La Haine

Kassovitz wears his influences quite plainly on his sleeve… this film is dripping with Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese references.  As derivative as it is, however, it does have a certain freshness (or perhaps FRENCHness) that makes it more than a copycat picture.  I found that I cared about the three main characters without actually liking them very much, which I guess is a neat trick.  It’s awfully funny listening to people try to sound all badass in French, though.  And what was up with “Asterix” and “Obelix” being translated as “Snoopy” and “Charlie Brown”?  I know a lot of Americans don’t know about Asterix & Obelix, but let them look it up.  Rating: 7

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Inside Man (rewatch)

Caught this on TV and ended up watching the whole thing.  I still think it’s pretty good, but it does lose something on the second viewing, after you know all the secrets and twists.  Denzel is just awesome, though.  Rating: 8

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Parash Pathar (The Philosopher’s Stone)

Coming from Ray during a period when was he doing the magnificent Apu trilogy and Jalsaghar, this is a bit of a letdown.  It’s a modern fable with elements of magic realism, as a just-laid-off bank clerk finds a stone than turns iron into gold.  Even though the movie is very simple, it’s pleasant to watch and has a few moments of elegance.  The Ravi Shankar score is nice, too.  I didn’t really care for the humor, though.  It isn’t as grating as Indian comedies usually are, but it still isn’t that funny most of the time.  Rating: 7

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Little Caesar

The blueprint for gangster movies.  Which only means that it’s influential, not that it’s very good.  One-dimensional characters trapped in a predictable plot… perhaps not so predictable in 1931, but for me it was easy to see how the story would unfold, as it hit all the familiar beats.  It’s also oddly slow-moving, especially for such a short film, primarily because of awkward pauses in the dialogue (I suppose this is to be expected from an early talkie).  The saving grace is Edward G. Robinson’s performance, and even that is mostly due to his distinctive voice.  I did find the homosexual undertones amusing, though.  Rating: 6

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I thought the direction lacked distinction, but perhaps I’ve been spoiled by Cuaron’s stunning entry in the series.  The source material for this one is so strong, however, that it would have been hard to mess it up too badly.  Yates excises almost all of the anti-Harry business from the book, which is likely for the best.  I think it suits the novel well, but onscreen it would have been a big timesink.  Instead we get a mad dash through the major plot points… it makes for exciting viewing, but it sure does feel rushed.  The actors are all good and the story carries the proper emotional heft.  The prophecy ball thingy feels extremely inconsequential by the end, though.  You don’t get any sense of its importance, and it’s probably even worse for someone who hadn’t read the book.  Rating: 7

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Chimes at Midnight

I couldn’t get into this much.  Straight Shakespeare is really off-putting for me.  I prefer a modern adaptation (for example, My Own Private Idaho, which served as a cultural reference point for me during certain scenes in this film).  The language is fairly easy to digest when read off the page, but when it’s being rushed out of the mouths of actors, many of whom have difficult accents, it makes it tough to figure out what’s going on a lot of the time.  Still, the actors did seem to be doing a good job of it — at least most of them act as you would expect people to act, and not like they’re showboating for an audience (I wish Jeanne Moreau had been used a bit more).  And the photography was, as expected, astonishing.  The battle scene in particular was magnificent.  Still, I didn’t get a lot out of it, and watching the movie was often quite a chore.  I hate to give Welles such a meager score, but this one is more for the Shakespeare lovers out there.  Rating: 6

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Green for Danger

A pretty good mystery, elevated by the wonderful comic talents of Alastair Sim as Inspector Cockrill.  The whodunit aspect of the movie is handled well, keeping you guessing with a series of meaningful looks and red herring (although the “HOWdunit” aspect becomes rather obvious).  Rating: 8

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Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices

The stories about the composer Gesualdo told here are interesting but not quite fascinating enough (and their authenticity is highly suspect as well) to warrant a film.  His music is lovely and quite modern, though.  Herzog’s film (my 25th by him!) has a few gems, but overall it’s too self-conscious and seems to be reaching for enough material to fill the hour.  And the guy who was blatantly reading from his notes was irritating.  Rating: 6

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The Remains of the Day

I’ve avoided Merchant/Ivory for no good reason (in my defense, I had only seen Slaves of New York, which wasn’t that appealing).  In fact, I would have skipped this one if not for its appearance on the Sight & Sound list.  Which would have been a shame, because it’s quite superb.  The story explores the disastrous effects of always acting in the name of dignified honor and appeasement, both in the geopolitical and emotional realms.  If the parallels are a bit obvious, they’re still handled thoughtfully and are quite engaging.  The contrast between the “old” way of buttoned-down, mannered restraint (in the form of Stevens, his father and his employer) and the “new” style of more direct expression (i.e., Miss Kenton, Cardinal and Congressman Lewis) is intriguing and provides for situations both comic and tragic.  The whole cast is superior, although naturally Hopkins and Thompson deserve special kudos.  If there’s one drawback, it’s that the aura of restraint does make the film a bit of a challenge in the early stages; I was convinced at first that I’d be bored to tears.  After a while, however, particular following the introduction of Miss Kenton, some air gradually seeps in and the movie opens itself up to the viewer.  Rating: 8

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Blades of Glory

This was the in-flight movie on our way from Houston to Portland.  It didn’t pain me to watch it and I laughed a few times, but I’m getting bored with these comedies about fringe sports, always from roughly the same pack of guys.  It felt intensely formulaic (honestly, not one surprising thing happens in the entire movie) and too many of the gags were just variations on “figure skating is so fruity haha how can anyone take this seriously”.  Rating: 5

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