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• October, 2008

• Fight Club (1999) 4.5/5

  2008-10-14 09:33

  

  What does it say about me that this is one of my favorite films of all time? Wickedly funny, visually sophisticated, and altogether a ton of fun.

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• Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion (2002) 4/5

  2008-10-09 14:36

  

  Part political thriller, part National Geographic travelogue, Tom Peosay's documentary is a distressing look at China's 50-year repression of the people of Tibet.

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• Môme, La (2007) 4/5

  2008-10-08 20:57

  

  It is difficult to overstate the necessary calibre of a woman who was raised in a filthy whorehouse, sung and slept on the street, travelled with the circus, lost her child at 20, went blind for a time, was wrongly accused of murder, struggled with a drug addiction and lost other loved ones by the bucketload in her life, and still got up on stage at the end of her life to sing "Je ne regrette rien". La Môme documents each stage of Edith Piaf's life with creative direction and an intense performance by its lead actress, Martion Cotillard.

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• Constantine's Sword (2007) 4.5/5

  2008-10-08 13:28

  

  A fascinating history of how the emperor Constantine created the christian cross as a repudiation of the Jews and and standard of war, as well as the anti-Semitic uses it has been put to constantly since that time. I had never considered the history of the cross, much less guessed that it was supposedly a proof of the Jewish guilt in the execution of Jesus.

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• Ikiru (1952) 3.5/5

  2008-10-08 11:53

  

  Kanji Watanabe is a longtime bureaucrat in a city office who, along with the rest of the office, spends his entire working life doing nothing. He learns he is dying of cancer and wants to find some meaning in his life. He finds himself unable to talk with his family, and spends a night on the town with a novelist, but that leaves him unfulfilled. He next spends time with a young woman from his office, but finally decides he can make a difference through his job... After Watanabe's death, co-workers at his funeral discuss his behavior over the last several months and debate why he suddenly became assertive in his job to promote a city park, and resolve to be more like Watanabe.

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• A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (2006) 4/5

  2008-10-08 11:53

  

  Supported by a powerful mix of archival footage, NASA shots of burning oil fields, and, often unintentionally hilarious, historical film excerpts, OilCrash guides us on an exotic, visual journey from Houston to Caracas, the Lake of Maracaibo, the Orinoco delta, Central Asia's secretive republic of Azerbaijan with its ancient capital Baku and the Caspian Sea, via London & Zürich. OilCrash visits cities around the world to learn of our future from such leading authorities as oil investment banker Matthew Simmons, former OPEC chairman Fadhil Chalabhi, Caltech's head of physics, Professor David Goodstein, Stanford University political scientist, Terry Lynn Karl, peak oil expert, Matthew Savinar and many more.

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• Katt Williams: The Pimp Chronicles Pt. 1... 4/5

  2008-10-08 11:46

  

  The man is funny. Funnier than you. Funnier than your favorite comic, unless your favorite comic is George Carlin, Lenny Bruce or Richard Pryor. He's that good.

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• September, 2008

• The Rape of Europa (2006) 2.5/5

  2008-09-29 11:42

  

  This film falls victim to the same problem that every film about the second World War does - the broad outlines can be set out in about 45 minutes, no matter what angle you look at it from. The details, even only the most heart-rending and interesting, would take hundreds of hours of film to convey. Too long to be a wide introduction, and too scattered and too short to be successful as anything else.

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• Stone Reader (2002) 4/5

  2008-09-29 09:22

  

  An obsessive book fan tracks down the obsessive author of the book he is obsessed by and discovers a kindred spirit. In this labor-of-love documentary, director-writer-producer Mark Moskowitz tackles a project he had been wanting to pursue since he was 18 years old. In 1972 he read a New York Times book review of THE STONES OF SUMMER by Dow Mossman, a... In this labor-of-love documentary, director-writer-producer Mark Moskowitz tackles a project he had been wanting to pursue since he was 18 years old. In 1972 he read a New York Times book review of THE STONES OF SUMMER by Dow Mossman, a title which would later became an object of obsession for Moskowitz. Though he shelved the book for 25 years, Moskowitz finally did read it and was amazed at its ingenuity. He was shocked that its onetime author never penned another book. Determined to solve this mystery, Moskowitz made THE STONE READER, documenting his research project in finding the forgotten author and getting to the bottom of the publishing mystery of how so many great works of literature, and great authors, just disappear. Moskowitz's infectious excitement about literature--reading it, collecting it, understanding it, enjoying it--comes through loud and clear in this inspiring film.

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• D.I.Y. or Die: How to Survive as an... 3/5

  2008-09-28 22:15

  

  It could have been great, but was merely good. If there had been more in depth discussion of the trials and tribulations of being an independent artist and less sycophantic fawning over this or that "underground" star, it could have been a really useful document. As it stands it is an interesting collection of "tell me how cool you are" interviews.

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• Donzoko (1957) 4.5/5

  2008-09-28 19:44

  

  Based on a Maxim Gorky play (an earlier Jean Renoir film draws upon the same source material), LOWER DEPTHS seems a bit stagey at first, but Kurosawa manages to enliven it considerably - the performances are all top-notch, and the combination of skillful editing (straight cuts only here, but the usual Kurosawa multi-camera shooting method) and inventive set design (with diagonals and angles trapping characters, heighetning the intensity of the dialogue and acting) making this an unforgettable film to watch - easily as accomplished as the better known THRONE OF BLOOD from a little earlier. One will definitely note how tightly constructed - in all ways - this film is.

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• Katt Williams Live (2006) (V) 4/5

  2008-09-28 19:38

  

  Hysterics-inducing stand-up comic Katt Williams (perhaps best known for his memorable turn as Money Mike in FRIDAY AFTER NEXT) shines in this 84-minute live routine, filmed in his native Cincinnati and packed with riffs on topics... Hysterics-inducing stand-up comic Katt Williams (perhaps best known for his memorable turn as Money Mike in FRIDAY AFTER NEXT) shines in this 84-minute live routine, filmed in his native Cincinnati and packed with riffs on topics ranging from sex to parenthood to Hollywood.

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• Mystery Train (1989) 3/5

  2008-09-25 10:17

  

  Jim Jarmusch broadens his scope with this episodic tale of a night in the life of several Memphis, Tennessee, inhabitants who unknowingly find themselves lodging at the same hotel. The first episode, "Far from Yokohama," is about two Japanese teenagers (Youki Kudoh and Masatoshe Nagase) on a pilgrimage to the birthplace of rock and roll, Sun Studios, where Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins got their start. In the second story, "A Ghost," two strangers meet and become friends. One is an Italian tourist, Luisa (Nicoletta Braschi), who is on the way back to Rome in order to bury her husband; the other, Dee Dee (Elizabeth Bracco), has just dumped her British boyfriend, Johnny (Joe Strummer). During the middle of the night, Luisa is visited by the ghost of Elvis. "Lost in Space," the final segment, brings all the characters together briefly, as Johnny goes on a violent drinking spree with Dee Dee's brother (Steve Buscemi) and another friend (Rick Aviles). Throughout all of this, the hotel's night clerk (Screamin' Jay Hawkins) and bellboy (Cinque Lee) listen to the local radio and engage in aimless conversation. Jarmusch once again uses his distinct sense of humor to dispel cultural myths--this time it's the legend of Memphis--by placing an eclectic group of tourists into an unquestionably American environment.

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• Ran (1985) 5/5

  2008-09-22 19:17

  

  For his 27th film, the "sensei" of Japanese cinema, Akira Kurosawa, transposes Shakespeare's KING LEAR to feudal Japan. RAN, which translates as "chaos" or "turmoil," is the tragic tale of Lord Hidetora, a warlord who decides to divide his empire among his three sons on the eve of his 70th birthday. However, Hidetora's youngest and most compassionate son, Saburo, defiantly objects to this hasty decision and is disowned by the proud, stubborn ruler. Once the two eldest sons take control of the empire, they quickly turn on their father and begin vying for total control over the land. As Hidetora is banished from his own kingdom in a bloody battle, he must confront the consequences of his violent, ruthless past. Ten years in the making, RAN represents the culmination of Kurosawa's career by revisiting his skill at adapting Shakespeare, as evidenced in THRONE OF BLOOD, and displaying the cinematic splendor of his other landmark films such as SEVEN SAMURAI and RASHOMON. With its magnificent costumes, breathtaking settings, and amazingly photographed battle sequences, the film is truly stunning. An epic on the grandest of scales, RAN is not only one of Kurosawa's finest films, it is a glorious masterpiece of Japanese cinema.

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• Speaking Freely Volume 2: Susan George... 3.5/5

  2008-09-16 10:10

  

  The Chair of the Planning Board of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam, a fellowship of scholars living throughout the world whose work is intended to contribute to social justice, Susan George is the author of more than a dozen books. Born in the United States and now living in/near Paris, George became a French citizen in 1994. From 1999 to 2006, she served as Vice-President of ATTAC France (Association for Taxation of Financial Transaction to Aid Citizens). She is currently focusing her attention on the issue of neoliberal globalization and engaged in a campaign to democratize the World Trade Organization. Join this award-winning scholar for an hour as she reveals the truth behind the history of empire building, neo-colonialism, and the causes of poverty in our world today.

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• Speaking Freely Volume 1: John Perkins... 3/5

  2008-09-16 09:19

  

  For many years John Perkins was an "economic hit man" in the world of international finance; a function he performed by persuading Third World countries to take on large -scale public works projects. Today, we recognize that these types of projects, financed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), have served to enrich U.S. corporations while creating crippling debt for these countries, effectively turning them into American client states. Experiencing a change of heart, Perkins resigned from the business in 1981. After running a utility company, he founded the nonprofit organization, Dream Change Coalition, which works closely with Amazonian and other indigenous people to help preserve their environments and cultures. Take the time for a conversation with Perkins about globalization and inequality around the world.

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• Buono, il brutto, il cattivo., Il (1966) 5/5

  2008-09-14 18:17

  

  Sergio Leone’s grandiose 1966 western epic is nothing less than a masterclass in movie storytelling, a dynamic testament to the sheer, invigorating uniqueness of cinema.

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• Chain Reaction (1996) 0.5/5

  2008-09-12 21:14

  

  When bad films go to cinematic hell, this is the film they will find manning the intake desk: dull, unimaginative, generic, illogical and transparent.

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• Mr. Untouchable (2007) 2.5/5

  2008-09-08 14:03

  

  What's most surprising about "Mr. Untouchable" is how uninteresting Barnes' rise to power actually is. It's indicative of pic's shallowness that Levin completely ignores the underpinnings of what allowed a Barnes to burst on the scene.

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• Silent Running (1972) 3/5

  2008-09-08 12:25

  

  Douglas Trumbull's 1971 film was made well before the space-opera boom, but the seeds of George Lucas's entire career are already apparent in the three cute robots (Huey, Dewey, and Louie) created as companions for space-station engineer Bruce Dern. Despite the triteness of the theme (Dern is in charge of maintaining the last remnants of the earth's vegetation), the film is enjoyable for its intimacy, seriousness, and intelligent character work, virtues not perpetuated by the subsequent new wave.

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• Surfwise (2007) 5/5

  2008-09-08 10:47

  

  Doc is my hero. Sometimes the most important thing is to know you are not a complete freak, that there are other people in the world as incapable and unwilling to play the game as you are. Freaks, seers, would-be prophets and loners of the modern world should all see this film.

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• Jesus Camp (2006) 4/5

  2008-09-07 18:02

  

  These people (militant fundamentalists) are not ignorant hillbillies to be scoffed at and written off. They are dangerous ideologues who should be feared, opposed and exposed as the totalitarian extremists they are. Disturbing but important to see.

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• King Corn (2007) 4/5

  2008-09-06 11:41

  

  King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat-and how we farm.

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• Blood Diamond (2006) 2.5/5

  2008-09-03 22:48

  

  It is a mistake to try to merge a Nation article and an action movie. You end up with all the drama and suspense of an back-east editorial and all the thought-provoking insight of a Rambo flick. This movie barely scrapes out this rating for the rather good portrayal of the "lost boys" of Sierra Leone.

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• Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the... 3/5

  2008-09-02 13:41

  

  Okay, me watching this movie is like a priest going to mass. I know the story inside and out. This muckraking documentary on America's personal-debt crisis lays bare the predatory practices of credit card companies and the Bush administration's cozy relationship with the financial services industry. Check it out.

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• Super Size Me (2004) 3/5

  2008-09-02 12:02

  

  Shut up about your genes, put down the hamburger and watch this movie.

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• Cocaine Cowboys (2006) 3/5

  2008-09-01 18:42

  

  At nearly two hours, Cocaine Cowboys (appropriately) doesn't know when to stop talking, but as a chronicle of a demented epoch, it's both entertaining and just about definitive.

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• Große Stille, Die (2005) 3.5/5

  2008-09-01 17:09

  

  The length of this film (2:41) is, in many ways, the point. This wondrously meditative documentary is an artistic portrait depicting solitude. The fact that there is no narration, no dialogue to speak of is remarkable in itself. The only place the camera doesn't go is the brewery. That's where the monks bottle their world famous Chartreuse liqueur, which sustains them financially.

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• August, 2008

• Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) 4/5

  2008-08-29 22:22

  

  Between the wry trademark Jarmusch deadpan humor (and there is quite a bit of it) and the great cast, this one is worth a look, particularly for those already in the Jarmusch camp.

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• Permanent Vacation (1980) 4.5/5

  2008-08-29 20:17

  

  This student film is surprisingly adult about its adolescent preoccupations - and well-nigh unmissable for the Jarmusch fan.

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• Down by Law (1986) 4.5/5

  2008-08-24 21:58

  

  Jim Jarmusch writes and directs movies for people who care about the world around them and don't want everything scrubbed clean and shiny. There are no heroes and villains, no easy moralities, no incessantly confident protagonist stomping around in a deluded parody of confidence. There are only people, in difficult situations, being afraid and shy and human. Real movies for real people about real people - that is Jarmusch's goal, and here he achieves it admirably.

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• Dîner de cons, Le (1998) 4.5/5

  2008-08-21 22:17

  

  Each week, Pierre and his friends organize what is called as "un dîner de cons". Everyone brings the dumbest guy he could find as a guest. Pierre thinks his champ -François Pignon- will steal the show.

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• Fitzcarraldo (1982) 4/5

  2008-08-18 20:55

  

  Director Werner Herzog returns to the exotic locales and obsessive themes of previous works in his Amazon masterpiece, FITZCARRALDO. Klaus Kinski gives a terrifying and determined portrayal of mad genius Fitzcarraldo, whose twin goals of making a fortune off the Amazon rubber trade and bringing an opera house to the jungle give the film its crushing centerpiece--the maniacal leader's Sisyphean efforts at hauling a gigantic steamship over a mountain bank. The single-minded and wickedly energetic Fitzcarraldo moves mountains (and a boat) with his will and along the way acts out a stunning and emotional battle between man and nature, as in the similarly themed Herzog/Kinski collaboration AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD. Herzog's razor-sharp attention to the minutiae of both Fitzcarraldo's madness and the jungle's corresponding apathy and enormity makes the film a breathtaking metaphor for civilization's impact on the natural world. The documentary style of the film (the cast and crew actually hauled the boat over the mountain) gives the tale an urgency and suspense that, combined with Kinski's bravado performance and Herzog's striking sense of landscape, make FITZCARRALDO an unforgettable experience.

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• Últimos zapatistas, héroes... 3/5

  2008-08-13 21:51

  

  The Last Zapatistas, Forgotten Heroes is the chilling testimony of the soldiers who fought beside their General Emiliano Zapata in the 1910 Mexican Revolution. Almost one hundred years later, these survivors of the legendary Liberation Army of the South reveal a truth not to be found in any book. They speak of the failure of the Revolution and of today's neoliberal governments, of the agrarian and ecological disaster threatening their country and of imminent civil war if the Zapatista ideals they represent continue to be ignored. These men and women are chapters of unjust history, abandoned wisdom, banners for Mexico's underprivileged .... they are the Forgotten Heroes. (This documentary includes the historic encounter between members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army and the Zapatista veterans).

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• Amores perros (2000) 4.5/5

  2008-08-08 19:15

  

  The critics were all amazed that a moral message could be the basis of such a raw and violent film. While too long by about 20 minutes, this triptych about the evil that people do, set in Mexico City, is one excellent piece of film making, one I am glad to have seen.

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• Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005) 4/5

  2008-08-05 21:31

  

  The final installment of Park's vengeance trilogy serves up another fearsome helping of human depravity in the name of "righting old wrongs".

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• Oldboy (2003) 4.5/5

  2008-08-04 22:29

  

  Continuing the Vengeance trilogy, Chan-wook Park weaves a chilling tale of imprisonment, revenge, and ultimate vengeance that must be seen to be believed.

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• Boksuneun naui geot (2002) 4/5

  2008-08-01 22:47

  

  Okay, this is a gruesome film. VERY gruesome. But, in its consideration of a world where good intentions go awry, decent people do bad things, and fate deals cruel cards, despite the coldblooded killing and trail of the dead, Mr. Vengeance feels warmly suffused with life.

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• July, 2008

• Rashômon (1950) 5/5

  2008-07-30 15:09

  

  This is the reason that the "Best Foreign Film" category exists at the Academy Awards. Kurosawa tells a story four times through different characters. The characters tell the story different four times. In flash-backs, all as the characters tell them, we see the stories. Are they lying, are they all telling their own truth or is there someone who tells THE truth? The way this is handled by Kurosawa is absolutely masterful. Of course, his direction is great. Together with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa they do a tremendous job with the atmosphere in the woods. With perfect light angles it looks beautiful.

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• The Chiefs (2004) 4/5

  2008-07-28 15:08

  

  In 1977, Paul Newman starred in Slap Shot, a comedy about a hockey team called the Chiefs who find success using constant fighting and violence during games. There really is a Chiefs and this is their story.

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• The Dark Knight (2008) 4.5/5

  2008-07-28 08:30

  

  Pay attention Hollywood - this is how you make a comic book movie.

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• Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo... 2.5/5

  2008-07-23 22:31

  

  This is a loosely strung-together collection of sex, race, and stoner jokes, and is, by any rational standard, a terrible movie, yet I kept laughing at it. Ratings Image N/A Whereas White Castle had a freshness in its humor, Guantanamo goes crude for the sake of crudeness, to the point of ruining entire scenes.

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• Miracle (2004) 4/5

  2008-07-22 22:14

  

  Gavin O'Connor has given us one of the greatest sports movies of all time and the best hockey movie this side of Slap Shot.

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• The Oxford Murders (2008) 1/5

  2008-07-20 22:15

  

  Imagine The Da Vinci Code remade by a philosophy student, set mostly in Oxford bedsits and starring Elijah Wood in the Tom Hanks role, and featuring the world's most unerotic sex scene…

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• Hamlet (2000) 3/5

  2008-07-07 09:43

  

  A Shakespeare B-movie with the plot pared down to the bloody core. The lines are read for the most part with more feeling for the angry-stepchild plot than for the iambic pentameter.

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• June, 2008

• Kung Fu Panda (2008) 4.5/5

  2008-06-29 14:15

  

  Well, that was fun! Okay, so it was entirely predictable, but the fun and antics made that completely unimportant, and Jack Black really makes the film, along with excellent visual presentation, even if I did have to sit in a theatre full of children to see it.

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• May, 2008

• Dnevnoy dozor (2006) 3.5/5

  2008-05-17 22:56

  

  Ornate, high octane and immensely fun, despite the horrible dubbing of the version I saw.

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• Garage (2007) 2.5/5

  2008-05-17 22:55

  

  Garage is a study of how a seemingly insignificant and benign mistake can unravel into a tragedy, given the right circumstances. Lenny Abrahams makes sure that we get close to Josie and fully understand him so that when the fatal mistake is discovered, we are fully invested in Josie's fate. It's a small, melancholy, intricately crafted and beautifully performed film, which unfortunately ends with an unnecessary kick to the balls.

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• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007) (TV) 3/5

  2008-05-14 14:43

  

  A chronicle of how American Indians were displaced as the U.S. expanded west. Based on the book by Dee Brown, this offers a pretty even-handed portrayal of one of the most embarrassing and depressing periods in American history.

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• P.S. I Love You (2007) 1/5

  2008-05-13 14:38

  

  If this is what passes for a "chick flick" (or the "chick lit" it is based on), then it seems that the last 50 years of feminism haven't accomplished anything aesthetic or psycho-social. The moral of the story seems to be that the solution for finding yourself a (horror) woman without a man is to play with shoes and date your dead mans friends.

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List generated by WP Movie Ratings.