Murderball
(5 stars out of five)
--There's an old quote from the director Luis Bunuel, in which he says that "The thing that would make me angriest about dying, would be that I would be unable to read tomorrow's newspaper." That's the kind of sentiment that runs throughout this amazing, amazing film. If a man is able to communicate, create, and live his life, then why on earth would he not want to read tomorrow's newspaper?
This is an incredible motion picture. Everything seems to click, everything adds up, and we are treated to one of the best examinations of people overcoming physical and emotional challenges that I've ever seen. My original review of this was just accidentally erased, but I guess this is the sort of film that deserves a shorter review anyway. This is a movie that needs to be discovered and experienced. Highly, highly recommended.
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Sundance Film Festival.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin
(4 stars out of five)
--I've waited a long, long time... and finally, it's happened: Judd Apatow has made his feature-film directing debut. Apatow's television directing goes back to The Larry Sanders Show, and he was one of the main creative forces behind Freaks and Geeks (along with, of course, the show's creator, Paul Feig). The result? Exactly the kind of movie I was hoping Apatow would turn out.
For all its vulgarity and raunchiness, the movie is actually very bold in its message that it gives in the end: At first, the main character's virginity is the butt of the joke, but eventually, the fact that he's a virgin makes him the best person of the bunch, so to speak. Because he hasn't had his emotional outlook clouded by sex, he's able to see much more clearly when Ms. Right does come along. This is a movie that starts out being just what you think it is, and then sneaks in some amazingly insightful things about the overemphasis of sex in relationships and about the lack of emotion in today's intimacy. Oh, but don't worry - it's still pretty damn funny. There's hardly a minute that goes by in which you're not chuckling at something. An exceptional group of actors - perfectly cast, by the way (including Freaks and Geeks' Seth Rogen(!) and Oscar-nominee Catherine Keener) - also helps quite a bit. Sure, some jokes fall flat, but not to the extent of Wedding Crashers.
People might notice that I've given this movie the same rating as Wedding Crashers... So which one is better? Well, they really are (despite what you might read) two quite different movies. I definitely laughed harder during Wedding Crashers, but the actual better movie of the two is this one. The other film relies on the stars' chemistry and a breakneck pace to propel the movie through its rough spots, and most of the laughs come from that aforementioned chemistry and some of the wacky situations that take place. In this one, most of the laughs come from the dialogue, rather than the situations the characters are in. The best way to explain it is, while both movies are quite funny, Wedding Crashers goes the route of piling on joke after joke, throwing them relentlessly at the audience, hoping that most of them will connect... which they fortunately do. The 40-Year-Old Virgin takes its time with its jokes, weaves them more cohesively into the storyline, and is overall a highly fine-tuned film, with every little beat and pause worked out to be just long enough. I encourage everyone to read this article, which is a great little examination of the test-screening process that the film went through. While I'm not usually a huge fun of this, it's obvious that Apatow's close examination of the movie, and the subsequent fine-tuning of the film using that information, really paid off.
A fine feature debut by Apatow. Hopefully we see much, much more from him. (Oh, and just one more thing: Freaks and Geeks fans should keep their eyes open for several cameos from regulars on that show).


Red-Eye
(3 stars out of five)
-- Wes Craven's best film since the original Scream has movie clichés galore, an overlong feeling despite being only 85 minutes, and characters that are paper-thin, but still manages to create a considerable amount of suspense. The opening 10 minutes or so feel awkwardly pedestrian, as if Craven was out to lunch during the shooting of it. Everything feels nice and tense, though, once the plot thickens. Craven usually fares best with big set pieces, but here he proves he can do just as well with mining suspense out of dialogue and chemistry (the biggest jump in the movie occurs during one of these scenes, and it's brilliant). He does get the chance to do a couple of the aforementioned setpieces, however, and he does his usual stellar job with them. It sort of rambles in the beginning, and the ending is nothing new, but this film succeeds in what it tries to do - nothing more, nothing less.

Broken Flowers
(5 stars out of five)
--A pitch-perfect examination of loneliness, which also happens to be really funny and really touching all at once. Bill Murray gives a great, quiet performance...possibly his best yet. Jim Jarmusch's direction creates a slow and rhythmic pace that quickly becomes almost hypnotic. You really feel as though you've taken a journey with this character by the end, and that's a rare thing for a film. Winner of the Grand Prix (second place) at the Cannes Film Festival.

Reviews

6 new reviews, with star ratings and "summary"-like reviews

Four Brothers
(3 ½ stars out of five)
--Solid action picture. Arguably Singleton's best film since Boyz N The Hood (which isn't really saying much - Shaft and 2 Fast 2 Furious come to mind). There's some genuine suspense to be had here, and the action scenes actually feel fresh and exhilarating.


Wedding Crashers
(4 stars out of five)
--Funny As Hell: Lively direction, a genuinely funny script, Vaughn and Wilson in top form, and (thankfully) jokes that hit more than they miss. The opening sequence (at least 15 minutes long, set to the song "Shout" and taking place at dozens of wedding receptions) is especially well crafted and features exceptional editing. Raw and risqué, but it has its heart in the right place. It's a good half hour too long, and more jokes fall flat than they should, but it coasts along on its cast and the chemistry between the two stars. One great choice was to have Rolfe Kent (Sideways) compose the music. The funniest film of the year, and one of the funniest of the last few years.


Batman Begins
(4 stars out of five)
--Director Christopher Nolan (Memento) brings a fresh spin to the long-dormant Batman series. For the first time, we actually begin to discover who the title character actually is. The picture is helped immensely by the superb supporting cast (Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman). The first three-quarters or so of the film is great, as it deals with Bruce Wayne becoming you-know-who. Ironically, as soon as he's actually suited up and fighting the enemy, the film goes downhill and becomes the same old story.


50 First Dates
(3 stars out of five)
--Not the typical Adam Sandler movie. He's (thankfully) still in Punch-Drunk Love mode for this, and his character comes off as extremely likeable because of it. It's a strange picture: too low-brow for the very people who may actually get some enjoyment from it, and, for the other audience, definitely not a laugh-out loud Adam Sandler picture. As it is, it's a semi-dramatic film with distracting instances of low-brow humor that feel out of place.


Hustle & Flow
(1 ½ stars out of five)
--Something I thought I would really enjoy... Starts out well enough, but soon becomes cliché-ridden and utterly uninspired. The cop-out of an ending doesn't help, either.


Me and You and Everyone We Know
(2 stars out of five)
--Another disappointment... The trailer looks amazing, especially the first half of it. The film has won a slew of festival awards, including a special award for "Originality of Vision" at the Sundance Film Festival. The film sure is original... there's nothing quite like it out there. And it contains one of the funniest scenes you'll probably ever see involving a child and a computer. But it feels much too often like the film is just being weird to be weird, for the hell of it. It also doesn't help that writer/director/actor Miranda July isn't that great of an actress. But for some reason I keep thinking of it, weeks after I've seen it... I'm almost tempted to give it three stars, but I guess I'll see how it goes after a second viewing.

Jim --
Here's an article I thought you'd be interested in... it's about Jim Jarmusch (with some Tom Waits comments thrown in here and there)....

"The Last of the Indies"

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