Oscars '08

Woot! The nominations are out, and for the most part, look great.

http://a.oscar.abc.com/media/2008/html/printer.html

I AM GOING TO SEE THERE WILL BE BLOOD BEFORE THE OSCARS. That's my mantra for the time being. :) Otherwise I've done better than usual at seeing all of this year's "top" films.

What was your favorite film of '08?

Over the Holidays...

Sweeny Todd ****
I really enjoyed it. Will probably make my Top 10 for this year.
Superbad ***
I thought that I'd get more from this one after hearing it billed as the year's funniest film... It was funny, but didn't leave a big impact. (I'd rather re-watch Juno, Knocked Up... and Super Troopers to get the jokes the first time around.) :)
Blob [1958] & Blob [1988] ***
I re-watched the classic horror the other night and enjoyed a Steve McQueen lead performance I'd forgotten about, then I watched the 80's remake with Kevin Dillon (Johnny Drama, for all you Entourage fans) taking over as the hero. Best if seen back to back (and for free with ON DEMAND).
Shindler's List ****
Yeah, I'd never seen it before! Definitely a more conventional story than I imaged for this one (but what should have I expected, from Speilberg, after all?). Easy to watch, which is an interesting (not necessarily good or bad) thing to say about a holocaust film.

Ratings. Better than nothing.

OK. So I thought that I'd start rating movies that I've seen on a simple 5 star scale. That way, when I don't take the time to actually write a review of a film, at least some information will be displayed here. Hopefully it encourages some of you to share you're thoughts/ratings too.

Also, it would be fun to have another movie night sometime soon. (Especially with the Holiday Upgrades made to the basement at 581.) Stay tuned.

Also also, because the OCD part of me likes to list/order things, I'll be working on my Rankings-of-Movies-Released-in-2007-[That-I-Saw] list in the next couple weeks. At last count, there are more movies that I want to see than I have seen in '07, but I'll try my hardest to rectify that as the awards season comes into full swing.

So without further ado: Movies I've seen semi-recently...
No Country for Old Men ****1/2
I loved it, and was going to write up something about it, but what I wanted to write about would probably spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it. So see it!
Michael Clayton ****
Like No Country, one of the few movies that lived up to the hype. In any year that's saying something, and this year especially because of all the great stuff that came out.
The Darjeeling Limited ****
Probably only scores so high because the wife and I are such Wes Anderson fans, but really an entertaining movie. (An interesting suggestion about how to see Wes' films: Each of his movies could be taking place simultaneously in an alternate Wes universe. Each story opens a portal into which we get to see these highly stylized, quirky, character-comedies. But I guess if you don't dig it, you don't...
Juno ****
Like in Knocked Up, the scenarios, characters, and dialog are often completely over-the-top, but still manage to convey some really truthful ideas. More specific to Juno is the great writing that's so consistent without being predictable, and persistently witty. We laughed through half the jokes at our showing.
The Mist *** (But barely.)
The more I let go (in terms of plot, etc) and freely interacted with the movie, the more I enjoyed it. Classic King ending. (Good or bad is up to you.)
Eastern Promises **1/2
I was mostly underwhelmed and didn't really get into the story or its characters. But I guess I didn't exactly see the end coming either... meh.
3:10 to Yuma ***
Pretty entertaining western remake. But why didn't he just get on that damn train at the end!!! (Parts of the story bothered me when I should just been happy watching the gun battles. :)
Dan in Real Life ***
Cute, nice and fun. And I mostly forgot that I was watching Steve Carrel and Dane Cook. Which is impressive.

Want to see:
There Will Be Blood, Once, Into the Wild, I'm Not There, Atonement, I am Legend, Superbad...

American Gangster

I went to see American Gangster the other night with Jeff, Steve, Jon, and Cutler, and came out wondering what I was supposed to take away from the film. The story definitely had it's messages and points to make, but at the end, I felt as if the would-be strongest message (something about the real effects of drugs and drug trafficking in America) was over shadowed by the "Denzel is a Bad Ass" message. I wonder what the original intent/message of the filmmakers was before this film became the (more-palatable) cop drama that I saw?

But yes, the movie is entertaining, and in terms of story-telling, pretty good. I especially enjoyed watching how the film crafted the Crowe/Denzel characters to be so ideally and principally(?) similar. I thought that that aspect of the film was one of the more interesting/effective. I just wish that the film wouldn't have left the ending hanging (morally) wide open. Are we supposed to think that Lucas (Washington): has gotten what he deserved; gets off easy; feels any remorse; should feel any remorse; is to blame; or is just a cog in a faceless machine? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Impromptu Movie Night?!

Summer's over. Let's face it.

Did it go faster than usual? Well, of course not, really... But our 2-month break became 3-, and I thought, before we fall completely off this wagon, we should try to have a movie night.

Does this weekend work well for people? Saturday night?

Screening suggestions? A new theme for this 'club season'? Let me know.
I've been itching to re-watch a couple of favorites from last year (The Fountain, Stranger Than Fiction, Children of Men...), so those are possibilities. Something fairly light and entertaining.

Reply [to hagstrbh@yahoo.com] YES or NO if you think you could make it Saturday. I'll email again if we have enough interested.

Thanks.
Bjorn

ps- I was introduced to another film discussion resource. http://www.armchairdirector.org/ It looks like a little up-start web periodical, all about movies. The reviews look fairly well written. Take a look.

2 Month Break

Film Club is going to take a 2 month break (this July and August) to let people catch up on their out-of-doors activities and Summer Blockbusters in the theaters. We'll return stronger than ever in September. If you see anything good in the mean time, feel free to post about it here. It's always nice to have suggestions!

Bjorn

P R I M E R

We watched Primer on Saturday night, and I'm glad that everyone was at least as befuddled by the movie as I was the first time I saw it. I enjoyed it just as much the third time through too, so I'd definitely recommend additional viewings.

For more info, Wikipedia has a sizable entry on the film. Also, www.primermovie.com is the film's official sight with a link to a discussion board that is administered by Shane Caruth (he no longer has the forum open to new users, because of spammers, but all of the content is still up).

I own the film now, so let me know if you'd like to borrow it.
Bjorn

JUNE!

Well, Film Clubbers, I've challenged myself for June. My challenge: to pick a movie to screen from the 21st century.

I don't think that it will be a challenge due to any lack of quality film-making so far this century, but it will be challenging to find a film that has as much of a universal impact as some of the movies we've seen so far in this club.

As a club, I'd say that we've stuck to some pretty prevalent themes, although not without variety and contrast... or, to summarize, I think that we could safely categorize the films screened thus far as a bit 'grown up' in taste. So I'm going to breath some life into this group! :) Just kidding. But I would like to find something contemporary (even futuristic!), or funny... something we haven't yet seen.

I'm thinking that the 16th or the 30th look like good dates. Let me know if you have a preference.
And I'll let you know when I have a selection.

Thanks.
Bjorn

Ps- anybody seen anything good recently? Let us know!

Disturbia

Saturday night the wife, Kirsta and I went out to the Rosedale Mall to grab a bite to eat and see a movie at the 'new' AMC theater. Being at a mall is always pretty awkward, I feel, as we're just not far enough removed from the high school crowds that regular that scene. But that's a topic for another blog...

Anyway, we had a very decent dinner at Big Bowl where each of us partook in their homemade ginger drink specialties. The ginger tea was delicious. But we had to hurry out of there because I was in charge of the movies, and, of course, I didn't remember any of the start times to the movies we wanted to see -- and my assumption that "there'll be a 9 o'clock show of any of 'em..." was completely wrong. :) The timing worked out amazingly well, however, and we sat down at maybe 7:50 for the 7:45 showing of Disturbia... still catching 10 of the 15 minutes of previews before the feature presentation.

Now, I don't know what you've heard of this film, but what I heard was that I was a rather weak adaptation of Rear Window, but with decent performances by Lebouf, Moss, and Morse... And where I can kind of see where that kind of review is coming from, I really couldn't say that any individual's performance was the reason I ended up enjoying myself in this film.

...I suppose that these actors were all good enough here not to 'screw it up,' which is - now that I think of it - more of a feat than I at first recognized. Especially in a teen-thriller type of movie...

But I did really like this movie. I certainly enjoyed myself during Disturbia more than I have at most of the movies I've seen so far this year (Hot Fuzz being a notable exception). And from what I heard, so did the rest of the people in the theater. Änna, for one, spent much of the last half of the movie so far down in her seat that only her head was touching the backrest... which doesn't sound at first like an "enjoying-oneself-posture," but she was both laughing and screaming out of the fearful pleasure that Disturbia delivered. I didn't get up to see, but I had fun imagining how many of the other people in the theater were in similarly hilarious positions when they let out their own joyous screams.

The last time that I remember that same kind of energy in a movie theater was back in high school when some friends and I went into the first Scream movie, to do just that... (We even brought in large tubs of popcorn to throw into the air at the most appropriate moments.) I don't really see any valuable comparisons between Scream and Disturbia, but I do suppose that the better cast helped out a bit. Especially in the first part of the film. Really though, it was the writing, directing and camera work that made Disturbia an effective movie. I loved the Rear Window references (and others, Blair Witch, even the Matrix) that were introduced with a reasonable mixture of subtlety and in-your-face-ness. I also appreciated the way that the film 'wrapped up' at the end. Maybe I give the director too much credit, because I've heard that some people took the ending to be rushed, out of the blue, and convenient, but I felt like the story pulled up before it delved too deeply into potentially inappropriate/harmful (to the story), or boring territory.

In conclusion: Hurry up and see this one while it's still in the theaters. And try to bring 50 of your closest (more easily startled) friends. You'll have a good time.

Hot Fuzz, 28 Weeks Later.

I've decided that I can recommend both of these movies, but not without reservation...

Both are lesser movies than their predecessors -- Shawn of the Dead tops Hot Fuzz as both a comedy AND as an example of genre film making -- 28 Weeks, although as well shot and directed as 28 Days, losses a lot of credibility with a much weak[er] storyline.

Some credit still should be given in both cases.

True: Shawn is a much better example zombie movie making than Fuzz is of action/cop movies (and I'd agree with the guys at Filmspotting when they point out that Shawn is even a better action movie than the action driven, Hot Fuzz...), BUT these filmmakers have done a pretty good job of not following in the steps of so many others... With the addition of more money, talent, etc., 'young' writers/directors can easily overlook their own, unique brand of work to try to create a conventional Hollywood blow-out of a movie... (Just take the boys at Broken Lizard who went from the awesome Super Troopers to the awful Club Dread.) Simon Pegg et al have seemed to pulled up short of selling themselves out, and it works.
Especially if you enjoy [way, way] over the top cop-action-drama.

28 Weeks Later was a little more disappointing... and actually that's mostly because it starts off so well... or maybe because I can't let things go. Hmm.

Anyway, the opening scenes are really great in 28 Weeks Later, and I found myself totally pulled into the story -- only to have it go off in directions I thought were below the 28 ___ Later franchise's vision... I feel like this movie has come out too recently for me to spoil any more of the plot for those of you still waiting to see it, so I'll pull up, saying only that kids usually ruin movies like this because it gives the director/writer too many outs. (Why did this character do that obviously dangerous and stupid thing? Oh, because it's just a kid... "Move in the out field. Easy out.")

May Movie Night

Mr. Jim Hagstrom is going to host the screening for May. He's choosen the movie The Caine Mutiny (1954), directed by Edward Dmytryk (a favorite noir director of mine!).

When: 7:00 pm, Saturday the 19th.
Where: Way out in Afton! But in a great screening/home theater set up.
(Google Maps: 3637 Trading Post Trail, Afton, MN 55001)

General Directions, from 94:
Take exit 253 for Manning Ave/CR-15/MN-95 S - Go South 4.2 miles.
Turn left at 40th St S/CR-18 - Go East 2.4 miles.
Turn left at Trading Post Trail S - Go North > .5 miles.
Arrive at 3637 Trading Post Trail - It's the first driveway on the right.

So Many Movies, So Little Time

Playing this weekend...

---St.Paul---
Highland Theater just got The Lives of Others - I didn't expect that I'd be able to see this film in the theaters anymore. Highland's sister theater, the Grandview, is showing The Namesake right now too. You really have to give it to the theater owners around here for showing really quality movies. The Riverview is playing both The Queen and The Last King of Scotland, so if you're like me and need to catch up on your '06 Ocsar Award winners... here's your chance. Oh, and on that note, the Riverview is having a special Earth Day screening of An Inconvenient Truth. (12:30pm, Sunday)

---Lagoon--- (and others, semi-wide release)
The Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie sounds like it's strictly for the fans of the show... so I'd probably enjoy it... (Hey, if it's playing at Lagoon it has to be good right?) Also showing: The Hoax and Hot Fuzz, the second of which I'm very excited to see (as a big fan of Shawn of the Dead). The Hoax looked horrible from the ads but has gotten pretty great reviews (?). Any thoughts?

In wide release, Disturbia sounds like it'll be everything you expect from a modern/teen update of Rear Window... although Shia LaBeouf, Carrie Ann Moss and David Morse are said to give very decent performances.

Let us know if you go to see any of these!
Thanks.

9/11: Press for Truth. FREE SHOWING!

A couple of community members and the management at the Riverview Theater have gotten together to put on a FREE showing of the documentary 9/11: Press for Truth. 10:45 am, Saturday (4/14) morning.

Apparently public showings like this one have been happening all over the country as some of the victims' (of 9/11) families want to share what they've found out about what really led up to 9/11 happening, and what has been done since (and why). To find out more about this documentary and the The 9/11 Timeline project that started this grassroots movement, check out http://www.911pressfortruth.com/.

Maybe I'll see you at Riverview.

The Namesake

So I'm unemployed in case you didn't know... and if I didn't already see enough movies, I definitely am now. Today I saw The Namesake starring Kal Penn as Gogol, a young Indian American son of immigrant parents struggling to tear away from their traditional cultural values, yet eventually coming to terms with his place in the world and their importance to him. I won't recap the plot, as you can read that elsewhere.

Overall the film seemed to try to cover a little too much time, eventually feeling a bit disjointed, but when it was effective, it was very effective. The actors who play his parents were shown in perhaps a 25 year time span. They aged with the use of makeup, hair alteration, and wardrobe changes, and pulled it off very effectively. I really appreciated them a lot.

Sadly, a few of the other characters were a little thinly portrayed. I found myself very engaged in the subject matter for most of the movie, but sadly in an effort to span Gogol's entire life, the movie offered a few less than stellar moments with some fairly boring interjections.

I recommend the movie on it's efforts to draw out the way a family can be sometimes stretched thin because of cultural and generational differences. These were especially vivid thru the eyes of an immigrant family coming to the United States in the late 70's from India. Sadly the film as a whole fell just a bit short of it's promising premise in an effort to do just a bit too much.

The Lookout

Saw The Lookout today, and was quite pleased. I really liked it a lot. I didn't know too much about it, other than what I had read in few quick one-liners about its quality. What I thought was going to be a well developed caper movie was actually more of an examination of the main character's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) fall from grace and struggle to co-exist in the the very new adult world that he has created for himself in a fleeting moment of adolescent irresponsibility.

Jeff Daniels was also very good as a sort of mentor/buddy figure, playing one of the more convincing blind men I've seen in a long time, such that it's not just a caricature of the sardonic old man, but a true friend bearing some warmth and wisdom in a seemingly bleak existence for the both of them.

Best Movie I've seen this year so far.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Bea became this month's movie picker, selecting 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird - a classic for sure - with an Academy Award winning performance by Gregory Peck. It will be fun to see where our conversation goes when we discuss this piece of cinematic history.

On top of that, I have some interesting supporting material that deals with Mockingbird that I've decided I have to share along with tonight's screening. (I couldn't resist...) Let's just say it will (hopefully) add a uniqueness to our understanding of this film.

To Kill a Mockingbird
Tonight - 4/7/07 @ 7pm.
Anna and Bjorn's House.

April will be better.

March was a pretty sad month for this blog... only 3 posts. At least one of them wasn't by me. :)

Well, back on March 2nd I wrote a post called "Movies to see..." How did we do?

Zodiac - I did see this one, with Änna while we were out in Boulder. I was very excited to see it, and it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Could have been that we were annoyed after not being able to find the theatre and missing the first couple minutes... although even with those minutes missing I thought a weakness of the film was how long it was. I'm not usually one to complain about the length of a movie either, but Zodiac seemed long for the wrong reasons... -or- Maybe it was long because there was a lot of content, but not long as a way to enhance the content...

All in all it was definitly a very well crafted film, and the writing was good, as was the acting. But as good as it was to watch, I never felt like I got into the characters' heads... I didn't empathise with their addictions/afflictions... I wanted them to get over it. And I didn't feel like that's where I should have been at the end of this one. Especially if you consider Fincher's Se7en and even Fight Club, two movies that really put you in the characters' shoes (whether or not you like being there). I would be interested in hearing what others thought about this one, and I'd probably interested in seeing it again to re-evaluate. Cool. Share your thoughts.

Lives of Others & The Queen - I never made it to either of these. They are both sitting in my Netflix waiting list. What can I say?

Sweetland - Änna and I also got to this one a couple minutes late. Weird.
Sweetland was beautifully shot and pretty fun/easy overall to watch. Actually, it was a lot funnier and lighter than I thought it would be. What I'd heard about Sweetland led me to believe that it was a drama about a man who pays for a mail order bride, but then isn't allowed to marry her because it turns out she's German (WWI time), but they end up living together anyway and are consequently dis-owned by the town - not allowed to buy/sell anything - and they end up withering away... All of which is true, except there are jokes throughout and you can substitute that last part for "- but they overcome all odds in the end and live happily ever after." So I wasn't expecting that, but the film doesn't come off as overly cheesy at all, in spite of how I made it sound. :)

So, I want to do better this month, but we'll see...

Movies to see - 4/02/07
300 (the Frank Miller graphic novel adaptation), Dreamgirls (at Riverview now), The Lookout (with Joeseph Gordon-Levitt who was awesome in Brick), The Host (South Korean horror with possible socio-political undertones), The Namesake (Indian - American culture clash), Shooter (Marky Mark has been good, but this might suck? Still fun?) & Reign Over Me (Adam Sandler, hit or miss?)... Oh, and I forgot Grindhouse! (The latest Tarantino/Rodriguez looks ridiculous. In the best kind of ways.) And, no, I didn't forget Blades of Glory. (I have no interest in seeing Farrel fall on his face. Oh, but I guess I mean that only figuratively.)

Primed.

Ok, so I just got done watching the 2004 film Primer for the second time, and where that might not sound all that impressive/post-worthy at first, the fact that I hadn't seen one time 4 hours ago should tell you where I'm going with this post....

Yes: as soon as I finished Primer this afternoon (and before I even let the credits role), I immediately watched it again, pausing only to turn on the director's commentary. I can't remember the last time I watched a film back to back like that... and what's really crazy is that I want to watch it again! NOW!


It did really help that Primer is only 78 minutes long, but are a number of other reasons that made this film compelling enough to "require" (at least for me) multiple viewings.

Subject/ideas/story: The film is about... well, maybe you don't want to know before seeing it, although I personally don't think that knowing the plot really matters - especially because Primer deals with the subject pretty originally. Anyway, I guess I'll kinda skip this for now, saying only that it's a sci-fi flick that deals with a subject/idea that I really like, but that, if meant to be taken seriously, sometimes doesn't go over too well because of the number of questions that come up while you're watching... maybe you know what I mean... But this film and its characters are as involved with these questions as you are, and the film deals with them in a way that is pretty intriguing - if not vaguely believable.

...and MAN! I'm still not sure about everything that happened in this one, and especially what it all implied...!! Argh! (Heh Heh. In a good way!)

That was a ramble. Sorry.

Also, this was a personal, impassioned, incredibly involved independent film that eventually premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. It was the baby of director, producer, writer, actor, and sometimes reluctant cameraman, Shane Carruth (not to mention cinematographer, casting agent, editor, sound designer...). The film's actors and extras were mainly Shane's friends and family. The sets were his family's houses and workplaces.

The scale of this film's accomplishments certainly matches its creator's intentions, but reaches far beyond the means of the men and women who stood behind it.


Needless to say, I was impressed. Right now (in my excited state) I'd even be willing to say this is one of my favorite films of all time. And I [really] think you should see it.

HAS anyone else seen it? Remember it? Love/hate it? (BTW- If you hated it, you are wrong.) :)

Re: Oscars, I was delighted that The Departed got best picture. I loved the movie, smart acting, tightly constructed plot, great fun. I haven't enjoyed Leonardo DiCaprio since What's Eating Gilbert Grape? ( by which I mean I liked him in) but here he was at his best as an undercover detective.
The only other oscar movie I saw was The Queen which just isn't my kind of movie so I didn't love it.

I hope to make it Saturday, Tom's at state wrestling tourney, so I doubt he will.
That is all,
Juli

Movies to see - 3.02.07

My movie suggestions for this wintery weekend in March.

Come to Steve's for a movie night tomorrow, of course...

...but if you're looking for shelter from the snowblowers and shovelers this weekend, or if you're looking for a relaxing night after a day of skiing, snow forts and snow men, here's a couple of films that are out around town - probably at a location near you.

New Releases:
Zodiac - Wide Release - From David Fincher, another crime thiller that's supposed to deliver where his previous films (Se7en, Fight Club, Panic Room, The Game) might have fallen short. My first Must See for 2007.
The Lives of Others - Uptown - Has been in the area for a couple weeks, I think. (Has been out in select theaters longer.) I want to see the film that stopped Pan's Labyrinth from winning for the Best Foriegn Film.

Other Films:
Children of Men - Riverview & Roseville 4 - Should have been a Best Film of '06 contender.
The Queen - Still pretty wide release - If you're like me, you put this one off again and again, and you're going to punch yourself when it leaves the theaters and you miss your chance! :)
Sweetland - Riverview & Roseville 4 - I don't see myself renting this one ahead of most of the films in my Netflix queue, so I'd like to get to Riverview after work some night to see it.