFFAIRS will have exactly ONE surprise waiting for them with this film, there is still so much left to recommend. It is a superior film in many respects; Scorsese makes fireworks out of the original's lackluster climax. While not entirely satisfying as a Scorsese picture, the film still stands head-and-shoulders above most Hollywood films. THE DEPARTED could have been a masterpiece, but instead it settles for greatness.

"Hey! Wha' Happen'?!" -- The Return of the Curse of YOU KNOW, FOR FILM.

2006-10-06T10:02:00.000-04:00

Bonjour Blogarinos!

It's been quite some time since I last updated the old web-log. Much has changed, mainly my address and employment. The Upper East Side of Manhattan was traded for the quiet streets of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenwood Heights (aka SOUTH Slope). As for my new office of employment, in interest of full disclosure, I must come clean and admit to being a studio's hired goon now. Focus Features' wonderful Theatrical Distribution team acquired yours truly back in June. It has been a wonderful, eye-opening experience. I could not be part of a better, more passionate and film-savvy group of people. I didn't just join a team, but a family.

And, I have been torn on how to deal with this on the blog (how could I write objectively about film if I work within the industry?), but I will just try to avoid writing about Focus releases. However, if I can offer any objective insight into the distribution process, that will be handled here as well. After all, this is... you know, for film.

A Later Stand: X-MEN 3 at Kip's Bay.

2006-06-10T11:00:00.003-04:00

No review revues just yet... I have M:I:III, The Proposition, Friends with Money and X-Men 3 reviews on the way.

Here is an appetizer for my remaining reader(s).

I'm somewhere in between slight disappointment and slight indifference with X3, but then again I never thought X2 could be followed up without Brian Singer at the helm. However, without reviewing the film, I will say my theater-going experience superceeded the film in every way. For the NYers past and present, the UA14, Loews 34th St and essentially every other big house was sold out for their 7-10pm showings -- with the exception of Kip's Bay. I've always been a fan of the theater; it's large, I've never seen too crowded or insane like the 42nd St theaters. I should back pedal a bit and state I have never been there on opening night nor for a big summer movie like X3. Any who... my friends and I get there around 10pm for a 10:30 show and there was confusion as to a meeting point. Let's just move the story along and say we eventually found each other upstairs after about 10 minutes of wondering where my roommate John Freewell went. We enter the theater and it's pretty crowded but not packed yet; there were five of us, so finding seating proved to be tough. We noticed that the last row of the "orchestra" level (farthest from the screen) was empty. We sit down. I turn around to examine the near-capacity theater now. Right behind me is Elizabeth Berkley. Yes, Jesse Spano of Saved By The Bell fame... and Showgirls infamy... and Roger Dodger obscurity. While my friends debated whether or not it was actually her, we could overhear here talking on her cell phone where she spoke of Conan O'Brien's show and all of her friends who were either on it or going to be on it. Then, the movie starts... (Sidebar: Applause for Superman, Pirates, My Super Ex, and Ghost Rider trailers...crickets during the uber-awful Clerks 2 trailer) Throughout the film these rowdy teenagers in thr front row shout out shit at the screen -- and not like "oooh shiiiit!" stuff but like "He's a soldier!" Every now and again, they'd get up and walk around the theater (visible bottle of alcohol in hand), one time in front of the projection. Employees of the theater came in and did nothing. Then, at the very end of the film when Magneto gets hit with "the cure" (no Robert Smith was harmed in the making of this film) one of the kids shouts "HE'S A LIAR!!!" But not to the screen -- to someone else. People near them started losing it as the movie's moving along towards its conclusion. It looked like one of the guys in the group jumped into the row behind them and started shit, but I'm pretty sure it was the group of friends fucking around. Elizabeth Berkley high tails it out of the movie before the end credits hit. Everyone exits the theater at movie's end. Standing in the upstairs lobby, talking about the whole bizzare experience, all of the sudden we notice Kips Bay employees run towards our theater. Three of the kids are walking out, very visibly angry and one completely shirtless. The word "fuck" and many variations of it were shouted very loudly as well as the phrase "Don't touch me!" As the rowdy teens are being escorted down the stairs out of the theater, one swings on the other and a fight breaks loose on the stairs. This continues in the lobby, mind you a full movie theater is exiting while this is going on. Eventually, the movie theater employees got the teens out. The fight never stopped. It just moved outside...and grew. About three separate little fights broke out in front of the crowd and movie theater, eventually turning into one large fight that the police eventually came and broke up.

Go ahead. Ask me about X-Men 3: The Last Stand. I'll remember this story better than the movie.

CRITERION COLLECTION new look unveiled

2006-05-20T12:32:00.000-04:00

Wassup Rockers?!

I discovered yesterday that the good folks at CRITERION (who make a superior product that I don't have to plug, but I do) have introduced their new look to the general public.

Also, they have officially announced the DVD-debut of Noah Baumbach's first-feature KICKING AND SCREAMING (the ambersand belongs to Will Ferrell) for August. You heard it here second hand!

While there was really no need for any kind of overhaul to the CRITERION image, it looks like they have done a quality job preserving the integrity of their image. Also peep their foray into the MySpace game.

Rock on, Criterion!

Why was this poster banned?

2006-05-17T23:16:00.000-04:00

This is the poster for Michael Winterbottom's award-winning docudrama THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO. The MPAA banned this one-sheet for the upcoming film. According to the WASHINGTON POST it was due to the poster "depicting acts of torture." Yet, they will allow for the devices explicitly used for torture to be shown on the HOSTEL one-sheet or the dismembered body parts to adorn the SAW movie posters. Hmmm...

Any thoughts?

"What do you call what's above the subtext?"

2006-05-13T22:52:00.000-04:00

Long-lost yuppie auteur Whit Stillman speaks out again.

Good luck at Cannes, Whit!

AMERICAN DREAMZ.

2006-04-29T19:16:00.000-04:00

That's dreamz with a 'z' -- as we are told in the movie's title song, also the theme for the fictional "American Idol"-esque reality series that serves as American Dreamz's focal point. Paul Weitz's new film is hopefully the closing entry in a trilogy of increasingly disappointing American-state-of-the-union-satire (V for Vendetta, Thank You for Smoking). On paper, the President-presiding-over-American-Idol plot should be comedic gold; biting, mean-spirited fun. Instead, we get a rather unfunny America-as-a-sitcom (enough with the hyphens already!) where the jokes fall flat and every opportunity is missed. Sadly, Dreamz makes all of the right moves with its characters and story: the not-so-bright president decides to read a newspaper, a reluctant showtune loving terrorist becomes a reality talent show contestant, and a hateful, smarmy English host conduscts the proceedings with more sway than the US President, rigging the finale of said TV show to include the least talented, most ethnically diverse contestants. So, why is the movie as edgy as the entire run of "Everybody Loves Raymond"? Weitz plays it too kind, but most of all the primary players are miscast. Mandy Moore as the manipulative, marginally-talented, Midwestern bitch of a candidate is a smart casting choice. Unlike her terrific turn in Saved! Moore comes off as completely harmless. Her Machiavallian actions here are loathsome, but Moore can't sell it and still comes across as an American sweetheart. Likewise for the career rebounding Dennis Quaid, whose solid, nuanced turn in Weitz's otherwise bland In Good Company furthered his welcomed return, but as a Dubya-carbon copy he feels stifled. He tries to be as likable as possible in a role better suited for a character actor who can play subtle, satirical elements over broad, dumb charm (see Dan Hedaya's Richard Nixon in Dick). Weitz, working without his brother behind the camera for the second time, has made funny comedies before like American Pie and About a Boy but seems to have forgotten to include humor here. Perhaps Jason Reitman could have script-polished a draft, peppering it some of his sharp dialogue from Thank You for Smoking to give this thing some flavor. American Dreamz has plenty to say about our celebrity obsessed, politically dumb culture, but forgets to get its hands dirty. By playing it too clean, Weitz missteps as he did with the lame In Good Company. Worst of all, he took a premise that could have been a Dr. Strangelove and turns it into Dr. Doolittle.

Review Revue: INSIDE MAN. THANK YOU FOR SMOKING.

2006-04-15T20:10:00.000-04:00

Bonjour Blogarinos!

I suppose I should start making this whole posting thing a regular gig. Apologies again. I swear, I didn't give the blog up for Lent! But, from now on, expect more updates here. At least I didn't pull a Josh and wait two months to post again... Any who, on with the show!

INSIDE MAN.

"A Spike Lee Joint" conjures up a certain set of expectations -- racial issues in the forefront, the disharmonious harmony of New York City, the political as personal, an actor on a dolly shot, a colorful cinematic palette, and a didactic mode of address. While all of these qualities exist in Lee's INSIDE MAN, the astounding thing is that without diluting himself, Lee demonstrates a command of genre in place of his typical near-assaultive, non-Hollywood mode of storytelling. On paper this looks like a straight Hollywood picture: produced by Brian Grazer, stars Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen. But, the less personal approach seems to be rejuvenating the SHE HATE ME filmmaker. INSIDE MAN is a sharp, inventive and just-clever-enough heist picture that it transcends. The twisted nature of the bank robbery plot is punctuated by a series of flash-forward interviews with the hostage-suspects. Whodunit? Well, we know the who -- he (Clive Owen) told us from the get go. This is a HOWdunit. Playing out like the offspring of Bill Murray's undervalued QUICK CHANGE and MARATHON MAN, Spike Lee makes INSIDE MAN his most entertaining feature ever. Call it his CAPE FEAR. Lee is riffing with pleasure on 70's Hollywood gritty crime pictures and lets the audience know with name drops of Sydney Lumet's SERPICO and DOG DAY AFTERNOON. INSIDE MAN would not be out of place on a double feature with any of the aforementioned features. And, it isn't just Lee that gets to have all the fun. Jodie Foster vamps it up playing a mysterious negotiator, "a magnificent cunt." Her moral ambiguity sets her directly in the middle of the justice chess game between Denzel Washington and Clive Owen. Owen demonstrates his movie star ability to play a most charming villain. In fact, he may be the only major Hollywood star that can convincingly pull off both a romantic lead and a dramatic heavy. Certainly, his star continues to rise. However, INSIDE MAN belongs solely to Denzel Washington. Lee works to cleverly merge the noble Denzel of his early work with the intensity of the badass Denzel of late. Washington's Detective Keith Frazier is a veteran cop who faces real problems -- economic, romantic -- and that doesn't even begin to touch on his dilemma during the heist itself. This is his best performance at least since his Oscar-winning role in TRAINING DAY, perhaps going back further to Spike Lee's massively underrated HE GOT GAME. It has long been said that Tom Hanks is the modern-day Jimmy Stewart, but I would propose Mr. Washington is Mr. Stewart's heir apparent -- complete with a streak of darker performances (Spike Lee is Denzel's Hitchcock) that tear down his prior, more humble leading man roles. It is in his collaborations with Spike Lee that Washington gets to stretch in every dimension. INSIDE MAN, too, allows for the DO THE RIGHT THING-auteur to stretch his directing chops on what might have been a "sell out" picture. Instead of being a Hollywood hired gun, Lee has always followed his muse -- no matter how awful the results (see also GIRL 6, SUMMER OF SAM, SHE HATE ME). It seems that in this case Spike Lee's muse was in Hollywood. He is allowed his typical aesthetic trademarks (Terrence Blanchard's typically intrusive score works here, but his signature shot fails) and social commentary to become part of the language of a Hollywood film. INSIDE MAN doesn't feel particularly rebellious, but in a film where Osama Bin Laden's nephew is a very minor character there is most certainly an independent spirit at work here. In almost every conceivable way, The Spike Lee Joint INSIDE MAN is the epitome of just how good a Hollywood genre picture can actually be.

THANK YOU FOR SMOKING.
Conversely, Jason Reitman's debut THANK YOU FOR SMOKING is the epitome of how bland independent cinema can be, especially when it mimics Hollywood. Relying on its fine cast, centered by the pitch perfect Aaron Eckhart, Reitman's super-polished script works only to a varying degree. THANK YOU presents itself as a scathing satire, but it is entirely toothless. Eckhart's spinster Nick Naylor even bluntly states this point by begging the question, "Who doesn't think cigarettes are dangerous?" It kind of undermines the point. Missteps in the script are aplenty, but the film sustains its casual tone in a pleasant manner. When the jokes hit, they are guffaw-inducing (and are usually said by J.K. Simmons), but when the story strays into Nick Naylor's relationship with his son (uber-creepy Cameron Bright) the movie limps. Unfortunately, that feels like the bulk of the movie's runtime. THANK YOU FOR SMOKING's best scenes exist with Naylor's fellow spinsters "the Merchants of Death" -- alcohol and firearms lobbyists played with devilish glee by Maria Bello and David Koechner. If rookie Reitman had set the daddy issues aside and shifted the focus to the "Merchants" he might have had something here. Instead, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING is a glossy, intermittently funny film that is just as empty as any Hollywood film. The film attempts to rely on smug storytelling it thinks is more clever than it actually is -- this is "first-film clever."

Review Revue: Duck Season. Bubble. V for Vendetta.

2006-03-24T20:32:00.000-05:00

Hola Blogarinos!

Apologies for the absence. I promise to make it up to you with a trio of reviews, for your eyes only. While film criticism may be in a downward spiral, 2006 is shaping up to be a rather notable year at the movies.

DUCK SEASON.

While the cat's away, the mice will play. Goals for 14 year old best friends Moko (Diego Cantano) and Flama (Daniel Miranada) are to play X-Box, drink Coke and eat pizza. Inevitably, the unsupervised boys end up doing nearly everything but that in this Stranger Than Paradise-like debut by Mexican filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke. Blackouts, broken ovens, a pizza delivery man and suspicious brownies keep our protagonists away from their plans of being lost in a virtual reality. Filmed in glorious black-and-white with a colorful soundtrack, Duck Season leisurely plays out over the course of a Sunday when time passes with an enjoyable laziness that will be fondly forgotten and treasured forever. Eimbcke sucks you into this very vibe with a surprising ease that evokes the very best of "hangin' out" auteur Richard Linklater. Like Linklater, Duck Season keeps it talky, where characters find insight from each others' words. Moko and Flama are growing up and growing apart, but despite the presence of producer Alfonso Curon, Y Tu Mama Tambien this is not. Where Curon took his characters on the road to find themselves, Eimbcke keeps them at home, perhaps revealing more about growing up in contemporary Mexico in the process. Duck Season is an immensely lovable film that is tough to deny, even when it opts for stoned insight, which we don't know yet whether to chalk up to a light-minded filmmaker or a budding observationist. Judging by the contact high received by Duck Season it's tough to tell, but right now I'm siding with the latter.

BUBBLE.

Indulgent is usually the best word to use when describing Stephen Soderbergh's more experimental works like Schizopolis or Full Frontal. For every Ocean's 11 under his belt, Soderbergh has a Solaris or Gray's Anatomy, where he uses every worn film-school technique to varying effect. More often than not, these "experiments" fail to produce a complete narrative, but do sometimes yield results in individual scenes. With Bubble, a funny thing happened on the way to closing the theatrical-to-DVD window. Soderbergh's Hi-Def video shot film, employing non-actors in a loosely-plotted murder mystery involving a characters who work at a creepy doll factory, is actually his least indulgent feature. Perhaps the marketing got it right this time by calling it a "Stephen Soderbergh Experience." By maintaining his distance, the Out of Sight-director creates a compelling view of the American working class. Our three subjects are doll factory co-workers Martha (Debbie Doebereiner), Kyle (Dustin Ashley) and newbie Rose (Misty Dawn Wilkins). Martha is the den mother, who drives Kyle to and from work and claims him as her best friend. Kyle is a young man who lives at home with his mother. Rose is a single-mother working at the factory to spend more time with her daughter. Never do these characters feel fabricated nor embellished, and that mainly has to do with employing Ohio natives in roles that may seem eerily fitting, like Debbie Doebereiner who managed a KFC for nearly 20 years. It never feels like stunt casting, but a refreshingly honest choice to help draw viewers into the film. But, Soderbergh never draws us in far enough to establish what it is we're really looking for here. Already a scant 73-minutes in length, Bubble's narrative doesn't get kicking until nearly the hour mark, after imbuing viewers in the mundane world of its characters. Robert Pollard's fantastic score punctuates perfectly an already haunting atmosphere. In the end, though, Bubble feels like minor Soderbergh -- an interesting footnote (or perhaps side project?) in a consistently interesting career that continues to be vital.

V FOR VENDETTA.

V for Vendetta, the latest dystopia film, ends up getting an A for effort in my book. Those looking for a searing portrait of our contemporary landscape need look elsewhere. Instead, we are offered a broad painting of fascism, not unlike those found in George Orwell's 1984 or Terry Gilliam's Brazil -- albeit this one's more a liberal/conservative than fascism/democracy dichotomy. But, is this the most subversive film of the Bush II-Dubya-era? Hardly. V for Vendetta openly critiques totalitarian governments -- something, I think, we're all against. Now, certainly the idea of rooting for a terrorist is a liberal fantasy that plays to its base (i.e. me). But, is the masked V (Hugo Weaving) really a terrorist? Look a little closer. He's more a crazed mad man. He has no actual ideology, he belongs to no organized group nor is his goal freedom (but he does like Cat Power). It's personal, his goal is primarily revenge. After all, this is V for VENDETTA, not R for REVOLUTION or L FOR LIBERATION (although, I'm holding out for the sequel!!). However, all of that said (including the ineffectiveness of its visible lead, the hot one...with Michael Stipe's head) V for Vendetta is a rousing comic book fantasy that proclaims bigger ideas it can't always live up to yet somehow succeeds. "Governments should be afraid of their people," is a huge weight for the movie to truly uphold, and at moments it does -- like the stirring finale where the Guy Fawkes masks reveal the people of England who have now stood up with V. But, the moment is too brief to be genuinely chilling. Then, there are the unexpected dashes of humor that while funny, lead the movie into a silly territory that I'm not sure it should occupy (Natalie Portman's dressing like a child, V's penchant for alliteration, and an undeniably brilliant Benny Hill-style romp). V for Vendetta maintains its strengths thanks to a cast that knows the depth of the material. John Hurt as the Hitler-esque dictator is a stroke of sheer genius. By having the former 1984-lead in a now inverted role, this movie is made that much richer. Not to mention, it is a great performance. "But, the real heart of the film lies in gregarious English personality Stephen Fry, playing brilliantly with his public persona of his very open sexuality. It is in his turmoil that we see the emotional strain and physical damage this regime has reeked on its people. In a parallel back story, we learn of another homosexual who was violently oppressed in the first days of the totalitarian regime's rule. It is in these two stories that the clearest line to our present day is drawn and that V for Vendetta soars to the heights many have proclaimed it. Color this subversive. In its end, though, V for Vendetta subverts its own subversive tendencies by being a violent action genre pic with a cliche showdown, complete with bullet-time knives, with the villain -- and things getting blowed up real good. The London landmarks that are obliterated here are reduced to hollow signifiers that mean next to nothing. Also reduced to nearly nothing is the actual Guy Fawkes' cause -- he was a Catholic revolutionary not a spokesperson of the English proletariat. It doesn't feel like a cheat, but a bit of a cop out. V for Vendetta could be a great film, but instead settles for merely being an entertaining one. Albeit, one with an ageless message that it shouts out loud to be heard today: power to the people.

CRASH-ing The Oscars

2006-03-11T12:06:00.000-05:00

"The Oscars this year were like the movie HIGH TENSION - pretty good until the twist ending that makes all that came before turn to shit." -- Vern

Vern said it best. I don't have any original thoughts on Crash upsetting Brokeback Mountain, other than it may be the first time that my WORST FILM OF THE YEAR went on to win the BEST PICTURE Oscar. Take THAT She Hate Me!

Stephen King was spooked by the decision.
Matt Zoller Seitz says, "about what I expected."
Roger Ebert is elated.
Kenneth Turan is pissed.
And, the NEW YORK TIMES tries to be all diplomatic about it.

Oscar-Winning Predictions

2006-03-05T14:10:00.000-05:00

While the Robert Altman blog-a-thon continues, let us not forget that tonight is the night that Hollywood acts like Hollywood again. After a year of small high-brow films and huge box-office disasters, the Academy give itself the pat on the back it so deserves (sarcasm). Jon Stewart, as neutered as he'll be, should still make for an entertaining evening. After last night's warm up at the Independent Spirit Awards, BROKEBACK will rule the night.

Who will walk away with the gold little bald guy tonight? Here's what I'm thinking... Expect an upset or two. Here's the full list of nominees.

- Picture: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Listen, the reason for the "CRASH might win" cry is that it's the only movie mass audiences have seen. Don't be swayed by the talk of the upset here, it'll be in other categories.

- Directing: Ang Lee, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
He's got the DGA and Golden Globes on his side. I'd love to see Clooney win--who I'd argue is more deserving--but it won't be in this category.

- Adapted Screenplay: Diana Osana and Larry McMurtry, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Open and shut case. The only long shot upset here is CAPOTE, but don't bet on it.

- Original Screenplay: Grant Heslov and George Clooney, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
Clooney's going to get a bone thrown at him this year, no two ways about it. Paul Haggis' CRASH will win three other awards to make up for the Academy "slipping" on this one.

- Actor in Leading Role: Philip Seymour Hoffman, CAPOTE
Done. and Done. Terrence Howard is the underdog here, but it's hard out here for a pimp.

- Actor in Supporting Role: Matt Dillon, CRASH
Instead of giving Paulie G the "sorry-we-didn't-give-you-an-award-last-year award," the Academy will give it to the only actor ACTIVELY campaigning FOR the statue. Dillon's a fine actor, though.

- Actress in Leading Role: Felicity Huffman, TRANSAMERICA
The BIG upset of the night. Reese is joining the Hollywood Royalty with her nomination. She'll get plenty of more chances at this award. Huffman is a damn-fine Actress, and not a movie star. She's also in the least glamorous role nominated, which proved to be gold for both Halle Berry and Charlize Theron. Also, I'd like to point out that men have been winning Oscars for years for playing men pretending to be women, and now it's the ladies' turn.

- Actress in Supporting Role: Rachel Weisz, THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Which one of these nominees is not like the other? I know, I know! The LEAD actress! Amy Adams should own this award, but Weisz' lead performance in the beautiful CONSTANT GARDENER has been winning every award in sight. Don't expect any deviations from formula tonight.

- Animated Feature: WALLACE & GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
The Academy MUST give Wallace & Gromit an Oscar. I think it's one of their rules.

- Art Direction: MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
The first of many technical awards to go to this one.

- Cinematography: MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
While there should be no contest that THE NEW WORLD is the rightful winner of this award, and GN&GL a strong second, MEMOIRS has picked up two guild awards.

- Costume Design: MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
MEMOIRS was made for these techincal categories.

- Documentary Feature: ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM
Politics is king at this year's Oscars. Sure, the penguins were cute, but the Academy RARELY gives this award to the popular favorite. If the Academy wants to avoid politics, see MURDERBALL surprise everyone here.

- Documentary Short: GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA
I got nothing. This sounds like a sure thing.

- Film Editing: CRASH
This is the only category I can compliment CRASH in... Sure, the acting is great--whatever. Paul Haggis' trite "race movie" is well put together. It'd be nice if CONSTANT picked up something here, but it won't.
- Foreign Language Film: PARADISE NOW, Palestine
Watch as the Academy cautiously courts controversy. Also, probably the only film they had a chance to see.

- Makeup: CINDERELLA MAN
This film should be up for everything. Universal couldn't even buy it a Best Picture slot! It'll have to settle for a Best Makeup statue.
- Original Score: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
While I do hear echoes of Clint Eastwood's last two scores in BROKEBACK, this is easily the most recognizable and beautiful of the nominated scores.

- Original Song: "In the Deep," CRASH
CRASH continues to steamroll through the minor categories by making the Academy think that it is racist for nominating "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp." Like "Blame Canada," it'll be sad to see the entire audience for "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" and then see them give it away to a less deserving nominee.

- Animated Short Film: THE MOON AND THE SUN: A CONVERSATION IMAGINED
Disney pioneer John Canemaker's short film will upset here.

- Live Action Short Film: THE LAST FARM
Thank you iTunes for getting some exposure to this category. Next year, let's get the live action shorts, too. The Icelandic entry is easily the prettiest in a crowd that is either too film-school-y or too morbid.

- Sound Editing: KING KONG
Really, there's other competition here?

- Sound Mixing: KING KONG
The SFX sweep of KONG continues.

- Visual Effects: KING KONG
Did you see KING KONG?!

One last prediction... Robert Altman MIGHT win the Honorary Oscar tonight, but not without his speech being the HIGHLIGHT of the evening. Expect Hollywood to be admonished by the legendary rebel filmmaker!

Possible NEW Criterion Collection Title?

2006-03-03T17:15:00.000-05:00

March's CRITERION COLLECTION newsletter ended with a rather suggestive statement that leads me to speculate on a potential future release from the good folks at Criterion.

Could that mean that Noah Baumbach's debut feature will see it's DVD debut courtesy of Criterion???

After METROPOLITAN and the official announcement of DAZED AND CONFUSED, 2006 looks to be the year Criterion goes 90's indie crazy!

TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY

2006-03-03T13:36:00.000-05:00

"A postmodern novel before there was any modernism to be post about," claims Steve Coogan (Steve Coogan) at the half-point of Michael Winterbottom's latest, TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY. Coogan's quote is probably the most accurate summary of the film, based on the novel, based on the making of the film based on the novel. Winterbottom makes the confusion insanely fun with his best work since the Coogan-collaboration 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE.

The ultra-prolific English filmmaker has made a career of throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks; and his films work to varying results. Even within the ultra-lousy CODE 46 there is breathtaking imagery and a classic scene of Mick Jones singing "Should I Stay or Should I Go" in a karaoke bar. 9 SONGS was easily the crummiest of his features even if it did feature two (sex and music) of my three favorite things in my the third favorite thing (movies!). Here, Winterbottom is allowed to grace the screen by the splendid English actor Jeremy Northam. Northam's filmmaker character is easily the screen's most constricted director since Fritz Lang played himself in Jean-Luc Godard's CONTEMPT. By adapting the unadaptable novel, THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN, Winterbottom (the character) is forced to streamline his vision continuously. Instead of staying true to the entirety of the novel, he chooses to focus on a pivotal battle scene from one character's past. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Steve Coogan's formal address of the audience opens the TRISTRAM SHANDY adaptation, but not after a very funny behind-the-scenes exchange with Coogan and co-star Rob Brydon (in a genius "supporting" performance) about the color of their teeth. Shandy's direct address recalls Coogan's fabulous Tony Wilson from 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE. In fact, the real Tony Wilson makes a cameo here as a news reporter. Perhaps he's being postmodern before it was fashionable. Any who...

The fantastically clever and comedically inventive TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY meanders and digresses much like the novel it is based on. Winterbottom's playful direction and Frank Cottrell Boyce's genius screenplay allow for an apt adaptation of the novel that sounds half-baked, but is actually rather fitting. For a film about filmmaking, with all of its secondary character's talk of cinema and the novel's essence, is actually rather transcendent and accessible. Truffuat's DAY FOR NIGHT, but especially Fellini's 8 1/2 comes to mind during a bizarre night-shoot where echoes of Nino Rota's indelible score can be heard. Winterbottom, though, stands head-to-head with them by making TRISTRAM SHANDY a deconstructive film-going experience. The trials and tribulations and failures that go into making a film are hoisted to glory here, especially in the film's funniest bit (and future classic): a discarded gag involving a hot chestnut down Steve Coogan's pants that secured the movie's funding.

Steve Coogan serves as our entry point into Boyce and Winterbottom's zany world. His life is the focus of the film. At first this may seem a retread on 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, but the layers of the glorious and charismatic Coogan here go farther, the impressions funnier and more profound. He mirrors both Shandies -- Tristram and his father Walter Shandy. Coogan, himself, in the film is a new father coming to grips with parenthood. In TRISTRAM SHANDY's poignant moments, we see an actor -- one as self-absorbed, arrogant and insecure as the Coogan character -- grapple with the looming prospects of adulthood. In these quieter moments, Winterbottom holds a mirror up to the Steve Coogan character and finds the real Tristram Shandy.

While the bulk of the film is the actual production of the film, we get treated to many scenes from the book -- the most important being Tristram's birth. Also flirted with is the romantic plotline that gets the movie an international star, Gillian Anderson (Gillian Anderson), who has perhaps the funniest character entry in a film in quite some memory. But, by the end of the film Tristram Shandy may not be born, but birthed instead is TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY.

The Novels of Film.

2006-02-20T22:43:00.000-05:00

Before preceeding to this next post, I just want to give big ups to David at GreenCine for linking this here site to the most excellent blog at GreenCine.

Welcome to all you new readers. Thank you all for stopping by.

Onward and upward.

Cinephilia is the focal point of both Walker Percy's beautiful debut novel The Moviegoer and "counterculture"-term-coiner Theodore Roszak's paranoid fantasy Flicker. Having accidentally just read the two books back-to-back, I was struck at the lack of novels regarding film culture. Sure, there are plenty of films on films, including the recent (and undeniably brilliant) TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY. But, where are the novels of film?

The Moviegoer presents the existential dilema of one Binx Bolling, a on-the-cusp-of-30 stockbroker living the single life in New Orleans. An active moviegoer and womanizer, Binx ponders his lot in life amidst the lazy summer of the Big Easy. Taking his cues from French writers, Walker Percy's 1962 novel presents a very American version of the "existential novel" (Albert Camus' The Stranger). Supposedly, Terrence Malick wrote an adaptation of the novel sometime in the 1970's. More comedic in nature than it may sound, this astute National Book Award-winning novel is profound and deeply Romantic. Binx's revelation equates moviegoing to the most spiritual of acts, one that enriches the soul. Percy's debut novel now has an added layer of bittersweetness to it with the tragic events that occurred in New Orleans this past year. The Moviegoer should be remembered not just as one of the numerous great literary works of New Orleans, but as one of the great American novels.

Theodore Roszak's Flicker, on the other hand, presents moviegoing as a most sinister act; perhaps the flipside of The Moviegoer. Beginning as an exhilirating account of how one becomes a cinephile, the novel slowly becomes a paranoid horror story about the potential evils of film. Narrator Professor Jonathan Gates is the first and foremost expert of the largely forgotten b-movie director Max Castle (surely an homage to filmmaker William Castle). Innocently, his love affair with the cinema begins in an allegoric cave, a basement movie theater in Los Angeles. Soon thereafter, budding moviegoer Gates strikes up an intimate affair with the theater's owner Clare Swann, a soon-to-be Pauline Kael-like nationally recognized film critic. Roszak's command of film history is staggering in the novel's first half when the mystery of Max Castle is only beginning. He has a gift of gently interplaying the fictional and real; frequently shifting between actual films and the fake films of the novel.According to the edition I read, a movie adaptation is in the works with both FIGHT CLUB screenwriter Jim Uhls and PI director Darren Aronofsky involved. One only hopes that they, too, can balance the real/unreal film history evenly. Gates, later, becomes fixated on the works of the German director Max Castle when accidentally viewing one of his "lost" films. An undescribable hypnosis occurs when the film is watched. After investigating what fragments remain of his chopped-up American b-movies, Gates discovers subliminal messages contained in the films lighting and its flicker--inbetween the frames. What are the messages? Where did Castle learn them? What purpose do the messages serve? The answers to these questions lead Professor Gates on a decades long search that involves Old Hollywood cinematographers, sleazy Roger Corman-esque exploitation moguls, Orson Welles and John Huston themselves, and most importantly a pre-Christian cult that controls Hollywood itself. Flicker descends into a rather silly paranoid fantasy in its end (much like a Max Castle film), but the lead up is a taut and effective thriller that could find its home on any cinephile's shelf.

Where have you gone, Whit Stillman?

2006-02-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

"Manhattan. Not so long ago."

Fifteen years ago, an auspicious debut landed in American cinemas. A writer/director from New York managed to turn a no budget film about a self-absorbed group of young WASPs in Manhattan's Upper East Side into a widely-acclaimed minor hit that eventually went on to garner itself a BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Oscar nomination. Whit Stillman's METROPOLITAN is a warm debut film about a group of friends in a world only a few of us know, and it still holds up today as one of the handful of truly transcendent films about growing up, as well as being one of the first to kick off "The Great American Independent Film Explosion of the 1990's."

Centering around a small Upper East Side clique, self-dubbed The Sally Fowler Rat Pack (after one of the girls in the group), during the height of the Christmas-slash-Debutante season, we enter this foreign METROPOLITAN world through the idealistic Tom Townsend. By happenstance, he is almost forcefully absorbed into the group after standing at the same corner as a cab the SFRP has hailed. Tom was not hailing the cab, but attempting to find a bus; "a public transportation snob" he is called by the group's ring leader Nick Smith (Chris Eigeman). Tom enjoys an evening with the crew, but denies he is at one with the group, proclaiming himself a Fourierist in the face of the very welcoming Upper East Side untitled aristocracy. At the SFRP's insistence, thanks to a purported "escort shortage," Tom continues to fall into the group of young socialites.

While many of Stillman's peers wrote and directed films about "Generation X slackers", he filmed the literate adventures of the doomed for mediocrity "Urban Haute Bourgeoisie." They are sans cynicism nor sentamentality. His comedies of manners, BARCELONA and LAST DAYS OF DISCO, could best be understood as updated Jane Austen by way of Woody Allen. The connection to Austen's Mansfield Park is even made point blank in METROPOLITAN with Audrey Rouget's admiration of the novel a focal point of her character; it is her disagreement with Tom over the novel ("You don't have to have read a book to have an opinion on it.") that sparks her romantic interest in him. Intact, too, is Austen's sense of class consciousness. However, Stillman flips it by having privileged youth at the center of his films. For many viewers like myself, it allows for a chance to see how the other half lives, as it were. But, as many critics have noted, it is the characters' own self-awareness of their "doomed future" that allows Stillman to develop his comedies as satire.

A recent debate on the film's IMDB board raised the question "What year did METROPOLITAN take place?" Part of METROPOLITAN's charm comes from its own sense of timelessness. There is a vagueness to the film's New York City. Could it be the 1950s? Is it the beginning of Reagan 80's? Both BARCELONA and LAST DAYS OF DISCO are very time specific films set amidst the "Me Decade." But, Stillman's debut film doesn't need to be about a specific time and place. For all of Charlie's (Taylor Nichols) rants against Luis Bunuel's THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE and Nick Smith's cynical dialogue ("I've always planned to be a failure anyway, that's why I plan to marry an extremely rich woman."), the film is essentially about growing up. The Sally Fowler Rat Pack are growing up during a time of transition, where the UHBs will soon no longer exist -- but more so, where childhood friends become adults. It is with the looming specter of adulthood that Tom is initiated into the fading group.

Whit Stillman may have not made a film since 1998's LAST DAYS OF DISCO, but traces of his work come up unexpectedly (not nearly as unexpected as the asking price for a LAST DAYS OF DISCO DVD though). The seminal post-collegiate film KICKING & SCREAMING is Stillman-esque not just for its articulate characters or its literary quality, but in its casting of Stillman regular Chris Eigeman. Eigeman excels in playing verbose cynics; an actor with a distinct staccato rhythm in his delivery. It is not surprising in the least that another filmmaker would want to take advantage of it. In fact, Noah Baumbach did in his first three films (K&S, MR. JEALOUSY and HIGH BALL). It was just this past year with THE SQUID AND THE WHALE that finally saw Baumbach stepping out of Stillman's shadow.

But, will Stillman ever step out of his own?

Spider in the Snow

2006-02-12T14:16:00.000-05:00

Snow Day.

As I sit indoors on what may potentially be the worst blizzard in NY history (global warming wha?), I look back fondly on many of the great snow movies. Not so much films about snow, but movies featuring the fluffy white stuff. It's been 13 years since I've had the benefit of even a two-hour delay, but thankfully today I can liesurely reminisce about some of the great scenes/movies featuring snow.Snow always looks gorgeous when photgraphed. Please contribute your own short lists of snow films.

TOP FIVE SNOW MOVIES.

5. DR. ZHIVAGO.

David Lean's romance epic is no doubt a visually stunning widescreen masterpiece. Every frame is drenched in snow. The frame above demonstrates perfectly how Lean filled his warm film with an absolute coldness. Far from his best, or my favorite of his films, DR. ZHIVAGO is nonetheless an essential winter weather movie.

4. A SIMPLE PLAN.

Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton play brothers who discover a large sum of money buried beneath the snow inside a crashed plane. If the money remains undiscovered by the spring, the brothers and their friend will split it. What does greed do to a person? Sam Raimi's most restrained film is his coldest with the snow-capped landscapes of the North adding another icy dimension to the tragic story of how this money tears apart two brothers.

3. GROUNDHOG DAY.

Bill Murray's Phil Connors incorrectly predicts that blizzard will pass quietly over Western Pennsylvania and relives his February 2nd in Puxsatawney for the next two hours. Harold Ramis' masterpiece is a comedy of second, third and fourth chances where Murray eventually recieves redemption. The blizzard naturally keeps Murray and his news team held up, but a mystical unknown creates the time warp thus making the winter wonderland a literal purgatory for the cynical weather man. With its universal themes of salvation, GROUNDHOG DAY could eventually become a perrenial classic a la IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

2. THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG.

Not a "snow movie" per se, Jacques Demi's operatic musical concludes on a snowy night at a gas station where two lovers who have been separated for ages meet again. The reprise of Michel LeGrand's "I Will Wait For You" concludes this romantic-musical on such a heartbreaking note. The steady white snow that falls while the music crescendos acts as a perfect ending to this colorful tearjerking romance.

1. FARGO.

The Coen Brothers' FARGO is a cold-blooded neo-noir. But, due to the movie's Northern setting, cinematographer extraordinare Roger Deakins trades the noir grays and blacks for a stark white, snow drenched pallette. Nowhere is his mastery more apparent than in the scene where a recently-shot Steve Buscemi attempts to hide the loot from the botched fake kidnapping. Somewhere in the Great White North, in the middle of nowhere, Buscemi pulls over and buries the suitcase containing his share of the money under the snow. As he glances to each side, only to see snow and a small wire fence -- he marks his spot with an ice scraper. It is this darkly comedic scene that gives FARGO the title of best movie to feature snow in my book.

The NY Critics Take on 2005.

2006-02-11T18:36:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday February 1st, I was fortunate enough to attend the 92 St. Y's MAKOR FILM discussion entitled FILM CRITICS ON THE BEST AND WORST OF 2005. Moderated by David Sterritt, the event was to be a sort of "State of the Union" for the year of film brought to us by our friendly neighborhood critics -- David Edelstein of New York Magazine fame and Entertainment Weekly's film critic tag team of Lisa Schwarzbaum and Owen Gleiberman; a sort of live "Slate Movie Club" roundtable discussion. The intimate 75-seat theater was sparsely sat with only the most dedicated of fellow film geeks.

As advertised, the event opened with moderator David Sterritt asking each participant to name both their best and worst film title from 2005. Kicking it off was Miss Schwarzbaum, who again made it no secret how much she loves David Cronenberg's A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. In a word, she called her top film of 2005 "beautiful." It was at this point that Sterritt, the Chairman of the National Society of Film Critics, interjected that it had been HISTORY, not BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, that had been one vote shy from the NSFC's top prize this year. Surprsingly the honor had gone to CAPOTE after hours of debate amongst critics. Schwazbaum's worst film was spared the fate of a one word review. Instead, Disney's CHICKEN LITTLE was reffered to as being emblamatic of "a real slippage in [animation]." Putting it more bluntly, she called the CGI-film "doo doo." It was not the last that we would hear of CHICEN LITTLE.

Moving over to David Edelstein, he jokingly called the Disney-WAR OF THE WORLDS-parody his best movie of 2005. His playful banter was quite welcoming, especially given the too often percieved idea that critics are often too serious, but this evening was to be more fun and informal. Becoming more serious, though, he called CHICKEN LITTLE "noxious" and proceeded to state that Stephen Speilberg's MUNICH was the best film of 2005. Expecting the film to dominate much of the discussion he initially had few words, but informed the crowd that he recieved more hate mail for the film than any other movie he had reviewed at Slate. Edelstein said that most of the letters had come from Jews that said his praising of the film was born out of self-hatred. Again, the religion card was played when Edlestein spoke of THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE as his worst film of 2005. In a lengthy tirade against the film, the New York Magazine critic revealed that the film's twist was that "medication had gotten in the way of this girl's exorcism." This conclusion, which had literally pitted religion against science in a trial, was insulting. "But, it raises interesting questions," Sterritt exclaimed. "I couldn't call a film that raises some interesting questions 'the worst of the year'," he continued. Edelstein respectfully disagreed.

Owen Glieberman had his opportunity to agree with David Edelstein (the first time of many for the evening) and name MUNICH his number one of 2005. The Entertainment Weekly critic addressed the movie's controversy. Speaking eloquently and at length, Glieberman called the outrage against the film both "outrageous" and "bogus." Paraphrasing his remarks, he called MUNICH's theme that "vengence doesn't work" as rather prescient and the backlash against it "sad." "Controversy can be healthy, though, as was the case with Oliver Stone's JFK," he later stated. Speaking of his worst film of the year, Glieberman named THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY for its "forced smug, whimsical, out-dated, counter-cultural ideas" which proved to be hell for him.

Finally, moderator David Sterritt had his chance to speak about some of his favorites of the year. Sterritt contested that this was indeed a good year for film. CACHE, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, CAPOTE and SARA BAND were a few of the examples he mentioned of strong films that he loved. He was hard pressed to name a favorite. As for his worst film, he was quick to respond with "one film I'm surprised no one has mentioned... NORTH COUNTRY."

The always enlightening Sterritt also spoke of the recently released Oscar nominations by coming out as "anti-Oscar... I actually believe them to be dangerous to our cultural health." The group of critics agreed. While the event description had said that a discussion of the Oscars was to be included, the conversation quickly moved away from the topic.

Instead, conversations about the most critically lauded films of the year -- BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK., A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, and (again) MUNICH -- were to follow. Each critic deabted and discussed the merits and flaws of each film. Owen Glieberman loved the sociological under current of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, whereas David Edelstein believed the film to be too simplistic. William Hurt's clip from A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE preceeded another short conversation about the film; Lisa Schwarzbaum and David Sterritt were decidedly pro-HISTORY, but Glieberman and Edelstein merely "liked it okay."

Hollywood's preoccupation with politics was also an issue discussed. MUNICH's timeliness was stressed by Edelstein and Glieberman. SYRIANA was lambasted by both critics as well for being a film that not just overly complicated but ineptly made -- and proud of it. "If you don't get it, well THAT'S just how the world works!" Then, it was Schwarzbaum who called Hollywood out as being "politically -- very liberal, but artistically -- very conservative."

Looking into the future of film, the privatization of the moviegoing experience closed the evening. Steven Soderberg's BUBBLE had just been released and its unusual release pattern is still being viewed as a potential model for future releases. Numerous reasons were given by each participant for the decline of the theatrical experience whether it be ticket prices or etiquette there is no denying that more and more people shy away from theaters. DVD experience is much more controled, and home theaters sometimes outshine multiplexes. Again, David Edelstein brought up a point that was raised in this year's edition of the Slate "Movie Club," one day the experience of going to the movie theater will be a high-art/academic endeavor much akin to opera with a small handful of educated enthusiasts. Edelstein's prediction does not sound far off, but how soon? It is a slippery slope that will not come over night, of course, but is something that must be kept in mind.

Only one final thought emerged as I exited the MAKOR SCREENING ROOM -- for film, 2005 will be remembered as a year of transition. But, which way will it go? The answer to that question is up to as moviegoers, ticket buyers, DVD consumers and video renters. We ultimately decide which way the market goes -- what films get made, how they get seen, etc. But, after seeing last week's #1 box office draw was WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, I get decidedly pessimistic.

What year will 2006 be?

Is THIS man God?

2006-02-08T20:46:00.000-05:00

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

Exhibit C.

The Defense rests.

"Me can't quit you."

2006-02-01T16:20:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Adam and the COMMENTS posts I thought it would be fitting... No idea where this originated. Enjoy Bloggerinos!

Another one for the Saturday morning cartoon crowd...

The Nominations are in...

2006-01-31T08:24:00.000-05:00

- WALK THE LINE snubbed.
- MUNICH for Best Pic.
- No Herzog for Best Director.
- Kiera Knightley for Best Actress.

These hardly qualify as shockers.

No alarms. And, no surprises.
Please.

THE FULL MONTY

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
78th Annual Academy Awards Nominations

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Philip Seymour Hoffman - CAPOTE
Terrence Howard - HUSTLE & FLOW
Heath Ledger - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
Joaquin Phoenix - WALK THE LINE
David Strathairn - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
George Clooney - SYRIANA
Matt Dillon - CRASH
Paul Giamatti - CINDERELLA MAN
Jake Gyllenhaal - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
William Hurt - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Judi Dench - MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
Felicity Huffman - TRANSAMERICA
Keira Knightley - PRIDE & PREJUDICE
Charlize Theron - NORTH COUNTRY
Reese Witherspoon - WALK THE LINE

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams - JUNEBUG
Catherine Keener - CAPOTE
Frances McDormand - NORTH COUNTRY
Rachel Weisz - THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Michelle Williams - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE
WALLACE & GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
KING KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
PRIDE & PREJUDICE

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
BATMAN BEGINS
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
THE NEW WORLD

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTSPRIDE & PREJUDICE
WALK THE LINE

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MUNICH

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE
ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS
MURDERBALL
STREET FIGHT

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
THE DEATH OF KEVIN CARTER: CASUALTY OF THE BANG BANG CLUB
GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA
THE MUSHROOM CLUB
A NOTE OF TRIUMPH: THE GOLDEN AGE OF NORMAN CORWIN

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
CINDERELLA MAN
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
CRASH
MUNICH
WALK THE LINE

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
DON'T TELL
JOYEUX NOèL
PARADISE NOW
SOPHIE SCHOLL - THE FINAL DAYS
TSOTSI

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
CINDERELLA MAN
STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SCORE)
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
MUNICH
PRIDE & PREJUDICE

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL SONG)
"In the Deep" - CRASH
"It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" - HUSTLE & FLOW
"Travelin' Thru" - TRANSAMERICA

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MUNICH

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
BADGERED
THE MOON AND THE SON: AN IMAGINED CONVERSATION
THE MYSTERIOUS GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS OF JASPER MORELLO
9
ONE MAN BAND

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
AUSREISSER (THE RUNAWAY)
CASHBACK
THE LAST FARM
OUR TIME IS UP
SIX SHOOTER

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
KING KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
WAR OF THE WORLDS

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
KING KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
WALK THE LINE
WAR OF THE WORLDS

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
KING KONG
WAR OF THE WORLDS

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
CAPOTE
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
MUNICH

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MATCH POINT
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
SYRIANA

Predicting the OSCAR Nominees: 2005 Edition.

2006-01-30T21:17:00.000-05:00

A time honored tradition amongst film buffs and award show whores, where we try to call the Oscar nominees a whopping 12 hours before they're announced! In the distinguished words of Damon Albarn -- WooHoo!

Firstly, if you missed any of the films I'm about to mention you may want to check out some synopses of 25 films in contention.

While 2005 was certainly a strong year for film, the awards season has actually been rather cut and dry. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN has just steamrolled through picking up Globes of Gold and a Director Guild Award for Ang Lee. It's not just the only sure thing. George Clooney's GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. sealed its fate shortly after premiering to enormous crowds at the Venice Film Festival. There has been nary a naysayer in the pack on the Edward R. Murrow pic; the movie's timeliness as well as entertainment value makes it (along with BROKEBACK) a worthy candidate.

I'll attempt to sift through the other worthy (and unworthy) candidates by going through the Top 8 awards.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Paul Giamatti, CINDERELLA MAN
- Matt Dillon, CRASH
- William Hurt, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
- George Clooney, SYRIANA
- Frank Langella, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.

Paulie G gets the nod for the two oversights in a row for SIDEWAYS and AMERICAN SPLENDOR. Matt Dillon's racist cop in CRASH was probably the film's best performance, and he easily gets the film's best scene -- he'll be nominated for the rest of the cast. William Hurt's surprise cameo in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is a critic's favorite, as well as a juicy role for the character actor where he sinks his teeth and makes the type of impression that gets remembered in spite of his brief screentime (see also Judi Dench for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE). George Clooney's non-movie star turn in SYRIANA, complete with beard and weight gain, is the stuff the Oscar's love to reward. Frank Langella's performance reminded audiences who he was, much like Martin Landau's ED WOOD performance, and may help to make up for a possible David Straitharn oversight (a la Thomas Hayden Church for SIDEWAYS). Expect the BROKEBACK Express to derail here (briefly) as Jake Gyllenhaal will not get nominated for a Supporting Actor award.

**In a more just world, the following actors would also be recognized for their supporting work this year: Jeffery Wright (BROKEN FLOWERS, SYRIANA), Paddy Consendine (MY SUMMER OF LOVE), Ciaran Hinds (MUNICH), Jesse Eisenberg (THE SQUID AND THE WHALE) and Christian Bale (THE NEW WORLD).

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

- Amy Adams, JUNEBUG
- Maria Bello, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
- Rachel Weisz, THE CONSTANT GARDENER
- Catherine Keener, CAPOTE
- Michelle Williams, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Perhaps the most competetive category this year, due to two studios conning the Academy into recognizing LEAD Actresses in the SUPPORTING category. Maria Bello and Rachel Weisz had two of my favorite performances this year, but were their films' LEAD actress!! As in, the MAIN female performer in the film!! Whatever. Thanks to the move here, it'll be easier to distinguish their work in the ghetto of fine supporting players. Catherine Keener's Harper Lee in CAPOTE is a true supporting role, as she appears in very little of the film, but is a suitable anchor/reality check for the larger than life Truman Capote. Amy Adams stole every critic and viewer's heart and mind in JUNEBUG -- the REAL little-film-that-could this year. In a less-crowded year, JUNEBUG might've had a shot at some bigger categories (not that I saw it). Michelle Williams' dramatic revelation in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is one of the best things in the film, and she'll again be spotlighted for it. Other potential nominees include Frances McDormand (NORTH COUNTRY) and Laura Linney (THE SQUID AND THE WHALE). But, the potential spoiler is Hollywood royalty/Warren Beatty's sister -- Miss Shirley MacLaine for IN HER SHOES.

BEST ACTOR
- Terrence Howard, HUSTLE & FLOW
- Philip Seymour Hoffman, CAPOTE
- Heath Ledger, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
- Joaquin Pheonix, WALK THE LINE
- Jeff Daniels, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE

I even surprised myself by snubbing the more-than-deserving David Straitharn for his turn as Edward R. Murrow in GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. He is this year's Paul Giamatti, I'm sorry!!! Joaquin has the impersonation of the year, which worked for Jaime Foxx. Heath's BROKEBACK performance is well-deserving. Jeff Daniels' THE SQUID AND THE WHALE performance has been a favorite of many, including myself. His matter-of-fact turn as the overbearing academic father was a tour-de-force of subtlety. However, the real race is between Terrence Howard and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Howard's incredible turn in HUSTLE & FLOW is the most remarkable Brando-esque transformation any actor made this year -- except for Philip Seymour Hoffman who transforms into the real CAPOTE.

BEST ACTRESS
- Resse Witherspoon, WALK THE LINE
- Q'Orianka Kilcher, THE NEW WORLD
- Charlize Theron, NORTH COUNTRY
- Felicity Huffman, TRANSAMERICA
- Kiera Knightley, PRIDE & PREJUDICE

Screen Actor's Guild-winner Resse Witherspoon is a shoe-in for her Rosanne Carter Cash performance in WALK THE LINE. The promise she made many years ago in ELECTION seems to have been confirmed with this role fit for Hollywood royalty. Q'Orianka Kilcher's debut performance as the mythic Pocohantas in Terrence Malick's unparalleled masterpiece THE NEW WORLD will be rewarded for its maturity, especially since she was only 14 when the film was shot. MONSTER-winner Charlize Theron will get another deserving nomination in this year's NORMA RAE, NORTH COUNTRY. TV star of the moment/Bill Macy's wife, Felicity Huffman won a Golden Globe for her uncanny performance as a transexual man; men have been winning Oscars for cross-dressing for years, now it's the ladies' turn. Judi Dench's terrific performance in the little-seen MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS will be overlooked this year in favor of what I think may be the youngest batch of Best Actress noms in ages (possibly ever?). The Weinsteins' just don't have the pull that they used to -- and that FOCUS FEATURES has this year! Expect the Focus love to extend to Keira Knightley's star-confirming performance in PRIDE & PREJUDICE. But, don't count out Joan Allen (UPSIDE OF ANGER)!! The Law of Averages states that she and/or Terrence Howard MUST be nominated this year! We shall see.

BEST SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED.
- BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, Larry McMurtry and Diana Osana
- CAPOTE, Dan Futterman
- A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, Josh Olson
- THE CONSTANT GARDENER, Jeffery Caine
- PRIDE & PREJUDICE, Deborah Moggach

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is a shoe-in here. Annie Proulx's short story gave birth to the year's most honored film. Dan Futterman's CAPOTE screenplay is as terrific as Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance. Expect the year's second best film to get its highest nod in this category with Josh Olson's superb screenplay for A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (here's to also hoping Amy Taubin's prophetic claim that the script may one day unseat CHINATOWN as the film school screenplay model!). THE CONSTANT GARDENER's politically-charged paranoid-thriller script was also as great love story from the novel by espionage scribe John le Carre. Again, expect it's highest honor here in this category. The same could easily be said for PRIDE & PREJUDICE, a very worthy film that in a less crowded year would be a Best Picture contender. The Academy also loves a good period pic -- especially a Jane Austen one!

BEST SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL.
- Paul Haggis, CRASH
- Noah Baumbach, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
- Grant Heslov and George Clooney, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
- Stephen Gaghan, SYRIANA
- Steve Carrell and Judd Apatow, THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN

Last year's Adapted Screenplay nominee Paul Haggis will lead the pack here with his CRASH screenplay. Grant Heslov and George Clooney's air-tight GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. screenplay deserves its mention too. Indie favorite THE SQUID AND THE WHALE will recieve a nomination for Noah Baumbach's excellent autobiographical script. Another socially relevant drama will get a mention here thanks to previous Adapted Screenplay winner Stephen Gaghan's screenplay for SYRIANA. However, there is a bit of confusion as to whether this is an original work or an adapted work -- the confusion may lead to the film not getting any mention at all. The surprise nominee of the category will be the WGA nominated 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN. Also, don't forget CINDERELLA MAN. However, once again, unless UNIVERAL bought off the Academy -- I expect it to be all but forgotten.

BEST DIRECTOR
- Ang Lee, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
- George Clooney, GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK.
- Bennett Miller, CAPOTE
- Paul Haggis, CRASH
- Werner Herzog, GRIZZLY MAN

Lee and Clooney are sure shots. Lee has been nominated many times over and won the DGA award -- no surprise for him tomorrow morning. Clooney will join the ranks of Robert Redford, Waren Beatty, Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson as former People magazine "Sexiest Man Alive" recipient-turned-Best Director nominee. The Academy also loves rookies, remember CHICAGO auteur Rob Marshall bested Martin Scorsese in 2002. (FACT: Roman Polanski prevented the CHICAGO sweep that night by winning the award for THE PIANIST) Bennett Miller and Paul Haggis both had well-recieved debut films that are getting handfuls of awards come tomorrow morning -- this is just another one of them. Now, that last one has not been mentioned by a single soul as far as I know. I've been kicking around the possible nomination of Werner Herzog for quite a while, was thinking of discrediting it, but his DGA win last night solidified my choice. Herzog's brilliant found-footage documentary was kept off the Academy's Short List of Docs this fall, but was a huge critical and crowd favorite. It found itself on a number of Top Ten lists at the end of the year. Also, the world renowned Herzog has NEVER been nominated for an Oscar! Now, due to the Academy's years of short sight, Herzog will get his first nod and be the first documentary filmmaker to be nominated for a Best Director statue over Steven Speilberg (MUNICH), David Cronenberg (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE), and James Mangold (WALK THE LINE).

BEST PICTURE
- BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
- GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
- CAPOTE
- WALK THE LINE
- CRASH

It pains me to no end to write that last film in there. CRASH is offensive knee-jerk liberal tripe that reinforces every stereotype it claims to go against. HOWEVER, it is about something. It is well acted. It's the little-film-that-could -- budgeted for less than $10 million, released in the height of the summer, a number of respected critics loved it. Hollywood will pat itself on the back and give this SAG-award winner a Best Picture nominee, besting the more deserving close-but-no-cigar candidates A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, MUNICH and CINDERELLA MAN. Speaking of those three films, the first two in that list--besides being too violent--are much too off-beat for Hollywood to reward. MUNICH is too political, while A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE may seem too pulpy/generic. CINDERELLA MAN gets the raw deal here. The Ron Howard Oscar-bait film MAY score this nod, but it will only be because UNIVERSAL bought it the nomination after too few people showed up for it this summer (expect CRASH, then, to be without its slot). The Johnny Cash biopic WALK THE LINE has the acting noms locked and is the only film in contention to cross the $100 million mark at the box office. The Academy loves a good crowd pleaser as well as a musical-based story (see last year's RAY) -- it's a no brainer. CAPOTE, the OTHER biopic, has become the championed critics' favorite, winning the National Film Critic Society's award for Best Picture. It's a small picture that sounds like an actor's film on paper, but is a much more complicated portrait of a deeply-conflicted artist. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN has won nearly every Best Picture award that GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. or CAPOTE hasn't won. Expect BROKEBACK and GOOD NIGHT to rule the awards show.

R.I.P. Chris Penn

2006-01-28T22:20:00.000-05:00

I couldn't NOT post something here about the untimely passing of actor Chris Penn.

Actor Chris Penn died in his home at age 40 this past Tuesday, January 24th 2006. The recognizable character actor starred in FOOTLOOSE, PALE RIDER, AT CLOSE RANGE and TRUE ROMANCE, but perhaps is best remembered as Nice Guy Eddie from Quentin Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS. Penn was an actor of great distinction who was perhaps overshadowed by the fame of his brother, Sean Penn. But, Chris Penn carved a niche as a perennial heavy in numerous films demonstrating equal talent in both comedic and villainous roles.

His most singular performance came in the underrated Abel Ferrara crime family drama THE FUNERAL. In the 1996 film, Penn played Chez Tempio, one of two brothers (the other being Christopher Walken) dealing with the grief and anger of the murder of their youngest brother (Vincent Gallo). Now, with this cast as a family it would be easy to dismiss each performer as intense. However, Penn crafted a tormented character with a conflicted humanity who attempts to handle a moral dilemma in the midst of grappling with his brother's death. Ferrara's bleak film is one of his strongest works with the auteur's Catholic guilt portrayed perhaps more succinctly than in his unforgettable BAD LIEUTENANT thanks to many of the very gifted performers in the cast -- especially Chris Penn. His character's on-screen death still lingers in my mind today. It is as shocking and devastating remembering it today as it was seeing the movie for the first time six years ago.

His untimely passing is said to have been a "natural death." Rest in Peace, Chris Penn.

(a much better eulogy, at a much better blog)

Soderbergh's New Film, A Cock and Bull Story.

2006-01-27T16:16:00.000-05:00

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JANUARY SLUMP?!?!

January is typically the month where movie studios drop crap off to the theaters. Movies like FIRST DAUGHTER, WHITE NOISE, WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON and GLORY ROAD usually come and go while we're busy catching up on credit card debt and the congestion of Oscar offerings from December. Nobody remembers these movies.

But, 2006 is off to what might be a solid start with two films of interest hitting theaters today alone -- and believe it or not, BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE 2 is not one of them!

Steven Soderbergh's BUBBLE premiered in October at the New York Film Festival to mixed audiences. THE LIMEY filmmaker's high-def non-professionally casted feature set in an Ohio doll factory film seemed too experimental to others (see also Soderbergh's Schitzopolis), but to some seemed to be a revolutionary work. The film's non-professional cast is far from qualifying it as revolutionary, but BUBBLE's distribution pattern is. Foresaking the traditional 3-to-6 month theatrical-to-video window, which has been shrinking for years, the high-def feature will be released simulataneously on TV, DVD, and in movie theaters. By Tuesday January 31st, anybody in the country who wants to see Soderbergh's film will have the availbility usually offered only in New York and Los Angeles. The unimpressive 34 screen count for the film will certainly be made up for in DVD sales and rentals, as well as from On-Demand services. It certainly helps to keep the costs low with Soderbergh working on the fly, shooting on video with a small crew, and using a non-professional cast. BUBBLE was even scored by Ohio's second favorite son, the very definition of the word 'prolific,' Robert "My Brother Plays Guitar Better than Joan Jett" Pollard of Guided By Voices. Priveleged filmgoers in NY and LA will now be seeing a more level playing field of cinephiles/moviegoers if this latest "experiment" takes off. While I would love to see the movie on the big screen, it's limited offering in New York City (one screen!!) during the dead of winter, when there is at least one more film I'd rather throw $10 down for opening this weekend-- I will opt for renting the DVD. I, for one, am just excited to see a new Soderbergh offering. After his incredibly underwhelming sequel OCEAN'S 12, it'll be fascinating to see him work on a shoestring budget with non-professionals.

Best Trailer of the Year?

Now, if postmodern-metafilms are more your game perhaps you ought to check out TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY. Directed by the "British Bob Pollard of Filmmaking" Michael Winterbottom (CODE 46, 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, 9 SONGS, and many films without numbers in the title), TRISTRAM SHANDY is about the making of a film of the ultra obscure novel THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN starring Steve Coogan. If you're puzzled as to why Winterbottom chose this approach, then check out the book (not that I have, but I will). Often described as "postmodern before there was modern," the 1759 Laurence Stern book is the anecdotal, nonlinear and digression-rife faux-memoir of the titular English gentleman. That's meta, baby! Staying true to the book's rambling essence, Winterbottom playfully distorts the narrative's focus by interupting scenes from the book by focusing on the film's production. While Winterbottom can be as wickedly inconsistent as Ridley Scott, he excells in these ventures where his authorial energy comes alive via the self-reflexive nature of the film (see also the aforementioned 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE).
A rather apt website, if I do say. And I just did.

"If you're going to start the killing, you best start it right here."

2006-01-19T23:00:00.000-05:00

2005: The Year in Film.

The glut of Top Tens infecting the blog-o-sphere-o-diarama-rama can now add my own self-serving list to it annals. I will maintain that it was indeed a strong year for the moving pictures (or "talkies" as I've started calling them). However, it was indeed a slow snail-like start beginning with guilty pleasures like SIN CITY, FEVER PITCH, and ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13. It wasn't until the June release of MY SUMMER OF LOVE that we began seeing serious films of serious quality. In the fall, it picked up by continuing to offer remarkably different pictures that could be broadly described as "political," or found themselves apart of the "revenge" sub-genre. Films like A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, MUNICH, and THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, as varied as they were in their approach, were essential mediations on how violence effects people. But, that wasn't all the fun we had in the dark this year! Head-crushing high-art genre films, intensely relevant docudramas and biopics, blockbuster nature documentaries, two timely zombie flicks, the sweetest raunchy comedy ever made, Hollywood begins to evoke 9/11, a voice of a new generation emerges from the indie film world, the ending of the Star Wars saga, gay cowboys ate pudding on-screen AND people came to see it, and KING fucking KONG!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

MILLIONS

Danny Boyle's latest highly imaginative effort is the heartwarming story of two brothers who find a bag of pounds during England's switch to the Euro. An innocent tale of world awareness suitable for children of all ages.

WAR OF THE WORLDS/LAND OF THE DEAD

Steven Speilberg's menacing post-9/11 re-telling of H.G. Wells' classic is a nightmare. While George A. Romero's newest zombie film is a downright Swiftian satire/horror film of class warfare and terrorism in America today.

CACHE

Michael Henke's perplexing drama disguised as a mystery is a complex investigation into the French conscience of guilt surrounding treatment of Algerians in the 1960's. Most brilliantly, though, is the Austrian filmmakers' inversion of his usual audience torture by way of his characters. What effects will this repressed guilt have on future generations? Henke's suggested answer frighteningly came to life this summer as riots infected inner-city Paris.

THE WEATHER MAN
Steven Conrad's screenplay is one of the year's finest in this melancholic look at the dissatisfaction of "success" in today's world. Also, Nicolas Cage's most subdued performance in ages.
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
Noah Baumbach's best feature is his most personal. An alternately funny and heartbreaking look at a Brooklyn bourgeouise family's divorce in the 1980's.

OTHER FILMS OF NOTE...
The 40 Year Old Virgin, The Constant Gardener, Broken Flowers, The Devil's Rejects, Gus Van Sant's Last Days, The Aristocrats, Brokeback Mountain, Batman Begins, Pride & Prejudice, Munich.

Keep in mind I didn't see...
Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the WereRabbit, Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride, Homecoming, Capote, Syriana, TransAmerica, Howl's Moving Castle, The Ice Harvest.

TOP TEN

10. NO DIRECTION HOME: BOB DYLAN
Martin Scorsese's four-hour documentary on Bob Dylan is an impressive portrait of the seminal American artist. Primarily comprised of found-footage, the genius of the film lies in its design by focusing specifically on the year's 1963 and 1966. Perhaps deconstructing the myth of Dylan as "the voice of a generation," but in its wake re-writes Dylan as a true rebel. Together, Scorsese and Dylan create more than a companion piece to the singer's memoir CHRONICLES. NO DIRECTION HOME is at once a snapshot of a songwriter, a poet, a singer, a celebrity, a subculture, and America.

9. MEMORIES OF MURDER
South Korean cinema offered the world one masterwork this year, but it was not Chan-Wook Park's Fincher-esque and slightly contrived OLDBOY. It was the intimate and humane docudrama focusing on the investigation of the nation's very first serial killer in the year 1986. Bong Joon-Ho's MEMORIES OF MURDER masterfully focuses on the two men assigned to the grim case of a serial killer, never losing track of their dilemma being in a situation without precedent. Their guesswork and follies in investigation are tragically grim, but the film never descends into torture or exploitation. Expertly photographed, stunningly acted, and paced like a gritty 70's Hollywood films, MEMORIES OF MURDER joins the ranks of SEVEN and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS as one of the truly transcendent serial killer films.

8. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
George Clooney's dramatization of Edward R. Murrow's defeat of Sen. Joseph McCarthy on live television without a face-to-face showdown is a small film. Sparse in its mise-en-scene and in its narrative, though not minimalist by any stretch of the imagination, Clooney's direction seems most assured. David Strahairn delivers a Murrow that is not mimickry, but a sculpted character that is stiff and bookish on and off air. Without wasting a single frame, Clooney and company (including a marvelous Frank Langella) make a simple film about a complex time. However, do not be misinformed -- this film is not a parable of today. The genius of Grant Heslov's screenplay is that GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. is a film that is only about itself, where viewers make the parallels to the present in their own mind. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK may not be a film of its time, but is certainly a film for its time.

7. MY SUMMER OF LOVE
Pawel Pawilowski's gorgeously photographed love letter to the laziness of lost youth and the exhilaration of first love. Set on the vastly empty English countryside, we meet Mona who lives above a pub with her recently released from prison brother, Phil, who has been born again. Phil's born again Christianity is uncharacteristic and seems to phony to Mona, and she seeks escape from the stifling relgious environment in her new friend Tamsin. Tamsin is a privelged, upper class girl whose family has left her unattended for the summer. The two girls forge a unique bond that naturally leads to love. Never exploitative and oddly innocent, yet undeniably sexy, Mona and Tamsin's affair turns tragic just as quickly as it begins. Each character reveals their true nature in a devastating final act that makes MY SUMMER OF LOVE one of the year's best film.

6. KING KONG
Peter Jackson takes the ape-meets-girl story of KING KONG to new heights, turning a once creepy attraction between primate and femme to the most doomed romance this side of Brokeback Mountain. Naomi Watts' and Andy Serkis' chemistry is undeniable; both deserve accolades for making such demanding roles look so easy. Serkis' Kong, particularly, is the main event. Without a single line of dialogue or human face-time (as Kong, that is) Serkis creates an entirely human character from a CGI gorilla. Kong has emotions, is aged, and yet acts as an animal would -- merely misunderstood by the human world. It is only with Anne that he is able to communicate, something his human foil, Academy Award winner Adrien Brody, is unable to put into words. Set pieces are developed and carried out with such delicate precision and pretention that it is not simply a wonder to behold, but a delight to be a part of such an experience. I now know what it was like to see the original KING KONG in all of its glory in the midst of the Depression in 1933. Behold, KING KONG -- the 8th wonder of the world.

5. FUNNY HA HA/MUTUAL APPRECIATION

Once in a while a small film comes along that you champion and want all of your friends to see. Andrew Bujalski's debut and sophomore films are just those films -- startlingly original films with a fresh perspective. Taking his cues from early Cassavettes and Linklater, Bujalski re-creates perfectly the aimless life of being in your twenties. In FUNNY HA HA, Kate Dollenmayer's Marnie is a girl looking for focus in her post- graduate life. Dollenmayer gives an understated and real performance here as someone everybody knows. Instantly, we are drawn to her and understand exactly why every guy that crosses her path loves her -- except for the guy she secretly loves. MUTUAL APPRECIATION, on the other hand, is one of the most inventive romantic comedies in ages. By focusing on a realistic love-triangle, Bujalski once again allows his characters to exist within our own world. Justin Rice's seemingly autiobiographical performance as a struggling musician in Brooklyn makes for a most charming lead. Both films have such a ridiculous sense of what it's like to be in every situation it presents. It seems that there are still plenty of fresh ways to tell a new story with a minimal budget, and the 16mm shot FUNNY HA HA and black-and-white MUTUAL APPRECIATION are just the beginning of what looks to be a promising career. Andrew Bujalski's astonishingly wise films doesn't so much end as the just stop. His characters live on, but our privelege is over. FUNNY HA HA and MUTUAL APPRECIATION may just be the films of my 20's and there's nothing funny about it.

4. GRIZZLY MAN/THE WHITE DIAMOND
Werner Hezog's 2005 two-fer provided two distinct portraits -- one of himself and one of the world. However, on the surface his documentaries are about two extraordinary (and possibly insane) men. In GRIZZLY MAN, the German auteur has a beautiful conversation with Timothy Treadwell's found footage of his life among the Alaskan Grizzly bears that eventually claimed his life. Herzog, at first, sees a man consumed with madness that is assocaited with long-time collaborator Klaus Kinski. After further thought, it is not Kinski he sees in Treadwell, but himself. A most thoughtful work of art that respects its certifiably insane protagonist, GRIZZLY MAN ranks as one of Werner Herzog's finest films. THE WHITE DIAMOND, by contrast, is more a film entranced with the mysteries of the world. The filmmaker follows a small crew to Guyana where engineer Graham Dorrington attempts to fly the world's smallest airship. Dorrington is another one of Herzog's captivatingly odd subjects, a man with a nervous energy who is haunted by a past tragedy. Herzog digresses occassionally in asides that reinforce the importance of real world myths today, proving that his collaboration with the Amazon may be just a fertile as his own with the late-Kinski. Please, don't call it a comeback.

3. 2046

Wong Kar-Wai's long-delayed follow-up to the much-loved IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is an anti-romance that is not cynical nor linear. Attempting to relive the playful romance from Kar-Wai's previous film, Tony Leung's Mr. Chow moves from woman to woman in an effort to achieve the same dizzying sense of love he had only temporarily felt. "In love, you can't bring on a substitute," he utters at one point. Leung's haunted performance is heartachingly real yet emotionally naked. As one of his romantic conquests, Zhang Ziyi delivers her sexiest performance as Mr. Chow's female equal -- a stoic, (un)romantic and sexually free woman who both arouses and frightens him. By shifting temporal elements and interjecting an allegorical sci-fi story, 2046 creates a hypnotic ode to the dark beauty and frustration of memory and romantic desire. Perhaps a summation of his own career, Wong Kar-Wai evokes a style that is his own but flourishes with Kubrickian touches and the glamour of old Hollywood. "Maybe one day you'll escape your past. If you do, look for me."

2. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
David Cronenberg's masterpiece may seem like a small Hollywood genre film that marries noir narrative elements with echoes of Western iconography on its surface. However, as it unreels Cronenberg's metaflick becomes a thick, compelling film boasting a stellar yet subtle lead performance from star Viggo Mortensen. Maria Bello's raw sexuality engulfs every frame she inhabits. Both stars' interactions make for what is one of the more believable married couples in a Hollywood film, and their two sex scenes are easily the most erotic of the year. Supporting roles from Ed Harris and William Hurt add another layer of menace. An increasingly complex film experience that much like Sam Peckinpah's notorious STRAW DOGS indicts the viewer as it challenges their perceptions of movie violence, as well as the effects of real world violence. But, where Peckinpah's film culminates in masculine celebration, Cronenberg questions the celebration. Is violence ever an acceptable solution? In A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, we don't like what we see -- both in ourselves and on screen -- yet we are still compelled, drawn in, and attracted. It is no stretch to call David Cronenberg the smartest filmmaker in the world today.

1. THE NEW WORLD
Terrence Malick's rapturous re-telling of Pocohantas' life is a luciously photographed work of beauty. THE NEW WORLD washes over you, and lingers in your conciousness becoming not just a film but a memory. Underneath the elegance is an elegiac work that not just counters the existing allegorical romance of John Smith and Pocohantas, but creates a new founding myth for America. Virginia's untouched land comes to such life as Malick transports us to the very same frame of mind that greeted both the Natives and English settlers as they first met in Jamestown. Q'Orianka Kilcher's majestic debut turn as Pocohantas serves as Malick's center point and metaphor, even if he initially misleads us. Colin Ferrel makes his John Smith a gentle rebel who is seduced by the Natives' lifestyle, and in turn seduces Pocohantas. Her innocence is corrupted not by the settlers, but by love. However, it is not her love of John Smith that proves tragic. Her belief that the two cultures can exist together and integrate is what ultimately leads to her downfall. But, when Smith desserts her Englishness is indoctrinated to the excommunicated Pocohantas. Culture is something to be learned. A film this rich is destined to be written off and ignored, but THE NEW WORLD is a triumphant work of art that is both orchestral and literary. From its bookended montages of American vistas set to Wagner, to its vivid costumes, and organic camera movements Terrence Malick's fourth masterpiece is as pure as cinema gets. The best film of 2005.

Robert Altman's A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION

2006-01-12T21:00:00.000-05:00

Bonjour!

I enter the blog-o-sphere-o-rama with my review of Robert Altman's latest film. You Know, For Film will primarily be dedicated to movie reviews and movie-related material from yours truly, but of course occasional digressions are always possible. I wish to engage in an earnest and open dialogue with all who read here with the hopes of building a better conversation amongst moviegoers. So, as they say, on with the show...

A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION.
Robert Altman's potential final film (re)imagines the final live-broadcast of Garrison Keillor's public radio staple "A Prairie Home Companion" as a down-home musical variety show complete with gospel and country-western acts. An assorted cast of eccentric characters populate the Minnesota-based station that has just been sold to a media conglomerate.

There is the luminous tag-team of Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep, who comprise the family duo of the Johnson Sisters, aged sisters who remember their younger years with equal doses of bitterness and fondness. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly are a jokey yet vulgar outlaw country duo who steal scenes as if their jobs depend on it. Keillor (who also wrote the film's screenplay) plays himself as the loquacious, soft-spoken host of the proceedings whose verbal antics bring the wackiness together. Altman, whose style has always been loose, plays it even looser this time around, having fun because the 80-year-old auteur maybe assumes it could be his last. Dialogue overlaps as it always has in Altman's films before the show takes center stage. When the show begins, songs play out in a beautifully framed cinemascope wide shot where the actors sing and perform their own songs, much like in the over appreciated NASHVILLE. Cowboys like the Harrelson and Reilly duo are no stranger to Altman's early work (BUFFALO BILL, MCCABE & MRS MILLER). Hell, the film is even narrated by a Raymond Chandler-esque fast-talker named Mr. Noir (Kevin Kline) that could have been played by Elliot Gould in his day.

Perhaps, then, this musical romp is best described as a celebration of not just the Americana where live radio and diners still exist, but as a celebration of Altman himself. "It's not a tragedy when an old man dies."

And, too appropriately, like Altman's oeuvre, it only works to a varying degree. Kevin Kline's comedic delivery is flawless, yet his character seems woefully unnecessary and out of place in this film. It makes matter worse that Lindsey Lohan's character might be the most false character Altman has ever allowed into one of his films. Her performance is passable, but ultimately her arch feels like one from the anonymous Hollywood films she surely passed up to take this role. A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION even attempts to deal with more spiritual issues, but ultimately that acts as a buzzkill (and thankfully doesn't really develop much throughout the film). Garrison Kealor's verbal wit translates well to the actors, but not across the entire screenplay.

In a film where the theme of looming death dominates, it is almost too easy to read it as Altman eulogizing himself. However, as the Altman-surrogate, Garrison Kealor dismisses the very notion. "I don't do eulogies. If I did them at this age, it'd be all I'd do," he eloquently declares. However, when A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION ends with the icons of Americana assembled in a diner talking about the good 'ol days and suddenly an angel appears, it is a fond farewell and send off to a time not-so-long-ago-but-easily-forgotten. Americana will have its own quiet death soon, but let us not mourn it -- let us revel in it! Altman's A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION has a home-spun charm like Kealor's own stories, and that familiar, friendly quality extends throughout this far from perfect film. A most fitting send off to one of America's most stalwart and individualistic auteurs -- and, perhaps, one of its last.