Todays movies-of-interest: 1:55pm and 9:00pm on IndiePlex (167): Stranger Than Fiction (2006) by Marc Forster. I dont like Will Farrell, but he fits here nicely. This is a fun and charming movie that I really have a soft spot for. Will Farrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson (also Kristin Chenoweth and Queen Latifah, for whatever reason). The writer, Zach Helm, has only done a few films, and the only one Ive heard of is Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium, which, thankfully, I have not seen. Forster, the director, is a typical mainstream studio hand. His recent directorial efforts include World War Z (2013) and Quantum of Solace (2008), the James Bond movie. But before that he put his name some good films. Prior to Stranger Than Fiction, his last film was Stay (2005), a little known film that I really liked. It starred Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, and Ryan Gosling, and it was a very good, and rarely original movie. He also directed Monsters Ball (2001). Speaking of original movies, Stranger Than Fiction is one of a kind. Its lots of fun, and while it never quite develops itself thematically to the extent and could have and probably should have, and gets kind of messy at times, its a good movie that deserves to be seen. Rating: B 6:00pm on MGM (892): Network (1976) by Sidney Lumet. This film is so far ahead of its time, thematically speaking. It had a great cast: Faye Dunaway (Chinatown), William Holden (Sunset Blvd. and Stalag 17), Peter Finch, and a younger Robert Duvall. Lumet was making successful movies all the way from 12 Angry Men in 1957 all the way up to his final film before he died, Before the Devil Knows Youre Dead in 2007. He was never as prolific as some of his contemporaries (say, Robert Altman), but 50 years of filmmaking is an incredible accomplishment, as is Network. It has some tremendously important themes and is a well-executed film. Rating: A- 11:40pm on Flix (170): Carlitos Way (1993) by Brian De Palma. I think everyone knows this one, and I try to shy away from focusing on popular, newer films, but this one deserves the attention. its based on novels, but the screenwriter, David Koepp, has done a lot of quality mainstream work (he wrote everything from Jurassic Park (1993) (and its sequel) to Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), as well as Mission: Impossible (1996), Panic Room (2002), Spider-Man (2002), War of the Worlds (2005), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), Angels & Demons (2009), and Premium Rush (2012)). The director, De Palma, hasnt done much lately (The Black Dahlia (2006), Femme Fatale (2002), Mission to Mars (2000), etc.), but he did some big hits before that. Hes best known for his remake Scarface (1983) with Al Pacino, but he also directed Mission: Impossible, The Untouchables (1987), and Blowout (1981), a remake of the film Blow-Up (1966) by the Italian master Michelangelo Antonioni). De Palma has been making films for almost a half century now, with his debut feature film being in 68. As for the films plot, the premise of a man fresh out of prison trying desperately to stay on the straight and narrow in stark defiance of fate itself stems all the back to the Japanese noir films of the mid-to-late 50s, but De Palma updates it here a more emotional and less stylistic foundation, not to mention with a great cast (Pacino doing his thing; Sean Penn nailing his role as cocaine-addled scum; Viggo Mortensen in a tremendously impressive character role, long before his days as Aragorn; Luis Guzmán playing the same character that Luis Guzmán always plays (to good effect, here); and John Lequizamo as Benny Blanco from the Bronx). Not without a few flaws, but an emotionally powerful tale from start to finish (and speaking of the finish, this movie has one of the best endings Ive seen in the course of modern, American, mainstream cinema). A prequel was made a dozen years later called Carlitos Way: Rise to Power (2005), by a different director and with a different actor starring in the title role. I havent seen it, and I dont want to. Carlitos Way is a classic that anyone who likes movies is bound to have seen, but if by some chance you havent, nows a good time to catch it. Very good movie. Rating: B/B+ 12:55am on IndiePlex (167): Mulholland Dr. (2001) by David Lynch. I saw this over five years, long before I was ready for it. I might love it now, but I didnt like it then, and havent seen it since. It stars a young and gorgeous Naomi Watts in a surrealistic tale that is quite typical of writer-director David Lynchs style. Lynch also did The Elephant Man (1980), Dune (1984), Blue Velvet (1986), all the way up to Inland Empire (2006), and after watching his debut film, Eraserhead (1977), a few months ago, and it becoming one of my all-time favorites, I intend to re-watch Mulholland Dr. soon. Until then, I dont know how to judge it, other than to say that its very far out, very strange, and very weird. Rating: N/A 2:05am on Flix (170): Dazed and Confused (1993) by Richard Linklater. Another well known classic, but I cant avoid including it here. This was my favorite movie back in the 11th grade (right, Benjamin Wilson?), and I havent seen it since. It was Linklaters third film. As weak as American cinema has been in recent decades, Linklater is one of the brighter spots in modern American filmmaking, along with Joel & Ethan Coen, Noah Baumbach, Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Terrence Malick, Steven Soderberg, Martin Scorsese, Jim Jarmusch, David Lynch, David Fincher, David Cronenberg, etc. There arent many true auteurs in the picture these days, not in America. Anyways, after Dazed and Confused, Linklaters next film would be Before Sunrise (1995), which spurred two sequels through the next 18 years (Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013)), as well as Tape (2001), and my personal favorite of his films, Waking Life (2001). Hes done plenty of other movies, but those are the only six that Ive seen, along with the first half of Bernie. Ill re-watch Dazed and Confused after I get to Linklaters first two feature films, Its Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books (1988) and Slacker (1991), as well as his debut film, a short called Woodshock (1985). Until then, I dont remember Dazed and Confused well enough to really judge its quality. Rating: N/A 4:00am on TCM: The Shop on Main Street (1965) by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos. This wonderful Czechoslovakian film wont be familiar to most (other than Josh Jenkins), but it ought to be. You can find it in the Criterion Collection, or just set your DVR and record it tomorrow morning. Its alternately funny and sad, and always beautiful. It takes place during World War II, and the film feels like a cross between Federico Fellini and René Clément. Its got an absolutely great ending, and its a really good example of the foreign cinema that other countries were putting out there in the 60s. Very, very good film. Stop quacking about black-and-white photography and subtitles, let go of all the crap that mainstream blockbusters have brainwashed you to expect from the movies, and enjoy a truly high quality film. Rating: B+/A-
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 11:21:54 +0000
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