No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
(5 stars out of five)
--An incredible examination of the legendary singer. Martin Scorsese crafts an exhilarating 3 ½ hour film from hours of never-before-seen footage and interviews, and succeeds in doing the seemingly impossible: to present the sometimes-reclusive Dylan as honestly and truthfully as possible, while also placing the man, and his impact upon the world, within the context of his era. The film ends abruptly, but Scorsese was only given license (and the footage) to tell the story up until 1966, so hopefully someday we will get another film that chronicles more of his life.

Corpse Bride
(3 ½ stars out of five)
--I'll readily admit that these sort of films are not usually my cup of tea (animated films with musical numbers), but this is one of the better of the bunch. Of course everyone remembers The Nightmare Before Christmas, the other Tim Burton stop-motion animated feature, but the thing that separates this film from that one is the sheer beauty of the animation. It is, without a doubt, a magnificent looking film - the best stop-motion animation ever done. Burton has created a beautiful Gothic world here, and the story is actually quite poetic, recalling the touching, almost mythic quality of Edward Scissorhands. In my opinion, however, the film is held back by the goofy musical numbers that really feel out of place with the rest of the picture. You have Burton's darkly funny sense of humor (eyeballs hanging out of sockets, limbs falling off, talking maggots) contrasted against the overly-cute, Disney-like musical numbers. It's something that didn't work for The Nightmare Before Christmas, and it certainly doesn't work here. I understand why they're there, of course; this is animation, and so it has to be marketed as a kid's movie. I would have much preferred that Burton return to the days when being dark and twisted meant pushing the limits.

November
(4 stars out of five)
--I still don't quite understand what was going on in this movie, but that's a feeling that I really don't mind having, and in the case of this movie, it's a completely satisfying one. It only lasts 73 minutes, but it feels longer, because it moves in a steady, unhurried pace. It feels just long enough, and it's a rare case in which I feel that an extremely short running time was justified.
The movie is confusing as hell, but it's also bold in how confusing it actually allows itself to be. The audience is literally lost as to what's going on until the last few minutes, and even then it's unclear as to what is actually going on - in a literal sense, at least. Philosophically, we are given many clues, and we are actually left with several different possibilities for us to consider at the end. I'm being purposely vague here; if I described anything beyond the basic opening plot, it would give away everything. To tell you the truth, I don't really know if I even could explain it to you... Needless to say, it's deftly executed, well acted, and is sure to leave you with a hell of a brain teaser long after you've seen it.

Saraband
(5 stars out of five)
--An enormously affecting film. The fact that this is also Ingmar Bergman's final film makes it all the more emotional. Bergman, now 87 years old, flirted with the idea of retirement back in 1982, when, with the release of Fanny and Alexander, he declared it would be his last film. Now, over two decades later, Bergman has finally given us his last film. It is a startling achievement. Bergman examines - as he has in his past films - life, death, and love. But Bergman's last opus focuses on something that hasn't always been examined in his films: himself. This is a film about the ties between parents and children, the process of aging, and the terrible feeling of long lost love. Bergman dedicates the film to his wife, who died years ago: The film opens with a simple "To Ingrid", and the title card. Simplicity is something that's always been a part of Bergman's work, a sort of deceptive simplicity. I kept thinking, as I watched the film, as I watched this great filmmaker's final film... what would be the last shot? What would be the last image he would choose...the last shot that he would ever commit to film? It seems fitting that the last image Bergman would choose to film would be of a face, in close-up, looking into the camera. It is that almost oblique thing, the human face, that Bergman has devoted his life to studying, in close-up, in his attempt to go beyond it into something more beautiful, complex, and truthful than mere words could ever express. He is the world's greatest living director, and this is a beautiful swan song...

Lord of War
(4 stars out of five)
--Right from the opening sequence of this film (an inspired montage, following a single bullet as it is created, packaged, sold, and finally, shot into the head of a young man -- all set to Buffalo Springfield's classic anti-war song "For What It's Worth"), you know it means business. It does not shy away from its opinions and messages. I assure you: don't be scared away by the awful trailers for the film... the marketing people obviously had no idea how to market this movie, and as a last-ditch effort, made it appear to be an action film. It couldn't be more the opposite. It leaves hardly anyone unscathed in its open disgust of war and violence: entire countries are taken to task, and a nicely-written text at the end of the film informs the viewer that the biggest weapons dealers in the world are also the permanent members of the UN... the film is saying, in so many words, that the U.S. and other countries are no different than the despicable arms dealer that Nicolas Cage plays in the film. The movie's message is quite dark, but true: things go round and round, people will die, the soldiers will get younger, and as long as money is involved, nothing will change. It's quite unsettling, but the film has a sense of humor that keeps things going. Andrew Niccol (writer of The Truman Show) writes and directs the film with wit and intelligence, and the cast is first-rate. It's one of those films where the message of the picture - and how clearly and effectively the filmmakers get that message across - is almost more important than the film itself. We don't always get the feeling that the movie has a firm hold on its story, but the message of the film comes across as clear as day... with startling effect.

Junebug
(4 stars out of five)
--For the first hour of this film, we are watching one of the best films of the year. Clear, memorable characterizations, great dialogue, sure-footed direction... we feel like we are in the hands of great storytellers. Then, about 3/4 of the way through, the film loses its momentum, and stops almost completely in its tracks. It feels like a totally different movie. It's a big misstep, but what came before it is so good, it can almost be forgiven. The actors are uniformly great, but Amy Adams particularly stands out in her wide-eyed, energetic performance which practically steals the show. In fact, the biggest reason why the last fourth of the film suffers is because she's offscreen. It may not be apparent at first, but a big reason for Junebug's success is Adams.
Overall, a promising first feature for director Phil Morrison. Winner of a Special Jury Prize for Acting (Amy Adams) at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Mysterious Skin
(3 stars out of five)
--A frustratingly inconsistent film. Starts out beautifully, but something doesn't feel quite right, and it's apparent early on that director Gregg Araki (The Doom Generation), in his first "serious" film, doesn't have the emotional maturity as a director to pull it off. The best thing about the picture is the acting: Joseph Gordon-Levitt tackles the material head-on, completely becoming his character in every word and mannerism. Just as good is newcomer Brady Corbet, who plays the second lead character. These actors have great moments to shine in the film, but ultimately the movie just feels muddled and unsure of itself. It hits home the graphic points with great power, but Araki isn't quite sure yet how to handle the more fragile, quietly emotional sequences. They feel hamfisted, and, at their worst, cartoony. I thought it was a long shot, but I was hopeful that Araki might be able to turn himself around with the great material he was given. Oh well... It's still a must-see, just for Gordon-Levitt's performance.

Grizzly Man
(4 ½ stars out of five)
--A constantly entertaining and intriguing film. Filmmaker Werner Herzog uses found footage to tell the story of Timothy Treadwell, a man who lived among the bears in Alaska for many years, only to be killed by one of them in 2003. What's amazing about the film is how many beautifully sad moments Treadwell was able to capture over the years: a bumble bee, dead on a flower, somehow died as it was doing its work; a baby bear, killed and eaten by his mother, because a summer drought has stopped the salmon run... Through all of this, Treadwell is openly and honestly emotional at what he is seeing: mourning the death of a young fox killed by wolves, or calling upon whatever God may be up there to make a heavy rain so the bears will stop eating their young. It's also amazing to see Treadwell at work: he's making a film, and so he does multiple takes of some scenes, and we see the contrast between who he is in his film and who he is in reality. Although some of Herzog's interview scenes seem suspiciously staged and scripted, the Treadwell footage is what makes this film what it is, and he is able to make us understand, even in some small way, why this man would live the way he did. Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Song of the moment:
Against Me - "Sink, Florida, Sink" (MP3, 3 MB)

The Exorcism of Emily Rose
(1 star out of five)
--Terrible, terrible movie... A film that tries to mix two wildly different genres (courtroom drama, horror film) and ends up with painfully unsuccessful results. The people who came to the film expecting horror will instead find themselves watching a human drama, and the people who came to see this drama will find its impact shattered by way too many unnecessary "scare" scenes. Fine actors like Tom Wilkinson and Laura Linney should know better.

Song of the moment:
Against Me - "Cavalier Eternal" (MP3, 3 MB)

(Big thanks go to Mike for introducing me to this band...)

The Constant Gardener
(4 stars out of five)
--A strange bird, this one is... Of its 130 minute runtime, the first hour or so is almost completely just a setup for the last hour. Strangely, even though this first hour lags at times, becoming repetitive and even bordering on boring, the movie still manages to create a startling impact in the last half. Patient audiences may end up being very happy they stuck with it. The violent aspects of the story are not shied away from, and this can almost definitely be attributed to the brutal force of Fernando Meirelles' (City of God) direction. One of those films you admire more than enjoy.

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"

(Requires registration at www.nytimes.com to view, but registration is FREE)

Some movie talk on Loveline

Director John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood) talks about film school, early influences, favorite films, and filmmaking in general.
Listen (MP3, 1.8 MB)

Adam talks about Boogie Nights, and about how he knew Paul Thomas Anderson when they were both kids growing up in the San Fernando Valley.
Listen (MP3, 1.2 MB)

Recruited another person for Songs For Silverman -- we start shooting material on Saturday...

A sad bit of news today:
Apparently the major film studios are very close to making their final push to replace film projectors with digital projectors - in as many theaters as they can. For film purists, this is a sad moment. We may be heading towards the point of being totally digital in 10 years or less...
Here's a brief video of P.T. Anderson giving his opinions on the matter:
(Click the picture to view)
(2.3 MB, Requires the Divx codec)