The year of the documentary for Chris, I did not realize the percentage of documentaries in my overall list until tallying up – 7 out of twenty. And I don’t blame the options of movies; there were just a lot of docs that were convenient for me to see and whose subject matter intriguing to me.
The Good, the not so Bad, and the Ugly
The Ugly
The Ladykillers – Waiting for a train in Vermont, Yu and I had time enough to see a movie. I wish we had just walked around Walmart for 2 hours. What a flaccid and flatulent attempt at a comedy. When they offer the Cohen Bros. box set, I hope they leave this one out.
Welcome to Mooseport – Ok I admit I only saw the last half hour on cable, but I really don’t like Raymond. Gene Hackman will do anything, but he is still an all time favorite of mine. It tops The Ladykillers though because I had to sit through that whole film.
The Not so Bad
Hellboy – Bart and Matt bought four bootleg DVDs at O’Conner’s on night. This was the only one I watched. I liked the acting of The Beast and it was anti-Nazi; I miss anti-Nazi flicks.
Starsky and Hutch – As mentioned in Dan’s review, the "do it" scene is a catchphrase that stuck with me from the movie. This wasn’t nearly as funny as Zoolander.
Aileen: Life and Death of Serial Killer – Not a completely bad movie, but for anyone who saw the director Nick Broomfield’s "Kurt & Courtney" – you know that this guy is a tabloid filmmaker. At one point late in the film, he makes big deal that he has fooled Aileen into thinking he’s shut the camera off to get her to speak about her guilt. Yet this footage really does not include anything she hasn’t already said. "Look at this juicy bit, the same as all the other bits."
In the Realms of the Unreal: The Story of Henry Darger – The man and his monster are an interesting subject matter, but the film is not very satisfying. For example, there are no less than three promotional travel films on Chicago inserted into this documentary with no explanation – one would have been unnecessary. A big part of the story they stress is that Henry Darger worked hard long hours his whole life d as a janitor at various hospitals etc…yet stayed up all night writing, painting inventing and living in another world. Henry worked until he was forced to retire, but not one of his co-workers is interviewed, yet an altar boy who thought he looked funny at him was. His life was mostly shown from a perspective of his home life and artistic life, and ignores how he interacted at work.
Sponge Bob the Movie – I dig how rock’n’roll saved Spongebob and his buddy, but too many scenes ended with them crying their eyes out as the punch line. Hasslehoff’s chest catapult was truly weird, and the scenes where SB and Patrick live it up on sundaes and the resulting hangover affects were genuinely funny. I’ve been told by my sister and brother though that the TV show is much funnier.
Spider Man 2 – I’ll keep going to Spider Man movies as long as Val Kilmer doesn’t play Peter Parker, but this one went too long on romance for me. And just like the first Spidey, the villain’s suffering is shown by having a monologue addressing his evil side. This rehash lost style points for me.
S-21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine – I think this was an amazing movie in many ways. Can you imagine a documentary of holocaust survivors and their torturers? The degree is unexpected in that it maintains a very calm atmosphere of recollection, not a reverse lynching party. Some prison guards go about describing their past life as if in a well maintained dream, others with a stain of pride. Now extrapolate that to the fact that there were only 2 or 3 survivors and they have the burden of facing these bloody bureaucrats. Van Nath is the most famous survivor due to his complimentary paintings of Pol Pot and his keepers. Now his paintings reflect the daily disgusting deeds like babies being thrown into ditches. He is the guide to this film, and he has the serene wisdom of a man who been through hell and has forgiven the devil himself. The film does an ok job of trying to establish the insanity that led to the Khmer Rouge’s rise, and subsequent genocide. Despite the amazing revelations and brutal honesty of the men, the film retreads a lot of the same material throughout, and barely mentions the killing fields, the bigger picture of the Khmer Rouge, or present day Cambodia’s acknowledgment of this high school turned abattoir in Phnom Phen.
Control Room – This was a cable watch, but I count them in my tally. Although I believe the Americans characters probably will always serve up the double speak and don’t allow too much opinion, this doc. seemed to pack an agenda. I still thought it was great and insightful.
Fahrenheit 911 – Michael Moore despite his absolute faith in his message tends to make goofy movies with serious intentions. Personally I hope he never stops, and believe him to be a very important voice in today’s political/social caterwaul. Everyone needed to see this, but I probably won’t sit through it again unless there is an impeachment party.
The Good
I Heart Huckabees / Sideways – This was an odd pair of films that seemed to split some of the population, at least in the balgavy.com nation. I preferred watching Huckabess because it was more fun than I expected – its goofy train of thought lasted from start to finish. In retrospect though, I can’t pick out too many moments. It was the ride that was fun. Sideways was not what I expected, and maybe it wasn’t what I wanted from a buddy flick. I let my feelings known, and yet friend after friend came back loving it. Chris Larry put it through a nice prism of beautiful failure. After reflection, I enjoy Sideways, but I was restless for action while it was on.
Kill Bill 2 – I have yet to sit down to the double feature. It didn’t seem to have so many ridiculous spots as KB1 (Pussy Wagon), but nothing as wild as the Crazy 88s fight either. I am excited about seeing this one again.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – I’m wondering how many of you look forward to sitting down to see Charlie Kaufman films a second time. I think Adaptation and Malkovich are remarkable, but I’ve seen only Malkovich (once) since the theater and Adaption not since. Like the others, I loved unraveling the direction and unexpected corners of this film. Carrey didn’t bother me after five minutes, so I could just relax to the challenge of the screenplay.
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – I think I rate Life this high based on its pedigree alone.
Born into Brothels – I knew Dan had seen this, so I asked his opinion. I returned his lax opinion with a haranguing volley of arguments for Brothels. I thought each kid was unique, there are plenty of great photographs, you often get to see the moving world surrounding these isolated slices of life, the red light prostitutes cussed with great flair, and there was an interesting mix of surprising successes and disappointments for the kids. I loved the cussing.
End of The Century: The Story of the Ramones – I love the Ramones. This movie inspired new found respect for Johnny Ramone, a real human, not just a character, no matter how cartoonish these goofballs from Queens are. My favorite scene was Dee Dee talking about how Tommie impressed him as an adult because Tommie knew how to cook a potato, while he only knew how to eat bags of chips and dope.
Friday Night Lights – Shame on folks who won’t see this movie because it is a football movie. Well done, well acted, made good use of the book on which it is based, but the changes probably improved its story when it must be told in an hour and half. The Explosions in the Sky score, to use a sports analogy, was the film’s twelfth man. Plus a soundtrack featuring the Stooges and Public Enemy punched up the energy of the game sequences. I look forward to seeing this at random on cable for years to come.
The best film I saw last year, thanks to a recommendation from Matt B., was The Battle for Algiers. It instantly bolted itself firmly into my mercurial Top Five films of all time.
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LISTS
dan
mitch
sujan
chris m.
amy w.
kaci
donovan
bill w.
jeremy
