Flipside Movie Emporium

[Monkeypox]

I agree with you on both Wedding Crashers and Hustle and Flow.

Other than the dynamic exchanges between characters, the familiarity and intimacy that Vaughn and Wilson are able to achieve, there is also something to be said for the recognition that Vaughn is worthy and capable of having a successful relationship under his current framework. It's pretty refreshing to find in the genre. The ability to make him something MORE than just the one-dimensional funny sidekick buddy was outstanding, and a credit to those involved.

Despite some second-half slowdown, I found Wedding Crashers far more enjoyable than I anticipated.

As for Will Ferrell, I believe that the moment of his appearance was the gag, and that there wasn't much gas left in the tank when it came down to it. I would agree that someone with more subtlety would have better fit with the tone of the film. So I'll give half the fault to Ferrell for mailing it in, but, because I truly believe him capable of subtlety, the director will have to own the other half.

Hustle and Flow did very little for me.
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Rattlesnake's Texas Cobra, you sonofabitch!

[Danny Baldwin]

I can't say I agree on Wedding Crashers.

Rather than being able to enjoy and admire Vaughn and Wilson in the roles, I felt bad for them, given my distate for the material. I much preferred the rather conventional thread between Wilson and Rachel McAdamds to the comedy, which only exists because the two can really work with anything.
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Danny Baldwin

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[Jim Harper]

[the night watchman]

It'll be interesting to compare it to the original. You're right, the US Dark Water isn't "scary" at all, at least not on a traditional horror movie level, but I think there's a sense of dread and paranoia (namely, the perceived malignity of the ex-husband and the teenagers) that permiates the film that I responded to and appreciated. Also, the first scene inside the flooded upstairs apartment is wonderfully surreal. I also loved Tim Roth's performance as the helpful lawyer (an uncommon character type in American movies, to be sure). I didn't even recognize him until my friend named him after the movie was over. The guy is seriously versitile.
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"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[beltmann]

[beltmann]

Divine Intervention / Elia Suleiman / Palestine / 2002

There is no narrative, only isolated vignettes that express how the absence of official Palestinian society breeds frustration and animosity along the Palestine-Israel border. What?s amazing, though, is that Suleiman makes his discouraged points using comedy?this is a collection of laugh-out-loud sight gags, all told in the stone-faced, deadpan style of Jacques Tati or Buster Keaton. That?s mighty fine company, but Suleiman?s exacting, often brilliant tableaus invite such comparisons. (His timing is also impeccable, relying on long silences only to deliver bam-pow punchlines.) The movie grows increasingly surreal?before long, Israeli sharpshooters are practicing as if they were a chorus line, and a Palestinian angel wears a halo of bullets?but it never stops feeling like a passive-aggressive daydream about peace and resentment.

Eric
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

[matt header]

Kontroll (Antal, 2005) B

The Silence (Bergman, 1963) B

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Burton, 2005) C-

Glitter (Hall, 2001) C-

March of the Penguins (Jacquet, 2005) B-

Saving Face (Wu, 2005) B-



Kontroll is stylish, enjoyable, and intermittently original, but it is also extremely self-conscious: every action gag, every wacky joke, every absurdity, seems too planned-out and culled together from everything from Tarantino to Kafka.

The Silence is uniformly good for a Bergman film, but I think it has a little less to offer than some of his other masterpieces, especially Persona and Cries and Whispers, which remain my favorites of his.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is admirably weird and continues Burton's recurring theme of tarnished fatherhood, but its comedy usually falls flat, although not as flat as the dreadful musical numbers. After about ten minutes all of this quirkiness seems vapid; even Depp's performance is bizarre for the sake of being bizarre, although I suppose you could say something about his hyperactive goofiness reflecting a grown man stuck in adolescent limbo.

Glitter sucks, but man is it enjoyable. Best line:

"Is she black? Is she white? We don't know, she's exotic. I want to see more of her breasts."
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"I don't like talking to people I know, but strangers I have no problem with." -- Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

[the night watchman]

[Danny Baldwin]

[Danny Baldwin]

[matt header]

[Graecyn]

I've seen this weeeeek...

1. Nine Songs

2. Sin City

3. Batman Begins

4. The Terminal

5. House of 1,000 Corpses

6. Beauty Shop

[beltmann]

7/25 ? 7/31

Features in preferential order:

Divine Intervention (Suleiman, Palestine 2004)

Laura (Preminger, USA 2004)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Burton, USA 2005)

In Good Company (Weitz, USA 2004)

Red Lights (Kahn, France 2004)

London After Midnight (Browning, USA 1927)

Team America: World Police (Parker, USA 2004)

The Island (Bay, USA 2005)

Hitch (Tennant, USA 2005)

Gunner Palace (Epperlein and Tucker, USA 2005)

Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai, Taiwan 2003)

Fists of Fury / The Big Boss (Lo, Hong Kong 1971)

Catwoman (Pitof, USA 2004)

Every Which Way But Loose (Fargo, USA 1978)

Last Tiger From Canton / Master With Cracked Fingers (Chu, Hong Kong 1971)

Ghosts on the Loose (Beaudine, USA 1943)

Shorts in chronological order:

Pathe Review: Monsters of the Past (None credited, USA 1923)

The Skywalk Is Gone (Tsai, Taiwan 2003)

L'Ecole des facteurs (Tati, France 1947)

Along with Enter the Dragon, The Big Boss is one of Bruce Lee?s best. It is also known as Fists of Fury and was almost re-titled The Chinese Connection, but should not be confused with Lee's Fist of Fury, which was re-titled The Chinese Connection. Got it?

Both Team America and Gunner Palace are like pianists hammering the same note over and over again, and neither one has a particularly pertinent point-of-view.

Outside of the tacky musical numbers, the malicious whimsy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory entirely worked for me?I think it?s easily Burton?s best, most imaginative movie since Ed Wood, and an improvement upon the 1971 version. Opinion seems divided regarding Depp?s performance, and I side with the cheerleaders. (Those that argue Depp is creepily reminiscent of Michael Jackson probably spend far too much time watching Entertainment Tonight. It never even occurred to me until I read Ebert?s review afterwards. And I still don?t buy it.)

Is Tsai Ming-Liang the most overrated director in Asia? Goodbye, Dragon Inn is another molasses movie brimming with banalities.

Despite the trailer's promise of thoughtful sci-fi, it's much more profitable to view The Island as an adolescent actioner?which is unfortunate because it's rather likable until it becomes yet another Michael Bay movie about smashing stuff. That said, it's probably the best movie Michael Bay has made, and surprisingly conservative in its politics. (Sidebar: Between Matrix Reloaded, Bad Boys II, and now this, I've had my fill of massive action blowouts set on speeding highways. Wouldn't that truck driver notice that his entire load was being systematically released, and that every vehicle on the road was being flipped over? It's easy to forgive such incredulities in adolescent action flicks, but this driver must have been really distracted. Maybe he was listening to Rush Limbaugh on the radio.)

Eric
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

[matt header]

[Danny Baldwin]