Armin Mueller-Stahl delivers a superior accomplishment in Bob Balaban’s “The Last Good In the good old days b simultaneously,” an unusually sardonic, finely observed comedy-drama with an old chain whose destroy changes dramatically as a come to pass of a disastrous contention with a young concubine. Goldwyn faces a tough contest in marketing an bosom, much slow pic that not only lacks customary action or histrionics, but also features three of four characters who are senior citizens.

Mueller-Stahl plays Joseph Kopple, an elegant 70-year-old widower who still clings to the memories of his beautiful wife, whose untimely death also signaled mental dissolution for him.

A retired musician, he’s being hounded by the IRS for failure to pay taxes on his pension. The only grace in his lonely, fastidious life, mostly spent in his walk-up Brooklyn apartment, is nightly violin-playing.

One evening, Joseph witnesses a nasty fight between a young couple upstairs, which ends with Charlotte (Olivia D’Abo) being kicked out of the apartment by b.f. Eddie (Adrian Pasdar).

With all of her belongings thrown out the window, Joseph picks up her lipstick and key, two symbolic items that will later prove crucial. The freezing Charlotte has no place to go, so Joseph takes her in and gradually they develop a strange friendship.

On the surface, pic centers on the bittersweet relationship between two very different individuals. Indeed, the script, co-written by Balaban and McLaughlin, stresses the huge gaps in the characters’ age, education and lifestyle.

But after the first reel, it becomes clear the film’s goal is to challenge our preconceived notions and stereotypes about aging.

Director Balaban succeeds in steering away from sentimental melodrama and from imposing obvious turning points on the central relationship, which grows naturally.

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Leaving aside the crude sitcom humor of a commercial hit like “Grumpy Old Men ,” the filmmakers refuse to judge or pander to any of their characters.

Pic is excellent in chronicling the importance that Joseph attaches to order and routine, particularly his daily visits to a nursing home, where Howard Singer (Lionel Stander), his 89-year-old friend, resides.

Most of the humor is based on the interaction between Joseph and Howard, a dying man who hasn’t lost his sharp tongue or his mental vigor.

The scene where the two men smoke cigars, get drunk and reminisce about sex is as funny as it is touching.

As the film’s emotional center, Mueller-Stahl renders a splendid, lyrical performance — he’s a rare actor who, by projecting inner verve, always serves notice. That D’Abo is less impressive may be a result of her less developed role , as story is told from Joseph’s p.o.v.

What Charlotte brings to Joseph’s dreary existence is well-established, but it’s not always clear how she feels toward him.

A stellar supporting cast includes the irascible Stander and the magnificent Maureen Stapleton, as a chatty neighbor whose friendly gestures are at first rejected by Joseph.

Lenser Claudia Raschke and editor Hughes Winborne imbue the film with an arresting visual style, using uninterrupted long takes and radiant panning to convey the changing physical and emotional space between Joseph and Charlotte.

The filmmakers struggle a bit too hard to end the story on an uplifting note, which undermines the more ambiguous tone, but this doesn’t mar the emotional impact of a quiet, resonant film that is as sparing in words as it is abundant in meanings.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST - THE COMPLETE SERIES, IRON MAN TWO-DISC SPECIAL EDITION and WHEN WE LEFT EARTH -THE NASA MISSIONS

By

PETER BROWN

, Managing Editor

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Published
9/30/2008

We know your straightaway is sweet deficient in. With so diverse movies, television shows, independent films and enthusiastic joints being released on DVD each week, you don’t have time and we don’t beget the energy to con each and every one of them. So, we recite you a nice little round up, each and every week of the best of the best. What you should really be paying attention to and what you should be spending your hard earned loot on. Welcome to “What iF Picks.”


1) SPORTS NIGHT – THE COMPLETE SERIES – 10

^TH

ANNIVERSARY EDITION


© 2008 Shout Factory

Price

: $69.99

What is it

: Considered one-liner of the finest dramas to be put on goggle-box in the done decade this was the first series that Aaron Sorkin (of

WEST WING

and

STUDIO 60

) name undertook and it has his fingerprints all down it. Deep-felt female characters, intense dialogue and drama you can plate a knife with. All surrounding a pseudo-ESPN category network of sports.

Why should you buy it?:

Sorkin fans, addition they make remastered the entire series so all 45 discs are without delay digital transferred with the latest techniques. Profit, check effectively the assets of special features

Extra Special

: Two discs dedicated to extras including new interviews, different behind-the-scenes features, gag reels, deleted scenes and a pointed anniversary book.

2) BEAUTY AND THE SAVAGE – THE COMPLETE SERIES


© 2008 Main Current in Show

Assay

: $90.99

What is it

: It is that time again as the holiday season brings with it accomplished series of DVDs each year. In compensation fans of

BEAUTY AND THE SAVAGE

this is probably what they have been hoping for since their show went off the air.

Why should you buy it?:

The performed collection of their favorite show in one nice packet with all 55 mysterious and romantic (yes, this was pre-eminently a show beside love) with

TERMINATOR’S

Linda Hamilton and

HELLBOY II: THE BLOND ARMY’S

Ron Perlman in the lead roles.

Particularly Special

: Along with some of the handful special features that were included in the imaginative releases at least they perform e tease some effort into this release with love letters, interactive trivia episodic promos and more.

3) IRON MAN TWO-DISC SPECIAL PRINT RUN


© 2008 Paramount Home Entertainment

Price

: $39.99, Blu-ray and regulative.

What is it

: The blockbuster hit of the summer,

IRON CREW

, starring Robert Downey Jr. as billionaire Tony Stark that creates a suit of armor atypical anything man has every seen giving him the talents to fly, let fly lasers, take on missiles in flight and much more.

Why should you buy it?:

Quite unified of the best superhero movies to ever be produced and continues a prerequisites of movies that are winners having to do with funny soft-cover characters. Remember when they all sucked and were done by Roger Corman?

Further Memorable

: The second disc is loaded with extras including a six-part “I am Iron Man” featurette that details the entire history of the talking picture, the stamp and the suit of armor “realities.” “The Indestructible Iron Man” is also a six-on the whole featurette on all of the enemies, friends and those in-between. There are also four additional features and more on the DVD.

4) WHEN WE LEFT EARTH – THE NASA MISSIONS


© 2008 Image Entertainment

Price

: $49.98

What is it

: Examining the American space program from its inception, throughout the rank bed, through prevailing days. With all of the tragedies, triumphs and challenges that made everything that we know today happen.

Why should you buy it?:

Even in principle definition, this set is amazing to look at as they have remastered the old footage and offered up the modish footage using the latest technology for the best doable crisp picture.  

Extra Particular

: Four hours of footage not shown on box, interviews with the party and astronauts and much more.


Also for Your Consideration:


While these may not necessarily be worth buying per asseverate or neck in the genre that we here at iF Magazine tend to review or recommend, these are hot DVDs as well that may be worth at the Dialect right least a rent from Netflix:

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL – THREE DISC COLLECTOR’S

ISSUE

– From the creators of

KNOCKED UP

and

THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN

come another big peripheral exhausted, merry adult misadventure of about a guy who a moment ago can’t break up very easily. Scribbler Judd Apatow and writer-star Jason Segel give us as much offense representing the guys as they do for the women as both sides get it equally as bad. Two discs are included for special features and there is some really great chattels here as the out truly gives the DVD something more than just the dusting that’s amusing.

MY NAME IS EARLY – SEASON THREE

– Karma is a prostitute and Earl proves it every day and night on this production about him and his white trash friends. The fourth season debuts in a wink so here’s a chance to trophy up.

NUMB3RS – THE FINISH FOURTH PEP UP

– The fourth season of the happen CBS show that proves that not no more than is math freaking hard but it is great for solving misdeed. Who knew?

MY THREE SONS – SEASON ONE, BULK ONE

– Another bad move by Paramount to release this model on DVD but contrariwise in a partial season. Hey we love that you are releasing these classic TV shows but buckle it to us all in one batch not make us pay twice as much and consume as much shelf space!

CAN’T HARDLY HANG AROUND – 10 YEAR REUNION ISSUE

– The com

ing of age high school comedy about one-liner dude’s paltry life and his bid to land the hottest chick in school has been out 10 freaking years. Wow, I feel expert. Now it gets a redesigned digital cut, advanced special features and more.

CANNIBAL CONSTERNATION

– Any title that promotes “atrocious acting, unwelcome nudity, sporty comb-overs, and gut-munching maihem on its back garb gets my thumbs up.

REST TERMINAL: DON’T LOOK BACK

– Not often a direct-to-DVD denominate gets a supplement. But that’s exactly the anyway a lest here.

REST STOP

was Warner’s first Raw Feed title and did so favourably they made a sequel.

REST STOP

was good but this one amps up the twist to a whole new level.

ADAM-12 – SEASON TWO

– The men in X are back because another go for everyone and another 26 episodes of action.

Reader Comments

2.

3.

4.

5. It looks alright

6.

7.

8.

9.

10. HOLY$#@*!!
(©) 1999-2009 Electric Entertainment



2

Martha leaves behind her lifestyle in the Coalesced States to about a changed one in London, free from romance and other complications. Until she meets Daniel, that is… and Frank… and Laurence.

Man of letters-director David Auburn’s trauma-theatrics will clanging bells with any parent who has down the drain a child even for a issue of minutes. That feeling of  be terrified is fortunately suggested by Sigourney Weaver’s nightclub troubadour Julia Sandburg when, during a no-nonsense and stressful opportunity sphere, her toddler Maggie disappears from Inner Park. Cut to 16 years later: Julia, under separated and lonely chances upon Kate Bosworth’s unkempt teenage tearaway, Louise, and memories of her daughter come flooding back. When Louise moves in, Julia begins to enjoy life again. Yet she’s convinced there’s more to the youngster than meets the eye…

Essentially about loss, guilt and regret, Auburn’s film also examines Julia’s increasingly invalid obsession with her surrogate daughter, which gives it an air of uneasy tenseness that not in any degree amounts to much. Weaver and Bosworth take under one’s wing decent interaction, but the doubtful ending disappoints.

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Gawping at Peralta’s panting docu-pageants – and gawping seems the requisite mien in the appearance of his moo-slung skater-boy salvo ‘Dogtown and Z-Boys’ or this equivalent salute to the frontiersmen of significant-indicate surfing – you clout be reminded of the late Pecker Shankly’s oft-quoted bon mot at hand football being more important than life and finish. As we see, braving waves of the size Peralta’s heroes do often risks a rumba with the infinite, but the stakes are confederation-breaking rather than earth-shaking: these Californian and Hawaiian founders of mod surfing begat one of the most apolitical of twentieth-century countercultures, a displacement that regressed to the not ring true and left The The human race to the land. When the film’s fervent narrator and off the mark-eyed talking heads avow how the everybody was irrevocably changed by a relay of tanned adrenaline-junkies bobbing in the profusion on balsa-wood, it’s hard to hear the ferment for the froth.

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Whereas, memo the bombast with a fistful of Nautical blue water salt and it doesn’t seem any generous behave that tug-in surf code Laird Hamilton, the film’s final and supreme genius, or kit vendor Quiksilver are credited as its producer and backer, singly; everybody here agrees that making a stand inside the excavate of a 40-foot breaker is as venerable a achievement as a old egg could gain. (As in ‘Dogtown’, girls demonstrate a tendency to be taken as irrelevant.) Peralta’s photograph footage makes that case eloquently; he also frames a potted history of surf fashions enveloping three alluring character fables, from pack leader Greg Noll past solo game plan-finder Jeff Clark to tech-enhanced boy genius Hamilton. It’s all pretty snazzy.

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Capsule reviews for movies released in the U.S. in 2004. Includes all the movies of 2004 I've seen that I did not write a full review for.

Alien Vs. Predator



Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Rating: 2/10

The writers took a premise rife with potential and created perhaps the most boring story possible to accomodate the two sci-fi races. It's a story set in the present (and, thus, outside of the Aliens' natural time element), where human involvement is minimal in its significance and emotional weight, and the confrontation between the Aliens and the Predators is given almost no room for suspense. These guys are supposed to be scary — here, they're just not. Kudos to Sanaa Lathan for playing a character you actually can invest some sympathy in, but everything else is there for gratuitous spectacle. Paul W.S. Anderson directs the movie like it's a clever way to show off how much cool stuff he knows about the two franchises. Ooh, look, the Alien eggs! Ooh, look, the Predator heat vision! Ooh, look, the acid blood! It'd be OK if any of this showed up naturally within the context of the story, but any hopes of that go right out the window when the Alien face-huggers lunge at their victims in

bullet-time-like slow motion

! This movie might work as a time-passing sci-fi flick if you don't really care about the franchises or their possibilities; but to those who do, it's a real missed opportunity.

(added 2/24/2005)

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy




Director: Adam McKay

Rating: 6/10

With the release of this movie, it's becoming apparent that there's a certain group of actors today who are in firm control of successful, broadly appealing American comedy. This group includes Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Owen and Luke Wilson, and Will Ferrell. Their film output is fast and furious, their popularity has held steady, and they never stop cameoing in each other's movies. Such comedians used to be a part of television troupes, like

SCTV

and

Saturday Night Live

; they'd hone their skills in skit work before usually bombing in the movie front. Now, these guys have shown how to achieve film success — by making the box office the barometer, and running with what worked every time one of their movies does well. In their case, character comedies make it happen — they invent characters made to last 90 minutes long instead of stretching a skit character beyond its limits.

Anchorman

is the latest creation, although this particular movie isn't as strong as

Dodgeball

or

Starsky and Hutch

primarily because the satire inherent in these flicks isn't paid as much attention to this time around. As a result,

Anchorman

feels like a string of skits, haphazardly assembled, with more emphasis on the goof than what's behind it. Case in point: if this movie were transplanted from its environment — male-dominated tv newsrooms of the '70's — most of the gags would retain the same chances of succeeding and failing because they aren't particularly related to the topic. The woman's fight against the glass ceiling is less a driving force than it is a joke clothesline. Still, the movie is pretty fun — it has more hits than misses, but that's the best one can say about it.

(added 7/8/2004)

Around the World in 80 Days




Director: Frank Coraci

Rating: 7/10

Ooooo-kaaaayy… Perhaps the most fascinatingly, absurdly bizarre movie I've seen all year. This is essentially one of those '70's Disney family race/chase movies glued together with a Jackie Chan flick, all dressed up in the period and concept of Jules Verne's

Around the World in 80 Days

. One minute you could be cursing its obvious, formulaic approach to the material; the next minute you'll forget what you were thinking, grinning as Jackie Chan goes into another fun-filled, choreographed fight scene. Then, as he wraps it up, you'll go back to thinking, "And what did this have to do with Jules Verne?" How did it end up like this? I'm sure this started out as a promising idea — after all, Chan is a natural to follow in the footsteps of Cantinflas as Passepartout from the Oscar Best Picture-winning 1956 movie. But then it warped into something that didn't necessarily lose its promise as much as it mutated into an all-together unrecognizable, yet somehow diverting, comedy. The only things this new version and the 1956 version have in common are the cameos — here, stars from both sides of the Pacific get in on the act, from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Sammo Hung. The coolest surprise has to be the inclusion of Karen Joy Morris (better known in Hong Kong by her stage name, Karen Mok) as the Chinese villain counterpart to Jim Broadbent's bombastic British baddie. Broadbent and the rest of the cast get to throw out quite a few good lines too, which help to make this trippy, goofy, and nearly senseless concoction one of the more entertaining cases of "What-in-the-heck?" out there.

(added 6/15/2004)

Bad Education




Director: Pedro Almodóvar

Rating: 8/10

The best thing about Pedro Almodóvar movies is how you can never tell where they're going. Take this one, for instance — at first, it seems to be some kind of exposé on Catholic school priests who practice predation on the schoolboys. Before you know it, however, the movie turns into a full-blown gay film noir, with Gael García Bernal as the femme fatale! The Almodóvar trademarks are intact, from the vivid use of color and music, the blurring of gender and transgender roles, and a plot that twists and turns, using the passage of time as just one of the many elements at the mercy of the storyteller instead of it being the other way around. Also characteristic are the playful sense of perversity and the comfortably quick shifts from melodrama to humor and back again. I think, to Almodóvar, life is one long, sad comedy.

Bad Education

bogs down a bit with more exposition than the writer/director usually allows for, but I suppose there's a lot more to explain this time, since the movie features a series of accounts that slowly lead the viewer to the truth. It's another tragicomic tale of human foibles fueling the unstoppable momentum that drives lives forward to the most unpredictable predicaments.

(added 11/18/2004)

Before Sunset




Director: Richard Linklater

Rating: 9/10

Here's a movie no one saw coming: the nine-years-later sequel to 1995's

Before Sunrise

, a movie I saw only recently and liked from a distance. You see, I don't quite get swept up by young romance as easily as I used to, which is why

Before Sunset

is more up my alley. The two young lovers, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), meet again, this time in Paris, for the first time since the promise that ended the first film. What ensues is a catch-up conversation, portrayed in real time from the film's beginning to end, wherein youthful ideals ravaged by reality and age are revealed. It shows that although we inevitably become wiser, feelings, passion, and emotion don't become any easier to figure out; we just get better at corralling them. The movie is deft at exposing the cracks in the psychological foundations we build for ourselves as we approach middle age; we build them out of weariness, really — weariness from having to deal with life — and it sadly makes us defensive. This is what makes

Before Sunset

so good — nothing like an unexpected meeting between two ex-strangers-in-the-night to break open the floodgates, amounting to a mental cleansing for both the characters and the movie's viewers, and, perhaps, a rediscovery of youthful ideals. Linklater's babble-works aren't for everyone, but here, because the words bear weather-beaten scuff marks, they seem more accessible than ever. And, oh yes — the ending to this movie is

perfect

.

(added 7/1/2004)

Being Julia




Director: István Szabó

Rating: 6/10

I really enjoy seeing big, juicy roles being made available for veteran actresses, and the main character in

Being Julia

is as big as they come. Annette Bening takes full advantage of the opportunity, giving a performance that truly earns the description "

tour de force

." Watching her is the main pleasant activity of this movie, which is otherwise a simplified descendant of

All About Eve

. I don't know what it is about theater people, but they're again depicted as constantly acting, whether onstage or off, outwardly charming while finding some subtle way to twist those knives they've got in their associates.

Being Julia

might've been a decent vessel for this wicked spirit, but it's smeared by a very childish ending. I guess I should have seen it coming, but I didn't, and as a result it almost wrecked the movie for me. But there is that Bening performance to savor — hardly do skilled actresses get to show off so much range and depth, and that's quite appreciable.

(added 1/9/2005)

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Beyond the Sea




Director: Kevin Spacey

Rating: 6/10

Ironically, Kevin Spacey's labor of ego doesn't fail due to the ego's unsubstantiation. He really does have talent. Spacey croons all the numbers in

Beyond the Sea

, and not only does he sound good, he dances just fine too. And he knows how to direct a good musical sequence — the "Beyond the Sea" number is one of the most delightful scenes I've seen in the movies this year. Unfortunately, there are just too few like it in the movie itself. The first half relishes its own surreal world, embracing the inherent, lovely absurdity we must all accept when watching a musical. But the second half crashes, diving into draggy biopic territory, complete with protagonist and wife (Kate Bosworth, playing Sandra Dee in a thankless, thin role) fighting and getting on everyone's nerves. By the ending, the movie's narrative structure has been completely abandoned, but we're thankful for the closing number because at least that's entertaining. Meanwhile, oh yes, the movie is about Bobby Darin, but we don't learn a thing about him other than he was arrogant. So, actually, the movie's about Kevin Spacey.

(added 12/17/2004)

The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi




Director: Takeshi Kitano

Rating: 7/10

I'd call

Zatoichi

stylish to the point of distraction, except I'm not sure what I was being distracted from. Make no mistake — the slices of mayhem, the seemingly random acts of flashbacks, and the, yes, dance numbers

are

the show. What's going on? It doesn't really matter. There are numerous parties, each with their own subplot, and they eventually take sides with good or evil, but it all doesn't demand close attention. Hip Japanese artist/personality "Beat" Takeshi's movie is about spontaneity and bursts of kineticism and humor, presented with comic book-like (or, perhaps more appropriately, manga-like) visuals. True to its spontaneous nature, though, the film isn't ever involving for more than a few minutes at a time. The showstopping swordplay lacks suspense because, given the skills of the spotlighted combatants, the conclusions always feel foregone; however, they are flashy in an eye-popping, gut-punching way.

Zatoichi

is cinematic performance art; maybe it's too zany and loose to leave a lasting impression, but it sure is fun while it lasts.

(added 10/28/2004)

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason




Director: Beeban Kidron

Rating: 4/10

I wasn't a fan of the first Bridget Jones movie, an entitlement fantasy if there ever was one. Now the sequel has come out and it's worse — not only does it rehash the original's elements, its story is one of the most unimaginative I've seen. It's a plot for a bad sitcom episode, driven by the protagonist's supposedly charming idiocy, and resolved, once again, by extremely generous forces outside of her influence. As in the first movie, she just falls into things and then somehow arrives at a very happy ending. I think I can see why this kind of storyline might appeal to people who identify with Bridget's everyday concerns, but come on — even folks who spend life feeling sorry for themselves should somehow proactively earn their happily ever afters. What makes the movie bearable is the likeableness of its three stars: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, and the consitently entertaining Hugh Grant, whose character really doesn't have any reason to be there, but I'll take it just because Grant is funny. But these guys really deserve better than a script that does little else besides perpetuate the silly image of Bangkok as the land of prositutes and prisons awaiting unsuspecting tourists. Give me a break.

(added 11/11/2004)

The Butterfly Effect




Directors: Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber

Rating: 6/10


The Butterfly Effect

is an extreme movie, and as a result it walks a super-thin line between horrific believability and hilarious unbelievability. One can admire it for its conviction, which can nudge a viewer into going along with it, but the movie seems to be unaware that the events it portrays work a little too well in nudging the viewer back the other way. Either way, however, you can have fun with it — you can be sickened and involved by the shock horror, or you can laugh deliriously at bad dialogue and dopey scenarios. I had the strange experience of being just involved enough to want to know where it was going, even as I was ticking off the holes in logic — I guess there's just something about time-travel premises that gets me fired up, no matter how goofily they may be executed. My main complaint about the movie is how its overreacting forcefulness seems custom-designed to cater to Ashton Kutcher's youthful, instant-thrill-fed core audience; thoughtful subtlety would have done this story a lot of good. But since the movie is primarily concerned with just punching you in the gut, it's lucky it has an intriguing story to go with it. This combination actually helps make

The Butterfly Effect

more memorable than it deserves to be (either for its tragedy or unintentional comedy) — and that might be the best result it could ever ask for.

(added 8/10/2004)

The Chronicles of Riddick




Director: David Twohy

Rating: 3/10

Let's admit it — every sci-fi geek dreams of creating his or her own

Star Trek

-like universe and sharing it with a few fans. Naturally, few people ever get that chance, but David Twohy got his because of the relative success of his Vin Diesel-powered movie,

Pitch Black

. But just because you want to create a universe doesn't mean you'll be able to present it well, and

The Chronicles of Riddick

,

Pitch Black

's sequel, is a case in point. Most of the movie is ponderous nonsense, with hammy characters babbling on and on about worlds, universes, alien races, and prophecies. It's too much fictional information unfolding too conscientiously, almost none of it prefaced by

Pitch Black

, bursting on to an audience for accelerated consumption, except that the information is spooned out in such a boring way it's more like dribbling on an audience. Vin Diesel mumbles unintelligibly, Thandie Newton vamps amateurishly, and Judi Dench's presence is totally unnecessary. I don't blame Twohy for his efforts, but in the middle of sharing a world, one should make sure the audience doesn't start by asking "What's going on?" and end by asking, "Who cares?"

(added 12/2/2004)

Collateral




Director: Michael Mann

Rating: 9/10

When I can feel the screen crackle with atmosphere — calculated, yet feeling completely natural and organic — that's when I get pumped.

Collateral

may not break any ground as a crime thriller (in fact, its partnering of a manipulated pure-heart and a murderous cold-heart, riding through the streets of L.A., just happened a little while ago in

Training Day

), but Michael Mann turns it into an opportunity to flex his muscles, resulting in another of his usual character studies of male minds and their battle of wills. Tom Cruise is Hollywood solid, but the real surprise here is Jamie Foxx, who gives a smooth, modulated performance which is never betrayed by the comic showmanship we might expect from him. The third star of the movie is nighttime Los Angeles, in all its sprawled-out, points-of-light bespeckled glory. The main characters' journey across freeways, through surface streets, and past buildings is hypnotic and meditative. Its depiction perfectly fits the film's ideas of L.A. as a land of complacent alienation and isolation, its denizens encouraged to insulate themselves with a quiet confidence and sense of independence in the face of the city's vast, distancing space. It's the type of environment Mann has made a specialty of recreating, and the movie is marvelous at showcasing the feel of this solitude, alluringly peaceful yet lonely. In between scenes of driving and tense, pseudo-philosophical conversations between the leads, we're treated to some stimulating suspense sequences. The movie's ending becomes sadly outrageous, but, for the first hour-and-a-half or so, this was cinematic heaven as only Mann could have wrought.

(added 8/10/2004)

Dawn of the Dead




Director: Zack Snyder

Rating: 7/10

Sure enough, this remake of the George Romero classic doesn't have the depth of social commentary of the original; however, in its own right, it's a decent zombie movie, made with a fair amount of thoughtfulness and with more seriousness than its predecessor. It's less reflective of today's version of mindless horde-driven consumerism and perhaps simply more reflective of today's version of horror movie-making. This is isn't your father's

Dawn of the Dead

indeed — no longer conspicuously low-budget, it's slick, polished, and meant to connect with a young mass audience. Well, maybe it's not

that

polished — the movie gets sloppy in places, making some of the action hard to follow and muddling some of its logic (for instance, there's a birthing scene during which someone becomes a zombie and I'm not sure why, and I suspect that the entire scene only exists for what the filmmakers must've thought was a cool horror punchline; in the meantime, it seems wasteful of the characters involved). Some good characters anchor the film, and it's their conflicting sets of motives that make it (and any good horror film peopled with a healthy number of potential victims) engaging. Meanwhile, the running zombies are better utilized in

28 Days Later

, which this movie seems to borrow a lot from, stylistically.

(added 11/6/2004)

The Day After Tomorrow




Director: Roland Emmerich

Rating: 4/10

This is the movie equivalent of trying to get someone to stop smoking by saying, "Don't smoke, or you'll die instantly within 24 hours!" Meanwhile, you turn on a smoke machine to freak the person out. And you really want the smoker to just quit, but you're more interested in how neat the mist looks while it's filling up the room.

The Day After Tomorrow

may have a nice little message about the environment, but because it uses movie science, its message isn't very convincing; meanwhile, don't these tornadoes look cool destroying Los Angeles?! I mean, what was that scene even for, other than to look cool? And don't get me started on the wolves — you have a movie about the threatening weather, and you can still run out of ideas for danger? So you pull out the wolves? About the only thing I found interesting in the movie was its implication that dumb people die and smart people live. The heroes were Academic Decathlon contestants, some book lovers, and a resourceful homeless guy. It's an action movie where muscles can't save a thing; too bad the movie itself isn't as smart as its characters.

(added 12/2/2004)

De-Lovely




Director: Irwin Winkler

Rating: 6/10

This musical biopic about Cole Porter offers a handsome production and a strong performance from Kevin Kline, but they're forced to serve a wobbly theme positing Porter's wife Linda as his true love. This would be love of the non-romantic variety, since Porter was a homosexual and Linda knew it and allowed him leeway for it, but the movie applies too much gloss, trying to fashion a meant-for-each-other story so consciously that its contrivance feels glaring. It wouldn't be too bad, really, if it also didn't contrast their struggling relationship — the one the film wishes to sell as, ultimately, a hard-fought success — with Porter's gay dalliances, seen as having a positive impact on his art but a corrosive impact on his marriage/partnership. It creates a strange vibe, as if to say a gay man's only truly worthy relationship could come from a woman. I know it's not meant to be seen that way, but I think there's danger in its potential to be interpreted as such, particularly when it's presented with only light complexity — here, Porter's sexual indulgences play a collective role as the major source of conflict to an otherwise productive union. Even the wonderful songs they inspire serve as coded messages of discouragement to Linda. Speaking of those songs, the soundtrack and the staged numbers are entirely comprised of Porter's work (many performed by famous hey-look!-it's-[blank]! musical guests). They make the film lively and engaging, especially in the first half; unfortunately, the music takes a back seat in the second half to the biopic standard of watching its subjects grow tragically old and crippled. More frustrating is how the film then goes fully into redemption mode, and while the final shot of the couple is touching, one can't help but catch an unwelcome whiff of ironed-out glamourization. It seems that even behind every great gay man, there stands a woman.

(added 7/1/2004)

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story




Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Rating: 7/10

The ad slogan for the movie's featured evil corporation is, "At Globo-Gym, we're better than you, and you know it!" The movie itself could've easily used the slogan, "We'll make you laugh mindlessly, and you'll know it!" Being supremely aware of every stupid, immoral, uncivil, and just-plain-wrong thing it does makes

Dodgeball

either very smart or just as dopey as it's trying to look. It almost feels like a dare: laugh at this because you know you it's easy to get hooked on an underdog/sports story; laugh at this, even though you know it's wrong to find stereotypes funny; laugh at this, even though we all know this is totally dumb. Viewers are constantly kept aware of all the intentional idiocy by the exaggerated onslaught of genre conventions, and the whole thing is capped off by an object wheeled in during the climax that's literally labeled "Deus Ex Machina," and by a post-credits cherry featuring Ben Stiller commenting on the audience's lowbrow tastes. Although the movie clunks in many places, it has enough comic inspiration to save it, from its lampooning dodgeball as a demeaning sport (thus actually making an honest critique of the origin and existence of this semi-barbaric activity in the process) to Stiller and Vince Vaughn switching roles against-type as the bully and the put-upon protagonist, respectively. They make the most of it when Stiller rattles off circuitous, ineffective threats and Vaughn reacts in squinty-eyed disbelief. I was also reacting to the movie that way, but I was laughing at the same time.

(added 6/17/2004)

The Door in the Floor




Director: Tod Williams

Rating: 6/10

Just ask the

Ordinary People

or the folks

In the Bedroom

– when tragedy befalls your family, its cohesiveness and internal relationships start coming apart in all manners of ugly ways. In

The Door in the Floor

, it's even uglier than usual, as the father (Jeff Bridges) and the mother (Kim Basinger) act out their antagonism towards each other with despicable passive-aggressiveness. Not helping matters is the presence of a newly hired assistant (Jon Foster), whose own interest in the family soon proves to be a destructive force. This is another entry in the fallout-from-grief genre, but it subscribes too readily to the theory that tragedy automatically equals importance. The movie drowns in pretentious symbolism that's meant to intrigue the viewer into believing there's meaning here, and it relies on this self-importance as the main foundation for what amounts to decent (albeit obvious, style-wise) filmmaking about nothing interesting in particular. Sex plays a big role as well, and one wonders if its inclusion is meant to add another metaphoric layer to the tale or to merely titillate audiences into staying awake. Probably both. Having nothing new to say about the grieving process in any sort of readily accessible way, the movie can at least brag about Bridges's performance, who doesn't play the usual sad, badly affected figure found in these stories (that would be Basinger's job). He's actually quite a detestable character, as are the other main players, and this possibly communicates

The Door in the Floor

's most graspable idea: "Bad things do happen to bad people."

(added 11/18/2004)

Finding Neverland




Director: Marc Forster

Rating: 8/10

After sitting through several biopics this year, I expected to politely endure another one, this time about

Peter Pan

creator J.M. Barrie. I was happy to find out

Finding Neverland

is actually more traditional story than life story, a touching little drama about how Barrie's acquaintance with the Llewelyn Davies family inspired him to write his magnum opus. And at only 100 minutes, too! Very economic. With a fanciful illumination of a playwright at its center, the story feels similar to

Shakespeare in Love

, only sadder and more bittersweet. Forster, who previously directed

Monster's Ball

, proves a good fit for another story about finding a way to move forward after facing the losses in life. The fantasy elements, where the imaginary games of Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies kids come to life in intercutting edits, add the necessary light touches for what might otherwise be a pretty downbeat movie. Thanks to that balance, the movie is able to sail through familiar waters rather than sink under the weight of clichés.

(added 11/11/2004)

Friday Night Lights



Director: Peter Berg

Rating: 7/10


Friday Night Lights

starts out rather discouragingly. Director Peter Berg seems to aping Oliver Stone's

Any Given Sunday

, but instead of pro football we're watching high school football, or at least we're trying to, amidst the rapid editing, whip pans and zooms, and an assault of character glimpses. But once it settles down, it does something rather unique, even as it traffics in sports movie clichés. After all the scenes of individual players and their own personal dilemmas, watching the major injury cripple the star, seeing the new rising stars in his place, getting to know the beleaguered coach (Billy Bob Thornton) and the small-town football fanatics for whom nothing else matters; after the games building up to the playoffs, the locker room speeches, the big game itself, what

Friday Night Lights

offers is the perspective that, for the people and young players caught up in this whirlwind, football simultaneously means everything and ultimately nothing. It's at once a glorification of and a rather harsh reality check about school-organized sports, showing there's really nothing beyond the days on the field and the momentary adulation of the home crowds. Is it an anti-football football movie? Not strictly so — the games are presented as exciting, after all, and the viewer is encouraged to root for the featured team — but at least it has the guts to know the place of its vaunted subject.

(added 10/30/2009)

©Jeffrey Chen, 2004

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Division (2006) is a strong feature-completely documentary that, to paraphrase the DVD’s cover, explores New York City’s Asian-American party background during the fall and early winter of 2004-05. Nearly a two-gentleman intelligence agent, it was produced, written, like a flash, and edited by Asian-Americans Steven Hahn and Francis Hsueh, the latter also contributing the film’s primary mark. Filmed on digital video (in 16:9 format) in a cinema verite style, Party step by step zeroes in on a half-dozen or so partygoers and promoters, while Columbia University Professor Gary Okihiro makes cuspidate observations via a periodical revelation and a brief on-camera appearance nigh the end.

Text interspersed throughout the film makes sense of the riot of pounding hip-hop music, bustling bars, and throngs of noisy partygoers negotiating long lines. As the film points out, in New York Chinese go to “Asian” parties, while Koreans go to “Korean” parties, the latter being the film’s primary focus. Caucasians and blacks aren’t welcome at these events (a few non-Asians do turn up manning security or as musical guests, however) though the film isn’t clear whether this policy is merely implicit or actively enforced.

Event promoters with names like SwerveNYC, BaseNYC, and MK Productions (named after the Korean taxi company?) have each staked out territory, with some upstarts promoting “mixed parties,” which apparently cater to mostly Korean night-clubbers but allow other non-Korean Asians (and perhaps some white partygoers) to attend. Such events are held in large mainstream venues and draw upwards of 800-1,000 people, while promoters boast of raking in $50,000 in a single night just from the bar.

What draws so many 20-somethings to these massive events? Partygoers talk (”like, you know,”) about these events as “meat markets,” but add that Asian-American men and newly arrived immigrants (”FOBs,” or “fresh off the boats”) feel more comfortable approaching women in an environment where they’re on an equal footing, that these events provide a “safe place” where everyone else is just like them. To some extent they fulfill the cultural expectations (or requirements) of their parents to date within one’s culture, but Professor Okihiro sees other things at play. Whites in America, he argues, only have to function within their own “majority world,” while most minorities have to straddle both the majority world (working regular jobs outside Koreatown, Chinatown, etc.) and their own inner subculture and its demands.

In the end, Okihiro argues, everyone in the world is essentially homeless — that we create places that give us a sense of ownership (e.g., Korean parties, where only Koreans are allowed) but that this in turn only makes us less open to others, that in searching for our own identity (or as one critic says of these parties, where people “congregate like sheep”) we simultaneously shut ourselves off from the rest of the world.

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(As a white American living in a singularly homogenized Asian country, the last thing in the world I’d want to do is go to a big “whites-only” party. Indeed, every one of my expatriate friends and colleagues I’ve talked to about this is similarly disinclined toward such parties. If that’s typical, why are such parties attractive to Asian minorities in America, but not white minorities living in Asia?)

This sense of ownership takes an unexpected turn near the end of the film when, following the catastrophic December 2004 Asian tsunami, a New York-based hip-hop radio station, Hot 97, aired an awesomely offensive “Tsunami Song” making fun of the tsunami’s 300,000 victims. Hip-hop had long been the music of choice at Korean parties especially, and many felt betrayed by the industry they supported. That their sense of personal offense quickly becomes more important than their empathy for the tsunami victims seems to support the assertions of some interviewees who argue that young Asian-Americans are generally disinterested in anything beyond their immediate inner subculture.

Party is well-made with especially taut editing that maintains a high energy throughout its running time while effectively keeping spatial and inter-personal relationships clear at all times.

When scholars talk encircling the 70s music putsch, their names hardly ever premiere c end up. Everyone references the Ramones and the Lovemaking Pistols, pushing backward to encapsulate the Unexplored York Dolls and The Velvet Underground, and forward to accompany in the Disagreement and the Jam. But forgotten in the face of punk’s do-it-yourself upheaval was the real sonic shift, a move away from guitars and candid power to cold and calculated electronics. These were bands that drew their inspiration not from the resistance fighter rebels of the 50s, or the garage gangs of the 60s. No, these inspired artists bring about their muse in the mechanical mantras of Kraftwerk, and in the upright pop presence of disco’s emerging dance palpitate.

So as London suffered through a post-jubilee filled with anarchy and aggression, Sheffield slowly but surely grew into a Mecca for the new and novel synthesizer experience. Out of a core group of friends and schoolmates came a noise so unique, so unlike what was being peddled on both radio and in the riot clubs that it took a few full years to catch on. But once it did, it set a standard for recorded insurgency that would last for decades to come. Everyone points to Johnny Rotten’s sneer, Sid Viscous’s violent nature, or Joe Strummer’s considered politics as the true essence of the 70s seismic rock and roll mutiny. But it was really the twisting of knobs and the modulating of sound waves that caused the greatest disorder. It was a sound so foreign it could only come from outside the domain of London. Indeed, it was a noise Made in Sheffield.

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Even though its conspicuous lack of congested-tunnel stick may disappoint many category fans, “Darkness Falls” could click with ticket buyers who single out some embargo in their scary stories. It’s an instantly disposable and shamelessly plagiaristic helping of work — assemble it petit guignol, and you won’t be immeasurably off the mark — but inception-time feature helmer Jonathan Liebesman shows a savvy style for atmospheric visuals. Unrestrictive PG-13 rating should entertain for beaucoup teen date biz during pit weekend. Suppose methodical more powerful biz in olden days pic starts to haunt vidstore shelves.

Artfully minimalist intro sets spooky mood with clever commingling of narration, flames and shadow–streaked photos. More than 150 years ago in the New England town of Darkness Falls, a kindly old woman named Matilda Dixon offered gold coins to children who would give her their baby teeth. Naturally, her beneficence earned her the nickname of “Tooth Fairy.” After a terrible conflagration in her home, however, Matilda became a recluse, hiding her fire-scarred face behind a white porcelain mask. And when two local children vanished one evening, the unfortunate widow was wrongly blamed for their disappearance and lynched by an angry mob. With her dying breath, she left a curse on Darkness Falls.

Liebesman smoothly segues from exposition to suspenseful prologue, as young Kyle Walsh (Joshua Anderson) learns the hard way that local legends about a murderous Tooth Fairy are all too true. The terrified youngster watches helplessly as Matilda, swooping down from the darkness like a mammoth bird of prey, pounces upon his mother. Unfortunately, the cops don’t believe in ghosts — despite a long history of unsolved child murders in the area — so Kyle is blamed for his mom’s demise.

Twelve years later, pic intros grownup Kyle (Chaney Kley) as a skittish paranoid who barely keeps himself together with strong medication. Mindful that Matilda will never venture out except in darkness, and can in fact be repelled with any kind of illumination, he keeps his Las Vegas apartment stocked with dozens of flashlights, hundreds of batteries and scores of emergency backup lamps. (Pic does nothing with provocative idea that the neon-lit, 24/7 razzle-dazzle of Vegas would be a godsend for someone afraid of the dark.)

But Kyle must return to the scene of the crime when Caitlin (Emma Caulfield), his childhood sweetheart, tells him that Michael (Lee Cormie), her 9-year-old brother, is having the same sort of nightmares Kyle used to have: Specifically, nightmares about a wraith-like figure in a white mask that hovers over his bed. Not surprisingly, Michael is afraid of the dark. Trouble is, the doctors treating him fail to realize his fears are justified.

Working from a script by James Vanderbilt, Joe Harris and producer John Fasano, Liebesman does a reasonably efficient job of maintaining a brisk pace — the movie is scarcely 75 minutes long, plus 10 minutes of extended credits — while hitting all the predictable plot points and scoring a few cheap scares. Few cliches are left unturned — chase sequences through dark corridors of an oddly underpopulated hospital appear to be lifted from “Halloween II” and dozens of similar pics — and, yes, quite a few prove effective in this context.

Overall, though, “Darkness Falls” is creepiest when it relies on the power of suggestion to thrill and chill. Liebesman wisely refrains from giving aud a clear view of the Tooth Fairy until the very end, preferring to offer only fleeting glimpses of the vengeful phantasm as it stalks anyone who makes the mistake of looking at it. Best scene is a frantic police station shootout involving an initially incredulous deputy (Sullivan Stapleton) who becomes a believer in wide-awake nightmares.

In his first major film role, Kley scores strong impact with sympathetic portrayal of profoundly spooked-out Kyle, while moppet thesp Cormie is credibly terrified. Pay close attention to Cormie and a few other supporting players, however, and you’ll note tell-tale vocal clues that pic was shot in Australia — with largely Aussie cast — and not in New England.

Cinematographer Dan Laustsen and production designer George Liddle greatly enhance the overall mood of dread. Finale in long-abandoned lighthouse is somewhat muddled by hysterical quick-cutting, but climactic f/x extravaganza — including an aptly grisly Tooth Fairy designed and created by Stan Winston Studio — is mildly impressive. Ironic coda represents admirable attempt to tweak genre conventions, but falls flat.