August 2013

August 2013

L'argent (Bresson, 1983)|||||8
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Witt, 2004)|||||3.5
New York, New York (Scorsese, 1977)|||||6
Scorsese in hit-and-miss pastiche-mode, a la Shutter Island.  But a driving investigation of gender roles, particularly in relationship to the 50s musicals it homages and the reiterated A Star is Born tale of a marriage dissoluble by independent success.  Needless to say, this 70s update shines in its modern reappraisal: a modern acceptance of the idea of separation, and the realness of our characters' divergent sensibilities and love regardless.  Also, clearly a juxtaposing stab at Casavettes, which Scorsese might be on record for stating as an intention.
Out of Sight (Soderbergh, 1998)|||||6.5
Senso (Visconti, 1954)|||||7.5
Take Shelter (Nichols, 2011)|||||4.5
King of New York (Ferrara, 1990)|||||7
Ratcatcher (Ramsey, 2001)|||||6.5
* Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pasolini, 1975)|||||6.5
Pickpocket (Bresson, 1959)|||||8
The Decline of the American Empire (Arcand, 1986)|||||8
L'enfance neu (Pialat, 1968)|||||7.5
Casualties of War (De Palma, 1989)|||||7.5
Wreck-It Ralph (Moore, 2012)|||||4.5
The Revenge of Frankenstein (Fisher, 1958)|||||5.5
Marketa Lazarová (Vláčil, 1967)|||||6.5
Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (Burr, 1990)|||||3.5
Sweet Smell of Success (Mackendrick, 1957)|||||6.5
Pandora's Box (Pabst, 1929)|||||8
La Pointe Courte (Varda, 1957)|||||8
Pacific Rim (Del Toro, 2013)|||||5
It'd be easy to condemn this picture for having no sense of atmosphere or build-up whatsoever, but things pick up slowly but surely until the film reaches awesome-levels.  It's actually the film's Hawksian portrait of workmen-heroes and sense of values (the film is really somewhat Only Angels Have Wings) that sustains our interest in the increasingly convoluted, inane story. Also, effective communications on trauma and coping.
Damsels in Distress (Stillman, 2011)|||||6.5
Adorable and teetering on inapplicable to real life, but nevertheless a high degree of intelligence.  
Dark Skies (Stewart, 2013)|||||4
A good yarn, it's deserving of that much acclaim in a time of weak American studio horror films.
Uncle Sam (Lustig, 1996) (V)|||||4.5
Manufraktur (Tscherkassky, 1985) (short)|||||+
Outer Space (Tscherkassky, 1999) (short)|||||++
* Lincoln (Spielberg, 2012)|||||6.5
"Liberality all around."  And lots of ruminating.  A good Lincoln film.
Young Mr. Lincoln (Ford, 1930)|||||6.5
Body Double (De Palma, 1984)|||||5.5
Amiable "meta" thriller - loved by De Palma acolytes - all about not holding a high nose over kink and perversion, placing XXX actors as the heroes and real shakers of the Hollywood world, but also casting a wide net of gratitude to all actors, who, through the indignities endured, come out above us all. But I must miss out on this love train - it's pure story, I constantly kept wishing the film would just pause on the plot and meditate a little more, and its central male validation story is the definition of short-term narrative reward.
Goodbye Charlie (Minnelli, 1964)|||||6
Van Gogh (Pialat, 1991)|||||7
Explorers (Dante, 1985)|||||6