Funny Games

I can’t exactly say I enjoyed this — it was incredibly upsetting and sadistic.  But it certainly had an effect on me.  Haneke toys with the audience and implicates them in the suffering of the characters.  It makes you feel vulnerable and disturbed and downright awful.  Very powerful, although (unlike the films of say, Gaspar Noe) I would never watch it again, and I kind of have to question the sanity of anyone who would.  Rating: 9

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Land of the Dead

This movie seems to have a bad rep, but I kind of enjoyed it.  Maybe my expectations were low enough that I didn’t demand much (I’m not a Romero fan, in fact I don’t really care about zombies at all).  The bad: the dialogue is fucking horrible, and there’s never any real sense of peril.  I also would have liked it if the economy was explained a bit more, but maybe it’s for the best that we’re supposed to accept it on faith.  The so-so: Romero’s commentary on class division is appreciated, but it doesn’t run very deep. The good: great makeup, some clever kills, and it’s never boring.   Rating: 6

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Westworld

Despite being riddled with plot holes and science that makes little sense, it’s a fun romp based on a clever premise.  The movie is at its worst when it’s indulging in corny Western clichés, most egregiously in the bar fight scene.  But it gets pretty cool in the final act, and I loved the synthesized score.  It’s interesting as a precursor to Terminator, you can see a lot of the same elements and themes.  I imagine it’s only a matter of time before Hollywood remakes this, starring Will Smith (“It’s Wild Wild West meets I, Robot!”).  Rating: 7

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Lord of War

[WARNING: spoilers!] This isn’t a great movie, but it’s exactly what I wanted to watch at the moment.  Something polished and entertaining that doesn’t ask you to think too much.  Oh, there were some bits that made me roll my eyes: the informative, ironic and completely predictable on-screen text just before the ending credits roll, Eric Clapton’s “Cocaine” playing over a cocaine scene (there ought to be a law), wholly gratuitous T&A, and the inevitability of Jared Leto’s death (if you didn’t see that coming within the first 15 minutes, you haven’t seen enough movies).  But still, it held my attention, had a few funny lines, presented a more-complex-than-usual worldview and never really irritated me.  Rating: 7 

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Clean, Shaven

The subject matter is fairly conventional: the story of a dangerous schizophrenic and the detective trying to track him down.  Peter Greene is good, except at times I felt he was overdoing the illness a bit… too twitchy or something.  The film is primarily notable for its ability to convey his subjective viewpoint, especially in its inspired use of sound.  It’s damned unsettling at times.  Nice disjointed narrative as well.  Rating: 8

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The Asphalt Jungle

This is the first John Huston picture where I’ve been impressed with his direction.  It really captured the urban underground, “asphalt jungle” feel.  Striking compositions and lighting.  The story is a gripping heist tale, an obvious inspiration for Dassin and Melville and others.  The way the plan builds and gradually unravels has a natural, inevitable feel to it.  Quite a satisfying film.  Rating: 8 

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Anatomy of a Murder

Fairly good courtroom drama.  Jimmy Stewart does his usual Jimmy Stewart thing.  This feels kinda formulaic and predictable by today’s standards, but perhaps in 1959 it was still fresh.  All the talk of rape and sperm and panties must have been rather shocking at the time.  Rating: 7

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Save the Tiger

A bleak microcosm of American moral decay.  The film’s “things ain’t what they used to be” message is rather simplistic, and you really get smacked over the head with it.  However, Jack Lemmon’s performance is very good, and should be of interest to anyone who liked his work in Glengarry Glen Ross.  Also noteworthy is Jack “hey, it’s THAT guy” Gilford as Lemmon’s associate and conscience.  Rating: 7

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Electric Shadows

There’s a critic blurb on the DVD case that calls this movie a “Chinese Cinema Paradiso“.  It’s hard to avoid the comparison, they’re very similar.  I’d say I like this one a little more.  It’s contrived and requires severe suspension of disbelief, but it is quite touching and the actors are good.  Rating: 7

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Ringers: Lord of the Fans

Admirable for its breadth of coverage of Tolkien fandom, but otherwise a dud.  It’s not merely about fans, it’s obviously made by fans, as it treats the work of Tolkien with total reverence.  I like LOTR plenty, but the way this film mockingly dismisses those who would question its literary merits is more than a little embarrassing.  There are far too many loving testimonials to the books, the films, and the fan culture… which makes the movie much longer than it needs to be.  Unlike Trekkies, there is no sense that perhaps some of these fans are a bit pathetic in their obsession.  Also, while I appreciate the attempts to spice up the proceedings with some wackiness, very little of it is funny.  It mostly comes off like a bad ripoff of Monty Python.  Rating: 4

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